《Chains of Fate》


 Chapter 1 - Dream

    I stared down at his face. It once was so full of life, and now it lay there on the ground, lifeless. He seemed fairly young, no older than twenty, but would anyone even be able to guess his age? His helmet was broken, now covering only his forehead, and the rest of his face was battered beyond recognition.


    I pulled my sword out of the young man¡¯s chest and swung it around a few times to throw his blood away before placing it back in its sheath by my side.


    ¡°You should be thankful. You will meet the Gods you so clearly love.¡± I said, my voice a whisper in the wind. ¡°All your life you prayed to them, and they did not even try to save you.¡±


    I could feel the disgust in my eyes and I looked around me.


    Corpses.


    No matter where I looked, all I saw were corpses, countless corpses lying on the ground, scattered like a painting of death. The beach was adorned with the corpses of knights and soldiers alike, the sand now crimson as it was stained by blood, my own hands were stained with blood, my whole life stained by blood.


    I walked towards the sea, my eyes fixed on the horizon. The suns began to set, turning the sky into a beautiful crimson red, so similar to the ground below, and yet so magnificent.


    I turned once again to see the mountains of corpses, piles of bodies thrown on top of one another. Corpses were the only thing I could see


    ¡°For the Glory of the Gods!¡±


    Suddenly I heard a noise, a chant in the distance.


    I closed my eyes, focusing on all the sounds around me, slowly homing in on the chant. Voices of hundreds of men and women became clearer, the sound of their footsteps grew closer.


    They were just beyond these woods, they would reach me within minutes, and within minutes, they would all die.


    I pulled my sword out of its sheath and stabbed the sand, placing both of my hands on the hilt, the rough leather feeling so familiar. I took a deep breath, inhaling all the decaying air of the hundreds of corpses surrounding me and I stared at the sky.


    The suns had yet to fully set, but they will, and then they will rise again. They have always done that, and they will continue to do so. It did not matter what happened beneath the sky, it did not matter how much violence this world would see, the suns would always rise and set.


    A few stars began shining faintly like splatters of paint on canvas, and I raised my arm, imagining how nice it would be to grab a star with my own hands, but I knew that no matter how hard I tried, I could never reach them.


    But I will reach Them. And I will kill them. I¡¯ll kill them all.


    ¡°For the glory of the Gods!¡±


    The chant grew closer, we would meet any second now. I clenched my fist as my arm was still raised, and I dropped it.


    My face contorted as I looked at the sand, a deep pain growing within my chest. The sand had lost completely lost its golden colour, even the crimson colour had grown darker with each passing second.


    I could not even imagine how many people I killed to change the sand of this island, and I could not even imagine how many more I was about to kill.


    I took another deep breath, trying to calm the whirlpool of emotions stirring with me, and turned to look at the sky behind me. The suns were no longer visible, now covered by giant boulders engulfed in flames descending upon us.


    It took mere seconds before the chanting turned to fear-filled screams. There was nothing they could do. The meteors would fall down, and countless more people would die today.


    The Island was now full of screams and prayers as they foresaw their inescapable death. I saw them running as far as they could as they left the woods, they pushed against one another and many of them fell, trampled by their own companions.


    My eyes fell on one particular man; he seemed to be barely of age, and within seconds he was stepped over by countless people, all his limbs were now broken, and his body was bruised and bleeding,


    I stood before them, both my hands resting on the hilt of my sword still stabbed into the ground, and they could only run. Some ran to the woods, trying to find cover in the trees, whilst others tried to reach the ocean, trying to find salvation in its violent embrace. All of them would run, but none dared approach me.


    Despite being surrounded by them, I was still alone.


    Soon, they would all die.


    And then everything turned black.


    ***


    The boy suddenly jerked awake, his hand tightly clutching his necklace; he struggled to breathe, each breath was quick and shallow, and his entire body was drenched in sweat, maybe because of the dream he just had or maybe because of the Long Summer.


    He turned in his bed, burying his head into his pillow, now rather thin after having been worn out in the last few years.


    The boy, Caine, could not stop thinking about what he just dreamt, the confusion he felt was indescribable, it was the first time he ever had a dream feel so vivid.


    Caine laid in his bed, waving his arm around in his empty room, recalling each movement, each action he took in the dream, trying to replicate them.


    He never had a dream like that. But to Caine, that was not a dream, but a nightmare; he was on some island, in the midst of a battle, clearly having slaughtered countless people, and countless more were going to die by his hand.


    He hated the thought of it.


    And yet, the feeling of his hand on the hilt of the sword lingered in his mind, the thought of wielding a weapon as he had in his dream was something he found exhilarating. He thought about the rough feel of the leather on the hilt, the way the blade shone as the suns began to set, and the way it fit perfectly in his hand.


    That was strength.


    The strength he needed in order to become a knight.


    Caine fought the urge to remain in his bed, and slowly got up, looking at the floor and searching for his shoes. He found them on the opposite side of the room, near the rotten floorboard, and cursed his habit of kicking his shoes off when taking them off before going to sleep.


    He walked over to grab them, ignoring the squeaking of each floorboard, and sighed at the state of them, barely held together and riddled with holes. The boy wished for a new pair, but he knew how difficult things were for this family, and he had long given up hope of getting new things.


    Hope was a luxury ¨C another luxury they couldn¡¯t afford. Maybe, one day, if he ever became a knight.


    ¡°Caine! Get up! Breakfast is ready!¡± His mother yelled.


    He let out another sigh, dreading the thought of getting another boiled potato for breakfast. Despite wanting more food during his first meal, Caine knew that they needed to save food for a ¡®larger¡¯ lunch, so he unhappily accepted what he received.


    The one time he had asked his mother for something different, she nearly cried, her inability to give her son what he wanted was unbearable for her, and Caine regretted making the request.


    He clearly remembered her ever-present smile instantly disappearing, the tears welling up in her eyes, and the way she held back her tears... it was something he never wanted to see again.


    He hurried to put on his shoes, ignoring how tight they had been feeling lately, and left his empty cramped room, heading to the kitchen.


    His father, with his huge frame, sat hunched at the table he made seem small, while his mother sat opposite him, her smaller frame making the table seem large.


    ¡°How many times, Bamel? How many times do I need to tell you to be careful when you¡¯re working?¡± His mother¡¯s voice carried the usual mix of frustration of concern as she stared at her husband¡¯s blood-stained, bandaged hand.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing, Lisa. I cut myself on the axe.¡± Bamel replied, his voice so deep and rough, and yet so full of love towards her.


    Caine walked in to find them having the same conversation they would have nearly every day.


    ¡°Morning, Caine.¡± His mother, Lisa, said pulling him into a tight hug.


    ¡°Morning mom.¡± He replied, returning the hug and kissing her cheek.


    Caine turned around, facing his father. ¡°Morning, dad.¡± He awkwardly greeted him.


    ¡°Morning.¡± His response was blunt, the softness his voice carried when speaking to his own wife was nowhere to be heard when he spoke to his own son.


    Caine sat near his mother as she offered him a plate of - not to his surprise - just a boiled potato, which he ate in silence until he felt his mother¡¯s hand on his face.


    A green light emanated from her hand, and a surge of energy overcame him. healing magic.


    There were very few people who could use healing magic, it was an extremely rare element. Although healing mages were extremely sought out, not much was known about the edict of their magic, which made Lisa a magical wonder.


    Caine always felt a certain pride in seeing her magic, knowing that his mother was special, always gave him hope that he himself may become an exceptional mage.


    Most people had the potential of using magic, once their mana cores developed, they would be able to use at least one of the basic elements, although the potential to use magic did not always mean that they would.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Often, the amount of mana that could be stored in their mana cores was insignificant, nowhere near enough to even cast a basic spell.


    On the other hand, those who could store a good amount of mana, could have the opportunity to become knights and adventurers, especially if they had a good affinity for any elemental mana.


    And those truly blessed by mana could use magic beyond any common sense.


    Mana chose the strong, and only the strong were blessed with mana.


    Caine would often wonder if he would be able to use any when he grew up, hoping to maybe become a healing mage like mother, or maybe be able to use wind magic like his father, though he had never seen him actually use magic.


    ¡°There you go. Completely fine.¡± His mother smiled at him.


    His mother, Lisa, was a beautiful woman, with silky, long jet-black hair that would flow down her back like gentle waves. Her deep brown eyes always looked at everything with unyielding positivity, her own gaze always making everyone smile at her.


    She was an extremely kind woman, more than she should be; despite how people in their small village treated them, she had always made sure to extend a helping hand and would heal anyone in need, regardless of who they were.


    ¡®Magic is meant to be used to help people, Caine.¡¯ That is what she always used to say, instilling the thought that he should help people, that magic is meant for the good of the people, rather than causing pain.


    Caine looked away from his mother, and his gaze fell upon his father, Bamel.


    He was different, the complete opposite of his mother. Where she looked delicate, he was rough; had it not been for his wife, his hair and beard would always look a mess, full of knots and unkept, but Lisa always took her time to comb through them, making sure he always looked presentable; but they both enjoyed that, they were a few intimate minutes they had fully to themselves.


    Bamel was strong, ridiculously strong. He was a logger, every day he would chop down trees with his unusually large axe, and would carry the logs himself, selling them for firewood in Arzamac.


    While Caine loved his parents, a part of him resented his father, or rather he resented the distance that was created between him and his father. Years ago, Bamel would always spend as much time as possible with Caine, he used to pick him up and throw him in the air, throwing so high despite his wife¡¯s protests, but he always caught him.


    Months ago, for the first time, Caine even received a present, an old necklace, just a rusty chain with an old ring, far too large for Caine¡¯s finger, but nevertheless it was his. His own little treasure.


    Caine¡¯s eyes stayed upon his father, wondering how they ever grew apart, now so distant from one another, and regardless of how much he tried to lessen the distance,  his father remained coldly detached.


    ¡°What are you going to do today, Caine?¡± Lisa asked, her voice breaking the silence as usual. ¡°Going to play with your friends?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re going to play in the playground.¡± He lied. He did not want to burden her with the truth.


    How could he tell his mother that he did not have any friends? That the people she loved to help were nothing but cruel to them, simply taking advantage of her kindness.


    However, as he replied, the corners of her lips arose, her smile beaming, making Caine smile in return. This all just made it easier for Caine to lie to her. There was nothing he hated more than seeing her sad.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget your chores, boy.¡± Bamel¡¯s voice echoed. ¡°You can play after you do what you are supposed to do.¡±


    He looked at his son, his gaze cold and distant, empty of any signs of love. Caine felt a lump in his throat and anger surged within him.


    ¡®Why does he keep me at a distance? Am I not his son? Does he not love me?¡¯ Caine could not help but harbour these thoughts whenever he spoke with his father.


    ¡°Yes, father.¡± Caine replied, a hint of annoyance slipping into his voice. ¡°I will do my chores and then I will play. Does that suit you? Or would you have me stay home the entire day?¡±


    ¡°Caine!¡± Lisa¡¯s voice thundered, ¡°He is your father, and you will show him respect. Watch your tone.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, Lisa.¡± Bamel replied, an unlucky smile appearing on his face. ¡°He is growing, he is bound to speak his mind more often. Even disrespectfully at times.¡±


    A mixture of anger and embarrassment emerged at their words within Caine. He never intended to be disrespectful, and frankly he did not think he was. But he never wanted his parents to think he did not respect them.


    He just wanted freedom, he no longer wanted to feel imprisoned in Arzamac.


    He would often dream about leaving, moving somewhere else, anywhere else, to a place where they wouldn¡¯t be hated for just existing.


    That is where his dreams of knighthood began, as a means to free his parents and himself from the shackles of Arzamac.


    Before he realised it, Caine finished his breakfast, still not fully satiated, but refusing to ask for more after noticing that his portion was much bigger than that of his parents¡¯.


    He stood up and ran out of the door after giving his mother a kiss and nodding politely at his father and ignoring their heavy gazes on his back as he left.


    He headed to the dense woods minutes away from his home, the bright green scenery always overwhelmed me as it made him forget about the village behind him. Caine loved walking by these woods, he loved the sight of the trees, their colours, their musty smell, all the small animals he would always notice; he found it refreshing.


    As he faced the woods, behind him stood Arzamac, with its small wooden walls to protect them from bears and boars; and while they lived within those tiny walls that gave them a sense of security, Caine and his family lived in a run-down hut, closer to the woods.


    Closer to The Forest.


    Lisa always told Caine to be careful when approaching The Forest, to never even consider exploring that cursed place; there had been whispers, stories of monsters and demons roaming, ready to attack and kill anything that stood in their way.


    And stories of adventurers and knights killing those demons. Stories that Caine wished to be a part of one day.


    He would often hear faint howls in the distance, but regardless of how much he focused, he could never catch even the faintest of glimpses of anything similar to a demon.


    The boy could not wait for his mana core to develop, wishing to venture inside as one of his heroes, wishing to be able to earn enough money for his parents so that they would never starve ever again. But for now, he was stuck with chores.


    The chore of the day consisted of simply of gathering some branches for their indoor fire, enough to last them a few days; it did not take long for Caine to be done, after all very rarely would they have a need for their indoor fire.


    The suns always shone bright and warm, the summer had lasted many years, and it was expected to last another seven years, after which the Long Fall would arrive, which would be a warning for the world to prepare for the Great Cold.


    Caine never thought about such things, for as long as he had been alive, the weather had been warm and comfortable, and he was ignorant of the pain and suffering that would come for the world when the Long Summer would end.


    The second that he finished gathering enough firewood, Caine took a deep breath and steadily made his way into The Forest.


    ¡°Just three minutes.¡± He told himself. ¡°That¡¯s all I need to find those berries mother likes.¡±


    He would often venture inside the woods, just to gather some berries. Most of the ones that grew at the edges of The Forest were sour and nearly inedible, but walking inside for mere minutes, one could find a completely different type, berries so sweet that would be fit for a king.


    Caine walked carefully, with each step he took, with each branch he stepped on, with every bird chirping he felt fear, the fear The Forest would inflict upon those who were weak.


    As soon as he saw the bright yellow berries, he grabbed as many as he could, throwing them in the pouch he carried, and ran away. He ran as fast as he could, his heart racing uncontrollably and yet feeling a strange excitement in doing so.


    Two hours had passed, and he made his way home, basking in the warmth of the suns. He ignored his constantly grumbling stomach, having gotten used to the feeling and entered his home, wanting to give his mother the berries he collected. However, he only found his father.


    ¡°Where¡¯s mother?¡± He asked awkwardly.


    ¡°Some people got hurt, and she was called in the village.¡± His father¡¯s voice was cold, devoid of any feeling, making Caine feel uneasy.


    ¡°...¡± Silence lingered in the air.


    ¡°Before she left, she made food for us, stew with rabbit meat.¡± He removed the pot from the fireplace, holding it with his bare hands, not feeling any pain despite how hot it was.


    Caine put the firewood away in the kitchen in a basket, and sat at the table, watching his father silently prepare the table.  His father prepared the two portions and Caine¡¯s heart felt heavy seeing his portion much larger than his father¡¯s and stared down at it.


    ¡°I¡¯m not hungry.¡± Bamel said, as if he read his son¡¯s thoughts.


    Caine glanced down, embarrassed at how easily his father saw through him, although that was overshadowed by the anguish he felt seeing his father¡¯s portion; this was not the first time he would eat less so that he would not starve, now he was doing it again, and Caine knew it.


    He hated it.


    They sat opposite one another, eating in silence as a wall stood strong between them. Caine often wondered what caused this rift to appear between the two, Bamel used to be so loving and warm to him, and one day he suddenly became distant and cold, refusing to let him get close.


    ¡°Boy.¡± His father broke the silence, his voice sounding unexpectedly gentle. ¡°I know your mother loves those berries, but you should not go into The Forest so often. You¡¯re not strong enough yet.¡±


    ¡®Yet.¡¯


    That word lingered in Caine¡¯s mind; this was the first time his father expressed any belief in Caine¡¯s strength.


    The boy believed that his father grew distant because he was not what he expected: Bamel was strong and imposing, whereas Caine was small and frail, even for a child his age. The boy believed the distance was created because he was weak.


    ¡®Yet.¡¯


    His father believed in him. It was only one sentence, one sentence that was said in passing, one sentence Bamel did not put much thought into, but it was one sentence that deeply affected Caine.


    For the first time in a long time, Caine felt happy with his father. His hand was drawn to his necklace, to the gift his father gave him, and he happily ate, looking down to prevent his father from seeing the large grin on his face.


    Caine continued eating, now no longer finding the silence awkward, and while he still felt the distance between the two, he was hopeful that would not always be the case. His father cared for him, that much was certain.


    Unbeknownst to him, Bamel¡¯s eyes portrayed an indescribable feeling at the sight of his son holding onto his necklace so tightly, a gut-wrenching sorrow overcame him.


    He stared at his son for a few minutes, not even bothering to eat the little stew he had in front of him.


    The moment he noticed Caine had finished his stew, he pushed his plate towards him, offering what he had left, but Caine quickly shook his head, still grinning.


    Bamel stood up, and Caine looked at him smiling as he walked towards him, placing his trembling hand on his shoulder; his imposing figure always made him seem threatening to anyone, but there was no one that could deny the love Bamel was feeling for his son at this moment; the gentleness of his touch, the expression in his eyes, everything was that of a loving father.


    Only Caine was unaware of this, for so long he did not feel his father¡¯s love, this moment just seemed strange to him.


    ¡°My son.¡± Bamel¡¯s voice was shaking. ¡°I¡¯ll do the dishes. You go out and play as much as you want.¡±


    Bamel could not look at his son anymore, now just staring at Caine¡¯s empty bedroom. His jaw tightened, and his cheeks were twitching almost as if he was holding back tears. This was the first time Caine had seen his father be so vulnerable, and he simply did not know how to react.


    Caine handed him his empty plate, stood up, feeling compelled to give him a hug, and walked out of the hut as his gaze was constantly drawn back to it.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my sweet boy.¡± Bamel whispered in the empty kitchen as he began putting away the dirty plate.


    Caine walked along the path to enter Arzamac as he struggled to compose himself, but before he could even think about what had just happened, he heard someone call out his name.


    He saw his mother walking towards him, but suddenly she began running towards him, dropping down to her knees, and pulling him into a big hug, nearly knocking him to the ground.


    Lisa was exhausted, she was drenched in sweat, partly because of the summer¡¯s heat, but more because she had spent the last hour and a half healing many people in Arzamac after one of the defensive walls collapsed on the other side of the village.


    Caine always felt weird seeing his mother work herself so hard, especially for those ungrateful people.


    ¡°Caine, I don¡¯t think you know how much I love you.¡± Her arms were still around him, holding him tight as he struggled to breathe properly.


    ¡°Mom... Can¡¯t breathe.¡± He managed to mumble.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± She replied, reluctantly letting him go, and stared into his eyes for what seemed to be an eternity. ¡°I just want to make sure that you know I love you. A lot. Never forget that.¡±


    Her voice felt loving and cheerful as always, but the look in her eyes was completely different from what it should be. It felt like... pity.


    Lisa kissed her son¡¯s forehead and after exchanging goodbyes, she went back home, leaving Caine by himself, wondering what had happened for his parents to act so strangely, but he ultimately decided to ignore it, just feeling happy about his newfound understanding of his father.


    Now, he just needed to spend a few hours outside, after having told his parents he was going to play with his ¡®friends¡¯. He walked into Arzamac, heading towards the playground on the other side of the village.


    A crowd gathered in the village square; it seemed as if everyone from the village was there. He pushed his way into the crowd, trying to see what exactly was happening, but the people suddenly opened up a path, and Caine bumped into something hard and fell to the ground.


    He looked up and saw something bright. Sunlight was reflecting onto a shining armour. A knight. Behind him there were three others wearing similar armour, all staring at the boy.


    A party of knights had come to Arzamac.

 Chapter 2 - Fated encounter (1)

    The man in shining armour looked down on Caine, his expression hidden behind his silver helmet, and yet his bright blue eyes stood out as they glowed, contrasting his silver armour.


    Behind the helmet, he wore a curious look, as if he was staring at some puppy. Caine grew nervous, his heart was racing uncontrollably, each heartbeat feeling like it wanted to escape his chest.


    The crowd had grown silent, every single one of the villagers constantly looked between the knight and Caine; even the children did not say anything, the silence was deafening, and Caine found it suffocating.


    The man carefully removed his helmet, revealing his slicked-back, blonde hair, with a few strands falling onto his face. He was a rather handsome man, the previous silence had been broken by a couple of women squealing at his appearance; he turned to them and waved, and the screaming slightly intensified, followed by loud whispers.


    The man held his helmet in one hand, placed on his hip, while the other was placed on the hilt of his sword, holding it gently, the same way a child would gently hold his precious toy. But Caine knew better than to think that a sword was a toy, especially in hand.


    Caine had never met a knight before, but he was certain that he was strong. The size of the man, the way he carried himself, and the confidence he exuded were things Caine had never seen before, not in anyone.


    The man emanated an aura of strength, he was incomparably stronger than any of the people in that village.


    This was the first time Caine had seen someone as large as his father, he towered over everyone. The armour rested gracefully over his shoulders, it was heavy and yet he bore its weight effortlessly. He knelt down, matching Caine¡¯s eye level, and just his gaze made him sweat.


    ¡°Are you hurt, boy?¡± He asked, his voice filled with concern, and yet sounding commanding.


    ¡°Y-yes... I mean no, no, I¡¯m not hurt, Sir, thank you, Sir.¡± Caine stammered as his mind was overrun with a thousand thoughts.


    ¡®This is a knight. How am I meant to act?¡¯


    No matter how hard he thought about it, he did not know. He was just a commoner, he barely knew how to read and write, his mother had taught him the basics, but he was just a commoner.


    ¡°That¡¯s good, you looked so scared, I thought you got hurt really bad.¡± He replied, following with a hearty laugh, shattering all the tension Caine felt, and overshadowing the murmurs of the crowd.


    The knight stood back up, extending his hand, offering to help Caine to his feet; he hesitantly accepted it, feeling the rough leather of the gloves as he pulled him up with surprising gentleness. Caine looked at the knight, at his cheerful smile as he maintained his gaze on him,


    Caine found his gaze intimidating yet refreshing. He seemed friendly, the way he would smile at him, the way he would occasionally smile at the girls in the crowd, the way he looked at him as if he mattered; it was something Caine had never expected, and he released the breath he was subconsciously holding.


    ¡°I¡¯m well, thank you, Sir.¡± Caine replied, bowing; as he looked down, he noticed mud spluttered on the knight¡¯s leg; he looked at the rest of his armour being completely spotless, and Caine¡¯s expression completely dropped.


    ¡°Please forgive me, Sir.¡± Caine¡¯s voice was unwillingly raised by the panic as his chest tightened once more.


    The man seemed confused and looked down, and then smiled at the boy again. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about this old thing.¡± He said, brushing the dirt away. ¡°It¡¯s bound to get dirty; it is armour after all.¡±


    With every sentence he uttered, Caine felt himself grow calmer, the intimidating aura the knight exuded no longer intimidated him; instead, a rapidly growing sense of admiration arose within him with each passing second.


    ¡°Thank you for understanding, Sir. It is a pleasure meeting you, my name is Caine.¡± He said, thinking this was a good opportunity to introduce himself.


    ¡°...¡±


    The man said nothing and instead stared at the child patiently for a few seconds before his expression changed, almost as if he realised something.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± He chuckled to himself. ¡°I am from the capital, and I tend to be surrounded by nobles, I was waiting for a family name, but I forgot that commoners don¡¯t have those.¡±


    He continued laughing to himself, the laugh itself sounded commanding.


    ¡°Caine, lad? That¡¯s a good name, your parents chose well.¡± He spoke. ¡°My name is Ranork, Sir Ranork Saintsworth, and the pleasure is mine.¡±


    A smile creeped upon Caine¡¯s face; he could not remember the last time he had been treated so kindly by someone who was not related to him.


    Being treated like this by this man, especially this man, it created a desire within Caine to become more like him. To become strong, but kind. A real knight.


    ¡°Sir Saintsworth, if I may, what brings you here to Arzamac?¡±


    ¡°The Forest.¡± He replied nonchalantly. ¡°My party and I are tasked with a mission to hunt down some demonic beasts that are rumoured to have reached the outer edges of those woods, and there is a path through this village. We¡¯re here to kill the bastards.¡±


    Caine stood in awe of the knight. Everyone had always stayed away from that place, but Sir Saintsworth was the first man Caine ever knew to actually go in and fight the demons.


    ¡°Sir, I know of demonic beasts, but part of me always believed them to be mere stories. Have you ever been afraid of them?¡± Caine asked, being so focused on the knight¡¯s reply that he couldn¡¯t hear the gasps within the crowd.


    ¡°Not really, no.¡± Sir Saintsworth replied confidently. ¡°In my veins flows the blood of the Gods. I am a Demigod, a protector of this realm. The protector does not feel fear, the protector is the bravest of them all.¡±


    He boastfully laughed, and Caine seemed entranced by him, not being able to find any faults in the knight; he found everything about him to be noble, his every movement was purposeful and commanding, even the way he would occasionally smile when he locked eyes with someone, it was all so charming.


    ¡°Aye, Caine, want to become a knight when you grow up?¡± He asked. ¡°I see you glancing at my sword.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d like to become a knight, but I¡¯ve never wielded a sword, and I don¡¯t know magic. I¡¯m nobody.¡± Caine¡¯s voice was nearly a whisper as he became dejected.


    ¡°Oh, come on, that¡¯s not true, you are somebody; you don¡¯t know the impact you will have on those around you. And you are special, you¡¯re standing in front of me like it¡¯s nothing, when most kids would tremble.¡±


    Caine looked around, trying to find any other children, but was surprised to find not even one. He thought about it, Sir Saintsworth did emit a certain energy, and it did feel heavy, but would that be something kids fear?


    He couldn¡¯t help but ask himself.


    ¡°And there¡¯s still time to develop a mana core, it takes time. When you get one, and if you¡¯re near the capital, Arman, I¡¯ll recommend you for the Academy.¡±


    Caine¡¯s face flushed with heat, and looked at the ground, hiding his grin from the knight. Just the thought of actually attending the Academy made him extremely happy, despite knowing deep down that it was nothing but an empty dream.


    He would only be able to leave this village when he was an adult. This much he knew.


    ¡°Come on, Caine, no need to get embarrassed. Here, take this.¡± Si Saintsworth said, grabbing Caine¡¯s hand forcefully and placing a silver coin in it.


    That was the most money Caine had ever seen in his entire life. With just that coin, his family could be fed for months, they would never have to starve. He tightly held it, carefully inspecting his pocket before putting it there, ensuring that there were no holes in it.


    ¡°Thank you, Sir.¡± Caine nearly shouted from the excitement. ¡°How can I ever repay you for your kindness.¡±


    He laughed once again. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, lad. But if you really want to thank me, you can always wish us luck tomorrow.¡± He said with a huge smile on his face.


    ¡°Sir Saintsworth, I live in a hut just outside the walls, really close to The Forest.¡± Caine told him happily. ¡°My home is near the path to reach those woods, and I¡¯ll be there to wish you luck and pray to the Gods for your success and safety.¡±


    There was a subtle shift on Sir Saintsworth¡¯s face, his wide smile turned into something sinister, but Caine was far too lost in his admiration to notice.


    Despite not noticing the change, a shiver ran down Caine¡¯s spine, and his gaze fell upon Sir Saintsworth¡¯s companions standing behind him.


    There were three knights, all of them wearing armour, lighter than the one Sir Saintsworth was wearing, but just as brilliant, and in different colours ¨C red, blue, and yellow ¨C representing the colours of the Arman Kingdom, one of the Seven Kingdoms in the world.


    Two of the knights carried swords, whereas the one behind them all carried a large staff adorned with a bright crimson gem, worth thousands of silver coins. Though they were all different, they all wore the same expression, staring at Caine with pity, but avoiding his gaze as soon as their eyes met.


    There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere, the knights were slowly backing away, and Caine could not figure out what was happening; he looked towards Sir Saintsworth, waiting for him to say something, but he just stared back at him, rather than looking at him, he was looking at something beyond.


    Caine grew confused as his heart pounded uncontrollably and something heavy rested on his chest, but he simply couldn''t understand what was happening, and he looked at the crowd.


    They stood frozen, but their whispers seemed strangely loud to him and yet he could not understand what they were saying as all the sounds were mumbled together.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Ah, little Caine, I think it¡¯s time for us to retire. To wake early tomorrow, we need to get drunk now.¡± Sir Saintsworth laughed, his demeanour completely returning to what it was, and yet Caine could not shake off the feeling that something was different.


    ¡°I-I understand, Sir.¡± Caine replied, trying to ignore the creeping fear growing in his mind. ¡°Thank you for talking to me. I wish you luck for your subjugation.¡±


    Caine bowed, alongside the crowd, and they began dispersing. Sir Saintsworth continued staring at Caine¡¯s back as he walked away, his smile growing ever larger before vanishing.


    He let go of the hilt of his sword and wiped the dirt off his legs, with a disgusted look on his face.


    ***


    ¡°Hey, guys. Can I play too?¡± Caine asked the other kids at the playground.


    ¡°No! Go away!¡± a kid snapped, his voice dripping with palpable disgust. The other children laughed and ran away, escaping from the playground.


    Once again, he was alone.


    He had gotten used to the other children excluding him, but it would always sting, nevertheless.


    ¡®Well, it could¡¯ve gone worse.¡¯ He thought to himself as he let out a chuckle. Caine would usually laugh in these situations to mask the loneliness he felt, and to convince himself that everything was well, but today he was genuinely happy.


    For a long time, he couldn¡¯t understand why people treated him like he was nothing; he had not done anything wrong, but the others would look at him with so much disdain, and he felt trapped in Arzamac, wanting nothing more than their respect.


    But it was different now. He no longer wanted to be recognised by those people, he wanted others to acknowledge him, strong people just like Sir Saintsworth.


