Matt cast the magic spell, CALM repeatedly to Kaira over the past month.

The trauma inflicted on her is severe, the little girl just can't stop crying. Once she is tired, she sleeps and rests for a while. When she wakes up, realizing that her mom is not at her side, fuels her depression much further resulting in another bout of crying.

Little Kaira can't even eat by her lonesome.

Matt's CALM spell offered little help. Using defocus to scatter mana, then mask to misdirect Kaira's attention is the crux of this spell. The spell only subdued the emotions toiling in Kaira's heart, it's a meager band-aid that prolongs the little girl's suffering.

In the short term, this proves to be an efficient remedy to Kaira's invisible wounds.

But in the long term, Matt can only fear for the worse.

Matt's magic comprehension is high, but he lacks spellcasting training. Kaira's plight motivated him of hurrying his spell studies.

At most, Matt can now cast magic spells worth two techniques. 7 hours of practice is all it took for Matt to learn a single spell.

It should be a joyous occasion, but the red plague greatly bothers Matt.

Matt has few clues about the red plague. What he knows is that it is a disease and... that's it!

If only Kaira can gather her thoughts, but that's just too much for an eight-year-old little girl.

Kaira's mom is dead, but Kaira is not. Matt instilled these thoughts into him.

There has to be a way.

Dawn has come and Kaira is still deeply asleep. It's time for Matt to hunt for food.

...

Kaira woke up, greeted by the brilliance of the sun, she squinted her eyes.

She just had a long dream. No, it was a nightmare. The Silver Demon almost killed her, she met a stranger then...

Her mom died.

Tears slowly flowed from her eyes or so she thought. She touched her cheeks only to feel the dryness of her hands.

She stared at her hands, imagining a bunch of worms infesting them.

Death is what took her mother away.

It was not a nightmare, it was reality.

The horrors of the red plague reach far and wide. Only through her father's sacrifice that Kaira is alive today.

Kaira recalled the minute stinging pain in her shoulder, the syringe that penetrated it, and her mother's comforting voice.

Her father insisted that Kaira take the vaccine. As an exclusive historian of a consortium, Kaira's father is entitled to a lot of benefits. This includes her father's preservation of life.

Sadly, it doesn't include Kaira's and her mother's life. Not a year has passed until they escaped the red plague. Her father remained with the consortium to ensure their escape.

And not a month after that, Kaira's mom has fallen ill.

Thanks to Kaira's mother's druidic knowledge, they were able to scrape by as they hide and live their lives in these forests.

But when Kaira's mom fell sick, scraping by became a mission— Kaira's mission.

Kaira can't remember clearly when it started; when her mom started ignoring her. She thought that her mom is just tired and simply needs rest.

But... It wasn't that.

Kaira was gravely mistaken.

Her mom was already dead at that time. DEAD!

A steel knife of relative sharpness found its way to Kaira's hands. If it is death that requires her reunion with her family, then it shall be!

Her slim arms raised the knife with ease. She aimed it at her neck, then decisively drove the knife with fury.

Kaira hates herself with a vengeance.

Why did this happen to me?

What did I do wrong?

Blood splattered as the knife meet her soft skin. The pain made Kaira flinch resulting in her strike faltering at the last second.

She can feel her life slowly escape her being as death leisurely torment her.

Darkness enveloped her as the coldness seep into her very bones.

Faint memories of her father and mother lingered in her mind.

Mom... Dad...

Death offers recompense from the hardship of life. It gives peace and a sense of comfort. The sensation of pain that courses through Kaira's nerves are merely the last of such hardship, for today she bids farewell to life.

Kaira closed her eyes with no regrets, an eight-year-old seeking death is not an uncommon thing here in the world of Aetherius.

...

Matt is new to hunting, but with his nifty magic tricks, he was able to make do and catch a rabbit as his boon.

For the past few days, Matt is getting the hang of it allowing him better results today. It only took Matt less than a minute to return to the little hut.

From a distance, Matt can see the little mound beside the hut. The protruding hill with a sizable stone on top of it serves as a marker, with it carved are Kaira's mother's name— Maria.

Matt doesn't know her surname, but that's the best he can do for now. Matt learned her name through a journal he found after some sleuthing. It's rude but necessary.

The red plague was mentioned in the journal several times. Aside from its pandemic properties, it is what it is from what Matt can observe from Maria's corpse in comparison to the recounts in Maria's journal. Conveniently, it was written in English, colloquially known as the old tongue in the current era.

