Chapter 9

GREY

I woke up to a wave of pain. I groaned in agony causing everyone to look my way. "Good morning," I chuckled.

"Grey!" Everyone yelled. I noticed a blanket on my shoulder and Caera's head on my lap. "Break. Green. Crystal. Ring." I stuttered.

Caera got up and took out one of the three healing crystals Alice made me. After hearing about the elderwood guardian she made more just before I told her my secret. They were the last things I had left from Dicathen apart from Dawn Ballad.

Caera then broke the crystal, healing me and causing the pain to subside. Everyone looked at the crystal, shocked. "I take it this isn't a common thing?" I asked. Everyone nodded. "We use potions, I've never seen a crystal do the same though," noted Seth as he stared

"So, who want an explanation, unless Caera gave you one already," I asked. "Yeah, what was that!? Your appearance changed and your voice became deep!" yelled Enola.

"Well to explain that I'll have to explain where I'm from." I started. Everyone raised an eyebrow at my statement. "I'm from Dicathen."

"WHHHAAAATT??!!!" The collective scream almost burst my eardrums. "You mean the continent that's filled with dangerous dungeons and lets mages run amok?" asked Mayla.

"Yeah, I guess we do do that. I mean, the dungeons are dangerous but nothing compared to the relictombs. Even an AA class dungeon couldn't compare to this place." I explained. "Also…" I took off my shirt to show my runes.

"What are you doing?!" asked Caera as she covered her face, not very well might I add. I ignored her and turned around and took off the bracelet that Seris gave me to create fake runes. I heard gasps from behind me. Caera's sounded weird though.

"H-How can you use magic without a spellform?" asked Seth.

I put my shirt back on and turned around. "Magic works differently in Dicathen," I explained. I then explained Dicathen culture, not telling them any more I told Caera. By the end of it Seth had stars in his eyes, Mayla was still processing everything. Enola and Valen looked indifferent.

"Thanks guys," I said sincerely.

"What are you thanking us for?" asked Mayla.

"For not hating me. I don't think I can handle that again." I replied. I felt fingers intertwine with my own. I looked up at Caera, "Grey we could never hate you. You were my first friend, you healed Seth, trained Mayla and Enola. I don't know what you did for Valen but you've helped us all."

"Grey was my first friend too. I'm sure you can already guess as to why." replied Valen.

"Okay, let's get some rest guys. And don't say anything Grey. You might've been out for a while but the rest of us have been up for a while so we need some rest," said Seth as he got out his sleeping bag. Everyone did the same.

"Can someone help me?" I asked. "I'm still struggling to move from the pain."

"Couldn't you break another one of those crystals?" asked Seth as he looked at me spe.

"I could but they're one of the few things I have from Dicathen," I responded. I keep them because it was a reminder to what my life could've been. What would've happened if I never told them? Would I still be getting teased by gramps? Spar with Da-Reynolds? Make jokes with Elijah? What would my school life be like?

I leaned my head back, "Not that it matters," I said under my breath. I thought no one heard me until I felt myself getting slapped across the face. I looked up to see it was Caera, "You know Grey, you suck at emotions. Don't hold on to these, they'll only remind you of your past. Do not keep yourself connected to a life you can't live and instead attach yourself to your new life."

My eyes went wide at the revelation. "We spent most of the time you were asleep coming up with that prep talk for you, so talk it to heart. I know it's not much but it's better than nothing." explained Seth.

I felt relieved knowing everyone didn't care who I was. I got into my sleeping bag, with Seth's help and layed down. "Hey Grey, can you do that?" asked Caera in a hushed voice.

I sighed and grabbed Caera's hand. I started cycling fire mana around us both, Thanks Grey."

CAERA DENOIR

I woke up to light snoring. I looked around to see that I was the first one awake. I remembered what we discussed yesterday before Grey woke up.

"Does anyone know what he meant by 'I'm not 'him' anymore?" asked Seth.

"Why would we? But if I had to infer, I guess Grey must've been another person before he met his friends. Like his personality was different and he changed it," concluded Enola.

"I don't think so, we're still young and Grey still had his family around. If he was someone different in the past it doesn't make sense for his parents to fear him. They would've known about that, he probably had an alter-ego he had hidden. With the amount of secrets he has I can see that happening." analyzed Seth.

"Whatever he meant by that I don't think we should bring it up. He's clearly traumatized, even calling him by his real name might trigger some old memories he's hidden away," said Valen. "Caera, have you ever noticed anything that might be concerning?"

