Warning; slight mentioning of eating disorder
. . .
White star could feel the hand that was holding his as they walked;
It was smooth, unlike his who was marred with callouses after years of fighting.
He glanced to the side and saw Cale's face,
It was only several months, not even a year; but he already changed quite a bit.
. . .
They walked throughout the town, Occasionally stopping by some stalls and buying several street snacks on their way.
Barrow swore, he hasn't eaten so much ever since he received the curse in this hundreds of years.
The only reason he ever ate before, was so his material body won't die. Not for any other reasons than that. Not even to appreciate it.
He couldn't even taste anything to begin with. So eating more than needed was useless to him.
But now,
Even though he still couldn't taste the sweetness of an apple nor the bitterness of that lemon drink he accidently took, he could somehow feel the taste of it lingering in his mouth. And it was enough for him to feel something again, something he thought was impossible to have when he started his journey to Godhood.
.
.
.
Barrow stopped when he saw Cale frowned,
That was a first,
Cale never showed any other expression except delight and happiness when he was with him. Did he do something wrong?
"What's the matter?" Barrow asked in a soft voice, something he himself was surprised about;
"It's..." Cale hesitated, "Voices, I always hear them around this parts in my head"
Voices?
Barrow looked around and scanned the area. He was by no means a mage, but he could sense mana to an extent after being surrounded by individuals who could.
"No one else heard them, I had asked. The voice kept on saying that they were hungry... They kept on repeating it again and again..."
Barrow frowned at that,
Hungry?
"I was confused at first, but it had the same feeling as when I was near the swamp"
An ancient power?
Here?
"Can you pinpoint where it's coming from?" He asked,
"Yes," Cale turned his head and pointed towards the direction of the slums "Over there,"
"Let's check it, maybe it's another ancient power,"
If it was a water or earth ancient power, he can take it for himself to balance his plate. If it's not, then the little one can have it.
After all,
The dominating Aura was a non attributed ancient power, so adding another one shouldn't clash in his plate and destroy him.
.
.
.
They arrived in front of the hill where the man eating tree was located;
Barrow had heard some rumors regarding this tree from a passing wind. Especially about how many humans had ended their lives here... and it left no traces of their remains because the tree ate them.
"Right here," Cale stopped at the bottom of the hill that leads to the Black tree, they couldn't quite see the said tree yet because of the fog. But both of them could feel it's presence.
A wood attributed ancient power...
Barrow noted,
He already had it. Therefore, He had no use having another wood ancient power, something that could place further imbalance to his plate.
"Did it say it was hungry?"
"Yes,"
Then...
Barrow took out his dimensional pocket and gave it to Cale, who was evidently confused as to why he did that.
From what he experienced from gathering ancient powers so far, was that they all had a unique way of obtaining them. And feeding this tree might be the way to gain this ancient power.
"There are food portions stocked in there," was the only thing Barrow told him but Cale catched on pretty quickly.
Cale immediately took it and climbed up the small hill, going to the black tree.
His quick wittedness was something Barrow always liked about Cale.
He's sharp,
In the bag, there was at least half a year worth of portions. So if feeding the tree was the correct way of doing it, then this much should be enough to obtain it.
.
.
.
Hungry...
Food...
Anyone... Please....
Hungry...
The voice was louder than ever, and much more clearer than when he was nowhere near it.
Cale closed his ears with both hands to close off the voice that kept on ringing in his head, but it didn't stop. Instead, it became more loud.
Granted it wasn't a voice that traveled with the flow of air, and instead it was directly planted into his head; He grunted in annoyance,
The voices was starting to give him a major headache,
...
When Cale arrived on top of the hill, observed the thing that kept on whining that they were hungry.
It was black and ugly,
It was unsightly,
Food...
It cried again,
Cale frowned,
He had never experienced hunger before, and he probably will never have considered his upbringing. So he couldn't sympathize with this tree who was seemingly starving to death.
Food...
He always looked at it as if it was something he just needed to force himself to eat to function day to day. He couldn't appreciate what it's worth since everything was... seemingly, disgusting to him.
He had lost his sense of appetite long ago,
But...
He then remembered how his Hyung's eyes lit up when he ate hours before and with how much food seemed to be stored in the bag...
Was eating always that tempting?
He could feel himself wanting to eat for the first time,
He saw how some nobles liked to stuff their face to the brim with food like pigs. But does he ever consider it to be a delectable sight to see?
No,
His Hyung was different, though...
He wanted to stuff his Hyung's mouth with foods he liked... maybe an apple pie? Will his Hyung like that? or maybe he would prefer meat?
.
Cale opened the bag his Hyung gave him and took out its contents towards the pit near the roots of the tree.
The bag contains breads and fruits, maybe some occasional pieces of meats and cheese were also thrown into the black hole.
More...
The voice that was in his head was considerably less painful than before,
Give me more...
More... more...
The voice became more and more livelier, It almost sounded as if it was having a feast of its life... though the truth is not that far off with the amount he was feeding it.
Thank you... It was so good...
I've never eaten so much...
The voice was starting to become obnoxious,
The taste... so good...
Cale felt a cold sweat drop at the side of his head when the voice kept on talking in his head.
Hyung... help...
Cale cried internally d when he heard the starving voice kept on talking in his head.
.
.
.
Barrow saw Cale descend from the hill, looking tired;
"Are you okay?"
Cale didn't respond,
He immediately went towards Barrow and hugged himself to the other's chest; "Hyung..." his mumbled cry was muffled by the cloth,
"What happened?"
Cale had debated whether to tell his Hyung about what the voice had monologue to him over the last hour or so, he decided against it. He doesn't want to burden his Hyung with that obnoxious monologue.
"I'm tired..."
Barrow let the younger stay in the position for a while longer while he prepared the teleportation scroll to teleport them to the rose garden.
Was there more to the test than he imagined?
Ah...
Poor Cale,
Barrow, for once, decided to stay a while longer in the rose garden.
He let the younger redhead fall asleep on his lap as he brushed his long hair with his fingers.
A wind blew pass him,
Was it considered to be cold for humans?
He couldn't tell,
But it would be disadvantageous for him if the little one were to get sick. So he took off his outer robe and put it on Cale as a makeshift blanket.
Barrow couldn't have noticed how the younger one who was supposed to be sleeping was smiling like a scammer underneath the blanket when he did that.
...
The next day,
Everyone in the mansion was running around the mansion, trying to find their eldest young master. Only to find himself walking sleepily towards his room with a robe they had never seen before draped over him.
A/N; I have no idea how this one was going, It felt so rushed...