Holding my hand, Aylin and I walked back to Devina's office with Eris following eagerly behind. Aylin shut her eyes several times, letting me lead. I asked her if she was feeling alright, to which she responded that she was just feeling a bit lightheaded.
"We don't need to do it now, you know? You can come back and try another day," I told her.
She turned her head back and saw Eris' hopeless expression as she was petting the cat.
Shaking her head, she reassured me that she would be alright. We reached the office, and I opened the door for her and was met by Devina standing in front of the doorway.
"Sorry if it took a bit."
Devina crossed her arms and turned her head towards her sofa.
"It's fine, she's asleep now."
I was surprised because normally a trauma victim wouldn't be able to sleep so soundly after such a traumatic incident.
"How did you get her to sleep?"
"By pumping her full of drugs, why of course," she said with confidence.
"Well that's one way to get her some rest."
Aylin peeked over me and saw Devina standing in the doorway.
"You don't really need to do anything right now, she's asleep."
Aylin pushed past me and looked behind her one last time before entering the room.
"Are you sure you can handle it?" Devina asked.
"I am."
She marched with heavy steps towards Celia, who was lying unconscious on the couch. We all watched as Aylin stood silently over Celia, clutching her chest.
Shutting her eyes like earlier and turning her head away, it seemed like Aylin couldn't even look at Celia without contorting her face.
With a deep breath, her eyes fluttered open and she reached out her hand. The flower of Desire sprouted on her cheek.
"THE MOON GODDESS!!! OUR HEAVENLY MOTHER!" Eris exclaimed.
Aylin turned around again and smiled at us before muttering a few words to Celia. Even though the drug was still in effect and Celia was completely unconscious, a smile appeared on her face after Aylin pulled away.
Devina asked me how long I had known that Aylin was the Aeon of Desire. I answered that it wasn't actually that long ago that Aylin revealed she was the host of the Aeon.
"Did you know about it?" I asked curiously.
"Why else do you think I had the both of you transferred here?" she said, smirking.
Aylin came up to me and gently punched me in the middle of my chest before collapsing onto me.
The flower on her cheek immediately wilted and her body started to burn up.
I turned to Devina, who remained perfectly calm. She suggested that Aylin probably just needed to bathe in some moonlight to recharge. Eris and the cat watched us carefully as I carried Aylin back to our dorms.
She held her hands together and performed a prayer.
Once Aylin was in bed, I heard faint cries coming from her. They were so faint that I could barely hear what she was trying to convey. But after putting my face up against her mouth, I heard what she wanted.
"Vivshi, please don't leave."
I sat down by her bedside and reassured her that I was there for her.
"Did I do good?" she asked, pulling the covers over her mouth.
"You did extremely good, you were very brave and helpful." I rustled her hair.
Even with the blanket covering her mouth, I could see the grin underneath.
I wanted to know why she was so deathly afraid of Celia. I wanted to know what happened on the Seranade Mary. I wanted to understand her better, but as I gazed into her proud eyes, I knew that one day she would be brave enough to tell me herself what happened.
"Vivshi... Aren't you curious...?"
"Curious about what?"
"The reason why I am so scared."
"I'm sure you have your reasons, and you have your reasons for not telling. I won't ask you to reveal your past unless you are ready to."
Aylin's face gradually came out from under the blanket and she thanked me for being understanding. Soon after, she was sound asleep and I left her dorm room to let her sleep.
Outside of the dorm room stood Devina, nonchalantly aura farming with her back against the wall and her arms crossed.
"Need something from me?" I asked.
"There was something interesting I found out about the Aeon of Desire that I want to have a quick look at."
We headed back to her office where Celia and Eris were still. Devina removed the blanket covering Celia and lifted her shirt, revealing a massive pink flower growing on her stomach.
"Was this what Aylin left behind?"
"Most likely."
"What is it?"
"It's some type of mind relaxant. I tested it a bit and it had properties similar to anti-anxiety drugs."
"So was this all you wanted to show me?" I asked Devina, a tad bit disappointed it wasn't a grand discovery.
Devina shook her head and grabbed a scalpel from her cabinet and cut a small piece of the petal.
"Now watch this magic."
She held the cut-off piece of pink petal in her hand and chanted.
"O moon, grant me my wishes, grant me my desires, I wish for a corn on the cob."
From inside her hand, a bright pink light shone through the small gaps in her fingers, and after a few seconds, a big corn cob appeared in Devina's hand.
"Heh... Isn't that just awesome?"
Eris and I stared at Devina in awe.
"How did... you... even think of that?"
"You could say those who have the blessings of the moon," she gestured with her head at the giant flower.
