(Jacob, 16)

When everyone has gathered outside of the Jeshema residence for departure to the training camp, I notice a lack of Jason and a worried Alex. After Jason left for the home of his blood ancestry on Sorday, he never returned. The Sages claimed he was just resting and relaxing, but I have been unable to contact him, and I know Alex seemed worried as well when I briefly saw him yesterday.

"Before anyone asks," Sage Alyssa says. "I am going to answer this now. I know you are all worried about Jason, especially after his disappearance for a couple of weeks and the reveal that he was badly wounded and is still healing. He is still recovering, and was resting over the weekend. However, he is currently waiting for us at the training facility. Once everyone is settled into their rooms, we are beginning the training camp."

Immediately? I suppose it makes sense, we did some stuff the first day we were there last time, too, but that was more of a recreational activity than actual training.

Sage Alyssa opens a gate, and we begin to enter it one at a time. There are thirty-eight students and other trainees attending the camp. A large group.

When I step through, I find myself in the front lawn of the training building, only to find that the building is different than the last time we were here. Definitely bigger, which means they added more rooms. Bedrooms, maybe? Or training rooms, as we did fall short on that last session.

"Claim your rooms," Sage Jared tells us. "Then head to the cafeteria for breakfast. Some of you may have already eaten, but for those who are hungry, there is food. Jason is in there as well, and will has some announcements regarding the training you will be undergoing."

We enter the building, and I look in the cafeteria on our way through. As stated, Jason is in there, though I should have expected him to have a plate full of food, including a lot of fruits. He really enjoys sugary things. At the moment, he wears his usual outfit – pants, boots, and a vest, plus his pair of bracelets and his necklace. I am unable to see the left side of his head, but I assume he has his hairpins as well.

After I claim my room, my guards claiming theirs beside mine just as they did last time, I make my way to the cafeteria, Alex and his group entering ahead of me. When they do, Alex freezes up, and I follow his gaze. Standing beside Sage Elena in the kitchen section is a girl around eight years old. Though she has blond hair, her eyes are brown. She is far too scrawny to have been raised healthy.

"Know her?" I ask Alex as his crew looks at her, all of them reacting in a way which suggests they know her.

"No," he answers. "I ain't ever seen her before. Just ain't expecting anyone but us, Jason, and the Sages."

"Having me or me and Jeddy helping," Jason tells us, and we look over at him. "Proved to be lacking in actual support. Everyone will have some chores, but we pulled in some help."

"A young girl?" I ask.

"An orphan," Jason answers as we approach him. "She was sold to some bastards after her parents were murdered. On Sorday night, the abusers were slain and she was rescued by the Leviathan."

"The Leviathan?" I look at Alex.

"I heard about them," Alex nods. "Claims he's a god."

"I heard about him as well," I say. "I have read the report as well. The Leviathan, supposedly a god, showed up with six champions."

His crew counts six members when he is excluded.

"They slayed members of a child sex ring," I continue. "Wrapped the children in cloaks, then signaled to the city with an emergency light spell. When the guards arrived, they disappeared. Papa has been attempting to deal with that ring of predators for months, ever since he discovered it, but found no way to do so while not giving our enemies fuel to use against him."

I also know he visited Alex's home Sorday, after Jason left. Then hours later, the children were rescued. I also know both Alex and Jason would never stand for such a thing, and that Alex is perfect for acting as an agent.

"The Leviathan," Jason says. "According to Mama Alyssa, the person who told Alex about the event, he used some sort of aura spell that told the children he was a god. It calmed them and comforted them, and when the guards showed up at the mansion, the children believed with full faith the guard would protect them, despite what had happened. There were no detectable traces of magical residue a mortal would have left, so it's entirely possible a god actually did show up with six champions."

Either Jason is covering for Alex, or-

"Wait," I say. "No detectable traces of magic?"

That part of the even is news to me. Magic can be traced in some way? Not just when active or as an enchantment, but even after the magic itself is gone?

"Yes," Jason picks up a strawberry and examines it. "Imagine this strawberry is a person, one who was injured."

He dunks it into the cream cheese dip for fruit.

"And now magic is used on them," he says. "To heal those wounds."

He sticks the part coated in the dip into his mouth and pulls it out, leaving no trace of the dip behind.

"The dip is gone," I say.

"Are traces of its presence?" He asks, holding the strawberry up.

"Yes," Alex and I answer together.

"No," Jeddy pipes up, and I glance at him. "It's wet from his spit. Isn't that a trace of its presence?"

"Exactly," Jason says. "There's a sign that the dip was there, even if the dip itself isn't. For magic, that would be the magical residue. Everyone leaves a little bit of it behind when they use magic. All magic has it and leaves it behind. It can stay for a little bit-"

He takes a napkin and dries off the strawberry.

"Or it can disappear immediately," he holds up the dry strawberry once more. "Depending on how much was used, how strong the magical power was, how much mana was used, and various other factors."

