Fear!!

"You must have enrolled in the academy" Nheico declares while looking down at the rune screen.

"I guess so… I just got here" not knowing the arrangement being made, Chris opted to reply vaguely.

Nheico began to give off the vibe of a instructor as she began to explain a few basics to Chris, as it turns out she did process a lot of information.

The Life level was a part of the Hex that recorded the level of life one had attained from their practice, so it was a self-explanatory one. But one had to bear in mind that nothing was never as it seemed with the hex, but that's all anyone had gleaned from it or at least what was available to the general public. Her personal opinion from self-study and research was that though Life level mostly corresponded to ranks, there were some outliers that had either a higher life level or a lower life level at any given realm. Or that for a life level higher than its rank had to be from a sort of special physique or bloodline, the reverse could be from a curse or something similar.

Ranks where simpler as they were purely the efforts Mysterys put into their practice, the tiers were the sub-steps within each rank a mile stone of sorts. For the Body Transformation rank the first was bone refinement: the refinement was done by the conversion of natural Mystery to whatever talent affinities each Mystery possessed, for an example say one had an ice affinity related talent; their bones would be refined with the mysterious essence converted to the ice attribute thereby becoming natural ice bones.

The same process was true for any other affinity, they naturally took on the benefits and detriments of their physique. The blood and the internal organs for the subsequent tier went through the same process, each with its subtleties and was individualistic.

Having listened to Nheico so far Chris was forced to acknowledge the fact that though she had a vague way of explaining things, she was a better choice than having to research by himself.

"As a practitioner cultivation should be a personal adventure, its ok to seek help once in a while" Nheico said with a sage look on her face while Chris just nodded to everything she said. "Following someone else's path can limit your enlightenment and foil your self-exploration"

"That wraps up what I think you should be privy to" Nheico said to Chris while getting up from her seat.

"Are you always here?"

"Yes, but not in floors you have access to… yet" she replied his question while walking away.

Watching Nheico until she left his view, Chris got up and headed out hoping to go back to his room and get some much needed rest.

"…its at the east of the island city, we would meet up with Radis there and from there we would embark… "

Chris could catch a bit of their conversation before he left the library, the weak light of the sun was already high in the sky. Chris had not yet figured out the pattern to the suns appearance, because it seemed inconsistent and random at times and its glow was like a dying ember or you could picture it as the last glow of the setting sun.

He was too tired mentally to care about the randomness of the sun or the conversation of the trio, all he could think about was going back and having a bath. It wasn't hot, but the ocean had an effect on the city coupled with a strange dryness. It was a messy weather.

Stepping into the reception area of the base building and making a straight line for the elevator, with so many people all around the floor. All the hair at the nape of Chris's neck stood on end and he crouched to the ground subconsciously in a battle-ready stance, he felt at that moment death was at his side and its hands where reaching out to him.

Looking around and not seeing anyone in his immediate vicinity, Chris was sure someone had brushed past him and his instincts were never wrong.

A few people had noticed his actions netting him gazes that practically said 'crazy' in them.

Clearing his throat and straightening his posture with a look of embarrassment on his face, Chris went on his way…

"Did that kid just spot you?" asked a female voice

"He did not" came a curt reply.

"What was with that reaction?"

"I don't know, why so many questions"

"Why are you nonchalant about this" the unknown female asked

"Because it would not matter soon." Came the same curt voice with a tone of finality.

It was quiet for a while as the unseen female thought of it for a while, she replied with a tinge of helplessness in her voice. "That makes sense"

Everywhere they went, no one took notice of them like they were invisible and no obstacle could halt their path.

"This show will be great, because it is my final act" said the male voice no one could see.

…

Walking into a large courtyard that looked like it came out of a fairy-tale legend, no one was around and it was one of the few odd houses that could be seen in the whole city. Most houses were high rise buildings and oddly shaped, but this… this one was mundane, everything about it was so mundane that it got one thinking. This was the most fictitious thing about it.