"No, I never had. He's really good at hiding from himself, I was the same. He was about to seal away his emotions when I found him. I'm glad he didn't though." I admitted.

"So we treat him as Grey!" said Mayla enthusiastically.

I started to pack up my stuff. Soon everyone other than Grey woke up as well. "So, how are we supposed to wake him up?" asked Mayla when she failed to get Grey up by shaking him.

"I find physical violence wakes him up pretty well. His body is stronger than the average person so he'll be fine." I explained as I pinched his side. "OW!"

"Good morning sleepyhead," I teased.

"Why are you like this?" Grey asked, still half asleep. I just gave him a smile.

Grey got up and started stretching before drawing his sword. "So since you all know of my abilities I'm not going to hold back anymore. Also, me and Caera found a structure but we wanted to console you guys so we ran back." explained Grey before the stone dome he created disappeared.

We made our way to the temple like building me and Grey found. It was built in the same style that the djins hideaway was. The one key difference was that a giant tree enveloped it almost entirely. We only knew it was a temple because of the interior. Strangely the roots of the tree didn't cover the entrance, but that was probably intentional.

We slowly approached the entrance, we immediately noticed that the darkness that plagued us no longer existed inside. Unfortunately the night vision effect was also nullified causing Grey to light a fire for us to see.

"Grey, how are you absorbing mana while moving?" asked Mayla. We all looked at her confused to see she was serious then we turned to Grey.

"I have a technique that allows me to. Don't ask how to though, it's only possible when the body is immature. I learned it when I was 4 and even then it was difficult, it took me four months to use it. Right now, I can only absorb 20% of what I can when meditating, it's not much but when maintaining a small spell like this fire my mana doesn't go down at all." Grey explained.

"You said that humans in Dicathen awaken at 11-13. How were you able to use mana at that age? Even we can only use mana at 5." asked Seth.

"I was an anomaly, I awoke when I was three, that's also when I started training." replied Grey. We all were at a loss for words.

"Anyway, let's get going, the relictomb won't clear itself." I said, bringing my guard up after I realized I dropped it. We kept walking and we started to hear a clunking noise.

As the noise approached Grey shot out a fire to see what it was. I heard Enola audibly gasp. What stood before us was a suit of armor wielding a halberd. The only difference between this one and a normal suit of armor was that this one was moving. It held itself like a warrior and started to rush us once it could see us clearly.

"Get ready!" yelled Grey. The armor targeted Grey first, bringing its weapon down causing Grey to parry it. I positioned myself to its right and slashed upwards at its side. My sword cut through the armor, which surprised me since I expected it to just scratch it. Despite the huge wound I inflicted the armor was unaffected and spun off its heel, kicking me in the gut. I flew back, stabbing my sword into the ground to prevent myself from flying into the wall.

Mayla fired her shotgun at close range, completely destroying it. The rest of the armor fell over backward, unmoving. "What was that?!" I yelled, annoyed.

"A golem or puppet of some sort. This place really wants to make our lives difficult," sighed Grey. "All right everyone, these things aren't alive which means they won't grow tired or feel pain."

"Looks like we need to either cut them in half or use blunt force. You guys saw how Caera's attack did nothing but Mayla's weapon one-shot it." said Seth.

We all groaned in annoyance. "Umm… guys, how many of you have ever done those mazes on the back of your cereal boxes?" asked Grey. Ignoring his weird remark we all looked forward to see… a maze. "It's like the tardis, bigger on the inside," commented Grey, we all looked at him confused, but Grey just shrugged. He wasn't wrong though. When we looked at the temple from the outside it was much smaller, in fact I assume we had already gone past the back.

"Grey, you wouldn't happen to know a way that allows us to get out of the maze with 100% certainty?" teased Enola. Grey just gave us a smug smile. "Just stick to the right side and as long as the maze isn't magic we'll get out regardless."

We all followed Grey's advice getting pretty far through the maze. The "3D"--as Grey calls it–bracelet map doesn't work inside the maze but that was to be expected. While traversing the maze we came across more of those armor sets. They never varied in build but they did seemingly have different weapons at random.

"I expected at least one trap or hazard that isn't more puppets." noted Grey, as if on queue we heard a click and looked down to see that Grey had stepped on a tile that had just sunk into the floor.

"Shouldn't have jinxed it." said Enola as saw blades came out of the walls and started to fly towards us. Before any of us could react, two giant spikes of stone appeared above the saws, sending them flying into the ground and stopping them before they hit us.

