Side Chapter Metous 1: After Five Years

  Everything had seemingly been improving for the first time in five years in Mel's mind. She got her Vocation, her sister returned, Tel’s complexion improved, and her brother who had been becoming more distant finally hung out with her again.

  “Can’t I do anything right?”

  But her refound paradise quickly cracked apart in face of her old and new problems. She still felt her old insecurity existing after Ceel's return but chose to ignore them all.

  Until “I still can’t believe I ended up passing out after using [Warm Touch].”

  Currently, she spent most of her out-of-gym training on her healing capabilities. Even after she levelled up, receiving [Warm Fme], her first step into maniputed fire energies. Training [Warm Touch] was still her priority.

  All in the hopes that she could fix her sister's injuries.

  …if was that easy she would’ve already got it fixed…

  When she woke up and realised what she did. Mel immediately went to check on her sister. To see nothing changed. The simple failure, that in anyone’s mind wouldn’t have been remotely considered a problem. Was the nail that started to shatter her rose-tinted gsses.

  It had been a day after the first fight the family had with another in over four years. Last time Chris had gotten into a heated argument with Tyell. Mel didn’t know what was said as it happen on the second basement floor.

  Laying on her sister's bed as she was out and wouldn’t be back until te–not that she used it. She tried collecting her thoughts.

  A self-inflicted burden was pced on Mel ever since Ceel disappeared. Her mother worried every day and her brother became increasingly more distant. The only one who stood strong was her father Chris. Then the world took him too. Unable to support her mum, unable to get a job to support the family, all she could do was be normal. Go to school to experience different workpces; learn history, maths and how to navigate the workforce; and have fun with her youth.

  And she did her best with all three. But to her, that wasn’t enough.

  Mel looked over her Soul Page. She enjoyed finally being able to see after sixteen years.

  Name: Mel Stel | Race: [Human] Level 1 | Awakened Mana: 100%Vocation: [Warm Wind Mage]Skills:- [Wind (I)]- [Warm Touch]- [Warm Fme]

  [Wind (I)] – [Windy Breeze], [Wind Bst]

  Mel base soul size was on the upper end of the scale, a 7. And with all her current skills she still could feel she had some room left over. Skills didn’t just appear when there was space. The average person's soul was only 50% filled, but there were people Ceel where it was always stuffed full. Maniputing the wind, making paper aeropnes and having them fly around her room caused her more joy than she would ever emit. [Warm Wind Mage] was a Vocation Mel had seen long ago and became interested in, but she decided against picking it. Her brother already chose a Vocation that helped with work, she shouldn’t be selfish and choose something like this.

  The thing that changed her decision was Ceel's words of wisdom, and more importantly the realisation of how devastated Ceel would’ve been if she picked something simir to [Package Runner].

  Her thoughts keep cycling eventually reaching the events of the previous night.

  “Why’d ever look up to those bastards.” Mel’s mood completely flipped when regarding Dominous Hood. They were the ones who took my sister away…

  To Mel, her family was the most important thing in life. They gave so much love and support that anyone who harmed them was her enemy. Mel believed Ceel in an instant and then seeing the wound in her chest just solidified that feeling. The deep ugly scare made her soul scream in fear.

  Still, she didn’t know what hurt more. Knowing her sister had to deal with all that sorrow or Tyell not immediately trusting her. If he says something like that again!... I’ll punch him in the FACE!

  Repeatedly rolling over, unable to keep her thoughts and feelings together. Mel grabbed a pillow and stuffed her face into and screamed. “ArhhhHhh….!” Quickly running out of breath she rolled back over and just stared at the ceiling.

  While she was doing nothing, “*Ding*” her phone dinged. Someone sent her a message.

  “I wonder who that was?...” Spending a couple of moments contempting whether it was a good idea to check. Eventually, she decided to remove the phone from her watch and changed into tablet-size

  Elka – ([ What’s up sisto?! ])

  Elka was Mel's friend from school.

  ([ Nothing much? Why did you ask? ]) – Mel

  Elka – ([ I just got back from my holidayyyy! ])

  ([ Already?? Man I’ve really lost track of time ]) – Mel

  Elka – ([ OMG! You’ve lost track of time I could never imagine! ])

  ([ Your sarcasm is duly noted ]) – Mel

  Elka – ([ Lighten up! ])

  ([ No ]) – Mel

  Elka – ([ …. ])

  Elka – ([ …. ])

  Elka – ([ …. ])

  Elka – ([ …. ])

  Elka – ([ I’m detecting traces amounts of sadness from ya ])

  Suddenly the phone started to ring.

  Ahhhh do I accept? It was Elka wanting to do a video call.

  “Haaaaa… Guess it might be for the best.” So she accepted.

  “Hey Melly!” on the other end was a grey-haired teen with deep purple eyes.

  “Hi Elka.” She ftly responded.

  “Oh you look more down than I expected…” “Everything okay? Did someone die?! Did you regret choosing [Helper] already?!! Wait. Did you fight with your family!!!?”

  Yep, she hasn’t changed.

  “Give me a sec” Mel said the phrase they had agreed on if Elka spoke too much and she needed not to be interrupted when replying. “I didn’t choose [Helper] in the end, instead I’m [Warm Wind Mage]... I didn’t have a fight.”

  “So your mum and brother did? Wow, a first for everything.” Elka's answer made sense considering Mel hadn’t told any of her friends of Ceel’s return. Wanting Ceel to have peace and quiet, she refused to tell anyone in case someone spilt the beans. Even if it was old news, a returned PLS was always a great target for news.

  “Can you keep a secret?” Mel asked, knowing the result.“A secret? Or secret secret?”

  “The tter.”Elka's face crunched up, she wasn’t the best at secrets and all her friends knew it. “No…”Mel just returned a sweet smile. “Now do you have any other questions? Cause I’m going to hang up.”

  Elka bit her thumb thinking, “You want to go to the Bzers concert?”“Not really,” Mel rudely replied. “But would be fun if you, me, Sam, Mike, and Irene all went together???” Elka pushed.“...Yeah it would,” Mel replied. A friend meet-up might be just what I need.

  “Perfect!!!” Elka shouted Wait a moment. “You say that, but have you even asked the others?”

  “Umm…” Elka muttered.Knew it.

  “Don’t make pns withou–”Elka yelled, “Hey! I did ask Mike and Sam, they were up for it… I just haven’t asked Irene yet… or doubled check with Mike or Sam…”Mel shook her head, “You’re useless sometimes…”“Rude. But correct.” Elka sighed.

  The two ughed and continued pnning. The concert went on all day so they would go when it was less busy at night. Cause it was Elka’s idea she offered to buy tickets for everyone and went with a 7 pm to 1 am, seven hours of fun (including the midnight hour due to Metous’s 25h days).

  “Thanks, Elka.” warmly said Mel, “This helped.”

  “Hehe, what can I say I’m the best!” “No. No, you’re not.”

  Bobple