I wait for death to come.

And wait.

And wait.

After a minute, I open my eyes to see the Gnoll had stopped breathing and was laying on my chest, completely still. Thousands of volts transmitted directly into its body had killed the thing, bloodloss and other minor injuries adding to its inevitable demise and my compressed chest.

The monster is HEAVY and I can barely breathe.

"Well, I guess that's enough of that."

I feel an immense weight lift off my body. Finally! Air! I can breathe!

Taking a deep breath turns out to be a mistake though, as my muscles do their best to drown me in pain.

Short, panting breaths it is then.

I turn my head to the left and see my savior standing above me, looking down at the sorry state of her son.

"That was impressive, my star. I didn't expect you to do so well, and you didn't even use your mana until the very end. Well, you obviously used strength beyond your means and you would have died if your body wasn't this strengthened, but I'm proud of you for listening. Though, if you were going to use your strength, you might as well have used your mana," Emily said while looking down on him.

"Why... not... help?" I barely manage to squeak out through pained breaths.

"Help you? Trial by fire, remember? What if I wasn't here at all? I would have stepped in if it had gotten bad, but you never truly needed my assistance, did you? Your gambit paid off. If you had just one more person in your group, you would have won splendidly. Using that ingenuity covered the gap. I am truly surprised I never had to intervene. Congratulations," she finished, a smile as bright as the sun beaming down towards me.

Emily laughs and sits cross-legged on the ground by Alexa, dragging her upper body into her lap. She then pulls out what looks to me like a washcloth and begins soaking it with her mana to clean Alexa's wounds, starting with her wing.

Either that or she was tormenting the poor girl with a rag shaped weapon. I'd like to say it's the former, but after what she just made us go through... I'm skeptical.

"Alexa won... this. Is she... ok?"

"She is fine for the most part, just exhausted. She channeled more mana out of the air into that last spell than I've ever seen her use. What was that you two did?" she asks. "I've never seen someone extend lightning that far away from their body before."

"Hurts to talk... explain later." I choke out.

Breathing is a damn chore and she wants to have a full blown conversation with me. Rude.

Jokes aside, I hurt like hell but I can't help but feel satisfied. I wasn't exactly confident at the end there, but we pulled it off.

It feels good to win.

"Ow, OW! Be a little more gentle, pl-OW!"

Emily had started attending to my wounds. About thirty minutes had gone by, but nothing had really changed. My breathing is more stable and no longer hurts for that matter, I stopped where I was still bleeding with the tiny amount of mana I'd recuperated, Emily carried Alexa(still sleeping) closer to me and had begun cleaning my injuries, and I could move.

Not very much, granted, but I could still move. I didn't though, it freaking hurt. About as much as Emily while she tries to hel-

"OW!"

"Oh stop whining. You have to clean your gashes out properly, healing magic doesn't always fix an infection," she says, but I'm starting to see her in a new light after this.

Maybe that guard was right. I'll have to thank him later for attempting to save me.

A few more minutes go by in this manner.

"Thank you for fixing her first."

Emily doesn't respond. Instead, she creates more warm water to rinse out the rag.

After a few more seconds of her thinking about what to say, I speak again, "I'm not mad. I mean it. She would have been miserable if she saw the state her wing was in. At least now she'll be able to begin to heal it right away. After that, she can fix my sorry state."

Triggered by my last words, Emily looks over at my face, trying to hide a sad expression. It's obvious seeing us like this is getting past her hard exterior now that she's done being a drill instructor.

"Why don't you at least heal your internal injuries?"

"Oh come on mom, I'm supposed to be the one in pain here. I'm ok. Practice breeds habit. If I have to pretend I don't have mana, I should do it all the time, not just when it's convenient," I reply.

"There is no one in the area. It would be fine if you did."

"No, it's alright. It'll give her something to do when she wakes up anyway. I like it when she dotes on me," I say with a smile, getting a chuckle out of Emily.

