Entha

Chapter 27: A Warm Room

-huff

I can't breathe, my vision is blurry, but I can make out the gist of it: one, two, three, five, there are five people in the room, and a pillow on my stomach? I moved what I thought was a pillow, but it squirmed and tightened its grip on me.

“umm…I can’t see clearly… what’s this?”

I inquired, pointing to the strange object on my stomach, which caused the people in the room to laugh; based on their voices, I was able to identify who those people were, Father and Halen, who were sitting by the chairs near an embellished closet, Heather along with Elena is standing near the brightly illuminated windows, while Esteroth is standing by the door, having just arrived. As time passed by, my vision cleared up and the thing I thought was a pillow turned out to be a teary eyed Anna, with the presence of this people, the room felt warm even with the chilly nightmare inducing light coming from the windows…so warm that the dreadful throbbing aches all over my body seemed to subside,

“You’re finally awake, brother”

Said the laughing Heather, who had a really broad smile on his face that did not differ from that of Father, who along with Heather is laughing,

“As expected of my son”

Chimed father, while giving a nod and a thumbs up,

Elena on the other hand had her palms pressed against her forehead and sighed towards the two muscle heads, to which even I is confused as to what brought their celebratory moods,

“Calix are you feeling any discomfort perhaps?”

Asked Elena, as she intently stared at me holding a pen and a paper resembling a researcher observing a lab rat, well she probably doesn’t see me that way thus it was better to think of her as a nurse,

“Aside from a minor headache, throbbing pains on my joints and some parts of my body, I feel okay”

“I see, then there’s nothing wrong perhaps”

“Are you a masochist? Thickhead, rumors had it that you were fighting with a disturbing technique”

Grumbled Esteroth as she laid down some papers and the paints she had brought for Anna, what is woman talking about? a masochist you say, isn’t that someone who feels pleasure in pain if that is so then I am not…. Or maybe I am, no no no definitely not, sure I did some extreme ways to be able to surprise Mordo but that was painful you know, I would definitely not do such thing next time…but why was I so passionate about winning back then, I wonder?... Oh yeah, best answer quickly, because Halen and Elena's faces are beginning to crumple in disdain; after all, they may be familiar with the quote "Silence implies yes."

“No, I am definitely not a masochist… totally not”

I answered in rapid succession, thankfully I did not twist my tongue or it would surely incite more doubts and would definitely worsen my reputation,

“Well whatever, glad that you’re doing fine thickhead, here Anna”

Said Esteroth with no hint of compassion at all as she shifted her attention towards Anna, She tried to pass the paper and paints to Anna, but Anna still had her head burrowed in my stomach, and is definitely crying as I could feel the warm sensation of snot and tears, I wonder what brought such attitude? Still clueless I gently patted Anna and assured her instead,

“There there, I’m okay now”

That reminds me it was perplexing as to why these two muscle heads are that happy, I totally lost the fight though, last I remember was me giving my all for a single punch before getting knocked unconscious,

“Oh right, what’s with that grin of yours Father”

“Ahem don’t mind me I’m just happy that you’re awake”

Answered Father, with his eyes swimming, I didn’t need the eye of Veracity to point out such lie, but I simply nodded and turned my gaze to Heather who had the same expression,

“Ah, it is the same brother”

Said Heather, but a sigh from Halen along with the others nullified such claims,

“They are proud Calix”

Proud that my ass got beat? Or are they proud as I was able to land a punch? What ever that is, it’s nothing to be proud of,

“What’s there to be proud of Mordo had beaten me one-sidedly”

“Well you may not be aware since you’re unconscious for a week”

“Aware of what and unconscious for a week!?”

What the hell? How could one even sleep for a damn week… well let’s not forget that we’re not a human anymore, but still that’s too long, I could have done much more in that span of time, but Father and the others doesn’t appear that worried, well a week’s time is probably just seconds for a demons who can live infinitely,

“Well that is expected wouldn’t it, the way you recklessly fought shattered every bone from your body, and you totally exhausted your mana, you may be not aware of it but you have a mana reserve far vast than those of demons that’s why you are able to execute such use of magic formation, you odd being”

Is that so, I did feel my bone rattling when I activated the magic formation I had drawn, but I didn’t expect it to actually shatter, but all this talks about vast mana reserve confuses me, does this mean that I am actually the only one to have such amounts of mana?... And odd being isn’t that rude,

“This means that with proper training to strengthen your body along with the mastery of mana, you could reach the strength of the so called Grandifs in a short amount of time”

Halen continued,

“Ahahaha enough with the jokes, based on what you said, is it right to assume that I am the only one with such vast reserve of mana?”

I tried to cheerfully said but obvious worry had already filled me, making my voice a bit shaky,

“Thats right”

Replied Halen, I was expecting a laugh but … Eh? ‘That’s right'? I actually am the only one? Then isn’t this a big deal, possessing the eye of plegia is already  surprising enough for the demons but to actually think that I posses a mana reserve that far exceeded the norm, But why? Why me? Why do I have such reserve of mana? If it is a gift from entha then the King would surely be much suitable,

“Why?”

“We also don’t know, I recommend asking Entha if it does appear again, as we the demons and even our king is clueless”

My mood started to sour, brought by overthinking things but Halen is a perceptive one, thus she continued to tease the two muscle head in an attempt to brighten the mood,

“Oh right, the reason those two had those had creepy smiles is because you are officially titled as a Grandif and is chosen to be a member of the Elders to which would be announced in the demon world a week from now”