    Caine wished to leave, to move to a place far away from Arzamac, now more than ever. It was no longer a desire he had because of the loneliness he felt, but rather due a burning desire to meet new people, to find people who will accept him, to grow stronger.


    Despite this wish, he knew that for the time being it was nothing more than a pipe dream; whenever he used to suggest moving away to his parents, they would always tell him that they belonged there, that destiny brought them there and they should not leave.


    Whilst leaving now was impossible, Caine was more determined than ever to leave Azamac, to become a brave knight like Sir Saintsworth, and to find others like him.


    Caine looked around, checking if anyone else was around him, but he was alone; he shrugged and walked over to the giant tree in the middle of the playground, its large branches supporting a couple of swings; he, however, ignored the swings altogether and sat down leaning against its trunk.


    He stared at the bright yellow flowers, reminding him of the berries he grabbed at the outer edges of The Forest; he closed his eyes, imagining all the adventures he would have if he had developed a mana core, and before he realised he fell asleep.


    ***


    Caine woke up, his back still resting on the now uncomfortable tree and clutching the necklace his father gifted him. He felt dizzy as he attempted to recall what he had just dreamt; he could only recall being on an island and remembered what he dreamt that same morning.


    The suns began to set, and Caine realised he slept for far longer than he expected. He started walking home, almost running as he thought of excuses to tell his parents, already dreading the scoldings he was going to receive.


    He walked on the narrow streets of Arzamac, ignoring their looks of contempt, no longer bothered by them. the sky was a bright crimson red, although its colour was getting duller with each passing minute; it was a scary reminder for Caine of how angry his parents would be.


    He reached the inns and bars, the people there grew louder and louder; despite trying to ignore their drunk gazes, Caine still found them uncomfortable, especially when they would suddenly start shouting at him, incoherent words at best, but full of disdain, nevertheless.


    The streets were loud and bright, Caine wished he had chosen a different path, but there was a shortcut through this area, and considering how late it had gotten, he figured it was better to walk through here and get home as soon as possible.


    Suddenly, a hand grabbed Caine¡¯s shoulder, forcefully pulling him back. Caine turned around and saw a man in shining armour. He recognised him as the mage in Sir Saintsworth party, he was holding his staff, using it to balance himself. His face was flushed and sweaty, a stark contrast to the pale expression he wore earlier, and as soon as he locked eyes with the child, he knelt, nearly throwing himself to the ground and grabbing Caine¡¯s shoulders with surprising force.


    His mouth trembled, seemingly lost for words; the pungent smell of alcohol on his breath hit Caine¡¯s face as he heaved for air, making him disgusted. Caine grabbed his hand, trying to move it off his shoulder, but his grip was too strong and a burning pain radiated from his shoulder, spreading across his torso.


    The mage simply knelt there, unmoving, his gaze stuck on Caine, wearing a myriad of emotions on his face, constantly changing.


    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault.¡± He spoke, solemnly. ¡°There¡¯s nothing you coulda done, nothin¡¯. Don¡¯t blame yourself, it¡¯s not your fault.¡±


    His voice grew louder and louder, and with each word his grip tightened digging into his flesh, making Caine¡¯s face contort in pain.


    ¡°Listen to me!¡± He shouted, gathering the attention of people around them. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault!¡±


    Caine was scared and confused, the happiness he felt today beginning to feel like a distant dream. The mage just shouted incoherent words at him, not letting him go regardless of how much he struggled.


    Perhaps, after seeing the fear in the child¡¯s eyes, the mage let go of him, making Caine drop to the ground. The mage tried to touch him, to help him to his feet, but Caine threw himself backwards, trying to get away from him.


    Standing up, he ran away, stumbling as he did, too frightened for his body to move properly. He forced himself to look behind to see if the mage was chasing him, but fell to the ground again, rolling forward; blood flowed slowly but steadily from his face as a long cut appeared on his forehead, slowly dripping onto his left eye, making it difficult for him to see from it.


    Once again, he stood up and ran again, past the wooden walls of Arzamac and followed the path to his home; the only wish he had in his heart at that moment was to just get back to his parents, to feel their embrace, to feel safe.


    He carried on running, knowing that he was getting closer to them, and finally saw the run down hut. Caine stopped running as he felt a shiver run down his spine. He was less than a minute away from his home, but it seemed eerie now to him.


    The suns had nearly completely set, the stars and the moon shone a dim light around him, but the inside of his home was completely empty.


    Candles should have been lit by now.


    Lisa had always hated the dark, and always made it a point to have at least one source of light at all times, and Caine knew this.


    But there was no light. He should have been able to see some lights through the windows.


    Caine dragged his feet to his hut, forcing himself to move; the closer he got, the more unsettled he became, the place was strangely quiet, and he instinctively grabbed his necklace, feeling a small surge of energy return to him.


    He opened the front door, ignoring the creaking of the hinges, and nearly threw up at the smell coming from inside, a smell similar to a rotting carcass.


    His eyes had not yet adjusted to the dark hut, but he saw the silhouette of a person sitting in the kitchen.


    ¡°Dad?¡± he whispered.


    Caine stepped onto something wet, as he walked into the kitchen, but felt too scared to even notice.


    ¡°Mom?¡±


    His heart was racing, each heartbeat harder than the previous, as a chill surrounded him.


    Despite the Long Summer¡¯s heat, the air felt cold and Caine¡¯s small body trembled and felt powerless. The foul stench made it difficult to breathe, and his every moment began to feel excruciatingly frightening.


    Caine approached the silhouette, despite his every cell shouting at him not to. The dark figure raised its arm and a small, yet incredibly brilliant light was conjured from his index finger.


    Ranork Saintsworth sat in the kitchen with his legs propped over the table Bamel had built. Caine instantly froze, his body no longer trembled as sheer terror overcame him.


    The knight sat there, the flame revealing the same sinister grin Caine had not noticed earlier. He now looked entirely different, the nobility and honour he displayed was nowhere in sight.


    ''Why is he here? Where are mother and father? What is happening¡¯


    Caine¡¯s mind raced with countless thoughts, all happening at the same time, not letting him make sense of even one. He thought of the mage he encountered on his way home, and the fear he felt grew even deeper.


    Sir Saintsworth did not spare the scared boy a single glance, but rather stared at the empty space above him, half laughing to himself, his eyes privy of any emotion.


    The knight used his thumb to crack his knuckles, with each crack a few candles would be lit until Caine could see the entire room.


    The entire floor was covered was now covered in a dark red puddle and Caine stood in the middle of it. Everything was dyed red, the floor, the table, the chairs, the walls, and Caine¡¯s eyes darted around the kitchen, wanting to find something familiar.


    His own home seemed now foreign to him.


    Beside Sir Saintsworth, on the floor, was a hand. a severed hand, still bleeding out.


    At the sight of it, Caine¡¯s knees buckled, and he fell with both of his hands in the puddle of blood as he violently threw up.


    His hands trembled as he felt the blood on them, and averted his gaze to the side, but a severed foot came into sight; he fell ill once more and threw up as tears continued to stream down his face.


    He still felt the blood dripping from the wound on his forehead, his own blood mixing with the blood on the floor, lightly shining.


    Sir Saintsworth, still not having acknowledged the crying child carried on laughing to himself; a sinister and inexplicable laugh that frightened the boy down to his very core.


    Caine managed to look up to him despite every single cell in his body screaming at him not to, and Sir Saintsworth finally looked at him, locking eyes with the boy, with palpable disgust directed towards him.


    Sir Saintsworth stood up, his menacing figure staring down at Caine. His maniacal smile drained whatever energy Caine had left, who no longer had the strength to even try to stand. The knight walked behind the table and grabbed something.


    Caine sobbed painfully.


    Bamel and Lisa¡¯s bodies were held in his hands by their hair, and he threw them at him.


    The knight¡¯s laughter grew louder, it was nearly a scream, but all Caine could hear was a buzzing noise that grew louder with each passing second. His chest grew hot, his heart was beating too fast, and time seemed to slow down as he saw their bodies hit the ground, a few steps away from him.


    Regardless of how hard he tried to look away, his eyes remained fixed on them; blood covered their faces, there were deep slashes across their throats, and they were missing all their limbs.


    Their eyes were pointed straight at him, seemingly empty, but Caine could tell they were full of fear.


    ¡®It¡¯s my fault.¡¯


    This one single thought replayed in his mind, over and over again.


    The knight¡¯s laughter slowed down, giving Caine a moment to focus. He somehow took his eyes off his parent¡¯s corpses, and looked up to him, his trembling eyes fixed on him.


    He was still wearing his armour, no longer spotless, and like everything in that room, smeared in blood. He had one hand resting on his hip, while the other carried a large glass bottle; he brought it to his mouth and drank until it was empty before he smashed it on the floor, some splatters of blood and shards of glass stabbed Caine.


    ¡°Little Caine.¡± Sir Saintsworth said to himself, before chuckling to himself again.


    ¡°Let¡¯s play a game.¡± He continued. ¡°I¡¯ll take a piss, and when I see you again, I¡¯ll kill you like I killed those two worthless creatures. ¡°


    Caine¡¯s entire body trembled, he was still on his knees looking up at him, hardly believing that this was the same knight he met hours ago.


    ¡°Well... you¡¯ve got some time, if you run, you can earn yourself a few minutes.¡±


    Caine felt genuine fear for the first time in his life, he couldn¡¯t even feel the pain that came from his wound, his eyes continued darting from the knight to his parents, and he grabbed his necklace.


    ¡°W-w-why?¡± He managed to find the strength to mumble this one question with tears streaming down his face, mixing with the blood.


    ¡°Oh, yes, that. Well, you bumped into me, and as an elder of yours, it is my duty to make sure you learn that was rude. You need to understand that what you did was wrong.¡±


    ¡°It was an accident.¡± He managed to reply in between sobs. ¡°They didn¡¯t do anything to you.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter. Your actions have consequences. I am the fucking consequence!¡± He shouted while pointing at himself.


    ¡°Look... Little Caine. I am not a simple knight. In my veins flows the blood of a God, I am a Demigod, I can do what I want. You, your parents, the other peasants in this village, you¡¯re nothing but a bunch of filthy monkeys that don¡¯t matter. You. Don¡¯t. Matter.¡±


    Demigods, the ones who inherited the blood of Gods after the Conflict. Caine heard stories of them, they were supposed to be noble and honourable warriors sworn to protect all humans.


    However, the Demigod standing before Caine was nothing like that.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like repeating myself, so, just stand there, or hide, or run away, I don¡¯t care, just make this fun for me.¡± The Demigod walked out, whistling a happy tune, while his steps were wobbly, seemingly drunk.


    Caine remained there, still on his knees, now just staring at what remained of his parents, and then it suddenly hit him: he left.


    He did not want to leave his parents there, but he didn¡¯t want to die either. He wanted to leave and to do that, he needed to leave them there and run away.


    He held onto his necklace even harder, the rusty chain now digging painfully into his hand, and felt a light surge of energy.


    ¡°Sorry mom, sorry dad. I¡¯m so sorry.¡± He whispered before finding the strength to turn around and run out of the hut. He ran aimlessly, the only thing on his mind was to put as much distance as possible between him and that monster.


    He ran as fast as he could, not even thinking about where he was going, and then he found himself surrounded by trees.


    He entered The Forest.

 Chapter 3 - Fated encounter (2)

    CAINE POV


    I ran aimlessly, wanting to put as much distance between that monster and me.


    My feet aggressively pounded the ground with each step I took, but I didn¡¯t slow down, ignoring all the cuts I was getting from running barefoot.


    My necklace was swinging around my neck, and I instinctively grabbed it and continued running, my body now feeling lighter than usual. I kept running, my mind not even registering where I was, and before I knew it, I found myself surrounded by trees.


    Where was I?


    I let go of my necklace and looked around only to see trees, much larger than any I had ever seen, so tall and dense they completely covered the sky. I turned around and could not see a path.


    I must have been running for quite some time to have arrived here.


    This place was different from anywhere I¡¯d ever been. It was eerily quiet, my heavy heaving was the only thing I could hear; there should have been some birds chirping or at least some animals, but there was nothing.


    I took a moment to rest, trying to catch my breath, and suddenly threw up. My throat was burning, the pain so intense it brought tears to my eyes and I broke out in an uncontrollable sob. I staggered and walked over to a tree, placing my forehead on its large trunk, and screamed.


    I screamed and I cried, struggling to even understand what happened.


    He was a knight; a Demigod, as a matter of fact.


    Why did he kill them? He was so... nice and kind to everyone, even to me. Why did he do this? He was supposed to be better.


    I cried even harder and began headbutting the sturdy tree, ignoring the wound on my forehead that was growing larger and continuing to bleed out.


    My fault. It was all my fault. They died because of me. Had I never left home today, had I stayed in, I never would have bumped into him, and they would still be alive.


    If only I was stronger; if only I could use magic; if only I was a good son.


    I stopped hitting the tree, and placed my back on it, letting myself drop to the ground, and looked around.


    The air felt heavy, there was a strange pressure all around me but breathing had never been easier. I slowly waived my hand around, the strange energy moved alongside me, almost as if reacting to my own movements.


    Mother would always say that mana felt like an energy that would react to a mage¡¯s every action. Is this what this was?


    Was this mana?


    A loud howl echoed within the dense woods, startling me and making me jump to my feet.


    The Forest.


    That¡¯s where I was. When I would look for berries for my mother, I would often hear a howl in the distance, it was faint, but this was much closer.


    I looked around, not understanding where I was, and searched the ground, trying to find any tracks or footprints to return to Arzamac. But was that even the right choice?


    If I stayed here, I might be able to avoid the monsters, but if I went back, he would definitely find me and he would kill me too.


    There was another howl, now sounding much closer, and a different type of pressure surrounded me, making my entire body tremble.


    I tried to find any traces of my steps, the fear I had for this place, overwhelming the fear I was feeling for Sir Saintsworth, but The Forest was so dense, I couldn¡¯t find my back. I walked until my legs couldn¡¯t take it anymore, and fell to the ground, the long grass cushioning the fall.


    I struggled to stand on my feet as I recalled the sight of my parents lying there in the same place where we ate this morning. I rolled over, wanting to look at the sky, but the trees were so dense I couldn¡¯t see past them.


    The sight of my parents was etched into my mind, the way their bodies were thrown at me constantly replayed in my mind, and there was only one thought in my mind: do I deserve to be alive?


    Had it not been for me, mother and father would still be alive; it was my fault that he knew where they lived, I was the one who bumped into him, and yet they were the ones he killed, while I was still here, alive, just thinking about surviving.


    Tears welled in my eyes as a feeling of emptiness overwhelmed me; the pain was so strong, I was struggling to even feel it.


    The strange energy surrounding me softly pressed onto me, almost as if attempting to comfort me, the slight warmth of it restoring some energy into my body.


    I stood up, determined to retrace my steps, and wanting nothing more than to leave this place; suddenly I sobbed, the emptiness I was feeling lingered, but the pain was still there, and knowing that I would never see them again broke something within me.


    It was all my fault. I should just die.


    I took a few steps, waving my arm around, trying to move the mana in the atmosphere although it rejected any command I tried to give it. I tried to conjure a flame to stop myself from shivering, but nothing happened, and after a few minutes, I simply gave up, realising that while I was able to feel mana, I still didn''t have a core.


    A loud noise suddenly exploded from the sky, so powerful it felt deafening; rain somehow made it through the dense branches of the trees, violently crashing into the ground.


    The heavy rain, atypical of the Long Summer, felt strangely comforting, the loudness of it made it difficult for me to think about anything, and I simply focused on the path in front of me... although there was no path, just tall grass and trees.


    The rain would likely cover any tracks I may have left behind, but I was certain I ran in a straight line, and as long as I just walk the opposite direction, I should be out of this forsaken place.


    A loud screeching noise bombarded the woods, a high-pitched noise that made me fall to the ground and cover my ears. It lasted for mere seconds, but the pain was excruciating, and as I tried to stand on my feet, I kept losing my balance, with a constant buzzing noise in my ear.


    I crawled to a nearby tree, its large dark trunk making it easier for me to stand on my feet again. I rested for a minute, trying to figure out how there could the this much rain when I couldn¡¯t even see the sky, and the rain now seemed heavier than before.


    I grabbed a large stick, and used it to balance myself, and carried on walking, trying not to slip on the wet, muddy grass. With every step, a myriad of emotions overcame me, from guilt to anger to desperation, the sight of my parents in my kitchen, their lifeless mutilated bodies... it all overwhelmed me.


    I felt so many things at once, yet I could barely feel anything.


    I could only keep walking forward, and so I did, I walked and walked, ignoring the heavy rain hitting me, ignoring the pain from walking barefoot, ignoring everything around me, I just kept walking ahead.


    Time had lost all meaning as I carried on walking; I was unsure how long I ran when I entered The Forest, but now it felt as though I walked for much longer, and regardless of how much time passed, the woods just became denser and denser, the tree roots were now above-ground, making it even more difficult to walk.


    I used the stick I carried to stab the ground before me, ensuring that there was nothing hidden underneath the long grass, occasionally hitting some large stone or another rotten branch.


    I tried as hard as I could to continue walking in a straight line, but watching the woods grow denser, a shadow of a doubt arose within me.


    What if I was walking even deeper in The Forest?


    As that thought entered my mind, I heard a howl; the howl echoed in the trees, and I couldn¡¯t figure out where exactly it was coming from, but whatever creature that was, it must have been close, and I turned around, running in the opposite direction.


    I held onto the stick, and ran, occasionally stumbling onto a root, but trying to regain my balance as quickly as I could and carried on running. The woods, once again, seemed to grow denser, regardless of the direction I was running; now I could hear multiple howls, each one louder than the previous.


    The howls came from all directions, the continuous echoes sent a shiver down my spine as I could not pinpoint where even one of those howls came from. I held onto my necklace and continued running, trying to put as much distance between whatever those creatures were and myself, until I found myself at a dead end.


    I spotted a rocky wall, just beyond the trees in front of me, extending beyond the dense branches. I walked up to it, the mountain-like wall seemed sturdy, with many footholds adorning it, but as soon as I held onto one of those, they crumbled from my weight, making it impossible to climb the wall.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I kept one hand on the wall and walked around it, trying to find a path to any high ground hoping to see the direction I was meant to follow to escape this place, and found a narrow entrance, a cave, surrounded in darkness.


    The cave felt eerie, there was total darkness, making it impossible to even have the slightest glimpse of the inside, and was shrouded in a terrifying aura; I stared at the entrance for barely a minute, and realised that I could not hear the howls any longer.


    ¡°Caine, everything is ok. Come. Your father is here too.¡±


    I trembled as I heard my mother¡¯s voice; it was as soft and delicate as always. For the first time since entering this hellish place, the emptiness and pain I felt vanished, replaced with an indescribable amount of happiness.


    I took a step forward but stopped as I heard a clicking noise coming from the cave. Something glowed in the darkness of the cave, there were eight golden lights near the ceiling of the cave, staring directly at me.


    My entire body trembled as the lights slowly approached me, my mind imagined a giant spider-like creature crawling to me with its fangs ready to attack me. The happiness I felt quickly disappeared as I remembered the sight of my mother¡¯s corpse in my kitchen and took a few steps back.


    I spun around and ran off, not even thinking about which direction I was running to, only wanting to put as much distance between that thing and myself. With fear-filled, new-found energy I darted off, running into the trees, getting away from that cave, and soon the howls came back and grew louder and louder.


    I heard another howl, and this time I felt myself turn pale, with cold sweat on my face as I finally located the source of the noise. I hesitantly looked up, my entire body trembling as I did, and saw over ten creatures climbing down from the trees.


    They looked like wolves, but they were abnormally large, even at a distance, they still seemed large, larger than me at least. They all stared at me with bloodthirsty, red eyes, glowing ominously in the dim light. They climbed down, with their claws stuck onto the tree trunks, leaving deep slash marks on them as they made their way down.


    One of the wolves growled at the others, revealing metal teeth as its mandible shut, creating a loud, metallic sound; all the wolves let go of the tree and jumped down, despite being over twenty meters in the air, and furry wings burst out from their backs, as they flew down, with every flap of their wings creating strong winds even in this place.


    They all fell down in front of me, slowly nearing towards me, growling as they drooled. Behind them all, stood the largest winged wolf, twice the size of the other wolves, growling whenever the others would start growling at each other, keeping their focus on me.


    My heart raced even more with a heavy pressure building in my chest as I came face to face with these demonic beasts. I raised my trembling hand holding the stick I used to balance myself and trying to move the faint mana I was feeling in the air to protect me, but to no avail.


    Suddenly all the wolves spun around, turning their back on me, and growled at something beyond them. A man slowly walked towards us, covered in blood. He only wore some tattered pants, barely reaching his ankles, and was walking barefoot; he carried a large sword, almost as large as him, and extremely thick.


    He had silver hair, dropping onto his shoulders, surprisingly clean despite the rest of his body being covered in blood, and stared in our direction with glowing green eyes.


    With each step he took, I felt myself lose all energy and my hand dropped from my necklace; he approached us slowly, his expression empty, and I could feel the air escaping my lungs, and I struggled to breathe as if I wasn¡¯t allowed to.


    The pressure around me increased, not a single muscle in my body dared to move, no matter how much I tried, my body felt weighed down by an ominous weight.


    Time froze as he approached us, neither I nor the wolves dared to move, we simply stood completely still before him. He walked past the wolves and stopped right before me.


    Only then did I notice him holding the severed head of another beast, and before I could even recognise what it was, it burst into flames in his hands, leaving nothing but ashes behind.


    He squatted down, stabbing his greatsword into the ground. Cold sweat covered my face as his gaze rested heavily on me, almost as if studying me. His mouth slightly trembled at times, but he said nothing. He stayed there, motionless, for what felt like an eternity.


    One of the wolves began growling at us, but suddenly stopped as the man before me slightly turned his head around, making our surroundings completely still, with not one sound heard.


    The wolf that growled let out a scream, my eyes snapping towards it, and dropped to the ground as its entire body burst into flames; he rolled on the ground, trying to put out the flames, and its painful shrieks became quieter and quieter until it stopped moving, its corpse now just burning away, and soon only ashes remained, even the bones had completely disappeared.


    He turned his face towards me, staring completely into my eyes, his gaze felt so similar to Sir Saintsworth¡¯s, he emanated a strange, overwhelming pressure weighing down on me; I struggled to breathe, despite how hard I tried to inhale, I just couldn¡¯t, almost as if I wasn¡¯t allowed to.


    His face twitched as if he was about to speak, but before he could, more winged wolves appeared, completely surrounding us. Behind them all, there was an even bigger wolf, larger than anything I had ever seen; the trees were dense, and with every step it took, it would knock a few down with ease, uprooting them completely, until he stared at us.


    The man stood up, turning his back on me and staring at the large beast.


    His metallic jaw reflected some of the light that remained from the little flame that was on the ground where the other wolf turned into ashes, and he drooled as he stared at us.


    The wolf had a long horizontal scar below its glowing red eyes, contrasting its black fur. Its ears were upright, twitching slightly at every sound, and suddenly it let out a loud bark, as if giving out an order; two of the wolves standing before us spread their wings and jumped high, baring their fangs at us.


    The man quickly stood back up when the large wolf arrived. As the wolves jumped up, the man grabbed his sword, and raised it, keeping it parallel to the ground, as if he was nocking an arrow on a bow.


    The wolves flew towards us, and the man thrust the sword in the empty air.


    Silence befell us for one single moment before a loud boom overcame The Forest. Strong winds were created, strong enough to uproot some of the trees around; I could see the remnant of what seemed an explosion in the air, the mana seemed visible for a moment, moving away from the man¡¯s sword, his arm now completely outstretched.


    The sight in front of me rendered me speechless, so much so that I struggled to even comprehend what was happening.


    Nothing.


    Where the wolf lunging for us should have been, there was nothing.


    Even beyond it. Nothing. Nothing but a path of destruction. Everything was gone, the trees, the beasts, the grass, all that remained was a barren path of destruction, illuminated by the moonlight. The starry sky above us was beautiful, completely contradicting this hell.


    The man¡¯s long silver hair danced in the air, it was as if time slowed down before me; I could see it clearly, the strength of this man, the destruction he caused, but more than anything I could see the fear he instilled in the winged wolves.


    The man turned his head around and spoke, but I could not understand anything he was saying.


    He spoke a foreign language, it was not something I had ever heard; he must be from one of the other kingdoms, but that thought frightened me even more. Mother had said that throughout all the five kingdoms, the same language was spoken, the Gods had made it so.


    But if that is the case, where did this man come from?


    The man spoke a few words and then looked at me silently, as if waiting for a reply. I thought about what I could say, but I was lost for words. And regardless of what I would say, I did not think the man could understand me anyway.


    I instinctively grabbed my necklace, and took a few steps back hesitantly, before my back was against a tree. I turned to my right and tried to run away from this place, finding strength in the necklace I was holding, remembering my father.


    ¡®You¡¯re not strong enough yet.¡¯


    I remembered my father¡¯s words; words he had spoken not even one day ago. With my stick still in my hand, I felt a burning rage grow within me and took a step forward.


    One of the winged wolves moved and stood before me, baring its sharp teeth at me; it still trembled, probably still remembering what happened to the other two wolves that dared to attack.


    I remembered how the man brought back his arm, as if nocking an arrow on a bow, and did the same with my stick, focusing as much as I could into gathering mana, trying to pull it from the air around me and into my sword.


    I felt my arms become lighter and stronger, although barely, and as I went to thrust the stick, the wolf¡¯s head fell to the ground, and the man was in the air in front of it. I could not even see the moment he had swung his sword, but he had.


    The wolf¡¯s body also dropped to the ground, although it was a few seconds later, as if it had not realised that it died.


    The man looked at me, his green eyes carrying a mixture of anger and confusion. He raised his hand, and the carcass of the wolf burst into flames as he snapped his fingers. He continued staring at me, but for some reason, I was not afraid.


    Although I felt pressured by this man, he did not scare me. Something about his presence felt different; incomparably different from Sir Saintsowrth¡¯s.


    The man walked slowly until he was right in front of me, and then raised his sword to the sky before stabbing it into the ground, creating a shockwave of energy that made everything around him get pushed back, making me fall as well again a tree.


    He left the sword etched into the ground, and stared down at me, a slight smile on his face as he still spoke a language I did not know. As he finished talking, he vanished from my sight, and another shockwave was created with a loud bang.


    My eyes turned to the source of the noise, and I saw the man in the air above one of the wolves, with his fist stuck onto its skull, or rather what remained of it. The lower part of its mandible was shattered, the metal-like bones and teeth spread around it and covered in blood.


    I went to look for the man again, but he was no longer there, and then there was another shockwave, and saw the same sight with another wolf.


    And then again, and again, and again.


    The wolves fell one by one, the shockwaves he created whenever he killed one of the demonic beasts did not bother me too much, it was as if the sword he stabbed in front of me protected me from them, regardless of the direction the shockwave would come from.


    The previously silent Forest was now filled with whimpers from the wolves each time they were attacked, followed by the whimpers of the wolves around them. whenever one of the wolves moved, they fell, the man mercilessly killed them, until only remained.


    The larger wolf remained there, attempting to follow the man¡¯s movements, and as the man followed the same pattern of appearing above the demonic beasts¡¯ skull, the larger winged wolf raised its mandible into the sky, preparing to bite the man as it appeared.


    A loud, hollow bang broke the silence as the beast¡¯s mandible shut, but the man was no longer there, now standing before me. His back was covered in blood, and the moonlight shone onto his muscles; his shoulders were broad and his back seemed large and powerful, projecting nothing but unparalleled strength.


    The winged wolf began glowing, its paws emanated light, nearly blinding, and lunged forward, aiming for the man. Before I had even realised it, the man and the beast collided.


    The wolf was frozen in front of me with his head parallel to the ground, its teeth shining, held apart by the man¡¯s bare hands. Its jaw trembled as it tried to bite into him, but the man effortlessly stopped its movements.


    He snickered before taking a deep breath and just screamed. The energy he created was enough to throw me backward, but I somehow managed to hold onto the sword he left before me, keeping me grounded. As I grabbed the long metal hilt, my body felt replenished with energy, my grip on the sword becoming stronger with each passing second.


    I looked ahead, and saw blue flames come out of the man¡¯s mouth, incinerating the winged wolf; the wolf did not whimper nor move for it had already died, but the flames did not stop; even after its death, they continued burning until nothing but ashes remained, leaving a burned scar onto the ground.


    The man sighed and turned around, taking a few steps before standing in front of me.


    He grabbed his sword, raising it to the sky and resting it on his shoulder; he squatted down until he was at eye level; his green eyes hid emotions I was not even aware of, and then he just looked down, almost as if he was resigning himself.


    Then he grabbed my face with his hand.

 Chapter 4 - Strength

    CAINE POV


    He held my face in his hand, his rough palm pushing into my nose. Confusion overcame me at his inexplicable action, followed closely by an immense amount of fear as I thought about how easily he slaughtered those demonic beasts just now.


    He could crush my entire skull right now and not break a single sweat.


    I looked into his eye through the gaps in his fingers, he was staring down at me, his expression almost pained, and quickly averted his gaze. He let go of me, and spoke to me, slowly and loudly, but regardless of that, I still could not understand him.


    He tried for a few minutes, and I was frozen in place just looking at him. He let out an exasperated grunt before moving a few steps away, continuing to mumble to himself, his tone sounding entirely annoyed.


    Suddenly he stopped and looked up at the sky.


    He turned to me, slowly walking, and every step he took made me more confused; this man was strong, unbelievably strong, he should frighten me, and he did, but for some reason, I felt the desire to remain close to him as if I was supposed to.


    He was my best chance at survival in this place, and I did not think he wanted to hurt me. In fact, he saved me against those winged wolves.


    He now stood in front of me, gently placing his hand on the top of my head. He spoke once more, and although I still couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying, I could tell something was different: his tone changed, he didn¡¯t sound annoyed and his voice was soft and reassuring, almost apologetic.


