"What should I do now…?"
I was lost.
Lianne was gone.
I didn't know what to do now.
"She'll be fine, Ray. I hope she will be."
She patched up Taeyang's abdomen.
"Entering inside the deep limbo is not possible for us spirits. It's something no being less than a God can even attempt to do since it involves the complexities of the soulframe."
"But I had gone there and…"
She looked at me as I spoke.
"I came back." My mind tried to imagine the scenario I had seen there.
"You must have dreamt it, Ray. There is no way you could have entered that space and returned alone."
She put her hand inside her pocket and took out something.
"And the way I see it, even a God would hesitate before entering your soulframe; the mess it is in…probably only Destiny knows how to fix it."
She took a pause before completing.
"And the reason behind it's poor condition."
She handed me a location on a digital card.
"It's from this boy's memories.
Go there and meet John Elton."
"John Elton…? JOHN ELTON!"
I had completely forgotten about him.
"Do not panic, Ray. My partner is currently monitoring him."
I sat back down again. I felt oddly calm.
She smiled. "It's the power of my herbs. I usually burn incense when I'm using my art."
She pointed at a lighted agarwood stick.
"It calms the nerves, doesn't it?"
"..."
"You're worrying about John Elton?"
"Yeah…Why exactly is he in danger? What is going to happen now? I just don't know…"
She put her hand on my thigh again.
It calmed me a little.
"This boy discovered something. John Elton was involved in the biomechanic cyberware program. He quit after he lost his pregnant wife to a terrorist attack."
My eyes tore out of its sockets.
"You should go and meet with him. You'll see what he plans to do tonight."
"I…" I felt restless.
Lily sighed and then said.
"Give me your hand."
I gave it to her without questioning. There was no point in trying to resist.
"I, Lily, solemnly swear to take care of this human named Ray Astraeus till he manages to find his system codenamed Lianne again."
A yellow vine sprang out of her arms and latched itself onto me.
"This is a spirit contract. I have one-sidedly placed it on you, but the terms aren't too bad for you so don't worry."
She also put something in my hand.
I opened my palm to see what it was.
It was the earring that I had stolen from Belford's son.
"It was broken, so I fixed it." Lily told me.
"I…I…what do I need to do to repay this favor…?"
She smiled again. "Never betray my Partner and Stacy."
…
..
.
I left the shop after Lily remade my clothes. They were completely burnt and Lily fixed them with her spirit powers. It was embarrassing sitting naked in front of her but I didn't feel uncomfortable.
Slowly, I started walking towards the place where John Elton lived.
'Lianne…can you hear me?'
No one replied.
I tried to open my screen.
Nothing happened.
"How will I keep in touch with the Trials this way…?"
Hah…I had to calm down.
Lily told me that others didn't use a screen like me but directly read the divine messages themselves. The fact that I had to learn how to do that was already a setback for me but there was no other option for now.
Lily had also warned me not to use my active skill mana manipulation unless my life was seriously at risk.
As for the rest of my skills, none of them would be working for now.
My body had healed and I felt healthy but…
I didn't know how to do things without Lianne. This is the second time I was trying to do things by myself.
John Elton's house was about an hour walk from where I was right now but I didn't hurry.
I felt like I needed this small break or I'd regret it.
Soon, I came across the place where I had fought. The place was empty. Not a single person, dead or alive could be seen.
'Did someone clean this place up?'
I touched the grass.
'It still smells like it had burnt some time ago but it looks green without any sign of fire or destruction.'
It was as if the fight had never taken place.
Getting up, I started walking again but soon a car came up and stopped beside me.
The window slid down and a lady wearing dark shades greeted me. Her hair was blonde and the gloves she was wearing to drive the car looked normal at first but on closer inspection, I noticed they completely covered her arms like sleeves.
"Hello young man. Are you from around here?"
She was wearing an ebony suit and the car she was driving also had the same black shiny color.
"Uh no, I was just passing by."
"Ah! You must be Saint Ray Astraeus."
Suddenly she called me by my name.
"I saw your fight, it was impressive. "
With my mind now relatively stable, I felt capable of smiling normally again, so that's what I did.
I smiled softly without showing any signs of surprise.
"I was surprised when I saw you fight Belford's son, he's one of the top ten ranking elementalists in Ishiyama under the age of 18. You're very powerful for a young saint."
She tried to make small talk but I didn't contribute back to the conversation.
"So where are you going?" She asked me, trying to open my mouth by asking a question.
The question in itself was pretty harmless.
However, if I thought about it…
An unknown shady woman in a car asking a stranger where he's going at a place where he just fought.
Yeah…right.
"Is there somewhere you want to go? I can drop you off in my car."
She didn't ask me about my past, who I was or where I came from.
Was she trying not to alert me but slowly make me open up to her?
"No I am not going anywhere in particular really. I left the academy a while ago and I was just wandering around here when I heard some loud noises."
Did she see me fight the gang members? If she did, then why is she pretending that she didn't?
Is she assessing to what extent I could be lying?
Who is she and why is she here?
"Ah, I was out on an inspection too, you see. We received reports that there were multiple explosions recorded in this area."