novelraw Chapter 284: Illogical
Chapter 284: Illogical
Stanley, Red, and Yellow stood around a small fire, basking in its warmth with their bodies wrapped in warm blankets. From time to time, Red would look back at the wall in the distance to make sure it wasn’t moving and then would sigh in relief when it didn’t.
She looked back at the fire with the wood almost burning out.
"We need more wood," she said.
"I don’t know if I can find any at this time," Stanley said before looking at Yellow. "Are you sure you cannot make wood?"
The old woman sighed and shook her head. "As I told you, I can only create items I’m used to having in my presence for a certain period, based on their size, weight, and complexity. Matches were easy because I kept them by my side for this past week. But I never thought I would need to do something like that with wood."
Red murmured something under his breath that nobody caught.
"Did you not cook food in wood back in your... never mind." In The Last Hope, you had no choice but to use woodfire to cook. Outside of that place, there were almost no place that used woodfire.
"There must be something in your past that you can create though," he said. "Something that you can burn. You don’t have to create wood though. Just create something that is made up of wood that we can break apart to burn."
The woman’s eyes shined. "Oh!" she said. "Right, we can do that. Let me see..." she fell into a thought for a while, going through all the things she could create from her past.
"Hmm... this should do," she said and put her hand to the side. A small wooden stool appeared out of nowhere, plopping to the ground in front of her. She quickly placed it in the fire’s light to check. "Yeah, this is wood. This should work, right?"
Stanley looked at the stool and nodded. "This will do," he said before trapping the stool under his leg and crushing it with his working hand. He put the wood in the fire and it started burning brighter.
Red shook her head at the sight.
"You two lied," she said in a somewhat angry tone. "You didn’t tell us what your real powers were when we met."
Red turned to Stanley. "You said you could age things, but here you are running at the speed of a car while carrying us two," she said.
"You did watch me carry those logs each day," Stanley said.
"I didn’t know if they were heavy or not," she said. "And I thought it had something to do with your power anyway."
Then she turned toward the woman.
"And you said you could only make small snacks," Red said. "And yet here you are creating matches and wood."
The woman sank into her blanket a little, knowing that the young woman was indeed right about her.
"Why didn’t you tell us everything?" she demanded.
"Well, in my case, I had just met you," Stanley said. "And I didn’t know if the group was even legit in the first place. I was just trying to be safe."
"Same here," the old woman said before grimacing in pain when she tried to stand up straight. She created a small shawl and asked Red to help wrap it around her shoulder. She also created some medicines to eat.
Stanley couldn’t help but be surprised. "You can even create medicines?" he asked. "What can’t you make?"
"Mostly complex stuff, like say a watch or a smartphone. No matter how much time I spent around it, I just couldn’t replicate it. Even when I do manage to make something similar, it’s usually a hollow shell."
"Oh, is that all?" Stanley asked as he nodded.
"Actually..." the woman said. "No, that is not all."
Red’s eyes perked up a little. "There’s more to say about your powers?" she asked. "What else is there? You said what you can make and what you can not make."
"Yes." The woman nodded. "But there is also something else that I can make, something that I do not have to have learned before."
Red gave an impatient look while Stanley looked curious.
The woman took a deep breath. "Since you say I didn’t tell you everything, I will tell it now," she said. "I can create things that don’t exist, but for them to work they have to be illogical, and I have to give up something important to me in return."
"What?" Red exclaimed. "What sort of nonsense is that?"
"It’s not nonsense," the woman said. "I’m telling it the best way I can."
"I don’t understand though. Show us something. Give an example," the girl said.
The woman thought for a moment and created something. A single grape appeared on her hand, which she handed over to the young girl.
"Eat it," she said.
The girl looked at the grape and frowned. "What is this? This isn’t poison or something, right?" she asked.
"Of course not," the old woman gave an exasperated look. "Why would I want to poison you? Just eat it or give it to him."
"Fine!" the girl said and threw the grape into her mouth. The moment she chewed it, her eyes went wide in shock. "What... what is this?" She continued chewing.
"What? What is going on?" Stanley couldn’t contain his curiosity.
"It... tastes like fried chicken," the girl said as she continued to chew. "How is this possible?"
"It’s not," the woman answered. "A grape that tastes like fried chicken? That’s not possible. It’s illogical, and therefore I can create it."
"This is amazing!" Red said. "Make some more."
"I won’t," the woman said resolutely. "I told you it costs me something to make these. For that grape, I had to give up a small portion of my body’s heat right now. Thankfully, it wasn’t a lot, but I won’t be making any more."
"Oh, that’s alright then," Red said and continued chewing on the grape, taking in the taste that she hadn’t been able to for a long time.