    His words were still a mystery and all I could feel was a growing sense of bewilderment at his behaviour. His silver hair covered in blood rested gently on his shoulders, and his green eyes began glowing, turning into a bright white light.


    A burning sensation engulfed me, a pain greater than anything I had ever felt, and I found myself frozen in place. It was as if someone had set my mind on fire, taking control of my body.


    Suddenly my mind was overcome by memories; memories of when I was younger, of when I used to play with my father, of my mother taking care of me, of meeting Saintsworth, of fighting with my parents.


    I remembered so many things, all at once, my head felt as if it was about to explode, and then, as abruptly as it began, the pain stopped.


    The relief I felt was short-lived as I looked up at the man who had saved me, and who made me feel the most pain I had ever experienced; he wore an apologetic look, his face was contorted in pain, and he kept his hand on me, holding me up as all strength abandoned me from the pain.


    I heaved, each breath I took bringing back a bit more clarity; he knelt in front of me, resting me on the ground, the long grass being strangely comfortable. His mouth trembled, and he stuttered as he spoke, but I could not even hear what he was saying, my mind being somewhere else entirely.


    I did not know what he did to me, but it made me remember everything. My chest burned, not in pain, however, but because of the rage and desperation that resurfaced. I remembered that monster, Ranork Saintsworth, the way he spoke about mother and father as if they were worthless.


    One day, I will kill him. I swear it to the Gods, New and Old, I will kill him.


    I swore with tears flowing down my face and I held onto my necklace, grabbing it as tightly as I could, the rusty chain digging into my palm and making me bleed slightly.


    I stood on my feet, somehow managing to push the man¡¯s hand away and wiping my tears.


    The Forest was alive with unsettling noises surrounding us, only giving me a faint idea of how many demonic beasts there must be. Only now could I notice the constant howling, screaming, and hissing coming from all directions, each sound keeping me on edge.


    But more than anything I was wary of the man before me. After I pushed him away, he stood back up, just staring at me with the same pained expression.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Caine, I did not mean to hurt you.¡± He said, his tone remorseful.


    I instantly looked away, scoffing at his apology, finding myself at odds with whether I should trust him or not. Despite what had just happened, the undeniable truth was that he saved me from the demonic beasts, and if he wanted to kill me, he could have done it already, with extreme ease.


    I looked to my left, seeing some trees having been knocked by the wolves, and finding an opening, enough open space for me to run, and I looked back at the man. He was covering his eyes, and I took the opportunity and ran as fast as I could towards the trees.


    ¡°Wait!¡± The man shouted and I could hear his footsteps chasing after me.


    Suddenly I was stopped by a large human-like beast, covered in white fur standing tall in front of me; it was taller than any person I had ever seen, more than twice as tall as my father, and had large hands, completely out of proportion with its already large body. I fell to the ground as I nearly bumped into it and stared at it with terror clenching my heart.


    The beast let out a screeching noise as it shrieked, and tried to grab me, its large hands reaching for my head, but before it could even touch me, the beast vanished from my sight; what remained in front of me was a path of destruction, everything that was there mere seconds ago was nowhere to be seen. The trees, the beast, the grass itself, all of it was gone, leaving behind a trail of barren land.


    I slowly turned my head around, looking at the man, still in position from having thrust his sword. I couldn¡¯t help but be scared of this man, but in that moment, more than anything I was left in awe of him. A simple thrust of his sword was enough to change the lay of the land, but his control was even more impressive.


    He controlled his power so as to not hurt me: he swung his sword from behind me, but the destruction began from the ground right in front me, completely avoiding me.


    ¡°Caine, please stop running, it¡¯s dangerous.¡± He said as he walked slowly to me, resting his greatsword on his shoulder.


    ¡°How do you know my name?¡± I asked suspiciously.


    Wait.


    How could I understand him? Earlier he spoke a foreign language, but now I understood him. How was this possible? Countless thoughts ran through my mind as I tried to explain this, it was possible that he always knew our language, but if that was the case, then he would have said something earlier.


    The only thing that made sense was that when he touched my head, and the pain I felt, was for a spell, all the memories I recalled, that was my entire life.


    Did he learn everything about me, and did he use that to learn how to communicate?


    ¡°How did you look into my memories?¡± I asked, trying to keep the man at a distance.


    ¡°That is a secret, Caine.¡± He replied, his tone amused. ¡°Why do you think I looked into your memories?¡±


    ¡°I remembered things I had forgotten; things I wish I¡¯d forget. You must have used a spell to do that, but what kind of magic would let you do that?¡±


    ¡°Smart kid.¡± He chuckled. ¡°But now is not the time for questions. There are countless demons drawn to this place. We should leave.¡±


    He walked towards me slowly and sweat beaded on my forehead; my legs trembled, but I was too frightened to move. The fear I felt was different from when I first met him, his every action convinced me a little more that he did not want to hurt me, but he was just so overwhelmingly strong,


    I couldn¡¯t help but be scared. Not to mention that there was a single thought that constantly came to mind: how could I be sure that he wouldn¡¯t turn out like Saintsworth?


    So many thoughts ran through my mind, so many feelings hitting me in waves, and I didn¡¯t know what to do. Should I run? Should I go back to Arzamac? Should I try and find another place to live? Do I even deserve to live?


    The memory of bumping into Saintsworth replayed in my mind since the man¡¯s spell, what I did caused my parents to die. It was all my fault.


    Tears streamed down my face, somewhat surprised that I had more tears in me.


    ¡°Caine.¡± The man called out to me, snapping me out of my thoughts. ¡°My name is Oliver. Are you alright?¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    I nodded mindlessly, looking in his direction, yet focusing on nothing, feeling the pain and despair crush into me; my breathing became heavier and heavier, I struggled to breathe with every breath becoming more and more shallow.


    Throughout all this, the only image that was on my mind was that of my parents, which made it difficult for me to calm myself; I just couldn''t take one deep breath, and I fell to the ground, my hands firmly holding onto my throat.


    The man held me up, gently resting me against a tree as the ground vibrated; behind him, three more of those humanoid beasts appeared, each larger than the other. Their pale fur was dyed red in blood, and they stared directly at us, their eyes both mindless and full of malice.


    One of the beasts roared loud enough for the trees surrounding us to shake, but before it could even charge at us, the heads of the beasts fell to the ground as a solemn silence overcame this place.


    Oliver was now standing behind the humanoid beasts, he had moved at such speed I only saw him appearing behind them, with his sword in hand. He vanished again, now appearing right before me.


    He grabbed a large leaf from the tree I was resting on and used it to wipe my face; a gentle stream of warm water shot out of his hand over my head and used the leaf to wipe the blood off my face.


    Initially, I flinched at his action, but strangely felt at ease fairly quickly; I looked at him, staring directly into his eyes, and soon my vision blurred as seemingly endless tears rolled down my face.


    Oliver sat beside me after stabbing his sword in the ground before me, and warm air surrounded me, drying me. I couldn¡¯t understand why, but it felt easy to trust this man, despite the distant voice in my mind shouting at me that he would just end up just like Sir Saintsworth.


    A deafening screeching noise exploded behind us, and two more beasts threw themselves in front of us, completely ignoring us; instead, they were fighting amongst themselves, trying to claw and bite each other.


    They were two new humanoid creatures, strangely looking exactly like humans; they had no fur, instead, they just had flesh and skin covering them, but they wore no clothes, and they possessed the heads of some goat-like creatures; their heads, like their bodies, were stained with blood, and they kept trying to ram into one another.


    They had long, sharp horns that curved upon themselves and pointed outwards, in whatever direction they were facing, and they kept trying to use them to stab the other.


    Oliver grabbed his sword, but strangely, he did not try to kill the demons but threw his sword as if it was a spear high in the trees. He picked me, holding me gently in his arms, and leapt upwards, landing on a large branch in the trees, large enough for the two us to rest on it comfortably.


    His eyes wandered to the beasts, as did mine, and we spent some time just watching the beasts fight mindlessly, completely ignoring everything around them.


    ¡°Fucking demons.¡± Oliver mumbled under his breath, and yet his words seemed especially clear to me. I was lost for words for a moment, for the first time I heard genuine hatred in his voice, even his eyes were glued to the beasts with obvious disgust.


    Before I even realised it, he clapped his hands, and the beasts below us burst into flames, killing them instantly as their bodies fell on top of the other, and turned to ashes. All around us, multiple fires ignited, there must have been more than thirty, and just as quickly they stopped, alongside their pained shrieks.


    My body trembled as I realised that all this time we were surrounded by monsters, at any point I could have lost my life, and the only reason I hadn¡¯t was this man.


    Oliver stared down at The Forest, his presence larger than this place; his eyes were full of hatred and a sense of superiority as if everything and everyone in the world was beneath him, and then he turned to me, his expression softening, and his tightly clenched jaw turning into a gentle smile.


    ¡°Sorry. Language.¡± He chuckled to himself. ¡°I am sorry, Caine. I didn¡¯t mean to hurt you.¡±


    I stared at him blankly, his presence felt overwhelming, so much so that I struggled to think clearly, with only a myriad of vague emotions flooding into me.


    This man, Oliver, was powerful, beyond anything I could imagine.


    I always dreamed of being a knight, of coming into this place forsaken by the Gods, New and Old, but I always knew how dangerous this was. I may have entered the outer edges, but that was only because I knew it to be safe.


    I had always known that people would easily die in this place. Those demons are extremely powerful, and yet, this man killed them as easily as one would breathe; I was in awe of this man, jealous of his strength, terrified that he would be like Sir Saintsworth, but more than anything I wanted to be strong like him.


    ¡°Caine.¡± He called out to me, snapping me out of my thoughts.


    He knelt and stared deeply into my eyes, but I couldn''t look back at him. instead I turned my head away.


    In the distance, there was the path of destruction left by a simply swing of his sword. These trees that have stayed for millenniums vanished, now revealing the sky. The dark blue sky was slowly disappearing, bringing an end to this cursed night, and the first rays of sunlight began shining through the giant gap in the trees.


    ¡°How are you so strong?¡± I asked, after what felt like an eternity.


    ¡°Pain.¡± He replied, coldly. ¡°Pain made me strong.¡±


    I turned and looked at him, he was still looking at him, and yet I could tell his mind was someplace entirely, his gentle smile disappeared, and he wore an emotion I had not experienced.


    ¡°It¡¯s not your fault, you know.¡± He said. ¡°What that man did ¨C you can¡¯t blame yourself for that. You didn¡¯t make him do anything. He chose to do that.¡±


    ¡°You heard what he said, you looked into my memories. ¡®Actions have consequences.¡¯ Had I not bumped into him, had I not been so desperate for his approval... they would still be alive.¡±


    He sat beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder; my whole body was engulfed in a familiar green energy. Healing magic. Memories of my mother healing me any time I had the faintest bruises flooded in my mind, and a smile escaped my lips as I basked in this familiar feeling.


    Little by little I felt my body grow stronger, the pain I was feeling was leaving my body, and I exhaled.


    ¡°What do I do now? They died because of me. Is it fair for me to continue living when they can¡¯t?¡± I asked as the pain escaping me was leaving me feeling empty.


    ¡°I cannot tell you what to do, and why would you even want me to? It¡¯s your life, only you are in control of your action, no one else.¡±


    ¡°How am I in control!?¡± I retorted, slightly raising my voice. ¡°I am not in control, there is nothing I can do! I can¡¯t go back there, if I do that man will kill me, I can¡¯t survive here, these monsters will kill me, I can¡¯t be with my parents anymore. I am not in control! You Demigods would never understand, you could just kill any of us whenever you¡¯d like. You are the ones in control.¡±


    The man silently waited for me to stop breathing heavily, my outburst made me realise how powerless I truly was, and that realisation was nothing but suffocating.


    ¡®You¡¯re not strong enough yet.¡¯


    That was what my father told me. He said I would eventually become strong, but now I just could not bring myself to believe this.


    ¡°Tell me, Caine,¡± he said as I managed to compose myself, ¡°these Demigods ¨C do you think they can kill me?¡±


    ¡°Demigods would never kill each other.¡± I replied.


    ¡°I am not a Demigod. I am not a God. I am no one, nothing. Nothing but a man.¡±


    He was... just a man. That could not possibly be true. No mere man could be this strong.


    ¡°How are you so strong?¡± I asked, desperate for an answer.


    He gazed at the path of destruction he left behind, or rather at the sunrise we could now see. Sadness overshadowed his face as if he was recalling a painful memory, and throughout all this, I just couldn¡¯t comprehend how a man could be so powerful without carrying the blood of a God.


    ¡®Pain made me strong.¡¯


    I recalled his words, and unsuccessfully tried to think about the sort of pain he must have gone through to achieve this strength.


    ¡°Caine,¡± he said, still staring at the sunrise. ¡°You need to decide on what you are going to do from now. I know it¡¯s difficult to think about that now, considering everything that just happened to you, but you have to decide. Maybe not in this moment, or today, or even this month, but you need to choose. If you don¡¯t move forward you may as well be dead.¡±


    I didn¡¯t know what I should do, or even what I wanted to do. All I knew was that there was one thing I didn¡¯t want: I didn¡¯t want to die.


    ¡°I want to kill Saintsworth. Is that something I should do? Would that be moving forward?¡±


    ¡°I... don¡¯t know.¡± He replied dejectedly. ¡°This path you think of walking... you will find no peace. Trust me, it will leave you alone and surrounded by destruction.¡±


    He now looked back at me, a hint of regret in his eyes. I wanted to ask him more questions, but the atmosphere felt strange, and I couldn¡¯t bring myself to do anything besides awkwardly nodding.


    More growls came from below us, making me alert of my surroundings. I couldn¡¯t tell how long we rested here, but it seemed we were surrounded again.


    Oliver stood up, extending a helping hand; as I held onto it to stand, he picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder, and then he jumped off the branch we were standing on.


    I unwillingly let out a yelp at the thought of falling from his height, but to my surprise, it felt like we were floating... or rather we were being thrown at a great speed. The wind screamed in my ears and suddenly stopped as we landed on something.


    He was now standing on the blade of his greatsword but soon leapt off it, now seemingly flying for an unnervingly long time; throughout all this, I remained thrown over his shoulders, constantly looking down at the ground, occasionally managing to see a demonic beast.


    Giant centipedes, strange humanoid creatures, wolves... the beasts were endless, stuck in fights amongst each other.


    Oliver outstretched his hand behind him, and his sword flew towards us at great speed, slamming into his hand, and then turning thinner and thinner and entering into his palm, completely disappearing.


    I was lost for words, dumbfounded at what just happened, but more than anything I felt disgust at my lack of knowledge: there was so much to know about magic, and yet I knew nothing.


    All my dreams of being a knight, of being a powerful mage, they were nothing but stupid dreams of an ignorant kid. The world was full of things I did not know.


    So much time was spent in the air, I felt nauseous, but somehow managed to hold myself together, mainly by focusing on the beasts below. So many different demonic beasts, most of which were mindlessly fighting one another, growling and bellowing.


    As we were flying over the demons, their numbers decreased, turning few and far between. Even the trees seemed to grow smaller and smaller, with their dull green colour visibly brightening and becoming full of life.


    Even the noises in these woods changed, the growling and screeching turned into soft chirps and occasional howls, but the most noticeable change was the air. The strong sense of mana I felt in The Forest was weakening, I could no longer feel its presence in the air, and before I realised it, we had stopped, now standing on the ground nearly outside of The Forest.


    Oliver gently put me down, and the two of us turned our back to that place, and we silently walked out. I would occasionally glance at him, the lack of mana in the air somehow made him seem even more powerful than before, and then he suddenly stopped, staring at the crimson, red sky, letting out an annoyed grunt.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like you staring. Enough.¡± He said, his voice commanding and cold.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry.¡± I replied hesitantly.


    ¡°My bad, I wasn¡¯t talking to you.¡± He looked down at me and smiled.


    Not knowing how to reply, I carried on walking behind him, following him closely, unsure of what to do, and then we finally reached the end of these woods, the last tree mere steps away.


    And beyond that, the familiar wooden walls of Arzamac came into view, now looking disgustingly small.

 Chapter 5 - Beyond grief

    Caine and the stranger left The Forest behind them. Oliver walked ahead of him but stopped the moment Caine stopped following him and turned to face him. He walked over to the child and squatted down in front of him.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s difficult to be back here, you don¡¯t need to do anything right now.¡± He said, patting him on the head.


    Caine stood more completely still. Having left The Forest forced him to confront the truth he had spent the last few hours avoiding: he was truly alone now.


    His parents died because of him, that was the only thought that went through his mind, on a constant loop.


    Despite numerous attempts, he could not move, his eyes were fixed forward, looking towards Arzamac, and yet they focused on nothing. So many thoughts ran through his mind, that he couldn¡¯t make sense of even one, and then one image appeared in his mind, as vivid as when he lived it.


    He saw his parents¡¯ bodies rolling on the ground in front of him as Sir Saintsworth laughed maniacally, he relived that moment again, completely immersed in it, hearing the exact sound they made as they hit the ground, the feeling of their blood on his skin, the nauseating smell of their lifeless corpses, it became all he could focus on.


    His chest tightened, and his breathing became more and more shallow, struggling to take in enough air; he could feel all of his muscles tremble uncontrollably, and suddenly felt lightheaded, making him drop to the ground as all energy escaped him.


    He fell, and held onto his chest, as an endless stream of tears began flowing, as the world closed in on with overwhelming force.


    Oliver rushed to his side, instantly appearing beside him, and held him, picking him up and going back to the tree line, leaning him against a tree.


    ¡°Breathe, Caine.¡± He said repeatedly, despite the boy not being able to hear anything.


    Oliver remained near him, rubbing his back as he used a small amount of healing magic, despite knowing that it would do nothing for the boy.


    After more than fifteen minutes, his breathing became slightly more controlled, and soon he managed to breathe somewhat normally. Oliver used his hand to rub the sweat off his face, but it was still visible through his clothes.


    ¡°What happened to me?¡± Caine asked him, his voice full of fear.


    ¡°It was a panic attack.¡± He replied. ¡°It¡¯s completely normal, you have gone through things no child should ever go through. Your body thinks you¡¯re in danger, even if you aren¡¯t.¡±


    Caine looked at the sky. The night ended, and it was a new day, and all he could do now was laugh. Caine laughed, almost maniacally, he laughed loudly, while Oliver just looked at him with an understanding expression.


    ¡°It¡¯s funny, you know.¡± Caine told him. ¡°Yesterday, my dad... he said I would become strong one day but look at me: literally scared of nothing.¡±


    Oliver listened quietly as Caine looked at him, waiting for an answer; Caine was fixed on his eyes, wondering about the emotions hidden behind them, wondering about what he had told him.


    ¡®Pain made him strong.¡¯


    ¡®If pain can make someone strong, I must be the strongest,¡¯ Caine thought to himself.


    ¡°My little brother,¡± Oliver interrupted Caine¡¯s thoughts, ¡°he went through something horrible, someone we loved hurt him really badly, and he started having those panic attacks.¡±


    A gentle summer breeze suddenly caressed them, and Oliver showed him a faint smile, but Caine could see it as clear as day the nearly insurmountable sadness in his eyes. Witnessing that was almost unbearable for Caine, seeing the man in so much pain brought forth so much pain to Caine himself that he could hardly think straight.


    ¡°My brother, Stefan, wanted revenge, he wanted to kill that man, but in the end, he couldn¡¯t and instead he was the one who died.¡±


    ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡± Caine asked him.


    ¡°He had those panic attacks, and he thought they made him weak, but what he went through... and the way he decided to continue living, I wish I told him that he was really strong, not many could have carried on the way he did. I was the weak one, I couldn¡¯t do anything for him, but I can do something for you: you are strong, Caine. Just like my brother.¡±


    The breeze stopped suddenly, the quiet rustling in the trees behind them stopped, the chirping of the birds stopped, and silence completely engulfed them. Caine could no longer look at him and just stared at the sky.


    Listening to Oliver, he understood the truth.


    He wanted to kill Sir Saintsworth, but he knew he was too weak to do anything about it, and he needed to grow stronger, incomparably stronger.


    ¡°Oliver.¡± Caine said, his voice full of newfound determination. ¡°I want to bury my parents. But that man is probably still somewhere, can you take me there? If something happens, I don¡¯t want you to fight him, can you just grab me and run away like you did before.¡±


    Oliver stared at him, a gentle smile still on his face.


    ¡°Of course.¡± He replied. ¡°Lead the way.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s funny,¡± Caine laughed, ¡°you probably know the way as well as I do.¡±


    With those words, Caine stood up and began walking, carefully walking outside the walls of Arzamac, just behind the treeline to ensure no one would see them.


    Occasionally he would hear some people talk in the distance, a few times he stopped, trying to get closer to them to listen to what they were saying when he thought he heard them mention his parents¡¯ name, but he never heard anything clearly.


    They walked in silence and remained completely alert of their surroundings. While Caine tried to be strong, every trembling step he took felt heavy, and the internal turmoil he felt just grew stronger, a mix of emotions crashing into him like violent waves made it difficult to figure out how to feel.


    Caine¡¯s heart grew heavier with each step he took, and when he was mere minutes away from his home, he stopped in his tracks.


    In the distance, he could see black smoke rising into the sky, and it was coming from the direction of his home; Caine held onto his necklace instinctively, and with newfound energy he ran towards his home, with Oliver following beside him, scouting the surrounding for dangers.


    A crowd had gathered around his home, and Caine pushed his way into the crowd, trying to get to the front, similarly to what happened the day before, pushing into the crowd just to meet the knights.


    Oliver was right behind him but had no need to push his way through the crowd, as they had all made way for him, feeling their bodies move by instinct under the pressure of his presence.


    Caine could feel the warmth of flames as he saw what remained on his home engulfed in hellish flames, and at the sight in front of him, a burning rage grew within Caine, bringing forth an unsettling sense of calm.


    ¡°I guess we don¡¯t have a healer anymore.¡±


    ¡°At least we don¡¯t have to deal with them anymore.¡±


    ¡°Maybe the kid will leave too.¡±


    The murmurs came to a sudden stop as the man accompanying Caine exerted slightly more pressure, making the crowd fall silent.


    Caine¡¯s mind was suddenly filled with pity; despite all the numbing emotions he felt, at that moment, he only felt pity for the people of Arzamac. For years, his mother had helped them, but they couldn¡¯t see past their baseless hatred towards them; despite everything, they were slaves to their emotions.


    Caine leaned into the unsettling calmness that overcame him, allowing himself to think as rationally as he could: at that moment, Caine hated Sir Saintsworth much more than the people of Arzamac hated his family, and he did not want to become like them.


    Full of hatred, but still weak.


    He needed to grow stronger, deep down he wanted to become as strong as Oliver, although he felt that was impossible, but he wanted to be strong enough to be able to survive fighting a Demigod.


    Demigods.


    His idea of them had completely changed, he could no longer see them as the noble and honourable heroes he was told they were; instead, he saw them as tyrants, monsters who believed themselves to be superior.


    He clutched his necklace even harder as his expression hardened, and he felt continuous raindrops slowly descend from the sky, until there was a downpour that made the crowd scatter, trying to find shelter.


    The flames died down slowly under the heavy weight of the rain until all that remained were the burnt remains of his home.


    The place where he used to feel imprisoned, the place he wanted to leave behind, he realised it was the place where he had been happiest, and now became the place where he committed his greatest mistake that cost him everything.


    Caine thought about his parents, remembering how strangely they had acted the day before, thinking about how they told him they loved him, and how he just left as quickly as he could. The regret of not saying it back to them was eating him alive, he felt the calmness waver, as intense pain overcame him.


    He took a deep breath, and tried to ignore the pain, wishing for the numbness to return. He walked to the hut, standing in front of the burnt wooden door, a smile creeping up as he saw the hut still standing despite the strong fire, thinking about how well Bamel built his home.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    He gently pushed the door, but as soon as he touched it, it tipped over, a cloud of dust lifting off the ground. The calmness he felt deepened to his dismay, wondering in part how he managed to stay calm.


    He entered the kitchen, with his saviour following closely behind, and stared at his parents¡¯ bodies. They lay on the ground, the same place where he left them, their bodies completely charred and slowly turning into ashes. Their limbs were scattered around the kitchen, and now that there was enough light, he could see the entire floor covered in blood, now having grown much darker after the fire.


    Tears streamed down his face as he knelt between them.


    ¡°I am sorry.¡± He whispered. ¡°I wasn¡¯t the son you deserved; I truly am sorry. I love you far more than I ever told you. Please rest.¡±


    He stood back up and turned to the man who was just looking at him with eyes full of pity. Caine stared at him with empty eyes, and then turned back to his parents¡¯ bodies and sat down, staring at the empty space, his mind having gone completely blank.


    He did not want to think, he did not want to say anything or do anything, he just wanted to sit there, in complete silence, and that was exactly what he did.


    ***


    Hours had passed since Caine went inside his home, and his figure now emerged out of the hut, staring at the suns in the sky with heavy, red eyes. Some kids near the village walls stared in his direction, but he ignored them.


    The desire for acceptance he once felt had completely vanished now, he did not know what he was going to do, but he knew he was going to leave Arzamac behind.


    He looked for Oliver, and saw him just beyond some trees, with some smoke rising in the blue sky, and ran over to him.


    ¡°Oliver.¡± He called out to him. ¡°Thank you for your help.¡±


    ¡°Ah, Caine, just in time. Have some of this.¡±


    Oliver handed him a rabbit¡¯s leg that he had just been cooking with a hopeful smile on his face, and Caine gladly accepted it, biting into it. It was dry and bland, but Caine had been so hungry, he did not care for it.


    He sat on the grass in front of a small campfire, silently eating. He¡¯d glance at Oliver at times, waiting for some kind of reaction.


    Caine knew nothing about him, but he trusted him more than he wanted. He had a completely different aura from Sir Saintsworth, and that made it significantly easier for Caine to trust him.


    Despite Sir Saintsworth¡¯s threat, Caine had surprisingly not been found by him, which he found both a relief and unsettling. He had been worried that he would be waiting near his home, but he was not and instead, he set his home on fire.


    Caine grimaced at these questions, prompting his saviour, Oliver, to gently push him. Caine looked up at the man, no longer shirtless, but instead wearing a rather elegant silk black shirt, barely masking the dense and powerful muscles hidden underneath.


    Looking at him, Caine couldn¡¯t help but laugh, holding his stomach as he leaned forward. He had tears streaming down his face at the sight of his saviour, at the sight of the strongest he knew, wearing one clean, silk shirt and then just tattered clothes.


    Oliver stared at him wearing a questioning look, looked down and then looked back at Caine, his face steadily reddening. He closed his eyes, and his shirt began glowing before vanishing into thin air, almost as if it had never been there.


    ¡°I only had that.¡± He explained, his face still red.


    Caine laughed even harder, leaning back so much he actually fell.


    ¡°You know¡­¡± he said, in between fits of laughter, ¡°for how strong you are, you¡¯re too weird.¡±


    The man smiled at him and helped him up, letting him sit down and eat some more rabbit meat. The man was shirtless again, and Caine now studied him, his body was lean and muscular, it looked like his skin was softly resting directly on his muscles.


    Scars of all shapes and sizes adorned his body almost looking like a mosaic, and when Caine recalled the way the man fought those demonic beasts, he couldn¡¯t help but ask himself one question: what sort of creature would be able to leave a scar on this man?


    Throughout his life, Caine only saw three men that he could instantly recognise as being strong, Sir Saintsworth, Oliver, and¡­ his father, Bamel.


    His father may have been a humble man, but he was strong, his limbs were far larger than that of any other person in Arzamac, and his towering figure was enough to make anyone tremble in front of him.


    Sir Saintsworth was also large, when Caine met him, he wore the heavy metal armour easily, carrying its weight gracefully, and his mere gaze emanated an aura of strength.


    Oliver, instead, was far smaller than the other two, but he was incomparably stronger, without a shadow of a doubt. Caine could not say that he met many strong people, but he was completely certain that Oliver was the strongest among them.


    He exerted an overwhelming pressure of absolute strength, the only reason Caine could even be in his presence was simply because Oliver did not direct any ill intent toward him, otherwise, he was certain he could not even breathe in his presence.


    Ever since entering The Forest and sensing mana, Caine now felt its presence, although faintly, everywhere around him, he could sense the mana surrounding everything, constantly moving, being absorbed and repelled by all living beings, but more than anything it was aggressively moving towards Oliver.


    Caine could almost feel it trying to escape, it would tremble in its attempt to move away from his saviour before being helplessly dragged to him and absorbed.


    Caine thought about asking him about his strength but decided against it: while Oliver had helped him, he stayed vague about himself, revealing only the bare minimum; and so the man and the child sat together, eating rabbit meat in silence under the light of the suns.


    ***


    The suns now stood at their highest peak, raining down an oppressive heat on Arzamac. All the inhabitants of the small village were sweating heavily, trying to find cover in the shadows while gossiping about the deaths of the two outsiders in the fire.


    Among all the people of Arzamac, a small boy was digging two holes in the ground; he had found a large branch, which the man behind him had strengthened it with mana, and let the boy dig in silence.


    The two stood in the sunlight, bearing its full weight head-on, with the boy focused on the task at hand. The holes, or more specifically the graves were not shallow, they were deep enough that the boy had to enter the holes and were as deep as he was tall.


    After nearly two hours of digging, they boy was finally done, and after climbing out of the grave, he looked at the man behind him with a proud smile contrasting the empty look in his dark eyes.


    ¡°You know, I could have done this in like two minutes.¡± Oliver told him as he patted him on the shoulder.


    ¡°I know, but it¡¯s something I had to do.¡± Caine told him, catching his breath.


    The boy walked back to the remains of his hut, stopping before what used to be the door, and hesitantly walked in.


    The emptiness in his eyes grew tenfold as he looked at the charred remains of his parents, whereas his chest grew heavier with a burning rage. He took a deep breath and kneeled down.


    Oliver kneeled beside him, staying near Caine. As Caine went to try and lift his mother¡¯s corpse, it slowly crumbled, turning to ash at his touch. Her shoulder was disappearing, and Caine tried to hold onto it, but it just made the body crumble even faster.


