Chapter 18: Mana Siblings
"Our existence is linked!?" Eternus exclaimed with surprise as he did not expect that to be an answer, even though he felt an odd familiarity with the beast.
"What do you mean by that?" He tilted his head.
Neko, still sitting on the golem's corpse, replied in her childish voice, "Come sit with me, why dontcha?!..." She continued seriously as she made space for him to sit, "It won't be a story like yours but it's all I know."
"Okay..." Eternus nodded and sat right by her.
"You see, Eternus… I was born two years ago." She continued after a brief pause, "And you should know that I'm not actually a Beast." She uttered with a slight smile on her face and a content look in her eyes.
Eternus grew serious and his curiosity blared when Neko mentioned her birth. It was not a surprise that struck him hard but the scars that day left on him. He pondered at the possibility that her birth may be on the same day when his life turned to hell.
"If you're not a beast, then what exactly are you… And what is your connection with me?" The Boy asked curiously as questions of all sorts hovered over his head.
Neko looked at the Eternus's masked face that reflected the sharp sunlight from its smooth black texture, "I am Mana… Your Mana." She revealed to him the truth about herself, showing an essence of pride in her tone.
Even though Eternus did not understand the meaning, that sentence made his heart skip a beat and he asked, "My Mana?... How is that possible?!"
She hopped off the rocky corpse and stood in front of him, "Just let me show ya…"
Hmph!" She exclaimed and immediately a bubbling aura leaked out of her and engulfed her body. In only a matter of seconds, her little cat body was nowhere to be seen and it was as if she had become the aura itself. The Two-tailed cat was now pure mana that looked like a Golden essence at the center of a ferociously burning Dark ember.
"Th-this is... exactly like my aura..." he exclaimed with fascination and surprise.
A muffled and serious voice resounded from the ember, [This is my true form... A conscious fragment of your aura.]
"Amazing…" the Boy exclaimed with his eyes peeled open as he touched the embers that felt so familiar.
The ember fluctuated and in the next moment, Neko had turned back into her usual cat form.
"Impressive ain't it...hehe." Neko cut off the serious tone and giggled with her usual cuteness.
"Yes… very impressive." Eternus nodded with acknowledgment.
"Now you must be wondering How I found you and why I didn't show up till I did that night..." Neko anticipated his thoughts and asked with a sharp smirk.
Eternus nodded silently and Neko continued, "Two years ago, ever since I became conscious in a human village, I felt an attraction toward something. So after I manifested this cat form… I decided to find out what was attracting me."
"So I traveled and ended up in the Beast Glades, where I found you." She continued after compassionately rubbing her face with Eternus, "That's how I was able to find you... The source of my Mana…" She smiled.
"I see…" Eternus nodded as many mysteries cleared up in his mind but Neko was not done yet. She continued calmly, "I tried to approach you a few times… but that guy… I didn't have a good feeling about him. So I hid in the forest, till the time was right."
Every single word she uttered made complete sense to Eternus as he recalled his time at the Beast glades. "So it was you that evening… on the hill." His fascination wore off as he also knew exactly who Neko was talking about. He looked at the red Blade hanging on his belt and uttered that man's name bitterly, "You mean that Bastard… Inura." Eternus shook his head and continued in a much less terrifying tone, "He is responsible for what happened to me… I want to find him but dammit I don't know where he is!"
Neko finally knew what Eternus was out searching for, 'So that's the purpose of your journey!' she said inwardly and hopped onto his shoulder.
"I will follow you anywhere you go!" She said adorably, "We're connected after all! Like Mana siblings, hehe."
"Mana siblings?" Eternus raised a brow.
"Yeah! Y'know, others are related by blood and we're related by Mana… So we're Mana siblings!" She explained like a child.
"Huh… Mana Siblings…" Eternus mumbled to himself as his eyes dragged up, "That makes sense."
Neko smirked as big as ever and just before she was about to say something very particular, Eternus interrupted, knowing of her intentions. "You're still not calling me Bro. Eternus is fine."
Neko pouted at his interruption and she turned her face away, proudly saying, "Hmph! Fine then… I'll be the bigger of us!"
Eternus kept on staring at the sky, lost in his endless thought with his hand tightly clenching Inura's Crimson Blade.
