Kael sat up on his bed, visibly shocked. He slapped his face a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
The boy spoke into the darkness with fear in his voice.
"Who's there?" he said, looking into the darkness.
Then the voice said,
"Do not worry, child. I'm not here to hurt you," the woman's voice said, trying to reassure Kael.
Kael was now more visibly scared than before.
He wasn't imagining anything like he had thought previously.
His heart started pounding faster in his chest, and he started sweating slightly.
"W-w-what do you want?" Kael asked, stuttering a bit because he was scared.
A few minutes passed before the voice answered again. It seemed as if she was contemplating what to say next.
Then it finally answered.
"Like I said, child, do not be scared, and as for what I want, you could just say I'm curious," she answered in a somewhat carefree voice.
Kael too paused a bit, trying to calm himself.
After taking a few deep breaths, he finally answered the voice.
"Curious about me?" Kael finally answered back.
"Why would something or someone I don't even know be curious about me?" he added, regaining his composure.
The voice then chuckled softly.
"I've been watching you for a while now, child, and something feels a bit off about you," the voice said.
Kael was slightly taken aback by the revelation the voice just made.
"W-watching me?" Kael said, stuttering again. "What do you mean, and who are you?" Kael asked, his heart beating fast again.
"Yes..." The voice paused a bit.
"Yes, yes, I have been watching, and as for who I am, you'll know soon," the voice replied softly.
Kael took a minute trying to process what was happening. The fact that he was being watched scared him so much.
"Also, child... your soul..." she paused for a bit. "There's something off about it..." she paused again.
Kael was speechless. He didn't know what to say. What was this voice speaking to him about, and what did it want with him, and why did it know so much?
"You're surprised, aren't you?" the voice said, chuckling softly.
"I'm pretty sure you won't be able to sleep after this," she added, chuckling again.
"Do not worry, I will help you with that," she said.
Kael then hurriedly asked, "Wait, who are you? Please tell me just that."
Kael could feel that the voice was starting to fade.
"Oh my, guess I've used too much mana," she said, completely ignoring Kael's question.
Kael started to feel tired, extremely tired. He could feel his consciousness slipping away into sleep.
Kael tried his best to speak.
"W-wait," he said faintly, but he was almost gone.
Then the voice said, "Until we meet again, Kael Valen. Your questions will be answered in due time. Now sleep, child," she added.
Kael listened to the last part faintly, and soon he was deep asleep.
***
Clare arrived home rather late than usual.
As soon as she entered, she didn't even greet her mother as usual. She just went straight to her room.
Her mother didn't think anything of it. She just thought Clare was tired from playing with her friend, whom she had met previously.
Her mother was happy since her daughter was able to make a friend.
Especially since they had just moved from the city.
Clare, as soon as she entered her room, jumped onto her bed and started hitting her pink pillow in frustration.
"Dummy, dummy, dummy, dummy... Kael, you dummy," she repeated as she hit her pillow.
After a few minutes of torturing her pillow, she finally stopped.
She was still frustrated about what had happened earlier.
She was mad at Kael for what he had done.
"Stupid, how could he lie to me like that? And straight to my face too, without any hesitation," she said as she slumped onto her bed and started reliving the day's events.
"I clearly saw it turning red," she blurted out suddenly.
"I wasn't imagining things, was I?" she said to herself.
"But why didn't he tell me anything when I asked him?" she said to herself.
"Is something wrong with him?"
Clare had so many questions after what she had witnessed today.
It was her first time ever witnessing something like that.
At first, she had tried to ignore it, but after she saw how he reacted, she started to get suspicious.
"There's definitely something up with him, and I'm going to find out," she said as she sat up on her bed and clenched her tiny fist.
She was determined to know what was wrong with her friend.
She was going to get answers.
An idea popped into her head when she saw her computer in the corner of her room.
She was going to look for answers online.
The holographic screen was black since it was not turned on yet.
She looked at her wrist link on the table. She didn't like wearing it, mostly because she thought it looked weird on her hand.
She had already made the decision to search for answers online.
Her stomach growled.
The use of mana during the day while practicing magic and running after Kael had caught up to her. She was hungry.
She quickly headed downstairs to the kitchen to grab something to eat.
Luckily for her, there were some snacks she had left from the previous day.
She took all of it and hurried upstairs and dumped everything on the table where her computer was.
She pulled the floating chair and quickly turned on the computer.
She opened a bag of chips while she was waiting for the computer to boot up.
After a few minutes, the computer was finally on.
Clare didn't waste any time. She clicked on the browser immediately.
She didn't even check if any of the videos she usually liked had been updated.
Then she paused for a bit.
She didn't know what to search.
"What should I type... ummm... red eye?" she asked herself.
She typed that, but nothing showed on the screen, just a message that said "No results."
"Of course that wouldn't work," she said as she face-palmed.
"What... what should I search?"
Clare was confused because she didn't know what to type.
Then she suddenly lit up and smiled.
She typed:
"Eye suddenly turns red magic user"
It wasn't the best description, but she was sure it would have results.
And she was right.
There were some results that popped up.
The first link said:
"Mana exhaustion or mana corruption — body experiences slight changes."
She hurriedly clicked that link and began reading through the article.
***
Kael woke up the next morning to the sound of chirping birds and rays of sunlight streaming into his room.
He sat up and stretched slightly and yawned.
He was feeling strangely energized and refreshed.
That was the best sleep he had had in a while.
He was strangely calm, even though what happened to him last night had terrified him.
He turned to his computer, trying to look at the time.
But there was a single black feather at the end of the table.
Kael paused and turned rigid.