Chapter 42 - Till Next Time

"Beautiful …," Elliot whispered to himself. His eyes were fixed on Rania and the golden dusts that gathered all around her. The golden dusts were the particles of spiritual energies that she commanded to stop time - and so it did. She stood still in her position as they encircled her. They were all rotating in a counterclockwise direction.

It was indeed such a wonderful and magical scene - like how the planets revolve around the sun, or how the stars gathered in the Milky Way. Rania embraced herself as she basked in the warmth of the spiritual energies.

"Never in the history of Magi was there a person capable of gathering a huge amount of spiritual energy in one place," Ducis commented. "They usually use magical tools to do that - like the crystal obelisks. And for it to flow outside the body … I feel that I know something about it - but I can't remember".

"It's alright," Rania cheered him up. "If you can't remember yet, don't push yourself. It will come. What's important is that I can use magic now, and help you all!"

"Yippee!!" Luna danced in her joy. "You amaze me every time Rania! I never knew you'd be capable of doing all that!"

Rania chuckled. "Neither do I," and she shrugged her shoulders. "But it doesn't matter how it works, what matters is that I can use it right?"

"It's also important to know how it works," Elliot disagreed. "For example, let's say you have to speak in order to cast your magic, what happens then if you can't?"

"Oh yeah, that's right! There are some monsters that can silence a person," Luna added.

"If I can't speak, huh?" Rania thought for a moment. "Now that you think about it, yes, I really can't cast anything unless I speak".

Elliot nodded in agreement. "That's what I observed, too. But at least, you don't have to worry about energy depletion now."

"Yes, you're right".

Afterwards, the group practiced a bit more before they returned to the Forbidden Chamber where the other sprites were. Upon returning, they were warmly welcomed by the cute little sprites who already prepared dinner. They helped them relax themselves after a very tiring day. After resting, the sprites called for Luna and they started discussing towards each other. Rania noticed that something seemed to be troubling them, so she approached them. They were all gathered in the balcony in an attempt to hide, but their sparkling sprite dusts gave them away.

"Hello!" Rania suddenly popped out from the window and greeted them. She was pranking them since they were being secretive for the first time. Rania laughed after seeing some of them fly away in surprise. "Oops! sorry, I didn't mean to scare you all".

"Clearly, you didn't~," the plump sprite said jokingly.

"Hahaha! I'm really sorry," Rania bowed her head and put her hands together, gesturing her apology. "Well, it's your fault for gathering here secretly". Then, with a serious tone, "Is something wrong? You all look … down".

At these words, some of the sprites bawled their eyes and began crying. Rania was startled and Luna tried to calm them down.

"Why? What happened?" Rania was panicking. She always hated seeing her friends cry, and these sprites have become more than a friend to her already in the last few months that they stayed together. Her brows knitted in worry. She tried patting their tiny heads and gently giving them a nudge to calm them.

After a few minutes of crying, the little sprites finally calmed down. Luna tried explaining what happened to Rania.

"Ahm, you see, Rania … we, hmm … how do I say this?" Luna sighed. Then after breathing heavily, she continued, "We're forest sprites! And uhm, forest sprites have a duty which is to protect and cultivate the land where they were assigned. For us, that is the place where you found us, in the Forbidden Forest".

Rania's eyes widened for a moment, and shrank back as she understood where they were going. "I ... see. So that's why you're all crying?"

The sprites nodded in unison.

"Yeshhh!" one of the sprites with a snotty nose responded enthusiastically. "We love Rania, but we love the forest too!"

"And we can't abandon our duties," added the other.

"We want to spend more time with you … but -"

"- but we don't have a choice. We can't just leave the forest, it will die without us".

Luna nodded in every word they said. She was fighting off her tears from falling but she wasn't successful.

Rania tried to wipe off their tears but even she was trying to hold back hers. She didn't think it would be this soon that they'd have to part ways.

"Don't cry … 'Be strong and take heart'- that's what my father always tells me," Rania tried to cheer them up. "I will surely miss you all, but I don't want to hinder you towards your duties, yourselves, and your dreams. Go and fulfill it! I'll be okay. Afterall, I can fight now, you know?"

Sniff … sniff … sniff … The sprites tried to stop their tears, too.

"But before you go, I want to thank you all - very, very, very much! For protecting me, for being with me all this time, helping me, caring for me … I don't deserve your kindness but you were all such angels. If it weren't for you all, I'd probably be dead by now".

Rania's eyes were now crying. She couldn't hold it back anymore.

"I … sniff … I will never forget you all. I'll come over to visit! I promise!

And again, thank you very much.

Don't forget to be careful okay?

Don't let wolves catch you.

You're all smarter anyways, so use your powers to protect yourselves".

And everyone started crying again. The sprites came flying towards Rania and gave her a warm hug.

"I - I'll miss all of you …"

"We will miss you too! Waaaaa … "

And they all cried themselves that night.