Chapter 19: Secrets Long Kept

"He lied to you. It is as simple as that." Eluril huffed.

"What do you mean he lied to me?" Alex asked.

"He omitted knowledge. Do you really think he would teach you all you needed to know to start enchanting, and give you a list of runes, before he could teach you safety?" Eluril had a smug look on her face.

Her bluish silver scales glistening in the moonlight. She stretched lazily as she made to lay down near her recently refilled ant pit. She had just recently finished a late night snack when she saw Alex studying the list of runes and their uses.

In the dirt in front multiple runes were etched. Alex was wondering why they wouldn't activate when Eluril had made her comment.

"It was a lie of omission, but a lie none of the less. I can't blame him. A few of those runes might cause an explosion if used improperly." She had walked over in front of Alex to look at his handy work. Eluril pointed at a group of five runes with her tail. "Like that. If that had actually triggered you might have lost a hand."

"Really?" Alex quickly erased the runes he had etched.

"Well, probably not. But it might have started a fire. I mean after all, these are very basic runes."

"Wait. Since when do you know about runes?" Alex was confused. Eluril had never mentioned anything about knowing runes in the past. Granted she was rarely awake in the past as well.

"I don't. Not really anyway." This only confused Alex more.

Eluril took pity on him and explained. "Look. I should have told you this years ago. It never mattered, still doesn't, but you should know." Eluril sighed. She knew this day would come, but she never really liked the thought of it. "Other spirit contractors and spirit animals are like a pair. Two sides of the same coin. They share one soul." Eluril waited for Alex to nod in understanding.

"When I say they have one soul I mean even before the formed the contract."

"What do you mean th..." Eluril cut him off with a look.

"Look just let me get all the details out of the way and then tell you what you need to know. Save any questions until after, or we will be here until tomorrow night!" She was clearly unhappy, or maybe anxious. Alex couldn't tell which.

"When someone is born with a strong soul, or if they are born in an area with a weak boundary between realms, their soul will naturally call out to it's partner. Allowing for them to meet and form a contract." Eluril was still eyeing Alex to make sure he was understanding.

"I told you that, because you and I do not share a soul." As she said this a look of self-pity and pride was wavering back and forth in her eyes.

"I am not from the spirit realm of this world. I am from an entirely different plane of existence." Surprise was evident in Alex's eyes. The shock would have been far greater if he knew that Eluril had just explained things that still puzzled nearly everyone in his world. Not to mention the existence of other planes.

After a moment she continued explaining. "I was born a few years before you, in my home plane. While I was living there my mother taught me about runes. I only have some very basic knowledge. In fact I was surprised that the system and runes were the same on both of our planes." Eluril was genuinely surprised by this fact. She guessed that it had something to do with the intrinsic nature of energy, but that was beyond her.

"Why." Alex said just this one word. The look in his eye showed fear, dread, and a nagging need to know. Eluril knew what he meant.

"I am your spirit companion because of our mothers. Or rather your mother." As she said this Alex simply nodded for her to continue.

"Your mother wanted to give you a better life. She wanted you to be a contractor. So, she spent months carving runes into your home. Those runes were meant to create a mana rich environment for he to give birth in. You remember what I said about how contractors are born right."

Alex simply nodded. His eyes glazed with moisture. But he wouldn't let a tear fall as they talked about his mother. He would be strong and proud of her. He only ever wanted to show gratitude for her. Eluril knew this. It was idiotic, but she reminded herself that he was only fourteen after all.

"Well your mother couldn't make your soul stronger, and she couldn't weaken the walls of this realm. She could however floor the room with mana and hope that it would somehow help you become a contractor. In the end she was right, in a way." Eluril couldn't keep her voice from quivering as she continued.