    He groaned in pain as Oliver pushed him back, and placed his hands over the remains of the boy¡¯s parents, and the crumbling halted, some of the ashes that were falling stopped mid-air looking as if time had frozen.


    ¡°Caine.¡± Oliver called out to him. ¡°We can¡¯t bury them. They¡¯ll¡­ crumble before we can move them.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Caine stayed quiet, staring at the sky through the holes the fire made on the roof, and then he laughed. It was faint at first, but grew louder and louder, sounding almost maniacal, and let himself drop on the ground.


    Caine felt Oliver¡¯s gaze on him, but he did not care, and just continued laughing, until minutes later when it slowly grew quieter.


    ¡°Say, Oliver, why don¡¯t I feel sad? These are my parents, I love them and here I am just laughing. Why can¡¯t I feel sad?¡±


    ¡°People respond to traumatic events differently. So much has happened, that you can¡¯t wrap your mind around it, and that¡¯s normal. This does not mean you did not love them.¡±


    The two sat in silence for a few eternal moments, while Caine fought the apathy in his mind, trying to make himself feel the pain he should be feeling, the pain he believed he deserved to be feeling.


    ¡°I can¡¯t leave them here.¡± Caine muttered to himself.


    The boy stood up, shaking off the stiffness in his legs, and walked back and forth, trying to come up with some idea on what to do while Oliver stared at him intently.


    ¡°Here.¡± The man said, holding his hand out as a pouch materialized out of thin air.


    Caine hesitantly grabbed it, trying to figure out what the man planned.


    ¡°In my homeland, some people burn the remains and hold the ashes close to them.¡±


    The boy thought about what the man told him, thinking about what part of the world would burn their loved ones; while his knowledge of the world was limited, he had never heard of such a ritual, and for a moment he completely forgot about his parents, before the crushing memory of it came onto him.


    ¡°Do it.¡± He said as he realized he could keep them close to him wherever he went.


    Caine opened the leather pouch, staring at the intricate design adorning it showing a sun and what seemed to be eight other planets orbiting around it.


    The corpses of his parents began glowing as Oliver held out his hands above them; a ray of light shot out of his hand reaching their glowing bodies and making them turn into ashes that lifted off the ground and danced in the air as they weaved onto the pouch Caine held, filling it quickly.


    The emptiness he felt slowly chipped away as tears streamed down his face and sadness creeped into his heart, its weight almost fully masked by the rage he felt.


    He tied a knot on the pouch and held it close to his chest before walking outside, with Oliver following right behind. He looked at the sky, and his mouth slightly trembles as he tried to find some words.


    ¡°I swear on the Gods, New and Old, that I will Ranork Saintsworth. I will make him suffer as he deserves, and I will not rest until I do this.¡± He said, his voice stoic and composed.


    He turned to Oliver and walked past him back into the hut, and began rummaging through the ruins, trying to find anything that may have survived the fire. To his surprise, he found a shoulder bag, the one his father would wear when he worked, and threw the strap over his shoulder, adjusting its length.


    He smiled softly as he looked at the bag, larger than he was, and put his hand in it, finding only a book. Bamel would spend any afternoons writing in his book, Caine recalled seeing him put it away whenever he entered the room, and the curiosity he felt increased tenfold whenever he saw that scene.


    He hesitantly opened the book, curious to see what his father wrote down, but decided against it; something weighed heavily on him, he did not understand why, but it felt¡­ wrong.


    He closed the book, staring at it longingly, and put it back in his father¡¯s old bag before leaving the hut behind him and joining back with Oliver.


    ¡°Caine, what you said¡­ vengeance. Are you sure?¡± Oliver asked him.


    ¡°Yes.¡± He replied. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s like you said, at some point, the pain of losing them will hit me at once, but all I feel now is anger, and if there¡¯s one thing I know is that Ranork Saintsworth will die.¡±


    Caine walked towards Arzamac, wanting to leave that place behind. While he did not know what he was going to do, he knew he wanted to leave that place behind. As he walked inside the walls of the village, he noticed the glances the villagers would throw his way and ignored them.


    He didn¡¯t feel any anger towards them, he did not feel the desire to be accepted by these people, all he felt was pity, realising that before the strong, they - Caine included - were all equally weak.


    And Caine was not going to be weak. Not anymore.


    The two walked in complete silence, until they left the village, following the unknown path Caine had always wished to explore, but never had the opportunity to, although it felt bittersweet now.


    ¡°Oliver,¡± the boy called out to him. ¡°What plans do you have now?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not really sure. I want to go somewhere quiet, maybe a small village somewhere near a mountain, and spend the few years I have left there.¡±


    Caine was stunned at his honesty; he had not expected such a clear answer. Oliver now stared at him differently, his eyes carried a deep sharp emotion, one of¡­ acceptance as he smiled gently at him.


    What Caine was most confused about, however, was his wording.


    ¡®The few years I have left.¡¯


    Oliver seemed young, and given how strong he was, he must have been healthy; his complexion was good, and everything about him was strong. If he had enemies, Caine couldn¡¯t imagine them being anywhere near strong enough for him to even think they could kill him.


    ¡°What do you mean, Oliver.¡± He asked, after failing to come up with a reasonable answer.


    ¡°I am likely to be alive for seven more years, at most. I have an illness, my body works fine for now, but I will be losing control of it, I won¡¯t be able to eat, drink, and at one point even breathe, and then I¡¯ll die.¡±


    Caine was speechless; the man had told him his fate, the exact way he would die, but he did it so calmly, so frighteningly calmly. How could someone be so relaxed when knowing they will die?


    ¡°Even if I die soon,¡± he continued, ¡°I am happy with it. I spent so much time fighting just to survive, and I am tired. Death is not something I fear, it is something that will free me. Ah, sorry, what am I even saying to a kid.¡± He gently ruffled his hair and laughed softly.


    The two continued walking through the path, occasionally glancing at the surrounding trees, with Caine¡¯s heart beating slightly faster whenever he¡¯d hear an animal, recalling the nightmare of The Forest.


    Occasionally he would glance at Oliver, who would be glancing at him before looking away; his mouth slightly trembled at times, almost as if he wanted to try to say something, and then he stopped, making Caine stop himself and stare at the man.


    ¡°Say, Caine, I know you don¡¯t know me, but do you want to come with me?¡±

 Chapter 6 - New path

    ¡®Do you want to come with me?¡¯


    Those words echoed in Caine¡¯s mind as he tried to process them. Countless questions arose within him, but the one there was one that stood out the most.


    ¡®Why is he helping me?¡¯


    A myriad of thoughts and emotions swirled in his mind, each and every one making his face contort in a new expression, with confusion ever present in his eyes.


    ¡°Are you alright, Caine?¡± He asked, with concern sculpted on his face.


    ¡°Yes, sorry, I was¡­ taken aback. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to say that, Oliver.¡±


    ¡°Of course, yeah. I just don¡¯t want you to be alone now. I¡¯m worried about you, and I¡¯d like you to stay with me for the time being,¡±


    That answer, confused Caine even more, they had met for not even an entire day, and Oliver already seemed to be extremely mindful of Caine, not to mention quite protective.


    When they walked through to Arzamac, whenever the villagers would murmur and glance at Caine, Oliver would raise his pressure so that they would freeze and stay silent, diverting their gazes, and now he wanted the two of them to remain together.


    ¡°Why?¡± Caine asked, his voice slightly trembling. ¡°Why do you want to help me?¡±


    ¡°My brother¡¯s son.¡± Oliver said, his voice conveying an indescribable pain. ¡°He was angry at everything, his father, my brother was killed, and he wanted revenge.¡±


    Oliver paused, looking up at the sky, his face extremely bright as he was basking in the suns¡¯ sunlight, contradicting the dark expression he wore.


    ¡°I tried to stop him, but I was barely an adult myself, and my nephew was actually just a few years younger than me, and I had just lost my brother as well. I was lost in my own grief, and I didn¡¯t try hard enough to stop him, and then¡­ he was killed as well. And it was my fault. I was weak. He was weak as well. We all were.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Oliver.¡± Caine told him not knowing what else he could say. Maybe they were more similar than he realised, both of them were broken through grief.


    Oliver seemed to have lost the strength to look after his family, whereas Caine could not feel anything other than a seemingly endless emptiness that almost completely hid the rage he felt.


    The man looked down on the child, whereas the boy looked up at the man and despite the difference in stature and strength, they both pitied the other with a sense of closeness growing between them.


    ¡°Oliver, I appreciate everything you have done, but I am not your nephew, I will have my revenge, so don¡¯t expect me to give up on that.¡± Caine told him firmly, after building the courage to be stern with him.


    ¡°I know.¡± Oliver smiled softly at him, squatting down so that they were at eye level. ¡°I can see it in your eyes, you will never stop until one of the two is dead. I wish you didn¡¯t follow this path, but it¡¯s like I told you. You need to make a decision. I will not control your fate.¡±


    Those words lingered in Caine¡¯s mind for an eternal moment, trying to imagine a life where he could move on from vengeance, but no matter what, he couldn¡¯t. It was something he needed to do. Something he was fated to do.


    ¡°I will avenge them.¡± He told his saviour. ¡°But I do not want to die. Oliver, you are strong, frighteningly so. If I come with you, can you make me strong?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ could.¡± He replied, warily. ¡°But it is going to be difficult¡­ and painful. Unimaginably so. Are you sure you want that?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Caine replied instantly, never surer of anything in his life.


    ¡°Perfect. Just let me think about how to do this. I never had a student.¡±


    The two resumed walking, a comfortable silence between them. Caine wore an empty expression, but there was a faint glimpse of light in his eyes. His heart raced at the thought of being his student, of being the student of the strongest.


    Suddenly, a rabbit jumped out in front of them, stopping in its tracks and looking at the two looming figures. The man, the boy, and the rabbit were completely frozen, staring at each other, waiting for one of them to move first.


    Oliver took a step forward, and the rabbit dashed into the trees to their left before completely disappearing, hidden away in the tall grass. Caine stared at Oliver, confused as to what had just happened: it was only a rabbit, but the atmosphere was strange, and he was not sure if he was supposed to move.


    ¡°Well, Caine, I more or less figured out how to start your training.¡± His grin widened, turning creepy as he stared at the young boy, making him take a step back, and prompting Oliver to walk towards him until Caine was with his back stuck on a tree.


    ¡°What do you know about magic?¡± Oliver asked him. Caine was confused as to why he asked him, given that he had looked into his memories, and he should be already aware of what the boy knew. Nevertheless, he ignored that and thought about his answer.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know much, but from what I was told, some people develop a mana core that they use to gather and store mana which they can use to cast spells or augment themselves. The spells can vary depending on their affinity, but the most common types of mana are water, earth, fire, and air.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Oliver replied. ¡°But there¡¯s a bit more than that. Mana itself does not have an element, there¡¯s no such thing as water mana or air mana, it¡¯s the spell that can change it into one of the elements. How many elements do you think there are?¡±


    ¡°I was told there are seven.¡± Caine answered.


    ¡°No, there are twelve as far as I know, but there could be more, it just may be that they haven¡¯t been discovered.¡±


    Caine looked at him with a puzzled expression. The concept of there being an endless number of elements was foreign to him, and not just him; this idea was not something that would be known in the entire world, but those words coming from Oliver made them seem reliable, as if it was common knowledge, and Caine couldn¡¯t help but believe it.


    ¡°Now, I see you already have a mana core, that¡¯s surprising considering you¡¯re so young, so we can skip forming one.¡± Oliver told him.


    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t have a mana core.¡± Caine told him, confused.


    ¡°You should have one, I mean you already used mana.¡± He explained, puzzled by the boy¡¯s confusion.


    After taking a deep breath, he thought about the last few hours, trying to recall any point where he might have used magic, but was unsuccessful. While he had managed to feel mana¡¯s presence, he failed miserably in creating a spell when he was attacked by the winged wolves.


    Still confused, he stared at Oliver, who was in turn smiling back at him with a curious look, like a man staring at a puppy.


    ¡°Caine. We met in The Forest. At night.¡± He told him, his tone amused. ¡°It was extremely dark, there was barely any light, the moonlight was nowhere in sight. Aren¡¯t you curious as to how you did that?¡±


    Silence followed his words, and Caine stared at him with a blank expression.


    The previous confusion he felt vanished instantly, and he thought about the last night, about how scared he was, how he ran and before he realised it, he was already so deep in that hellish place forgotten by the Gods. He closed his eyes and tried to feel the presence of mana in the air, sensing it, although barely.


    ¡°Oliver, when I was in The Forest, I felt mana, it was so strong and everywhere around me, did I form my mana core there?¡± Caine asked him.


    ¡°Probably, given everything that happened, you created one thanks to the mana density there and probably because of your mother.¡±


    ¡°My¡­ mother?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I saw in your memories that she was a healer. Using that type of mana requires a good understanding of it, personally, I think healing magic is really difficult to use, anyone who can use it proficiently has to be a genius. You must have inherited some genius from her.¡±


    Caine smiled at his words. For the first time in his life, he heard someone praise his mother for her magic, the people of Arzamac exploited her, but they never had any kind words for her, and for him to hear that his mother was a genius was bittersweet.


    He was ecstatic that she was being praised but hated that she was not there to hear it.


    Oliver held out his hand, a bright light covering it, and placed it on his chest, and just like the night before, he felt the mana around him, much more clearly this time.


    Just as he thought hours before, the mana seemed to try to escape Oliver but was being forcibly pulled to him and being absorbed, constantly, in every part of his body.


    Suddenly, the mana began circling in Caine¡¯s tiny body weaving within his muscles, within his organs until it reached his chest, and there he felt a sphere where the mana stopped and disappeared.


    His mana core.


    A grin escaped him, and he was sure he felt happy deep down, although that emotion was masked by the endless emptiness.


    ¡°Oliver, you said you knew how to train me. What do I do?¡± Caine asked him, eagerly.


    ¡°For starters¡­¡± Caine leaned forward, excited at the idea of his training. ¡°Go and catch a rabbit.¡±


    Caine blinked at his words, his smile slowly fading, replaced by a blank expression.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Oliver, on the other hand, held his hand out, materialising a black dagger out of thin air, and put it in Caine¡¯s hand, who was still staring at him.


    ¡°Go on then, the rabbit is not going to catch itself.¡±


    Caine let out the breath he was subconsciously holding, and after a deep sigh, he walked back to where they had first seen the rabbit, cursing to himself.


    If there was one rabbit, there were bound to be more, and he was betting on that possibility, otherwise finding a rabbit would become as difficult as¡­ finding a rabbit in a forest.


    Caine chuckled to himself as he thought that, and inspected the ground, searching for any tracks a rabbit may have left behind.


    After a thorough and, mostly useless, search of the ground, he finally managed to find some tracks, the long grass was caved in in a certain rhythmic pattern, as if something was hopping on the grass.


    A smile crept up on the boy¡¯s face as he followed the tracks with the black knife in hand, and his smile turned into a grin when he found tracks of multiple rabbits on the grass, joining the one he originally found.


    Caine was careful as he walked, trying to make his steps as nimble and silent as possible, carefully inspecting the ground in front of him to ensure he would not step on anything that may create a noise that could startle the colony of rabbits, and then hid behind a tree as he saw a rabbit.


    Its dirty white fur and red eyes stood out in the green grass as it looked at its colony, constantly scouting its surroundings for any danger. Caine leaned forward to get a better look at his prey, when it stared back at him.


    Suddenly, more than fifteen rabbits scattered, each running in a different direction, and Caine jumped out of his hiding spot, and broke out in a run, chasing after the rabbit closest to him.


    To his surprise, the rabbit was fast, much faster than he expected, and for a few seconds, Caine was actually lagging behind, struggling to keep up, but soon managed to catch up to it, and as he did, he threw himself to the ground, trying to stab it with his dagger.


    Unfortunately, the rabbit escaped from his grasp, and the blade stabbed the ground, digging surprisingly deep into it; the rabbit stopped a few steps in front of Caine, who was now lying on the ground, his face and clothes getting dirty, and stared at the boy, almost mockingly as it tilted its head slightly.


    The boy rushed to stand up and lunged at the rabbit, who broke out in another sprint. Caine chased after it, but rather than lunging onto it when he had the opportunity, he continued to chase after it, waiting for it to slow down.


    As he ran, he focused on the air around him, feeling the slight presence of mana, and tried to absorb it, unsuccessfully. Instead, he felt the mana he had already gathered subconsciously in his mana core and tried to bring it forth.


    A sudden surge of energy overflowed from Caine¡¯s core, and he felt his body become much stronger, each step he took felt lighter and more powerful, and the moment he noticed the rabbit slowing down, he lunged to it once again, throwing himself onto the ground.


    This time, the knife dug into the rabbit¡¯s flesh, and as he pulled it out, blood spurted out of the wound, and the rabbit fell to the ground after taking a few, slow steps forward.


    Caine screamed out as he rejoiced in his victory, and threw himself back on the ground, lying on his back and looking up, staring at the tree branches. He then brought himself to his feet, and grabbed the rabbit, by its neck, staring into its lifeless red eyes.


    In his glory at having killed the tiny beast, Caine had not even realised that he had killed it, a life had ended, and he was the cause of it.


    The sudden realisation of it left him confused: on the one hand, he was happy he managed to hunt the animal by himself, but on the other hand, he pitied its end; the beasts did nothing to him, the only reason he killed it was that he was stronger than it.


    How was he any different than Saintsworth?


    He shook his head, ignoring the creeping guilt and shoving it deep down in his mind, hiding it deep within.


    He grabbed the rabbit by the scruff of its neck and turned around, wanting to go back to Oliver and showcase his kill, but when he looked around, he only saw trees. Trees everywhere, just like last night.


    His eyes darted everywhere, scanning his surroundings and wanting to find a way back, but his entire body was frozen; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn¡¯t. An insurmountable pressure overcame him as his chest tightened and his vision went blurry.


    His knees buckled, and the boy fell as his vision quickly darkened, with his consciousness slipping from his grasp.


    ***


    The woods were silent, countless animals lived peacefully as they all fought each day to survive, hunting, running away to avoid being hunted, but simply living as nature intended them to do.


    In the middle of all this, a boy laid down on the soft ground, sleeping with a grim expression on his face. Every once in a while, a squirrel would climb on top of him, lying on top of his face and then scurrying away as the boy twitched.


    Slowly, he opened his eyes, an endless green sea appearing in front of his eyes as he looked at the trees; he slowly got up, groaning as he did, trying to shake off the throbbing headache he was feeling.


    Flames crackled behind him, and he saw Oliver sitting on a log he used as a seat in front of him stood a small campfire, unnaturally hot for how small it was, and the man was cooking a rabbit¡¯s leg, with a serene smile on his face.


    ¡°Hi, Princess, nice of you to wake up.¡± Oliver laughed.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Oliver asked him, still fighting off the headache.


    ¡°Another panic attack, you passed out. Probably not my best idea to send you off in the woods, hunting alone.¡±


    A comfortable silence lingered between them, as Caine became angry at himself at his weakness; no danger was present, on the contrary, for once Caine was the danger, he was the hunter, and he still couldn¡¯t control himself.


    His face grimaced and Oliver walked over to him, putting a rabbit¡¯s leg in his hand. The boy stared at it for a moment with a somber expression on his face before biting onto it; his face contorted as he ate and fought the urge to spit out the food.


    The rabbit they had eaten earlier, did not taste like that, or perhaps Caine was too focused on his parents to even think about the taste of the food he ate.


    ¡°Sorry, I know it tastes like rubber, I¡¯m not the best cook.¡± Oliver confessed.


    The meat was chewy, strangely so, it was overcooked and flavourless but Caine couldn¡¯t help but laugh at it, making Oliver slightly redden; he was glad to know that there were things that even the mighty Oliver was not good at, and for a moment, he forgot about his panic attack, before the memory of it came crushing back into his mind like an avalanche.


    He clenched his fist, and began chewing the rabbit¡¯s meat much more aggressively, partly out of anger, and partly due to how hard it was to eat, before looking at Oliver, a growing sense of determination visible in his eyes.


    ¡°Oliver, what¡¯s next for training?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Nothing for now, I will have you hunt for our meal while I go with you, but no cheating this time, so don¡¯t use mana. Don¡¯t try to gather mana for now.¡±


    Caine stared at him, his eyes wide open and his mouth agape, trying to process what he just said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t I need to learn how to use mana? I already have a core, shouldn¡¯t I try to get better at using mana?¡±


    ¡°Valid questions.¡± Oliver applauded him. ¡°But no. This will all make more sense when we officially start your training.¡±


    ¡°Can you explain a bit more?¡± Caine asked, still confused.


    ¡°Oh, yes, of course. We are going to reach some village, somewhere secluded and quiet, and when we¡¯re there, I¡¯m going to destroy your core.¡±


    The woods grew silent, only a gentle breeze was between them, and the two stared at the other.


    ¡°You¡­ want to destroy my core?¡± Caine, asked, instinctively taking a step back. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Ah, sorry, I still didn¡¯t explain myself properly, sorry. I¡¯ll destroy your core, shattering it into tiny fragments that I¡¯ll guide to create paths that connect throughout your entire body, weaving between all your muscles.¡±


    Caine listened attentively, utterly shocked at his words.


    To destroy a mana core to make someone strong¡­ was simply unheard of. But then again, someone as strong as Oliver was also something Caine never expected, which made his declaration carry a certain weight.


    ¡°Generally, to gather mana, you need to be completely still since you need to guide it into your core, but with this method, you will be able to absorb instantly and continuously. You won¡¯t be able to store it in your core, but you can absorb it every second of every day.¡±


    Crazy.


    That was the one word that was stuck in Caine¡¯s mind.


    Oliver had just told him that he would destroy his core and create a new entire magic system for Caine; while Oliver was strong, stronger than what could be conceivable, this method was far too unrealistic.


    But the way Oliver had spoken about it as if it was the most rational course of action which made it strangely easy to trust him, and Caine had already made that choice.


    Despite everything that happened, Caine trusted Oliver completely. Maybe he shouldn¡¯t, but he did, and if what Oliver told him about his illness was true, he was prepared to listen to everything his saviour told him, to learn everything he could from him.


    ¡°Is it even possible to absorb mana while moving?¡± Caine asked him.


    ¡°For humans, no. A mana core is formed during teenage years, at that point it has been ingrained in their mind that one needs to be completely still to absorb mana, but you¡¯re young enough to unlearn that. To be so young, and to have a mana core, it is rare. And with the mana channels I will create, absorbing mana will be infinitely easier.¡±


    For some reason, Caine thought that Oliver was¡­ intrigued. His eyes seemed to carry a hint of excitement at teaching Caine, although they were still carrying a myriad of emotions Caine did not know.


    Oliver finished eating his portion, and got up, stretching his legs, making Caine hurry to finish his own portion, although struggling to do so, considering how tough the meat was. Oliver held out his hand over the fire, and a stream of water came out of it, putting out the fire, although it had produced no smoke strangely enough.


    The two walked out of the woods until they reached the path they were on originally, and they followed it, walking aimlessly, to a place both people had not been to.


    Hours passed, with the two walking in comfortable silence, with Caine sometimes asking Oliver questions about his training, which he never really got a clear answer on, only vague answers about absorbing mana.


    The sky turned a beautiful crimson colour as the first sun began to set, and luckily the two reached another village, Lian.


    The village, or rather town, was bigger than Arzamac, all the buildings were made of stone rather than thatch and wood. As they roamed its street, everyone spared them a quick glance and then continued with their life, and Caine felt content with this: for once, people did not seem to hate him for merely existing.


    They roamed aimlessly, and suddenly stopped at the same time, as both came to the realisation that they were walking in circles. Oliver stepped out, approaching a passerby, and then gestured at Caine to follow him, his gait now purposeful.


    They reached a tall building, more than five stories tall, and then walked in; Oliver had opened the door, which was lighter than he expected, or perhaps he used more strength than he intended, causing one of the wooden doors to come off its hinges.


    The inside was clean and simple, it was crowded, almost uncomfortably so, and everyone turned to look at the two new guests.


    The people there seemed¡­ rough. It was full of people wearing armour - both leather and metal - and they all carried a weapon, grabbing it at the ruckus made by Oliver.


    They had entered a guild, and it was full of adventurers.


    He turned to Caine, with an apologetic smile, and gently pushed him to stand behind him, putting his arm between the child and the adventurers, ready to protect him should the need arise.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll get that fixed.¡± He laughed, although no one else seemed to find any humour in what just happened as they all stared at him with a threatening look.


    ¡°For the troubles, the next round is on me.¡±


    The guild was silent and suddenly, laughter erupted from everyone, as they all raised their cups, cheering for Oliver, and the previously tense atmosphere had instantly vanished, with people slapping Oliver¡¯s back as he walked by or ruffling Caine¡¯s hair.


    They stood before a brown-haired woman sitting behind a nearly broken-down wooden desk, who smiled at the two, although her eyes looked eerily serious, with a hint of annoyance hidden behind them as she glanced at the wooden door still on the floor.


    ¡°Hi, can I get one bedroom for the night, two beds?¡± Oliver asked, wearing a charming smile.


    ¡°That will be five silvers.¡± She replied, unimpressed.


    Golden sparks appeared on his hand, and a pouch appeared, similar to the one Caine carried in his father¡¯s bag. He reached inside the pouch, first placing his fingers in there, then his hand, and then his entire arm, all of it being swallowed in the small pouch, leaving the woman and the boy with a shocked expression.


    ¡°For the drinks as well, it should cover it.¡± He placed three gold coins on the desk.


    The woman scooped up the coins, placing them in a safety box under the desk and handed Oliver one of the many keys hanging on the wall behind her.


    ¡°Up the stairs, first floor, third door on the left. Enjoy your stay.¡±


    Caine looked at her curiously, her eyes had completely changed, the malice he saw behind them was gone, and there seemed to be a hint of greed behind them.


    The two walked up the stairs, ignoring the creaking that each of their steps caused, and found their room, a rather simple room, with two small beds, a desk, and bathroom in it.


    Caine went to the smaller of the beds and let himself fall on it; the bed was thin, stained, and smelled badly, completely different from how the building looked, but he found it extremely comfortable, sinking into it, and before he realised, he fell asleep.

 Chapter 7 - Foot of the mountain

    The bed was comfortable, the pillow was nothing like he had ever laid his head on, and the boy woke up feeling fully rested¡­ or at least, he wished that was true.


    After the first few minutes, the bed sunk onto the frame, digging in his back, and the pillow smelled. He could see spiderwebs in the corners, reminding him of the monster he almost faced in The Forest that used his mother¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Caine, you have a good rest, I will sleep outside.¡± Oliver told him.


    Caine stood up, groaning as he did, and massaging his lower back.


    ¡°Why, there¡¯s a bed right there. It¡¯s not exactly the highest of comforts, but it will do.¡±


    Oliver laughed and sat on the bed opposite him, and then stood up just as quickly as he sat, looking at the bed, and sighing,


    ¡°I think we¡¯ve been scammed; this is not a bed.¡± He said, annoyed. ¡°I¡¯m not really much of a sleeper, I think I¡¯ll go walk around and explore, see if I can find something interesting.¡±


    Oliver was an adult, and a strong one at that, so Caine was not worried about him, but he was worried about what would happen if someone tried to attack him; any aggressor would just cease to exist, and considering what he saw in The Forest, should Oliver ever need to swing a sword, the town would just disappear, there would be nothing left but destruction.


    Nevertheless, while Caine was not worried about the remote possibility of this happening, he knew full well that a mere glance from Oliver would make anyone reconsider even approaching him, and so Oliver left, leaving Caine alone in the bedroom, and after nearly an hour, he managed to fall asleep.


    Unfortunately for him, his sleep was riddled with nightmares; Sir Saintsworth appeared in his sleep, taunting him, chasing him, and when he finally reached him, ready to kill him, Caine woke up, finding himself drenched in sweat.


    His breathing was heavy and restless, and it took him some time to actually calm down, finding solace in one sentence.


    ¡®Pain can make me strong¡¯.


    What Oliver had told him stuck with Caine, whenever he felt like he was losing control of himself, surrendering himself to the emotional pain that was constantly brushing against him, this sentence calmed him down.


    If he was suffering, he could become stronger, and maybe - one day- he could be a fraction as strong as Oliver, and then there would be nothing that could stop him, and there would be no one that could stand in his way.


    He repeated those words, sitting upright, until he calmed himself down, and then jumped off the sorry excuse of a bed, content with himself.


    He walked to the bathroom, and his jaw dropped. For the first time in his life, he saw what the rest of the world used to clean themselves. He did not need to find a river and wash himself there, fighting the cold, and having to spend time to find a secluded place.


    Here he could enter the tub, stand comfortable and turn the lever, and as he tried it, the mana stone stuck in the wall glowed, and a comfortable jet of warm water fell from the ceiling, connected to the mana stone. It was exactly like his mother had told him.


    He put his hand under the stream of water and decided to take a shower right then, after which he felt refreshed, his aching body felt rejuvenated, and a lot of the pressure he felt washed away with all the dirt.


    As he left the bathroom, after dressing himself, he found Oliver standing in front of the window, staring out of it with a serene look on his face; without turning around, Oliver spoke to him.


    ¡°Enjoyed your shower?¡±


    ¡°Yes, first time I had one like this.¡± Caine replied, still feeling his body warm.


    ¡°Yeah I can imagine, I did not think there would be any here. I got you some clothes.¡±


    Caine looked at his bed, and saw some simple clothes, and quickly took off the ones he was wearing, and put on the new ones. It was a simple, black tunic, the hem reaching his waist, and a pair of black trousers.


    Oliver had also bought him some leather boots, that fit him perfectly, almost as if they were tailored especially for him; Caine walked beside Oliver, watching out of the window - or at least trying to, considering he was barely tall enough to reach the window - and let his mind go blank, trying not to worry or think about anything.


    ¡°You know, Caine, this place is not too bad. Lian is peaceful, but I don¡¯t want to stay here. Is that okay for you?¡± Oliver asked him.


