Crowded by these many people, the old house seems even shabbier.
The five of them sit around a piece of furniture that can barely be used as a table. The awkwardness surrounds them like a naughty bird.
Ms. Sherjah: Thank you so much for your understanding, Mr. Sharma and Ms. Bouanich.
Shamane: Ah, please, Madam. You have my admiration for voluntarily taking care of these kids. Besides, technically speaking, this room doesn't belong to me anymore ...
Shamane: ... but to my sister, Kumar. I wish I could leave the house to you for future use.
He gestures for Kaalaa Baunaa.
Shamane: But you heard what the lady said—I don't even know if the house will survive the meteor.
This is probably not the best time for a sense of humor. Everyone in the room falls into silence. The coming crisis makes them heavy in mind.
They sit on the dusted ground. Shamane magically takes out several ceramic cups from his luggage.
Shamane: This is the latest batch of Darjeeling tea. Some locals gave it to me when I went across their village. Ah, careful. It's hot.
He touches a cup to feel its temperature and passes out the cups one by one.
Matilda snatches Kanjira's cup angrily.
Matilda: You two are in it together? You've been lying to me all this time?!
Kanjira: Hey, quiet before Ms. Sherjah.
Kanjira: You don't lose anything, my lady. Please forgive me, will you? Now pass me cookies! I need fill my belly and get to work!
Kaalaa Baunaa: My apologies, Ms. Sherjah. I know this is totally out of the blue.
Kaalaa Baunaa takes out her files again. She has carefully prepared herself to persuade the others.
Kaalaa Baunaa: And the details are yet to be verified, but our valuable time is running out. The last thing we should do is keep on waiting.
Ms. Sherjah: Emm.
Her gaze sweeps the difficult and obscure data and words.
Ms. Sherjah: Kaalaa Baunaa.
Her face suddenly brightens up.
Ms. Sherjah: My! I think I know this name! I've read the paper co-authored by you and Professor Himani.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Huh? You've read my paper?
Ms. Sherjah: Emm, yeah! I'm studying in a public university in Chandigarh. I get to learn a lot of new stuff there.
Ms. Sherjah: I had a whim to study astronomy before, and I remember reading it in a periodical.
She gesticulates at the papers.
Ms. Sherjah: Yes, I'm sure it's the same name.
Ms. Sherjah: This part and this part! I've read them in your paper, but emm, this one on the side, I don't know anything like it.
Kaalaa Baunaa: It's okay. That one involves the knowledge of arcanum.
Kaalaa Baunaa relaxes a bit.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Anyway, this is good news—no, great news. So what are you doing in Mor Pankh?
Ms. Sherjah: Oh, I take care of the kids here in my spare time. Most of them are humans, but there are arcanists, too.
Kanjira: ...
Kaalaa Baunaa: I see.
Ms. Sherjah: So, what are you going to do now?
Her question contains both confusion and worry.
Ms. Sherjah: I know the top priority is to evacuate the villagers, but we don't have much time since the Dīpa Festival will start in less than four days. Besides, things are complicated in this village.
She frowns at the thought. This could be tricky.
Ms. Sherjah: Most of them, including me, had moved to Chandigarh.
Ms. Sherjah: And the rest of them ... sighs
Kaalaa Baunaa: ...
Kaalaa Baunaa: I've heard about that on the way here.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Most villagers are reluctant to leave, no matter what I say. I tried by starting with those young arcanists, but shame! It didn't work at all.
Kaalaa Baunaa: The silver lining is, we have the helping hand of Ms. Bouanich. She will try to make contact with the Foundation as soon as possible. But we still need to evacuate every villager we can.
Ms. Sherjah: ...
Kaalaa Baunaa: We know almost nothing about Kumar's plan now, not to mention her whereabouts or purpose.
The ice has been broken between them, but their moods have not yet lightened.
Shamane: Relax. For now, we have two solutions to the problem.
Shamane raises both of his hands, palms up.
Shamane: First, let's find my clever, evil sister so that our astronomer friend can figure out a way to stop the meteor. Or, spread the word and tell everyone to take the earliest train and leave the impact area!
Shamane: It's hard to be optimistic given the situation, but at least there is something we can do to reduce the damage.
Shamane: But if we continue to sit around waiting, the situation will only worsen. Come, let's think.
Bushes and weeds grow throughout the yard. Matilda finds a relatively open area, taking out a silver device from her pocket with great caution.
Sherjah and Kanjira, the two people who are most familiar with the village, have set out to evacuate the villagers. Inside the house, Shamane and Kaalaa Baunaa are turning the room into a cloud of dust to find any possible clues about Kumar.
The only quiet place left for Matilda to perform her duty as "Foundation investigator" is this long-deserted yard.
Matilda: Great! It finally comes in handy.
SPF-I: SPF-Ⅰ Portable Contact Device activated. Welcome.
