364 Meeting
By manipulating Luke’s internal mana, he was controlling the effects of the curse. Within Melki’s academy of Magic, perhaps only Zhanid was capable of understanding how to deal with curses. The Haf-wolf began to cough extremely hard, until slowly, his breathing became calmer.
The half-wolf’s life was not in danger now, for the time being.
Even after Luke was theoretically better, Zhanid remained at the half-wolf’s side. Reading an old book of spells, he sat in front of the bed where Luke lay. A short time later, hurried footsteps could be heard rushing through the vast corridors of that medical center. With a hurried pace, each step echoed through the corridor.
It was Meredith. The girl looked in each doorway, until she finally saw through a window which room the half-wolf was in. The half-fox’s heart was drowned in worry and doubt. Seeing her beloved in such a complicated situation was so sad and revolting, her inability to help Luke only left her with that bitter feeling in her mouth, and a deep sense of guilt in her chest.
She then arrived in front of the door to Luke’s room, and even with a little trepidation, she opened the door with force. Slamming it against the wall and producing a very loud sound. Old Zhanid then just turned to the girl, and with his index finger in front of his mouth, he gave a silent signal.
“Shhh He is sleeping. Sit on my side.”
Meredith merely agreed with her head and grabbed a chair, sitting down next to the old mage. A cruel silence hung around the room, until old Zhanid began to speak, worried about how the girl was feeling, he figured talking would be a good way to ease the situation.
“This boy is pretty strong, no need to worry about him.” Said Zhanid
“I know… I saw him become strong. But I still remember when we both were just two kids… I can’t be reassured with Luke in that situation.” Answered Meredith.
Placing one of his hands on the half-fox’s shoulder, old Zhanid gave a small smile.
“It’s all right now. We’ll find a solution to this! In fact, I think I already know what might be going on.”
Meredith’s head was conflicted with several thoughts. For a moment she thought:
‘What will that solution be?’
However, remembering that this was Zhanid, she would probably not understand the mage’s explanations. That feeling of helplessness would linger from the girl’s chest for a long, long time.
“Anyway, I’ll leave you two alone now.” Said the old mage, as he stood up. He then opened the door and walked away, whistling a tune.
The moment the door closed; Meredith held one of Luke’s hands. The half-wolf was warm, but seeing him unconscious was creating a feeling of indescribable sadness for the half-fox. She then lost control of her own emotions and began to cry. She then reclined her head on Luke’s bed, her eyes filled with tears.
The two of them had a little time alone. But soon, another worried girl arrived at the medical center, she was accompanied by her sister. Megan and Alice made their way to Luke’s room.
Megan’s steps were as hurried and worried as were Meredith’s, while Alice was following at a short distance. The blonde girl was wondering what could be done to solve this situation, her face was a little tired, she had just gone to the medical center to take a closer look at the half-wolf’s case.
Megan’s heart was beating hard, with every step she took her heart a different thought popped into her head. She was mentally reading several books, going over possibilities, thinking about what could be done. She felt extremely guilty for feeling that she might have been able to prevent this. Megan couldn’t even imagine that Luke had such a complicated situation.
However, when she approached the half-wolf’s room. She just shook her head, trying to stop thinking about it, at least for now. She then opened the door; her sister was right behind.
“Ah.” uttered Alice, watching Meredith on the bed crying.
“Good evening.” said Megan, greeting the half-fox in typical academy style.
Alice was showing a confused face as she watched Megan.
‘Hmm, so this guy wasn’t a crush of my sister’s.’ concluded the blonde-haired girl.
“Good evening.” Meredith replied, sobbing
The two girls sat on the other side of the bed. Megan was tapping her foot with speed, she was extremely anxious. Even as she avoided it, hundreds of texts flashed through her eyes, several paragraphs of possibilities.
Alice was drawing some magic circles in her notebook, while slowly shaking her head, as if affirming to herself that her ideas were working.
A certain silence continued for a long time, until Meredith dried her own tears, lifted her face and tried to start a conversation.
“Are you two Luke’s new friends?” She said, in a trembling voice.
“My sister is, I just came to help her.” Answered Alice, nonchalantly as she continued to draw in her notebook. She had spoken so quickly that Megan couldn’t even think to give a response.
“Well, as she said. I guess I can say I’m a friend of Luke’s… Did you meet him here too?” Megan asked.
“Luke is my family.” Answered Meredith
Megan’s head soon became confused
‘But, he’s so young…. How can he have a wife at that age?! My goodness, looking at him I couldn’t imagine he could be that romantic,’ thought the girl.
She was sure to be incredulous when she found out that Luke actually had three wives, counting Meredith.
“I see.” Megan said, quickly shaking her head to again, try to clear her thoughts. She then realized that she had not introduced herself.
“The name is Megan Bloodstone, this one next to me is my sister, Alice Bloodstone.” Megan said, as she bowed again.
“My name is Meredith, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.” She spoke.
‘So, this is the girl that Zhanid said could help Luke… I’m glad she accepted that task. You both for some reason remind me a bit of Nathalia…’ thought the half-fox.
That silence continued for a while longer, only interrupted by Alice, who with each completed magic circle showed it to Megan asking for her opinion, this was repeated for a few minutes. Both Meredith and Megan were having a similar feeling in their chests, a feeling of guilt for feeling that they could have done something, that they could have helped Luke.
“What do you think of this fifth-order circle? Would it work as a base?” Alice asked, holding out her black leather notebook again in front of her sister.
“Hmm, we will still need to review the side effects, maybe a grouping of tenth order magic circles is needed.” Answered Megan, placing one if her hands on her chin.
Meredith then tilted her head in confusion, watching the two sisters. She then questioned what this was all about.
“What are you two doing?” She asked.
And again, Alice answered faster than her sister:
“I am trying to draw a pattern of magic circles. We are going to make an artifact to take care of Luke’s curse.”
“I See…” replied Meredith.
The Half-fox felt a little annoyed at how she couldn’t help the two sisters with their project, but she felt relieved knowing that they were at least managing to find a solution. It wasn’t that late, but the three girls were already starting to get sleepy.
Zhanid then opened the door, accompanied by Adrian. The blond-haired boy was carrying two leather books, both extremely thick. The old wizard then waved to everyone.
The moment the two entered the door, Alice stood up excitedly, running towards the old mage to show her notebook and the drawings of the project.
“Please Take a look Papa.” Alice said.
Meredith was confused by the girl’s speech.
‘Zhanid is the grandfather of these two girls?’ thought the half-fox.
The Old Mage then picked up the notebook, and began to carefully read the magic circle the girl had made.
“Hohoho, that circle is really impressive! Impressive how you sketched a tenth-order healing circle in such a short time.” Said Zhanid, while running his hand over Alice’s head.
However, the solution to this problem should be something else, that was something the old wizard had already concluded. He then asked Adrian to give the two books to Megan.
“The answer to solving this problem is going to be a little more complicated than simply a healing artifact. I had already found a solution, but how to turn that into an artifact is going to be a slightly more complicated task.” Zhanid said.
When Megan picked up one of the two books, the girl’s eyes widened in surprise.