Everything about the cave felt off. The hung Tainted animals strangely were easier to accept than the glowing red symbols on the walls and the alien with hair that reminded Khan about blood.
Khan had basically just arrived on Nitis, but he believed to have mastered the basics concerning Niqols, especially for what concerned their appearance and typical uses of mana.
However, the scenes in the cave went against his knowledge. Nothing learnt in the past two weeks and before the travel to Nitis mentioned those blood-like red shades.
"I never understood if she gets the human language," Liiza explained while tightening the grip on his hand and getting closer to him. "I'll lead the conversation and translate. You follow my lead."
Liiza's words awakened the red-haired Niqols sleeping next to the cauldron. The alien sat on the ground and removed the dirty hair from her face to inspect her guests, and a disgusted expression soon appeared on her face.
"[You didn't tell me that he was a human]," The red-haired Niqols announced in a rough voice before spitting on the ground without breaking her eye contact with Khan.
The Niqols was clearly old. Wrinkles filled the corner of her eyes, the space between her white eyebrows, and her forehead. An awful smell came out of her ragged dark-grey robe that featured many black stains, and a layer of dirt covered her soles.
The old woman had long black fingernails on both fingers and toes, and her white eyes carried some scarlet shades that tainted the usual pure glowing gaze of the Niqols.
Khan couldn't help but think that her red shades weren't natural. After all, her eyebrows and eyes still tried to stick to the Niqols' innate features. Moreover, the odd reminder of blood caused by those dark-red colors made it feel like an artificial feature.
"She's happy to see you," Liiza said while caressing Khan's arm.
"I got that when she spat on the ground," Khan commented, but no anger managed to fill his mind since he saw how hard Liiza was trying to make that meeting succeed.
Liiza was holding Khan's right arm with both her hands. One of them squeezed his palm while the other caressed his elbow and made sure that it remained attached to her chest.
Her expression even appeared quite resolute. Khan felt hopeless about the whole matter after experiencing the nightmares for so long, but Liiza didn't hide her seriousness. She seemed willing to pay any price to help Khan.
Warmth inevitably filled Khan. He felt unable to move his eyes from his girlfriend. Liiza's resolute face tried to hide her worry and insecurities, and she was doing her best to support him even while those tumultuous feelings raged inside her.
'Maybe I've become too used to my suffering,' Khan thought as he committed that scene to memory.
Initially, Khan didn't want to plan that meeting since it could endanger his relationship with Liiza. He had eventually accepted because his actions were creating cracks in their bond. Yet, a new reason appeared in his mind when he saw how deeply his girlfriend cared about that matter.
Khan wanted to get better to make Liiza happy now. He couldn't force himself to forget what he had learnt to endure, but he cared about her feelings enough to do what was best for his condition.
The old Niqols' mouth opened in a grimace when she studied the youngsters. Liiza's fervor and Khan's captivated expression felt cute and pure, but she hated it when she considered the boy's species.
"[You know that I hate humans, Lii]," The woman snorted. "[I would do anything for you, but helping them is too much]."
"[I'm not asking you to help humans]," Liiza explained as her hand went on Khan's chest and opened his robe to reveal the azure scar. "[I want you to hurt the Nak]."
The disgusted expression on the woman's face disappeared when the scar appeared in her vision. She quickly stood up and walked toward Khan to near her nose to his chest and sniff the tainted spot.
The woman's movements had been quite abrupt. They had almost triggered Khan's instincts, but Liiza had made sure to remind him to stay still.
"Zalpa was the best shaman of her time," Liiza explained while the woman's nauseous odor surrounded the couple. "She understands mana in ways that the current healers of my species can't even begin to comprehend."
"I thought the relationship with the humans benefitted your species," Khan exclaimed while tilting his head once Zalpa started sniffing his neck.
"Niqols became scared of sacrifices," Zalpa suddenly explained in a bad human accent before taking a step back while keeping her eyes on Khan's chest. "They want to force mana into hands, but mana is free."
Liiza appeared surprised that Zalpa could use the human language, but she didn't forget to continue the explanation. "Our old ways often required a cost. We learnt how to remove that price by sacrificing a bit of our understanding."
"[A bit]!" Zalpa snorted. "[You let the easy path tempt you]!"
"She doesn't seem happy," Khan commented.
"She rarely was even back then," Liiza smiled while laying her head on Khan's shoulder, "But she taught me about freedom. I would have never decided to stay with a human if it weren't for her."
Khan's eyebrows arched in surprise, and his gaze toward Zalpa inevitably grew softer. The old Niqols hated humans, but he couldn't see her in a bad light anymore after learning about that connection with Liiza.
"[Can you understand what's wrong with him]?" Liiza asked when she saw that Zalpa had started scratching her hair and mumbling with herself.
"[Yes]," Zalpa replied before resuming her mumbling.
"[Can you help him]?" Liiza continued in an excited voice.
"[Maybe]," Zalpa gave another short answer before going back to her incoherent muttering.
"[What is it then]?" Liiza asked when she saw that Zalpa didn't appear inclined to approach the task.
"[He is a human and a Nak]," Zalpa explained. "[Two reasons not to help him]."
Khan actually understood the first line, and his expression inevitably darkened. Doctor Parket had already informed him about his peculiar condition, and he had yet to accept it completely.
