Silence.
Uruja, trying to weigh the tension between Erus and Cana, didn't dare make even the faintest sound. She waited for a thunderous growl from her son, but nearly half an hour passed and he said nothing. Cana, on the other hand, was like a curious cat, inspecting Erus' mask and even his body. She was so touchy that Uruja imagined her dead several times over.
"What an awesome physique. How I wish I had abs like yours," Cana commented, her fingers unable to stop tracing the lines on Erus' abs. She poked them to test how hard they were. But when her curiosity peaked and she was about to try pinching him, a hand grabbed hers.
Erus, who had been swallowing hard just from Cana's presence, reached the end of his patience and abruptly stopped her before she could trigger anything more.
Their eyes met.
This was the first time a girl had touched him for this long, aside from his mother when he was still a kid. He should have barked or sent her flying the instant she touched him. But he only stood there frozen, swallowing his saliva while waiting for her next move.
What had gotten into him? He even forgot about the heirloom marking.
"Enough," he said in his calmest and lowest tone. There was no sign of irritation from him, which was unusual for him and especially for Uruja, who remained their audience.
Uruja, watching from the corner, was more shocked by hearing him speak calmly than the accident of the marking on Cana. Her violent imaginations had just stressed her out for nothing. She badly wanted to ask what happened, but she also didn't want to ruin the moment. She just breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Are you alright?" Erus asked again when Cana didn't flinch. She was staring at him intently.
"Your voice... I think I heard it before, but my memory was a bit jaggy. Maybe because this was a dream."
A dream? Erus didn't understand what Cana meant by it.
He released her hands when she tried to pull away.
"Mom, would you mind checking on her?" Erus called Uruja for help. Though he wanted to check on her personally, he did not want her impression of him to change. He obviously liked how she treated him, except for the gorilla thing.
Uruja, who was enjoying the view, was a bit startled to be called for help. She even hesitated to answer her son.
Aren't you doing it yourself? She chose to keep that question to herself. It was not the time for teasing. It might trigger his anger mode.
Uruja approached Cana, while Erus took a step back and picked up the black box containing the heirloom. He hadn't noticed he dropped it when Cana started harassing his body.
"Sorry, but what are you doing?" Cana became confused when Uruja started chanting over her. "Woah!" Her eyes widened upon seeing the tiny round green lights starting to materialize and encircle her. In her mind, she was thinking that the things happening in her dream were too magical, and it almost felt realistic.
Cana tried touching the lights from Uruja's healing spell. She was more amazed when those lights were just absorbed by her body. She gave Uruja amazed and innocent smile.
"That was very beautiful! Could you try it again?" Cana asked like a kid, as if it was a casual thing to do.
Both Erus and Uruja were confused by how she reacted to the healing spell. Cana looked totally buffered to them, as if it was her first time seeing healing magic, when it was everywhere in the kingdom of Northland. It was even treated as the lowest ability due to having so many users.
Due to Cana's reaction, Uruja began to doubt if she was like her, trying to cultivate on the island. She even looked at Erus to confirm they were having the same thoughts, and Erus was already looking at her—he looked more like he was bombarding her with questions in his mind.
Cana also became confused when she noticed the two were having a staring contest.
"Uhm... Excuse me. Is there something wrong? Did I offend you somehow with my words?"
"Hey, Little Rabbit," Erus called Cana, which made the latter furrow her brows.
Did he just call me li'l rabbit? Am I a rabbit in this dream? Cana had to first examine her feet and hands just to make sure. "Me?" She pointed to herself when their eyes met again.
"What's your name?" Erus continued.
"Cana," she answered without hesitation, but her face showed her displeasure. "And do I really look like a rabbit to you?" Cana had to make sure her dream was not playing tricks on her. She needed to know if she actually looked like a rabbit to others while she saw herself as human.
Erus could not help but smirk behind his mask at such a genuine question from Cana. And her name hit some familiarity. Had he met her before? He wanted to dig into his memory but he knew he was sharp at things like this so, perhaps, she just resembled someone he once knew.
"Or were you trying to get back at me because I called you... gorilla?"
"You don't seem to have any idea about your situation right now."
"Ah, right!" Uruja butted in before Erus could continue. "Cana, right? How are you feeling now? You've been unconscious for more than a day. Will you tell us what happened to you before you came here?"
Cana gave Uruja a confused look. Erus analyzed his mother's words. He thought his mother was living with Cana. Why would she ask her such questions? He could tell from Cana's expression that something was wrong with Uruja's questioning.
On the other hand, Cana was internalizing the questions. This was just a dream. Why would these people interrogate her like they were real? Was there no option for her to skip this part and go on to another situation?
"I... I don't remember what happened." For Cana, this was a white lie to skip the questioning. She really had no idea how she ended up having this kind of dream. She was not into fantasy or dramas.
"Seems like you lost your memory. I think that was unavoidable since you came crashing from the heavens."
"From the heavens?" Both Cana and Erus said in unison. Cana was in shock while Erus considered how this connected to him.