"Is this something you remember from before?" I ask.

"Yes," he answers. "But I actually learned it again in this life before remembering that. Papa Samuel taught me about magical residue when I was six. With my innate ability to see magic, I was seeing the residue all the time anyway. I've since learned to filter that out when I look at magic."

"Because he can see magic," Sage Jared approaches us. "We had Jason help us create a device which can read the residue."

"One was used at the mansion?" Alex asks, and he does a good job of hiding his nervousness.

His crew, on the other hand, does not. That would confirm it was them who did this, but how could they have managed to hide their magical residue?

"Correct," Sage Jared answers. "But it came up blank for magical signatures that did not belong to the corpses or the soldiers who responded to the flare light."

"Is it possible for a mortal to manage that?" I ask.

"No," Jason answers. "Only the power of a god can do that. Mortals can't read their magical signatures. In theory, a god could erase magical residue, but to do it that precisely would be beyond the power of any god I know of that's free."

"How many of those are there?" Alex asks, looking rather nervous.

"Nine," Jason answers. "The god of fertility, Triossa, Enaveka, a daughter of his masquerading as a traveling bard who was in Varil City recently, a forest god who became quite confused when I spoke with him, and four others."

Based on the specification of the bard god, I am guessing that would be the woman who somehow knew Jason was alive and gave me that song in whatever that language was. But she did not look like a god – her eyes were not silver.

"A forest god?" I ask.

"A pacifist," Jason says. "He long-ago bound himself into a forest near the northern border of Varil, close to the mountains. Long before the war, actually. He stayed out of it, in fact – one of the few gods who did. For the most part, he protects his forest from wyverns and repairs damage done to it."

He fixes Alex with a stern look, then fixes me with a stern look.

"He was quite upset you two did that without warning him," he says. "You two are lucky he decided to repair the forest after your fight, or you'd have had a bit more explaining to do. You're also lucky he didn't decide to punish you for that."

"He ain't a god!" Alex exclaims. "His eyes ain't silver!"

"He's a lesser god of the First Order," Jason says. "They aren't very powerful. As I am now, I'm as powerful as him."

That is still quite powerful.

"We faced several of those during the war," I say. "Even we Magi had a difficult time with them, and their eyes were silver."

"You only faced them in groups," Jason says. "With angels or demons on their side, helping them. Most of those things who came here to Midlaris would be the equivalent of an indigo- or violet-level mage or warrior. As for the gods with eyes that aren't silver, they're… special.

"Anyway," he dips the strawberry into his dip again, then takes a bite of it and chews, swallowing after a few seconds. "I remembered about him while checking on my seals. He's actually rather socially bad and doesn't like dealing with people too often, especially since they have a tendency to damage his forest, just like monsters. But that's about the extent of it. So when I was binding the gods back when I was Nolan, I left him alone."

"How badly confused was he?" Alex asks. "You said he quite confused."

"It's complicated," Jason says. "Anyway, I'm going to finish eating, you guys should get something to eat, too. Once everyone's gathered and has had a few minutes to mingle in here, I'm making some announcements."

I nod, then make my way to the line. Alex stays behind to chat with Jason, and his crew stays with him. After grabbing breakfast, I find a seat, my guards sitting to either side of me, only slightly relaxed from their norm. Hopefully, we can succeed in convincing them to completely loosen up while we are here, even if they return to normal after we leave.

A few minutes after all of the trainees have arrived and those of us still hungry have our food and are seated, Jason walks up to the front and talks to the little girl, who I only now remember about. She seems a little scared of all of us, I notice as I watch her, but she seems okay with Jason.

Who was the Leviathan, if they left no magical residue behind? The slaughtering of nobility – even if said nobles were disgusting criminals – would not be something we would investigate only halfway. If there is a method to read residual magic and it came up clean…

What god is here that Jason does not know? Or does he know and is keeping silent? Could he be the one who used the guise of 'Leviathan'? From what I know of Nolan, and how comfortable the girl seems to be with him, it is the sort of thing he would do: slaughter pedophiles and take in their victims if their victims have nowhere to go. Give them a fresh home where they will be safe and protected.

Jason nods to the girl and says something I cannot understand, then she scampers back into the kitchen and hides behind the counter. He turns and addresses us as the head of a boy around six pops up behind the counter. Blond, with brown eyes. Her brother? He quickly drops back down.

"Okay, everyone," Jason says, his voice filling the room, and we fall silent. "A few things to note before we begin. As you'll have seen, the facility is larger than before. We now have thirty bedrooms and two shower rooms on each floor. The bedrooms was simply because we were having more space, the showers because we realized last time that if everyone wants to shower at once, we don't have space for that. The showers can hold ten people each as well, so there's room for every one of you trainees to shower at once. We also added in the staff quarters, and there are four new training rooms. This may yet change again before we meet here once more.

