"Sorry, I can't allow that." Robin said, as he waved his hand dismissingly.

"Please. I beli-"

"Theo, I have a lot of respect for you and now that you are a council member it has only increased. But for Brin's safety, I can't allow him to get near his beast."

"I understand. What I'm asking is if you can place it in a nearby cell—close enough for their binding to work."

Robin hesitated and ran his hand through his long white hair. Seeing his chance Theo continued. "Please, I'm asking this as his uncle, not as a council member. He even requested this himself. I believe that it will only be beneficial for him to have his beast around instead of being by himself. It will help him get better...if there is anything wrong with him."

"Fine," Robin said, sighing. "But only with the condition that he will be under heavy supervision and at the first sign of problems or changes in him, I will end any further interaction."

"Then-"

Suddenly, a faint burning sensation spread across the back of his hand followed by a purple bright light. What is this? Theo asked himself, rubbing his hand. Why did the Oath runes begin to glow?

"What are you doing?" Robin asked, standing as he surrounded himself with qi.

"Theo, can you hear me?" A voice filled the room.

"Junn..." Theo whispered, "How?"

"Are you alone?

Robin was shocked, but immediately after hearing Junn ask, he gave a bow and headed out the study. "I'll go take care of Brin's beast now. You are free to use my study until your conversation is over.”

Theo felt awkward. He had never received such a response from anyone, even as the leader of the Discipline Hall. Specially not from someone with such a high position like Robin. If anything, they usually avoided him—always standing far from him—or scurried away as he passed by. It was like if he had a qi shield protecting him, repelling everyone, but Theo knew that it was probably due to his massive hulking figure.

"I'm alone now." Theo said, focusing on the Oath rune. "So how exactly are you speaking with me?"

"It's a feature of the Oath," she said. "We three are connected by its power. Contacting each other is the most basic feature of the oath, yet the process is still hard to maintain as it was not meant to be used if one was under the Mending Realm."

"Wh-"

"Just listen—I will answer any other questions later when we meet in person. For now, I believe that we have provided you with enough time to take care of personal things. So it's time for you to know the truth about our sect and our duty."

Duty? He thought, growing curious.

"Isn't our duty to keep the fairness and justice of the sect?"

"That's only part of it. Come to the Central Tower, I'll explain things once we enter the chamber. Isaac and Dean are already waiting for us."

Theo was about to ask something, but the light from the rune vanished and the connection was cut off. Many questions appeared in his mind. The conversation had only confused him. It had also birthed a strand of doubt. Is being a council member really what I thought? He asked himself, his heart tightening. What exactly is our duty?

Knowing he wouldn't solve anything by waiting, he stood and left the study.

Heading to the Central Tower. Towards the truth.

##

Nar gently twirled the Leth flower in his fingertips, admiring its beauty. Its dark blue petals that faded to a pure white at the edges was somehow calming to him. It was not a rare flower at all, in fact they littered the sect. It was known that the Leth flower had no medicinal effects, but no one did anything to remove them as they enhanced the atmosphere of the sect.

When he was out for a walk to calm himself, the flower just…took him. It was all that had covered his vision. Even the itch on his back was the strongest it had ever been. By the time knew it, he had three Leth flowers gripped in his hand and the itch gone. Nar hadn’t paid much attention to the short lapse of memory, yet something made him bring the flowers back with him.

The strong crash of flesh hitting metal resounded through the room causing Nar to break out of his small trance. It woke up. He thought. Sighing, he placed the flowers on the wooden desk to his right and turned to the blanket-covered cage at far edge of the room.

Nar paced forward, his steps soft like a leaf falling to the ground, and cautiously removed the blanket. The Roc fox lunched at his hand, but, fortunately, he was faster and he dodged the bite. Angry, the fox snarled, exposing its sharp teeth, and extended its pitch-black feathers—making it seem twice as large and more ferocious.

Its defense tactic. Nar thought, recalling what he had read. Its only supposed to do that under extreme danger… He wondered what he did to disturb him so much that it would go into such a state. Still, he was transfixed by the beauty of it—of its feathers.

“I haven’t done anything to you. So why won't you let me bind you?" Nar asked, staring directly into the beast’s eyes as he moved his hand towards the cage.

The fox lunged once more, making Nar cringe back slightly. Tightening his fist, he hit the metal cage only aggravating the fox.

“Maybe Roan was right. I shouldn’t have insisted on this fox.” Damn it. He thought as he covered the cage and placed his hands on his ears—drowning out the fox's growls. Should I go and change it? It’s probably too late now.

He had tried to bind the fox for the past two days, but had failed every time. At first, he had thought that it was because the fox was aggressive towards him. He had tried to be kind to the fox, but even if he just got near, the fox would go into a frenzy.

In the end, he had just covered the cage and tried to bind him anyways. That’s when he had noticed. When he was about to complete the link, his Sight—what he had named the power—had flared, causing his qi control to go haywire. It would bend it in strange patterns, not following the drawn Contract Circle. At that point, he would stop as nothing would come out of that state.

But why does the Sight prevent me from binding him? He thought, glancing at the link stone that sat in the opposite corner of the small room. Taking a deep breath, he walked and picked it up.

I have to do it. He told himself. This time for sure.

