“I’ll be teaching you all how to cultivate,” Elof announced to the room. “Would be a waste of time teaching anything else. If you want more, attend the higher mysteries.”

He wrote a simple line of runes on the wall. Simple, but Brand didn't recognize it. He put to mind, trying his best to know them as well as his letter. Runes were power after all, so he'd hoard every symbol he laid eyes on.

The monk scratched his head like trying to dig out words he didn't have and groaned when he failed.

"I'm not Merwyn," he said. "She can explain the how and whys, but these runes send you mana into a frenzy."

He powered the runes, and a moment later conjured an orb of mana he tossed at the symbols. The magic was torn apart as it was sent jetting into the air.

“This rune increases how fast mana flows,” he continued. “It's throttled as some call say. Some can do this by pure force of will or with a burst of anger or fright, but this is by far the easiest method.” He pointed at his chest. "do that but aim the power at your closed gate and it should be forced open in time."

A hand full of minutes later, Tanya, Godric, and Marla all doubled over from spell backlashes as soon as Elof turned his back. Tanya's failure even produced sparks that lashed out giving Brand a small shock.

Cora smiled, victorious, as magic spun around her. “If you lose control, it's going to hurt.”

Dagfinn stepped in to give a little advice. “Only use a small amount of mana at first. Increase it over time so you don't stress your body and lose control.”

“I don't know what you mean,” Brand said. “I just shot everything I had into it, and it worked just fine. Only hurt for a second.”

Tanya once again lit up with a failed spell and sighed. “I have too much mana to force it like you.”

Cora throttled her mana so intently a faint aura of blue appeared just above her skin and the air around her flowed creating a small whirlwind, then, she smirked at Brand, a challenge in her eyes. “Bet you can't do that.”

He lifted a finger with the same faint glow around it as Cora's whole body. “It doesn't seem that hard.”

Cora scoffed. “If no one told you, size does matter.”

“Only if you don't know what you're doing,” Brand remarked, his teasing clear as day.

Later that day, everyone was able to perform to Elof's satisfaction. No one had yet to open their next gate, but they could all feel a barrier within wither away as they forced mana into it. Elof then introduced a new set of runes.

“Strength and speed," he said like that were all to know and nothing more.

"And?" Brand said beckoning for more.

"What else is there to know?" the monk said slapping a meaty hand on the rune-covered wall. "Power these runes and you'll kill a bear bare-handed. Throttle at the same time you'll fall a tree with a kick."

Elof began throttling his mana more intensely than even Cora. By the time his aura stopped increasing in strength, it extended an arm’s length away from his body.

The display produced no wind, but the turning maelstrom gave off the impression that touching it would be detrimental. Then the monk's aura turned white as he added the runes of strength. Lighting lashed out forcing everyone back or risk being electrocuted.

Brand was sure it was his imagination, but the monk seemed to be getting bigger or more dangerous, not in a literal sense but in another way. He was certain if the power-enriched man took a step forward the ground would shake.

Elof released his aura and chuckled. “That's just a taste of what can be done with this spell.”

****

Tanya was beginning to grow tired of Brand's antics. He’d been jumping, drunk on his own power, with runes of strength empowering his body.

The runes offered much at the cost of very little mana but an exhaustion like none the beats kin had ever felt took hold the moment the effect ended. worst was the pain when the spell failed, and it would fail if throttled for more and more strength.

This didn’t worry Tanya. She had an especially hard time with the throttling runes as her mana pool was too deep. By the time her throttled a fraction of what Brand could, she'd be writhing in pain, so why bother.

Brand, on the other hand, seemed to not care that his skin was on fire. He increases his pushed his magic to a ridiculous degree, then with the added strength jumped as far as he could joining the birds, if only briefly.

So far, he'd made it 30 feet before falling. How he writhed in silence after the feat didn't seem to matter.

“Don’t you think you've been doing that long enough?” Cora said from off to the side.

The girl, or noble, or soldier's daughter, Tanya didn't know what added to her frustration. Tanya wanted to train with Brand by herself, but the lesson had somehow become a group outing. And she still wasn't sure how she felt about any of them, being that they were all human.

“How in the world do you make it that far up?” Marla asked as she also intruded. At least her haughty mood had vanished. Tanya's strength seemed to be reason enough to be cordial.

“I can go even higher,” Brand said, picking himself off the ground. “All I have to do is throttle faster.