"Nerium…" a voice called. Walking into a side hall in the courtyard and bowing to his waist in subservience and piety, Nerium spoke to the voice.

"Everything with Princess Layla is on track, there were no deviations with your plans… though we ran into someone interesting on our way back" Nerium said again after a slight pause deliberating how much of the information on hand to release. "We ran into one of those special type Mysterys"

"hmm" the voice hummed for him to go on.

"Though we know nothing about him yet, I have our best men keeping a close eye on him. He was in the company of one of the fingers of Delphi, so I don't expect much from any kind of scrying on our part"

"For now he is inconsequential to our plans, but it wold be wise to keep an eye on him maybe draw him close to us and get him on our side" said the voice. "Think of it as an early investment… every 'special' Mystery like him have a few things in common"

"Like what father?" Nerium asked while looking up from his bowed position and straightening up.

The voice who was a man looking to be in his late 20s with beautiful forest green hair, and a gorgeous masculine face with a sharp jawline. He replied looking as though he was about to pick a bone for Nerium's calling him father

"They grow strong very fast, that's one of what makes them special"

"Father, what about your meeting with the island lord?"

"Give a full report to the council elders when you leave" Nerium's father said dismissing him.

…

At the same time somewhere at the heart of the city, at the top of the tallest structure in Havenridge. Layla stood at the first suite of the Dawn hotel facing towards the bustling streets that would have all looked like a meshed-up blur to an ordinary human, or moving dots to a Mystery her rank… but being an archer her eyes were one of her strongest assets.

She liked to look at far distances as a sort of passive training.

"Uncle Chaiyn do you think they bought my act?" Layla asked.

"Looking from an outside perspective, I would say yes but… his responses were a little bit rehearsed" a voice that could not be seen replied right beside her ears.

"So no?"

"Not exactly young mistress, he has his own scheme"

"hmm"

Still looking out the glass wall, Layla cocked her head in interest as though she just spotted something interesting. "What have you found out about the boy, the one from earlier?"

"There were no conclusive information about him readily" the voice Chaiyn paused while ruminating on the information at hand about the subject. "According to the information we've been able to dredge up on him, he suddenly appeared in a settlement area we boarded from."

An intelligent look totally different from the haughty look she had been wearing in front of Nerium flashed in her eyes "How much do you think 'flowering thorns' know about special classes?" Layla wondered out loud…

"Keep a close eye on the flowering thorns… no need to interfere in their schemes with the boy. Father always says its best to let nature take its course with them" Layla said to the unseen voice she referred to as uncle Chaiyn.

Though if felt more like she was giving a warning to herself more than she was giving one to the shadow, she wasn't a fearful person though she took caution to another dimension.

"My lady, I believe the boy may be inconsequential to the families plan. You are just being influenced by your father's fears." The invisible Chaiyn said in a gentle tone.

"My father maybe a lot of things, but anyone who takes his warnings as a jest is a true fool."Layla held her father's words and views in very high regard, her father always taught her to revere 'fate'… those who thought little of fate and lived to tell the tale were only a handful.

"You can defy the heavens"

"You can trample the earth" there was a reminiscent look on Layla's face as she spoke"But you must revere fate, for there is no going against fate." Layla had the same sorrow in her words that were always in her fathers every word.

It may have been from a past experience, research, or just purely from the fact that as an oracle her father was wired to revere fate. But he had done a terrific job of passing on that reverence to Layla much to her mother's chagrin.

Her mother despised her father's cowardice in the face of fate, she always said her father was controlled by fate only because he let fate control him. Her argument always brought forth the fact that other known Oracles and Seers stood above fate, but her father always laughed in the face of that statement.

Thinking about it for a bit, Layla made up her mind on something "My father always said fate was a scary thing" she walked away from her previous spot in front of the glass wall heading to the bedroom."Let me see what that is all about"