Secret

Sunlight and the scent of hazel seed, Lavender sprouts, and dragon root flooded his senses as Seth slowly blinked awake. Just like the last time he was wounded, he awoke in a strange room with strange things. Plants hung from hollowed-out fire lamps, incense burnt on a table in the corner, sunlight parsed through flowers, and herbs, potted on the windows.

The room was large and clean, and lined with wooden shelves housing jars filled with floating animals, plants, and crystals. Next to the shelves were large work stations with mortars, beakers, bunches leaves, and crushed crystals.

At the corner of the room sat a dark-skinned woman with intricate tattoos strewn up and down her torso. Seth followed the near mesmerizing curves as they flowed in and out of her sleeveless dress. Sometimes when they emerged, they were the untamed like fire, other times, tranquil as water, eternal as earth, and fickle as the wind.

She sat down, leg crossed, eyes closed, bare feet, meditating, or perhaps circulating mana, he couldn't sense any mana coming from her.

"How long are you going to keep doing that?"

"What?" Seth croaked.

"Staring at my tattoos like that. I know we come from different cultures, but it's rude to stare in Mormon tradition, no?" Her accent was rich and exotic, almost singsong.

"I'm sorry if I stared, it's just I've never quite seen anything like it."

The woman white irises fell on her tattooed skin, "I suppose my tattoos are rather peculiar, even among my people."

She looked up to him, "I accept your apology, Atreus."

Seth fumbled to speak, "My name is Seth, not Atreus."

"Seth?" she said slowly and wrinkled her brow in thought. "No, Mother tells me you are Atreus, so that is what I will call you. She's never wrong, you know?"

Seth confusion compounded, who was this mother she spoke of, and who was she? She continued before he found the courage to ask her.

"You have completely recovered Atreus. I have healed your cuts and wounds, though I could do nothing for the poison," she said, peering deep into his eyes, worry etched on her face. She forced a smile and continued to speak,

"Sera will be by to see you before the day's end. She has something to discuss with you, I believe." She walked towards the door, muttering something to herself. Seth quickly spoke up just as she reached for the door handle.

"Thank you for healing me," he said. "But can I ask what your name is?" She turned back to him with an honest smile, "No. No, you may not. We are on the same team, so I suspect you will find out soon enough. Telling you outright will be boring, no?"

She pried open the door handle stepped outside. Just as the door was about to shut, she peaked back into the room and added, "Don't touch anything. A shirt and a trouser are under the bed if you need to change," and she let the door close.

"What an odd woman," Seth said, in thought. Her tattoos held a story she seemed reluctant to share. And he was confident he knew something of his imbalances and poison. His brow crinkled with worry. What if she found out about his blood core or infection. Those were his biggest secrets. If she were to share her discovery with the team- No, If she had told the team, he would be bound in chains, not laying in a healing chamber.

Even if she did find something, he suspected it was nothing too damaging. Sera was still around, and she admitted to being with the team. Everything was more or less the same, except with a new healer on board. There was no need to worry.

Seth sat up to inspect his healed body. He reached for his bandaged midsection and prodded with a cautionary poke. His belly was smother than he remembered, unmarred by the slightest blemish.

His battle wounds and scars from his youthful days of endless spars with his sister were gone. 'Perhaps it was one of the system's gifts,' he thought. "Gift," he spoke out loud. He thought the system a vindictive, petty entity the day before, but now he spoke of its gift. Just how far had the fallen in the span of a day. He pushed the thought aside. There was no room for bitter reflection. He'd already damned himself when he used blood magic in the forest; hypocrisy was a much lesser sin.

He inspected his fingers and biceps next, taking special care to flex the hand he'd nearly shattered during his fight. Though he expected some accelerated healing, he couldn't help but marvel at the immediacy of it all. He knew they hadn't been there for long, twelve hours- maybe twenty-four at the most.

He didn't keep some internal clock, but somehow he knew. He flipped off the sheet, got up from the mattress, and slid into the clothes the strange healer had left for him. It was soft- almost receiving.

He looked to the corner where she'd sat, circulating mana, unnoticed. He wondered if he could ever be that masterful. He could be, he thought. If he willed it so and worked hard enough, he could be.

Motivated, having just witnessed healer in action, he decided to meditate. He sat down crossed legged, and peered inward, into his mana core. He wanted to learn of the changes he felt after the battle in the forest. He had many questions and very few answers. He'd wanted to- the system willing- tip the scale or perhaps balance it out. Like all mages, he'd like very much to control his fate.

His core's space was as airy and boundless as he remembered. His darkness and tainted light conduit floated, tethered to his core by nearly intangible lines. In mana theory, it was said that harnessing greater power was only a matter of increasing the overall sizes of those colorless channels. His blood core sat at the edge of the space removed from the rest.

It had grown slightly larger since the last time he saw it, the energy less savage. It felt as though it was his own, yet some part of it remained obscured, unknowable to his near-omniscient eyes, while he was present in his space. Perhaps it was a distance that came housing energy that wasn't entirely yours. Perhaps.

