The Second Lineage

I tried a number of times to break away from Kloan but he just kept steering me in with his arm around my shoulders. His movements were just subtle enough to avoid my full suspension that I was being controlled, but there was no reason for him to be this insistent that I accompany him back to the bunkhouse.

"I just don't want to give the Captain and Vulferam the wrong impression." I said.

"Who gives a shit about what they think? Offering a discounted room is the least they can do for a hero like you. I mean it, how many more would be dead if it wasn't for you. We could all be laying by the roadside right now if it wasn't for you." He said.

That was definitely a bit of an exaggeration. Did he think that because I was young that I would go along with him just because he puffed up my ego? Why even bother? From what I heard he held his own at the back of the caravan. If I wasn't there he would have had a chance to play a bigger role. Was he jealous?

I was still trying to figure out what he was trying to achieve when he steered me down an alley. It was darker than the lamp lined streets with only a little light coming from a few closed windows and the full moon in the sky. A number of old crates and other debris lined the alley. From what I could tell we were still heading towards the bunkhouse. But this was a place that you took someone if you didn't want anyone to see your actions.

When Kloan shifted his weight I was ready. I let my sack fall from my shoulder between us, intercepting his dagger. Rolling out of his grip I pulled out my sword and circulated my aura to its full extent. Entering into a defensive position, I scanned my surroundings to make sure he didn't have any back up.

"Oh, you are good. The notice did say you were expertly trained. It does make me a little curious about who wants you dead this badly." He said.

"You should know better than me." I said.

"The hall just gave a description and a reward. I wasn't too sure it was you until I saw you fighting during the attack. You're definitely skilled for your age. Are you really 18 like they say?" He said.

Questions about my age were actually common, I was considered a prodigy. So I ignored that. I wanted information of my own and despite his causal stance I had a feeling that he was ready to defend or attack as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

"The reward must be rather substantial for you to join a merchant caravan and spend months heading north." I said.

"Ha, that's the best part, it was all luck. I get bored between assignments from the Hall, so I tend to just travel the trade routes. I must have been blessed by the One with Golden Lips before birth because of the number of open marks I stubble upon." He said.

The Hall must refer to the Hall of Assassins. It actually made me doubt that my father had ordered the contract. He hated their existence. If my father wanted someone dead, he had his own people for that.

"Huh, so I just had bad luck. Does that mean no one else knows I'm in Torinheim?" I asked.

"Fishing for information? Since you're going to die, might as well let you know. There was no way I was going to risk someone poaching you. So yeah, no one else knows where you are." He said.

"Good." I began to circulate my Osgar lineage to prepare my defense and for the first time in months I accessed my other lineage. My sword began to glow a light blue.

"What an interesting Lineage you got there. The Lydos like to control who has access to their Lineage. Are they the ones that want you dead?" He said.

Without answering I lunged forward. His own sword quickly left its sheath to parry as his dagger, now in his offhand, countered. While I was able to block the blade with my lineage, I still felt the force of the impact. His speed and strength were much greater than mine, forcing me on the defensive. I then realized that his aura was that of an expert. Even with the defensive power of the Osgar Lineage, I still started to take a few smaller wounds.

Knowing that this was a kill or be killed situation and that there was no one to see our duel, I didn't hold back on using my magic. My motes of air orbited my mana core making my body lighter, allowing me to increase my speed. Earth motes started their own movements making my stance firmer.

"What a monster you are? Not only do you have a high noble Lineage but you got some decent magic in you. I just hope your heart turns into a core for me." Seeing greed in his eyes, Kloan picked up the pace of his attacks.

My father was the Duke of the western province of the kingdom. His wife was the eldest daughter of the Duke of the south eastern province. The Lydos family had their own lineage that was considered as powerful as the Osgar families.

Anyone could learn the novice level of a Lineage aura. How far you could go in a Lineage depended on your parentage. The children of those that mastered the novice stage had a chance to enter the intermediate stage. Mastering the intermediate stage gives your children a chance to enter the expert stage and so on. The more of your ancestors that excelled in a lineage aura, the easier it was to learn and the higher you could advance.

