Although I was going to be a father in about six months, I didn’t have all that much experience with children. Garnet probably didn’t count. I cleared my throat and then moved down to one knee, hoping that I intimidated her less by lowering myself to her level. I put on my best smile, but I remembered that it was a smile I used when I was trying to sweet talk women, it faltered slightly.
“My name is Deek. You are?”
I failed to ease her mind. She still looked scared, and she didn’t respond as she scooted back with her legs. That’s when there was another cry and rustling in the darkness. She cried out as she lunged in the other direction, throwing her arms around me and burying her head in my chest. I could hear something just out of sight. If it came onto the cobblestone path, would it become real too? My light didn’t seem to be able to penetrate the barrier between the path and what was beyond the path. It was dark except for moving shadows and the hint of swaying grass. At this point, the salty rain was drenching us.
My hand moved down, hesitating for a moment before I patted her head softly. I could see her blonde hair coming out from her hood. Was Elaya a blonde when she was younger? Such detail couldn’t possibly be in Widow’s lore. It could be that it was only the Elaya who was a miasma creature who had black hair. Astria didn’t have black hair until she became a dark fairy in the dungeon. Her hair and wings had been similar to Celeste’s before then. At least, that’s what the memories from the dungeon lore suggested.
Humans in this world traditionally had black, brown, red, or blonde hair. The same color as people from my world. However, Faes and Fairies, the creatures of this world, had an assortment of different colors. That’s why Celeste’s hair was pink. Lydia was an animalkin and her hair was orange with black in it. Meanwhile, Miki and Raissa’s hair were nearly white.
“Don’t let them get me!” The little girl cried out, snapping me out of my thoughts about hair.
“Do you know what is chasing you?” I asked in a calm, quiet voice.
“No…” She said pitifully, her face moving back and forth on my shirt, either shaking her head or wiping her nose and tears on my pants.
“You can stay close to me. I’ll keep you safe.” I promised.
“Y-you will?” She looked up at me as if surprised by my words.
“I will.” I reached up and casting a Blue Mage spell called Shield over our heads, the rain began to land on an invisible barrier, running off and to the sides just like an umbrella.
It was a level 14 spell that worked a bit like the Mana Shield, but it didn’t require continuous use of mana. Then again, it was only as strong as the amount of mana you put into it. After a predetermined amount of time, the magic would disperse. The harder you made the shield, the less time it lasted. At the strength needed to block attacks at my level, it would only last seconds, so I presumed it existed to block elements, such as wind or rain. At this brittle amount, it would last hours. I supposed in a fight, it could act as resistance, throwing someone off during an attack, but I didn’t find it all that practical.
There were other ways I could block the rain too, like by directly using Water Control or creating an air barrier, but this seemed to be the most efficient method. In the future, I would need to start thinking about efficiency. I’ve always depended on my abnormally strong mana to shove through everything, but overall I lacked efficiency.
The little girl stared up with wide eyes as I pushed back the rain. I reached out and stroked the tears and raindrops from her eyes.
“Come on, let’s go.”
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