I'm sitting in the corner of the shop

Quietly imprinting a crystal.

It's raining softly outside.

The shop is dark, but I don't mind. I feel at home.

``You're still here?'' [???]

A familiar voice calls out from behind me.

I turn around, and see the sun shining out through the clouds over the trees.

Emelia is sitting next to me, on the couch. A blanket around her.

I can't see her face, it's hidden behind her amber hair, glowing in the sunset.

The manaflies are swarming all around us, like embers hovering above a fire.

I can hear the rain around us, but I can't feel it hitting me.

``It's getting late, we should go.'' [Emelia]

She says with a sad, longing voice.

No.

No, I don't want to go.

I don't want to be alone.

I'm terrified of being alone.

``Can't we just stay here?'' [Nathan]

She doesn't answer.

``Please, stay with me.'' [Nathan]

No reply.

``Please. The loneliness, I-.. I can't go on like this. It feels like I'm trapped in a coffin, buried under the ground in the middle of nothing where I'll never be found. I can't breathe, I can't move. Don't make me face it like this.'' [Nathan]

I quietly beg as tears start to flow down my face.

She turns her head, and smile at me, looking exactly as she did when I first meet her.

``You're not alone.'' [Emelia]

She turns her head back to look out her window, like she always does.

She always wanted to go outside and play.

``Take care of her Nathan.'' [Emelia]

She softly mutters, her back to me.

I hear a loud cracking noise, like someone tore the house apart.

Above me, the roof is gone.

The behemoth is above me. It's crystals starts to glow, as does every star in the sky.

As the tentacles shoot down towards me, I silently scream.

I wake from my dream with a jolt.

I'm panting heavily, and I can't hear anything but noise.

Looking around in a panic, I remember where I am.

It's raining outside.

Lightning lights up the sky, and I hear the rumble of thunder a few seconds later.

A dream..

I slowly get out of bed. I have no idea what time it is, but I don't feel like going to bed again.

Touching the heat crystal on the wall, it's cold to the touch.

I must have slept for a long time.

Sigh.

Emelia...

...

I tiredly rub my face and eyes.

Better start the day.

Sunday, February 18th.

The last week has been freezing, but a warm front hit friday, and yesterday evening the falling snow turned to rain.

By now the ground is covered in half molten, soaked snow.

I go out to the kitchen and prepare for breakfast. I don't have time to train today, which doesn't really bother me because it's raining pretty hard, and the ground is covered with what looks like ice.

After I prepare everything, so it just needs to be warmed, I sit down on the couch and take a deep breath.

I take out my notebook and look at the incantations I copied down a few days ago.

Which one do I want to try? Whistle perhaps? Hmm, might be useful to alert people that the crystal is close to capacity.. But then again, the sound would get quite annoying until the power-level went down.. What about the smoke one? That could be useful on it's own, as long as I have some control over it. Mom always did tell me that diversion is important, and smoke can definitely accomplish that. Alright, I'm gonna try that one first..

I voice the invocation for my aura, and start channeling it.

I sit up straight and recall the invocation in my head before saying it out loud.

`` extit{Brother mine, bring me your colored gift, that I might show it to the world!}'' [Nathan]

A pathetic little puff of dark blue smoke gather in the palm of my hand.

Not that I expected much more, but it's really sad to look at.

I sit here practicing the magic for a while, trying to change the color, size, and velocity of the smoke.

When I hear Sarah rustling around in her room, I get up from the couch and start heating the pancake batter I made earlier.

I call for her to get up.

She looks like she cried.

As I put the pancakes on the table, I ask about her friends. Whether they like pancakes too.

That cheers her up a bit. Gets her talking again.

It was probably healthy for her to get more female friends.

She's less of a tomboy now than she used to be.

After breakfast I gather up some crystals and get ready to start imprinting. I promised mister Wolfe that I would have ten crystals ready for the middle of next week.

She still look sad, so as I'm cleaning the kitchen I ask her:

``Do you want to play something?'' [Nathan]

``.. Okay.'' [Sarah]

``What do you want to play?'' [Nathan ]

``I don't know.. You pick.'' [Sarah]

I take a look around the place. I didn't exactly bring a lot of toys and stuff after the incident.. But I did bring a few things before, for me and Tony to play with..

``Do you want to play chess?'' [Nathan]

``Chess?'' [Sarah]

``Yeah. Remember, me and Tony used to play it a lot last fall. I'm pretty sure you tried it too back then.'' [Nathan]

I had Graham make us a chess board, figured it would keep Tony's mind off of James. He seemed to like it, so we ended up playing it a lot.

``Uhm..'' [Sarah]

She mutters as she looks out the window, at the pouring rain.

``Okay.'' [Sarah]

``Great, I'll set up the board.'' [Nathan]

We sit and play for a while. I hold back a lot, she's only nine after all. I let her win about one in three, I remember something about mice not wanting to play with each other if the bigger mouse doesn't let the smaller one win that much, so I guess it's fine.

She keeps looking out the window.

Whenever she does that, her demeanor becomes a bit sadder.

We keep playing.

At one point, she zones out, looking out the window.

``What are you thinking about?'' [Nathan]

``Hmm?'' [Sarah]

She answers without really reacting.

``Sarah?'' [Nathan]

``What?'' [Sarah]

She says, confused, as she turns back the the game.

``It's your turn.'' [Nathan]

``.. Sorry..'' [Sarah]

``What were you thinking about?'' [Nathan]

``.. Just.. That night..'' [Sarah]

She mutters, a downtrodden look on her face.

``That night?'' [Nathan]

``.. You know...'' [Sarah]

``Ah.. Sorry..'' [Nathan]

She shakes her head.

``No, it's just.. It was raining that night.. Me and Sam wanted to go out and play, but Sam's mom said we should stay inside. The next morning, it was snowing.. We wanted to go out and play, but then.. Someone came and knocked on the door.. When Sam's mom came back..'' [Sarah]

Her words slowly turn to a whisper, as she pulls her knees to her chest and hug them.

``.. I miss them too Sarah.'' [Nathan]

She starts rocking back and forth, slowly.

``Dad would always come check on me when I went to sleep..'' [Sarah]

She whispers, more to herself than to me.

``He'd kiss my hair and tell me to sleep tight. Then he'd do the same to Tony, but he'd always tell him to quit it.'' [Sarah]

She starts smiling. A sad, longing smile.

``Sometimes, Emelia would come say goodnight too. She'd read us stories when Dad was too busy. She loved her stories, she had so many of them in her room.'' [Sarah]

She did have a lot of books in her room. But I never saw her reading one.

``If you want, I can buy some books and read them for you.'' [Nathan]

I gently suggest.

``Can you get one with adventures in it?'' [Sarah]

She asks, as her face lights up.

``Sure. I can get whatever you want.'' [Nathan]

I answer, a caring smile on my face, happy that she brightened up.