Well... F#ck.
Evelyn thought as she stared at the unmoving child, her mind already calculating, dissecting, connecting everything she'd seen and learned so far.
This wasn't complicated. Not really. Just… messy.
She closed her eyes, breathed out, and the air around her began to ripple faintly. Tiny metallic tools — knives, needles, threads of light — rose into the air as if gravity had suddenly forgotten about them.
Her expression stayed blank. Not out of calmness, but because there simply wasn't any reason to feel anything.
Around her, the animals stirred uneasily. The sound of magic — sharp, focused, clean — filled the air.
The green-haired lady tried to watch. She really did. But she didn't last long. The moment she caught a glimpse of what Evelyn was doing, she turned pale and stumbled back, trembling, vomiting again and again.
Four times now. Evelyn counted.
The animals quickly shielded her, blocking her view with wings, fur, and branches, doing their best to keep her calm.
But Evelyn didn't stop. She was already deep into it.
Each motion was deliberate. Each breath steady. She worked like someone performing a routine maintenance task — nothing emotional, nothing dramatic. Just… process.
---
A while earlier.
The woman had frozen when Evelyn's words entered her mind.
She just stood there, eyes wide, mouth opening and closing like a broken puppet.
"R-R-R-Ra-R—"
Evelyn deemed it inefficient.
She raised her tiny hands and made a sound that, in her mind, carried all the emphasis of a command.
"Gaga!" (Really!)
The green-haired woman blinked once, twice, then — somehow — nodded. Slowly, she handed over her lifeless child as if her last thread of sanity had convinced her this strange infant might know something she didn't.
Evelyn accepted the child and immediately fell backward.
Her small hands were shaking from the weight, but her mind wasn't. It was already running through possible solutions.
Miss, Evelyn said through the mind-link, I don't have capable hands or magic. Could you lend me some magic and maybe… teach me how to use it?
The woman stared at her for a moment, then hesitantly placed a hand on Evelyn's forehead. Her palm glowed faintly.
Instantly, Evelyn felt it. Like static electricity crawling over her entire body — but cleaner, more directed.
"This should help you use magic for a while," the woman said, her voice still trembling. She tried to explain what little she knew — how to visualize, how to shape magic, how to breathe through it.
It wasn't hard. Not for Evelyn.
In her mind, she saw the geometry behind it — circles, runes, connections, structures — all falling neatly into place.
Soon, thin threads of energy shimmered in the air around her, forming precise, delicate instruments that moved as she thought.
She stared at her work, impressed with herself for a moment.
"Well… that was faster than expected," she muttered under her breath.
And then, she began.
---
The next few minutes were silent, except for faint ripples of energy, quick motions, and Evelyn's low hum of concentration.
The air itself seemed to hold its breath.
The animals stood still, the woman knelt motionless, and even the sea behind them went quiet.
Evelyn's expression didn't change once. Her eyes were cold, precise, and utterly devoid of hesitation.
Finally, after what felt like forever, she stopped.
Her shoulders relaxed slightly.
That should do.
A faint spark of light passed from her hands to the child's chest.
For a second, nothing.
Then—
"Khak! Kha! Haaah!"
The child gasped, coughing, breathing, crying.
The woman froze, her eyes wide, her lips trembling. Then she screamed — not in fear, but in joy — and threw her arms around her child, holding him as if afraid he'd vanish again.
The animals erupted. Birds cried out. Wolves howled. Even the trees seemed to sway to some unseen rhythm.
But Evelyn…
Evelyn just tilted her head, blinking once.
Why the f#ck is she crying now? she thought, expression flat. It worked, didn't it?