You know 'them'? Ferris thought.
In an instant, Ferris understood that what Judas felt was merely based on vague feelings.
Ferris could only wander toward fruitless thoughts and ideas. There simply wasn't enough information, other than the fact that Judas had some sort of connection to the dreamer, and that Judas calls the dreamer 'them'.
I'm not familiar with that term, but I assume it's for figures with divinity attached to them. After all, she- I mean... 'they' were pretty confident on being a god or somewhere near that level.
So all this time, I've been misgendering them?.. Ferris thought for a moment. Never mind, beings like 'them' are at the stage where mortal concepts don't matter to 'them'.
Even the strongest dragon I know, Sagittarius, was still a male.
Upon knowing that name, Judas' consciousness was bombarded with a flow of memories that belonged to Felix.
"He didn't look strong though, at the surface he looked like the type girls would consider... a sexy nerd." Judas stated his opinion. He thought of his sister Soleil, who he remembered was interested in those kinds of things.
Likewise, Ferris immediately knew what Judas thought and felt.
"Seriously, while we're resonated, can't you think of more important things?"
Judas raised his voice, though Ferris didn't notice the difference due to Judas' child state. "You've been more concerned about misgendering 'them'!"
Knowing that the situation would escalate, Ferris simply stopped thinking until both of them were ready to discuss things properly.
First of all, why were both of them resonated in the first place?
Ferris wasn't planning to resonate, and Judas didn't know how to even initiate one in the first place.
Using his former knowledge, Ferris came up with a possible scenario.
Perhaps another person initiated the resonance between the two of us, but that's a hard task only experienced masters could accomplish... wait, the only experienced master of essence I know in this world is Miss Evening!
That mere idea of that name elated his mind in a mysterious way, convincing him that it was none other than her.
"Yeah, yeah, it's coming back a little," Ferris muttered, remembering some key details like meeting her not too long ago.
Judas, who was listening and formulating his own ideas from the sharing of their minds, thought of another idea.
The two already knew that the reason of Ferris' fatigueness might be related to Judas' case.
Was it Judas who was residing within Ferris' soul that caused the fatigueness?
"Maybe it's the fact that I haven't been myself lately, that it's actually been affecting you too?"
"You mean the fact that you're a shard?"
"...Yeah." Judas stared at Ferris, who had a look of deep thought.
"Alright, parasite is pushing it!" Judas exclaimed. He feared that he was going to be evicted at any moment.
It was intrusive thoughts! Ferris explained.
Regardless, Judas' idea was solid. To have someone residing in his essence core, it was similar to an eternal resonance.
And the fact that Ferris can call upon Judas' manifestation in the form of a sword, they might as well have been considered as the same being.
In that instant, Ferris' mind became clearer.
"I remember now, I'm going to City 19." Ferris looked at the child in front of him. "If I arrive there, tell me if it's the place where you came from."
. . .
In a moment where Ferris couldn't recognize what happened around him, the small void he was confined to became unrecognizable and blurry.
Judas was already gone, and Ferris' mind became quiet once more.
***
A warm light surrounded him. Ferris' body felt warm and relaxed as he slowly opened his eyes.
He was laying down on a soft bed, and he saw Evening sitting on the edge, watching the late night news.
Without needing to look to know, Evening suddenly turned around and smiled. "You're alright, wonderful!"
So it was her, I was right.
If she wasn't there, I might've died today.
"T-thank you," he said hoarsely. Even though he was alive, he felt as if he had just woken up on a fresh morning, only to find out that he was sick with the flu.
He wanted to check his essence, but Evening suddenly leaned her entire body and pressed her hand on his chest. "Don't- don't use your essence for now, even if it's just to check."
"...Is it that bad?" Ferris asked.
Knowing Evening, or rather, Eos' expertise in essence, Ferris kept asking questions. "What's happening to me?"
Despite having the idea that gaining more shards of Judas would cure him, Ferris still wanted a professional opinion.
"It's because you're pregnant."
. . .
Excuse me?! Ferris wasn't impressed.
Evening laughed and fell on the bed. ", that was an analogy.
You're such a klutz, even in this version of you!" She continued on laughing.
"Miss Evening, would you please explain," Ferris resisted the urge to use an order essence gaze.
After regaining her composure and steady breath, Evening sat back up, stood up, and sat beside Ferris' head.
"Your essence core is carrying the weight of another person. But of course, if it was some average person, that would've been easy for you to handle." Evening pressed her index finger on Ferris' heart again and made circles around it.
"Judas, was it? What is he to you, and why is he residing within your body?"
Just like Soleil, Evening could sense Judas' presence within me.
As expected of her! Ferris felt safe that Evening was still a master when it came to the art of essence.
"I don't know, yet," Ferris answered.
Evening sighed. "Anyhow, that kid's special. It's thanks to him that resonating you two was easy."
Ferris, who was also well versed in the art of essence, quickly figured out why she did that.
It was similar to clearing out the furniture in a room before cleaning it, then bringing back the furniture once the room was clean.
Evening simply took out my essence control and placed me in a resonance with Judas.
After that, she cleaned the essence core on my behalf, then broke the resonance between me and Judas.
"When can I use my essence again?" Ferris held his heart. He was a little bit worried, since he was supposed to be guarding Marie.
Evening shrugged.
"No clue, that's up to you and Judas to deal with," she answered.
"..."
***
Tailor's estate within the secluded forest.
Soleil rolled around her bed. Ever since she strictly followed Ferris' training regimen, her entire body began shivering every night.
She was unsure if it was working or not, but it did feel like her blessing strength got a bit better.
However, her blessing control had a different level of change. Compared to her tiny qualitative increase in raw psychic power, her control had improved significantly!
For example, by focusing on every fiber of her body, she could alleviate the soreness by supplying it with a bit of her essence.
Because compared to others she met, including Zaku, her essence was warmer and had a healing effect to it.
How come that I didn't notice this before? Soleil thought as she felt her entire body warm up as if she was in a hot bath.
And all it took was lifting myself up a hundred times. Soleil was in awe of the miraculous effects of Ferris' training regimen.
Surely, only a genius like Ferris could come up with such a basic and easy way to get stronger!
As she imagined herself flying through the skies, her mind drifted to the image of her brother, who was flying alongside her.
Her mind continued to drift to more ridiculous scenarios, like her wielding the golden blade of her brother's manifestation while wearing golden armor and donning angel-like wings, after a while she finally embraced the quiet darkness of sleep.