    ¡°Yes, I know this is temporary. You want to go somewhere near a mountain, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Oliver replied, with a hint of longing in his voice.


    ¡°Why a mountain?¡± Caine asked him, after letting a few seconds linger between them.


    ¡°When I was young, where I used to live, my family would go hiking on


    the mountains¡­ It feels like home.¡±


    The words weighed heavily in the room; for the first time, Caine saw his saviour almost be hurt. His tone, the look in his eyes, even the way he slouched his broad shoulders, a deep pain was clear in him, and Caine knew this.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you go home?¡± Caine asked him, hesitantly.


    Oliver turned around facing Caine and placed his hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°No¡­ I can¡¯t.¡± He said solemnly before his stoic face changed into a bright smile. ¡°But that¡¯s okay. I can find peace here, and if I were to go home, I wouldn¡¯t see you as much.¡±


    Oliver walked out of the room, and Caine followed closely behind, and after dropping off the keys at the entrance, the two of them left, both dressed completely in black.


    Oliver now walked purposefully and soon they had left Lian behind, following towards something unknown to Caine; Oliver somehow knew exactly where to go, he had told Caine he found ¡®the perfect mountain¡¯ - whatever that meant - and it was around twelve days away from them.


    Oliver was in charge of ensuring that they stayed on the right path and, sadly, of cooking, whereas Caine was in charge of hiding. Every day, he would go hunting, brandishing the knife Oliver had given him, and look for any prey.


    Usually, he would look for rabbits and he had gotten pretty good at hunting them even without using mana; once he had even found a deer, although he did not kill it, he did manage to wound it, although it still had managed to get away.


    Nevertheless, Caine was happy with that, despite how fast it was, Caine almost killed it, and he was content with how good he was getting at silently stalking his prey and attacking them before they even realised it.


    Sadly, despite all his hard work at hunting, his meals had never improved; Oliver may have been ridiculously strong, but he was a lousy cook, and Caine was even an even worse cook as they painfully discovered on their second day of travel.


    Despite being so powerful, even Oliver felt weak, with his stomach in constant pain for a few hours after eating the rabbit Caine cooked.


    Four days later, they had reached another town, Rosail. They had managed to find an inn this time, much cleaner than their room in Lian, and there they had a feast, the food was both flavourful and tender, and the steak they had was perfect, so much so that it had brought Oliver to tears.


    Caine laughed at the scene, but deep down he wondered what sort of life Oliver had lived; in their days of travel together, Oliver grew even more mysterious, he seemed completely ignorant of the world, he knew nothing of the seven kingdoms, he didn¡¯t even know that they were in the Arman Kingdom.


    Caine almost entertained the thought that Oliver himself may be a demonic beast, one simply taking the form of a human, but quickly dismissed the idea: demonic beasts lived for nothing but destruction, and if Oliver truly was one of them, the balance in the world would undoubtably shift, with the demons of The Forest having the upper hand against humanity.


    Every single night, Caine would struggle to sleep, always riddled by nightmares, and every morning he would fight against a panic attack, with each of them growing more ferocious every single day, but by the eighth night, he had managed to deal with them pretty well.


    ¡®Pain can make me strong.¡¯


    Those words became a mantra for him, reciting them with complete devotion, obsession almost. As long as he said those words, Caine was confident he could handle anything.


    While the two of them spent nearly every single waking moment together, they did not speak much, most of the time just walking together in a comfortable silence, but when they did speak, Caine was almost always in awe of him.


    Oliver had an impossible understanding of mana, the way he explained his plan to Caine always seemed the main topic of discussion for the two, with Caine always asking him to reexplain his idea to him.


    To break his mana core into millions of fragments to redistribute across his body, weaving them across his every muscle, spreading the fragments across his skin, in his ears, eyes, nose¡­ and to then use the mana in the atmosphere to strengthen the fragments to create tunnels, or mana channels as Oliver called them, to be in a state of continuously absorbing mana, it was nothing short of madness. And Caine always made sure to remind Oliver of that.


    ¡°There is a thin line between genius and madness,¡± Oliver would tell him, ¡°And I have a foot on both sides.¡±


    Despite common sense telling Caine not to believe him, he did and listened to every word he said as if they were the words of the Gods. Oliver had told him not to use mana, to not even try to feel its presence or to try to absorb it, and Caine did just that.


    In their days of travel, not once had he used mana to strengthen himself, despite being tempted whenever he would unsuccessfully chase a deer, but Oliver had told him not to do it, and so he didn¡¯t, never once questioning him.


    Well¡­ maybe questioning once or twice.


    Eight days after they left Arzamac, they finally saw the snowy peak of a mountain in the distance, less than five days away. That night, the two were in an especially good mood, nearly having reached their destination.


    After they had set camp in a cave they had found, Oliver had left Caine in there by the campfire. The cave was strangely dark, even with the fire it was barely illuminated as if the darkness was feeding on any source of light.


    Despite the creepy setting, Caine was not scared even when Oliver had left him by himself after the both of the suns had set. In front of the cave¡¯s entrance, etched in the ground, was Oliver¡¯s great sword.


    It stood tall, fighting off the darkness and creating a barrier of light all around the Caine, fighting off the darkness, keeping Caine warm, and somehow keeping him energised; the closer he¡¯d get to the sword, the more energy he would feel overflowing in him.


    After not even an hour, Oliver had come back, and sat beside Caine near the campfire.


    ¡°This true darkness is annoying, isn¡¯t it?¡± He commented, before holding is hand out, and materialising two ceramic plates in front of them.


    The familiar scent of the steak they had in Rosail filled the cave, and Caine ravaged it as soon as he realised what it was, as did Oliver. They silently ate, and as soon as Caine was done, another steak materialised, and Caine also rushed to devour the second one.


    When they were done, they both dropped back, letting themselves drop onto the hard, rocky ground, with the energy from Oliver¡¯s great sword healing them instantly, and before they realised it, they had fallen asleep¡­ or at least, Caine did.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    The next day, they continued their journey towards the mountain, the two of them deciding to cut through a short stretch of woods; Oliver seemed reluctant to walk through there.


    They ran across the short stretch, and at times Oliver would disappear from Caine¡¯s sight, almost as if teleporting, and the ground itself would shake, and Oliver would reappear in front of him, with his sword disappearing in a cloud of silver sparks.


    When they had left the stretch of woods, they walked for a few more hours until they came across a lake. Caine remained in awe, staring at his own reflection after he had a drink from it; he stared at the water, occasionally he would throw a rock in the lake and watch the ripples distort his reflection.


    When he turned around, he saw Oliver cooking some fish over a campfire, and walked over to him.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t I the one supposed to hunt? I could have caught some fish.¡± Caine asked him.


    ¡°I guess it was the first you saw a lake. You looked like you enjoyed looking at it, and to be honest, you were staring at it with a big smile, I thought I could hunt and cook this time¡­ and don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s hard to ruin fish.¡± Oliver handed him a stick with fish on it.


    Caine bit into it, and looked at Oliver with a disappointed look, just as Oliver did the same. The two of the sighed and carried on eating, the rubbery, bland, and flavourless fish. Oliver would throw Caine an apologetic look, but he had long come to terms with these unfortunate meals.


    As they finished eating, they decided to take a rare day of rest. Oliver had spent the entire afternoon teaching Caine how to swim, and as it turned out, Caine was strangely talented in it.


    After a few hours, Caine was nimble, spending more time in the water than out of it, finding comfort in the all-compassing water. When he finally came out of the lake, he approached Oliver, wiping the water off of him, and Oliver raised his hand towards Caine, covering him in a warm energy that quickly dried him off.


    Caine put on his trousers, but Oliver stopped him before he could put on his tunic. He rolled up his sleeve, waving his hand on his forearm and revealing a black rune etched into it shaped as a half-moon.


    He then waived his hand on it again, the rune vanished, and Oliver then grabbed Caine¡¯s forearm, and waived his hand on it, and the half-moon then was etched into the boy¡¯s arm.


    Caine rubbed his forearm, examining the rune; he felt his arm growing hotter and hotter with each passing second, until the pain became almost unbearable, but despite that he managed to keep a straight face and continued to look at the rune, then turning to Oliver, now gritting his teeth.


    ¡°You know, when I first got the rune, I couldn¡¯t move for hours. I am continuously healing you, but even then, the pain should be unbearable.¡± Oliver explained, his eyes full of concern and delighted surprise.


    After minutes of mind-numbing pain, the rune turned jet black before disappearing from his arm, and along with it, the pain. He breathed a sigh of relief, and let himself drop to his knees, as his eyes welled up with tears and drool left his mouth.


    As Oliver went to help him up, Caine held out his hand, stopping his guardian from helping him, and instead, after taking a few deep breaths with much difficulty, he managed to stand on his two feet, fighting against his trembling legs until they stopped shaking.


    ¡°Pain can make me strong.¡± He repeated to himself.


    ¡°Yes¡­ it can.¡± Oliver spoke solemnly. ¡°Caine, that rune is your first weapon.¡±


    The boy turned from the man to his right arm, staring at it attentively, with an excited, almost obsessed look in his eyes at the thought of his own weapon. The past few days, he had gotten used to using Oliver¡¯s dagger, finding himself more and more at ease with it, and now wanting nothing more than to have a weapon he could call his own.


    ¡°What weapon is it?¡± Caine asked.


    ¡°Try to imagine a dagger in your hand.¡± Oliver simply told him.


    Caine did as he was told, imagining the dagger he had gotten so used to using in his hand, and then he felt something materialise in his hand and his eyes brightened at the sight of it; in his hand was a beautiful black dagger, with a series of intricate runes carved into the handle.


    ¡°Oliver, it¡¯s the same colour as that¡­ ¡®true darkness¡¯ we saw in the cave.¡±


    ¡°You are a quick one, aren¡¯t you.¡± Oliver smiled at him.


    ¡°I just remember you mentioning it. What exactly is it?¡±


    ¡°No point in telling you, True Darkness has a mind hex, if I tell you what it is, you will forget about it. But when you figure it out, you¡¯ll understand it perfectly.¡±


    Oliver¡¯s face turned grim at the thought of True Darkness, Caine had almost seen a hint of fear behind the immense strength behind his deep green eyes; just the thought of Oliver being afraid of something was enough for Caine himself to become extremely wary of this¡­ thing.


    ¡°Caine,¡± Oliver spoke to him, his voice as serious as Caine had ever heard it, ¡°if I¡¯m not around, and you come across True Darkness¡­ run.¡±


    Caine gulped at his words, it was the first time Oliver had been so cold about something; ever since they met, Caine had felt a familiar warmth coming from his saviour, but now¡­ Caine felt nothing but pure coldness.


    Caine stared at the knife, inspecting its incredibly sharp blade, and swung it in the air a few times, getting used to its feeling; the dagger was heavier that the one he had been using, although only slightly, but that almost trivial difference made the blade entirely different.


    The amount of strength Caine had to use, the angle at which he would need to stab his prey, and even where exactly he needed to hold the black handle of the dagger, it was different, and he realised he needed to learn how to use this blade properly.


    ¡°How do I put the dagger away?¡± Caine asked.


    ¡°Just imagine the blade disappearing. It is fairly simple to use, just imagine; your imagination can make the blade even sharper.¡±


    Caine blinked, and the blade vanished from his hand as if it had never been there, leaving behind an almost invisible black spark; the runic half-moon reappeared on Caine¡¯s arm just for a moment before disappearing deep into his arm.


    ¡°I call the blade, Shadow.¡± Oliver told him.


    After that, the two spent the rest of the afternoon in silence, with Caine deciding to explore the surrounding area looking for something to hunt as the suns begun to set.


    Ahead of them, beyond the lake, there was another stretch of woods and after getting Oliver¡¯s permission, he ran forward, looking for any sign of life he could kill; being so close to such a large body of water, it was not long before he found something.


    Running towards him was an animal Caine had never seen; a canine-like creature with six limbs was galloping towards him, its tail wagging and revealing a ball of hardened flesh at its end.


    As Caine saw the strange animal charging him, he took a step back, and then another as a sense of dread slowly creeped up within him, making the emptiness which he had almost gotten used to seem immense.


    He turned and ran as fast as he could, and despite not turning around, he could still feel its gaze stuck on his back; while running, Caine was scanning his surroundings, trying to find anything that could help him kill the beast, but just as he turned his head, a strong force pushed him onto the ground, and now stood on top of him.


    Caine was mistaken, the creature was not dog-like at all, but rather more humanoid, its head nearly identical to that of an ape, although completely hairless; it had fangs instead of teeth, reminding him of those the winged wolves in The Forest had. The beast was drooling over Caine as it growled at him, bearing its fangs at the boy, staring at its prey.


    Caine felt himself grow weak, but before he had even realised, he raised his hand, placing right below the beast¡¯s neck, and just as the beast glanced down to look at the boy¡¯s hand, a jet-black dagger appeared out of thin hair, its existence digging into the beast¡¯s throat.


    A stream of black blood flowed onto Caine like a river, but Caine was more focused on the gurgling sounds of the beast as it struggled to breathe; with the dagger still digging into its throat, Caine pushed it down, cutting apart its flesh as if it was nothing.


    Organs started spilling out of the ape-like beast, and as they did, Caine pushed the beast off himself, and removed the knife from it, before stabbing it over and over again, until its flesh was riddles with slashes and puncture wounds.


    The beast fell right on top of Caine, and he struggled again its weight, trying to push it off of himself unsuccessfully. He wiggled around, trying to slide sideways, but the beast was much heavier than he expected, and he was finding it harder to breathe now.


    The thought of strengthening himself with mana crossed his mind, and after each failed attempt at freeing himself, it seemed more and more alluring, but ultimately he decided against it; Oliver had told him not to use mana for the time being since it would hinder his training, and the last thing Caine wanted to do was anything that could make him weaker when he would eventually face off against Sir Saintsworth.


    With his dagger still in hand, he started hacking at the beast, trying to sever one of the beast¡¯s limbs and any part of its body that would make it easier to move it, but despite his best effort, he didn¡¯t have enough space to effectively use any strength to cut off its limbs.


    He retreated the dagger back in his arm, thinking about what to do: at first he thought to just scream for help. He had had not walked too far before he found the beast, or rather it found him, and if he managed to scream, it was very likely that Oliver would show up to help him.


    Caine shook his head and cursed his own weakness. If he just screamed for help whenever he was in danger, he would never become stronger, and Caine was in pain now, which meant that this was opportunity for him to become stronger than he was before he left.


    He recalled Oliver¡¯s words about the dagger, and summoned it again, now focusing every single thought in his mind on making the blade sharper and sharper.


    He thought about Oliver¡¯s greatsword and how easily he had beheaded the winged wolves, cutting through them like butter, and that was the image he was focusing on when summoning Shadow.


    With it in his hand, Caine instantly felt a difference in the blade. It was much lighter than before, its handle had also changed, it now had a series of runes etched onto it, completing covering it which had slowly moved from the dagger to the boy¡¯s hand.


    However, the most surprising difference was its colour: before it was just entirely black, its colour was dull and seemed to absorb all the light surrounding it, but now its colour was nearly identical to the True Darkness he had seen in the cave.


    Ignoring the sense of dread that grew within him as he thought about the True Darkness and the anger and contempt Oliver showed towards it, Caine went to hack the beast¡¯s limb again; he pulled his arm as far back as he was able to, and then quickly moved it towards the first limb, the blade passing through it with impressive ease, and cutting through the next two in one single swing.


    ¡®Incredible.¡¯


    That was the one word that now was ingrained in his mind. Just a few minutes before, he struggled to cut off one of the beast¡¯s limbs, unable to cut through the strangely hard bone in its arm, but now he had severed three of its limbs from its body, cutting through multiple bones with one single swing.


    One swing he couldn¡¯t even put all his strength in.


    He tried pushing off the ape-like create off his body again, but still failed; he couldn¡¯t throw the dagger into his other arm, and when he released it back in his arm and tried summoning it back in his other hand, the dagger still appeared in his right hand, seemingly bound to the arm where the rune was etched.


    Running out of idea, he simply stabbed the beast on its side, slashing all the way though, from its neck to as far back as he could, almost reaching the beginning of its tail. After that, he released the dagger, and dug his hand into the open wound, grabbing a handful of whatever was inside and yanking it out.


    The feeling of its organs in his hand, alongside the smell of blood nearly made him throw up, but he continuously pulled out whatever organs he could out of the beast, until it finally became light enough for him to push it to the side.


    Catching his breath, Caine stood up, each full breath feeling exquisite. He stared at the red hues in the sky, not having realised that the suns had started to set and deciding to make his way back to camp.


    He grabbed the throat of the beast, pulling it up, and after minutes of struggle, he managed to pull it over both of his shoulders and made his way back to Oliver, with his dinner at hand.


    Nearly ten minutes later, Caine saw the familiar campfire, and Oliver sitting beside it, showing his back to Caine. Oliver was talking in his own language again while staring at the sky as he did whenever he thought Caine wasn¡¯t paying him attention.


    Hearing the boy step onto a branch and breaking it, Oliver turned around to look at the boy, and his deep green eyes instantly widened.


    Caine was completely covered in blood, his hair, his clothes, his face completely drenched in the blood of the beast he was carrying on his back; part of its intestine was hanging over Caine¡¯s shoulder, but he was completely nonchalant about it, just letting the beast fall off his shoulder onto the ground, the impact staining the grass red.


    ¡°Dinner¡¯s served¡­ well, after we cook it.¡±


    Caine collapsed onto the ground, letting himself fall, thinking that Oliver would help him. However, to his surprise, he fell over the beast and hit the ground with a loud thud. He sighed and looked at Oliver, his face contorted in countless emotions, but as he noticed Caine staring at him, he helped him up.


    ¡°Caine¡­ that thing¡­ did you kill it?¡± He asked hesitantly.


    ¡°Yes. It tried to kill me, but I killed it first. It should have bit my head off when it was on top of me, but I guess it is just a stupid beast.¡± Caine chuckled.


    ¡°Caine,¡± Oliver gulped, ¡°that thing is a mana beast, a Hexotang. It¡¯s different from a demonic beast, they tend to be harmless, especially this beast, but for it to attack you¡­ something is wrong.¡±


    Caine took a deep breath, trying to understand what was happening. He had done nothing to the beast at first, it had just charged at him, running straight to him and ignoring everything else in its path.


    Mana beasts tended to be docile, rarely attacking humans, but they were the source of any adventurers¡¯ desire: slaying a mana beast meant being able to absorb its mana shard and increasing the capacity of one¡¯s mana core two, or even threefold.


    While docile, they could also be dangerous, as dangerous as they were rare, since they would avoid any contact with humans.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± Caine asked, not yet feeling scared, but annoyed more than anything. Of course, if there was one thing that could go wrong, he¡¯d be facing it.


    ¡°Well, realistically, nothing. I¡¯m just surprised it attacked you rather than hiding. And also, that it didn¡¯t kill you as soon as it had you pinned.¡±


    ¡°Guess I got lucky.¡±


    Oliver summoned another dagger, this one completely different from the one he gifted Caine, in fact, the complete opposite of it. On his arm, a rune appeared of a white sun, and the dagger itself was entirely white, brilliant in the sunlight, and difficult to look at. Just a quick glance at it, made Caine¡¯s head throb uncontrollably.


    Oliver stuck its arm into the beast, digging deep into it, and then he suddenly pulled out its heart; he then shaved off the meat off the heart until all that remained was a brilliant, diamond-shaped mana shard.


    Caine remained in awe of that stone, staring at it attentively, lost in its brilliance, almost as if it was calling his name. The mana shard then vanished into Oliver¡¯s endless pouch, and Caine snapped back to reality, confused at how easily he lost track of everything other than the shard.


    ¡°This will make it easier to break your mana core and build your channels, we¡¯ll use it to overload your core and create the mana channels, and then I might as well build you a fake core.¡±


    ¡°Why would you do that?¡± Caine asked.


    ¡°Well, you never know if someone will try to peek into your core to check how strong you are, so we might as well build a decoy.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­ well not really, I¡¯m just excited about training. Speaking of which, after creating the mana channels, how will we train?¡±


    ¡°Simple. At the foot of the mountain, there¡¯s a small village, Crant. Once there, I¡¯ll teach you some spells, you¡¯ll practice them, and then we¡¯ll fight every single day.¡±


    Suddenly the atmosphere changed. Oliver¡¯s lips turned upwards, his eyes also grew brighter, a hint of madness hidden behind the usual calmness of his face, and his towering figure grew even larger.


    Caine took a step back, and then a sudden pressure overcame him, making him stand frozen in place. He struggled to breathe, simply trying to inhale whatever air was around him was an impossible, painful task as his lungs felt as if they were set on fire.


    His eyes darkened, and the last thing he saw was Oliver¡¯s smile growing even larger as he said one sentence.


    ¡°One day, you¡¯ll be able to use this Authority as well.¡±


    Caine felt his consciousness slip away as everything darkened and an endless amount of curses ran through his mind.

 Chapter 8 - The Conflict

    A man stood in front of the abnormally large wooden door, his shoulders wide and pulled back, his chest puffed out, and his head held up high, with his hand curled into a fist, but clearly nervous as he took a deep breath before knocking.


    ¡°Come in.¡± A soft voice answered as soon as his hand touched the door.


    As the man moved to reach for the doorknob, the door suddenly burst open, revealing a large office, larger than most rooms he had ever seen in his life. Large windows adorned every wall, bringing in an absurd amount of sunlight despite the perennial clouds and maintaining the room pleasantly warm, and right opposite the door, stood a beautiful and intricate wooden desk, full of stacks of documents neatly organised in three piles.


    But what stood out the most, was the woman sitting behind the desk. Her silver hair flowed down her shoulders like gentle waves, contradicting her black robes. She wore a delicate smile, her rosy lips contrasted her ivory skin, and she stared at the man, almost beyond him, with her bright blue eyes.


    The man couldn¡¯t help but stare back, enchanted by those eyes, almost as if he was staring at the lake he had seen as a child for the first time, and a nostalgic smile escaped his lips, but quickly disappeared, as he focused on her strange, inexplicable expression.


    ¡°Hello, my good sir, pleased to meet. Have a seat.¡± Her voice was soft, yet commanding, making it difficult for the man to figure out the woman.


    ¡°Thank you, a pleasure to meet you, Headmistress Zeraphyn.¡± Caine replied, extending his hand out to her.


    The Headmistress stood up, revealing a rather short stature, barely reaching the man¡¯s shoulder, but her presence somehow felt overwhelming. The woman inspected his hand for a brief moment, and after smiling politely, she shook the man¡¯s hand, her grip gentle, and the two of them sat opposite one another, separated by the large desk.


    ¡°So¡­ Caine, I¡¯ve been told a lot about you and your strength. How did that come about?¡± Headmistress Zeraphyn asked.


    ¡°There is not much to tell: I am of commoner birth, my parents - may the Gods rest their souls - died when I was but a boy, and with no one around, I left. I met a man, he saved me and looked after me, and as it turns out, he was ridiculously strong, so he trained me.¡± Caine replied, recalling memories of his childhood.


    ¡°I see,¡± Headmistress Zeraphyn replied, ¡°and why do you want to become a professor in my Academy?¡±


    ¡°I spent a lot of time as an Adventurer, slaughtering demonic beasts in The Forest, and I was pretty good at it¡­ the best of them, if I say so myself. I traveled across all seven Kingdoms, and I learnt a lot of different things from a lot of different people. But the most important thing, I learnt from The Forest. The youth are the future, and I have seen far too many young men and women needlessly die.¡±


    The atmosphere grew somber as Caine paused for a moment and stared out of the window to his left, looking at the cloudy sky, feeling nostalgic of the days when the two suns would be painting the sky with a myriad of colours all the time.


    ¡°And I thought that I might as well teach them how to survive in the real world. And as for why I chose this Academy, it is the best in this kingdom, the Arman Academy¡¯s graduates are more likely to become adventurers or soldiers partaking in Subjucations of The Forest, but most importantly¡­ Sir Eteben told me the pay is ridiculous.¡±


    The Headmistress blinked, and her smile disappeared behind an incredulous expression as her eyes widened - although just barely. For a moment she seemed lost for words, but quickly regained her composure and her smile returned, seeming infinitely more genuine now.


    ¡°The pay?¡± She asked, her tone amused.


    ¡°Yes, being an adventurer, the risk did not match the reward. I killed so many beasts, but I did not get paid all that well.¡± Caine shook his head as an annoyed expression crept on his face.


    ¡°I see. Well, that is the first time I¡¯ve been told by a prospect that they want to work for money, but I guess I should not expect you to be like the other prospect, should I?¡±


    ¡°Why is that? I mean¡­ I agree, I am better than them, that much I know, but you probably don¡¯t yet.¡± Caine spoke matter of factly. ¡°How am I different from them?¡±


    Headmistress Zeraphyn was once again lost for words at his confidence, or rather his arrogance. He was a mere adventurer, wanting to become a Professor at the most prestigious Academy in the Arman Kingdom, and he was acting so nonchalantly about it, almost as if it was a given that he would get the job.


    ¡°Caine, I must admit you are quite interesting; I hear you are a splendid fighter, splendid enough to have been recommended personally by a Royal Guard - Sir Eteben - so I don¡¯t doubt your ability to fight. But teaching is different. Can you do that?¡±


    ¡°Yes, of course.¡± Caine gave a brief answer, and looked directly into her eyes, trying to maintain his air of confidence despite feeling nervousness and doubt slither in his mind, like snakes wrapping around his confidence.


    ¡°I must admit, Caine, the confidence is enticing, a part of me believes you entirely. However, the lack of qualifications and experience is concerning.¡± She replied, still smiling.


    ¡°That¡¯s understandable.¡± Caine surprisingly agreed. ¡°In that case, assign me a class and see whether I can do the job or not. We could spend the entire day speaking, but I am a firm believer that actions speak louder than words.¡±


    ¡°You know, Caine,¡± The headmistress laughed, ¡°I spoke with many candidates the last few days, but not a single one of them dared to tell me to change my interview process. To think that there would be one that would give me an order. Me. That is interesting.¡± She said, twisting a strand of her silky silver hair.


    ¡°I mean, if you¡¯re unsure I can¡¯t teach, we may as well check directly; why should we waste both of our time.¡±


    Caine crossed his arm and leaned back on his chair; most people would have found such an attitude to be unbelievably rude, and Headmistress Zeraphyn thought the same, but she also found his confidence and arrogance to be refreshing.


    The Arman Academy was originally built just for noble children, and as such an unimaginable amount of funding had been invested in it, and being in charge of this place, the Headmistress had gotten used to everyone bending backwards for her in endless attempts of currying favour with her.


    But now, there stood a man, a commoner who treated her as any other person, as if she was no one particularly important, being rude at times, and making demands of her without offering anything in return¡­ it was a new experience for her, and one she was ready to see through.


    ¡°Very well.¡± She said, standing up and guiding Caine out of her office.


    The two walked in silence, with the Headmistress occasionally showing him different rooms, ranging from rooms full of scientific equipment to rooms full of musical instruments. Caine smiled softly thinking about how much he would have loved to study at an Academy like this one as a child, rather than being stuck with that battle-hungry master of his.


    Occasionally he would glance at the various paintings adorning the stone walls of the halls, looking at prominent figures like the first Demigod, or the current King and Regent Queen.


    They reached a series of spiral stairs and climbed them up until they reached the fifth floor, and they walked directly to the last room of the corridor; the hall grew darker, not as well lit as the rest of the floors, even the windows grew smaller and duller, but the most bothersome thing was the noise: the closer they got to the room at the end of the hall, the louder it got.


    ¡°This is as far as I go.¡± The Headmistress stopped in her tracks and turned to Caine. ¡°At the end of the hall, the door on the left is for the Tenth Class of the Third Years. My school is based on meritocracy, the best get the best, and the lowest get almost nothing. That class is the lowest, full of problem children. I will see how well you do. You will cover History first and then Combat training. Good luck.¡±


    And with those words, she turned around and walked away, not even giving Caine the opportunity to respond, seemingly unbothered by the class altogether. Caine sighed, feeling disappointed by her attitude as if she did not care about those children.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡®How bad can it be?¡¯ Caine thought to himself as he walked to the door, and grabbed the handle. He took a deep breath, and walked in, his ears assaulted by countless screams and conversations.


    For a moment, the room fell silent as all the students stared at Caine, but then they lost all interest in him and resumed whatever they were doing, whether it was talking, screaming, or throwing things at each other.


    Walking over to the desk in the front of the class, Caine stood there, ignoring the frantic noises of the students, and just sighed before writing his name on the chalkboard behind him.


    ¡°I am Professor Caine, and I will be your Professor today.¡±


    The students ignored him, continuing doing their own thing, but one student in particular stood out to Caine; a blue-haired young woman sat perfectly still, her eyes glued to the book in front of her, but she would occasionally glance at Caine. It was the other students who were annoying him.


    ¡®Entitled brats.¡¯ Caine thought before taking another deep breath, keeping the growing irritation in check.


    Caine¡¯s lips curved upwards, a subtle smile growing wider each second, almost creepily. He was almost happy the children were ignoring him, wondering for how long they would be able to do that.


    But there had been one thing that worried him: there were twenty-four students in the room, and it would have been troublesome for Caine if any of them started to scream, so he needed to control himself.


    Suddenly, the entire room went silent; all of the students - save the blue-haired one - looked around with their eyes wide open and full of shock as they held onto their throats; despite their most ardent attempts, they couldn¡¯t breathe, some dropped to their knees, whereas others managed to remain on their feet.


    The only students that could breathe normally took her eyes off her book, looking around the classroom with a neutral expression, but her eyes betrayed a deep surprise, and - like all the other student¡¯s eyes - genuine fear.


    Just as suddenly as they stopped talking, they all breathed at once, each and every one of them gasping for air like drunks, taking in as much air as they could.


    ¡°Well, hello students. My name is Caine and I will be your Professor today. If there is one thing you must know, is that I hate repeating myself. Everyone to your seats. Now.¡± Caine spoke, his voice commanding.