"Well maybe I should clean your pants before she wakes up then, you smell horrible," she replies with a grin and a teasing tone, causing me to blush. It's too dark in here for her to notice though.

I look down at my waist and sniff the air. I can't tell exactly how bad it is, but I know I stink.

"Can you drag me behind that pillar over there instead and leave me with the rag? I don't want... I'd rather handle it."

A man has his pride and mine had been stripped of me when I first came to this world. They did everything for me. It was horrible. I have to do everything I can to try and build it back up.

"Let me take care of you, you can barely move," she says.

"Mom, no. Please. Just drag me over. I'd rather fight that Gnoll again than let you... please?"

"Fine. You're so stubborn... I barely ever get to be a mother you think he could rely on me at least a little..."

She finally relents and unceremoniously drags me behind a pillar of rock. She props me up against the rock on my back, sitting up, before dropping the rag and heading back to Alexa, mumbling something I pretend not to hear.

I start to clean myself up. I'm a wreck, my body is sore everywhere, my jaw hurts like hell... better than being dead I suppose. Better than all those animals, people, monsters... whatever you want to call the things I killed.

Every single one, dead now, because of me. Their screams- no. Stop. Now isn't the time for this. They're dead because they attacked you and nothing else. Think about it later. For now, just clean yourself. They were monsters. It doesn't matter.

With that, I focus on my task and finish cleaning my lower half, calling out for Emily. She comes around the corner and picks me up before depositing me next to Alexa who had woken up while I was away.

Alexa looks... better than I thought she would, kneeling on the ground while sitting back on her heels. Not crying, but definitely not happy. She has a neutral expression.

I'm a little worried, to be honest. Any emotion is better than... well no emotions. I decide to try humor and see where she stands.

"Good morning Alexa, did you sleep well?"

She looks down at me but says nothing. I can see her wing stitching itself up as the seconds tick by; perhaps she is focusing on that. Hopefully she is focusing on that.

Words not working, I lay on my back and rest my head on her lap. She looks down at me but again, says nothing. She is struggling with something, that much is obvious. I close my eyes and let her think.

A few more minutes go by and she finally moves, running her fingers through my hair. It feels amazing, I have always loved getting my head scratched, but telling people that only makes them hold it over you when they want something so I haven't said anything yet. I open my eyes again and she is looking down at me, worried.

"I'm fine, you know?"

She nods.

"Mom would have stopped it before we got really hurt."

That provokes a reaction. She stops stroking my head and looks at Emily, irate.

"Then why didn't she stop it earlier?"

"We were tra-" I try, but she interrupts me.

"You could have died in that fight. Look how hurt you are! Look at what I did to you! Why did you let me hurt him like that, he... I could have killed him..." Her words trail off as she looks away.

"I would have stepped in, sweetheart. It's... important that you learn to fight well. This was the perfect training opp-"

"What if you didn't in time? Look at how injured he is. I'm not doing this again. Training sucks, I'm done. I don't want to have to kill things. I don't want to have to hurt people."

Emily tries to reassure her but gets interrupted while not sounding so convinced of her own words after Alexa's outburst. She's in mom mode right now and is letting her emotions get in the way.

"This world won't let you do that, honey. You'll have to learn to fi-"

"No, I don't! I don't have to. I'm going back home. My real mom won't make me fight, ever," Alexa says.

One look at her face and it seems like she can't believe her own words, but at the same time, she knows what she says is true.

Emily doesn't respond to that, looking hurt. She stands up from where she was sitting next to us and begins to pace around the room, a complicated expression on her face.

I have no idea what to say to help diffuse this situation. I don't agree with Alexa, but I don't know how to calm her down without aggravating her further, so I don't say anything.

A few more minutes pass by in this manner before Emily stops moving and turns to Alexa.

"You're right. I'm sorry for making you do all of this if training isn't what you wanted. It's what Damien wants and I just assumed... I should have asked. I should have intervened earlier. I let it go too far. I forget you two are just children sometimes. I'll speak to Vanessa and see if you can move in wi-"

"No!" I yell, surprising myself slightly.