"They can make wishes to the moon goddess. Well, the only drawback to this is..."
"Is?"
"The host of the Aeon of Desire bears the brunt of the wish and the strain is put on them instead."
"So you mean you just expended some of Aylin's energy on a corn cob?"
"Basically speaking, but isn't that cool?" She waved around her cob.
"I have always wondered though, what if someone makes an impossible wish, for example, like for the destruction of the world?"
"Good question, the moon goddess herself doesn't currently have the power to do certain things. She was locked away on the moon with several curses limiting her powers. But though, in a way, she could technically find a way to ruin the world, but it probably wouldn't be the way you are thinking of. And the host would probably expend all their life force trying to bridge this connection between the world and the moon for this gigantic wish to happen. Most likely resulting in the death of the host of the Aeon of Desire.
Those with the Aeon of Desire inside them don't really have a track record of having good, long, fulfilling lives. Most of them die in their early years after being overly indulgent and wishing away their life energy without letting it recharge.
But a thing as small as a corn cob won't do much to hurt the host. It would probably only take a few minutes under the moon for them to regain what's lost from this."
"Have people throughout history exploited the Aeon of Desire a lot?" I asked curiously.
"Well duh. There is something called ergo amongst Aeons. It means the transfer of an Aeon from its original host to a new host. And what humans back then would do is find the Aeon of Desire and make her expend all her life force on granting them wishes, and right before she died, they would slaughter the host, rip out the heart, and make another person consume the heart to gain the powers of the Aeon of Desire and repeat the cycle."
Eris furiously stomped her feet upon hearing Devina's explanation.
"YOU ARE SAYING HUMANS HAVE BEEN TORTURING AND USING THE MOON'S AUTHORITY OUR MOTHER GAVE TO HELP US?"
Eris looked away in pain, biting her lips and trying to control her anger.
"It's the horrible nature of man."
"But at least the Aeon of Desire is in good hands now," I said.
Eris' hands relaxed and she took a deep breath.
"It's almost night-time, you should perhaps wake Aylin up now and have her bathe in the moonlight," Devina said, hushing me out of the room.
The stars viewed from inside the corridor's windows were just as beautiful as before. No matter how many times I gazed into the sky, my perspective of it would never change. It had an unexplainable beauty to it. And somewhere in the sky was the Aeon of Desire. Sitting all alone on the moon, watching over us. She honestly had one of the saddest fates for an Aeon. Most Aeons exist inside their human hosts, but the Aeon of Desire, she's the only one a moon's distance away from her host. The fact that she still holds love for humanity even after everything we have done is just sad. Maybe I should ask Devina if she ever communicates with her Aeon sometime?
I made my way back to Aylin's dorm and opened the door. She was sitting straight, staring out of the window with her eyes locked on the moon.
"Aylin, I have come back!"
She turned around and smiled.
"Mhm! Welcome back!"
She seemed more energetic than before but still complained about body aches and couldn't get out of bed. She asked me if I could carry her outside so she could absorb more moonlight. I sat down by her bedside, offering up my back for her. Her body was soft and light as I carried her out. Her body was radiating so much warmth and her head was resting on my shoulders.
We sat down together in the school's park. Aylin spread out her arms and legs as if she was making a snow angel and stared up into the night sky.
"Vivshi."
"Yes?"
"I wanted to say that I'm extremely grateful for having you by my side."
"I'm glad to be of service to you."
She hit me lightly on my arm.
"Don't say it as if you are my servant, idiot..."
"I'm really grateful for having you too, Aylin."
She turned her face away and stayed silent for a bit before saying it wasn't enough.
"What wasn't enough?"
"Exposure to moonlight."
"Uhhh..."
Something blonde caught the corner of my eye at that moment. Devina gave me a thumbs up before throwing a small cube at us.
I didn't know what she wanted, but most likely she wanted Aylin to recharge as much as possible so she could be used as a guinea pig. Aylin scanned the area thoroughly, making sure there was no one around before telling me to close my eyes.
I heard the sound of clothes being taken off and thrown onto the grass.
"Can you make sure no one sees me?"
"How am I supposed to do that with my eyes closed?"
"Just don't avert your eyes towards my direction..."
I slowly opened my eyes and did as I was told, scanning the area constantly. But as I was scanning, I caught a glimpse of Aylin's body after turning my head too much. Her face was flustered, her body was round and more curvy than I expected, her hair covered her chest, and her entire body was bathing in the moonlight.
"You feeling better now?"
"Much much better."
"Do you think you can put on some clothes now?"
"A little bit longer..." she groaned.