She was turning her head and stopped.
The two former friends locked eyes. Oscar's eyes were conflicted, while Isabella's were detached and indifferent.
"Have you seen Gilbert?" The amber-haired idol asked.
Oscar did not reply immediately but felt aggrieved. She was talking with him only for the sake of Gilbert. In the end, what hope did he cling to that they could still be friends?
"Last I saw him, he was searching for the princess." Oscar flatly stated.
Isabella's face contorted in a mix of unwillingness, anger, and jealousy. Although she enjoyed her time with Gilbert on missions and activities, she wanted him all to herself.
She could handle the others, but the princess was a major concern.
Irritated, she was about to turn and leave when Oscar stopped her and asked, "How have you been?"
Isabella stared back into Oscar's obsidian black eyes. Her fiery red eyes gleamed, and she said, "I told you not to associate yourself with me."
"I know, and frankly, I see that it's pointless to try. But I wanted to say this. At the very least, send some letters to Uncle Carlson; he's worried about you." Oscar said with emotion and strength in his tone. This was not something he wanted to back down on.
"No." Isabella said coldly.
"He's your father. Being an Exalt doesn't mean you have to abandon your family." Oscar said through clenched teeth.
"There's nothing for me there. I am moving forward, unlike my mother. I suggest you do the same." Isabella turned and began to leave.
"You!" Oscar tried to grab her shoulder, but a fiery red Ein exploded out and made him retreat.
Isabella's Ein surged from within her, the power of a Greater Apprentice Exalt. She looked at Oscar in indifference, and a lofty air surrounded her.
"I'm giving you this advice now. If you allow yourself to be held back by people who cannot prop or support you up, they're worthless."
"Don't you dare call Uncle Carlson and my family worthless!" Oscar yelled, garnering the attention of a few who were passing by.
Isabella, who didn't like people seeing her with Oscar, backed down and quelled her Ein. She didn't speak further to Oscar but left without looking back.
"...."
Oscar looked calm, but inside he was furious. Anger burned in his heart, unlike any he had felt before. But slowly, under meditation, he calmed himself down.
"If the day ever comes when you feel regret for your words and actions, I don't even want to be there to console you."
With that, Oscar left for the port. The familiar sight of the circular landing disks connected by innumerable golden stairs made Oscar recall when he first arrived.
"It's been a long year…."
So much has happened in this past year. He met Frederick and Emily and went on missions together, fought for his life against Greg and barely lived thanks to the Night Raptor's blood, and read books in the library with the princess of all people.
Oscar could go forever about everything that happened. But his time of nostalgia was cut short with the loud blow of a horn.
In his sights, a large airship landed on the platform. Its golden wood surface was gleaming in the sunlight, and its large turbines spun swiftly, rousing the wind around it.
"All aboard!"
The captain stepped onto the deck and peered over the landing platform, calling for passengers. His large hat somehow stayed still despite the fierce wind. The crew was hard at work. Although the ship ran on Ein, they still needed to maintain it.
Oscar glanced back at the large majestic palaces of the Blue Ocean Pavilion. His thoughts turned to Frederick and Emily, full of worry.
"Don't do anything rash, Emily. Fred, I'll hope you'll be safe."
With the promise in his whispers that fell into the wind, Oscar stepped on board.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The crewmates welcomed him and guided him to his accommodations. His room was quite sizeable, with a good view outside.
Oscar quickly settled in and sat on the bed, finally relaxing after the nonstop morning of meetings.
"Is there anything you need?" A crewmate asked.
"Do you have any books on the Hurin plains? Or just any books in general?" Oscar asked with a smile. The only way to pass the time was to read as much as he wanted.
"Of course, I will bring them to you immediately." The crewmate closed the door to give Oscar privacy while he left to fetch the books.
Feeling a wave of exhaustion, Oscar laid down on the bed and fell asleep. Perhaps some time away from the Pavilion would help alleviate his nightmares.
…….
Days went by; Oscar had gotten familiar with the airship and its crew members. The other passengers held up in their rooms to continue their earnest desire to advance, but Oscar's focus was not on that.
He decided to journey here to train his Anima, not himself. Of course, he was still using Ein meditation but not as extensive. Every other moment in the room focused on manifesting his deer for as long as possible.
The other reason was that Oscar wanted to talk. The crew members of the airship journey from place to place, region to region. They all had fantastic tales to tell, which piqued Oscar's interest.
"So then, in the storm's fury, we glided through as the fierce winds and hail hammered down every inch of the ship. From up to down, right to the left, we couldn't make heads or tails of where we were going."
Oscar was absorbed in a story that one old crew member was retelling.
