Lost Fantasy-The Flowers of Stelis (Arc 2) [Hiatus]

Chapter 24

In his dorm suite, Loganel sat on the living room couch adjacent to Mistivera. It was quite early in the day, with the sun still hanging high up in the sky, slightly passed the midday mark. Despite this, the temperature remained quite low with winter tightening its wrath on the world, rendering the trees leafless and bald.
 
"Tonight is the night," Mistivera said with her legs crossed before her and arms crossed before her arms. With troubled eyes, she gazed at the coffee table before her, careful to avoid looking over at Loganel's face.

"Yeah...Hopefully it all works out." Loganel replied. He occasionally sneaked a peek at Mistivera's face, but found that she continuously stared at the coffee table. "You look kinda tired. Did you not sleep well last night?"

Upon hearing Loganel's voice, Mistivera's body slightly responded to that stimulus. However, she did her best to conceal such reaction from her part to conceal her wavering mental state. "No...it's not that," she said.

At that moment, Mistivera sensed the presence of multiple people outside the door. She immediately looked up in caution, staring at the door towards the dorm suite. She kept quiet and continued to listen in order to determine whether it was enemy or foe on the other side of the door.

"Shh," she hushed Loganel. "Someone's outside."

Loganel held his breath at this sudden sign of heightened awareness. He could sense a strange flow of Mana flowing from Mistivera's body that slowly seeped into the air within the dorm suite. Her Mana gave off a warm feeling, quite pleasant to be more exact, and it gave Loganel a mysterious calming effect. Almost like the most intoxicating alcohol, it captivated Loganel's mind. However, he utilized his strong mentality to power through the effects of her Mana and remained on alert alongside Mistivera.

"Iry?"

Loganel heard a familiar voice say from the other side of the door.

"Iry..." Loganel focused. He then got up from the couch, making his way over towards the door.

Mistivera looked over at him with a look of uncertainty, but Loganel waved her off with a gentle smile, conveying to her the message that the group outside was no enemy.

Loganel opened the door and revealed the two girls that he had expected to be present after he had heard Azura's voice say Iry's name a bit earlier. However, the two older looking individuals behind them caught him off guard, but Loganel maintained his composure and remained calm in this encounter.

"Iry, Azura," Loganel smiled gently as he greeted the two. However, that gentle smile of his soon became a frown as he realized the slight redness and tears in Iry's eyes. "What's wrong?"

Iry slowly moved her hands toward the empty sleeve of the sweater that Loganel was wearing, ignoring the fact that she had heard the voice of a female within Loganel's dorm a few moments earlier. At that moment, what was the most important to her was the boy before her and the boy's missing arm.

Azura reached out a hand towards Loganel but Iry grabbed hold of the empty sleeve first until the empty sleeve was crushed, causing Azura to slowly retract her outreached hand back towards her frail body. As for Azura, despite the fact that she grabbed hold of Loganel's sleeve tightly, she still felt no sign of any flesh or bones underneath. This burned the reality of Loganel's injury into her mind, causing her great pain and suffering as she realized that it was all true.

"Your arm..." she wept as she slowly brought her hands up until she finally reached the stump.

"..." Azura stood behind Iry with a look of pain on her face. It was a pain that was suppressed and unable to be let out.

Maria and Irithyl glanced over at her, realizing the painful expression on her face, and the two frowned. They could not bear this situation that tore at Azura's heart, yet it had occurred. Nothing they could do would salvage this situation from spiraling out of control. They know that as long as the two sisters hold feelings for the same person, it would not end up well for both of them except in the rarest of cases.