Emily is too damn soft! She acts all tough to try to get us prepared for life and then caves at a few tears and anger? Come on!

Alexa and Emily both look at me as I lay in the girl's lap, startled at my outburst.

"No," I repeat more calmly.

Perhaps I like having Alexa around more than I thought, she is a very comforting presence.

"You don't get to move out. Mom is right; that was good training."

Not the best thing to say, but it's all I could do to stop the path that conversation was going down.

"No, Alexa is right. I shouldn't have let it go that far. I made you fight a Holder. A regular adult wouldn't eve-" Emily starts before I interrupt again, this time tilting my head to glare at her.

"No. Stop. Mom, I'm sorry but go away for a moment please, I want to talk with her alone."

I can't sit there and convince them both at the same time.

The hurt look on her face says more than words can as she stays still for a moment, opens her mouth and closes it back up, then turns on the pads of her feet and moves away from us.

I'm going to have to do something to make her feel better, that was overly harsh. I'm only four; it's a miracle she puts up with me.

Shaking my head and gathering my thoughts, I look back up at Alexa. Another minute goes by in silence as she alternates between looking at me and looking away, ashamed and angry. I'm not sure she knows who to be angry with, though.

"You saved my life," I say, no louder than a whisper.

"No I didn't, Emi-" she tries, but I interrupt her.

"What if Emily wasn't here, what if it were real?"

"She was though so th-"

"It felt real," I continue, ignoring her. "I thought we might actually die. You saved my life, Lexi."

She doesn't say anything for a few moments, then nods.

"... I don't want to do that again," she says quietly.

Tears start falling from her eyes.

"What if you don't get the choice? What if that Gnoll had attacked the Village with everything in this Dungeon?" I counter.

"They weren't that str-"

"They weren't strong to us. What about someone that can't use mana? What about a kid? How much harder would it be for you to help them if we hadn't come today? To help me if I got in a bad situation?"

I pause to let her speak but she doesn't. She stares at me, so I continue.

"I lived because you trusted me when I came up with a plan, Lexi. You wouldn't have listened to me so quickly if we hadn't been training in here for the past few hours. I would have died. But you saved my life. You saved both our lives, ok? You saved it each time the Gnoll ran me over too. So what if you caused me a little pain? I told you to. So no, you aren't going home. Not because of this, at least."

Alexa looks down at me and sniffles, wiping at her face and nodding. She cries a lot, but it is endearing in a way. She wears her emotions on her sleeve. I like it. I can only imagine how difficult it is to deal with me.

"Thanks for saving me Lexi."

She nods and smiles slightly. I sigh in relief. Somehow, fixing her state of mind seems to ease mine if only slightly.

"Plus, something tells me you wouldn't be happy being pampered and sheltered again. You'd drive everyone around you nuts," I say, getting a small laugh out of her.

She goes quiet for a couple of minutes, and this time, I don't interrupt the silence.

"... again," she says in a whisper, making it so I don't hear the first part of her words.

"What?"

"Don't make me ever do that to you again. I thought you... I thought I...." She stops, not wanting to finish her statement. "I didn't know what was happening when I saw you both shaking like that. Don't... don't make me do that again," she finishes.

"I won't, I'm sorry."

It goes silent again for another few seconds. The cavern is quiet and I hear Emily gathering and fixing the torches.

"Why aren't you upset? At your mo-"

"Our mom," I interrupt when Alexa suddenly speaks up.

"... right. At our mom, or at me for messing up?" she says, looking away while lowering her eyes.

"We did well though?"

"I didn't but... what I mean is, why aren't you... flustered? Or upset in any way?" she asks, looking back at me.

I think about lying to her but eventually decide to tell the truth. Why not? Having someone to confide in is nice.

"I am upset, and I'll probably cry later. I'm just keeping it together while we are in here, in this Dungeon. It's not a good time to question what I'm doing. Once we are out... well. I'm sure I'll be emotional at least," I say.