My father was a master of the Osgar Lineage before he was married to the eldest daughter of Duke Lydos, who was also a master of her Lineage. Most nobles didn't get married until they reached a certain point in their Lineage. This allowed their children the best chance to excel.

It didn't mean that a parent could pass down more than one lineage. Duke Osgar was also an expert in the Brennus Lineage through his mother but I would find it difficult to even gain a footing in the Novice stage. Whichever one you trained to the Intermediate stage first tended to be the one that was passed down to your children.

This knowledge had always been a burden growing up. The woman that was supposed to be my mother didn't have a Lineage aura. She had been a maid for the Lady of the house before seducing my father and getting pregnant with me. Afterward she was given the rank of concubine. Over a hundred years ago, such a title wouldn't have existed but a plague decimated the noble houses resulting in many of them having to recognize their bastards as heirs.

The day that Lady Osgar gave birth to my father's official heir I was also born. My half brother Eadri and I were trained together in almost all aspects. In the future I was to be his right hand and I was fine with this fate, I love my brother. The only training he received that I didn't was training in the Lydos Lineage.

It was best to cultivate energy for that Lineage during a full moon. Starting when we were six Lady Osgar would take Eadri to a grove on our property to practice, eventually taking my other half siblings with him. I started to sneak out to watch when I was eight. To improve the Osgar Lineage you followed a pattern of quick breaths in, while exhaling slowly. All while intense weights are placed on key points of the body.

The Lydos Lineage involved calm shallow breaths while practicing fluid movements under the moonlight. The first time I saw Lady Osgar dancing in the moonlight, I was mesmerized. To this day it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It made me want to learn the lineage and so I practiced in secret. Once I understood the moves from watching them in the grove, I would sneak off to my own secluded spot to practice.

Just before our eleventh birthday I was able to step into the Novice Stage. I wanted to show my family what I had achieved but held back when I learned that Eadri hadn't been able to achieve the Novice Stage yet, while our oldest younger sister had entered the early part of the Novice Stage. That didn't seem possible. Not only did he have two years more experience but Lady Osgar was a master instructing him personally. How could someone with no connection to the Lineage be able to learn it without proper training while a direct descendant couldn't?

There was only one reason. By this point I had had hundreds of strange dreams about another world and was trying to convince myself that they weren't real. But there was a dream that didn't come from another world, it felt like a memory from this world, maybe my first memory. It was the memory of my birth.

Right after the strange entities in masks gave me their blessings. I could hear my cries and the first face I saw was the midwife followed by my father. Then I was handed to the woman that gave birth to me. It wasn't the face of the woman that called me son but that of the beautiful black haired Lady Osgar.

She held me close and I could feel the love from her. That night as I lay in my crib a woman placed another baby next to me as she took me out. When we arrived back in her room she placed me in another crib and said, "Don't worry little one, I will be your mother now. Be a good boy and support your brother. Just make sure not to cause me any trouble when you're older."

It was the reason I tried so hard to convince myself none of it was real because of the harm it could cause my brother and father. The only point of envy I had toward Eadri was the love his mother showed him. My mother wasn't neglectful, I just didn't feel real love from her, not in the way Lady Osgar showed it to her children. I feared I made the whole incident up out of jealousy.

I had been at the peak of the Novice Stage of the Lydos Lineage for months before the incident. I had planned to show my father my breakthrough at the next full moon, leaving it up to him to decide what to do. If I could enter the Intermediate Stage while my brother struggled in the Novice Stage, it would prove our true parentage. It would also mean my life on Earth actually happened.

Then I was falsely accused of a heinous crime and my father tried to have me killed. I faked my death as best I could and hid in the capital for several months before making my way north. I had many opportunities to breakthrough but my own fear kept me from learning the truth.

With the full moon overhead I changed my stance. While a life and death situation wasn't the best place to breakthrough, Kloan had the slight advantage right now. I needed whatever I could get to live through this.