In an hour or so, the effect of the(anti anesthetic) drug that was administered by Reid subsided, and he was temporarily put out of his misery. Reid thought that Abhin would wake up soon but he actually went into a comatose state, and so Edgar was once again called to check him up.

"Hey Ed, it's been a day now, are you sure things are fine?" With every tick of the clock, his heart grew nervous.

"They ought to be, mate. It is the trauma that fucked him up, wait for a few hours and he will be up on his feet, at least." Edgar consoled the worried Shura.

"Anyways, what do you think of his mana, any ideas to make it move?" The Shura decided that it would be better to consult Ed than to wait in vain and waste the time.

"Didn't ya inject some core mana from a Ningen that lead to him going boom-boom? How in the world did ya get some..." Edgar asked Reid but changed his query midway as he gained a hint, "wait a minute, was it them?"

"Yes, it was R&D. They presumably found a fossilized Ningen corpse, intact with its core. And you know how short its shelf life is, don't you?" Before Edgar could ask anything, he continued "They were also the ones who gave this errr... human to me. They'd wipe off my tabs as long as I show them some results. Besides, it is a descendant of a pseudo-immortal we are talking about. He is probably my only lead on unlocking the mysteries of death and reviving her." Reid concluded optimistically.

"Hmmm... then why did the blast occur? And his mana had gone haywire before, yet it's unhealthy still within him now. Is he a defective piece? Which species is his ancestral counterpart?"

Reid shook his head, "Neither is he related to us Shuras nor does his DNA resembles any of the well-known species I have studied, except for the Ningens of course." He said, in quite a depressing tone. Seeing his friend depressed, Edgar tried to shift the direction of this conversation.

"Ya know that every race has a trigger point in their brains, which varies from race to race. In our field of work, we can easily make mana flow within the defective kiddos by activating their triggers. Ya found a trigger point in his brain yet." The Skals were born doctors after all, so Ed would for sure have a base advantage in such topics over Reid.

"No, it seems that their species never evolved enough to use mana on their own, but they are close since they are capable of storing it. I guess a thousand more years in a mana-rich space would suffice." The Shura heavily sighed. *Hah* A thousand more years. He definitely would not live that long.

"Hahaha, those Ningens are eunuchs through and through. Even the share of genes those bastards gave is extremely small." Ed laughed heartily looking at one of the reports Reid gave him as he poked the latter to cheer his mood up.

Meanwhile, Mr. Main Character was still in his deep sleep, on a warm and cozy bed, with a pendulum clock ringing in its sonorous tone, indicating that a new hour has begun.

"By the way, are you sure this would work? I mean, you decorated my whole lab like the room where this human lived. It better be worth the trouble I went through, recreating all these earthly stuff." Charles had to roam over in the interstellar space, risking his cover, just to procure a copy of these antiques as Elipsia didn't have many artisans.

"Trust me, Charles, ya still don't know how people and emotions work. Heck, even these walls should have been painted too. Come out and socialize, ya is the one who will go bonkers at this rate." His lab still retained the metal luster, so the decorations might not be that much of a psychological help to Abhin.

"No," answered Reid bluntly. "I don't want to change this place much. She worked with me for years here. The very essence of this place must not be lost." He rebutted.

"Well, do whatever you want to. Just make sure that ya is the same guy she left behind. Or else, she might even leave ya once she comes back. Hehehe."

"You think she will come back?"

"Ya have a lead now, don'cha? Rest assured, she will(verb) if ya Will(noun)." Edgar remarked, studying Reid's expression.

** **

The human woke up with a jolt, heavily panting and gasping as if he had just woken up from a nightmare.

His heart raced vehemently. He tightly clenched his chest, probably to ease up the fear he felt against the Shura. He had not yet been aware that the thing he had been so afraid of was standing right beside him, eyeing him just like a predator eyes a prey.

"Heya, bud. Everything fine?" A heavy yet cheerful voice took Abhin by surprise, as he titled his head subconsciously, to get a look at the sound source.

But all he could see was terror. He totally ignored the goblin who had called him out earlier. Those curled-up ringed horns and that squarish oval face feigned fear within him as he was reminded of the pain he had gone through. He started suffocating as if he had forgotten how to breathe and trembled profusely as if he had a seizure.

But he still had a bit of a juice left within him, as he mustered courage, enough to not be stoned in fear and get away from there. He hurriedly tried to get on the other side of the room, but tumbled down and concomitantly broke a vase(which Reid procured through extreme means). When he reached the wall, he realized that there was no way to escape as a feeling of déjà vu hit him, and so he rushed towards a corner diagonal to the Shura and curled himself up, his hand over his head.