Luckily, she doesn't pry any further. I don't need her asking the wrong questions and setting me off. I'm barely keeping my thoughts in check as is.

It's been a rough day.

"Why are you... why are you like this? So..." she starts, trailing off.

I don't have to guess what she means, but explaining it is... complicated, in a different way than her earlier question.

I could play dumb, but she's smart. She's been around me for years already, she'll notice.

"I'll... I'll tell you someday, alright? Just not now. It's not a good time for me."

I hope that answer will appease her. I don't know what else to say.

"The Academy then. Tell me when you get to the Academy. I can wait," she says.

I bob my head in assent. That's fair enough, hopefully, by then I'll even know where to begin. 'Oh I'm actually 30 and I come from another world.' Yeah, that will go over well.

"I'll tell you in the Academy then. For now though, can you please heal me? Everything hurts. Like, really, really bad." I say.

I'm not exaggerating either. It's better than it was but still a far cry from not painful at all.

I need Vanessa.

Embarrassed that she'd forgotten, she rests her hands on my head and chest, willing what little mana she has into me. The warmth spreads throughout my system from where her hands are touching and slowly begins to patch up my torn muscles, the cracked bones, the deep cuts, and any other severe wound I've incurred. She leaves all the superficial things for later, when she has more mana.

It feels like the summer sun shining on your body after a cold shower, warm and inviting. I sigh in relief and bask in the feeling that ends all too soon. She tries to lift her hand from my head but I reach up and hold it in place. Sure, letting her know I love head rubs will probably backfire on me later, but I need to indulge a little right now.

"She's going to hate me now," Alexa whispers suddenly, voice quivering again.

"Mom would never hate you, even if you never apologized," I counter.

"But I-"

Just then, I feel the slight jolt of an impact as two warm arms wrap around the teary-eyed girl from behind.

Alexa starts crying again.

"Shhh. I know, it's ok," Emily whispers from behind. "I could never hate you. I love you so much. I'm sorry I pushed you so hard."

Her words spur Alexa on and she grabs onto Emily's arms, crying harder.

I definitely don't feel any regret at losing my head scratcher. Not at all. I swear.

"Alright, let's go," Emily said, standing up and dusting herself off.

She bent down and grabbed Alexa's hand, pulling her to her feet slowly. Damien looked up at her with affront as his head lost its support, causing him to catch it before he hit the ground.

"But-"

"I'll carry you," she interrupted, grabbing him a moment later by the arms and draping him over her back like a cape.

He wanted to protest but honestly, he didn't feel like he could walk. Alexa chuckled at his appearance and he just shrugged his shoulders.

'Has to be done,' he thought.

Emily held Alexa's hand in her left and Damien's butt with her right arm as they began backtracking towards the entrance of the cave.

After entering the cavern of the previous fight they'd been in, Damien quickly realized something strange happening. The Gnoll's looked... off. Their lips were shriveled, their skin was white... It looked like they'd been dead for weeks.

Once they'd gotten to the group they fought before that, Damien almost threw up.

Ribs were visible and sticking out of the corpses on the ground, along with other bones and muscles. No skin was present on the creatures.

"What the hell," Damien muttered.

"The Dungeon is reclaiming them," Emily stated.

"They look like they're rotting," Alexa added.

"In a way they are. You notice it doesn't smell like a corpse, right?" Emily asked, receiving a nod from them both. "That's because they aren't exactly decaying. Everything that they are is being reclaimed by the Dungeon's mana stone to empower it. The mana they accumulated, the strength of their bodies. All of it."

Damien's eyebrows lifted as he realized that they actually didn't smell at all. It smelled like any other room: damp and a bit earthy.

"But how does that strengthen the core? They don't ever leave the Dungeon," Alexa asked.