"She had a good plan, but you came early." She looked in his eyes and saw his heart sink. "She wasn't ready for you to come yet. She rushed to form runes. To finish the project while in labor with you. She tried so hard. She fought on alone. No one to help her. Just for you. So you could have a chance at a better life." Each sentence struck Alex like a sledgehammer. Eluril wanted to look up at him. She wanted to comfort him, but she could see him shaking in her peripheral vision.

Alex was straining to against the tears that were fighting their way, unbidden, from his heart. He was clenched tight, every muscle was bulging. It was all he could do to keep the wall of emotions from swallowing him whole.

Eluril's quavering voice continued. "Your mother made a mistake." Tears were now rolling down Eluril's face. "She carved the runes incorrectly, luckily, or unluckily it didn't gather the mana, but rather it pulled much more mana than she expected. Then the mana was used to create a connection."

"To what?" His gravely broken voice was more of a croak than a proper voice at this point.

"To my mother. Some how it connected them. My mother watched you be born in that house. Fire covered the walls, and blood covered the floor." Eluril shivered. Alex barely registered it, but somewhere in his mind something notice she seemed scared.

She was scared. That was part of the reason she had never told Alex about this. It was selfish, but she was honestly afraid of his reaction.

"My mother saw you." Silence hung in the air for a moment.

"You were not going to make it. You were too early. Your life was already ending. She told your mother this." Alex had stopped shaking. Eluril slowly raised her head to look at him. His gaze was burning holes in her, commanding her to continue.

"My mother wanted to help but she couldn't. She was stuck in that plane. But I could cross over. There were only two problems. Your mother needed to give mana to help build the bridge between our worlds. Also, how could I, a young child, help you." Eluril took a deep steadying breath and locked eyes with Alex.

"Your mother gave every last piece of her mana. Everything. Even what was in her blood." Alex's gaze became even more severe, but Eluril would not look away.

"I made it through to this world. But you were already almost dead. Even a normal contract would barely help you. I only had one option. I gave up all of my energy to form an even stronger contract. Then, I reversed the direction of the energy in the contract." Alex's brows furrowed, but he said nothing.

"Normally, the energy in the contract uses the mana from the spirit animal to empower the contractor. This allows them to rank up as their companion animal does, but they could never achieve the same level as their companion animal. By reversing the contract, I would use your energy to temper myself. Forcing me to be a rank below you at most." The confusion was building on Alex's face.

"My race is very powerful in my world. We are born at rank 4 at the lowest. By the time this all happened I was rank 5." Alex would have been surprised normally, but his emotions were already roiling like the sea in a storm. What effect could another wave have, even a big one.

"When we finished the contract my strength was ripped from me. Forcing me back down to rank 0. At the same time it forced you to grow and become stronger. It pushed you, just barely, into rank 1 after using so much of the energy to reform your body properly." Eluril finally broke. She began sobbing.

"I couldn't do anything for your mother." Her eyes pleading Alex not to hate her. "She had already passed by the time the contract was done changing us, and I was so very tired. All I could do, was curl around you and use my scales to protect us from the fire." Eluril cried heavily in guilt. She had carried this guilt through their whole life together.

When she finally calmed down she continued. "We almost died that day. The fire was not that bad, but the smoke. You were already rank 1. Your constitution helped you to survive. I was only rank 0." Her voice was barely a whisper, but Alex heard every word.

"Luckily my organs had not yet fully atrophied from their rank 5 state, by the time I truly fell to rank 0 in body, the worst of the fire was over and I could barely breath." She sighed, completely spent. She felt lighter now. She never realized how much these secrets weighed her down.

"My father found us." It wasn't a question, this much he knew. Eluril nodded.

Alex got up and walked across the courtyard. He stopped in front of the door to his house. "Thank you Eluril. For everything." His deep and scratchy voice was wracked with emotion, but that was all he said. He went inside and closed the door behind himself.

Eluril waited for hours. She waited until she was sure he was asleep, finally. She crawled across the floor to their bed, and curled up next to him. She hoped that maybe her warmth could bring him some comfort in his dreams.