SPF-I: Arcane skill verification activated. Please make sure you are not equipped with any wands. Read out the random incantation displayed on the screen clearly. Make sure your tone remains stable.
Matilda: Ahem, Fuego Burn.
SPF-I: Verification success. Registered user: Matilda Bouanich. Access level: D.
SPF-I: No abnormal arcane skill fluctuation detected in the area so far. Level D access only supports Quick Report.
Matilda: Hmm? Insufficient access?! The description says ... Ah, so only an investigator can request backup through this system.
Matilda: So what's the point of carrying it around all along? I thought it would be useful for emergencies.
Matilda: No. Does this mean I will miss the opportunity to study the celestial energy, plus blow my chance to capture the Manus?
Matilda: The reception is terrible here. How am I going to get in touch with the Foundation!
Shamane: Oh, that doesn't sound like any progress with her.
Shamane: And what I have here is only books! Books and books and books. Nothing else!
Shamane: "Calf Feeding and Management" ... Is my sister really an astronomer? Was I mistaken about anything?
Shamane: Hey, Matilda! If you like, there should be the last two pieces of Plera-J on the table! Remember to have them with tea, or it's going to hurt your throat and ruin your beautiful voice.
Shamane: Kanjira was ecstatic about those cookies. She even took three pieces with her when she left. sighs I hope that kind human girl will get to the train station safely with those kids.
Shamane: Now, let's take a look at you. What are you doing?
Shamane: Is this the stone Kumar left to you?
Kaalaa Baunaa carefully parts the stone. An idol emerges from it.
Shamane: Vishnu?
Kaalaa Baunaa: Brahma creates, Shiva exterminates, and Vishnu safeguards the balance of the world, lying on the Ocean of Stars.
Kaalaa Baunaa: ...
Kaalaa Baunaa: According to the materials ... Well, maybe I should explain it with mythologies for non-researchers.
Kaalaa Baunaa: They mentioned three idols, but Vishnu's is the only one left, so she must have taken the other two. Perhaps it's proof that Kumar abandoned the path of maintaining the balance in the first place.
Kaalaa Baunaa: That mural there ... She said the mythology on it has been passed down in her family.
Shamane: sighs That's true. I've recited that story at least 20 times, but the part on the mural, to be honest, it feels so out of place to me.
Shamane: It was more like foisted into those well-known myths, like, emm, a pair of ox horns on a horse's head.
The comparison brings a smile to Kaalaa Baunaa's face. But she shakes her head.
Kaalaa Baunaa: An unusual metaphor. But actually, it plays a significant part in connecting all the mythologies we know.
Kaalaa Baunaa: These mythologies are the primary material of our research. We've been trying to prove human science with basic arcanum theory.
Kaalaa Baunaa: In fact, there is a connection between them, and they can support each other.
She sighs.
Kaalaa Baunaa: If arcanists and humans could get along, I suppose the world would have developed faster than it does now.
Sensing Shamane's confusion, Kaalaa Baunaa pauses to reorganize her language.
Kaalaa Baunaa: It's not easy to explain it through, but in short, there is another universe in the shape of an egg affecting reality. We call it the Meditator's Realm.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Just like our daily dreams, you can enter it once you fall asleep, but that's not how we do it. We connect part of our Gnosis with the Realm through a special kind of meditation.
Kaalaa Baunaa: It's not as easy as it sounds. One needs to either master the meditation skills like we do or use a special medium as an anchor.
She raises her hand, showing the Vishnu idol to them.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Some mythologies are the original translation of the Realm. An existence that cannot be observed through the methods in this world can be located as long as it is included in mythology. That's how we located that star.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Sadly, if we can't prove its existence with data recorded by human technology, our discovery is useless.
Shamane: I'm surprised. For all this time, she has never given up on studying the old arcanum tale of our family.
Kaalaa Baunaa: You can even say she's fanatic about it. It's just ...
Kaalaa Baunaa frowns.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Indeed, we can do a lot of supernatural things in the Realm. If your mind is calm or your anchor is strong enough, you can even do whatever you want. But it's limited inside there.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Remember I said it's like our daily dreams? Just think of it as a controllable one. Everything in the Realm is created based on reality. In other words, it's nothing but a "mirror," and the images in a mirror can never affect reality.
Kaalaa Baunaa: It's impossible to bring anything into the Realm, not to mention taking anything out.
Kaalaa Baunaa: But the statues in the cave actually exist in this world. They are tangible.
Kaalaa Baunaa: That means she's gone much further than I do. She mastered a method I'm not aware of. What bewilders me is her arcane skill. How did she do that if not for the Manus's help?
Shamane: Oh, c'mon, she also knows that cave a lot better than I do, right?
Shamane goes to the book pile on the other side of the room and casually opens the Underground Survival Guide on top.
Shamane: We never hung out much. How long did she stay in the village on her last visit? A month maybe, or two weeks? I'm not sure. I even crushed her glasses by accidentally sitting on them. Those are the same glasses you have on your belt.