"Good question. It doesn't at all," Emily said, smiling. "Or more accurately, here it doesn't, because there are guards that stop anything from leaving. If there were no one watching the entrance, the Gnolls could leave and hunt and eat as they pleased, returning stronger later. The stronger the creature is, the deeper they live in the cave, and the higher likelihood they die fighting for a spot to live deeper in the cave. When they then die after having gained strength outside, the core reclaims them while the monster that was victorious gains a small amount of its mana."

"But why were they stronger further in then?" Damien asked from her back.

"They fight each other here to get stronger. The stone doesn't gain anything in the long run, but the beasts inside can still steadily gain strength. The mana core is continuously growing because of where its located, sucking nutrients from plants and animals all over and inside the mountain. The Holder grows with it and creates more and more of its own kin with the core. It's slower, but still makes it more dangerous over time.

Sometimes the Holder doesn't make very many of its own kin and they don't fight each other often, putting a weak front for a tier four or five Dungeon. The only way to know how strong a core is is to have a comparatively strong mage test it. That's why it's mandatory to report a new Dungeon. You never know how strong the Holder will be," Emily said, finishing with a warning.

Damien nodded at all that. They weren't actually living creatures, but beasts made from mana.

"So they're not alive?" he asked hesitantly, hoping for Emily to confirm that.

"That depends what you consider alive, my star," Emily responded. "Are they born naturally? Not how we see natural as being. They are born from mana and bleed blue, but still feel pain. They have intelligence. Some people think they have souls, too. Whatever you think, it's true that the stronger a core is, the more intelligent the creatures lurking in its territory become. Some even develop a primitive language," she finished.

Damien's heart sunk back down as the hope was shattered. If he was honest with himself, they were as alive as he or Alexa was. There was no way to deny that.

They continued through the Dungeon and passed by another room where he saw a club breaking down. A thought struck him and he voiced another question.

"What happens if you try to take something on them outside?"

"It stops decaying if you wrap it in your mana," Emily responded.

"It doesn't disappear?" he asked

"The cores are able to create permanent objects out of their mana and are the only thing that can reabsorb those items back into it. A lot of contracts from the Association are for Dungeon wood, bones, and metal. Some for studying, some for smelting and crafting. They act exactly like the material and can be reabsorbed even after years of being outside the influence of the same core that created it, regardless of whether it is a part of a sword, a wagon, a necklace... the material will just disappear if its not protected by you."

Damien lifted his eyebrows again, stunned. If he could create permanent objects out of his mana, wouldn't that mean he could build houses in a day? Make everything he could ever need from his mana without ever needing to buy something? Water, food...

"I know what you want to ask and the answer is no. No one has ever successfully created a permanent object," Emily said, looking over at his face.

Damien sighed. If it was possible, he'd like to figure it out.

After walking another fourty minutes, they stopped seeing any remains at all. If it weren't for a couple of broken stalagmites and messed up floor it would have seemed like there was never a fight in the area at all.

They continued on and soon enough, the light from outside finally graced their eyes and Damien noticed Henry looking same as he did when they first met.

"Hey Henry!" Emily called, waving at the man while ignoring the slight jolt his body did and nervous on the man's face. "How was the watch? Anything interesting happen?" She asked, keeping a straight face.

"N-nothing at all bos- Emily," he corrected after receiving a glare from Emily." Not even a bit."

'The poor man is probably having flashbacks,' Damien thought.

"'Ow was the crawl?" Henry asked, looking away from Emily to Alexa and Damien. "They look like ya put em through a helluva time."

"Had a little trouble at the end there, had to kill the Holder. It came all the way to the second zone," Emily said, causing both of the guards to sigh.

"Thas too damn bad, we was jus 'bout gettin ready ta take some of tha new guards in there. S'pose we gotta wait till a new Holder takes over, though I trust yer call tho Em. Is jus a shame. Was startin ta put out some good fighters fer trainin 'gainst."

Emily noded apologetically and waved again as we passed by him on the road. Damien casted an apologetic glance back over his shoulder, meeting Henry's eyes and nodding as the guard returned the look and nodded.

He believed in that moment that anyone that had been through her training as well would understand that look and nod back like Henry had.

