"What have I gotten myself into?" Silas shook his head dejectedly.
"We are going to teach Silas how to dance now!" Sorelle nearly made a jump for joy.
Their mother was sitting on a chair in the corner, watching Sorelle while she was about to show Silas the steps.
"Shouldn't we eat first?" Silas asked nervously.
"No! We will start with the dancing lessons now!" Dex said sternly.
'Urgh. I thought Dex understood me but after finding out what we were talking about, he lit up and said "A young man needs to learn how to dance properly." while nodding.'
Silas looked at Dex with contempt, narrowing his eyes. 'You traitor! I will pay you back some time, just you wait.'
Sorelle held a finger up. "First of all, as a man you need to lead the dance. You will have to hold the tact."
Then the another finger. "Second of all..."
***
"So, now that you know everything there is to know, we should do a probe dance, no?" Sorelle still grinned vibrantly, while tilting her head playfully.
"Can I even say no?" Silas asked, still uncomfortable.
Sorelle's expression got a little predatory. A shiver ran down Silas' back... again.
"Ok, I see..." He mumbled.
Smiling even more, Sorelle exclaimed enthusiastically. "Great! Then come over here. Dex... can you make some kind of tact?"
He thought for a few seconds and nodded. "Sure." Dex took a spoon and a cutting board, testing out the "sound". As soon as he gave a thumbs up, Sorelle indicated for Silas to start. 'Urgh. I hope it won't be that bad.'
He took her by the hand and waist. Dex started with the "beat" and Silas began moving.
'First the right leg forward, the left leg follows and then it goes to the left...
and then everything in reverse. I got this.'
The first time, it went relatively well. The second time he stumbled a little bit. The third time it went well again. The fourth time, he didn't really keep the right rythm.
Their mother nodded approvingly. "Keep the rythm, Silas. Everything else looks pretty well."
He stopped for a few seconds, taking in the movements and advices. 'More focus.' Silas said to himself.
Recognizing his newfound confidence, Sorelle nodded toward Dex, who started the rythm again.
After a few more tries and errors, Silas finally got everything right. Sorelle looked very statisfied with his performance, making his heart light up.
'It isn't even that bad.'
"So... now that you know the basics. Let's continue with the twist." Elira suggested.
***
'Urgh, I didn't sleep that well in a long time.' Silas just woke up and stretched. Glancing toward Dex's bed, he found it empty. The sun was about to reach it's highest point in about an hour, so the room was very well lit.
'Hmm, he must have already gone to work...'
Since Silas had been devoid of all energy last evening, he instantly went to bed after eating, completely forgetting to circulate his essence.
'I better meditate now. Who knows, maybe the old Orren has some kind of way to check if I didn't do it.'
***
After saying good bye to his mom and Sorelle, he headed to the forest.
'I should probably go to the tower last. But where else could I go first? The old house could be my home, but I can't do anything while my family is home... Right! Mom asked us to accompany her to the wedding of friends of hers. Maybe I could fake being sick and stay home. Good, the plan for the house is done then. The graveyard and church are directly bordering each other, but the graveyard is easier accesible... even though it is a little weird to search where the dead lay, it would be the fastest and easiest choice. Ok, then it's decided. The graveyard it is.'
Soon, he reached the hut. 'Phew, it is kind of exhausting to walk so far after letting ones essence circulate. I couldn't do it right now, even if I used all of my focus.'
Silas, went inside, just as every day. This time though, there was no light. The candle was completely burnt down.
Clink. Silas foot bumped into one of the flasks, they used yesterday, making it roll against the wall. He looked around the lit side of the room and saw many of the ingredients for spirit vision laying around messily. One of the chairs layed on the wrong side of the room, partially splintered.
Fear grabbed Silas' heart, making it wheigh heavily
'What happened here? Where is Stella?' He pushed the door open completely, flooding the room with light.
Horror took over Silas' mind. What he saw made him fall to his knees. Silas' eyes widened and his stomach turned untill he vomited.
In front of him, blood was splattered on the walls. An old man stood in the corner, his eyes were colored in a vibrant, glowing red. It looked as if a waterfall of blood ran out of his eyes. And below... a young woman was laying on the ground. Her eyes open and a green lake, slowly gaining ground on the gray floor around her. On her stomach, a small puddle of the same grey liquid, Silas already saw in one of his dreams, accumulated volume. Of course, the young woman was Stella. And the old man with the cold, red and calculating eyes was Orren.
With that sight, Silas' worst expectations suddenly became reality.
He slowly stood up, rage building up in his mind. The pure will to kill ones enemy or die while trying took over his senses.
Something switched inside of him.
The essence, he wasn't able circulate before was suddenly unlocked. Like floodgates trying to contain a raging river, his eyes, the source of his essence, broke.
The floodgates partially broke. Silas' eyes were now the source of essence waterfalls, stronger than Stellas' yesterday. The green fluid slowly overtook the world, coloring it fully in green. The puddle of blood. His sister. Orren. Everything.
It looked like a playworld, made from green clay.
And after a few seconds of staring at the now colored world a little perplexed, a fissure suddenly emerged, tearing the world into many different parts, like a split mirror.
The "mirror" fell and in front of Silas, a small hut stood in a silent forest, the door he just opened, was still open, a dark silhouette standing there menacingly. That's the last thing he saw before collapsing.
***
Stella was suddenly feeling uncomfortable. She had just finished circulating her essence. After drinking the potion yesterday, it felt as if the essence was frozen and had to be moved with force, breaking the solid into many different small particles which slowly became a fluid. That's also how Orren told her it should be.
Still a little dizzy from the exertion of power to circulate her essence, she slowly stood up. Something told her to look outside, as if her essence was pulled there.
'Maybe I just need some daylight. I haven't been outside in a few days now.'
"I am just going outside for a moment." She informed Orren, who nodded affirmingly. He was meditating right now, probably circulating his essence too.
'It's a little peculiar, though. Orren only talks to me if I ask him something or when Silas is around. Well, it's better like this anyway. He might be a little bit more likable than a few days ago, but he's still a little unsettling. It's as if he weren't truly human.'
As she opened the door, she squinted her eyes because of a tremendous amount of light flooding the room. Stella could barely perceive the outlines of a human, standing in front of the hut. But through her now improved perception, she instantly deduced that it was Silas. Since the ritual yesterday, she felt diffent from before. More perceptive... it's as if there had been clouds in front of her mind which suddenly vanished. The outlines of his clothes, his exact height, even his hair gave him away.
"Silas?" She asked to check if she was right.
No answer.
Stella's eyes have also adjusted to the different lighting way faster than normally. What she saw was a little bit disturbing. Silas looked at the hut with open eyes. He was shivering all over and was about to grab the doorhandle. The same river of essence that ran out of Stella, left his eyes. His hand frozen in the air. His demeanour slowly started to radiate a sense of consciousness again. Silas' eyes seemed to try focusing on something but it was for naught, because just when his eyes locked onto Stella, he collapsed. Stella was fast enough to catch him though.