"Summer Dawn, Day 12, Year 712—

The red plague came all of a sudden. The consortium quarantined the Iron City with haste especially restricting the immigrants. My husband said we will be fine given that the consortium is placing strong importance on him, so for now, our safety can be guaranteed."

"Summer Light, Day 32, Year 712—

We came to the Iron City with the hopes of changing our lives. My husband easily gained a favorable impression from the consortium higher-ups. Still, my and our daughter's status as immigrants is hardly improving. I worry that my husband will abandon us."

"Summer Dusk, Day 2, Year 712—

My husband has been missing since the 37th of Summer Light. He will never abandon us. I doubted him at first, but after performing some divination, it made me certain. He will never abandon us."

"Fall Red, Day 7, Year 712—

My husband came sneaking that night. I can still remember the fear in his voice. He explained worrying stuff to me... dangerous even... The consortium has eyes on him, and dangerous designs for his research. I know my husband very well, and that damnable research might as well be his mistress... I am not jealous though, for I know— its contents are too world-shaking!"

"Fall Blue, Day 27, Year 712—

I caught the red plague, the pandemic was supposed to be contained, but some desperate folks have broken through the quarantine. I fear for my daughter. I was able to alleviate its symptoms through magic, but it's not enough. I told my husband through our secret communications of my plight. Connor should take our daughter for her safety."

"Fall Blue, Day 30, Year 712—

My husband came, injected our daughter with an antidote from the red plague, and said that it will help her. Connor said that he can't take our daughter to the consortium, it's too dangerous. I know where he is coming from, but... this? I hate you, Connor."

Matt gained some insights from the journal except the worrying implications of the consortium's involvement or whatever that is.., Additionally, Matt learned of what year it is today. Though honestly, Matt isn't sure how far is year 712 exactly.

Sigh... Matt found the journal in a well-hidden contraption. If not for Matt's magic spell, DETECT, he wouldn't find it. The journal was hidden quite perfectly.

This means Kaira doesn't know the existence of this journal. Matt is reluctant to share it with her for obvious reasons.

Matt opened the limply dangling door with care afraid that it might suddenly break.

And there she is...covered in blood. Her thin arms still held on to the knife while blood gushed from her neck.

Little Kaira committed suicide. But not all is lost, Matt comforted himself with this thought.

Matt made his mana cry, slinging spells one after another.

CALM to deescalate Kaira's intense emotions and blood flow. While at it, Matt gently used his telekinesis to pry the knife from little Kaira.

Then next is DETECT using focus and analysis with finesse, Matt displayed his exemplary magic techniques, allowing him to feel the severed veins and arteries.

It's a mortal wound alright! But Matt didn't panic.

Matt cast REGENERATE using the magic techniques: synthesis and release, the severed veins and arteries healed with the help of amped cell productivity.

If Matt didn't cast DETECT beforehand, Kaira would have died from suffocating in her own blood. Matt's decision-making is exact and decisive.

Matt advanced, walking in stride. He took Kaira by his arms and then cast REGENERATE once again. The visible cut receded at Matt's beckoning.

Worry still remains in Matt's eyes. He feels scared for this child.

...

Dusk came as Matt forlornly watches the retreating rays of the sun. He hardly ate today for the worries in his mind keep on bothering him.

He knows too little of this current world. The idea of returning to that stony petrified form furthers his fear of the word 'change'.

Len will change, like the way he is today. This is certain. It's not just time that changed Matt, for he is aware— that his very perspectives have undergone immense alteration after his petrification experience.

That little girl Kaira reminds Matt of the little humanity he has left. Yes, Matt doesn't feel human anymore, a scary thought that fuels Matt's desire of protecting little Kaira.

Something is wrong with Matt. Something he is aware of but doesn't bother why? Maybe because Matt has something far more urgent to worry about. Ignorance is bliss, they say, something that Matt is strongly aware of.

Matt watched the sleeping Kaira, her scar is already a blemish of a darker shade instead of scabs. Magic is truly a miraculous thing. It makes Matt wonder why it has to be kept a secret back in his era.

Is it for the monopolization of power? Or something else?

An idle mind breeds evil thoughts, his mentor usually says. So Matt busied himself, working himself to the bones as he experiment with his magic spells throughout the night.

At some point, his hunger took over his concentration forcing him to eat the now slightly hardened rabbit. It's as if Matt is punishing himself.

In the dead of the night, a lonely man slowly roasted a rabbit over a bonfire. It was a starless night, filled with horrible sadness that seems to overflow at any minute.

Matt bit his lip confirming that he can still feel pain. His eyes squinted, imagining his reflection in the flames.

He was in a daze. As if the devil itself possessed him, he made the flames wrought its destructive malice.