The rest of the trip home went as uneventful as the trip out of the Dungeon. Since Alexa was exhausted, they took a much slower pace and took around three hours to cover the 15 miles on the way back. The sky had just begun to darken as they walked back through the gates of town.

Damien's mind had begun swirling in a direction he'd hoped it wouldn't until they'd got home, but the sound of wind passing by his ears and rythmic movement of jogging left him nothing to do but be in his head. When Emily tried talking to him, he'd begun to remain silent, staring off into the countless trees they were passing.

Once through the gates, the three went to the Association and met with Vanessa, describing the situation with the Holder. She nodded and directed Emily to the branch leader, then took Damien and Alexa home at Emily's behest. They were both too exhausted from the long day and Alexa was already nodding off from sitting in the reception room.

On the way back, Vanessa had tried to talk to them about the experience, but couldn't get more than one or two-word answers out of each and gave up.

When they got to the Tearen residence, Garrett greeted Vanessa and Alexa as they walked through the door. Damien continued past, hiding in Alexa's shadow to slip through and head directly upstairs. He heard the Celestial's apologize slightly and soon a second light pair of footfalls followed him up to their room.

Damien felt bad about ignoring his dad, but he didn't have it in him to recount everything that had happened without letting it all out. He was already barely holding it together.

Damien walked into their shared room, gathered a few clothes, then went into his parent's room to use their bathtub. Alexa followed shortly after. She'd taken to bathing with him on occasion since they basically had the same schedule and it was easier for her to heat the water than it was for him. He appreciated the help scrubbing his back, anyway.

He filled a bucket with water from their well and Alexa heated it up while he filled a second, third, and fourth one. Once they were both full he took one and dumped it over his head, scrubbing away at any dirt, grime, and blood that they'd missed when cleaning their bodies back in the Dungeon. When Alexa finished heating the water and did the same with her back turned to him, he started scrubbing it and her wings, using the third bucket to try and break up any dirt still in them. When he finished, he turned around and let her do the same after. They used the last bucket to rinse off, opting not to use the tub tonight, threw on the clothing they'd brought, then returned to the bedroom.

Damien had left quicker as Alexa took longer to dry and clean her wings. He fell face first onto their bed and laid there for a moment feeling refreshed after the long day. Only for a moment though, as all the feelings and thoughts he had been repressing throughout the day came rushing back all at once.

The killing, the screaming, the fighting... all the images and sounds played in his head over and over again. He curled into a ball and did his best to rationalize his actions throughout the day but found it impossible. He'd never killed much in his past life, only flies and other insects. He'd seen videos of animals being hunted and crying out when they were injured and had never tried to go hunting himself, but now it would seem it wasn't an option.

Everything he'd said to Alexa was entirely right, and he'd have to learn to get used to it himself, but asking him to do that so soon was... unreasonable. Especially since the creatures were clearly intelligent: they'd known tactics, they'd understood pain, and they'd protected each other. They prioritized hurting him over protecting one another, but they had still thrown caution to the wind and tried to attack him when he went to execute their downed comrades.

It hurt. It hurt in a different way than everything else today. It had been yet another day of pain, and yet another one ended by staring up at the blurry, stupid, dumb, ugly ass wood ceiling.

Or it should have.

He didn't know when Alexa had entered the room, but as he tried to look up at the ceiling he only saw feathers, white as snow and soft as the finest silk.

He didn't know when he'd started shaking, but he could feel his limbs shiver like they were freezing once she had put her wings around him. She cooed at him and held his head against hers, trying to calm him down. He felt silly, being a grown man yet being comforted by a child, but he couldn't stop the tremors.

He was a murderer. A killer. He didn't deserve this comfort. He'd heard their screams and recognized some recurrent sounds, like a primitive language, and yet he hadn't stopped, only getting more efficient as they continued.

To learn to protect his family and his new life, he'd killed another's family.