A thin, nearly invisible crimson line ran from the core to his- it pulsed with power when Seth touched it- so small yet so potent. It was the result of the covenant he made when he used Blood Siphon for the first time.

An idea came to him as he mused. Perhaps, he thought, he could pull up the system screen here. He closed in eyes in concentration, and the screen appeared before him, now with his stat page in- the same stat page he laid eyes on he first awoke.

Name: Seth Ryall

Level: 2

Bp: 0/2800

Pp:

Race: Higher Human (level up to evolve race)

HP: 550/550

MP: 0/130

Strength: 25

Speed: 15

Stamina: 12

Intelligence: 5

Sense: 5

Days to death: 1062 days

Stat points: 2

Magical affinities: Darkness, corrupted light, Blood

Basic swordsmanship Lv 5, Basic Dagger arts Lv5, Basic Archery Lv 5, Basic Spearmanship Lv5.

Cruor's Aid: Blood siphon Lv.1 Blood refinement Lv.1, Life sense Lv.1.]

There were obvious increments in health and mana from using blood refinement and leveling up for the first time, but his MP was even lower than last time. Yet, during battle, he used a powerful blood spell that he didn't recall learning.

It was also notably absent from his skill page. He thought it would be perhaps under Cruor's Aid, like the other spells, but it wasn't. It was like some sleeping part of him awoke when he conjured up the spell. A shiver ran up his spine, and he turned to the core, and then to the system.

"What was that spell I used earlier during the battle?"

[The Bloodborn system has no memory of which spell you are referring to.]

"The latest one. The fight against the ghouls."

[The Bloodborn system has no memory of which spell you are referring to.] The system repeated the same answers again.

He opened his mouth to ask again but stopped as a thought came to him. The system knew what he was talking about. It was obviously keeping it from him. His initial thought about the system was right. It was unusual and malicious.

Trusting it wholly could prove fatal, yet he knew that he didn't have a choice. He found himself nearly overcame by the beast during the battle, if it weren't for the system's interruptions- as unpleasant as they may be, he would have died.

He shook off the thought and turned his attention to the skill points he saw near the bottom of the page. He dumped both into intelligence, as he had planned, and felt his mana core grow ever so slightly, in size as surges of energy traveled the crimson line.

Now he could cast a very small spell, he smiled, without fear of it failing mid-chant. His Mp jumped from 130 to 190. It was a fraction of what he had a few days back, but it will grow in time. He suspected that it would only take him days, at worst a month to gather the strength he'd lost, albeit in a different element, but it was progress nonetheless.

He found himself looking forward to understanding and ultimately mastering the new abilities he would gain with the system, even though he still didn't trust it. Life Sense sounded very much like an advanced version of mana sense, a spell every junior knight learned, something he could not manage back during the battle, not because he hadn't learned it, but because his mana core was empty. The system's instructions were still fresh in his mind. He spoke the words as he concentrated.

"Close your eyes and try to feel the energy oozing from the blood surrounding you. Once you tap into that energy, practice it until you can see it with your eyes."

On his first attempt, he drew power from the core using the crimson line after about thirty minutes of meditation. Large beads of energy flowed into his core. When they touched its white, near-translucent surface, they ignited, flooding his body with energy. The energy burned hot, and it took all of his mental strength to hold the blaze within. Till the effects of wild energy faded, he experienced no change in his sight.

The second time, the energy leaked away just like the first, but it took him considerably longer to rouse up the mana. The third time was easier, and the fourth and fifth. By the twelfth time, it took him about a minute to properly rouse beads of mana, but the outcome was more or less the same, he was beginning to see tints of green, blue, and orange leaking from plantlife and crystals, but nothing concrete.

He tried three more times, noting no change, and decided to give up for the time being. He'd see no quick-change today, he concluded and turned attention to darkness magic. He claimed his reward and read the tome that appeared before him in his space.

Like holy magic, it actually didn't control darkness, itself- the opposite of light- but rather a strange sixth element born from Giai- it channeled death itself, or rather pure chaos and decay. Where light brought warmth and seared with righteous fury, darkness devoured, bound, and poisoned.

It felt as though he studied light magic, but less entwined with religion and culture, it fascinated him. When it was time to draw in mana through his darkness conduit, he was nervous. He hoped it wouldn't be as challenging as wielding mana from his blood core, and when he tried absorbing from his conduit, he felt no resistance.

The energy freely flowed through the conduit, up the lines, and into his core. It pleased him to know that his mastery over holy magic transferred to other elements as well. Filling his mana core proved to be a simple task.

Within an hour, his tiny core was bursting with mana. He was ready to cast his first spell, producing a single string cloud of darkness, when he heard a knock on the door. He opened his eyes and found that all light was gone from the room, except for moonlight pouring through the open window, next to the bed he had laid in. A second, less-patient knock followed. Seth hurried for the door and twisted the door open, and Sera walked in.

She eyed him head to toe with vacant eyes. He suspected contained more emotion than they showed, "You lied to me Seth. And betrayed my trust. After I spoke on your behalf and found a team willing to overlook your inexperience." she said.

