Pretend You Don’t Know

Cain woke up with the first rays of the sun, straightened up, and got out of his room. He slowly headed down the stairs to the ground floor. The snores coming from Heirloc's room indicated that he was still asleep. Cain Went to the kitchen and began to prepare his breakfast, some fruits and an egg, then he went outside and checked the sundial, still 8 o'clock. He took his training spear, which he had used throughout his life, and went behind the tower to practice some fighting moves. He recalled the previous day's battle, he clearly remembered not being able to control his body after he had start to bleed. It was as if he was just a spectator inside his own body! Just the memory of it scared him a lot.

He thought about something for some instants and then started to move in the direction of the axe he used to chop firewood, he picked it up and made a small cut on his finger. He looked at the blood that started to slip out, after some seconds the boy felt the sensation of his body getting lighter. Satisfied with it, he wrapped a leave around the cut to make the bleeding go slower, he could not afford to lose control again. He then proceeded with his training routine.

At nine o'clock he went back inside the house, he needed a shower before leaving. Heirloc had awakened and was taking his coffee. Realizing the boy, he started a conversation.

"Good morning Cain. You understood our conversation yesterday?" the boy could see the guilt in the eyes of the Master Initiator, he blamed himself for yesterday's incident and that was evident.

"It's okay Heirloc, I still am curious about some things, but today I'm going to the library to consult books with Adalind" Cain replied.

"With Adalind, is it?" the Master Initiator opened a smile.

"Yes, she was also curious, and I said we could go together. Excuse me, but I cannot talk. I told her I would pass in the female lodge at ten to get her and I still need to take a shower" the boy said in a hurry.

"All right, but before you go come over here. I want to take a look at your head to see if that injury from yesterday has left any scars" Heirloc said with a worried expression.

Looking at the boy's head Heirloc could see that only a small scar was left in the place of the injury.

"Boy since you are following a warrior's path this will be the first of many scars. You must feel proud about all of the scars you come to have, they will be the proof of the battles you fought and the hardships you survived. For to have a scar is to have lived!" Heirloc looked at the boys with fixed eyes.

"Ok Heirloc, I will never hide my scars in shame" the boy answered in high spirits.

"Very well. Now go take your bath and I will go to work. I see you at night" the man said.

"Bye Heirloc, good work" the boy answered happily.

With these goodbyes they headed their ways. Cain took a shower and got ready, then left the tower and made his way to the female lodge. On the street he passed by the tower of the Master of Strategy and the Grand Master, but when he was passing in front of the male lodge, a yellow-haired boy walked toward him, it was Elion.

"Cain, how are you? What was that yesterday?" Asked Elion with a curious look on his face.

"I'm fine, the Masters said that was my Lineage manifesting" answered Cain.

"I knew it. I told some of the boys it had to be so. Some of them thought that you had been possessed by a demon" after saying these last words the boy started laughing.

"Well I wasn't possessed by a demon, that I can tell you, I'm going to the library now to find out more about what happened, want to come?" Cain answered while laughing at the absurd explanation the other boys had thought.

"Of course, I wasn't doing anything here anyways" Elion said.

"Ok, let's just go through the female lodge first that Adalind will also be going with us" The two boys started walking.

When they finally arrived in the female lodge Cain looked at the sundial which was in front of the house, it pointed ten hours and ten minutes, a figure appeared in front of the gates of the house, it was Adalind, she walked towards them.

"You're late" the red-haired girl said with an annoyed look on her face.

"Sorry, I met Elion on the way; he will also go with us to the library. Elion, this is Adalind" Cain replied to the girl, with a carefree attitude.

"Nice to meet you Adalind" Elion spoke cheerfully.

"It's a pleasure" the girl replied in a dry tone.

"So, let's go" Cain said.

The three went toward the library. Once there they saw the grand millennial construction. Because of the curiosity that consumed them they were quick to enter the building and look for the session for the College students. At the entrance of the session was a student of the institution, she was blonde of medium height, Cain knew her, but could not remember her name. She had her head down, as she was reading a book.