'Stay away'.

He tried shouting these words, but not even a squeak left his mouth. All he did was slowly tremble and watch the Shura and that Goblin near the distance between them.

"Calm ya ass down, Charles. That was just a vase." The green Goblin near him seemed to console that horrendous freak of a being. But it seemed as if his bloodlust had no way to abate, as the cosmic endeavor the Shura had gone through was squandered down the drain. Although he soon realized the base purpose of bringing that vase and soon calmed down.

"Seriously Charles, it is better if you leave us alone for a while." Edgar prompted him to leave and succeeded.

It took almost an hour to be able to make the human have his guard down. But then too it was just a monologue, as the only thing that human said was to let him go home.

"Sir Goblin, please let me go home. Please." Abhin pleaded in a low, quivering voice, worried that the Shura might hear him and come barging in, just to torment him again. (My sis called this somewhat cute. I mean how deranged do you have to be to call such a situation 'Cute'.)

Edgar flinched his eyes in frustration, " Oi, oi, kiddo. This is the fifth time I am telling ya, I ain't no filthy goblin from ya mythos*, I am a skal. S. K. A. L. skal, ya get it. It is a race that specializes in healing and not looting. If ya call me a goblin next time, that horned asshole will take the lead and not me."

***

Edgar stayed in the lab for a few more hours, but as there was not much progress and he was getting late for his duties, he decided to call it a day.

"Well, I'm off for now. Ya better eat that food I just gave ya. Although it ain't from Earth, it is far more nutritious. I might come again tomorrow if I have some time. See ya later then."

Abhin had regained some of its inner peace, but that too was suddenly lost as his heart peaked in its beating and he started heaavily panting again, for the horned man stood in front of him with a huge grin on his face. Calling him a devil's reincarnation wouldn't be a hyperbola, it seems.

"My dear Abhin..." The horrifying monotonous 'my dear Abhin' sent him shivers and that sinister grin reminded him of the nerve-bending pain he had gone through.

Seeing the situation, Edgar quickly shut him up midway, for any conversation between these two will only be detrimental to their 'relationship'.

"Yo, Charles, ma boy. Come with me outside for a while." Edgar said as he forcibly pushed the Shura away so that he does not stay within the human's vicinity.

"What in the world did ya try to pull off there? Ya almost ruined it all, asshole."

"Say, Ed, am I truly that terrifying? I even smiled this time so that the human stops running away from me. I even addressed him just like his mother did, then why?" Reid was genuinely troubled by this and asked Edgar for his opinion. (Poor Reid, life sure is hard for sociopaths)

Whether be it his naïveté or his foolishness, Edgar was so amused that he let out tears of laughter. After a minute of making fun of his friend, he realized that he had gone overboard, as the Shura stood there, pissed off and so he clarified himself.

"Pfffttt... Ya, call that a smile. Hahaha, even my ass smiles better than that, ya punk. I too would be scared shitless if ya smiled at me like that."

"Enola loved my smile, you prick."(Reid says this line) Edgar continued laughing, but seeing Reid getting melancholic, he stopped.

"Mate, I told ya to take it easy. Things will surely take a turn for good. All ya have to do is feed him for the next six days. Do nothing else, alright."

** ** **

A day soon passed, then another. Abhin didn't eat the food he was given for a whole two days(he did drink water tho), but soon the hunger he felt turned into starvation and he had no choice but to eat.

Edgar came - only when the seizures seemed unbearable - just to sedate him, as he was busy with his patients, while the only reason Reid went in his lab was to deliver some food and water to the human. So, Abhin actually had quite a lot of time to heal his psychological bruises. It took him a whole two days to just recover and another one to bring his thoughts back to the track. Although he inherently had this subconscious trust in the goblin, - or the Skal which he called himself - he very well knew that the goblin is on good terms with Reid and that he can't truly rely on him.

He still had some regular panic attacks on the third and the fourth day, but they became periodical when he reached the fifth day and before he could realize it, the sixth day came.

Edgar came in - joyous, cheerful, and unruly as always. Reid was with him, in his usual long coat attire, polishing those ringed horns he had, as he stood in the sidelines.

"Are you ready for an outing, Abhin?" Reid stopped calling him a human and started addressing him by his name. (An improvement, I see. Congo, Reid.)

Abhin too was not having major seizures seeing Reid. At a single glance, it seemed as if Edgar's idea worked.

"Heya kiddo, let me show ya The World Ahead." declared the Skal, as he straightened his posture.