Shades of the New World

Chapter 268: A small game

She had taken off her dark-brown armor and was wearing a more feminine take on the traditional Northern clothing for men. This traditional northern clothing, being a mix of once simple ankle-long one-piece dress, which would be decorated with colorful accessories or jewelry in the case of women, or would be enriched with beautiful needlework in the case of men. The men's clothes were usually more baggy to showcase their larger bodies, while the women's clothing were a bit tighter to show off their curves and alluring shapes.

Sannah, on the other hand, was wearing a tightly fitting blue dress, which had pale-blue  clouds sewn onto it, with no sign of accessories and jewelry on her body.

She offered Evin a seat and started pouring him a drink from her set. Green tea from what Evin could see. Sadly, Evin wasn't a big enthusiast on teas so he couldn't quite derive the same pleasure that he would from a cup of coffee. In fact, this act actually reminded him to go and make a cup of coffee for himself. 

'But it's probably best not to act like a bitch about it. Especially with your new boss.'

"Thank you for the tea," Evin said simply.

"It's still so weird when I see your childish face make such difficult expressions," Sannah said with a chuckle.

"Well, I'm trying my best to grow out it all," Evin replied.

Of course, Evin still looked like a child in the eyes of others, so it was natural he would evoke certain unexplainable feelings in others. He reckoned it was the same feeling of unease as moving dolls, or possessed children in movies gave off. 

'It's actually quite surprising that the topic is only being brought out now,' Evin was almost certain that the team had agreed to not mention Evin's age beforehand.

"Well, it probably affects me more, as I'm a mother and a grandmother myself. I'm actually waiting to become a great-grandmother currently," Sannah said happily.

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"Congratulations," Evin said with a smile, "How many children do you have now?"

"Only five. Unfortunately, my husband passed away in my youth, and I haven't been able to move past him since."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Evin said, hoping he sounded sincere enough.

"It's alright. I've had enough time to mourn. I'm a bit curious, have you ever had children? Before all this, of course," Sannah asked curiously.

Naturally, Evin was the guardian godfather of a few children that came from the people he stalked. Without their knowing, of course, but it was probably best to not speak of those things.

"Sadly no. I've walked a rather lonely path before this, to say the least, but I'd rather you don't worry about my little adventure. It's a bit embarrassing, after all," Evin said wryly.

"Really? I wanted to know if a Child of the Empress ever got the urge to revisit their old children and families if they were allowed to. Felt like a nice to topic to discuss," Sannah said with a light frown.

"Well, since I sometimes wish to revisit my old place of birth, I'm sure I'll want to visit my kids if I ever got one," Evin laughed.

The two talked about pointless and random topics, slowly getting to know each other. Evin quickly found out that Sannah was probably one of the simplest people he ever met. The way she disappointedly narrated stories about her children, the way she lovingly described her grandchildren, none of these traits seemed to suggest that Sannah was a powerful lesser-imposer elite of the Paradra Tribe, feared and respected by countless mages in the world.

After the two started to become comfortable and casual with each other, Sannah started to explain her intentions a bit more.

"He-he, usually, most of the half-cores I meet are almost always scared witless of me. Which is why I have to spend some time talking to them to make them understand that I don't really belong on the pedestal that they put me on," Sannah explained, "It's very pleasing to meet someone who doesn't act in such a way."

"Well, it's probably because I spend so much time with Nasst. I mean I know that the man's a super-imposer, but I rarely ever feel that way," Evin explained with a shrug.

"I suppose you're right. We, humanoids, are considered quite the adaptable creatures. But I still have one more thing to teach you. Sure, personality-wise, us lesser-imposers are usually nothing too special. But there's still a reason why many others fear and respect us."

"Your strength."

"Exactly. But, as you probably know, everything mysterious starts to lose its glamour if it's understood more clearly. Usually, I would do a few sparring matches between us to get you used to the power of lesser-imposers, but sadly, we have nowhere secure to have such fights. After all, we don't really know if there's anyone out there listening and searching for us," Sannah said in a regretful tone, "But it wouldn't hurt for us to match our wits in a much easier and simpler contest of magic."

Evin intently listened to Sannah describe the rules of the game they were about to play.

"Since you're a Dark World user, you'll be trying to have a sliver of your shadow overcome connect with my feet," Sannah said as she pointed at her legs, "I, on the other hand, will be trying my best to prevent you from doing so, by using my World Domain."

"Seems simple enough," Evin commented, "Though I don't really know how I'm going to bypass your defenses if you decide to turtle up."

"Of course, we will both have to abide by some specific rules," Sannah said and created a circle around her feet. It wasn't anything too complicated, just a thick line of blood red surrounding the woman. 

'Is that her World Domain? Must be from the World of Emotions, judging by its unique color,' Evin thought, as he curiously inspected the line.

The line then split into two equal parts turning into a half circle around Sannah.

"I can only cover half the area around me with a World Domain, and you can only attack me from half the area around me as well," Sannah explained.

"I don't feel very confident in my ability to fine control my shadows to make sure it's always surrounding half the circle around you," Evin concluded after hearing his task.

"Don't worry about that. I'll make it so that you won't have to focus so much on the smaller details," Sannah said and started drawing a collection of runes under her feet.

"With this, the your spell will work according to the rules of the game. Try surrounding me with our Dark Room," Sannah then instructed.