Seth's heart sunk. She knew. The whole team knows. He was wrong. He fumbled for words, "I... What are you talking about? I didn't-"

She raised her hand to quiet him and turned to the door, "the team is waiting for you, follow me." She turned around and calmly walked towards the door, not letting even a silver of her intention or emotions shine through. Seth followed quickly followed behind.

He tried several times to start up a conversation while they walked down the healing towers' stone steps. She ignored him entirely, without affording him so much as a look.

His heartbeat hastened, and sweat trickled down his pale face. He was in far more trouble than he realized. They stepped out of the healer's station and walked the cobblestone streets of the town. Acerno was a small town with a large fountain in the Townsquare, merchant's shops, and several inns and taverns.

Desperate to distract himself from the dangers the coming meeting might hold, he elected to revisit a game he and his sister played when they were younger.

Whenever their father dragged them on his yearly visit to the various Ryall vassal townships and villages, they entertained themselves by authoring rich histories for every new town they visited and compared them to each other.

His versions always won and were oftentimes more accurate. Though his fantastical histories of fallen races and gods never quite matched the recorded scripts in the history books, the local scholars always said otherwise, winking to him as they 'corrected' his sister.

It was the one contest that she could never best him at. He always won so effortlessly and spectacularly; it was absolutely humiliating. Tessa grew so determined to win that she began studying the history of the vassal towns in earnest.

Seth, of course, still won. He studied as hard as she did, if not a little harder, but bribed the local scholars just in case he lost by a margin. Till this day, she's never found out about his little trick.

With the fond memory of youth still fresh in his mind, he began.

Acerno was a small town with a large fountain in the Townsquare, merchant shops, and several inns and taverns. It was a hunting town, and they must rely on the Whispering Ash for sustenance. From the hostile stares and the townsfolk's grumbling, Seth speculated that they were not fond of mercenary mages.

Perhaps if he were still in his borderlander uniform, he would have received a warmer welcome, though he doubted that it would make a difference. Far as they were from Brightmont and other notable cities, half-baked mages like borderlanders must be no different from heretics and thieves, so they would have a guard force, of sorts, that relied heavily on magical tools to combat potential threats, Seth smiled. He'd call them-

His mind froze. He struggled to find a suitable name. Nothing quite felt right, and he tested and retested names, quietly speaking them out, careful not to let Sera hear. Frustrated, after mouthing over a dozen names, he quit. He found that he was more anxious and fearful than before he began the exercise. He sighed a defeated sigh and wordlessly trailed behind Sera.

Sera and Seth continued their walk down a winding path, deep into the seedier parts of town. It reminded Seth of the lower ring. It smelt of piss, beer, sex, potions, and death, with its inhabitants consisting of drunks and hunters. He frantically searched his surroundings as they walked, careful to keep an eye out for mages or traps.

Sera had stopped talking to him entirely, and experience reminded him that most often than not, pestering her further would only lead to more problems. When they arrived at their destination, Seth was shivering with fear, his body stiff with paranoia.

He couldn't think of an alternative that didn't lead to his capture or death. If he ran, he would be most likely caught by Germo and his team. Even if he did manage to escape them, he might run into another Blight ghoul. He had no choice but to sit through the meeting and expect the best.

They walked into a tavern with a hanging plaque with the words, 'winding weasel scribbled on top, and sat down in an empty corner at the back of the tavern, where the rest of the team were seated, waiting.

They all had empty plates in front of them, and talked in loud voices, and laughed. Seth settled beside Germo and Sera beside the woman who treated him earlier. He was surprised to see her, and even more so, to find that she was laughing as loud and drinking as much as the men. When she saw Seth, she mellowed down, color fading from her skin, "Atreus," she whispered.

Germo smacked Seth's back, laughing with his voice booming. "I heard you had a fair bit of strength, but it seems Sera's words don't quite cover just how much. When I found their bodies, I thought a team of local hunters went at them, and the Rank two beast, that was a pleasant surprise."

"You flatter me. I barely managed to kill beasts, as you all saw when you found me," Seth said, nervously. "If you didn't find me, I don't know what would have happened."

"Nothing apparently," Ren said with a wry smile. "Don't be modest. We saw your wounds. You might have collapsed out of exhaustion, but you would've recovered in hours. I would love to cross blades with you, see just how strong you are." She watched him with an appraising eye

"With that monstrous strength of yours, I reckon in a few years, you might be able to draw Dragonbane," Germo said with almost child-like enthusiasm. "But that is not why we called you here," he said, his voice suddenly stern. "We called you here to give you this," he pushed over a neatly bound cloth, with glowing bulges- Seth guessed, it was the cores of the ghouls he killed earlier.

A deep frown appeared on Germo's face as he opened his mouth to speak, and he looked over to every other member of his team. Ren and Brick had sad eyes, Sera's too. They were the saddest of all. Raylee looked indifferent, and the healer had barely visible crinkles around her eyes. She looked the most worried out of the bunch.

"I'm afraid this is as far as we go, Seth," Germo finally said while looking to Seth. "We know your secret."

Seth's face turned ashen. He should have run.