"Couldn't you make it through as Exalts?" Oscar asked.
"Nay, nature is the fiercest enemy. We'd have to be at least Marshal Exalts to attempt changing nature itself. Though this storm was something else, I don't think even a Marshal Exalt could stop it." The crew member stroked his shaggy beard with a serious look.
"We would have been split apart into rubble and probably dead if not for our luck. Suddenly, the winds died, and the sunlight shone brightly on us. It was the eye of the storm. The land was torn around us, and the skies were black with storm clouds. But the place we were at was peaceful and beautiful."
"Up above, the two suns shined brightly through the clear hole in the mass of black clouds. Rainbow rings surrounded them as if saying we were safe."
"Amazing!" Oscar exclaimed.
"If you become a powerful Exalt, try flying through the storm and reach its center. I promise it's breathtaking, and you won't regret it." The crew member smirked and bid Oscar farewell. It was almost time for his shift to begin.
Oscar gazed at the sky toward the white clouds drifting in the blue ocean sky. One day, he hoped to see the same view the old crew member did.
But enough of dreaming, Oscar clasped his cheeks to regain focus.
Back in his room, Oscar summoned his deer anima.
After a few days of constant summoning, he had gotten used to manifesting it in a short time without much buildup. The problem came with maintaining it. Every second the deer anima is out meant Ein is being used.
After a while, Oscar reached his limits. The deer anima would drain him in a real fight where he would use spells and other Ein attacks. Thank god the battle against Greg wasn't that long and ended in a single moment.
The deer anima trotted around the room before settling near Oscar in a resting position.
"Efficiency. I need to be more efficient with my Ein." Oscar tapped his feet in thought. He reviewed the books on Anima repeatedly, and all it said was that Anima needed a certain amount of Ein or else it would no longer manifest.
"Am I feeding it too much?" Oscar had an idea.
Little by little, he lowered the Ein he used to maintain his deer anima in the physical world.
The deer anima yelped but stopped after understanding Oscar's thoughts.
Oscar concentrated and took out more Ein until the deer anima started to crack and fall apart. It shouted to catch Oscar's attention.
"This is our limit? Not bad. It's about half of our normal usage. But it's hard to keep track." It required a larger amount of Ein to manifest the Anima initially, so settling it down to minimal levels was like breaking a bad habit.
"Let's try it again." Oscar's deer anima came out again, and Oscar quickly quelled his Ein levels. His face was tense as he tried to get to the exact level before the deer crumbled.
But he overshot and fell too far below. The deer anima helplessly cracked apart again. The backlash of his Anima breaking made Oscar feel pain in his chest.
"Shit!" Oscar slammed the bed in frustration.
KNOCK KNOCK
"Come in." Oscar calmed himself down before answering the door.
A crew member came in and said, "We will arrive in thirty minutes. Please pack up and be ready."
"Thank you."
Leaving aside the failure of his Anima manifestation training, Oscar tidied the room and packed up his things. The crew was gracious enough to let him keep the books, so he put those in his bag.
"If only I had the space pocket. Everything would be so much simpler." But that cost an excessive amount of points that Oscar thought were impossible to obtain.
Out onto the deck, there were the other passengers. Oscar did not recognize any of them, but they all wore the uniforms of the Blue Ocean Pavilion.
They stared weirdly at Oscar because he wore simple brown trousers and a white shirt. As a student of the Pavilion, shouldn't one take pride and wear their uniforms?
"They're too naive." Oscar mumbled.
The Pavilion was powerful, but it was not without its enemies. In the Abyss Prison, Oscar saw firsthand people who killed other students and criminals who opposed the Pavilion. Simply being a student isn't a deterrent; it may even be like wearing a suit of raw meat in a beast's cave.
'If I wear the uniform without the proper strength to back myself up, then it's plunging myself in danger. In the stories, everyone travels without attracting attention. Pride? That's nothing but an empty boast. In the end, surviving and living should be the priority.'
"We've arrived!" The captain shouted as the airship descended and slowed down.
Finally, the airship docked at a station in a port.
Oscar saw a great city with bustling activity. The people below were many and all over. Streams of people poured in and out of various buildings. Markets were crowded with shoppers and shopkeepers yelling over each other.
To his side was a large grassland stretching far from end to end of the horizons and more.
The Hurin Plains.
Oscar's goal and purpose were these plains.
"Step off. Welcome to Tufall City."
The captain and crew bid them farewell. A good number of the workers winked at Oscar and gave him a thumbs up for good luck.
Oscar smiled back and waved goodbye.
"Tufall City, here I come!"