Harper’s phantom trudged on through the snow as she sat atop its shoulders. She looked on to evaluate her surroundings. Small groups of huts that used to house small families of hunters that lived disconnected from society. Since very few people would or could adapt to such a harsh lifestyle, it made the perfect place for the “Emissaries of Death” to create a footing.

Harper’s eyes transitioned into an even brighter blue as she activated her spectral vision. Dozens of glowing blue flames appeared in front of her, all scattered about hidden in shacks or in trees, some were even beneath the snow. Of course, each flame was the soul of a living being, meaning that each flame represented a person attempting to hide from sight.

“It is a trap,” Harper muttered. Just to be sure she checked her notepad and it definitely warned against falling into traps.

Harper furrowed her brows to indicate her anger, but it was hard to read it as threatening due to her childish face. Her fingers glided over the cold metal baton sitting on her hip as her phantom slightly adjusted its course toward the nearest flame.

….

“Bored. So bored. So damn bored.” Ira laid on his bed while speaking aloud. After returning from The Great Forest, he went home and immediately realized there was nothing for him to do. Since the summit was close, he had to stay in the capital and he had no way of distracting himself until the time came for him to leave.

“Ah...damn it.” Ira hopped to his feet before pacing around the room. He went over a mental list of people that could provide him with a distraction.

Lance, Sarah, and Valerie would probably ask him all about reviving Gerald and Zella which would be impossible without Harper who was off on a mission.

If Amy listened to his earlier advice, she wouldn’t be in the academy so he would have to track her down. Aldis would’ve probably left too, and the chances of them working together were very high.

Rhys left no point of contact after they parted ways, so he would have to track her via smell which would be hard to do at this point. To sift through hundreds of thousands, if not, millions of scents to track a specific one would probably overload Ira’s senses.

“Clark!” Ira widened his eyes before shaking his head and going back into thought.

If Clark was still...himself, Ira didn’t want anything to do with him. It would take a lot of effort to make Clark stronger. When Clark was still distraught over Amy losing her arm, Ira tried to push into a position where he would want to gain some type of strength, but he doubted that Clark could change that early.

Ira let loose a frustrated sigh and he flopped back onto his bed. “Avery…” He mumbled.

There was no one he wanted to see more than her at the moment, but since she said her training could last until spring, so he didn’t think he had a chance of seeing her for the next few months.

Finally, Ira’s mind found a person that he could definitely bother and for a good reason at that.

“Charles it is.” Ira hopped out of bed once again prepared to leave.

…

Charles Pov.

I understand that there are certain...truths...that won’t or rather can’t be comprehended by man, but is that reason to stop? The search for answers, the feeling of standing before a groundbreaking truth is intoxicating, but as soon as it's revealed the entire pursuit loses its luster and one should move onto the next one. That was the reasoning behind what others called my reckless behavior, but recently I'm inclined to agree. Ever since I laid eyes on the bloodline formula my thirst for knowledge has become more of an addiction. An incredible urge pushes me past obsession entirely and onto something else.

“I’m getting off track,” I say to no one in particular before flipping the through my notes.

Ira. Ira was a walking truth. Something greater than all of my past discoveries and research topics. There is an unnamed power that he controls that defies all past conventions. At a first glance, one would assume that he was extremely well versed in spatial magic. I assumed it was to be so after I witnessed his teleporting first hand. Coupled with his brute strength, bloodline, and hidden stores of information that even he didn’t seem to understand, he made for one abnormal individual but I assumed it stopped there.

Ira has virtually no talent in mana and despite that, he is able to teleport. When I became aware of that, my whole perspective on him changed. His strength definitely comes from his bloodline, that is indisputable. So where does his ability to manipulate gravity, teleport, transfer kinetic energy, and alter matter come from? His bloodline seems as if it's the very base of his powers, granting him strength and longevity and some physical resistance to most of his own abilities. That’s most likely why his skeletal structure doesn’t seem to be affected when he manipulates gravity around himself or jumps through space randomly.

“But what is that black mist?” I question aloud.

The immediate answer was the Black Pillar, but its only similarity was the color. No one had ventured to the Black Forest and returned alive so I could only assume they might be related. Without any evidence, it was hard to draw a solid conclusion, even if the chances of relation were high.

“So what is it?” As I thought further on, I failed to keep track of my unconscious mumbling.

The Origin Force was thought to be immense according to the theory. Hundreds if not thousands of different things were linked to the Origin Force, but none involved what Ira was capable of. If Ira’s abilities stemmed from the Origin Force, everyone would attempt to gain the same abilities, and the God most compatible with that force would be likely to reign supreme. Since that wasn’t the case, did that mean it was possible for Ira’s abilities to come from outside the–

“You’re making that face again Charles. The one that makes it look like you’re unraveling something important. That same one makes me wonder if I should kill you before you end up finding something you shouldn’t.” The upbeat voice that interrupted me was none other than Ira’s.

The hairs on my neck raised as I turned around and there he stood with a small grin.

Dozens of responses ran through my mind, but they manifested as a nervous stammering, “Uh--I’m not really--It’s…”

As my throat dried, the volume of my voice fell, but my heart seemed to pump loudly enough. A moment of silence passed as Ira narrowed his yellow eyes and held a look that told me he was contemplating what he would lose by my death.

