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Chapter 4-I

"Echo."

She turned her head. She was sitting in the middle of the grassy fields, just at the edge of town. The whole landscape was dark, illuminated only by the faint light of the moon.

"It's a bit late for you to be awake, isn't it?"

"I could say the same to you!"

She rolled her eyes at Ian as he sat down by her side.

"Sorry. Was that too mean?"

"Nah, not at all. I prefer having a sense of humor about it."

They sat quietly for a moment. Echo was the first one to break the silence.

"You didn't come here just to get some fresh air, did you?"

"I've got something."

"Something?" She tilted her head. "As in..."

"As in, I think I've figured out what the text says."

"Well, what is it? Don't leave me hanging like that!"

"It's... okay, a lot of the words could have several meanings, so there's a lot of ambiguity, but it's something like... 'To awaken the child, inscribe the letter of life into the...' And then there's a word that I'm not sure about."

"The... letter of life?"

"Letter, or symbol. Or any glyph of some sort."

"And by awaken, you think..."

Ian nodded. "Yes. I think it means awaken the memories of your childhood. But it's just speculation, of course."

"If there's any chance it may work, I want to try."

"I thought you'd say that. That's why I've been thinking about what 'the letter of life' may be. I thought it could be a musical note, or some other Pyrenic text, but I think it actually means a magic rune."

"A rune? Like..."

"Like this one." Once more, he traced a circle with a cross inside in the air using his finger, and a ball of light appeared in front of him. "I am certain it says 'life', though. So that can only be..."

"A healing spell!"

"Exactly." Ian drew a spiral in the air, then two diagonal lines in a V shape through it. Before it could light up, he used his hand to wipe it away, and it faded into the air. "That's the letter of life. I'm almost sure."

"But... you've cast so many healing spells on me already. None of them have done anything special."

"That's where the final word comes in. We have to inscribe it into... something. But I'm not sure what."

"What does the word mean?"

"I think it's something like... 'mantle'. But that doesn't really make any sense."

"Mantle? Maybe there's some kind of cloth they used at the temple that..."

"No, we didn't see anything like that. And even if there was, it would be long gone by now."

"I guess cloth doesn't really last that long, huh. Well, could that word mean anything else too?"

Ian nodded. "Almost definitely. But it's so vague though. It's really hard to come up with anything that makes any sense. It can also mean a... shell or carapace of some sort."

"I hope you're not thinking of going around healing bugs until something happens."

"Ha ha. Very funny."

"Shell, carapace... mantle... hey, could it mean 'skin', maybe?"

Ian blinked, then turned his head. "Skin! Of course!! That has to be it!"

"Really?"

"Well, it's the only thing that makes sense, right? Give me your arm!"

Echo extended her arm towards Ian. He grabbed it, took a deep breath, and quickly drew a spiral with a V sign on top of her skin.

The symbol faded away quickly.

"Well? Did it do anything?"

Echo tilted her head. "Well, apart from it feeling nice and warm, like all healing spells do... no. Nothing."

"Oh."

He let go of her arm, disappointed.

"Hey, don't give up just yet. Maybe we have to use a quill to write it with ink or something?"

Ian shook his head. "Runes only have any sort of magical properties if someone traces them with their body. Ink does nothing."

"I see."

Echo put her hand on Ian's back.

"Hey. I know how hard you're trying to help. I really appreciate it."

"Well, for all the good it's doing."

"Hey. Don't be like that. Just because I haven't instantly recovered my memories, doesn't mean you won't be able to help me. And even if you can't, so what? We can keep searching."

"Yeah. I guess."

"Plus, you're having a lot of fun with the translation, right?"

Ian smiled. "It is pretty fun. Time flies when I'm working on that."

"Then keep at it. I'm sure you'll find the answer. You've already done enough work to fill a scholar's journal, and you're only fifteen. Have I ever told you how cool that is, by the way?"

"Okay, now you're just exaggerating."

"I don't think I am."

They looked at each other for a moment, quietly smiling.

"Heh, I came here to give you some good news and you ended up having to cheer me up."

"You know what you should do now?"

"What?"

"You should get your ass to bed."

"Right. Sleep. That thing that some people do sometimes."

"Never heard of it."

Ian got up to his feet. "It sucks. Wouldn't recommend."

Echo just stared into the distance as he left, smiling and watching the grassy fields wave with the wind.