Ilya’s fingers twitched as she reached for the disc. Her hand stopped inches away from the image being projected out of the plate. Her fingers coiled into a fist. I could see that she was imagining squeezing the life out of Tyran.

  A slight gust blew all around her, spinning faster and faster until Grek had to take two quick steps away from Ilya.

  Ilya closed her eyes and took in a long breath inwards. She finally pulled her hand back and looked at Grek. “Is this information verified?”

  Grek hit a symbol on the metal disc and switched off the image projecting out of it. “Your Grace, I pulled it off that breaker a few minutes before you arrived. Is it verified in the strictest sense? No. But…”

  Ilya grimaced and finished Grek’s words. “But you have no reason to doubt the validity of this conversation.”

  “You seem surprised, Ilya.” I lifted myself off the floor and asked, “Why is that?”

  Ilya whirled to face me. “Aren’t you? Our brother, a Truechild, has ties with the damned and is betraying us.”

  I blinked. “You don’t know.”

  “What!?” Ilya asked. “What don’t I know?”

  “Sage and Father didn’t tell you. Did they?” I asked while standing up to face Ilya.

  In a blur of wind and speed, Ilya was face to face with me. Her hand was grabbing me by my collar and pulled me closer. Her eyes glared into mine. “What didn’t they tell me?”

  I held up my hand to stop Grek. The punisher was ready to jump in between two Truechildren to separate us. The Mouth was brave but seriously, didn’t he see the size difference between us and him?

  I waved my hand and shooed him away.

  I looked back at Ilya and answered, “He is damned.”

  “No, it can’t be.” Ilya shook her head. “He is just a boy.”

  “Ilya, he threatened you in front of me to get a rise out of Sage.”

  “Threatened me? How?”

  “Sexually.”

  Ilya let go of me and stumbled back. “Me? I am his sister.”

  “He is damned. They do awful, terrible things to change the nature of their souls.”

  Ilya grimaced and shivered in disgust. After a second she asked, “How… How can you be so sure?”

  “I saw it in his eyes. They were reptilian. And verified the fact in the Dark Waters. His soul…”

  Ilya cut me off. “If so, Father would have done something about him.”

  “Ilya, Father believes he has been corrupted. He wants to figure out, how?” I exhaled.

  Ilya looked at me. “But you don’t believe that.” With heat in her voice she asked, “What do you believe, brother?”

  “I think he did it to himself.” I took in a long breath. “It is something he said when he was trying to goad Sage into a fight. He said he remembers his past life. Talked about his real father and called me a retard.”

  Ilya stumbled back. “A… Retard?”

  I nodded. “Yes. Have you seen anyone use that word? I had to go through old tomes to find the meaning of that word. It was last used fifteen hundred years ago. It means…”

  “An imbecile.” Ilya looked away with a strange expression on her face.

  “And you are wrong. That word is older. It was commonly used over two thousand years ago. When mana was just budding in our world.”

  I gave Ilya a curious look. “What do you mean?”

  Ilya closed her eyes. “He is not the only one who remembers their past lives. I can recall bits and pieces too. I was… an orphan. I remember looking around and wishing for someone to hold me. To smile at me lovingly and comfort me when I was all alone.” She gave me a scathing look. “That is why this family means a lot to me. What about you?”

  I frowned. “I have already told you that I gave up my memories willingly.”

  “Not what I asked,” Ilya stated tersely. “I want to know if this family means anything to you? Because all I see from you is selfishness.”

  I leaned back on my heels.

  “You do what you please. You run around and get into fights without a care in the world.” Ilya jabbed a finger into my chest. “It doesn’t matter to you how your actions affect all of us. You see a spirit, a specter, or a damned and you run straight into battle even when you are outmatched. You don’t care how your death will affect us all.”

  I shook my head. “I am the Silent Hunter. A reaper.”

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  “You were that!” Ilya shouted. “Now you are a Truechild.”

  I smiled softly. “I can never stop being a reaper. My soul won’t allow it. It is who I am.”

  Ilya shook in anger and turned away. “I need to speak to Father.”

  I started, “Ilya, you heard what the message said. There are three more thorgs in here. We need to…”

  Ilya ignored me and walked off to the side of the room. She reached in one of those bottomless pouches on her belt and took out a golden medallion. She stuck it to her temple and then a whirring wind appeared around her, separating her from all of us in the ballroom.

  Grek slowly walked to me holding two crystals in his palm. “Well, that went better than I expected.”

  I looked at the Mouth in disbelief.

  “She was going to punch you, Your Highness,” Grek stated and added, “I was afraid that she wasn’t going to hold back.”

  “I see.” I took the crystal and looked at the specter struggling underneath the bear carcass.

  “And if she hit you with all the force she could muster, you would have been splattered on the wall.”

  Grek walked with me to the specter. I simply looked at Grek.

  “I have seen her do that before,” Grek stated.

  “Mouth. Get that rope out of your pouch.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” Grek smiled.

  “And call me Voss when we are alone.”

  “No, Your Highness.” Grek grinned.

  I gave my Mouth an annoyed look and finally asked a question. It had been troubling me and I needed an answer.

  “Why do you all have these bottomless pouches and I don’t?”

  “Storage?” Grek touched the pouch in question. “Oh. That is because you don’t have a mana core to sustain one.”