    The students scurried to their seats, and before Caine exhaled they all sat down, and quietly looked at him.


    ¡°You.¡± He pointed at a young boy in the front row. ¡°What topic are you supposed to be covering?¡±


    ¡°T-t-the Conflict, Professor Caine.¡± He stuttered, his voice full of terror.


    ¡°You¡¯re Third Years, and are just learning The Conflict now? These are things children learn, I¡¯d have expected you guys to already know this, anyone care to explain why you don¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°Well, Professor, we are just commoners.¡± A young student answered. Everything about him was clean and tidy¡­ well, as clean as tidy as could be for a commoner. His brown hair was slicked back and kept tidy, with not even one strand of hair out of place, and he maintained his uniform as clean as possible, although it seemed slightly smaller for his size, looking tight on his broad shoulders.


    ¡°We can study here just because we developed a mana core early, and we can fight better than most other commoners. Most of us barely knew how to write or read a few years ago, let alone actually know about things like History. How would knowing what happened five hundred years ago during the First Harvest?¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your name, boy?¡± Caine asked with an amused tone.


    ¡°Silas, Sir.¡± He replied confidently.


    ¡°You do make a good point, knowing these things is rarely useful for commoners, but you are no longer commoners. You are now students of the prestigious Arman Academy, so take pride in that, and use these years to learn as much as you Caine and make something of yourselves¡­ or don¡¯t, it¡¯s not like I really care.¡±


    Caine picked up a textbook left on his desk and then turned to the class again.


    ¡°Well, back to the lesson. Who can tell me who was involved in The Conflict?¡±


    A young woman raised her hand confidently, although she diverted her eyes when Caine met her gaze.


    ¡°The Old Gods and the New Gods.¡± She answered.


    Caine let out an inward sigh of relief as he realised that his students weren¡¯t completely clueless about the world¡¯s history.


    ¡°Yes, correct. Now, who can tell me exactly who were the Gods?¡±


    Looking around the room, Caine tried to make eye contact with any of the students, hoping to find anyone who would answer, but they would all just divert their eyes, mostly out of fear, with some - like the young student who had just answered - just because they did not know the answer.


    Caine started pacing back and forth in the class, fighting against the urge to roll his eyes at his students, and cursing his younger self for ever wanting to become a Professor.


    ¡®Is revenge really worth dealing with all this?¡¯ He thought to himself.


    ¡°Not much is known about the Old Gods: for centuries, it has been believed that they were the creators of everything, and their powers are mostly unknown, although scriptures suggest that they had powers relating to a Domain,¡±


    ¡°Domains?¡± Silas asked.


    ¡°Raise your hand next time. For example, The God Artorius - the God of the Skies and Wind - his Domain is self explanatory, or Shado, the Goddess of Mana, who was said to be able to  manipulate mana completely, even the mana within a person¡¯s core, to either strengthen them, or cripple them.¡±


    Caine spoke slowly, often taking breaks between each sentence as he realised some students began to take notes, without even needing him to tell them to.


    ¡°The New Gods, on the other hand, were once just humans. Their ascension to Godhood is somewhat understood, although clouded in mystery: it is believed that certain people became enlightened and gained an insight into what mana truly is, and as a result they gained an insight into everything that exists. Not only their mana changed, but also their bodies, they stopped being humans, and instead became something¡­ more.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean ¡®something more¡¯, Professor.¡± the young woman in the first row asked after raising her hand, her book now closed, and her eyes entirely focused on her Professor. She had blue hair reaching her shoulders, and unlike her classmates, she seemed eager to learn.


    ¡°You are?¡± Caine asked.


    ¡°Myra.¡±


    ¡°Well Myra, there is actually no answer to that, or rather it is not something we are able to understand, They reached a higher plane of existence, and it is just not something we mere humans will ever grasp. Think about it as a human not knowing what it feels like to have wings, we simply lack the parts necessary to comprehend it.¡±


    Myra looked at him, trying to process the answer she was given, and then simply nodded. Caine let out a sigh of relief as he was worried that the girl would not understand such an abstract concept, but it turned out that his worries were unfounded.


    ¡°The New Gods were powerful, more than you could ever imagine, and that caused a shift in the world. For the first time, many humans stopped worshipping the Old Gods. and instead turned to the New Gods who showered in this love. These new worshippers were small in numbers, but comprised mostly of powerful mages. Any guesses what happened after that?¡±


    ¡°The Culling.¡± Another student raised his hand and answered.


    ¡°Yes. the Old Gods did not appreciate these new worshippers, maybe they felt jealous - if they could even feel such a human emotion - and all these worshippers were slaughtered by the Old Gods. Tens of thousands of humans killed. It was a genocide.¡±


    Caine let the words hang heavy in the room, fighting against his instinct to scoff at the thought of the Old Gods, or the Gods in general. Throughout his entire life, Caine had always felt disgust toward himself, and the Gods were a constant reminder that there was always someone stronger than him.


    At least he found some solace in knowing that his Master was still undoubtedly stronger than all the Gods, which made his weakness feel more bearable.


    ¡°After The Culling, the New Gods dedicated themselves to revenge. They attacked humans, knowing that the Old Gods would defend humanity, and that is where The Conflict began. Their clashes caused great destructions, mountain ranges, forests, fields, cities¡­ they all vanished.¡±


    ¡°How did The Conflict end exactly? I know the Old Gods won, but how did that happen?¡± Myra asked.


    ¡°That is not clear. One day, the fighting just stopped; the Old and New Gods vanished. Personally, I believe the truth lies in The Forest. That hell appeared a few years after the Gods vanished. Some believe that a stalemate occurred, and the Conflict reached a temporary break, and some even believe that in the future it will resume, and the devastation will begin anew.¡±


    Most of the student¡¯s faces stiffened at those words, the thought of such a large-scale conflict being something that their young, naive mind could not even begin to imagine. Caine allowed the silence to linger for a moment before he continued.


    ¡°Before the Old Gods vanished, they procreated with some of the greatest mages that remained and then came the Demigods, the pillars of our society, those who are sworn to protect humanity. They are like us, but they are stronger, faster, and were born with a mana core, giving them an innate understanding of mana.¡±


    Another student raised his hand, a thin young boy with pale skin, and messy black hair who looked like a porcelain doll.


    ¡°I don¡¯t get why the New Gods would let them do that?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Well, the New Gods had no problem with this, they were once human, so there is always the possibility of New Gods reevolving from us humans and joining their ranks.¡±


    Caine froze and stopped pacing in the front of the classroom as a thought entered his mind.


    ¡®Was Master a New God?¡¯


    He shook his head, and cringed internally at even having such a thought; Caine remembered when Oliver had told him that he was a mere human, and he couldn¡¯t bring himself to even begin to consider that Oliver may have lied to him.


    ¡°In today¡¯s day and age, the Godblood has diluted considerably, the Demigods are not as strong as they used to be, but there are some, which are even more formidable than you could ever imagine: the Irregulars.¡±


    As soon as the students heard that name, they all stiffened, every single one of them struggled to maintain their composure; Caine fought the urge to curse out loud, his hatred for Demigods growing anew as he thought about those ¡®beasts.¡¯


    ¡°Irregulars are just different, the difference between them and Demigods is larger than the difference between Demigods and regular humans with undeveloped mana cores. They are stupidly strong, and many would even believe them to be on par with some of the Gods, although that is not backed by any evidence.¡±


    The class stayed silent, their faces still full of fear, and Caine walked to the window, staring outside.


    It had been over twelve years since the Long Summer ended, and the Great Fall begun. The days felt shorter, and the comfortable warmth Caine had grown up with and was accustomed to had long vanished and while the two Suns created a lot of sunlight during the day, a chill was always present in the air.


    Outside, he saw a large, sandy field enclosed in a cage, and a smile grew on his face as a bell started ringing in the halls.


    ¡°Well guys, History¡¯s over. Are you ready for Combat Training?¡±

 Chapter 9 - Skirmish

    ¡°Are you ready for Combat Training?¡± Caine asked with a smile on his face.


    A strange silence filled the room as the students looked at one another as if their Professor had just told them something unfathomable. Caine took a deep breath and sighed loudly.


    ¡°Silas.¡± Caine called out to his student, a hint of annoyance in his voice. ¡°What¡¯s wrong now?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, Professor. It¡¯s just that we don¡¯t really do Combat Training. We never had a professor willing to do that; usually they tend to be some random academic from some random school from some random region, and they tended to focus just on academics.¡±


    ¡°Well, for people who only did academic subjects, you guys are more behind than I¡¯d have guessed.¡± Caine said, mockingly, although he felt annoyed at the lack of resources for these children.


    ¡°To be honest, they were pretty boring, it was difficult to engage with them.¡± Myra answered, surprising Caine with her words. He had expected her to be more reserved and polite, but here she was, calling other Professors ¡®boring.¡¯ Caine couldn¡¯t help but let out a soft chuckle at that.


    ¡°I see. That doesn¡¯t really change anything for me. Stand up, and let¡¯s go outside, we have Combat Training.¡± Caine clapped his hands and urged his students to prepare.


    There were some murmurs, the stiffness they felt previously gradually disappeared, and all the students now seemed somewhat excited. They left the classroom and began walking the empty halls, Caine making sure they remained quiet so as to not bother other students.


    ¡°Do you know how to get to the training grounds, Professor?¡± Myra asked as she walked beside him.


    ¡°Not really, I was planning on walking and hoping fate was on my side.¡± Caine smiled at her.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t take you to be someone who would make jokes, Professor.¡± Myra laughed.


    ¡°No offense.¡± She added as she realised what she had just said.


    ¡°None taken.¡± He replied politely. ¡°My brother is the funny one. And the strong one.¡±


    ¡°Which are you, then?¡±


    ¡°The better fighter¡­ and the handsome one.¡± He added with a smirk on his face, much to Myra¡¯s surprise.


    They walked the rest of the way in silence, Caine following Myra as she lead the way, and soon they reached the training grounds.


    A large cage stood in front of them, the ground around it was covered in an endless line of intricate runes, and as soon as they entered the cage, the space in front of them changed completely.


    From the outside, the cage seemed large, spanning over a few acres, but once inside, it was¡­ infinite. The training grounds were separated into different fields and environments, from sandy beaches to dense woods to a simple ring.


    Caine looked at the distant chain of mountains, remembering his own training in his youth and involuntarily shivered as old memories resurfaced.


    To his side, there were two buildings, where each student went to get changed out of their uniforms, and came out some more fitting attire. They wore their basic training uniform, a tight, black bodysuit - also covered in an intricate series of runes - and wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts on top of it.


    Caine walked beside the ring and looked at the large table beside it, filled with a myriad of weapons, ranging from greatswords to rapiers to bows and crossbows, touching as many weapons as he could as he walked by.


    The students stared at him, the excitement clearly visible on their faces, but soon got startled as Caine clapped his hands, and turned to face them, wearing a devious smile.


    ¡°Everyone.¡± Caine called out to them, his voice full of the same excitement a kid would have. ¡°Grab a weapon, or remain bare-handed if you prefer, and I will fight you one-by-one. While I am fighting one of you, you will be in pairs, and spar with each other.¡±


    He stayed silent for a moment and then drew a circle on the ground with his foot as he spun around once.


    ¡°I will not leave this circle, I won¡¯t use any weapons, and I¡¯ll only fight using my left arm. You know¡­ in the spirit of fairness.¡±


    Silence somehow echoed in the infinite space as all the students stared at Caine in disbelief for a moment before letting out a burst of stifled laughter.


    ¡°Professor. ¡°Silas called out to him, still laughing. ¡°We may not have any Combat Training, but it doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t fight. We had to go through entrance exams, and we wouldn¡¯t have passed if we were just regular commoners. Look, just relax, and we¡¯ll spar with each other.¡±


    For the first time in nearly a decade, Caine was speechless. Countless thoughts ran through his mind, and he wondered whether those children forgot the fear they felt when they first met him, and he felt disappointed in himself.


    ¡®Can¡¯t I even scare a bunch of children? Master must be rolling in his grave.¡¯


    ¡°Alright, alright, my apologies, I did not introduce myself properly. I may be the one assigned to you defects, but I am not like the other Professors you had. I am a full-fledged adventurer, I spent years in The Forest, and there is not a single one of you who could touch me.¡±


    Silas took a step forward, puffing his chest out as if he tried to take charge of the atmosphere. He confidently walked to the table and grabbed a sword. He swung it a few times, feeling its weight and balance, and then smiled at Caine.


    He let out a scream and charged straight to Caine - who closed his eyes, feeling embarrassed at his charge. He raised his sword high in the sky and swung it down, and while his form was clumsy at best, his speed and power were admirable.


    Unfortunately for him, Caine¡¯s technique was far superior than his student¡¯s and as the sword came down, Caine¡¯s hand moved beside it, his palm parallel to the flat side of the blade, and strengthening it with mana, he deflected the sword, changing its trajectory and burying it into the ground, before his hand curled into a fist and striking Silas perfectly in his chin.


    His eyes turned white as his consciousness slipped away, falling onto the ground and Caine held up his falling body before laying gently on the ground. Caine picked up his sword, still stuck on the ground, and placed it back on the table, giving his students a challenging look. Silas was slowly waking up as well, his expression completely unreadable.


    ¡°Anyone else?¡± He asked, his voice eerily calm.


    The children shook their heads, their expressions ranging from fear to admiration. Myra took a step forward, her hand clenching into a fist, her face wearing a mask of confidence to hide the fear rooted in her mind.


    Suddenly a wave of mana overcame the training field, freezing the students in their places; they all went pale under the pressure that attacked them but soon managed to recover as the pressure vanished.


    Caine stood tall through it, a curious smile directed at the students that had just entered the training grounds, being led by another Professor. His students looked down, avoiding their derisive gazes, their shoulders slouching and making themselves look as small as possible.


    Caine walked over to the Professor, extending his hand and smiling politely at him. The Professor was a rather tall and thin man, his complexion tanned with raven hair; he was rather handsome, his face well defined, and all his features were sharp but sharper than all were his eyes, carrying an unbelievable amount of confidence behind them.


    The Professor walked beside him, ignoring his existence, as did the students behind him, who snickered at Caine.


    Caine looked at the sky and let out a heavy and defeated sigh as he began to wonder if there was any amount of money that would let this type of life be acceptable for him. For so long, he had gotten used to the unruly beasts of The Forest, he never considered that there would be such unruly people as well.


    ¡°Listen up, you failures.¡± The Professor said quietly, although his voice sounded strangely powerful. ¡°We are going to use the training grounds, so make yourself scarce.¡±


    Caine¡¯s students started walking towards the exit, all of them walking beside him, looking utterly defeated; even Silas walked beside him, his shoulders slouched and weak, and patted him on the shoulder, his original confidence now nowhere in sight.


    ¡°Professor.¡± Caine shouted. ¡°I believe you are mistaken. The training grounds are mine to use for the hour. A pleasure to meet you, I¡¯m Professor Caine.¡±


    Caine¡¯s students stopped in their tracks behind him, their faces turning frightful.


    ¡°I do not know who you are, and frankly I do not care.¡± The Professor told him, coldly. ¡°I am Professor McGrave, in charge of the Third Class. Seeing how you are looking after their failures, you must not know how this prestigious Academy works.¡±


    His students behind him started laughing, mocking, and pointing at Caine¡¯s students as Professor McGrave came awkwardly close to Caine.


    ¡°We operate on meritocracy.¡± He continued. ¡°The better students have the better privileges. My students are better than yours, as I am better than you. Therefore we will be using the training grounds while you will quietly make yourself scarce.¡±


    Caine¡¯s smile grew wider, as a pulsating vein appeared on his temple.


    ¡®No manners.¡¯ He thought.


    The Professor looked wealthy, while he seemed thinner than the average noble, just the silk of his robes was far more expensive than all the weapons in the training grounds combined, and even the buttons on his robes were made with mana crystals.


    That was why Caine had been so surprised at his lack of tact and manners. Very rarely had he met someone being so rude and arrogant to this face, the few times he was spoken to in that manner were in the slums of the Prillescia Kingdom.


    ¡°Is that right?¡± Caine asked, annoyance overtaking his tone. ¡°If meritocracy is the basis of the Academy, then that applies to the Professors as well right? The strongest Professor would then be able to choose. Isn¡¯t that right?¡±


    Caine was a rather tall man himself, and yet he had to look up to Professor McGrave, although he did not seem any less powerful. On the contrary, his gaze carried a strange aura, making the atmosphere feel heavier, and silencing all the students around them.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°That wouldn¡¯t necessarily apply to the Professors, but I am willing to make an exception in this situation.¡± A soft, yet powerful voice broke through the silence.


    Professor McGrave broke eye contact first, turning towards the source of the voice, as did Caine moments later.


    Headmistress Zeraphyn walked comfortably towards them, her hair flowing gently in the breeze. Professor McGrave smiled at her and bowed as if the situation was unfolding exactly as he wished, whereas Caine reciprocated her soft smile with one of his own.


    ¡°Professor McGrave, this is one of our applicants. I assigned him the Tenth Class as part of his interview, so technically his rights to use the training grounds are given by me; however, you are also correct, the higher class has more rights.¡±


    ¡°I completely agree, Headmistress.¡± He replied.


    ¡°However,¡± she continued, ¡°I will need to review his teaching methods to ascertain his capabilities as an educator, so I believe a compromise is in order. As our esteemed applicant was just about to politely and calmly request, you may have a duel, the victor will be able to use the training grounds.¡±


    Professor McGrave laughed boastfully as did all his students, whereas Caine¡¯s students looked at the situation unfold with concern written all over their faces. Caine on the other looked at the arsenal beside him, studying at all the weapons, thinking about whether or not to use any of them.


    Ultimately he decided against it, and jumped onto the ring platform, doing some light stretches as he waited for his opponent to join him.


    Professor Mcgrave walked to the steps and calmly walked onto the ring, standing opposite Caine. Despite the air of arrogance he emanated, there was no denying that he was powerful, not any mage could become a Professor at the Arman Academy; he stood perfectly still, absorbing the mana in the atmosphere, replenishing his mana core, and his dark eyes remained fixed on Caine.


    ¡°Let¡¯s begin.¡± The Headmistress announced.


    Professor McGrave raised his hand, pointing his palm at Caine, and an incredible amount of mana condensed and materialised into his hand, turning into bright, incandescent flames.


    ¡°Firestream.¡± He chanted the spell, strengthening it.


    The flames grew even hotter, the crimson flame turning blue, and then he shot the flame, a stream of fire, growing and shooting at incredible speed towards Caine, who still remained still, looking as if he enjoyed the burning warmth of the fire getting close to him.


    The two were a good distance away, but when the flame arrived within steps of Caine, it dissipated, growing dimmer and dimmer until it completely vanished, as if it had never existed.


    The spell persisted, the fire continuously trying to reach Caine, but constantly failing.


    Professor McGrave let out a sigh and stopped the spell, realising that he was needlessly expending mana on a spell that wouldn¡¯t work.


    The second the flames stopped, Caine absorbed an absurd amount of mana through the mana channels covering his entire body, and guided it towards his legs, kicking the ground.


    All the students saw was Caine disappearing, and then reappearing beside Professor McGrave, his stance prepared for a perfect roundhouse kick aimed at his temple, and they all looked at the scene unfold before their incredulous eyes.


    Even the Headmistress was somewhat shocked, although it was hidden behind a mask of pleasant surprise.


    As Caine¡¯s kick was about to connect, Professor McGrave somehow managed to erect a barrier of pure mana protecting him, leaving Caine surprised as he didn¡¯t actually react to the kick, but rather predicted it, erecting the shield before Caine even closed the distance.


    As his foot struck the exceptionally sturdy barrier, Caine jumped, using his other leg to swiftly kick him, aiming once again for his head, but still striking the shield rather than the man.


    Professor McGrave released a burst of mana as Caine was mid-air, pushing him off, and making him land a few steps away from him.


    Caine laughed as he brushed some dust off his clothes, and once again absorbed as much mana as he could, constantly circulating it throughout his body. He raised his hand, pointing at Professor McGrave.


    ¡°Pull.¡± He chanted a spell.


    Suddenly, his opponent¡¯s feet left the ground, and he flew towards Caine at a great speed.


    ¡°Air Cannon.¡± He chanted another spell, his other hand also extending, and a large sphere of extremely dense air condensed onto it, which then shot out at a frightening speed.


    Professor McGrave shielded his head, conjuring three mana shields in front of him, covering his entire frame, but they all shattered at the spell, and he was struck perfectly in his chest.


    His opponent flew back, hitting the ground before coming to he rested motionless near the edge of the ring. Caine walked over to him, his gait powerful and confident, and kneeled beside him, placing his hand on his chest and feeling his shallow breaths.


    ¡°Headmistress.¡± He said, without actually looking at her. ¡°I assume the training grounds are mine to use, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± she replied, ¡°please continue with your lesson.¡±


    Caine stood up, looking down at the Professor, and took a step back as he saw the space around distort, collapsing upon itself, and swallowing Professor McGrave whole, leaving nothing behind.


    Caine felt his blood run cold as he witnessed the Spatial Magic, and turned to Headmistress Zeraphyn, hiding his wariness behind a charming smile.


    ¡°But Professor Caine, please do understand that the man you fought today is not how he always is: he is going through Mana Purification, otherwise the fight would have been tremendously more difficult.¡±


    Caine never had to go through Mana Purification himself, he never had a core he needed to cleanse and refine to increase his mana capacity, after all his mana channels made him a completely unique individual, with no other like him in the world, so he never had been rendered so vulnerable.


    However, he did realise the strain Mana Purification could put on a mage, to have their mana capacity be a fraction of what it could be, and for his spells to still be so powerful and refined¡­ Caine felt a sense of respect for Professor McGrave that he rarely felt for mages.


    ¡°I see.¡± He replied. ¡°In that case, could you arrange for us to fight again when he is at full strength? Despite this¡­ skirmish, I respect that man, or at least his strength.¡±


    ¡°Strenght, you say?¡± She let out a soft chuckle. ¡°You are exactly like how Sir Eteben described you. Battle hungry. It¡¯s refreshing.¡±


    ¡°Sir Eteben doesn¡¯t really know what he¡¯s talking about. I wouldn¡¯t trust him too much¡­ you know other than the part about me being the right person for this job of course.¡± Caine smiled at her.


    ¡°He is a Royal Guard, to remind you. Any slander towards them is punishable under law.¡± She admonished him humorously.


    ¡°Slender would need to for the statement to be false. If you see him anytime soon, ask him to tell you about the Endless Pit. Anyway, Headmistress, it is a delight to speak to you, but if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like to get back to teaching.¡±


    Caine continued smiling at her, although his eyes remained serious, making the Headmistress return a curious smile of her own. It had been years since anyone had been so carefree with her, treating her as if she was just a regular mage, and she was relishing in this lost feeling.


    ¡°Yes, it is always a delight to speak with you, but I have responsibilities I need to attend to, so please do carry on with your lesson.¡±


    With those words, the Headmistress walked away, politely smiling at the students, and left the training grounds, every single person¡¯s eyes fixed on her as she left.


    Even some crows stared at her as she left, and Caine couldn¡¯t help but wonder where those crows even came from.


    Caine turned back to the students, now having the Tenth Class and the Third Class as well just looking at him, waiting on any instructions.


    ¡°Since you guys are here, we should have a joint Combat Training class.¡±


    At those words, there was an uproar of protests from the Third Class, all of them voicing their displeasure.


    ¡°Why should we interact with these failures?¡±


    ¡°Why do we even need to share the same space with these¡­ things?¡±


    ¡°Just make them leave, you clearly know something about fighting, just leave them and teach us.¡±


    The students began shouting all at once, whereas the Tenth Class remained quiet, looking down dejectedly. Caine was fairly surprised at this, even Myra and Silas couldn¡¯t bring themselves to look at the other students, let alone defend themselves despite them being fairly confident previously.


    Caine felt surprised, but more than anything, he felt pity for them. To be so young and to be so utterly beaten down, it truly was pitiful¡­ and disgusting.


    Caine looked at the Third Class students, and suddenly they all went quiet, and a wave of tranquility overcame him as the only thing he heard was complete silence.


    That, however, only lasted for a moment, as the next thing he heard was the sound of choking and coughing students as they fell to the ground, holding onto their throats, fighting with all their might to be able to take in even a breath.


    Surprisingly, one student managed to remain upright, trying to maintain an image of composure, with his posture upright, his shoulders pulled back and his chest puffed out. All of that was unfortunately overshadowed by his complexion having turned red, and by his shaking arm, fighting the urge to reach for his own throat.


    Caine walked over to him, with every step he took, sweat grew fiercer and fiercer on the student¡¯s face, and fear began creeping into his eyes. Caine stood before him, smiling, and trying to match his gaze, but the student averted his eyes, and yet Caine found it fascinating.


    He had not expected to find a student who could maintain a fraction of composure in front of him, and frankly, he was slightly disappointed in himself as he saw the students grow paler and paler.


    He still remembered vividly the first time his Master used Authority on him, just before they reached the Foot of the Mountain, he remembered feeling pressure overwhelm him, struggling to breathe, and then passing out.


    When he came to, all those years ago, he was thrown Oliver¡¯s shoulder as he hummed some song Caine had never heard and carried on walking.


    Oliver had explained to him about this ability that one could gain once they became overwhelmingly strong and how it would allow to invoke fear into a weaker opponent; Oliver explained about the ¡®flight or fight¡¯ instinct, about how when faced with danger, people would always try to either run away or fight for survival, and in rare occasions - if it was the most sensible choice - the body would freeze if it believed that it was the best chance of survival.


    Authority was exactly that, using fighting intent to make another¡¯s body freeze so completely that the body would try to be completely still to survive, even by stopping them from breathing; unfortunately, this was all done on an instinctive level, so people never realised what was happening, leading to them feeling like they were getting choked.


    And then, they would collapse, not being able to breathe, they would lose all their strength and collapse.


    That is what was supposed to happen, and that was what always happened whenever Caine used his Authority, but now there was an exception. The student in front of him managed to remain standing. Although Caine controlled his Authority - keeping its intensity to a minimum - he had not imagined someone to withstand it.


    ¡°Breathe.¡± He said, placing his hand on his shoulder.


    The Third Class students collectively rushed to breathe, and Caine gestured at his own students to stand beside the Third Class. He waited until all the students were standing, and with a menacing look, he made them stand quietly, despite their obvious displeasure at being beside the Tenth Class.


    ¡°Professor,¡± the boy who managed to remain standing called out to him, ¡°why should we train with these failures? They will only hinder us.¡±


    His voice was strong and confident, and all his classmates looked at him with surprise as he spoke this way after what had just happened. However, Caine could feel the fear that was hidden in his voice, the fear hidden behind the mask of confidence.


    ¡°When you¡¯re out of the Academy, you will work with different people, some will be weaker than you, and most will be infinitely stronger. Rarely, will you work with a group of people whose strength is relative to yours.¡±


    The boy listened carefully, genuinely interested in the answer, without feeling any contempt for the Tenth Class.


    ¡°You need to learn how to work with people who are weaker than you when you are a beginner, especially if you want to become an adventurer or a soldier. A cohort is only as strong as their weakest member, so you have to learn how to strengthen one another to overcome your weaknesses.¡±


    The boy nodded, his gaze firm, whereas the other students still wore dissatisfied expressions mixed with subtle hints of fear.


    Myra took a hesitant step forward, trying to match Caine¡¯s gaze, but soon looked away, feeling the pressure of the Third Class all staring at her, obsessive hate frozen in their eyes.


    ¡°Professor,¡± she said, her voice strangely hoarse, ¡°you are the teacher for the Tenth Class, you are not supposed to be strong, or even competent. This doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡±


    Caine smiled, content at one of his students finally asking questions about him. Truthfully speaking, he was slightly confused as to why his students never asked questions about him and who he was.


    ¡°Oh yes, I guess I did not explain my qualifications. I am an adventurer, I have been one for many years, I participated in countless Subjugations, and I was pretty famous at one point, although I did go by a different name: Leonidas.¡±


    Silence befell the training grounds, all the students - Third and Tenth Class alike - were speechless, their jaws wide open.


    Leonidas.


    It was the name of a fierce warrior from his Master¡¯s homeland, Oliver had told him tales about how he had led three-hundred men to war against an army of thousands upon thousands, and how his victories had been talked about for generations.


    However, to the rest of the world, Leonidas was the name of one of the strongest and bravest adventurers, the name of the one who spent years in The Forest, rarely ever leaving, just to help novices and kill as many demonic beasts as he could before they managed to reach any village.


    It was the name of a living legend.


    The one boy who withstood Caine¡¯s Authority took a tentative step forward, and Caine could almost see him trying to find courage within himself.


    ¡°Professor.¡± He said. ¡°I am aware that you are Leonidas, the Legend of The Forest. And I understand that compared to you, I am nothing but a lowly child.¡±


    His voice trembled as nervousness crept in between his every word, but it was full of humility that was nowhere to be seen among his classmates.


    ¡°Professor Caine.¡± He continued, bowing. ¡°Please accept me as your disciple.¡±


    His request created a wave of astonishment in his classmates, who were clearly not used to seeing the boy act in such a manner. Caine was genuinely interested in the boy as well, to be able to resist his Authority - although a weakened version of it - was a feat worthy of a strong student.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name, boy?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Aragon, Professor.¡± He replied confidently now. ¡°Aragon Saintsworth.¡±

 Chapter 10 - Anomaly

    ¡°Aragon Saintsworth.¡± The student said.


    A feeling Caine was all too familiar with began creeping its way into his very soul, latching onto his every thought.


    Saintsworth.


    The name of the Demigod who had killed his parents, and then vanished without a trace after a promise to exterminate him. After all these years, just the thought of that monster was enough to send Caine into a frenzy, his mind riddled with countless thoughts, as the expression in his face turned cold.


    ¡®They have the same name, they must be related, he is related to that bastard. If I kill him, I can draw him and then kill him.¡¯


    Caine felt his own heart racing uncontrollably as rage fought to take over his mind.


    One.


    Two.


