Chapter 2: Awakening, again

Lua opened his eyes in a cold sweat. The first thing he realised was that his headache was still active, yet calmer to a degree. His chaotic thoughts had lessened to some degree.

Next, he saw his mother staring at him with a deeply worried emotion. He realised he was back in his room. Seeing Lua wake up she heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank the Lord." she muttered to herself.

Then, her brows furrowed and gained some hint of anger.

"Are you mad? You were screaming like a banshee!"

Lua simply chuckled nervously at her worry. He had no idea how to explain himself - not like he could anyway. His thoughts were still blurry, and he couldn't recall a few of his recent memories. He thought hard for a moment, attempting to recall what had happened previously.

That's right, the triangular gem! Lua suddenly remembered what had knocked him out, and his headache intensified by a slight amount.

Just remembering it is making my head spin.. what the hell is it? Now that I think about it, why did I try to grab it so recklessly? Dozens of thoughts went through Lua's head at once, trying to understand the situation.

Arc! Is he alright?

Looking around the room, Lua couldn't spot his prized possession within his line of sight. Seeing this, Elizabeth sighed softly and explained,

"Arc is in the other room. He was out cold with you."

That's right.. Arc and I are bound by our souls. It only makes sense for him to pass out with me. Lua pondered, trying to explain Arc becoming unconscious.

Lua hadn't created Arc purely by nuts and bolts. To create something truly intelligent, one had to be at a sufficiently high level, or rely on sharing their souls with their creations. However, at Lua's level, he didn't have enough soul to share with multiple creations. Which is why he had to stick with only one intelligent machine.

Of course, this method had its drawbacks. Arc was limited to a specific range around Lua, and if he went any further, he would have his soul extracted instantly, never to return. This would not only be a tremendous loss to Lua, but it would also instantly kill Arc.

This also meant that Lua and Arc could somewhat feel each other's thoughts and emotions. After all, they were two sides of the same coin.

Another drawback was that Lua had lost some of his characteristics upon losing a part of his soul. Before creating Arc, he was more outgoing, and had quite a number of reliable friends. However, after splitting his soul, he was only reduced to a few. He spent most of his time with Arc, who was literally himself. Lua believed Arc understood him the most.

Elizabeth, seeing her son in deep thought, broke the silence and said:

"What in the world happened, are you alright?"

Lua nodded to indicate he was fine.

"I don't really know what happened. Arc and I were playing by the forest when I suddenly got a massive headache.."

It's best if I avoid the gem for now.. Lua thought to himself, avoiding the topic of the gem for some unknown reason. He thought it might cause needless suspicion on him and catch the attention of the authorities.

Elizabeth shook her head to show her dismay.

"Do you reckon you need someone from the Doctor class?"

Lua indicated a no with his head.

"I'm feeling quite a bit better. There's no need."

Elizabeth sighed and smiled defeatedly.

"Fine. Just make sure you're careful, alright? I'll tell your father about it when he comes back."

Lua smiled back at her, pulling the blanket back onto himself. Watching Elizabeth leave the room, he heaved a sigh of relief.

That stone.. It gave me a bunch of useless information. My mind is garbled with knowledge that makes no sense.. Lua tried making sense of whatever information he had just received. In fact, what language is this even in? It doesn't seem familiar..

Lua pondered for a moment, but he couldn't come to a conclusion of the origins of the information.

I'll need to spend time decrypting it if I want to learn something. That stone couldn't have given me actually useless information, right?

Lua got out of bed and sat at his desk with a pen and paper. He started to jot down ideas for what the meanings behind his countless chaotic thoughts could be.

Now that I think of it, four sides of that triangular gem had weird runes.. I didn't notice them in my hurry before.

Writing down the runes, Lua looked at them in detail. One of them looked like a bridge, another a glass with a lid on top of it, another looked like a vertical eyeball, and the final one looked like a circle.

Pretty simple stuff.. maybe the bottom of the gem had a different symbol? I wonder if Arc still has it.. Lua frowned, as perhaps another rune was kept a secret from him due to his early faint.

Putting down his pencil, Lua got up from the desk and went towards the room where Arc was. Entering the room, Lua found him sitting on a couch, likely thinking about the same things he was. Seeing Lua enter the room, Arc got up from the couch.

"Do you still have the gem?" Lua couldn't help but ask.

Arc shook his head. He took out a piece of paper and began writing on it. Normally, this was their standard of communication.

"No. It disappeared shortly after you fainted." Arc wrote.

Lua frowned again. He asked again, with some hope.

"Were there any other symbols on it, other than the ones on four sides?"

Arc looked confused. He jotted down on the paper quickly, formulating a sentence in seconds.

"There were symbols on it?"

Lua was dumbfounded. He never imagined someone as careful as Arc was unable to spot those symbols before he had.

Could it be that Arc cannot see the symbols? Indeed.. I hadn't noticed them before waking up either.. Is it possible that the gem merged with me, giving me information and letting me see those symbols? Then it's unlikely there's a fifth rune..

Lua explained what he had noticed after he woke up. Arc simply shrugged indicating he had no idea what Lua was talking about.

Despite our connection, he can't notice this information? Interesting..

Understanding he was getting nowhere, Lua returned to his room to inspect the runes more thoroughly. He saw that the runes were simply odd shapes that resembled no letters, except for the circle. It was a common symbol in most alphabets.

Perhaps I need to do something? Ooh, maybe in blood like those novels!

Gaining a devious idea, Lua cut his fingertip with a small metal piece. Blood dripped out, and he drew the vertical eye's symbol.

Nothing happened. Sighing, he thought to himself.

Of course, that's far too simple and stupid. There has to be something else I can do. Perhaps I can ask Father.. No! I don't want to drag him into this, just in case it's dangerous...

Out of ideas, Lua got out of his chair and began pacing around his room. He was looking at the floor, trying to think of ideas when he noticed something amiss. The floor had odd dents in places that were flat otherwise!

The "dents" were straight lines that seemingly lead nowhere. He began moving furniture around, uncovering where the lines lead. At the end, he came back to where he was standing. He was shocked.

It was none other than the vertical eye, engraved into the floor.

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