Chapter 3:

"See, I will send venomous snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you," declares the LORD. - Jeremiah 8:17

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A Few Moments Later

Current Year: 1252

God damn it. As soon as my mother said those words, I knew I was in trouble. Ivar Evil-Eye was the founder of the School of the Viper. It was created anywhere between 50-150 years ago when Ivar and his followers left the School of the Bear because of their differences on how the schools should operate.

Ivar was a witcher who had a great affinity to the mutations, similar to Geralt. Now some people would think that would be a benefit, they're dead wrong. It's actually quite unlucky to be singled out for having a greater affinity to mutation. A greater affinity means that the witchers and mages will simply subject you to further mutation experiments in order to make you into a better witcher. Most of the time, children who undergo these experiments die gruesome deaths, adding additional mutations on top of that only increases your risk. Ivar and Geralt are the only two witchers to have survived additional experiments.

While Geralt gained an overall stronger constitution, including faster reflexes, stronger muscles, increased durability and resistance to toxicity. Ivar gained something else. Ivar gained the ability to "see". It's a bit vague in the lore, but basically Ivar gained his moniker "Evil-Eye" after the mutations. His regular cat or viper yellow eye was instead red. This eye gave him the ability to "see" into other worlds.

The reason he left the School of the Bear was because through his eye, he was able to "see" The Wild Hunt. He thought that they were the greatest enemy to the world so he created the School of the Viper to gather as much information as he could on The Wild Hunt in order to defeat them. The lore rumored that Ivar was still alive and operating during the 12th century, but nothing had been confirmed as far as I know.

I'm not worried about Ivar though, from what I could tell, he was probably an alright guy if he was willing to fight The Wild Hunt. No, I'm more worried about the fact that he belongs to the School of the Viper. The School of the Viper was destroyed sometime in between now and 1270 when Geralt first met Letho while searching for Yennerfer. This isn't good, for all I know, the school could be destroyed next year!

Fuck, well I have no choice. I have to go with him now, I just hope the school isn't attacked till at least 1264. I'll already be 15 by then and will have already passed my Witcher trials. That's if I survive the trials in the first place.

My mother allowed me to pack my things, she also gave me copies of all her books on healing magic. It seems during the six months I was apprenticing with Gremist, she had been preparing for this day. She knew I was interested in magic, so she made sure I would be able to learn, even if I had to teach myself. I thanked her for this because even though I was going to be a witcher, I was a source. I was sure as hell was going to learn some goddamn magic.

After I was all packed, I held my mothers hand as she led us away towards the outskirts of the village. There I saw the man, Ivar-Evil Eye. He was sitting atop his horse, it's color was the shade of midnight black and it looked imposing. I took a look at Ivar himself. His hair was extremely gray compared to the picture I had seen of him in my past life, but he looked similar enough. Slicked back hair and a strong scowling face. He also had the famous cat or viper like witcher eyes, except one of them was red instead of yellow.

Ivar came down from the top of his horse and came to greet us. Slowly he walked over. He stared at my mother first, then he looked at me, taking notice of my ears. He looked like he expected me to have them. His eye can apparently "see" after all. Maybe he knows which of the red riders is my fath- Biological Father. I had to remember that I had no father, not one that meant anything to me. All I have is my mother.

"Been a long time Revna, how are the druids holding up since last time?" Ivar spoke, his voice deep and gravely.

My mother stared at him and then looked at me with sadness. She clearly didn't want to send me with this man. After all, only three out of ten boys survive the trials to become a witcher. She tore her eyes away and stared back up at Ivar.

"They are fine, Ivar, just a bunch of stingy men and women alway talking about the sanctity of nature. Nothings changed." She said with the ghost of a smile on her face.

Ivar gave a small chuckle at that.

"As expected. Well, let's get down to business. Is this the boy?" He asked the obvious.

"Yes, this is Harkon. Say hello sweetie." She said as she looked at me. I looked at her and then at Ivar, finally I decided to speak to my new teacher.

"Good evening, Master Ivar. I heard that ye saved me mother from certain death. I would like to thank you for your effort." I spoke, allowing my skelligan accent to flourish.

Ivar smirked in amusement.

"Yer a good lad, young one. It's a shame you need to become a witcher. Perhaps you could have made a fine diplomat." He spoke while smiling at me.

