Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 97 – Where Does It All Go?

I don’t understand Cattleya…

Does she need both food and blood? Is there a difference?

…

The questions circled around inside my mind as I tried to figure out why exactly Cattleya seemed so desperate to get to the vial that was inside her coat pocket. I knew that when she drank from it, her fangs went away, but that was all. However, all of that was fairly short-lived, as while I was distracted, Cattleya sprung up and immediately declared that she was returning to our lesson.

As soon as I realised what was happening, I got up and followed behind her, sitting back down on the grass where we had been only a few minutes earlier. Cattleya took a deep breath before speaking.

“Alright, the first thing you need to do for me is exactly what you did before,” She said with expectant eyes,  “You simply need to concentrate your mana for me to finish examining. Since you have managed to do so before, doing so again should be no issue for you.”

Is it really that easy?

It took me so long the last time…

I looked down at my palm as those thoughts passed through my mind, trying to recall exactly what it felt like the last time I had done it. However, it was difficult for me; it was pretty much an accident that I was able to do it before. All I did was think back to when I first moved my shadow and the faint memory I had of those sensations; at some point, they just combined with my memories of Ovia’s tendrils, the way I saw them move around her domain, bringing things to her… I wasn’t even thinking about doing it myself… It just happened for some reason.

…

A part of me had honestly hoped that by just recalling those things again, my mana would begin to move as it had before, yet I had no such luck, instead being left pointlessly staring down at my open palm.

…

Both Ava and Cattleya are able to use magic without having to go through any of this… am I just different?

I did it with my eyes closed last time… Is that the difference?

It all feels so… random?

…

Why is there not an easy answer? Somehow, I

In an attempt to prove the words swirling around my head right, I let my shadow crawl up my arm and into my hand as I had done many times before. It was effortless, leaving me just to watch as it squirmed and writhed, almost as if it had a mind of its own, desperately clawing its way up my arm against all odds.

It got to the point where it wasn’t much of a stretch for me to expect it to simply lift off my arm and keep climbing, and once it got up to my wrist, somehow, that’s exactly what happened. Instead of the shadow coating my palm as it should’ve, it simply continued up into the air, coalescing into the orb that I had seen before.

…

My mind was a little lost as I was left mesmerised by what I had just seen. It didn’t seem to matter how many times I saw magic; there was just an underlying element of wonder to it that made it difficult to think of anything else. And this time, in particular… watching the impossible happen with my own hands took my breath away.

“Hmm…” Cattleya’s voice was what finally pulled me out of my own head and back down to reality, “It really is quite strange. It looks nothing like anything I have seen or read about before, yet… at the same time, it does not seem to do much.”

This time, she picked up a leaf and held it out towards the dark grey mass in front of me. As the leaf collided with it, just as she said, nothing seemed to happen, well, aside from making the leaf look a little darker as a shadow was cast over it. It was as if the mana wasn’t even there in the first place, nothing more than a joint figment of our imagination.

“There must be something to it. Mana simply does not exist without a purpose…” Cattleya said as she pulled the leaf back towards her and examined it, “… If it does not interact with anything physical, then perhaps…”

As she spoke, I saw green wisps come from her fingers again, although they were much fainter and a little smaller than before. She then held the leaf close just before a new stem sprouted from it, slowly growing up into the dark orb above it. Once it touched the edge of the mana, it seemed to stop for a brief moment before continuing as it did before, although it might have been nothing more than a trick of the light on my part… or the lack of it.

Cattleya, however, seemed to have a much greater reaction, immediately pulling the plant back with wide eyes locked on the orb in front of me.

“That could not…” Before saying another word, she shoved her free hand directly into the orb.

Immediately, I felt something come over me… at least, that was the only way I could explain it. It wasn’t something I could feel inside my body; rather, it was like I could feel… something happening within the ball of mana as Cattleya held her hand inside.

It didn’t take long before I realised that whatever I thought I was feeling was, in fact, very real, as the orb of mana bloated slightly. It didn’t look quite like it did before; it was as if it was being stretched taut from the inside.