    Three.


    Four.


    Five.


    After letting the rage in for five seconds, he took a deep breath and looked at Aragon. He looked nothing like Sir Saintsworth. Saintsworth was a frighteningly large man, towering over everyone, and even now, he would still tower over Caine.


    Aragon, on the other hand, was of a shorter statute, but still clearly well-built, his muscles seemed firm and strong beneath the bodysuit he wore. He had short, brown curly hair that fell over his forehead that matched his brown eyes, the complete opposite of Sir Saintsworth and his blonde hair and blue eyes.


    The biggest difference of all, however, was a simple fact. Aragon did not kill Caine¡¯s parents. Ranork Saintsworth did.


    Caine took another deep breath, now controlling the rage within his heart.


    ¡°Aragon Saintsworth. Any relation to Ranork Saintsworth, the former Knight?¡± Caine asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡± He replied. ¡°He is a distant relative.¡±


    ¡°I see. Then am I correct in assuming you share the same bloodline?¡±


    ¡°No, Professor.¡± He replied, his voice conveying a painful sadness. ¡°He is part of the main family, whereas I am part of a branch family. We did not inherit any Godblood¡­ I am not a Demigod.¡±


    The rage began subsiding, just knowing that they did not share the same blood was enough to calm Caine. They may be related, but they are completely different. He cannot be blamed for the sins of his relative. As long as he did not give him a reason to, Caine would not view him as an enemy.


    ¡°Well, boy, I am not yet a Professor yet, so I cannot say for certain whether I will be taking students as disciples. Nevertheless, from what I can see, you do appear to be an exceptional student. If I am unable to, I don¡¯t see why the First Class Professor wouldn¡¯t take you in.¡±


    Aragon¡¯s expression changed, a hopeless smile appearing in his face.


    ¡°Thank you, Professor. Unfortunately, the top two classes are reserved for Demigods, so I can never aim for the highest peak of this Academy.¡±


    A strange atmosphere arose, and a sense of discouragement spread across all the students, regardless of class. Caine felt the need to say something, but what could he say? What was there to be said regarding the insurmountable wall presented to them by the Academy?


    In the midst of all this, the sound of footsteps echoed somehow in the infinite training grounds, and Caine turned only to see a student walking towards them. The student yawned, seemingly having woken up recently; his dark hair was all over the place, and his uniform was dirty, with stains spread all over his shirt.


    ¡®Great. Has to be one of mine.¡± Caine thought as he let out an inward groan.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± he yawned, ¡°we never come here, so I didn¡¯t know where to go after the class was empty. You know, you could have left a note.¡±


    The students passed by Caine, joining the rest of the students, standing in the gap between the Third and Tenth Class. Every single student gave him the same look, one of pure disgust as they took a step away from him, although he did not seem bothered by it.


    Looking at the scene unfolding before him, Caine let out a bitter smile as he remembered his own childhood in Arzamac.


    There was something strange about the young boy, but no matter how hard Caine thought about it, he couldn¡¯t figure it out. He looked at him attentively, but no matter what, he just seemed like a regular person. That was what was strange.


    Regardless of the class they were in, these children were considerably stronger than the average person, but this child seemed just too average. Caine absorbed the mana in the air, and guided it into his eyes, trying to peek into his core, but what he saw shocked him.


    The mana in the air behaved strangely: it was drawn around every student, particularly Aragon, it was especially dense around him, and it seemed evenly distributed among the other students, with a couple of students seemingly more attuned to it, and -to Caine¡¯s delight - Myra and Silas seemed to be two of these students.


    However, the mana completely ignored the boy, refusing to acknowledge him, it was as if it couldn¡¯t detect its existence. Mana becomes dense around those who have an affinity to it, trying to enter their cores, and everyone has an affinity to it, regardless of how minute, there is at least a subtle density of mana around everyone, but not this student.


    ¡°You.¡± Caine walked to stand in front of the student.¡± You don¡¯t have a core, do you?¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    The boy wore a brazen smile, trying to emanate an air of confidence and self-importance, although it was completely betrayed by the look in his eyes. Within those eyes, Caine saw endless sadness and hatred, directed both at the world himself, and Caine couldn¡¯t help but feel pity for the kid.


    Caine raised his hand, and the boy took a step back and did so again when Caine took a step forward.


    [Pull.] Caine cast a spell, pulling the boy towards him, and placing his hand on his sternum, where his core should be located. He guided mana through his mana channels, and lead it towards the boy, trying to make him absorb it, but surprisingly, the mana simply went through him, unresponsive to the boy¡¯s existence.


    There was no capacity for mana in his body, there was no mana core, no mana channels, nothing. Since birth, this child was destined to never use mana.


    ¡°This is most fascinating.¡± Caine said with the excitement of a child in his voice. ¡°How did you even manage to enter the Academy?¡±


    ¡°I may not have mana, but my physical abilities are much higher than normal.¡± The boy replied, his voice hoarse, seemingly affected by the gaze of all the students.


    ¡°And your parents donated a shitload of money to the Academy to let you attend.¡± A boy said, hiding behind a cough.


    Most students laughed at the unnecessary comment but suddenly stopped as Caine glared at them.


    ¡°What¡¯s your name, boy?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Kaiser. Kaiser Vonhaven.¡±


    ¡°I see. Pleasure to meet you, Kaiser Vonhaven. I have high expectations for you.¡±


    Caine walked back to where he originally stood, in front of the ring, and faced the students.


    He looked at all the students, but the one he was most interested in was Kaiser. Not even in his wildest dreams, would he have imagined to meet an anomaly like Kaiser here, and countless ideas began swirling in his mind.


    ¡®Kaiser is the most interesting thing this Academy has, and they are wasting him. His mere existence changes everything.¡¯The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Get in groups of four, two students from each class, and spar. I will go around and provide you with tips and advice. Remember that if you lose a person, you¡¯ll be at a great disadvantage, so make sure to cover for each other.¡±


    Some of the students moved to protest but stopped as they felt the pressure exerted by Caine¡¯s gaze. They all awkwardly spoke to each other, exchanging as few words as possible, their tones devoid of any emotion as they spoke to students of a different class.


    Kaiser looked around, hesitantly trying to get someone¡¯s attention, but was aggressively ignored by everyone, a vicious disgust growing on everyone he spoke to. In the end, he just resigned himself to join whatever group needed one person when everyone was done choosing.


    ¡°Kaiser.¡± Caine called out to him, gathering the attention of every student. ¡°You will not participate. Go stand at the side, and just watch the others.¡±


    Laughter broke out among the students, and Kaiser looked at them with burning hate in his eyes. Caine felt strangely attached to the boy, the look in his eyes reminding him of his own when he was younger, and he felt almost regretful at just he just did, but he thought it was the best option for Kaiser.


    The students had finally managed to split themselves into groups, standing around awkwardly as they tried to remain as close as possible to their own classmates.


    At Caine¡¯s order, they moved to an empty place, each group accompanying another and they began sparring, although it could barely be called that. Every single group had no structure, they did not know what each of them was capable of, and they wholeheartedly refused to show an ounce of teamwork.


    Caine had intended this to be an opportunity for them to - at least- take the first step in working towards the unity he needed them to have but looking at the scene in front of him, he almost regretted even being there.


    Caine let out a sigh and joined Kaiser, standing beside him. He stared at the other students, his eyes full of both longing and hatred, and lost himself in watching his classmates; he had not even noticed Caine standing beside him and flinched when he put an arm on his shoulder.


    ¡°Kaiser, I understand you may be annoyed, but¡­¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± He interrupted Caine.


    ¡°Kaiser.¡± The professor said in a firm tone. ¡°You may be annoyed, but you will not interrupt me in any circumstances. Are we clear?¡±


    Kaiser seemed shocked at his tone but nodded obediently and gave him a resigned smile.


    ¡°Now, as I was saying.¡± Caine continued. ¡°You are in a special position, there are things that you can do, that only you can do, and that is only because you have no magic. You are like a blind man whose hearing is more developed, and your lack of mana makes your physical abilities more developed. You just need to work for them.¡±


    A few seconds passed with no answer, and Kaiser gritted his teeth, his face contorting in anger, and continued looking ahead.


    ¡°Professor.¡± He said calmly, hiding the anger he was feeling. ¡°Please do not mock me. I understand the position I am in. I am nothing more than a Cripple. My parents sent me here to keep me out of their sight, to not remind them of the failure that I am. I don¡¯t need to hear all this.¡±


    Caine wanted to be surprised, but he wasn¡¯t. Deep down, he wanted to believe that Kaiser came from a loving family, one that would accept someone like him, but he knew that could never be the case.


    Kaiser Vonhaven.


    The Vonhaven, a noble family, one that hasn¡¯t seen the presence of a Demigods in generations. The descendants of the God of Strenght would not accept a boy who couldn¡¯t strengthen himself.


    The abuse Kaiser must have gone through when he began puberty, and just did not develop a mana core, not even a pitiful one, must have been disgusting, and just thinking about it, Caine¡¯s rage towards the world he lived burned slightly brighter.


    ¡°Kaiser, you have potential, there are things only you can do.¡±


    Silence lingered between the two as they continued looking ahead of them, at the other students.


    ¡°The mind is an interesting thing. You¡¯re told something so often, you start believing it, and you become bound to it. For years now, you have been told you are a lesser being, and now you are chained by those beliefs. Abandon it. All those feelings, all those beliefs that were forced on you. Abandon them them all, leave them behind and become strong.¡±


    Kaiser said nothing, he kept looking ahead, his eyes wide open and his lips quivering.


    ¡°You believe yourself worthless. Mana does not recognise you. I can feel everyone¡¯s presence by feeling the mana in the air, the way it is absorbed by people and demonic creatures alike, but you¡­ You are a ghost. Look at them sparring. Think about how you could win against them. That¡¯s why you¡¯re not training with them. You¡¯re training to beat them.¡±


    Kaiser still remained silent, although he now looked at his classmates more intently, with a dull light in his eyes. Something deep within him had changed, whether it was having someone believing in him, or simply thinking about beating his classmates, he was completely focused on the task at hand.


    Caine left him behind and went around to each of the groups, looking more attentively at what level they were, and he was almost pleasantly surprised at what he saw.


    Although their teamwork and adaptability were severely lacking, they had the basic understanding, being able to use mana more efficiently than most, the way they strengthened themselves was also¡­ decent.


    He went to each group individually and all the students looked at him eagerly. It was fascinating, really, to see all these students fawn over Caine after how they first saw him, as nothing more than a failure.


    Caine himself felt a little vindicated seeing all those young eyes looking up to him, looking up at Leonidas, but soon grew annoyed as he found himself repeating himself to each group.


    ¡°You are just ignoring each other, completely missing the point of the spar. Work together. Different people will teach you different things, so learn as much as you from fighting, whether it be from a weaker or stronger opponent.¡±


    He repeated himself until he reached the last group, comprising some familiar faces.


    ¡°Well, well, well. Who do we have here? Silas, Myra, Aragon and¡­?¡±


    ¡°Faye, Professor Caine?¡± the student replied with a polite bow.


    Caine felt somewhat unnerved by Faye¡¯s gaze, her dull brown eyes staring at him, without a hint of emotion behind them, completely contradicting the bright smile she wore.


    Well, it was not something he disliked, Caine had always preferred someone who wouldn¡¯t show their intention at first, rather than someone who wore their heart on their sleeve.


    ¡°Faye¡­ right. Unlike the rest, you guys are trying to work together. Well done. But there is room for improvement. Aragon, you relying far too much on yourself, not considering your allies. Even you will struggle against four people at once. But your ability to use mana and strengthen yourself is quite advanced, so well done.¡±


    He then turned to Faye.


    ¡°Your mana capacity is outstanding, but you lack control of it. It¡¯s not inherently bad to use wide-range spells, but you did not consider your allies, they were more wary of your spells than of their enemy.¡±


    Then he looked at his own students, Silas and Myra.


    ¡°You two are letting them take charge, you try to just offer assistance without ever coming up with ideas of your own. They may be stronger, but that¡¯s not to mean that they are always right. Have more confidence.¡±


    With those words, he was about to leave but was stopped by a question from Myra.


    ¡°How did you stop Professor McGrave¡¯s spell?¡±


    ¡°Oh, it was easy. I have an affinity for wind magic. Air is necessary for a fire to burn, so when I saw his spell, I removed all air around me, creating a vacuum. Without air to feed on, the fire was extinguished. It does not matter how strong a spell it is, if it doesn¡¯t hit you, it¡¯s useless.¡±


    The four students - alongside all the students that now gathered around them - looked at him with incredulous expressions. Caine could almost see the cogs in their brains stop moving as they struggled to understand what he had told them, but that was to expected.


    Many of the things Caine had learnt from Oliver were things that simply went beyond common knowledge¡­ or common sense for that matter.


    The four students looked at each other, and just let out an annoyed sigh as they inwardly accepted the explanation, and as they did the sound of a ringing bell somehow echoed in the infinite space of the training grounds.


    The students rejoiced, as they excitedly talked about their plans for the evening, and Caine realised that the day had finally ended. Considering everything it could have gone far worse.


    ¡°Alright, students! Time to leave. I will be seeing you soon hopefully if I get the job. If anyone asks, I was a great teacher. Class dismissed.¡±


    Caine turned his back on them, and left the training grounds, making his way to the Headmistress¡¯ office, but was then stopped by someone calling out his name; behind him, Kaiser was running towards him and almost crashed into Caine.


    ¡°There¡¯s a bench somewhere here, let¡¯s sit there.¡± Caine told him, as he already walked away from him, making his way towards the courtyard they passed earlier, and then sat on a metal bench.


    Caine was surprised as he sat, the bench was clearly made of metal, but when he sat, he felt himself sink in it, and then he realised it was an enchanted bench as he saw the runes carved onto the seat, making it feel the most comfortable it could for anyone who sat.


    ¡®How rich are these people?¡¯


    Caine couldn¡¯t help but ask himself that one question as he wondered what sort of Academy would waste money on making benches feel more comfortable, and then he started wondering if every single bench and seat in the Academy was enchanted.


    ¡°Is everything alright, Professor?¡± Kaiser asked, seemingly concerned by Caine¡¯s thoughtful expression.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I was thinking how you nobles really are a bunch of spoiled brats. Who even needs enchanted benches?¡±


    Kaiser was lost for words, looking at the young Professor just lean comfortably on the bench with his legs crossed.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure all benches are like this.¡±


    ¡°No, you innocent child. You don¡¯t understand it yet, but this place is heaven. The world is horrible.¡±


    Caine looked at the sky, thinking about how the Long Summer ended, and its eternal blue sky was replaced by the never-ending clouds of the Great Fall.


    Four more years. That¡¯s how long the Great Fall was expected to last.


    ¡°Anyway, I don¡¯t think you called out to me to discuss benches, what do you want?¡±


    ¡°You were talking about the benches, but alright. How can I win in a fight?¡±


    Caine smiled at the boy, making him shudder.


    ¡°What do you think is the purpose of fighting?¡±


    ¡°To beat your opponent,¡± Kaiser replied as if Caine was asking something obvious.


    ¡°No. It¡¯s to kill your opponents.¡± Caine retorted solemnly.


    A strange silence lingered between the two as Kaiser processed those words, and just as he was about to say something, Caine stood up.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s what I think. You kill your enemies and you win. Anyway, I just realised I should probably go see the Headmistress.¡±


    ¡°Oh yes, of course. I¡¯ll see you around, Professor.¡± Kaiser stood up and nodded at him.


    ¡°Not if I see you first, brat.¡± Caine replied mockingly and waved at him as he walked away.


    Suddenly, he felt a distortion in the mana in front of him, and then a folded piece of paper appeared in front of him.


    ¡®PLEASE COME SEE ME IN MY OFFICE.¡¯


    He let out a sigh and started walking there, slightly faster, his pace showing a hint of annoyance.


    ¡®I was already doing that.¡¯ he thought to himself.

 Chapter 11 - Better than expected

    ¡°Come in.¡±


    Caine walked into Headmistress Zeraphyn once more, and looked at her sitting behind her desk; she gestured at him to sit down, and he happily did so as she poured him a cup of tea as well.


    It had an interesting aroma, it was a pleasant smell that immediately put him at ease, and as he took a sip, he felt himself relax, for the first time in a long time, which worried him to a certain extent; he put the cup down, reluctant to have anymore, and stared at Zeraphyn, who was holding in a giggle at his reaction to the tea.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing bad, it¡¯s made from a herb gifted to me a few years ago, it is meant to calm your nerves, and I thought after your impressive fight today, you would enjoy being calmer.¡±


    Caine smiled at her, although his eyes did not reflect it.


    ¡°I assume I didn¡¯t come here to have some tea, did I?¡±


    ¡°No. No, you didn¡¯t.¡±


    The Headmistress stood up and walked to the window, staring at the cloudy sky with an unreadable expression.


    ¡°I had no intention of hiring you for this position. The only reason you are here today is because I was asked a favour by a Royal Guard, Sir Eteben. I had no intention of taking you seriously, you are just an adventurer, one out of a thousand. However, I was mistaken, and pleasantly so. You did far better than I could have ever imagined.¡±


    ¡°I appreciate the honesty, however hurtful.¡± Caine laughed. ¡°But I am not any adventurer, I can assure you that there is none like me, not one single person is stronger.¡±


    ¡°Oh my, I never expected I would hurt the great Leonidas.¡± She replied, covering her mouth with her hand as she let out a soft chuckle, strangely pleasant to the ear.


    Caine¡¯s face remained unchanged, his smile only growing slightly bigger.


    ¡°Are you not curious as to how I know you are Leonidas? Not many people know your true identity, and Sir Eteben has not told me.¡± She asked, her piercing gaze focused entirely on Caine.


    ¡°Not particularly. Your crows kept staring at us after you left. I must admit, however, that I am not really fond of the surveillance. I really do hope the surveillance would stop.¡±


    Headmistress Zeraphyn¡¯s expression changed quickly, countless emotions and thoughts now clearly visible, ranging from surprise to indignation to a terrifying fascination. She twisted a strand of her silky white hair and remained silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, but Caine couldn¡¯t bring himself to break eye contact with her.


    He had faced countless monsters - in the shape of both demonic beasts and men - but not a single one of them felt as dangerous as the woman in front of him.


    ¡°Professor Caine, what do you think of the students?¡±


    ¡°I must admit I am disappointed. Not in the students, but in the Academy for letting them fall behind to such an extent. They are almost adults, and they just learnt about the New Gods.¡± Caine admonished her.


    ¡°I agree. Unfortunately, meritocracy in the Academy has changed since it first opened. It used to be about healthy competition among all the students, but now it has become this twisted thing. It is so deeply rooted in the foundations of the Academy I can¡¯t remove it. Any decent Professor tends to leave within days when they learn they are assigned to the Tenth Class.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± Caine decided to take a sip of the tea, now finding the atmosphere too strange. ¡°It is a shame. From what I have seen there are some interesting students.¡±


    ¡°Who are these students you find interesting?¡±


    ¡°Silas and Myra from the Tenth Class are interesting; with the right guidance, they could be far stronger than most students here, but this place is keeping them down. The most interesting students, however, would be Kaiser.¡±


    She furrowed her eyebrows as confusion overtook her expression. She took a sip of her tea, and then placed the cup on the coaster, but strangely, it had made no sound.


    ¡°Kaiser? The boy with no magic? You taught the Third Class today, Surely you must have noticed Aragon, the most talented human in the Academy.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Aragon is definitely talented, but Kaiser has more potential. He does not have any magic whatsoever, it doesn¡¯t react to him, making him nearly undetectable. The amount of demonic beasts that rely on sensing mana is endless, and he could kill them as easily as I could.¡±


    She wore a pleased expression now and carried on drinking her tea, with each sip, her face growing more and more relaxed.


    ¡°I see, but he has not shown any signs of any improvement whatsoever. He is quite hopeless.¡±


    ¡°I disagree. With the right training, Kaiser could kill almost everyone in this Academy.¡± he said, taking another sip of his tea.


    ¡°Even you?¡± She asked, her voice becoming slightly colder.


    ¡°No, not me. He might be able to kill some of the Professors, however. But I doubt he would be able to kill you¡­ at least not by himself.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Headmistress Zeraphyn was strong, frighteningly so. Her affinity to spatial magic was far beyond what Caine had ever seen. Simply moving an object from one point to another was a commendable feat, but moving a person as she moved Professor McGrave - and doing it as effortlessly as she did - made her a prodigy, second to none.


    Excluding Oliver, of course.


    ¡°It seems you think quite highly of me. I¡¯m pleased.¡±


    She stared at him, her eyes glowing faintly and guiding the mana from her core into her eyes, and stared at directly at Caine¡¯s chest peeking into his own core.


    Fortunately for Caine, Oliver has foreseen such an occasion and did manage to create an empty shell to mask a mana core, and while it may not actually be a working core, it was enough to convince most mages that the core was genuine.


    However, the woman in front of him was not like most mages, and a seed of anxiety began sprouting in Caine¡¯s mind as she stared at him.


    ¡°Is my core that int-¡± Caine¡¯s question was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door behind him.


    The Headmistress waved her hand, and the door slowly opened. A woman walked in, pointing at the Headmistress with a huge smile on her face, although the smile vanished and her arm dropped when she noticed she had the guest, looking away to hide her blushing face.


    The woman was beautiful, her face was delicate and the expression she wore was charmingly gentle. Her black hair flowed down her back like a river, accentuating her green eyes.


    Caine smiled at her, but she avoided his gaze, hiding herself behind the Headmistress, who was holding a laugh herself as she found the woman¡¯s reaction humorous.


    ¡°Professor Caine, this woman here is one of our nurses, Luna. Luna this is our newest faculty member. Caine, otherwise known as Leonidas.¡±


    The woman, Luna, finally looked at Caine, her cheeks still slightly reddened, although now she was managing to look at Caine, making his stomach feel slightly heavier for some reason.


    ¡°Headmistress.¡± Caine called out to her. ¡°I don¡¯t recall ever receiving an offer to work, nor do I recall accepting any offers.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I thought we may as well ignore those needless formalities. I mean, I doubt you would refuse an offer, right?¡±


    ¡°I just might. I believe before any decisions are made, we ought to discuss the pay.¡± Caine spoke, half playfully, half seriously.


    ¡°Ah yes, I have not forgotten that you joined mainly for the pay. The pay is two hundred gold coins every fifty days, and that is on top of the lodging and food allowance we will be providing.¡±


    Caine looked at her, dropping the mask of confidence he had been wearing the whole time, alongside his jaw, and just looked at her. Two hundred gold coins would have been enough for his family to live in their hut without ever working again.


    And now he was being offered that amount every fifty days.


    ¡°Yes. I will start right now if you¡¯d like, I¡¯ll teach all the classes, and I¡¯ll clean the entire Academy myself. Yes. I¡¯ll work here.¡±


    ¡°That will not be necessary.¡± Headmistress Zeraphyn suppressed a laugh. ¡°You will just be in charge of the Tenth Class. You will be covering Combat Training and Mana Manipulation starting from next week. We have other Professors for general classes.¡±


    ¡°Vey well. I look forward to working with you.¡± Caine stood up and extended his hand out to her.


    ¡°That is great to hear. I also look forward to having you work for me.¡± She shook his hand, her eyes looking as bright and friendly as ever, although there was an overwhelming sense of superiority and seriousness in her voice.


    ¡°My very good friend here, Luna, will show you around the capital. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.¡±


    Luna went to seemingly protest but let out an almost inaudible sigh and left the room.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind her, she¡¯s a bit shy, but she warms up to people quickly.¡±


    The two exchanged some pleasantries and after a short farewell, Caine left her office, the doors opening and closing on their own as Caine walked through them.


    Outside the office, Luna was waiting for Caine, leaning against the marble wall.


    She had long black hair, almost reaching her waist; she seemed really shy in the office, but now she was smiling brightly as Caine, looking directly in his eyes, once again making his stomach feel heavier somehow.


    The closer Caine got, the more he realised how everything about her was beautiful, from her soft skin to her bright green eyes, to her charming smile, and Caine couldn¡¯t help but smile in return.


    Luna extended her hand, and Caine grabbed it, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. He let go of her hand, and looked at her, seeing her face instantly turn completely red.


    ¡®Damned Master.¡¯ He thought.


    ¡°Mrs. Luna, my apologies. My Master had told me this is how you greet beautiful, noble women in formal settings. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable.¡± Caine slapped his forehead, and then stared at the ground in embarrassment, wondering why he would ever listen to his advice when his Master was nothing short of a battle-hungry monster.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, Sir.¡± She said, her face still flushed. ¡°I was just taken by surprise.¡±


    ¡°By the way, it¡¯s Miss, but feel free to call me Luna.¡± She added smiling, his stomach feeling heavier once more.


    ¡°Alright, Luna, I¡¯m Caine it¡¯s nice meeting you.¡±


    Luna turned around and gestured at Caine to follow her. He watched her walk before joining her, looking at her graceful figure as she walked, but what surprised him the most was the absence of noise in her steps. He found it fascinating, but when he realised he was just staring as she walked away, he quickly joined her side.


    As they walked, Caine absorbed the mana directly in his eyes, and tried to peek directly into her core, and what he saw left him perplexed: her affinity and sensitivity to mana was subpar, and the mana in the atmosphere barely reacted to her presence, and even the mana in her core was scarce at best.


    She turned out to be an extremely fascinating presence, after all, how could such a weak mage work for the great Arman Academy? She was a nurse in the Academy, but it was still surprising since her healing mana could not realistically provide any realistic support to an injured student.


    Looking at her, Caine also began wondering about his own mother, Lisa. How in tune was she with mana? Although he hated admitting it, he didn¡¯t remember much about his parents, he had long forgotten the sound of their voices, but before everything happened, he always thought she was an outstanding mage, being able to heal so many people in that disgusting village.


    But was that actually true, or was he simply seeing his mother with the eyes of an ignorant child?


    Truthfully speaking, he never really cared about whether his parents were strong or weak, he still loved them regardless, and it made little difference since learning the truth: it didn¡¯t matter how strong a human was, in front of a Demigod, they would have been weak.


    And Caine swore to never be weak again. After all those years, he still blamed himself for what had happened, still carrying the guilt of having caused his parents to die, and the emptiness he felt that day never truly disappeared; while he managed to fill the void - somewhat - he still felt a very part of his being was empty to this day.


    Revenge is the only thing that could fill the void.


    ¡°Uhm, Caine?¡± Luna called out to him. ¡°Are you alright? You look¡­ angry.¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡± Caine replied smiling at her. ¡°I just have one of those faces. I am actually very happy.¡±


    Truthfully, he was actually really happy. He wasn¡¯t sure why, but he felt very relaxed and felt as if there was nothing that could possibly go wrong.

 Chapter 12 - First outing

    The two walked out of the Academy, Luna leading him in the centre of Arman as they chatted¡­ well, more than chatting it was just Luna talking to Caine, mostly just telling him about the stores he would find useful, from clothing stores, to blacksmiths, to guilds.


    She told Caine about the structure in the Academy, telling him about the the hierarchy of the classes, about how the discrimination towards the lower classes caused a halt in the growth for lower students, but more particularly to the Tenth Class.


    ¡°You know, Caine, I had a question.¡± She spoke softly. ¡°Why would you accept teaching the Tenth Class?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a good idea for me.¡± Caine smiled softly at her. ¡°I am a commoner, I don¡¯t have an education like the other Professors, and those kids, they¡¯re like I was when I was young. Not to mention that most of my life was riddled with violence, so I want something more relaxing.¡±


    He smiled and looked at the sky. It had been years since he spoke so calmly with someone, and it was even longer since he answered truthfully when he was asked something about himself.


    He quickly glanced at Luna, thinking how strange it was that he felt so comfortable with her; usually, whenever he was with someone, he would just remain quiet, walking as fast as he could to avoid conversations, but here he was, actually matching her pace, and just talking with her as if he was just a regular man.


    He smiled bitterly at that thought and looked at the woman next to him, who was already looking back him, with a worried expression.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough about.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Tell me more about you, I really am interested in you.¡±


    Luna looked at him and blushed, mumbling a few words, making Caine turn his head in confusion.


    ¡®Did I say something weird again?¡¯


    ¡°There¡¯s not much to tell. My parents are nobles, so we were comfortable. When I developed my mana core, I found my affinity for healing magic - although it¡¯s lacking. I actually met Alicent, I mean Headmistress Zeraphyn in the Talon Academy, and when she became the Headmistress here, she hired me.¡±


    Caine was slightly disappointed; although they had just met, he wanted to know more about her, he wanted to know something more personal, but he did not know if it was something he was even allowed to ask.


    Suddenly, Caine felt a gaze stuck on Luna and him; it made him uncomfortable knowing someone was looking at him, but when he looked around, there were too many people for him to pinpoint where the source of the gaze was.


    It was an almost foreign feeling for Caine now: for years he had never been caught off guard this way, and now he couldn¡¯t help but wonder how he had let himself drop his guard this way.


    The two continued walking, Luna completely unaware of how alert Caine was at the moment. They walked for a long time, Luna was now showing him her favourite places to eat, walking to him to countless restaurants, bars and cafes, and she spoke so passionately about her favourite foods, Caine couldn¡¯t help but continuously smile at her.


    Soon they reached the Plaza, at the centre of the city, and stopped in front of a colossal statue. It was extremely tall, interestingly enough, it was taller than any of the surrounding buildings, and its head could be seen from any point in the city, sticking out of the skyline.


    It depicted the first Demigod ever born, Arthur, named after his father, Artorius, the Gods of the Skies. He was told to be a giant, rumoured to tower over every single person that had ever lived; unlike most of his kind that lived today, he worked for the people, his kindness and generosity being what he was remember for - after his overwhelming strength of course.


    After the Conflict, following the destruction and chaos caused by the New and Old Gods, he had led people, forced nobility to rebuild cities, fed the poor and brought stability back to all kingdoms. At the time, there were also rumors that the Seven Kingdoms would be united directly under his rule.