What made his any more valuable than theirs? That question had no answer, other than a selfish one. Fighting... fighting was fine. It never went past that precious threshold of life, but what he'd done today was not fighting.

It was murder.

Of a monster, sure, but murder all the same.

"...You're not a bad person; you'll be ok. It's ok. You're not a killer. They attacked us first, remember? Kill or... going to be ok, you'll be... I'm here, it's ok..."

Her words continued coming in and out of focus, sometimes able to hear her full sentence and sometimes a ringing in his mind drowned her out. Or his sobbing.

Evidently, he'd been speaking some of his thoughts out loud. Whether he wanted them to or not Alexa's words slowly became louder and more permanent, helping comfort the man as he clutched tighter to her and her wings wrapped tighter around him, protecting him from the judgemental ghosts of the dead that were floating through the room in his mind.

Time passed and soon no light entered through their window. He still felt terrible. The girl had barely taken twenty minutes to calm down and yet here he was, hours later, still a mess.

The shaking had subsided somewhat, but the mental images still haunted him. The sounds of Human voices interposed over the sounds of the Gnoll screams, all calling him a psychopath. A murderer. A cold-blooded killer.

It was to these sounds that sleep finally found him. The shrieks and screams in his brain. That, and the soft voice that was somehow booming over the others despite being so quiet, telling him that she loved him and that he had a family that would care about him no matter what he thought of himself.

"What have you learned?" A woman's voice rang out through the dark forest. Moonlight snaked through the trees, illuminating a ground beset by snow and two figures standing near each other, the wings on their back glistening incorporeal in the moonlight.

One was feminine in shape, while the other was broader.

"One of our Human's reported seeing a Celestial child in a small town east of here a few thousand miles. She was reported to be looked after by an older Celestial and a couple Humans. The child is suspected to be one from the Families," a man's voice responded.

"You are sure of this?" The feminine voice asked.

"Fairly sure, sir. She matches the description of the child from the house N'moran perfectly."

The woman nodded.

"Send a squad immediately, apprehend the child and kill any who get in the way. How old is its guardian?"

"No older than two hundred, sir. The child is living with the Humans though, so the Celestial most likely won't become a problem."

"Even better. This will be a boon to us. Do not fail."

After waiting for the man to bow, she waited for him to leave. When he didn't, she spoke.

"You are dismissed unless you have anything else to report?"

He looked to the side, hesitating, before looking back foward and continuing his report.

"The Nivari continue to fail in their offensive on the southern cities. Somehow, the Humans have repelled almost all without fail. Perhaps... it is time to open talks with the Dwarves."

She sighed. This was... not what she wanted to hear.

"We have tried, they will not listen. Their war is not ours. It is not your place to worry about such things, you are dismissed."

With an icy tone, she finished speaking and turned away, walking further up the mountain.

"Yes, sir."

With a bow, the male voice turned to leave as well but was stopped by a question.

"Wait," the woman demanded, turning back towards her underling. "Which company will you be assigning to handle the grab?"

"...I believe I will let Minerva's group handle this. They are closest."

"Will they be strong enough? They are young if I recall."

"Most of the squads are young, sir. For handling a Human Village though, they will be more than enough to burn it to the ground."

She considered his words for a moment but ultimately turned away and began walking up the mountain again.

"Do not fail, Emerson" she demanded once more, leaping into the air and leaving his final response unheard.

"The boy has magic."

"WHAT?"

Carien shouted at his scout, spitting food from his mouth and nearly choking on what stayed inside while standing abruptly. The scout had just uttered words that were impossible to be true, but he'd said it so confidently. His people were undeniably loyal to him yet he had to question the report.

It was unheard of for a Human to use magic before eight, let alone the age of four.

"Do not fool with me boy, you will regret it. Tell me again what you just said and know that if you are jesting, I will cut you down where you stand."

There was no room for argument in Carien's tone. If this was true, he might have to adjust his plans.

"The boy has magic," the scout affirmed, no fear present in his eyes. "I sensed it myself. He is a Combatant. I watched him plow through lesser Gnolls like they were stuffed animals."