Everything was set in place for the Contract to begin. Gripping the Link stone, Nar began to control the small amount of qi inside it—like he had practiced thousands of time. He then placed the stone onto the outer layer of the circle. The qi rushed out of the stone and traced the patterns he had drawn. Come on. He thought. You have to work.

The qi had flowed past the outer layer and the fox began to whimper. Nar smiled as he felt the faint trace of new and strange emotions fill him. But as the bind was forming and the fox's emotions became clearer, he frowned. Despair, immense fear and hatred filled his every being. This is what its feeling? Nar asked himself. Why? I haven’t done anything bad to him…

Nar started to hesitate, but quickly pushed it away—growing determined. This is it. This is the farthest I’ve gone. He thought. I'll finally be able to bind it. The itch flared again. No, not now. Please don’t start now. I'm so close.

Nar grit his teeth and fought the itch. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and his arms tensed tightly, but he pushed on. The pressure on his back built up causing the slight pain to intensify and grow like a raging storm. Damn it. Nar cursed as he lost the battle and went limp. The qi went out of control, turned outward—no longer following the drawn guide—and grew visible.

Nar could only stare in wonder as the shining blue qi burned patterns onto the wooden floor. Like lighting, it twisted its way around and in a split second, the its brightness intensified. It's never done this before. Nar thought, his hands trembling.

He was scared. Immediately, he pried his numb hands away from the circle—breaking the ritual. Then, pain assaulted him. He closed his eyes ignoring the fleeting pain. Failed again. He told himself. Why did the qi do th-

A vision and the urge to go outside filled his mind. It was a vivid image and even had color, like the man he saw in the spring. A Leth flower. It's blue petals shining bright and its edges purple instead of white. Then, it vanished.

Gasping for air, Nar sat and turned towards the three flowers he had gathered. The vision had disappeared, but as he stared at the flowers the urge to go outside grew stronger. Nar didn't know what was going on, but his Sight was guiding him to the flower.

I need to gather more Leth flowers. He thought, nodding to himself as he stood and walked out of the room.

##

Roan punched the metal door of his lab—for the tenth time—trying to break it open, but it was useless. He only caused a wave of qi to spread through his body and into his left arm.

"Fuck!" He cursed, jolting back as he felt the acute pain stinging on his left arm. He could even feel the shattered pieces of bone rattle against each other. Taking a deep breath, he focused his mind and pushed the qi from the defense system, out of his body. I hate the day I installed this fucking defense system. He thought, but shook his head. No. It was that rabbit. Somehow, he...

Slowly, his good hand went up and touched bulge of bandages where his eye used to be. There was no pain, at least not physically, he had made sure to fill it with herbs that would numb him. But mentally, it was another story. It just felt wrong not being able to see like before…and all because of a rabbit. He tightened his right hand and looked at his wounded arm. At least that would heal with time.

"That fucking rabbit." He yelled, his face twisting showing pure hatred. "He did this to me. He trapped me here, somehow." He glanced at the door, the runes were different from those he had set. The change looked simple, but he would take a long time to get out. Even longer now that Naor was not responding. “Just wait till I get out. I will torture you in the worst ways possible.” He smiled as he imagined what he would do to the rabbit, then turned his attention to Naor.

"Naor, I need your help to get out."

There was no response.

"Dammit Naor, I'm not joking. We need to get out. Without your help, it’ll take me a month to break the complex runes. Possibly more. Naor!"

Frustrated, Roan closed his eye and looked inside himself—trying to feel for Naor. Soon, he could see two faint lights; one very small. Naor. It was weird, he could feel his presence and know that he was there. Is he ignoring me? Roan thought. No, he never has…But then why? He focused on the smaller light and grew a bit confused. For some reason, he felt that it was even stronger than before—but no matter what he did to probe it—he hadn't been able to elicit a response from Naor.

Tiredness spread through Roan’s body. Not again. He thought. Is it an aftereffect from the formation's backlash? But that shouldn't be possible. Still, it’s the third time that it’s happened to me since I awoke. So, I can’t rule it out. He could only stay awake for several hours before feeling incredibly tired and sluggish.

Roan felt frustrated. If Naor was awake he would have come up with at least ten reasons why this was happening to him. But he was alone. Fuck. He cursed himself. I rely too much on him. I have to do things on my own more often. Even when he wakes. But deep inside he urged Naor to wake. Roan needed him.

Roan yawned. Shaking his head, he stood and sluggishly walked to the wall of bottled herbs. Quickly, he gulped down the contents of the bottle he had prepared earlier. The viscosity and bitter taste of the mixture made it hard to swallow, but he did anyways.

Hopefully this works, he thought as he sat on the floor—his strength gone. No, it has to work. The mixture is enough to let one stay awake for a week...A surge of energy worked its way through him. Yes! It’s working. He regained his senses and the tiredness disappeared. Then, the energy suddenly disappeared as if it was being sucked by something inside him. No! His eye started feeling heavy and the drowsiness spread, but Roan persistently tried to keep it open. I can't be falling asleep so often... I need to send a message...I need to...

He tried to stand and do something to prevent himself from falling unconscious once again, but it was useless. His body refused to listen to him.

Soon, he found himself drifting off into a heavy, but comfortable sleep.