"Ah, that... I don't have the answer either."
Now, all three of them were confused about the situation.
In the end, Uruja chose to speak first to Erus, who had been giving her an intense stare. He looked as if he were nearing a tantrum. They talked outside the hut where Cana could not hear them.
"She only arrived yesterday and I have no idea who she is. I thought she was like me, wanting to cultivate on this island, but I think I was wrong," Uruja explained.
"You said she came from the heavens?"
Uruja felt like a suspect under investigation. The way Erus looked at her while bombarding her with questions was suffocating.
"Yes. I was cultivating when it happened. I heard a loud splash that drenched me completely. When I opened my eyes, I saw her in the river pool. She couldn't have come from the bottom of the river with a splash like that, right?"
Erus scratched his head. "So, I accidentally marked a total stranger?"
"My mistake. But I didn't see a stranger in the way you let her casually touch you."
If a look could kill, Uruja would have collapsed on the spot. Erus looked away, but he couldn't hide the way he swallowed hard.
"I... that was the marking taking effect."
Oh, really? Uruja kept the thought to herself. If she hadn't been there during that touchy moment, history might have changed. It was a good thing her son had such tough self-control, but she couldn't blame him. Cana had a charm that had captivated even her the moment she laid eyes on the girl. What if Erus had seen her from the start? Could it be fate?
"So, what are you planning now? She isn't even aware she has become your slave."
"How would I even know?" Erus snapped. "I've never had a familiar, and now I have a slave—a mortal, no less. How am I supposed to deal with her? What if I just leave her here with you?" It was the longest string of words Erus had spoken in years.
Erus and Uruja both knew the history. Every time Erus had tried to contract a familiar, he had failed. It was enough to make him believe the curse on his blood was real.
"I wish that were possible," Uruja replied. "But I don't want a woman following a man she doesn't even know."
Erus shot her a look that clearly asked, 'Who do you think I am?' He hadn't spent his entire life avoiding nuisances just to turn into a lecher.
"But the marking has a potent effect on a slave, especially a mortal," Uruja continued. "They need their master nearby. They even need to draw energy from their master to survive, or they'll slowly wither away. I don't want such a beauty dying on my watch. If you don't want her, why not just reject her?"
"No! I mean, I'm not that heartless." Erus sighed heavily. "Is there any way to fix this? Can we break the contract?"
"Only if you find someone more powerful than you who can shatter the marking."
Erus looked at Uruja, hopeful, but his mother shook her head.
"Someone higher than you in every aspect, Erusiel."
His hope vanished, replaced by a defeated stare. His mother was essentially telling him to scour the world and fight every living soul just to find one person who was his superior, not just in magic, but in every power. He might as well be looking for a god, which was even more impossible.
Inside the shabby hut, Cana began walking to and fro. This dream was far too vivid. She could hear the two talking outside and every word was crisp and clear. Even though she tried not to take the situation seriously, her natural instinct was to panic. She had no idea how to react to a plot like this.
She tried to wake herself by lightly slapping her cheeks with her palms. She closed her eyes and mumbled, "Wake up, wake up."
But nothing happened.
SLAP!
"Awww!" Cana's eyes welled with tears from the force of the blow. She felt the sudden numbness, followed by the stinging heat where her palm had struck.
She dropped on her knees and sat sulking on the ground. The shock was all over her face. It was as if her whole world became numb.
Erus came rushing into the hut, followed by Uruja, who had no idea why he had suddenly panicked. They found Cana slumped on the floor, her expression full of horror as if she had seen a monster.
Erus felt a sudden urge and immediately ran to her. He knelt on the ground to check on her, then noticed the reddish mark of a hand on her cheek.
"What happened?"
But Cana only stared at him like he was a total stranger. He felt a needle pinch his heart. His hands moved automatically to touch her cheek where the mark burned. His palm released golden lights, healing the skin instantly. He also reached for her trembling hands and found the culprit. Her right palm was also bearing a red mark. Erus let out a sigh of disbelief, though he healed her hand as well.
"You did this to yourself?" He asked.
Who in their right mind would hurt themselves? He might have done the same in the past, but it was a cold experiment to test his power. This was different.
Cana's lips trembled, followed by a stream of tears.
"Why? Why did it hurt?" she asked him.
The question left Erus dumbfounded. Why was she asking him?
"Well, you slapped your face that hard. Shouldn't it hurt?" Erus countered her question.
But Cana only bawled at his answer. It was so on-point that reality struck her like lightning. This was no dream at all! Everything was real, and she was damned for entering such an unknown place. Worse, it didn't seem like an ordinary world. These people didn't even seem human. Should she run now?
The thought of escaping was erased when Erus sat beside her and caressed her head as if he were simply petting a dog. It helped ease her fear, though she did not stop crying.
Erus was only doing what Uruja had done to him whenever he threw tantrums as a child. He hoped it would help Cana, even though he didn't truly understand what was wrong with her.
Uruja, witnessing the drama, chose to exit the hut for a while. She would let her son's newly found bond be.