Shamane: At that time, I thought she was a distant relative I don't know of. After all, it's rare to meet someone so clever and open-minded in this village. I even lent this room to her. sighs This was my secret basement, you know!
Shamane: But only after we parted did my father tell me that she's my sister—the daughter they sent away for lack of arcanum talent!
Kaalaa Baunaa: I do remember those days roughly. Back then, I couldn't find her in the institution. I was all alone for a long time.
Shamane: What happened to her has inevitably affected me. I grew more and more rebellious against the family rules.
Shamane: It's like a story full of cliches: giving up the training, refusing to listen to my father, skipping all the practice I could possibly avoid. I didn't want to be the blockhead hedged by the so-called "family heritage"!
Shamane: Of course, at the end of the story, I paid my price for breaking away.
He raises the rough prosthesis and stops turning the pages.
Shamane: But I think, for her, it is even harder to break free.
He gently takes out a photo from the book.
Kaalaa Baunaa: ...
Shamane: I guess her plan is to "invite" me over to this dump full of bad memories, and "Swoosh ... BOOM!" Smash all the annoyances with a star.
Shamane: Hmm. That's a solemn ending! Pity the ones she hates are all gone now.
Kaalaa Baunaa takes the photo from him.
Shamane: But, how come you're invited, too? Did you upset her as well?
Kaalaa Baunaa: Hmm. That's a good point. Hatred could be the most likely reason.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Actually, we didn't get along well after we left the university.
Kaalaa Baunaa touches the girl in the photo with her fingertip.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Ever since our identities as arcanists were exposed, we couldn't stay in the institution anymore. That's also the beginning of our disagreement.
Kaalaa Baunaa: I always thought that, on the way to proving myself, ourselves, we were each other's only friend and best partner. How could I finish my study in campus full of humans without her?
The small idol in her palm is a bit cool to the touch.
Kaalaa Baunaa: But then my mind was changed.
Her voice lowers.
Kaalaa Baunaa: I wouldn't have connected Kumar with Manus Vindictae, if Himani's words were all I heard.
Kaalaa Baunaa: But I know that was not the first time they made contact.
Shamane: You mean ...
Kaalaa Baunaa: Yes. I don't know the reason, but the Manus has contacted her long ago. She gave them the cold shoulder at the time, but I knew something inside her had changed.
Kaalaa Baunaa: Soon after that, she left me, taking all the materials with her.
Shamane: ...
Kaalaa Baunaa: I know the only thing I can do to meet her again is keep walking on the way to study that celestial body. That will lead me to her one day.
Kaalaa Baunaa: As I said, we could frequently feel the existence of each other from the changes of the celestial body, but she could always find more information than I do, because the traces left by arcanum are more obvious than those left by science.
Kaalaa Baunaa: This connection between us conveyed my belief to her that one day we would meet again as colleagues.
Kaalaa Baunaa: I just didn't expect that this would be the final outcome of my observation ...
Kaalaa Baunaa: ... or that we would end up on the opposite sides.
Shamane: Emm.
Shamane: Can there be any lamer stories to tell than these two?
Kaalaa Baunaa: For now, we can't find more clues in her house. Maybe we should go to the shrine again? How much do you remember the myth of your family? As I just said, that was the primary material of our study.
Matilda: Ah-ha! A geeenius you are, Matilda!
Shamane: Hahaha, running and jumping around with hot tea. I sure know the fun within.
Shamane: But at my age, with the benefit of hindsight, I have to tell you to be careful. You might get burned by the tea.
Matilda: No, no! It's the spice! The spice in the tea!
Shamane: More spice to it? Hmm. I do have a dozen kinds of different spices with me. Looks like you are very used to them in tea.
Matilda: Exactly, these spices!
Matilda pats herself on the chest proudly.
Matilda: Now it's time for Matilda to show you her best shot!
Matilda: The orb, cumin ... Oh! You also have clove blossom here! Fantastic.
Kaalaa Baunaa picks up a transparent blue crystal to look at it.
Kaalaa Baunaa: The crystal divination. I've spent too much time in the human world to remember the convenience of arcanum.
Matilda: If I can foresee any sign about Kumar, our problem will be ended!
Matilda: With the help of the great Matilda, of course!
Matilda: Hmm, okay, take a deep breath, give me your hands, rest them on top of mine. Yes, like that.
Matilda: Now, think of Kumar in your head.
Kaalaa Baunaa: ...
Shamane: ...
Matilda: ...?
Matilda: Odd ...
Kaalaa Baunaa: ...!
Shamane: ...?
Matilda: What, what is this? Is that the train station?
Instead of showing the sign as usual, the fog in the orb grows unexpectedly. It surges and gathers into a mass of black slime.
Matilda: ...!
Matilda: There are ...
Matilda snaps open her eyes.
Matilda: The Manus already reached Mor Pankh?!
