Morpho send a threatening glare to the annoying snake with her compound eyes. Her proud was wounded, and she wasn't about to let it go.
But there was nothing she could do at the moment.
Atheris flickered her tongue in triumph. Arrogantly looking down on the two magical creatures.
Tigris dramatically shivered in Cyril's arms while sending the mean snake a glare. Inside, he was somewhat happy that Cyril stopped the fight for his sake.
However, that was only his misunderstanding.
Cyril only partially did it out of pity.
He didn't really mind if they fought a bit more, but he happened to notice a rather peculiar thing.
Atheris was clearly not too experienced in a fight, but her ability to overwhelm Morpho in their brief fight, was not normal.
"Atheris are you using an ability right now?" He walked closer and curiously asked.
The serpent immediately changed her look to a more docile one when she turned to look at him, and nodded while hissing.
"...Not bad" Rhamn quickly listened to the snake speak.
"She is able to see into the future!" She exclaimed proudly.
Really?
"Yes! She can see a second or so into the future. This was how she dodged Morpho's attacks despite being an amateur."
That's... a very powerful ability. Cyril was somewhat shocked.
He send an impressed look towards the snake. Atheris enjoyed the attention and flicked her tongue even more in response.
Rhamn relayed this information to the creatures as well.
Tigris didn't really care that much. He liked his own abilities well enough.
Morpho, however, landed on Cyril's shoulder, her mood soured, and no longer willing to fight.
Despite obviously being so interested in fighting, The ability she received had nothing to add to her combat power.
She was jealous, life really was unfair...
Cyril could feel her mood, but there was nothing he could do about it, other than offer a few consoling words.
Afterwards he switched his attention back to Atheris.
You said there is a third ability as well?
"Yes, though it's not clear what kind yet"
Since they didn't want to continue their fight, Cyril finally went inside the villa. There were still some things he needed to do.
...
The moment he entered however, he was immediately greeted by the cold face of Ophelia.
She was standing with her back straight near the entrance, waiting for something.
The moment he stepped inside the villa itself, she bowed, "Welcome back, Master. I have a question if you would answer it"
Cyril internally tensed up, but kept his usual calm expression on the surface. "What is it?"
Ophelia's eyes seemed to pierce his soul, capable of discerning whatever things he hid.
Just as he was getting more and more tense, she replied, "I've been wondering if you want to redecorate the style of the villa?"
Hearing something else from what he was expecting, he sighed in relief and replied without putting too much though into it, "I am fine with whatever. It's up to you"
Ophelia nodded, then briefly added, "We are still searching for the medicine materials, I'll mention when there are any results," before going away.
Looks like she still doesn't know. Weird. He thought the knights would've relayed that he was attacked by now.
"Maybe they forgot? Or just didn't think it was necessary? Either way it works for us"
That's true.
It was an unusual feeling for him. Coupled with not wanting to see Ophelia upset, he was also ashamed of anyone learning of his 'fight' with the vampire princess. It was considered as dark history for him.
Cyril, in a tired manner went to take a bath. He needed to relax.
...
And so he did just that, sitting in a stone bath, looking at the ceiling above him.
Today he felt slightly drained for some reason, and wanted nothing more than to become a waste for a few minutes.
He carefully enjoyed the warm embrace of water and lay completely still. Though there was scaly feeling around his neck, it didn't ruin the experience.
Atheris was coiled on the surface of the water, also enjoying the warmth it brought, while rhythmically flickering her forked tongue.
As an older and not as childish sibling, Tigris was lying in a wooden bowl at the side, filled with water. He too enjoyed a bath of his own. Lately he was getting used to being wet.
While their eldest, Morpho, was still feeling a bit grumpy and already went back to her terrarium. She didn't need to wash herself anyways.
Thinking about her Cyril felt pity.
Is there any way for her to... gain any new abilities?
"I don't know. I'll try to come up with a way, but I can't promise anything" Rhamn weakly replied. She felt the same way.
Because of their connection, they were able to feel her disappointment particularly strong, it affected them a great deal.
Not wishing to think about this for now, Cyril switched his attention to other things.
Is there something wrong with my dreams? He finally thought about what happened the previous night.
That felt a bit too vivid for a regular dream. It reminded him of when he dreamed of that pile of flesh in the darkness.
"I... I have no answer to that. I saw no dreams" Rhamn shrugged.
It felt like every night there was something unusual happening, and yet no actual changes were seen.
Dreams... This made him think about today's lesson with Margaret.
On a whim he raised his hand and created a magic circle, after a moment, a small pile of dirt appeared in front of him, hovering in the air without falling.
The very top of this heap was a fiery pit with red viscous liquid.
This was one of the places from his dreams. In there he called it a volcano.
Cyril stared at the object he created with a bit of shock. He wasn't fascinated by its beauty or anything like that.
More so from how 'real' it looked. It was not a jittery image, nor was it transparent. It looked like a completely real floating heap of dirt.
No other illusion he had made even came close to this level.
And this was achieved with almost terrifying ease.
Cyril didn't even feel like he was casting a spell, but more so as if he simply waved an arm or took a refreshing breath. It happened so naturally.
Tigris stared at this creation in shock, then awe colored his red eyes. He will get to this level too!
Atheris only stared at the pile in confusion, she poked it with her nose, but it only went through.
Once he recovered, Cyril in a somewhat excited manner, dismissed the illusion and conjured a different one.
He tried making something more practical, like a fireball, however he was soon disappointed.
Cyril attempted to cast it the same way he did just now, but it didn't seem to work. This time the illusion was transparent and jittery, clearly fake.
Wearing a frown, he dismissed this failed attempt, and stayed silent.
...So dreams are the key to this?
The only difference he could think of was that the volcano was taken from his dream.
"To successfully cast an illusion you only need to dream of the object you want to project? Is that what Theresa meant by a good dreamer?" Rhamn too wore a frown.
"But if it were so simple, Margaret would've discovered this already..."
Maybe she did, but wanted for me to find out on my own... It doesn't matter, the facts are in front of us.
To make another confirmation Cyril thought about what else to conjure up and his mind inevitably wandered to that pile of flesh. That was also a vivid dream.
Without much thought, he casted a spell, and, as simple as taking a breath, it was created right in front of him, looking just like the one from his dream, if much smaller.
Success!
Cyril got somewhat excited from this revelation. He finally cracked how illusion magic works! It was quite a headache for him.
With satisfaction he stared at his illusion, observing it in detail.
While he was dreaming, his consciousness was vague and unfocused, now he had the opportunity to look at this pile of flesh with a sound mind.
So with this new perspective, he discovered that it looked very familiar.
He didn't see it personally before, but it looked very similar to something every human had, at least in the literal sense.
"It... looks like a heart?" Rhamn carefully said, her face confused.
When it was much bigger in the dream it was hard to tell, but indeed, this pile of flesh looked strikingly similar to a human heart.
Slowly Cyril turned his head to look at the only 'person' here who had any connection to hearts.
Was it you in my dreams? He thought to Rhamn.
She mentioned some time before that she was no specter and actually possessed a physical body in the form of Cyril's heart.
So it made perfect sense for Cyril that it was her physical body he was seeing in his dreams.
Rhamn stood there, her face still confused. Only after a couple of seconds did she recover.
She replied, her voice calm, yet cautious.
"While it would've been sweet of you... I am fairly certain it's not me"