Neko found his usual pondering strange and asked him, "So what are you thinking so deeply about?"
"I have to kill that Bastard… No matter what, I have to kill him!" His grip on the blade grew tighter and he continued as a drop of blood slid down the blade, "But this blade is useless! Ever since I picked it up I can't use it properly…"
"Hmmm, You're right, It couldn't even kill the Bandits…" Neko pondered with him for a moment, "We should've asked Blaine, he must've had a few layin' around."
Eternus shook his head, "No, he's already given me enough…" he jerked the sword away, releasing his tight bleeding grip.
"So you need something meant just for you?" Neko asked curiously, "I wonder if something like that exists…"
Eternus leaned on his arms in a position where his right hand slightly touched Vankolv's map. "And where can I find this weapon that is meant just for me?" He asked rhetorically, not knowing that he had activated the map.
Vankolv's map began to glow and Neko hopped down and stared at Eternus with a look of shock, "I don't believe it!… Something like that exists?!!"
Eternus was surprised as well as he did not expect anything to happen. He opened the scroll and watched the lines turning into pathways, and symbols making words and landmarks. Once more the map was formed and this time, it led to a cave.
When Neko saw the destination her lively attitude came up a notch. "No way! It looks like a dungeon… We can find tons of monsters over there!!"
"A dungeon huh… I suppose it's about time." He remembered a time when his father promised to take him to a dungeon. The realization that he would never be able to go there with his father ached, but he knew that the weapon was crucial for him to avenge his parents.
He took Neko from the rock and stood up, preparing to leave at that very moment. He said as he examined the map, "If we walk in the day, we can reach there in about two days."
Neko casually responded, "Yeah... Only if we had some sort of a ride fast enough to take us there..." Just as she finished her sentence she noticed Eternus staring at her with a realizing and scary look in his eyes…
"~Neko... You said you could transform, didn't you?" He asked with something in his mind.
Neko, confused by this sudden change of air, responded, "Y-yeah, ~why~?"
"You wouldn't be able to transform into something like... a ride, would you?" Eternus asked, implying explicitly something very specific.
Neko finally understood what he was up to and instantly responded,
"NO NO!!! Stop thinking what you're thinking!!! I've never even transformed into something other than a cat."
Eternus casually replied with the same scary look in his eyes, "I can tell you're lying."
Neko hopped off his shoulder with a pout face, "It's not fair, you're supposed to be my ride, not the other way around..."
"I suppose the rider becomes the ride now. Haha," It was at this moment that in two years, Eternus had slightly giggled for the first time.
Neko noticed his giggle and her heart melted instantly. "Fine! I'll do it just this once!" she said bashfully with content happiness in her tone.
"Hmph!!"
She exclaimed and once again a bubbling aura emerged and grew a little taller than Eternus.
The bubbling aura then swiftly took the shape of a beast extending its long and powerful limbs wide apart and moments later, the aura settled and Neko transformed into the same beastly creature she called Matabi with vicious golden eyes, fiery body, and sharp claws.
Eternus was again amazed at the sight of this majestic creature. Nobody could say that, that thing was riding on his shoulder moments ago.
Neko continues, "Hop on! Where's all your haste from moments ago?"
Eternus stepped forward and touched the black fiery aura that seemed to be at peace with his own… And to his fascination, it felt as soft as leaves made of silk.
He contained his fascination, realizing that they had to leave. He hopped on Neko's back.
"Hold on tight! This will be faster than you think" Neko cautioned him.
Eternus responded, "Okay.." and clenched the fiery fur and tightened his legs.
"Too tight!!" Neko exclaimed inwardly.
She bent her back legs in position and with one kick, they bolted ahead.
Neko decided to treat her best friend a little, so she hopped on top of a tall hill, where they could see the whole area similar to what the map showed. From the tall hill, they could see all their landmarks below, the grassy area and patches of trees were mesmerizing to Eternus's dry eyes.
Neko found joy in her friend's peace and after a while when she knew that he had enough of the view, she descended the hill and slowly accelerated forward.
Eternus felt the wind brushing through his hair and hands as the surroundings blurred because of Neko's incredible speed.
And with that, the duo of best friends proceeded on their journey to the dungeon to find this mystery weapon, special for Eternus.
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