All of a sudden, Ira chuckled and shook his head, “I’m just kidding.” That intense look from before was nowhere to be found and I was once again safe to form whatever thoughts I wanted in my mind.

Ira ignored me and walked around my workshop and examined my tools.

“Oh!” He clasped his head in an exaggerated motion as if he had forgotten something important. “Harper can sift through thoughts and memories.” He said as he turned to me before continuing. “She can even create new memories or alter previous ones.”

My heart dropped at his words. Was it a threat? A reminder? A warning? Did he plan to alter my memories so I forget about his powers? I felt sick at the thought of having knowledge stolen from me when I was on the cusp of a revelation.

“Woah...You look kinda pale.” Ira said with an intentionally fabricated worrisome tone. “It’s just something I remembered is all, but maybe I’ll have her take a look. If it’s nothing big going on in your head then who cares, right? But if it’s something I don’t like, then…” Ira took a second to think.

“Maybe I’ll have her use you as a practice dummy. Imagine it, every week you get to remember a new life. One day you’re a chef the next you’re a bird. Stuff like that.” He explained.

“I-I was only thinking of where your power came from, I swear.” The words burst out of my mouth before I could stop myself. It was easier to admit what I was doing before any chance of that chilling future could come into play.

“Charles, come on. I’m joking. Really, as long as it doesn’t have anything to do with the bloodline enhancement I could care less.” Ira once again laughed at me and then went back to going through my stuff.

“So everything you said about altering memories was just a joke?” I asked as I calmed my heart.

“Oh no. That’s all real, Harper can do all of that.” Ira answered nonchalantly as he tossed some papers over his back before he continued to sift through my things.

“I see…” I would like to believe that I had nothing to worry about, but my mind couldn’t help but contemplate certain topics on its own.

“Are you looking for something in particular?” I asked as Ira continued to go through my things.

“Wait!” Ira raised his head. “If Harper can alter memories, why didn’t I just change Clark’s traumatic memories so that he wouldn’t be scared of picking up a sword?”

I didn’t recall ever meeting a “Clark” so I guess his question was more to himself rather than to me.

“Nevermind. That’d be too easy right, Charles?” Ira peered over his shoulder to look at me.

Not knowing how to respond, I asked my own question instead of answering. “Are there any new developments, regarding your abilities?”

“No,” Ira responded almost immediately as he went back to rooting through some of my old papers.

“Are you sure you aren’t looking for something specific?” I asked once again. While everything in my...workshop...would appear to be disorganized at a glance, everything followed a detailed a specific placement.

“Actually, why don’t you have any instructions on how to work an index?” Ira tossed a stack of papers away before standing up.

“Well, the Kingdom keeps them under close watch so very few people are able to interact with them,” I explained with an odd sense of expectation.

Ira waved his hand and from thin air, a large glass cube standing on three limbs appeared in front him. In the center of the cube was a rectangular slot that was most likely for…

“That’s a...How did you get an actual index?!” I shouted.

….

“I asked for it very nicely,” Ira responded before producing his status card and placing it in the index. He waited for a few moments, but nothing happened. The index showed no signs of activity.

“I assume it needs mana to be activated. This had to be recovered from the expedition, but I heard they only recovered six.” Charles said as he moved closer to examine the cube.

“Mana?” Ira’s face flashed with a look of disappointment before it lit back up. He could visit Avery under the pretext of delivering the index since the Valkyries were able to use mana and Harper was still out on a mission.

“Ira...do you know what an index means to a country?” Charles said with an astonished look.

“Nope.” Ira shrugged.

“It’s the lifeblood of a country. I don’t even need to be in the Kingdom’s inner circle to know they plan to trade five of those indexes to other countries in exchange for something precious. There are seven countries on the entire continent and only six indexes recovered. If one country doesn’t receive an index they may engage in war with another in order to take one. Did you realize by withholding the seventh index you are acting as a possible stimulant to war?” Charles stumbled into a chair as he realized just how important that seventh index was.

“You really think this Kingdom would share these evenly?” Ira gave a cynical chuckle as he shook his head.

During his time in the void, the Wolf had shown him the nature of the races and it was safe to assume that they would descend into violence no matter what. That being so, Ira didn’t view violence negatively but rather passively. From his viewpoint, it was just the natural order and killing people reinforced his place in that order. While many peace-loving people would disagree, they couldn’t deny the fact that all peace was built through the deaths of others. After all, if people are pushed just enough, peace is reduced to being a single word. Well, those were Ira’s views on the matter.

Ira stored the Index away before sending a questioning gaze toward Charles. “Charles, I hope you’re not gonna...you know, go around telling everyone about my index.”

“N-No. I may not agree, but I value my life and my memories above all else.” Charles stammered.

“Good. If you did, I think I’d have Harper make you think you were a bird first. That be kinda funny to see, right? Then after that a chef instead of whatever it is you're doing now and after that...I’d probably kill you since it would get kind of old after awhile.” Ira nodded before turning to leave.

“Would it be alright for me to research your abilities?” Charles called out behind him. Even though he said he valued his life, he valued the pursuit of knowledge even more so. That was the reason why he was willing to risk Ira killing him.

“That’s fine with me.” Ira shrugged as he exited the workshop.