Chapter 27

During the trip back to Grathum he was confused, he had left abruptly, normally he would have taken the time to say goodbye to the group, he hadn't even figured out the necromancers name, where she came from or any information about her at all for that matter. It was unlike him very much so, he wondered just how much this mind magic influenced his thoughts.

It was truly bothering him, the choices he made perhaps not being his own. The more he thought about it the more frustrated he became, Crimson pressed her snout against him trying to reassure him with a rumbling purr. He patted her flank, sighing. He realised there was nothing to be done about it now but that did not make it easier to accept or process the feeling of being controlled.

He spent most of the three day trip lost in his own thoughts, Crimsons presence was enough to deter anything that thought attacking them would be a good idea. Faster than he would have thought possible he stood in front of Vyria's compound again, with a deep breath he knocked on the gate, he waited, hands clenched for her to open the door. When she finally did her appearence once more took his breath away. It took him a few moments to get his bearings back.

"I solved the problem the villagers of Snowhome where having, things should have calmed down now." He told her.

She smiled at him, "Yes Reginald told me about the necromancer, and how you helped talk her down. After valiantly fighting off hordes of undead, quite an heroic tale the way he told it."

Three coughed and felt the heat rise to his cheeks, "Yes well, only doing what I can, same as anyone would."

She stepped closer, a gentle smile on her face. "I think you are of a rare breed Three, not many would have selfessly done what you did, I heard from Reginald that you suspect mind-magic to be the cause of that."

Three blanched, Reg had already told her about it. "Take a breath Three, the choices you made, no matter if they were influenced by others, were the right ones as far as I and the others you have helped are concerned. Mind magic, no matter how powerfull, will only strengthen certain aspects of yourself. So if you are worried that you are not a decent person, and only the mind magic makes you just, you can rest at ease."

Some of the pressure left Three's shoulders. He locked gazes with Vyria, his heart pounding at their proximity, the rush of blood pounding through his ears as he tried to keep focus. "It is dangerous none the less, some secrets are not meant to be shared."

She nodded, her raven colored hair shaking with the movement, her crystal blue eyes met his once more. "Then allow me to take a look."

She lead him to one of her rooms, telling him to take a seat in a large leather recliner. She pulled a stool over and sat next to him, she put her hand on his hand, gently squeezing. "This won't hurt, but it will feel... odd."

He nodded, rolling his shoulders as he settled back into the leather. Oddly conscious of the physical connection between their hands. He tried to calm his heart, to no avail. She gently put her hand on his forehead, causing his heartbeat to speed up even more. He felt a chill as the temperature dropped slightly, a white haze materializing from her fingers.

She pulled her hands back and frowned. Three saw the expression and felt his heart clench, "Whats wrong?"

"I can't get my magic to manifest properly, it keeps getting... torn apart." She stared at her hands in confusion.

"Because of the mind magic?"

"No it's not the mind magic, it should not be anywhere near powerfull enough to do this, I can't get my magical sequences to line up properly. It's comparable to trying to catch water with a net, I simply can not hold on to them, they disperse before I can get them to do what I want them to." She started tapping her chin with a finger.

"I think this has something to do with that core you told me about, from what I heard from you and Sumi, whom I have had several conversations with over the past week orso, you are the one who physcially changed the least, Correct?"

Three nodded, "I grew a bit, and my muscles are... odd. But other than my skin becoming pale and my eyes turning black nothing much has changed."

"My point exactly, the others are made of completely different substances, Sumi isn't even made from flesh and bones, same can be said for Fliít and Jer as I understand, yet your body stayed remarkably human, so that leaves the question, what did change?"

Three folded his hands in thought. She spoke true, he had always felt different from other humans, yet compared to the others he was the most similar to a human. The hags would not have gone through all that trouble for a simple muscle enhancement, it did make him stronger but not enough that it was comparable to the invulnerability that Jer and Fliít enjoyed to common weaponry. What if his defences weren't actually focused on the physical as theirs but had been but on the magical aspect. He shared his thoughts with Vyria.

She nodded, "I was thinking the same, there are few creatures capable of this, the ones that are most prominent in the dismanteling of mana are the Dread Lords."

"Dread Lords?" Three asked, he had never heard of such a creature.

"Dread Lords are a mysterious creature, they are humanoid in appearence, but no one has actually seen what one is made off, they wear the shadows themselves as their armor, they incite fear in those around them from their sheer prescence. What makes them the most dangerous however, is how any magic used in their proximity is chaotic, the magic user can lose control of their magic, in some instances the results are disasterous."

Three blinked, was that the core of the creature that had been pressed inside of him. How had the hags even managed to acquire the core of such a creature. Another question immediatly sprung to mind.

"If my core dismantles magic cast at me, or near to me. Then how did they plant the mind magic inside of me?" Three asked.

"I am not sure, the most likely option would be that they planted the mind magic before they implanted the core. Magic that already has a presence might be harder to dismantle, especially if it is tied to the physique, but that is all speculation on my part."

"So in the end we are left with more questions than answers." Three concluded.

Vyria smiled gently at him, "While I cannot remove the mind magic, at the least not yet, I can tell you what its purpose is." She grabbed one of his hands in both of hers. "It amplifies your trust, you trust people easily, it also instills in you the need to help people, to save those in trouble."

Three frowned, "Why would they implant such a magic in my mind? It does not make sense, why destroy our minds to froce us to kindness in the end." He started wringing his hands, uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"Your guess is as good as mine, you will have to confront these people and ask them yourself, although I am sure that moment is still a while off. For now be sure that the magic does no harm to you or others, now that you are aware of it and what it does, you will find that it has far less of a hold on you." She patted his hand.

Three nodded standing up, "Thank you for the help, I have to go see my friends. I have been away for a while and need to make up for my absence." He noticed Vyria's eyes wandering over his bare chest, the scrutiny causing the heat to rise back to his cheeks.

With a brief shake of her head she focused her gaze on his eyes. "I would love to have you visit again, perhaps we can..." She coughed, "Have a dinner some time to talk about our theories and stuff."

Three smiled, "I would love that, I will make sure to come by sometime soon to plan this dinner. For now I have some making up to do."

Vyria walked with Three back to the entrance, she watched him go with longing in her eyes, when he dissapeared over the hill she smacked herself in the head.

"Theories and stuff?" She stomped her foot, "Smooth Vyria smooth, you are the model of sensuality, al these men asking for your hand in marriage and you can't even ask a boy to dinner properly what is wrong with you!"

She stomped her way back into the compound muttering about her incompency.