Tanya took a seat on a bench nearby and pouted. She looked out at the courtyard they were currently in. It was a large area on the roof of the Hall building. Most of it was covered in grass. It was one of many such areas in the Hall, but the reason she picked this one was that it was rarely used due to how far it was away from the living quarters, but she didn’t expect half of her class to follow.

“Can we just get this done?” Tanya said to no one in particular but was surprised by her outburst. She’d never been so bold in expressing her needs or wants. It had never seemed appropriate while she was living in the Bryer household.

Brand stood up from the small depression he made in the ground from his latest jump. “She's right. We came here for a reason, well at least I did. So, what kind of spell do you use to walk on air? Is it like the shielding runes? Do you use them as a platform?”

“No,” Tanya said, shaking her head. “A shield rune is only solid in one direction and needs to be rooted to be stable.”

She unwrapped the cloth stew around her feet in lieu of shoes. Hesitated gripped her for a moment. showing her beast-like feet to one person was already hard enough but four? They had an animalistic quality that forced her to place most of her weight on the front of her soles and were the farthest thing for what she'd call beautiful.

Tanya buried her shame like ignoring the pain of an old wound. No one present had made fun of her except for Marla upon their first meeting and she could apparently bloody the girl in the Hall without too much trouble. A stern look would probably be enough to silence her.

Under Tanya's wrapping was a spell circle more elaborate than any she could hope to control with her current skill. It wasn’t a five-pointed design like Meryn used. It was more like three different spell formulas were drawn over each other.

Cora whistled loudly as she appressed. “You're tough as nails if you can use that without screaming.”

Brand spoke but didn't look away, as if he couldn't look away. The hunger in his eyes, like a man in love. “What does that mean?”

“I’m surprised you know what this is,” Tanya said to Cora a bit surprised. Looking back at Brand, she explained the tattoo. “Using ink made from werewood, spells can be tattooed onto someone's skin. They work the same as drawing them into something.”

“I'm guessing there's a catch,” Brand grumbled.

“The catch is,” Cora said her face twisted with remembered pain. “Everywhere the tattoo is placed will feel like hot coals are being pressed against your skin whenever they’re cast. I have a few, most do, but not for spells far harder to cast."

“I'm short,” Tanya explained. “Kin can start learning magic at a much younger age without any effects. My um, family, wanted me to train as soon as possible but my height made things difficult. Sky-stepping fixed that.”

Not that she had much of a choice. Her father wanted her to be strong so she would be. But would Brand learn the skill voluntarily? Tanya doubted, until seeing how he ignored the pain from throttling his mana.

Tanya revealed a small glass vile of werewood.

Over the next few minutes, she applied the ink to his limbs. She sent her power into the ink and controlled its movement, forcing it into Brand’s skin. As predicted, he was the only one to accept the runes after hearing the full consequences of using them.

“It’s better than hanging yourself,” was all he said after listening.

Cora refused immediately and by her reaction and the look in her eyes she knew exactly what went into using Runic tattoos. Marla refused as well, taking a stance that applying tattoos herself would be unacceptable in her family. Godric decided he would someday learn to fly so he would not need to use such desperate measures. Still, they all looked on in fascination as the symbols on Brand’s skin began to glow.

****

Like stepping on hot iron, that's how Brand could best describe using his new sky-step spell. The first few times he stumbled gracelessly not being able to overcome the burning sensation on his feet. He spent the next few hours trying to walk into the sky as if on a staircase but with each step, the pain intensified until he dropped a mere 16 steps into the air.

“Fucking hells! How did you use this so much when we fought? “Brand asked, gasping for breath with sweat drenching his tunic.

“It's easier in the heat of battle,” Tanya replied sleepily. “And you're not going to master it in one day.”

They were now in the darkness of the early morning and everyone else had gone. Tanya having stayed looked half asleep. Brand wanted to quit too, but not before trying one more time.

“In that case,” he said as he got to his feet.

Brand squatted down as far as he could then he started to throttle his mana creating the same white aura Elof produced during his demonstration.

With gritted teeth, he launched himself off the ground shooting into the sky. Right as he lost his momentum, Brand powered the sky-stepping runes on his feet while throttling his mana simultaneously.

He jumped again in the same manner as before reaching heights that would be dangerous even for a cultivator. Then he jumped again and again until he was so far into the sky neither he nor Tanya could guess at the heights he reached. He then began to fall to the merciless ground beneath.

Before Brand picked up too much speed, he sky-stepped again canceling his momentum as he leaped forward. Sky-stepping again, he leapt to the side then forward and continued the motion as if jumping down a winding staircase.

