CHAPTER 107: THE MOON IS BEAUTIFUL, ISN’T IT?

Noah was tossing and turning on his bed, as he was not able to sleep from the periodical thudding sounds beside him.

It was late in the night and he desperately wanted to take a good sleep, but the sound was acting as a nail hammering in his mind.

"Oi Luke man! Can you please stop this? I want to get some sleep here."

Luke was sitting on the floor in a lotus position. Prana was flickering bright in a transparent sphere around him and he was lifted up in the air, levitating. But it doesn’t last long as he keeps falling back to the floor, levitates up and fall back again in a cycle.

"What the hell are you even doing in the middle of the night?" Noah asked, a bit annoyed.

"I’m trying two new spells. The flight and shield spell."

"Do this in the common hall then. Why here?"

"Because Shane’s sleeping there."

"But...Why?" Noah asked in surprise.

"He says he can’t sleep with too many people in a single room." Luke said.

Noah was stumped. He didn’t know what to say now.

"Please do this tomorrow then. I really need a sleep right now man...please." Noah begged with his palms clasped together.

"Alright. Alright. Stop being dramatic." Luke stopped his training and moved to the bed.

"Thank you so much." Noah then turned around and peacefully closed his eyes.

Luke closed his eyes, trying to go into sleep. But no matter how much he tried, his eyes refused to stay shut. he opened his eyes and a feeling of irritation started rising inside him. he couldn’t stay put and jumped out of the bed.

He opened the window and stood on the wooden pane. He channeled prana and activated the flight spell. He slowly started levitating as he rose up towards the roof.

Just when his head moved up and the slanted tile roof of the inn came into view, the spell cancelled and his body started falling down.

But he immediately caught the edge of the roof and lifted himself up on it, sighing in relief upon standing up on the slanted roof tiles.

Slowly he moved up, towards the flat column at the top. Just when he was about to reach it, his eyes fell on a figure sitting on one end of the column with her knees bent and her chin rested on her knees. Her silver hair was shimmering from the moonlight as it was flowing with the mild wind.

Luke was mesmerized seeing her. She looked pristine and angelic in her white night gown and felt like the calm and cold breeze in a hot summer night.

RATTLE!

Lost at her beauty, Luke kept moving up when a tile rattled upon him stepping on it. She was surprised with the sudden sound from her back and turned around abruptly.

Her eyes opened wide in shock when she saw Luke froze on the spot, walking like a cat on the roof.

Her cheeks went red, stood up immediately, and was about to jump down when Luke yelled at her.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Why do you always run when you see me?"

"I-I’m not r-running." She stopped and turned to answer, her speech slurred with shyness.

"You are! Why are you ignoring me? Have I done something?"

"I’m not. W-When did I ignore you?"

"Yesterday at the plaza, then at the dining hall and right now."

"That’s...It’s because I’m in my night dress...I’m uncomfortable...t-that’s why."

"Don’t run then...prove it. Stay, sit with me."

Adriana’s eyes opened wide, she couldn’t believe how shameless Luke was. She was about to burst at him when Luke immediately cleared her misunderstanding up.

"Let’s sit with our backs facing each other. I won’t look! I swear." Luke said hurriedly.

Her expression finally eased and she nodded. Luke sighed in relief and moved up on the column. The two of them then sat near, with their backs facing each other and both looking in the opposite direction.

Though they were sitting close to each other, no one said anything as silence stretched between the two of them. Adriana crumbled the fabric of her gown as she squeezed it hard within her palm. Her cheeks were red and she was too shy to say anything.

"Couldn’t sleep?" Luke finally broke the ice.

"No."

"Something worrying you?"

"You can share with me if you want. I’m quite good at keeping secrets." he said.

Luke got silence in return. But he didn’t speak up immediately, he let her take her time.

"It’s about the tournament. I want to win it no matter how. But I don’t have the confidence...I don’t know if I really can." Adriana said.

"It’s just a competition. It’s not like your life depends on it. Why worry so much?"

"For me it’s not just a competition. Winning matters more than anything for me right now."

Luke was a bit taken aback. He didn’t know she was so serious about this.

"Is it...because of the prize money?" Luke asked hesitatingly.

No answer came from her. He got silence in return, and understood that she didn’t want to say anything more about this matter.

"The moon is beautiful tonight, isn’t it?" Luke said with a smile, looking at the bright moon in the sky.

Adriana turned around and looked at the sky. "It really is."

Luke chuckled and shook his head when he heard her answer.

"Why are you here this late at night though? Are you worrying about something too?" She asked curiously.

"Me? No, no! I was trying out new spells, but it disturbed Noah’s sleep. Since the other rooms were filled too, I came out here."

"What spells"

"Flight and shield."

"Flight is not that hard. I can teach you." Adriana said as she stood up and faced him.

"Really!?" Luke jumped up in excitement.

"Stand up then...don’t turn around though!" Adriana yelled when he was about to turn around.

"Channel your mana. Close your eyes and imagine wind gathering below your feet. Imagine that when you’re about to move up, the wind is pushed below and in turn you are pushed up. Your whole body is covered with wind and it is lifting you up and moving at your will."

Luke did as she said. He closed his eyes and started imagining. Prana covered him whole and majorly moved to his feet. Slowly he started being lifted up. He was now levitating in the air, and this time he maintained it for a long time.

He slowly opened his eyes and was shocked to find that the spell didn’t cancel this time. He moved up, forward and back.

Luke was excited, he finally learned the spell he wanted to since a long time.

"Hahaha! I did it." Luke exclaimed as Adriana chuckled seeing his excitement.

Luke cancelled the spell and landed on the column, resulting in a blast of wind moving outwards as Adriana’s gown lifted up, revealing her legs upto the thighs.

In his excitement Luke turned around, wanting to thank her, but his eyes then fell on her legs and his eyes got fixed, and the smile on his face vanished. He tried hard to hold, but his lips twitched, trying to lift themselves up.

Adriana held the gown down, and then saw Luke’s eyes fixed on her legs.

"I-It’s not l-like that...listen to.."

Luke couldn’t explain as a mana covered fist fell flat on his face.

"Pervert!!" She shouted as her fist sent Luke flying. Her cheeks were red but her nose was flaring in anger.

Luke fell below on the street, breaking a few roof tiles on the way which was right above the room Noah was sleeping, waking him up when he was finally asleep.

"I JUST WANT TO SLEEP GOD DAMMIT!!" He shouted out loud, but then started whining in frustration.