Deranged Writer's Afterword

'Crunch'

Lydia ate all the cooked meat in a hurry as If she was afraid that the food would just disappear which it did.....because of her.

After another minute or so, Lydia finished all the cooked meat.

She looked devastated.

Lydia seemed surprised as she looked over at me, she probably realized that she had eaten everything that I had made for myself.

" I'm s-sorry.", Lydia says scratching her head probably thinking of how to make up for her carelessness.

I raise my hands in the air as I say,

" It's ok, I can just cook some more."

Hearing me, Lydia's face relaxed and she asked me a little hesitantly,

" Can you cook me some as well ?"

" Oh yeah, this batch is gonna be much better.", I answer back plucking a mushroom out of the ground near me.

" What are you going to do with those ?" Lydia asked, eyeing the mushroom batch.

I carefully mash the mushrooms and make a paste out of it, after that I collect some leaves that smelled good and mixed those with the paste, after which I proceeded to cover the meat with the paste.

" This will make the meat more flavorful.", I say nodding my head, satisfied with myself.

" Are you sure it's safe ?" Lydia asked, peering at the meat being roasted.

I have a smug grin plastered over my face as I answer back,

" Lydia, trust me. I know what I'm doing."

Lydia and I wait for it to be properly grilled after which we took the meat out carefully and equally divided it amongst ourselves.

" I'll come back after taking a whiz.", I say my bladders full and ready to burst.

" Mhmm.", Lydia murmured back already chewing on her meat.

I move some distance away until I found the perfect spot.

Halfway through doing the deed, sharp laughter rang throughout the forest startling me.

I run back to find Lydia laughing with a crazed look in her eyes, she was talking to herself with a bright smile on her face....she seemed high.

Oh....no way.

I look at the meat that I had cooked after much hardship.....

.....

I think I might have drugged Lydia.

~~~~

"OOOO.....hey, you're here !", Lydia exclaimed upon seeing me.

"Y-yeah.". I say maintaining the distance between us.

Lydia frowns seeing this,

" Why are you running away ?", she asked tears slightly forming within her eyes.

" Are you going to leave me too?"

....

" No...I'm not going anywhere, " I answer, taking a step toward her.

" That's good...I don't want to lose my first frien-"

'Splurt'

Lydia pukes out all the meat that she had eaten in a single go.

'Splurt'

Seeing her vomit, I too vomit...

I'm sensitive to stuff like this.

Seeing me vomit, Lydia pukes once again.

'Splurt'

'Splurt'

'Splurt'

~~~~

" What's wrong with her ?"

Georna asked helping me drag Lydia into their house.

" Uh...I don't know."

" Mommy !", Rhys ran up to me.

Rhys was staying with us as well, Georna seemed rather fond of him.

Georna frowns at the both of us as Rhys rubbed his head on my leg.

I pat him on the head and say,

" I'm going to take a bath."

"Mhmm...you don't want to know more about your condition ?", the granny asked while slapping Lydia across the face.

" Five more minutes !", Lydia says to no one in particular.

Oh yeah...I forgot about that.

Well...it can wait, I need to cleanse myself from the smell of puke.

" Can we do it after I take a bath ?". I ask Georna who curtly nodded and left with Rhys, well it was more like Rhys was dragged away.

" Mommy !", he called out in desperation.

I give him a thumbs up.

I'll never forget your sacrifice, Rhys.

~~~~

After a long and steamy bath, I got quickly dressed and went to Georna's room.

I could hear Lydia's snores from here, she's still asleep.

'Knock'

" Come in !", Georna's sharp voice responds to my knock.

Sliding the door open, I find Georna playing catch with Rhys, they were tossing around a ball of wool. The despair that was evident on Rhys's face minutes ago was replaced by a look of joy.

It's strange.

I kinda feel jealous.

" It's bad luck to keep an elder waiting, boy.", Georna whispered throwing the ball of wool towards Rhys, who ran after it like Georna's personal lapdog.

" I know that, but you're still a young maiden in my eyes Miss Georna.", I say winking at her.

Georna scoffed upon hearing me,

" Save your act for that poor girl, I see you for what you are: a monster."

" That's a little harsh isn't it ?", I say acting hurt.

Georna's narrowed eyes examined me from top to bottom until a tired sigh escapes her throat,

" Sit down."

I obey her command and sit opposite her, facing her ever-present frown head-on.

Georna takes in a huge breath of air, getting ready for her explanation.

" Inside the body of any living organism, there are certain energies. The inherent energy that all beings are born with is called their internal energy, this may include mana, glucose, etc. and the second type of energy is the energy that we take in from outside. This list is more versatile than the first division.

The skills you absorb, and the artifacts like a healing potion can all be put into this class of energy. When I inspected your body...I saw an unimaginable amount of energy within it, you have the energies of a large number of people within you and yet you haven't utilized your power properly, this is only a guess but is the reason for your large amount of external energy....an artifact ?"

I nod my head, understanding most of what Georna said but I was still confused.

What did the Potion Of Eternity have to do with the pain I felt?

" What kind of artifact was it ?", Georna asked stroking her chin.

I proceed to explain thoroughly everything I knew about the artifact in question.

I even told her about the legend surrounding the potion.

In the novel, Alvah was the one who caught hold of this artifact but for him, it wasn't necessarily 'worth it' since Alvah was an angel, he was immortal. After Alvah uses the potion it's never mentioned again.

" It....surely is an impressive artifact."

" I know..", I say smugly.

" Just make sure that it doesn't turn into a curse...."

" What's that supposed to mean ?", I ask, my curiosity piqued.

" Living a long life.....isn't always a blessing."

What's that supposed to mean?

Living is the best.

But there is a strange sense of comfort in the idea of death.

" Anyway, this potion seems to be fusing with both your energies, I knew you weren't normal from the beginning but it seems that you're even messed up than I thought....no normal human would have passed that test."

I choose to keep my silence and wait for her to continue with her explanation,

" As I said, this potion of yours which is an external energy is fusing with everything in your body, due to being kept dormant for a long period.....but your body is breaking apart as it can't handle all this energy, the fact that this energy came from vengeful spirits don't help one bit but this condition of yours.....is treatable."

I heave a sigh of relief,

" I will have to readjust your body in a way that all the energy within your body will stabilize, this process carries with it a huge risk since I've only done this procedure once before....now that I think about it, that case was similar to this one as well...."

" Oh...who was it?", I ask trying to ease the nervousness that I felt.

" Mhmmm, it was my daughter....she didn't use a potion like you...she was just born with an unimaginable amount of energy."

My eyes widen hearing Georna,

" Y-you mean L-"

" That's right, that child was Lydia's mother and the chief of Lupus Village-"

A grim expression passes over her face as she uttered her daughter's name,

"- Luna Caerus"

~~~~