    Unfortunately, that all stopped after his sudden disappearance. Even now, centuries later, it is still unclear what had happened to him, but he was still being looked up to as the saviour of the world.


    While he was admiring the statue, he noticed Luna looking behind him, and as he turned, he saw a crowded bar.


    ¡°That bar there seems nice, should we go and have something to eat?¡± Caine asked.


    ¡°Yeah, sure! I heard that place has a really good steak.¡± before she finished her sentence, she was already leading Caine there, her pace oddly fast.


    The place felt familiar to Caine, it was full of adventurers, or at least they behaved as adventurers. They were all rowdy, the smell of alcohol lingered in the air, and Caine felt right at home. He led Luna to a table, and sat down facing one another, waiting for someone to take their order.


    ¡°Hi, can we get two beers and two steaks, please?¡± Kayra said before the server could even introduce himself, and making leave before even managing to say a word.


    Caine let out a chuckle as he looked at her getting embarrassed as she realised how eager she just looked for a beer and steak. Luna looked away, trying to hide her embarrassment, but after a few minutes - as she regained some composure - she turned to Caine.


    ¡°I heard that you¡¯re Leonidas. Is that really true?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Yes, yes I -¡± He replied, before getting interrupted.


    ¡°That¡¯s incredible. I heard that you are one of the few solo adventurers, having participated in countless subjugations in The Forest. Is it true that you worked alone so that you could keep as much profit to yourself? Actually, I also heard you had a partner as well, is that true? Why have you never made public appearances, you could be so famous?¡±


    Had any other person been so overbearing with Caine, he would have undoubtedly just left, regardless of who they were; Caine had always been extremely reserved - with strangers at least - and very rarely would he talk about himself, let alone ask any questions, but he was rather happy that Luna was so interested in him.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°I¡¯m not good with people, and I¡¯m also confident in my strength and I was more than happy to work by myself, but it would be a lie if keeping all the profits to myself didn¡¯t entice me. I have a partner, he is my brother, but I haven¡¯t seen him in a while. And about the public appearances¡­ fame never interested him. I want something more.¡± Caine answered all the questions Luna had and did so happily.


    ¡°Something more? What¡¯s that?¡± She asked, leaning forward.


    ¡°I wonder¡­¡± Caine replied, leaning forward himself, the two of them so close they could feel each other¡¯s breath on their faces. A strange look covered both their faces, but they were soon interrupted by the server returning with their order.


    They pulled back, Luna growing slightly redder, and Caine feeling his stomach growing even weirder. The server placed the steaks and beers in front of them, and Luna quickly grabbed the beer, bringing it to her lips and drinking it all in one gulp.


    Caine - as well as the server - stared at her as drunk, with disbelief on their faces as they looked at the tiny and delicate woman who drank beer as well as any veteran adventurer. As soon as she finished, she slammed the metal cup down on the table and gestured at the server to bring another.


    Caine was eyeing his steak, and grabbing the knife and fork on the table, he started to cut into it, smelling the aroma of the perfectly seasoned steak. He cut a piece of it and brought it to his mouth. A myriad of flavours and juices overwhelmed him, and indescribable emotions overcame him.


    How long had it been since he actually enjoyed the food he was served?


    ¡°You know, Caine.¡± Luna said as she delicately began cutting into her steak. ¡°The other Professor, they don¡¯t really like you. They think quite badly of you.¡±


    ¡°Why would they? I haven¡¯t even met them... and I entered the Academy just today.¡± Caine retorted.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be teaching the Tenth Class, so they already think of you as a lesser. And your fight with McGrave, a lot of people think you only won because he was going through Mana Purification which made him much weaker than normal. Be careful.¡±


    ¡°I appreciate the concern, but it¡¯s really not necessary. If any of them try to interfere with my life, I¡¯ll just make it so that they never would try again¡­ and the Tenth Class will grow many times stronger.¡±


    Luna looked at him with an astonished expression, and Caine simply smiled at her and felt surprised as he realised it had been a long time since he genuinely smiled at someone, and she smiled back brightly.


    Suddenly, an abnormally large hand smashed onto their table, and rowdy laughter erupted. Luna flinched at the sudden noise, and let out a muffled scream, covering her mouth with her hand.


    ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you a pretty one.¡± A man said, bringing his hand to her face, and lifting up her chin.


    The man only wore a simple pair of trousers and a light chainmail, with a sword adorning his waist. He was rather tall and well built, even dwarfing Caine; while he was not as big as his father, Caine had grown a lot, being much taller than the average person, but he still seemed small in front of the man, especially with his lean physique.


    ¡°What do you say you leave this bastard behind, and I¡¯ll show you a good time?¡± He laughed while grabbing his crotch.


    Caine looked at Luna for a moment, anger surging as he saw her frightened expression. He stood up, standing behind the giant, and placed his hand on his shoulder. Caine instantly absorbed all the mana in the room, forcibly ripping it away from everyone, and strengthened his entire body.


    He threw the giant to the side with ease, gritting his teeth as he tried to control the anger that grew within him. Silence befell the bar, and everyone stared at Caine and Luna and then turned at the giant, his body still stuck into the brick wall as he groaned in pain, holding onto his shoulder.


    Three more men appeared in front of Caine, adventurers by the looks of it, all dressed similarly to the giant Caine had just thrown. He sighed, annoyed at those people disrupting the nice day he was having.


    He slightly turned his head, looking at Luna, ensuring she was okay, but thankfully she wasn¡¯t hurt, just shaken¡­ although that was enough for Caine to grow even angrier.


    He took a step forward, ignoring the three men, and headed to the giant. His face grimaced as he held onto his shoulder, seemingly dislocated. Caine pulled him up, and made his sit down on a chair, the man unable to fight off his grip.


    He seemed to have somewhat calmed down, more worried about his shoulder than trying to seem tough now, and Caine grabbed his arm, pulling it gently until the shoulder was back in place. The giant let out a sigh of relief before Caine struck his chin perfectly and rendered him unconscious.


    He turned around, looking at the three men, all of whom were staring at him, hesitantly placing their hands on the hilt of their swords. Caine sighed and took a step forward, exerting the lowest amount of Authority he could on the three men.


    They all backed down, their shoulders slouched and they stared at the floor, refusing to look up at the man whose mere stare instilled a primal fear in them, the same fear they felt when they came face to face with a Demonic Beast.


    ¡°Enough.¡± He said, solemnly, as he started walking towards the bar, the crowd that formed splitting to make way for him.


    He put his hand in the breast pocket of his jacket, and took out five gold coins, carefully placing them in front of the bartender.


    ¡°For the damages, you have my humblest apologies. I hope this covers the costs for repairs, if more is needed, reach out.¡± He spoke softly,


    ¡°And everyone¡­¡± Caine shouted out, looking at the crowd, ¡°Drinks are on me tonight!¡±


    The uncomfortable silence disappeared as cheers erupted, with everyone sitting back down, with a few people going up to Caine and patting him on the back, or shaking his hand.


    Caine walked through the crowd, ignoring them and went straight to Luna, almost running to her. She sat back down at their table, still shaken, her face a mixture of emotions.


    He grabbed her hand, gently guiding her outside; Luna was quiet, constantly looking down at the ground, and her eyes wide open. Caine squeezed her hand softly, thinking about small and soft it was, and called out to her, but regardless of how many times he did, she wouldn¡¯t respond.


    They walked aimlessly, with Caine leading the way, despite him not knowing the city well enough to actually take her anywhere, so they just walked, until they reached a park.


    They sat on a bench, and Caine smiled as he sat on the hard, uncomfortable, metal bench. He looked at the sky, the sea of grey clouds ever present - as it was for the last few years - with a few gaps showing the crimson sky as the suns had begun to set.


    The two must have been out for hours if it was already time for the suns to set, and Caine smiled at the thought of having spent so much time with someone he lost track of time.


    His brother would definitely be proud.


    ¡°Caine.¡± Luna said quietly, her voice almost a whisper. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, it was my fault. I was having a lot of fun, sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to ruin it.¡±


    Tears streaked down her beautiful face, as an unpleasant feeling surged within him. Caine stood up, and moved in front of Luna and sat down on the ground, his legs crossed, not caring about his clothes getting dirty and looked up at her.


    He grabbed both her hands and stared at her until she matched his gaze and smiled at her.


    ¡°Luna.¡± He said, trying to sound as comforting as he could. ¡°You are not to blame for what happened. That brute in there, he started it. You are not at fault. Why should you blame yourself for just being yourself? He should control himself, instead.¡±


    While Luna blamed herself, Caine did not even remotely think that she was at fault, and why would he? If anything, Luna was the victim, so there was no point in her feeling guilty.


    Her lips turned upwards - although barely - and Caine stood back up, groaning as he did. He sat back on the bench putting his arm on her shoulder, and Luna moved slightly closer to him.


    Suddenly Caine felt the air grow colder, almost as if all the heat was being taken out of the air and moved someplace else forcibly. He looked around and saw a large flame growing and blasting directly towards the two of them, and he instantly recognised the spell.


    [Fireball]

 Chapter 13 - Masters student

    [Fireball]


    A sphere of fire shot towards them, leaving a trail of fire behind, although it was quickly extinguished, with the strength of the spell being disgustingly weak.


    Caine held his hand out, pushing all the air away from him - although leaving a pocket of it around Luna - and created a vacuum, extinguishing the spell before it even reached them.


    Heavy footsteps followed the extinguished fire, and three men walked confidently towards them. They were all tall, wearing simply trousers and chainmail, with swords adorning their waists.


    Caine sighed recognising them as the men who had tried to intimidate him in the bar, not even an hour ago. Caine lamented his choice to barely use his Authority at the time and felt disappointed in himself.


    ¡®This damned Kingdom¡­ at least in the others, they leave me alone.¡¯


    ¡°Look who do we have here?¡± one of them shouted, unsheating his sword.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know who you are messing with. We¡¯re the Silverlight pa-¡±


    Before he could even finish speaking, Caine guided as much mana as he could augmenting his legs, and at the same time, guided part of the mana into his left hand. He disappeared from the man¡¯s sight, and reappeared in front of him, placing his hand on his stomach.


    [Air Cannon]


    Caine released the condensed sphere of air from his hand, hitting the man at a close range, sending him flying against a tree and throwing up blood. He fell to the ground - unconscious - and Caine turned to his companions, glaring at them the same way he glared at the beasts in The Forest.


    He walked toward them, each step more menacing than the previous as he started to exert his Authority over them. When he finally stood in front of them, they had their hands on the hilt of their swords but did not dare unsheath them, as they trembled in front of the monster before them.


    ¡°The woman I am with could have gotten hurt. I will let this go this one time, on the basis that you are intoxicated.¡± Caine¡¯s voice was devoid of any emotion, and a primal fear grew within the two men.


    ¡°Leave.¡± Caine said through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to beat to a bloody pulp, but refusing to do so as he did not want Luna to witness such a scene.


    The pressure that was overwhelming them disappeared as Caine released his Authority, and the two of them fell to their knees, but before they did anything, they ran away, grabbing their friend and dragging him away.


    Caine turned around and looked at Luna, who was still sitting on the bench, still shocked. Augmenting his legs once more, he propelled him towards her, and squatted down, looking up to her.


    ¡°Hi.¡± He said with a bright smile.


    ¡°Hi.¡± She replied sheepishly.


    Someone began clapping their hands behind Caine, and he spun around, making sure that Luna remained behind him, countless curses running through his mind.


    Three men walked towards them, one of those faces being one that Caine instantly recognised.


    Aragon Saintsworth.


    He was walking alongside two more men, dressed in plain clothing, although clearly of high-quality leather, with their jackets perfectly fitting them.


    ¡°Professor.¡± Aragon spoke first, hesitantly. ¡°That was impressive. The speed of your movements as well as the speed you cast spells¡­ it¡¯s incredible.¡±


    As the three approached, Caine allowed himself to relax slightly at the sight of a familiar face.


    ¡°You must be Professor Caine.¡± One of Aragon¡¯s companions said. ¡°Our little junior here told us a lot about you. A pleasure to meet you¡­ Leonidas.¡±


    He extended his hand, and Caine gladly shook it; the man¡¯s grip tightened, as he reinforced himself with mana, in some futile and childish attempt to establish some meaningless superiority over Caine.


    Caine did the same, strengthening himself to match the young man¡¯s strength perfectly, not feeling the need to prove his superiority to a child.


    ¡®If only that damned Master of mine ever thought about it like this.¡¯ Caine cursed Oliver.


    The young man let go of his hand and smiled cockily at Caine, his expression bringing an indescribable irritation within Caine. He turned to Aragon who looked away from his Professor, nervously avoiding his gaze.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°I don¡¯t really get it.¡± The young man in front of Caine said. ¡°You¡¯re Leonidas, right? Why is the great adventurer hanging around with that failure.¡±


    He pointed at Luna, and Caine just sighed. His mocking tone, the arrogance in his voice, his mere posture, everything about him irritated Caine, abnormally so. He looked over his shoulders, and Luna seemed beaten down, the recent events seemed to have shaken her a lot and these people weren¡¯t helping.


    He sighed and walked closer to the young man, squaring up to him. Aragon tried to put himself between the two, but was effortlessly pushed aside by Caine; the young man stepped back, but Caine took one step forward, maintaining that uncomfortable close distance.


    Despite being covered in many layers of clothing, he was clearly muscular, but Caine did not care about that, he only wanted to teach the man a lesson.


    ¡°You will do nothing to me.¡± He stuttered. ¡°I am of House Gren-¡±


    Before he could finish speaking, Caine grabbed his throat, squeezing his hand and the air out of his lungs as he looked at the fear creeping into his eyes. He moved his lips, no words escaped his mouth, and silence befell them.


    Aragon and his other companion stood frozen for a moment, but quickly regained their bearing, and rushed to their side, trying to release the grip Caine had on their friend.


    Caine let him go, and slapped him with the back of his hand, making him fall to the ground, his cheek reddening and his lips quivering.


    ¡°Professor!¡± Aragon shouted while tending to his friend.


    His other friend looked at Caine but averted his gaze seeing the pressure within Caine¡¯s eyes. Aragon, on the other hand, was much braver as he stood in front of Caine, looking into Caine¡¯s emotionless eyes.


    ¡°Professor.¡± He said, a hint of fear in his tone. ¡°They did nothing to you, there is no reason for you to strike them, let alone be angry.¡±


    ¡°No reason?¡± Caine retorted. ¡°They insulted Luna here. She is a very dear friend of mine, they referred to her as a ¡®failure¡¯ and dishonored her. You expect me to do nothing? Let me tell you something, Aragon. I don¡¯t care who it is, let it be a student or some random noble. No one will insult Luna. Do you understand?¡±


    Aragon stood silent, nervousness trickling down his face as he tried to think of any response, but resigned himself and just looked down.


    ¡°Aragon, my boy, let me tell you something. You and these people may be someone in the Academy, but outside, in the real world, your lives are fickle. They can be extinguished so easily. Had you been anyone else other than my student, and had Luna not been here, I would have ripped your arms out of your torso.¡±


    As he said those words, Caine felt something tug the back of his coat and turned to see Luna stare at him, her eyes full of concern.


    ¡°I¡¯m alright, Caine, thank you.¡± She said, her voice soft. ¡°Let¡¯s just go, there is no reason to fight anymore.¡±


    Her lips curved upwards, and Caine felt relieved, his annoyance slowly seeping away.


    The two left the three young men there, and walked away, leaving the park. They walked in silence, with Luna humming a pleasant melody as they reached the plaza once more, standing in front of Arthur¡¯s statue.


    ¡°Thank you. It was nice having someone stand up for me.¡± Luna said softly, with an almost imperceptible cheer in her voice.


    ¡°Anytime.¡±


    ¡­


    A silence lingered between the two, a comfortable and relaxing silence, only broken by Luna¡¯s question.


    ¡°How did you become so strong? Stories of Leonidas spread throughout all the kingdoms.¡±


    ¡°I had a¡­ Master. After my parents passed away, he looked after me and taught me everything I know. Every day we would spar, and every day he would beat me senseless.¡± Caine smiled as he reminisced about his younger years.


    ¡°He sounds¡­ strict.¡±


    Caine stopped upon hearing those words, looking at Luna with disbelief, and then started laughing uncontrollably, making Luna redden with embarrassment with how hard he was laughing.


    ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t mean to laugh at you.¡± He managed to say in between fits of laughter. ¡°It¡¯s just that you are the first person to ever call him strict. He was an idiot, a drunk, and potentially crazy. But he was a good person, one of the best I ever knew. He gave me the freedom to choose who to become.¡± Caine smiled bitterly as he thought about Oliver and all the times they spent together.


    ¡°And who did you choose to become?¡± Luna asked.


    Caine thought about it for a moment and then smiled. ¡°An idiot, a drunk, and potentially crazy.¡±


    The two laughed together and continued walking and talking until they reached the Academy. The closer they got, the slower they walked, enjoying the sight of the setting suns, the few rays of crimson light slipping through the gaps of the perennial clouds of the Great Fall.


    Finally, they reached the gates of the Academy., and the two stopped by the entrance.


    ¡°So¡­ funny story¡­ Headmistress Zeraphyn told me to tell you about the lodgings, I didn¡¯t expect us to stay out this late, and I was supposed to show you your office, where you can find the key to the Faculty lodgings. Let me just take you now.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not necessary, I am staying at an acquaintance¡¯s house for tonight; it¡¯s late, you should rest.¡± Caine told her with a charming smile.


    ¡°Yes, in that case, good night. Today was fun¡­ a bit hectic, but fun.¡± Luna smiled back at him.


    ¡°Yes, it was. But next time, let¡¯s try and spend the day without any fighting.¡±


    Luna laughed, and after exchanging an intimate hug, the two parted ways, with Luna walking towards the Academy, and Caine walking away from it.


    Caine started retracting his steps, expertly walking in the streets of the once-foreign city, until he reached the plaza again. He stood in front of Arthur¡¯s colossal statue, his hate towards Demigods¡¯ growing anew.


    Despite what people believed about him, Caine knew he would be exactly like all the other Demigods that existed today.


    Arrogant. Cruel. Selfish.


    And Caine had spent the majority of his life perfecting the hate he felt towards them. The hate that was born the day he met Ranork Saintsworth.


    He started walking around, looking at all the stores around the plaza, trying to ascertain where the gaze he felt on him since he left the Academy came from. Suddenly he stopped in front of an antique store, staring his reflection in the glass window.


    He ran his hand through his jet-black hair, the colour identical to that of his mother, whereas his eyes were green, just like his father¡¯s, and when he looked at himself, he couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly as he realized how much he looked like them.


    ¡®I guess I am their son.¡¯


    And then he looked at the scar, the slit at the edge of his mouth he earned all those years ago, and his bitter smile turned slightly nostalgic.


    ¡®I guess I am also Master¡¯s student.¡¯

 Chapter 14 - Brothers mission

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s something I didn¡¯t expect.¡± A loud voice came from his left. ¡°Is that Caine admiring his annoyingly good looks?¡±


    A man wearing brown robes - typical of the desert of the Prillescia Kingdom - showed up in front of Caine. The man walked closer to him, his pace strangely slow; his hair fluttered in the air, almost as if dancing in a nonexistent breeze, making his walk seem overly dramatic, and Caine couldn¡¯t help but slap his forehead as he witnessed this scene.


    The man had dark brown hair, floating graciously in the air; he was rather handsome, not exactly like Caine: while Caine was more rough around the edges, his features were strong and defined, but this man seemed more delicate. His tan skin was extremely clear, clear of any defects, almost as if he was made of porcelain, and while he was notably shorter than Caine - but still of average height - he carried himself with incredible confidence and power.


    ¡°Ra¡¯Hul, is it really necessary to use magic to make an entrance when it¡¯s just us two?¡± Caine asked.


    The man stopped suddenly, his brown hair falling gently over his shoulders at once, and he glared at Caine.


    ¡°Yes, it is, Caine.¡± He replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice. ¡°Master always told us that an entrance is important, and in his land, this is how you make an entrance, especially in plays. Wind blowing through your hair, and a ¡®slow-motion¡¯ walk, he called it.¡±


    Caine sighed, reminiscing about that conversation they had so many years ago, and a smile crept up on his face. Caine took a step towards him and pulled closer in a tight embrace.


    ¡°Ra¡¯Hul, I missed you, little brother.¡± He said, his voice full of love.


    ¡°We¡¯re the same age.¡± Ra¡¯Hul retorted, laughing.


    ¡°Three days. I am older by three days.¡±


    They let go of one another and began walking, Ra¡¯Hul leading the way and Caine following blindly until they reached a bar - a different one from the one Caine was in earlier that day - and sat down, the two of them drinking a cold beer.


    ¡°Caine.¡± Ra¡¯hul spoke solemnly. ¡°I must admit, I am shocked. We¡¯ve known each other many years, but I never thought I would see the day.¡±


    The sudden shift in his tone worried Caine; ever since they met, Caine rarely heard him talk seriously, unless there was serious trouble, of course. Caine readied himself for whatever Ra¡¯Hul was about to tell him, scanning his surroundings to ensure that there was no danger nearby.


    ¡°You, Caine, were on a date with a woman, and a beautiful one at that.¡±


    Caine clenched his fist, fighting the urge to punch him in the face, knowing full well that if he were to do that, the fight would last days, and would lead to the destruction of the better part of the city. Despite this, he seriously considered if it would have been worth just punching him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t speak so seriously about something stupid, you had me worried.¡± Caine admonished him. ¡°It was not a date. She was a colleague, and I managed to become a Professor at the Academy. Thanks for congratulating me.¡±


    ¡°Congratulations!¡± Ra¡¯Hul shouted, gathering the attention of everyone in the bar. ¡°Hey everyone, my brother is a Professor at the Arman Academy!¡±


    A loud cheer erupted, and all the people in the bar raised their drinks, with some shouting out a few congratulatory words.


    ¡°Happy?¡± Raa¡¯Hul asked with an irritating smirk on his face.


    ¡°Yes, but it would have been better if you did that of your own volition rather than doing it because I asked¡­ but can we do? The moment¡¯s gone.¡± Caine added as the two started laughing.


    A pleasant atmosphere surrounded Caine whenever he was with Ra¡¯Hul, but - as always - he knew that there were problems that needed to be solved. Caine looked across the bar, at the small glass window, and imagined what sort of lives other people lived.


    How would a person live if he wasn¡¯t consumed by one single desire?


    ¡°Caine, here¡¯s the yearly reminder: you know how I feel about your ¡®purpose.¡¯ I want something more for you, for us, but I understand why you¡¯re doing what you¡¯re doing. It¡¯s okay for you to change your mind. We can get out of this.¡± Ra¡¯Hul spoke slowly, his voice full of warmth and concern for his brother.


    Silence lingered after his words, and the two stared at each other, the pleasant atmosphere slowly dissipating, yet remaining comfortable. Caine had not replied, but Ra¡¯Hul knew that the silence itself and the look in his eyes were the answer.


    ¡°Very well.¡± Ra¡¯Hul said, smiling again. ¡°A new Subjugation will take place in The Forest. It will begin in five months, so it¡¯s a good opportunity for you to grow your fame. At this point, as a Professor, you need to let people know about you. Leonidas is not enough anymore.¡±


    Caine agreed wholeheartedly, especially now that he was a Professor, he needed people to trust him, to believe in his strength, and for people to willingly follow him, and showing his superiority and absoluteness in a Subjugation was the perfect opportunity.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°I see. I¡¯ll be there. But you didn¡¯t come all the way here to tell me this. What¡¯s really happening?¡±


    ¡°The Subjugation will take place in five months because more people are needed.¡± He said, his voice turning serious, and his smile fading. ¡°Caine. Demigods will be there.¡±


    His mind went blank for an eternal moment.


    ¡®Demigods. Those fucking monsters.¡¯


    He clenched his fists, feeling his face grow hotter, and the rage burn brighter in his chest, never having disappeared for all this time. Instead, he merely learnt not to let it control his life, but that was only when he knew Demigods were not around.


    During the Subjugation, will he be able to remain in control, or will he try to kill them as soon as he lays eyes on them? That was the real reason Ra¡¯Hul was there, to ensure that Caine would be able to handle himself when the time came.


    ¡°Caine.¡±


    Ra¡¯Hul grabbed his arm, making Caine aware of his surroundings. He looked at his brother, his face full of concern, and then looked at the people in the bar, all of them looking down at the ground, their faces pallid and fearful.


    ¡°Calm down. Release your Authority.¡±


    Caine took a deep breath and tried to ground himself, fighting against the rage that festered in his heart to regain control of his Authority. His mind races, trying to think of something to calm him down, until the image of a beautiful woman¡¯s face flashed before his eyes.


    Luna¡¯s.


    For the first time in years, today was extremely relaxing; despite everything that happened, and the fight he found himself in, he enjoyed the day to the fullest, finding Luna¡¯s presence calming and enjoyable.


    His breathing steadied, and he shoved his rage deep within him, in a corner of his heart reserved only for that rage. Silence still engulfed the bar, but people were now staring at each other, whispering about the pressure they all felt.


    ¡°This is it for the night. Time to leave.¡± The barkeep shouted, his face still pale and covered in sweat.


    He didn¡¯t need to even finish the sentence as people were already rushing to leave the bar, while Ra¡¯Hul went to the barkeep offering him five golden coins, a token of apology for what had just happened, without revealing that Caine was the cause of it, of course.


    The two left the bar, once again Ra¡¯Hul leading the way, while Caine followed blindly, still reeling from what just happened.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± He told him.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s my fault, I should have told you somewhere more private.¡± Ra¡¯Hul reassured him, although it hurt Caine to hear him take the blame for his own wrongdoing.


    The two walked around the city, catching up after having been apart for over three years. Caine learned how Ra¡¯Hul managed to finally fulfill one of his childhood wishes, and started a clothing business, designing clothes, mainly inspired by the ones Oliver would tell him about and the ones he made for him, excited by how well he was doing.


    Caine on the other hand, told him how he spent the last three years in The Forest, without ever leaving, hunting down anything he saw, learning the weaknesses and behaviour of those mindless beasts, and finally understanding how to better hunt them, even when alone.


    ¡°Ra¡¯Hull, guess what. The Headmistress of the Academy is more proficient in Spatial Magic than you.¡± Caine noted. ¡°I¡¯m not exaggerating, she may be one of the strongest mages I ever met.¡±


    Ra¡¯Hul stopped, turning to Caine with a confused expression.


    ¡°Caine.¡± He began. ¡°You do know that Headmistress Zeraphyn is considered the strongest human in history, right? Obviously, she¡¯s better at Spatial Magic than me.¡±


    Caine stared at him, his face devoid of any emotion.


    ¡°The strongest human in history?¡± He asked incredulously.


    ¡°Yes. This is why I always tell you to be more interested in what happens in the world, this is common knowledge. Seriously, what even are you doing?¡± Ra¡¯Hul laughed.


    ¡°I am interested in what happens in the world. In fact, why are we here, Ra¡¯Hul?¡±


    While they met at the plaza, where the buildings and the streets were clean and well-maintained, now they were in a completely different place; the streets were full of litters, the stone roads cracked and broken down, completely unusable. Even the buildings were breaking down, barely held together, and not a window in sight was not broken.


    Caine simply followed Ra¡¯Hul and he was led into the slums of Arman. Ra¡¯Hul looked around and sighed, realising that Caine caught on.


    ¡°Funny that you mention it. I have a job for you.¡± He was still smiling, but his tone completely shifted, now turning much more serious, his previously playfulness nowhere in sight.


    He held out his hand, materialising a book out of thin air, and showed Caine a page of it. An extremely realistic drawing of a bearded man was on it, seemingly too realistic for a mere drawing.


    ¡°Caine, this is a photo of Baroc, a part of the Arman Underworld. Under his orders, his men abducted and experimented on countless children, and the authorities aren¡¯t doing anything about. This is s-¡±


    ¡°Ra¡¯Hul.¡± Caine interrupted him. ¡°You don¡¯t need to explain, I trust you completely. If you tell me this man needs to die, he will die.¡±


    ¡°He needs to die.¡± Ra¡¯Hul spoke coldly.


    ¡°Do you know where I can find him?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we are going towards his last known location. Every night he goes to a whorehouse, his own personal one, just on the last alleyway of this road. It¡¯s heavily guarded, but he will be vulnerable, and your affinity to Shadow magic will be helpful. I wish I could kill him myself, but I¡­ I just can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I know.¡± Caine¡¯s voice was comforting. ¡°I will do it for you. Give me a name, and they will die. I¡¯ll go right now, I got my mask, so go home and rest.¡±


    Ra¡¯Hul smiled softly, although Caine could see the vast pain and anger hidden behind his fake smile.


    ¡°By the way,¡± Caine stopped Ra¡¯Hul as he was leaving. ¡°How is that drawing so realistic?¡±


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s something Oliver told me about once. I¡¯m using light magic to capture an image, and then I¡¯m guiding the light onto a surface, which creates the photo. Honestly, Oliver tried explaining how it works, but I only understood the basic principles of it.¡±


    ¡°Of course, Master really was the type of guy to share some weird magic, and not even explain it properly.¡± Caine laughed. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll see you around. I would walk you home and all, but you know¡­ got a murder to commit.¡±


    The two laughed and parted ways; Caine looked around, found a dark alley, and calmly walked there, trying to not get the attention of the people in the slums. While the street may have been empty, he knew full well that there was always someone watching in the slums, it was the one common characteristic of slums across the world, regardless of Kingdom.


    He looked at his left palm, and imbued mana into it, revealing one single rune, designed by Oliver himself. He could clearly see the rune, but it seemed that a hex was placed on it, because regardless of how much attention paid to it, he couldn¡¯t process what he was seeing, a blur only appearing on his palm.


    A black mask materialised in his palm, showing a demon¡¯s face, bearing its sharp black teeth. It had two large eye holes, but somehow, one couldn¡¯t see through them. It was most likely due to the series of intricate runes adorning it, which - according to Oliver - hid the person wearing¡­ even from the Gods.


    And Caine decided to wear the mask as he had to go hunting.