"Uhh… Care to enlighten on what you just did?" asked Mayla almost burning a hole into Grey with her questioning gaze.

"I stopped time, created the two spikes then unfroze time to knock the saw's down," explained Grey.

"I'm not even going to question it," sighed Enola.

"Best that you don't," I said.

"Why did a trap suddenly appear?" asked Valen who was trying to change the topic of conversation. "We're probably advancing through the maze, if I had to guess the monsters will probably also grow stronger," theorized Seth.

"I hate that you're probably not wrong," I groaned.

"Let's go, this maze won't solve itself." said Grey as he motioned us to continue forwards. We kept going through the maze, keeping to the right side at Grey's instructions.

As we kept walking we came across more moving armor sets that kept getting stronger the longer we walked. There was also a new monster, flying weapons. They were much more annoying compared to the armor sets. Their movements were irregular and since no one was wielding them we had to destroy it to defeat it.

By this time we were all growing tired so we decided to spend the night here. So we set up camp with Grey keeping watch. After confirming everyone was asleep I crawled over to Grey.

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

"No, you just make me feel safe," I said as I climbed into his lap and pressed my back against his chest. I then pulled a blanket over the both of us and closed my eyes.

"What are you, my girlfriend?" Grey teased. "Mhmm," I mumbled, I was secretly glad Grey couldn't see my red face.

"Thanks for putting up with me, I know I'm clingy. My parents never gave me much love." I said.

"You're not that clingy, just affection hungry. Not that it's bad or anything." Grey replied.

I felt my face warm, "Thanks Grey."

"Hey Grey, you have something in your pockets poking me in the back," I said.

"I don't have anything in my pocket- oh, sorry," Grey said, sounding a bit distressed. I ignored it and went to sleep.

GREY

Caera's breathing became rhythmic and she soon fell asleep. I mentally cursed myself for not keeping control and letting my hormones get the better of me.

Trying to take my mind off Caera sleeping in my lap I started to think about my past. Normally I would look back and see all the good memories but right now I can only think of them as painful. Instead of the expressions that should be there I can only see everyone's faces as the same as when I told them about my past. Instead, the loving face of my mother from when I returned from Elenoir was replaced with the expression of fear and disgust from when I told her my past.

Ellie, I left her, but it was better this way. I won't be there to remind her of what I am. Having me around will just hurt Reynolds and Alice, and by extension, Ellie. While Ellie probably misses me she'll be much happier with Alice and Reynolds.

But I want to hear her call out, "Brother!" at least one more time. I want her to wake me up for breakfast again. I want her to ask for help with magic. I want to hug my dear little sister again. I-I loved being a big brother.

I thought back to Sylvie. I miss her a lot but I know that if she's around me it'll only hurt her. She's much better with Tessia. Tessia is Sylvie's mama, I'm sure they're both happier without a monster like me around.

B-But I want to hold my daughter again, I want to fight over my food. I want to fall asleep with the small white fox in my arms. I-I want to hear Sylvie say "Papa," one more time.

Why? Why was I such an idiot? Why did I run away? Why did I throw away such a perfect life? Why was I such a fool to believe everything would stay the same?

Why?

Why? Why?

Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?

No, I didn't throw it away. Everyone took it from me. I told them. I told them who I was. I had no fault. I had no obligation to tell them. I could've kept quiet. I could've hidden it from everyone. But look at what they did to me.

Honestly, I'm thankful. Thankful for allowing them to let me know there are better people in this world. Thankful for showing me how little they really cared.

Blood is thicker than water? Ha. How delirious. The full quote is "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," and I intend to show them, show them all my new covenant, my new family. Not the one given to me at birth. This world really did try and screw me over.

I shouldn't hate all of Dicathen for the actions of a few. I may be filled with rage but that doesn't mean I'm not unreasonable.

Caera's light snoring woke me up from my internal conflict. Now my mind was racing through all of my memories of Alacrya. Every memory I have since coming here has Caera in it. She let me live with her despite me not telling her anything about myself. It wasn't even a "saved from danger" situation like with Tess. Actually, knowing how bad Caera was with taking care of herself before she could do it without a maid, she might've really died not knowing how to feed herself.

I sighed, man, now I really just want to go to sleep. I guess it has been a while, long enough for me to wake up Valen so he can take my place. There's no way to determine the time here so as long as I say it's been hours he'll believe me. I laughed to myself with an evil smile on my face as I shot a lighting bolt to wake up Valen.