The strong smell of the tea lingered in the room as Lidien drank the Xocoatl, observing if it could really heal and strengthen his Sparkline.
However, after a few days of ingesting it, he realized that it was only the feeling of healing and not the actual thing.
'Well, at least it could help my blood flow better... without using Incite of Blood.'
It took another week before Lidien could control his limbs, however, every time he moved his body, a sharp, burning pain flared along his Sparkline, as if the energy channel itself was screaming in protest.
Azer often times visited Lidien lying on the bed, laughing as he watched Nyomi trying to read with difficulty... a brutal punishment for Lidien who wanted to listen to a beautiful voice who could read for him in the Knowledge Spire.
Lidien then looked at Nyomi scrutinizing a book, and sighed as he watched her struggling to read.
As his patience reached its peak, Lidien thought of something that could somehow ease his agony...
"Nyomi... come here, I'll teach you how to read."
Nyomi shyly glanced at Lidien then pouted her lips.
"B-But My Prince... you don't have to..."
Lidien hardly moved his arms to support him from sitting up straight, and gestured Nyomi to sit beside him.
Nyomi reluctantly sat, for she knows that Lidien was like a monster if he got mad after she experienced it in their first meeting.
Lidien spent the morning till noon teaching Nyomi to read no matter how hard it was for her to learn, often times Lidien would just facepalm himself if Nyomi forgot what symbol and sound the character was.
Lidien found himself smiling, as he remembered the times he was tutoring someone to at least have an extra income during his time in High School...
'Be thankful it was free...' he thought, as he stared at Nyomi stuttering in each and every word.
Then the peaceful rhythm of Nyomi's stuttering was shattered by the screech of the door hinge.
Aria stood in the doorway, her fox-like eyes fixed on Lidien.
"Oh... I didn't know you could smile like that."
Aria stepped inside the room pushing a food cart that had numerous meals atop of it.
Nyomi stood from the bed and bowed at Aria before leaving the room as Aria's eyes followed her with disgust.
"I didn't know you got a thing for small plump slaves my little brother..."
Looking at Aria, Lidien smirked.
"Oh please Big Sis... all of us have their own enjoyment..."
As his eyes turned menacing, he added:
"So, don't touch my things..."
Aria laughed, and placed the food cart in front of Lidien before sitting beside him... kissing his cheeks that still had visible veins on them.
Lidien could only sigh, thinking it was good enough that Aria was the one beside him during his paralyzed state instead of Lily, for he knows the possible outcome of him being a play thing for that Demon of Lust...
As the thought of Lily came, he remembered he still needed to study his Incite of Blood, or rather... understanding the Blood Essence behind it.
"What are you thinking?"
Aria fed Lidien with care, as her fox-like eyes slitting with every food she scooped for him... yet, Lidien didn't mind it, because since the beginning of his paralysis... it was Aria who was nursing him, unless she had a duty in the fifth floor of the Knowledge Spire.
"Nothing... I was just thinking what to do after wiping out the Dark Wolf Clan..."
Aria suddenly paused her hand spooning a soup... then she laughed out loud that caused Lidien's ears to feel like bursting.
"You? Wiping out the Dark Wolf Clan? are you serious!?"
She burst out laughing again, thumping her own legs as her eyes teared from happiness...
"Oh Lidien... Ahhh... this is refreshing... you know, even if all of us siblings attack the Dark Wolf Clan, we will not be able to wipe them out... unless Mother leaves this Rift and helps us, but... it seems impossible."
This time it was Lidien who giggled then turned to laughter, shutting Aria's mouth.
"Well... You think Mother will give me a Mission that is impossible to begin with? Defeating them is easy... but wiping them out is another task."
Aria stared at his eyes so confident that she almost thought Lidien had already accomplished the task.
"Then, why did you say you are thinking what you will do after wiping them out... if you are uncertain of it."
Lidien then smirked, hardly reaching for the grapes on the table before eating them.
"Because wiping them out is the only choice Mother gave me..."
As his eyes stared at the ceiling, he thought.
'And if it was impossible to wipe them out, I'll just use them to find another settlement to revive Lily.'
Aria sighed, then smiled at him lovingly...
"If Mother just allowed me to assist you, I'll definitely help, but she just gave me this mundane task so useless that I couldn't even help the Twins in the Western Front... well, Rax was sent there to assist, I hope Kyer didn't overprice him the weapons he needed for his soldiers."
After Lidien finished eating his lunch with the assistance of Aria, she immediately left saying that she needed to be in the Knowledge Spire, to which Lidien said his goodbye to her genuinely.
As he was left alone in his room, he lay on the bed and closed his eyes...
For the past few days of analyzing his entering the Dreamflow, he realized that he needed to be unconscious... dreaming... just to traverse that thin and mysterious barrier isolating the outside world and the Dreamflow.
First, Nightmare... Lidien once entered the Dreamflow when he was having a nightmare caused by the fragmented shattered shards of the old Lidien.
Second, Drowning... Aria's traumatic kind of procedure of waterboarding helped Lidien enter his Dreamflow as his brain got deprived of oxygen, causing him to pass out.
and Lastly, becoming unconscious after fighting Azer... that also caused his demonic side to get purified, making him purely a Blessed of Death by accident.
But relying on trauma, exhaustion, or near-death experiences was no way to master a power. To truly control the Dreamflow, he needed a key. A method that was conscious, repeatable, and his alone.
As Lidien thoughts stopped their wandering, he relaxed himself and breathed slowly... feeling his heart with its every beat.
"Since the only way to enter the Dreamflow was becoming unconscious... I'll make my own way of getting in it..."