I thanked Ivar for his compliments and then I hugged my mother goodbye. I told her I would be thinking of her every step of the way on my journey towards becoming a Witcher. I then gave Ivar my pack full of my belongings and another bag containing my books on healing magic. Then he hoisted me up, as I was still small, on to his horse and we prepared to head off.

We started moving down the road and I looked behind me to see my mother waving at me and saying that she loved me. I waved back and smiled at her. I sure was going to miss her, especially so considering I was about to undertake some of the harshest training in my life.

We got further down the road when Ivar deigned to speak with me.

"So kid, I'm gonna tell you the plan just in case anything happens, alright?" Ivar asked me, waiting for my response. I told him I understood and beckoned for him to continue.

"Alright, so we're going to travel for a couple hours now until we reach the port. From there we're gonna hire a boat to take us to Cintra. From there, we're going to travel on horseback towards the northern and central parts of Nilfgaard. From there we will continue until we are at the dividing line of the Korath Desert. Near the dividing line is Tir Tochair, a series of mountain ranges. This is where our School of the Viper is located. Did you get all that?" He asked. I nodded and told him I understood.

"Good. So tell me about yourself kid. It's going to be a long journey, and from what your mother told me before I picked you up, you seem to be quite interesting." Ivar asked, his words full of honey.

My manipulator senses were tingling. I have a feeling he's trying to probe something specific out of me. I don't know what though. If he can supposedly see into other worlds, and he can even see The Wild Hunt, shouldn't he know of my origins? Or maybe he's trying to see how much I myself know of what I am? Well, it doesn't matter. I'll just tell him something a kid would say.

"Well, master Ivar, I'm a fairly normal kid. I like reading. My more interesting hobby is my practice in alchemy. I was an apprentice to our master alchemist, Gremist, before we left. I enjoy learning new things, especially if they involve something special like alchemy or magic." I said with an upbeat tone. Ivar just stared at me and smirked.

"Kid, you're a hundred years to young to think you can outwit me. For a witcher, lying is part of the job description. Gonna have to do better than that. Before I took you from the village, I asked around about you." Ivar said with a smile that said he had me, right where he wants me.

Damn it, alright. He's right he has way too much experience to be deceived. I should just act like my normal self. I don't want him to dislike me, I actually think we could be good friends.

"Well that was quick," I said with a smile before continuing. " Pray tell master Ivar, what do the others say about me?"

"HA! Knew you were acting, your good kid, smart too. That will serve you well. Well, I can say that you're generally disliked among your people, however that's no surprise. People like us, non-humans and mutants, have to learn to deal with it." Ivar let out a bit of a laugh before continuing.

"Your old master, Gremist. He had some things to say about you. 'Told me you bartered a whole bag of spirit in order to become his apprentice. HA! He said you stole it from the homes of the town drunks while they were out bingeing! Then he said that when you actually were an apprentice you caused him so many headaches. He said that your appetite for knowledge disgusted him, just gave him more work to do." Ivar spoke while smiling at me.

"Damn Gremist, always mouthing off. I'll repay him one day" I replied.

"Alright, that's enough chit chat for now. Maybe read some of the books you have, it's gonna be a couple more hours." Ivar advised and I concurred, but not before he gave me something.

"Here take this" Ivar said while handing some sort of cloth hat.

"What is it?" I asked. Looking at the strange garment he had given me.

"It's a military chaperon," He replied. "Should cover your ears pretty well. You look human, so we shouldn't draw much attention with you wearing that."

I looked at the garment. It was the same type that roche wore in the game. However, mine is dark gray instead of black, and the white lining that goes across the ears is a venomous green, whereas roche's was white. I thanked Ivar for the gift and put it on.

We spent the rest of the way in moderate silence, with me asking a few questions here and there. Finally, after a few hours, we had arrived at the port.

Ivar talked to the ship manager and procured us a ride to Cintra. We boarded the boat and Ivar's horse was stowed below the deck. We had our own room, but only one bed so I slept on the floor. He was the master Witcher after all and he told me he was teaching me respect. That's rubbish though, he was just being stingy and didn't want to spend his coin on two rooms.

As I drifted off to sleep, I started to fantasize about the adventures I was going to have. Monsters, magic, swords, and sorceresses. Life was looking up. I would soon regret these thoughts when my actual witcher training begins, but meh, that's for my future self to worry about.