A moment later, Cattleya removed her hand, looking it over just as she had done with the leaf moments before.

“It is just… unusual? Hungry?” She said, “I do not know how I would explain it… It is such an odd sensation.”

“… What?” I couldn’t hide my confusion at her comment.

“It is a very subtle effect, so much so that I had doubted whether my assumption was even correct in the first place,” She kept looking over her arm as she spoke, even though nothing appeared to have changed, “It… drained my mana somehow, that is probably the right way to put it. Not much, might I add, but I could definitely feel it wanting to leave my body as my hand was immersed.”

What does that mean?

I don’t really understand all of this.

“This might help me to explain what was happening with the ship!” She shouted, “If your mana inherently wants to take in other mana, then if some kind of magic were being used to distort your perception, it would be able to disrupt it!… maybe… I am not sure how that would work in practice…”

She was starting to inch closer as she continued talking about what she was hypothesising.

“The biggest problem with this idea is that even when your mana is concentrated like that, the effect was so minor that I doubt it would have any significant impact on any competently constructed magic… I was still able to grow a plant despite its effects, after all… But at least it is a start!”

At that point, she was hardly any more than a hand’s width away from me. The look in her eyes was one of both amazement and a hint of desperation. I was instinctually tempted to try and push her away, but thankfully, I didn’t have to.

“Come on now,” Ava said as she walked over to us before firmly placing a hand on Cattleya’s shoulder, “Why don’t you back up a little? I’m sure both of you’d appreciate a little more space.”

“O-oh my,” Cattleya stammered as she suddenly pulled away, “I must apologise. It was just such an intriguing idea, and I got a little ahead of myself.”

“That’s much better. Let’s just stay at least this far back from now on, alright?”

“Okay…” Cattleya quietly responded before immediately refocusing on me, “B-But now I want you to do something else! Can you try taking your mana back into yourself? I want to know what happens. If you are able to take in other types of mana like that…”

Her words trailed off as she seemed to become absorbed in her own thoughts, but I must admit that I was also a little curious as to what would happen. When we were interrupted last time, I just let my mana dissipate into the air… but if I was able to make it do this… surely I could do it the other way around as well.

So that’s what I thought about: the way the orb would slowly descend until it met my arm, cooling down the skin it collided with before slowly sinking back down into my shadow. Then, without any extra effort on my part, that is exactly what started to happen: the orb slowly descending until it met with my palm. Once it did, it felt a little unusual; I could feel it collide with my skin as if it were a physical ball, although that sensation was only temporary, as it quickly began to melt. However, it seemed that not all of the mana wanted to go quite so willingly.

There was this small amount that just didn’t want to move like the rest, and I could feel it resisting as it was being forcefully driven into my palm with no success. It didn’t take long before the pressure got to be too much, and whatever was being held down burst out. It released what looked to be a fine mist from my hand directly into my face.

“What was-?” I tried to question what had happened, but my unspoken question was answered almost immediately as I felt something prick at my nose uncomfortably.

It was nothing other than a small cloud of pollen, and it didn’t take long before I sneezed, blowing some of the pollen over to Cattleya and Ava, neither of whom seemed particularly bothered by it.

“So… I assume that means your body did not accept my mana,” Cattleya said, clearly trying to move closer again, even if Ava was now holding onto her, “But… if you cannot do that… what about that mana deficit that follows you… It all has to be going somewhere… All this did was give me more questions. I just-”

Those last two words were interrupted by Cattleya’s fangs once again growing, although this time, she didn’t accidentally bite her lip as she had back at the restaurant; instead, she fortunately stopped herself.

“Why now? I just-” It seemed like a realisation dawned on her as she abruptly stopped mid-sentence, “Of course, I did not think about how the drain would- Oh, never mind, I… I need to go. Our next lesson will be… It doesn’t matter right now. When I am ready, I’ll come find you again.”

She then easily shook herself out of Ava’s grip, as if her being held back was nothing more than an act, before quickly darting deeper into the forest, leaving me and Ava sitting there, stunned at… whatever had just taken place.