By the time he made it halfway to the ground, he’d already surpassed his previous limits, the fear of falling steeled his nerves against the pain. When he was about 20 feet from the ground, Brand lost that nerve as the fear motivating his steps vanished. With a great ‘thump’, he fell to the ground, landing in a role.

Brand didn’t bother getting back up. He lay there on the grass laughing. “I can't believe this!” he cried happily.

Tanya rushed over to him. “You can't believe what?”

“I can't believe I’m learning magic!”

Giving Brand a once over and seeing nothing especially wrong, Tanya decided to sit next to him on the grass that he looked to have no intention of getting off of.

“This all seems too good to be true,” he said, his laughter coming to an end. He took on a voice of bewilderment. “My life up until now, Gods if you only knew how impossible it was for me to imagine being here.”

“I kind of feel the same way," Tanya said. "I used to be a maid.”

Brand looked into the stars seeing his past. “Up until a short while ago, I was a pit fighter.”

“What's that?” Tanya asked.

“I fought people for entertainment, other people I mean, not my own,” he said, not mentioning just how bloody his old life had been

Tanya was silent for just a bit too long making Brand a little nervous before she replied. “How did you find a way out of that?”

"Someone saw my potential,” Brand answered.

“One of the great houses?”

“Someone like that, but not a vellian.”

Tanya went silent again then took a deep breath seeming to come to a decision. “My father is Elbert Bryer,”

Brand waited for more, but Tanya seemed to be finished. “Am I supposed to know who that is?”

Shock and disbelief crept into Tanya's voice. “You don't know Elbert Bryer, brother to the king.”

“I don't even know who the king is,” Brand admitted. “I didn't even know Velia was more than a city until a short while ago.”

Tanya for a moment looked like she thought Brand was joking but his expression held. On the Null Road, the king meant as much as a far-off world that could never be seen.

Looking up to the stars, Tanya continued. “The Bryers are the royal family. We have the summoning focus.”

Her mana came to life like a cloud of blue smoke forming into a beast that towered above them. Brand inched away from the giant cat in a quiet nearly frozen panic until Tanya reached up and petted the lion like it was a house pet.

“Only members with this focus can inherit the throne,” she said.

“Another princess,” Brand chuckled but it came out high pitched and terrified even to his own ears.

Tanya laughed and thankfully she missed his anxiety or let it pass without a word. “I guess I am, technically speaking. We also can summon the gods,” she added a moment later as if it were nothing.

Her massive summons vanished a moment later, but Brand was too shocked to notice after the revelation.

He turned to look at Tanya. “What do you mean by summoning the gods? Can you bring Amra here at will?”

“I'd think you'd prefer Modi, Magni, or maybe Vidar,” Tanya chided playfully.

Brand scoffed. “Those fuckers would probably kill me if I ever saw them face-to-face.”

“Me too!” Tanya happily agreed. “I bit they'd take offense at a beast kin even trying to summon them. But Vellia needs summoners to protect the King's Road so here I am."

“You have a god in mind to summon?” Brand asked.

Tanya answered in a slightly bashful tone. “Bitarr has already contacted me.”

“Damn Tanya,” Brand said, equal parts amazed and worried. “I don't know whether to congratulate or console.”

“He’s not so bad.”

“He’s also not so good, but at least he's strong, sometimes.” Tanya started to laugh again but was interrupted by a shrill voice.

“You shouldn’t be sitting in on the dirt like some mutt.”

Without needing to use his eye, Brand knew the voice's owner was well bread, arrogant, and beautiful. Alluring confidence colored each word along with venom and spite of a woman bringing with pride.

Lifting his chin to see who was talking, he saw a girl around his age that he’d correctly guessed was gorgeous. She had long dark hair with a single braid on the right seeded with jewels. Blue eye glared back at him and he couldn't help but match their presence.

She wore a white blouse that came low on her body like it was a dress. The outfit was captivating with silver runes along its surface but Brand homed in on black rods belted to her sides.

One was dark with what looked like feathers on the end. The other was the same but at the top held a large white sphere. The baculouses were glorious weapons perfectly matching their wielder, but regardless of how she looked or what she wore, this girl, this bitch, called Tanya a mutt, and Brand wouldn't just let the slur pass unchallenged.

Brand’s voice took on an air of assumed authority like he was speaking to an ignorant child. “I really hope you weren't trying to be clever because not knowing the difference between a lion and a hound just makes you look stupid.”