"Excuse me, is it here the entrance to the library area just for the students?" Cain asked, he already knew the answer, but felt the need to ask the question.

"Yes, it is" the blonde girl replied and the she looked up and recognized the boy who was in her front. "Cain, if you're here it means that you are already 10 years of age. Time sure does fly! Good as this must be the first time you are coming here, I will guide you through the shelves. What books interest you?" the blonde girl was using a cheerful tone after recognizing the boy in front of her.

"We want to know more about Lineage" upon hearing Cain's response the girl made a surprised expression.

"I understand, follow me" she led the kids through the maze of shelves, taking them to the books they sought. "This is the shelf for books on Lineage, you will find several books in it, from varied ages. I hope you satiate your curiosity" after saying this she left, saying she had to go back to the entrance of the area.

"So, we finally arrived" Cain said. "You guys prefer to start with an old or a new book?" asked Cain.

"New" Elion said.

"Old" Adalind said.

"Then I'll pick up an old and a new one" Cain said while laughing

Cain picked up in the middle of the shelf a copy of a book that had a beautiful cover, named Clans and Bloodlines, written by Rupert Jansen. On the top shelf there was book whose cover was all brown, and it was impossible to read what was written in it, because the time had worn it out, that seemed to be the oldest book there, Cain picked it as well.

"Well, let's open the Clans and Bloodlines first" Cain said.

The book was easy to read. In it the author discoursed on the history of the Lineage and how they were a gift from the Divine Ganra, but this gift also carried a price to be paid. He explained that after the Old Gods appeared on the continent they began to classify the Lineage of each Clan in order to distinguish them better, they did this by giving them names based on the beings of the region from which the Old Gods came.

The book talked about a division among the types of Lineage, the strains which he called the Royal and the common. There were five Royal Lineages, they were given that name because they were considered the lines closer to the first Lineage made by Ganra. The five Royal Lineages are: The Lineage of the Phoenix, from the Fortred Clan, which was granted the power of physical restoration, but in return the owners of this power aged faster than others; The Lineage of Skald, from the Ghuel Clan, granting the power of clairvoyance, but the possessors of that power had no control over it and their visions can happen at any time, seeing the future was both the gift and the price paid to the Divine.

"Do you mean that your Clans are a part of the Royal Lineages? How does this power of clairvoyance work Adalind?" asked Cain.

"It is true, my clan is a Royal Lineage, but I do not know much about our power, my mother told me that the visions occur differently for everyone" replied the girl. The kids continued reading the book.

The Doppelganger Lineage, of Reinoc Clan, which gave to those who had the ability to perfectly copy any movement that they saw, but who possess this Lineage has physical abilities below average. The Faun Lineage, of the Finit Clan, which can communicate with animals and use of some of its features in battle, but users can get some animalistic characteristics, thus losing part of their humanity. Finally, the Ouroboros Lineage, from the Butant Clan, which gave the power of Immortality over time, that way those who had this Lineage stopped aging after completing 27 years of age, a power seen as a curse by some of the wielders.

The book had other information about Common Lineages, which were derived from the Royal ones and Clans that had it. Cain was disappointed to see that in the book there was no information about his Lineage and Elion realized it.

"Keep calm men, we may find something in the other book" Elion said.

"Cain, there is no reason to be sad, you are a unique person with a unique Lineage like you" Adalind complemented.

"Ok, let's move on to the next" Cain said filling better after those encouraging words.

The oldest book had his garment worn by time, it was possible to see some letters, but you could not see a word. Cain opened the book and saw on the first page it was called "A study of the Lineages'', but there was no author name. He continued his reading and saw that the book basically had the same information than the other, but when he quoted the Royal Bloodlines he spoke of a sixth lineage, the Azura Lineage. The kids looked at each other thinking it was odd the disagreement of two books on this matter. Quickly they continued reading looking for the part talking of this Lineage, but the page on which it was supposed to be was torn. The kids did not give up and looked in other books for information on Azura Lineage but found nothing.

