The Wiz
Chapter 23: The Mate

Barcus sighed a few times. His mind was so confused and complicated. Still can not believe, if such a strange thing will happen. Well, even though Camoline says it in the form of a random question that no one will be aware of, but for Barcus it is different. Camoline's question was a new fact that made her neck feel suffocated.

Still with a confused feeling, Barcus stepped into the brother's private room. Stupid time with the Head of the Academy. His mind was in turmoil, and he wanted to share it with his brother. The only sane— who according to Barcus— is reliable. Other teachers are just as crazy, he thinks. Crazy and hard to hold on to one principle.

"Didn't I warn you, you have to knock before you enter this room?" Zelden said calmly. His head did not move, his gaze did not shift, and his hand kept moving writing something down on a yellowish sheet of paper with the help of dyed ink. Barcus did not answer. He only exhaled a long breath before stepping his feet towards the wooden chair in the corner of the room. The place he used to sit when he wanted to disturb the concentration of his brother.

"Tell me, the most absurd thing about mate" Barcus said. He had secured his position on the chair which became small in its large body. Barcus' request just now, it sounded like an order to Zelden.

"unusually. Are you interested in boring things like that?" ask Zelden. He put the goose back in its place. Now, he just waited for the ink on the paper to dry before rolling it.

"Come on. I've been very prepared to listen to your long rant" Barcus lamented.

Zelden chuckles. He looked at his sister with amusement. The release of circular-shaped glasses that have since been attached to his nose. Breathing out of Zelden's mouth. Do not deny if the body feels stiff after being required to read many letters of report, also reply to every letter received. Embedded position he sat, before looking back at his faithful sister waiting for him to tell a boring story— as Barcus always said.

"alright. You want to hear from what part?"

The barcus moved small with a huff. His hands that had been the back of his head were moving, now interlocked with random eye movements. "Tell me the most impossible thing about such a bond" Barcus replied.

The man clearly did not want any more deliverance, inner Zelden.

Zelden smiled shadyly. He would not force his will so that Barcus just asked about the matter that disturbed his mind. Because it would be better than telling everything, but the desired answer will never be obtained.

"It's impossible, huh? Mate couples will feel the same pain, experienced by their partners. They have the special power to be able to sense each other's presence at a certain distance. Mate relationships will not be easily eliminated, especially with just a sentence of rejection. That special disconnect will only be lost by death." Zelden took a pause. He looked towards Barcus. Now his sister's eyes were centered on a hard, cold stone floor. It seems like you haven't got the desired answer.

"Mate has only one for one man, in one life. As it happened to both of us— you already clearly know about it," Zelden continued.

Barcus's eyes moved. Then slowly, Barcus' head moved to stare towards Zelden. As Zelden expected, Barcus found no answer to his words. His sister must have questions that are far more complex than he said.

"That's something I can't be sure of. Because reincarnation itself, usually occurs more than 100 years— 400 years more precisely, after the death of someone," said Zelden.

Barcus was silent, frozen. More than 400 years. That's so crazy.

"And you, too, know that it is impossible for anyone to live that long. Even at the highest level, in just 100 years, one can survive." Barcus' head immediately turned towards Zelden with an increasingly complicated look on his face. Finding this, it is not strange if Zelden's suspicions increase. Barcus knew something big, and seemed hesitant to tell his brother about it.

"alright. Thanks for that boring story. I'll go first" said Barcus. He stood up from the chair, then stepped out of the room. From his back alone, Zelden was already able to confirm if Barcus' head was getting filled with questions. Perhaps, the man younger than him had just gotten a glimmer of an answer to something that bothered him, yet that answer, seemed to raise another question.

Zelden let out a long breath. He looked down, looking at the ink on the paper he had written the last time. The ink had dried, according to the count. With great care, he rolled up the paper and tied it with a black string. The letter will be sent along with several other letters. He just needs to make sure, not a single letter is missed or even bad, forgotten to be sent.

"But if there is, who can live more than 400 years?"

Unknowingly, Zelden came to think about it. His right hand that was about to pick up another piece of paper instantly came to a halt. He looked blankly at the ink container that was only a quarter of a bottle. Wrinkles began to appear on his forehead, before finally, Zelden chose to brush off the prejudices inside his head just now. It is impossible for someone to live more than 400 years. In addition, the person does get a terrible curse from God, or.., the other most impossible thing is to get extraordinary strength that is able to extend his life.

However, the matter of mate that Barcus asked just now. That's pretty awkward. Barcus, his sister, chose to never discuss anything related to mate again since the death of his wife. Zelden can tell how sad Barcus was when his life partner died first. Zelden had felt it, long before Barcus.

It's been 30 years, and this is the first time Barcus has heard anything about mate again.

There must be something very important, which made him dare to ask about it again. Zelden was sure about it.

Again, Zelden let out a long sigh. He massaged the base of his nose, to relieve fatigue in his head. After a moment of silence, he opened his eyes again. His hand moved to take back the round-rimmed glasses. His duties as the Head of the Academy were quite a lot. And more and more since the top of the Palace came, because inevitably, he had to respond to every useless word from the higher-ups.

In order to maintain the Academy's good image, Zelden would inevitably have to do such an annoying thing.