"[Please, Zaza]," Liiza asked in a pleading voice. "[Do it for me]."
"[Why would you even go so far for a human]?" Zalpa snorted. "[I know that your mother made you dislike the Niqols, but he can't feel like we do. He's probably using you for his species or his urges]."
"[He just held back from doing that]," Liiza explained as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. "[He even wanted to stay with his nightmares because this meeting put our relationship at risk]."
Liiza's voice grew sweeter as her explanation continued, and she even tried to get closer to Khan during the process. He understood almost nothing of her speech, but his eyes met Liiza's gaze when he sensed the girl snuggling on his shoulder.
Zalpa had learnt a bit about Khan's situation in the past days. She knew about his condition, and her expression inevitably relaxed when she understood how caring he was toward Liiza.
Zalpa eventually raised her hand and gestured to Khan to get closer. Liiza wore a broad smile and kissed his cheek before letting him walk toward the shaman, but the latter suddenly grabbed his robe and made him bend with her superhuman strength.
"I know curses that kill your entire family," Zalpa whispered to Khan's ear before slowly letting him straighten his back. "Are we clear?"
"I won't hurt her," Khan promised when Zalpa's face reappeared in his vision.
"Feelings don't worry me," Zalpa snorted while turning toward the cauldron. "Niqols' love is stronger than humans. She'll happily get hurt in your place."
"[Zaza]!" Liiza shouted from behind Khan as her blush intensified. "[We have been together for only two weeks]!"
"[And you are already opening your legs]!" Zalpa snorted while bending inside the cauldron and throwing away various plants and other materials to clean its insides. "[I know you, Lii. You have never been so careless with the others]."
Liiza scoffed and turned her gaze away, but Khan noticed how her blush continued to intensify. Her cheeks had almost lost their dark shades at that point.
"You two must be really close," Khan laughed after that interaction ended.
"She is an old hag who can't accept progress," Liiza snorted.
"She is a rebellious kid who likes humans due to her hate toward her mother," Zalpa replied in the same tone.
"Zaza!" Liiza shouted as her timid gaze went on Khan. "I'm not with you because of my mother."
"I know," Khan revealed a warm smile, but Zalpa suddenly pulled him to her side and turned him to face the cauldron.
The bottom of the cauldron still had a few items. Khan recognized a few large black leaves, a glowing silver mineral, and a piece of wood that had peculiar scarlet lines on its dark surface.
"Blood," Zalpa said while showing her palm to Khan.
"What?" Khan asked in confusion, but Zalpa snorted, and her hand shot to grab his right wrist.
Khan barely saw her movements. He found Zalpa holding his hand over the cauldron when he realized what had happened. Surprise filled his mind while he tried to guess the shaman's power from the mana inside her body, but pain spread from his palm and distracted him from that inspection.
Zalpa had opened a long cut on Khan's palm with her fingernails. She had only needed her thumb to create an injury that made many drops of blood flow toward the bottom of the cauldron.
Khan couldn't pull his hand back. Zalpa's grip was too firm and reminded him about his previous inspection. He found it hard to sense her power with his senses, but she felt more dangerous than Lieutenant Dyester in that situation.
A barrier seemed to cover her figure and stop Khan from understanding her actual level. Still, that alone proved how strong Zalpa was. She clearly was an expert in mana.
Zalpa placed her free hand on the dark-bronze side of the cauldron while Khan's blood continued to fall on the items in its insides. Then, a red glow started to fill the metal until it slowly stretched toward the materials and made them melt.
Khan watched the silver mineral and the piece of wood melting before submerging his blood and the leaves. The pale-red liquid that came out of that mixture continued to rise until it filled the entire cauldron and created a clear surface once it reached its edges.
The liquid turned into a pale-red mirror that reflected Khan and Zalpa's faces. It was so dense that no ripples appeared on its surface. Khan even wondered whether it had solidified at some point.
"Lii, don't you want to watch?" Zalpa shouted as she sniffed the pale-red mirror and let go of Khan's hand.
"I don't know if I h-," Liiza started to say in a timid tone, but Khan promptly interrupted her.
"Don't worry," Khan announced while turning toward her. "I have nothing to hide."
Khan even gave voice to a faint "thanks" when he turned to face the cauldron. He had understood that Zalpa had used the human language on purpose with her previous question, but she only snorted at his word.
"What should I do now?" Khan asked after Liiza approached the cauldron.
"Drink to create mental connection," Zalpa explained. "Revive the dream while pouring mana into the cauldron. Can you do that?"
Khan hesitated a bit before nodding. Pouring mana wasn't a problem. His only issue was with the strange liquid, but he didn't mind it too much after recalling what the Slums had forced him to eat.
Liiza took Khan's hand in her grasp while he bent toward the cauldron. A cold sensation spread through his lips when they touched the liquid, and that feeling spread through his throat when he took a short sip.
Khan didn't hesitate to make mana flow out of his free hand after he straightened his back. The familiar scenes of the nightmare appeared in his vision as his energy entered the cauldron's metal and flowed inside the pale-red liquid.
Then, faint images started to materialize on the calm surface. Both Liiza and Zalpa became able to witness the memories of the Second Impact that had afflicted Khan for almost twelve years.