They spent the morning looking for it, just going out to lunch, but agreeing to come back in the afternoon to search more about it.

Cain returned to the tower of the Master Initiator only for lunch, there was no one there, but he had expected this because the day after the tests Heirloc would be in a meeting all day, going back to his tower only at night. He lunched as fast as he could and returned to the library, curiosity gnawed him.

'What the hell is the Azura Lineage and why I cannot find anything about it?' the thought would not leave his head.

Arriving at the library he saw that the other two had not yet arrived, but he did not want to wait, his head called for an answer to the question that tormented him. Walking as quick as possible he returned to the shelves to continue his search, Adalind arrived soon after, Elion also appeared, the three continued their search for a few hours, but failed to present any results.

"It's a joke, it's like this Lineage did not exist, taking that old book that we read not a single one has even mentioned it" Elion said.

"Yes, it seems we only have one option, we have to find Gundam and ask him" Cain said.

"Who is this?" Asked Adalind.

"He is the library administrator, there is not a book here that he has not read, and he should know what this Azura Lineage is" The boy said certain of his idea.

"So, let's look for him" Elion and Adalind spoke in unison.

The three of them did not have to look for long, as soon as they left the session for students they met the redheaded old man, he was talking to a student about how he should treat library books better, the three waited for him to finish his sermon to call him.

"Gundam, good afternoon" Cain said.

"Cain, if you are looking for me it must mean that you have a question, right?" he said with a smile.

"Gundam, the three of us were researching the Lineage and found this old book, it talks about a sixth Royal Lineage, the Royal Lineage of Azura, you know something about it?" hearing those words the smile disappeared from Gundam's face, he assumed a serious expression.

"Kids come with me and do not talk anything else here" the old man took them to his office.

Gundam's office was small, it had a small table with some candles on top to light the room, a purple armchair and small sofa, where the boys settled. In all the office books were scattered and stacked.

"Here we can talk about it." The expression on the faces of the children was confusion; they did not understand why they were taken to the administrator's office.

"You see kids, any talk about the Azura Lineage is extremely dangerous, soon you will understand why I have brought you here to talk about it. First, give me that book Cain, it should not be in the session to students, it should be in the researcher's restricted session. The lineage of Azura belongs to the Siegfried Clan, you probably never heard of it, but it was one of the Clans that reigned over Yolia before the arrival of the Old Gods. You see, we humans had battle skills and were organized into a kingdom, but when the Old Gods landed on the continent their ability for war was infinitely superior to ours, because of this difference that they were called Gods. The Old Gods reigned over the continent and for thousands of years that remained, but 500 years ago the Siegfried Clan incited a revolt against the Old Gods that led to a major war that lasted 30 years, during these years the destruction ravaged the kingdom and the Siegfried Clan almost went extinct" the old man stopped his talking there and looked at the kids.

"What happened to them?" Asked Cain.

"In retaliation for the Siegfried Clan acts, the Old Gods sought the last descendants of the clan throughout the kingdom, the Old Gods promised to bring an end to the Azura Lineage by killing all the descendants of that Clan, and so remove from the earth their worst enemy, to this day if you talk about Azura Lineage it endangers you and everyone around you. That's why I brought you here to talk about it and explain to you that you should not talk about it with anyone, you never know how far the power of the Old Gods still extends"

After this conversation the three left Gundam's office in silence, they talked some more about the classes they would have from the other day on as to avoid talking about the story they had just heard. Then the three parted and each went his way. When Cain came to the tower of the Master Initiator, Heirloc had not yet returned, the boy went up to his room he just wanted to sleep and end this day.

"Sometimes the answers we seek are not as nice as we thought" he spoke loudly talking to himself.