"Lesser Gnolls? At four?" Carien clarified.

"Yes. His mother had him stop using excessive strength after the first bout and was on high alert throughout the rest of their Dungeon prowl, but I know what I saw, what I felt, sir. He has magic, he has had it at least a year, maybe two. He was... too strong."

The scout finished his report nervously, palms sweating and a look of slight confusion at what he was reporting apparent on his face.

"Impossible."

Carien fell back in his seat and rubbed his temple with his hand, a maid coming by to clean up the mess he'd made. He helped her and stopped her from cleaning his face, doing it himself as he pondered the implications.

'This... this complicates things. What was Petrina thinking, sending her daughter there? It's not a secret that Humans who felt mana sooner grow stronger, does she want to woo the boy? To have her daughter teach him so he'd be in debt to them later?'

Carien broke free of his thoughts and turned toward his scout.

"Is that all?" he asked, hoping it was.

'This all isn't a problem now, but in ten years if the boy joins the army... then in fifteen? In twenty? How strong will he grow?'

Carien was already sweating, ruminating on the possibilities.

"I..." the scout started, looking unsure.

"Spit it out," Carien said, unamused.

"Sir, it looked like, for a moment in their fight, that he'd used external mana to blast the Gnoll away from his body. I'm not sure what to make of that, as it was clear he was a Combatant... but I've never seen the technique he used," the scout finished.

Carien lifted his eybrows at that. If he'd used external mana as a Combatant, that meant he had tons of practice in the element he focused on. The only problem is that the scout never stated he used an element.

"Are you saying it was raw mana?" Carien asked.

"No sir, if it was anything it... was air," the scout responded apprehensively.

Carien rolled his eyes.

"If it was air it wouldn't have done anything but cause a breeze. You said he was a Combatant and now you want me to believe he did something a True Mage of air would be capable of? You saw wrong."

"I believed so too, sir. I felt I should report it either way."

Carien nodded.

"I appreciate the diligence but keep fairytales to yourself. Anything else to report?"

"Sir," the scout said, nodding and standing up straighter. "The N'moran girl was petrified but able to fight after coaxing from the woman. Nothing of importance happened afterward. Shall I apprehend the boy?" he finished, asking the key question Carien was pondering.

Ultimately, Carien shook his head in the negative.

"We can't do that. I'd love to eliminate the boy and hope my plans can go well without his interference, but if Petrina knows about him, she'll have him watched. I'll let her play her game for now and see what comes of it. Who knows, maybe the child will be an asset in twenty years instead of a hindrance."

"Another protection detail for him as well, then?"

"No. Your squad is enough. You've more experience than most. Do not let either child further from you than you can move in a second."

"Yes, sir. They rarely go far from each other, that should be easy. Priority of life on the targets?"

"Vanessa, The N'moran girl, the boy, the parents. Bother with no one else."

"The parents, sir?"

'He is awfully chatty today,' Carien thought.

"They are still teaching the girl, are they not? They are worth something to her. If she recognizes we saved her but not them we would lose her cooperation in the future, even more so since the boy is becoming increasingly important to her as well. Now leave me, I need to think."

"Understood," the scout replied.

He saluted, then dissolved into light a moment later and was gone. Carien stayed seated in his chair at the head of his table, not eating or reaching for any food.

"He should be safe for now provided his mother keeps him from showcasing his mana in public... no reason for the Empire to visit the town, we only know because Petrina sent her daughter and they met... A damn shame he is a Combatant. What is she doing though, I thought she was staying out of the war herself... Whatever, it matters not. Vanessa should keep him from attracting attention at least, much as she hates all these politics... At the age of three, huh? That is something... Terrifying."

The lord of the manor continued to ramble his thoughts while seated in his chair, head in his hands and elbows resting on the table. He was unsure of what to do and had nothing to do but wait from here onward anyway. Another Nivari assault had claimed a Human town near the seas. He had more pressing things on his plate.