A large vein bulged on the pretty stranger’s forehead, the only sign of her anger, but to Brand’s eyes, she might as well have been screening curses. Tanya apparently noticed the concealed anger too as she abruptly stood taking a few steps back seeming to cower under the gaze of this newcomer.

Brand stood but in a slower calmer manner. He didn't want to give away that he was now worried at seeing Tanya shrink away like a rabbit facing a wolf.

“You little shit,” the girl said as she pointed a finger at Brand. Before anything happened, another stranger appeared placing a hand on her shoulder.

The man was much older than Brand, maybe in his late twenties. He was square-jawed, blue-eyed, and a face so perfect it almost begging to be punched.

He walked up to Brand holding out a hand in greeting. “You must forgive my sister. Mildrith can be quite irritable when our training lasts this long into the night.”

Brand looked at the man's arms. They were not as large as his, but the muscles were taut like woven metal. Even so, he thought it best not to back down.

He brought his hand up to accept the greeting with a practiced smile, but Tanya pulled on his shirt stopping him.

The man shot his hand out grabbing Brand’s as if he was giving him a handshake. He forced the hand up-and-down like the greeting was mutual then slowly, he began to increase the pressure.

For just a moment Brand thought it to be a test of strength or manliness, but within a few seconds, he was panicking.

“Aldhelm, please let him go!” Tanya begged the pressure only increased at her pleading.

Trying not to groan, Brand tried to pull away but Aldhelm didn’t budge. By the time he was digging up the grass with his feet, the bones in his hands were grinding against each other. Mildrith looked away as the fist of his fingers broke under the pressure.

Balling a fist, Brand lashed out punching Aldhelm as hard as he could directly on his nose. The man didn’t even flinch. Brand could see the skin of his face ripple from the attack but the cartilage in his nose was like unbending steel. He just smiled as he drank in the shock on his face.

Not hesitating, Brand went for Aldhelm’s groin kicking him with everything he had. It was like kicking a sturdy tree and hurt like it too.

As the second passed by, Brand growled with his teeth bared, anything to chase away the scream building up inside him. Tanya, all the while screamed openly as she tried to pull him free right up until his fingers began bursting.

Somewhere in the sea of pain, in a far-removed part of his mind trying not to think of his mangled limb, Brand remembered Elof's power. In his desperation, he poured everything he had into throttling his mana not caring for backlashes sending fire arking through his body.

If not for his focus, Aldhelm would have seen an aura explode out of Brand. He would have been wary of the seemingly harmless fist headed his way. Instead, the noble absently used his free hand to catch it.

His strength failed him immediately as the back of his hand came slamming into his face. The force of the blow knocked the noble off his feet and sent him spinning with blood gushing from his nose.

The surprise of the punch made him release Brand’s bloody hand, but it did not come out unscathed. Several of his fingers broke along with the bones in his forearm from lashing out with more force than his body could handle, but he could barely feel it over the protesting the extreme mana flow.

As Aldhelm crashed into and through a stone wall, Brand turned and ran. He couldn't think about his hand, whether it was a mess of useless bones and flesh or ribbed off, still being held in an unbreakable grip. He had seconds before passing out from mana backlash. Already his blood boiled as his vision turned red. In return, his strength was soured.

Brand sprinted for a nearby balcony, grabbing Tanya and holding her under an arm as he ran for the edge. Mere steps away when he bothered to look down, at the beast kin whose eyes glowed with power, she shouted a name.

“Bitarr!”

Brand never saw the god appear but felt an explosion crash against his back like a physical wall launching him the extra few feet he needed to go, but once gravity’s merciless embrace had him and the closest ground was 400 feet away, his plan suddenly seemed like a bad one.

As he fell, the sensation of his stomach raising into the back of his throat was a welcomed one. It didn't hurt and pain had become the enemy. He needed to find a window and probably would have already if not for the agony blinding his sense.

He forgot about his broken and mangled arms as backlashes struck him in step with his heartbeat. Each one pulled him farther from consciousness and what he needed to do to survive.

Cursing himself after missing what might have been the ninth window he passed, Brand activated the sky-stepping runes on his feet hoping for the best. His empowered muscles tore under the strain as if he’d hit the ground, but he hardly noticed.

With his vision a blur of nothingness, Brand jumped crashing through stone and onto the ground. He felt stupid as he passed out. He was a cultivator. A stone wall was nothing for him to break through.