Starlight Necromancer

Chapter 50 - Cold

"So, let me get this straight – you walked up to someone, told him that his work was completely wrong and basically a pile of shit, and then you suddenly do math that I will never even be able to hope to do, and then you get a bunch of books shoved onto you? And most of those books are just filled with what, more numbers?" Octer asked with a deep stare, looking back at his friend, who very slowly nodded his head as he leaned back on his bed in the inn, "Yes, as I've told you probably like five times already. Now stop repeating yourself."

"...What are these numbers, even?" Lynol asked, "I tried to keep up, but..."

"Eh~? My oh so great martial arts teacher doesn't understand something~? That so?" Foster replied with a grin on his face, before grabbing the book from his friends and showing them another page than what they were looking at just now, "It's not just numbers. Here is an actual star map. You guys know how to read regular maps, right?"

"Of course, we're not that dumb..." Octer pointed out with a wry smile, and Foster laughed a bit, "That's not what I meant, sorry. Anyway, look here at this star map. I'll just explain it to you in the way that I know it for now. Horizontally here you have 'Right Ascension', and vertically it's 'Declination', which are basically longitude and latitude respectively on a regular map. Then here on the map, you have the designation for the most notable stars, like... PAL-13 right here." Foster explained, pointing at a specific star on the map, before flipping the page back over.

He searched through the table filled with seemingly random numbers, until he found the one that regarded the star 'PAL-13', before continuing to explain, "Alright, here it is. Then right here this is the 'declination', or latitude, and this here is the 'right ascension', or longitude. The rest of the numbers should... just be references to how these stars are referred to in different systems, I guess?" He explained, and Lynol leaned over to take a look at the page with a strong squint.

"Seriously? That's it?" Lynol asked, and Foster shrugged, "Basically, I guess. I mean, over here is some other more specific information, although it doesn't really matter to me right now. I'd just like to find some stuff out about the stars for now in general. Luckily, the star maps are all sorted by recognized asterisms or constellations. And then I can take that, move over here, and read up on the constellation itself. Like, the myths and stuff."

"...You didn't even like reading those martial arts books, and they're mostly just pictures..."

"Don't judge me, Octer... It's not like I'm even trying to remember all this raw data or anything, I'd just like to be able to recognize some of the more notable stars, alright?" Foster said, trying to convince his friends that he wasn't as big a nerd as he was clearly appearing to be.

"But honestly, it surprised me to hear how you did all that math so easily." Lynol pointed out, adn Foster turned his head toward him with a wry smile.

"You trying to call me dumb or something?"

"No, I'm saying I thought you were dumb, but that clearly isn't the case. You even surprised that astronomer with your ability to calculate such things."

"Well, I guess... but that's mostly because I know methods that are a lot more refined. Remember, my world was hundreds of years ahead of this one in such aspects." Slowly, Foster placed the book to the side, and leaned back against the wall behind him. And then, Lynol and Octer chose to tal about something that they were slightly worried about.

Octer scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and looked at his friend, "You know, Foster... if you would rather work with those guys at the planetarium... you don't have to become an adv-"

"If you finish that sentence, I'll break your nose." Foster interrupted Octer with a loud grown, "Dude, I'm good. I don't wanna work as an astronomer. I like knowing about this stuff, but it's just a hobby. I get a bit deeper into this math aspect of things 'cause I'm just pretty good with these kinds of numbers. And you wanna know the reason why that is? Cause I specifically studied the math I might need for this stuff. I'm a moron, I ain't gonna survive a week in that job. Just let me punch things, aight?"

Lynol couldn't help himself but laugh after hearing Foster's explanation, and slowly approached the door, "As long as you say so, then that is fine. Just don't go back on your word in a few weeks, alright?"

Lynol and Octer made their way out of Foster's room again, heading back to their own, leaving this space-nerd alone with his new books. Slowly, he turned his head toward Aster, who was making himself something like a small nest out of Foster's shirt. He was so tiny that the balled-up shirt made it look like that scene from 'My Neighbor Totoro'.

Foster smiled as he looked at the small nature spirit, and slowly pulled his hairband out of his hair as he leaned back, pressing his head onto his pillow, "Goodnight, buddy." He said with a light smile on his face, looking at the ceiling above him.

Realizing that he was still wearing the vial-necklace filled with those frost seeds, Foster quickly took it off and placed it onto the bedside table, before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

His mind slowly faded away. For most of the night, everything was fine. He ran through the normal dreams that one would have every night, until there was one particular dream... a strong one, a vivid one. A... cold one.

Snow fell from the sky, touching Foster's skin as he was sitting on the dirty, muddy ground. With empty eyes, he looked into the dark night sky, until he soon heard a voice from a man beside him.

"Foster, come over here outta the snow." The man said with a loud groan, clicking his tongue. Foster shuffled over the ground and approached the man in front of him. He stuffed his hand into his pocket before pulling something out of it. He nervously held it in his hand, while the man in front of him placed some bags onto the ground, "What've you got there, kid?"

Carefully, Foster raised his head and looked up at the man, slowly pushing his hands forward. He showed a small white lump with a yellowish tint to him, "I... I lost my first tooth today... C-Can I give it to the... to the tooth fairy...?"

"Huh? Tooth fairy? Where'd you hear 'bout that thing?" The man asked surprised, squatting down in front of a young Foster, who slowly replied, "I heard... heard someone talking about it... one the playground... a kid said that they get money if you give it to her..."

The man slowly took the small tooth out of Foster's hand and looked at it for a moment. And the next second, he threw it to the side with an annoyed sigh, "The tooth fairy ain't real, kid."

"B-But he said-"

"Well, the kid was lyin'. Anyway, wait here. I'll be back in a few hours." The man said as he rolled his eyes. He turned around and groaned, "By the way, if there was some magical being giving you money for teeth, that one definitely wouldn't have been the first one ya lost."

As he was leaving, Foster quickly moved over into the snow, looking for the tooth in a hurry. The snow picked up, as he clutched the small object in his hands, "You're the one lying...."