  “Mana core?”

  “Yes. Once you have a mana core, you will be able to keep one.” Grek took out the rope and continued, “It takes a steady stream of mana to sustain one.”

  “What is a mana core?” I asked while reaching down.

  Grek took his spot to my left. He knew what I was going to do before I even did it. Once again, I was glad for having Grek by my side. Having somebody who could read your mind was so helpful.

  “Let’s deal with the specter first, my lord. I will explain while you are eating it.” Grek answered while tying a knot.

  I nodded and shifted the breaker's body off the specter. The specter floated up with raised arms and eyes full of fire. Grek threw the loop of the rope on top of the specter and tugged, binding its raised arms to its chest. The specter opened its mouth to wail. Grek smacked it closed with the other end of the rope.

  I buried my hiltless dagger in its chest and ripped it open. The specter went down soundlessly. I planted myself atop it and started breathing in the essence, while my soul pulled a major chunk of it on its own.

  I looked inwards. My essence pool was finally reinforced and now my pool was filling up. It was still at around twenty percent. But my new pool was deeper. Almost thrice as deep than it had been. When it would be full, I would be able to use my meld ability. The only problem was that there were no waters to meld with in the world.

  “A mana core is what you form from a mana seed.”

  Grek held his right hand up to stop my next question and explained, “Your Highness, you are a manaborn. That means your body is mostly made out of mana. We humans are flesh and blood. When we breathe in and out, mana accumulates in our body. For warriors like me and my family, mana accumulates in our heart and joints.”

  I raised my eyebrows and gave Grek a look full of disbelief.

  Grek smiled. He nodded and in a whisper confirmed what I had suspected. “Yes, I have one in my mind but I am a special case.”

  The punisher captain cleared his throat. “These accumulations crystallize and create small pockets that are called mana seeds. All Punishers have at least five mana seeds. That is the requirement to take a punisher exam. But mages like your lady Saha, are different. Their bodies collect all the mana in one location. It is usually in the lower back under the spine or just under the lungs protected by the breastbone.”

  I touched my chest and moved my hand to my back. I didn’t feel anything.

  “You don’t have one.” Grek chuckled. “You are a manaborn. What you have is a body made of mana. That is why you didn’t bleed out and die when you got cut by that thorg while almost everyone else would have. And about that. I have been wondering, it poisoned you. Are you well?”

  I moved my hand dismissively. “I washed it off in the Dark Waters.”

  “Right.” Grek said slowly and shook his head. “Well then. Your body has mana veins. You use mana, the veins lighten. You consume mana, they return to their original form. That makes you very powerful in a brief battle but if you want to fight for a long stretch of time, you need to pull all that mana and create a mana seed. Then you can increase the size of that seed until it creates a core. Your core can then sustain your body’s function even when you are out of mana and any extra equipment you don.”

  “So, all that effort will only let me power equipment?” I frowned.

  Grek laughed. “No, you misunderstand. I was speaking in relation to having a storage device. When you make a mana seed your spells will become faster. You see, mana attracts mana. As soon as it leaves your body it will fill the void left behind. Your regeneration will double. And when you create a core it will quadruple. Your spells will also become more powerful because you will be able to understand mana better. When you make your core bloom, then you will be able to…”

  Grek stopped with a thoughtful expression. “Actually I don’t know what you will be able to do. A blooming core allows your sister to fly. But a death caster with a blooming core? Well that hasn’t ever been seen before. They usually get killed before they reach that stage.”

  “What?”

  Grek looked at me. “Your Highness, death casters are hated by all. You saw the thorg's reaction to your magic. No one likes mages that can kill with a glance. That is why most death attuned become undead or liches. So, no. I don’t know what a death caster with a blooming core can do?”

  I thought for a second. “Hmm… What can an ice caster do with a blooming core?”

  “Oh… That is easy. They freeze everything around them with a snap of their fingers. But take my words with a grain of salt. No one has seen an ice mage at the blooming stage for a long time.” Grek paused and added, “What I am telling you is from the old records of Vosses.”

  I pointed at all the dead burnt bodies around us. “Did any of these people have a core?”

  Grek laughed. “No. Your Highness, mages are a rare commodity. Most people have seeds. To be a mage is to be a mana blessed. And only one in a thousand are mana blessed. And even then, it doesn’t mean they can create a core that is powerful enough to be of notice.”

  I exhaled. “All this is so complicated.”

  “It is not.” Grek got up from the floor and looked past my shoulder. “After you create a seed, everything will come naturally to you.”

  I heard a clanking sound and looked behind me. Ilya had just dropped a large chest plate of black armor with golden lining. She began taking out one piece of armor after another and started piling it up. She finally took out a sword with a black hilt and a long thick blade. She stacked it in on top of the armor.

  “Grisslow, help him wear this.” Ilya ordered.

  “Yes, Your Grace.” Grek bowed.

  I looked at Ilya questioningly.

  “What!?”

  “Are you alright?” I asked with concern in my voice.

  Ilya sighed. “Yes, little brother. I am sorry. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you. I was angry at Father and Sage, and I took it out on you.”

  I smiled. “It is alright, sister.”

  “Now come on, wear this.” Ilya grinned viciously. “We have thorgs to hunt.”

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