"Now," he says. "On to the Twelve Days of Honor. We will have various activities for them throughout the training camp, as we know some of you actually celebrate those."

He gives an annoyed look to his mamas and papas, causing us to chuckle.

"So don't worry about that," he turns his attention back to us. "For those wondering about decorations for the festival, we'll have some stuff brought in here once you've finished your eating so you can start making any you wish. If you want to put any decorations up outside, we must advise that be done by around two this afternoon – a snowstorm will be blowing in around three and will likely last through the night.

"You'll have noticed," he indicates behind him with a thumb. "A few youth here. They were recently rescued and had no home, so my mamas and papas took them in, and they will be assisting us in cleaning things and preparing meals. Please be courteous to them and leave them alone – they're quite frightened of people and are putting on brave faces in front of you right now in exchange for some sweets later.

"For the training," he says as Sage Harold, who I did not notice was around until now, approaches with a pair of chalkboards on wheels. He sets one up on either side of Jason as I read them. "The training groups are on the board on my left. We have already divided you up into five groups; three of eight, two of seven."

As he talks now, Sage Elena says something to the children, before walking to a door at the back of the kitchen and letting them through it.

"Some of you felt this," Jason says. "On the first day of auditions for my training group at the universities."

He begins to exert his magical power, and I instinctively sheathe myself in my own. While he is grey, he seems to be scaling back his power, just as he did on that day. Without my sheath, I would be bent over the table, struggling to breathe right now. As it is, my chest still feels heavy as a great weight presses upon me.

The exertion fades away after only a moment, and a quick glance around tells me that a few of the other trainees nearly fainted from this, and all those who did not know the trick are pale and struggling to breathe.

"This is a high-level magical technique," Jason informs us. "A counter to it is to sheathe yourself in your own magical power. You will have noticed that all of the Magi present, in addition to the Sages and a few others, sheathed themselves in it. It is a rather simple technique.

"In fact," he holds up a hand, and magical power begins to flow around it. "It is the same technique used to train your magical power. What you do instead of around just your hand, hands, arm, or arms is cover your entire body in it."

The grey magical power begins to flow down his arm, quickly covering him in a grey aura like steam.

"Now," he says. "Those of you who saw the others doing it will have noticed that it wasn't as steam-like as mine is now."

His exertion of magical power reduces from drifting more than half a foot off of him down to only a few inches, though it becomes much more dense.

"This is all they were doing," he says. "It's an advanced form of the magical exertion technique. There is another stage to it as well."

His magical power condenses further, turning in a grey glow that seems to hug his skin, visible only where his skin is visible. It is quite thin, and he can still be seen through it, just with a grey glow.

"This actually produces the best result," he says. "However, it takes more focus and discipline to use."

A memory from when I was Ethan returns to me when I see the magical aura technique, and I think the same thing happens to the other Magi, as several of them groan. Jason grins.

"It seems some of the Magi have remembered this from when they were Magi," he says. "And knows what I'm about to say. I am going to teach all of you this. And then you are all going to sustain this at all times when possible."

"This is a technique," Sage Harold says. "Which is unknown to anyone outside this room, the Sages, and the Dragon Clans. It is an advanced training technique. Because you are using magic at all times during this, it increases magical ability. Because it is condensed and focused, it does so even faster. Because it requires mental concentration and stamina, it trains those. It also helps boost your body's development in strength, speed, and other physical aspects."

"It is also," Jason says. "A magical defense without a barrier. Papa Harold?"

Sage Harold holds up a hand, and a burst of violet force magic explodes out, slamming into Jason's cheek. My friend is completely unfazed by it.

"Any attack weaker than it will do absolutely nothing," he says. "While it will heavily reduce the power of an attack stronger than it. Unlike with a barrier, it also utilizes the full might of your magic, rather than what of it you can manage. It is fluid, moving with your body, which makes it more versatile."

There are downsides to it, such as the cost to sustain it and the mental concentration required for it.

"While there might be some downsides to it," Jason says. "You are not to worry about them here. You will use it when you can and are able. If you notice you have stopped using it, begin using it again. This is one of the training techniques I used during the war to train the other Magi up to grey magical power. It took even the weakest of them no more than two years to reach it."

I can feel the shock of the non-Magi at this.

"And before someone says they were powerful," Jason says. "They were only orange when we met."

That would be Kyra, I believe.

"And speaking of orange magical power," Jason says. "There are seventeen of you who are still orange. All of you are within a few points of turning yellow. With this magical training technique and our training over the next week and a half or so, you will be at least middle yellow when you leave here. Possibly upper. Everyone here will likely advance at least one magical power tier."

"Yourself included?" One of the members of the training group asks.

A third-year student B-Class student. She is usually quiet, so hearing her speak surprises me. Normally, she shows up, performs the training, then leaves. The same thing happened during the training session over the Festival of Spirits weekend.

"Erm," Jason frowns for a moment as he thinks about his wording. "Yes, but for other reasons. All of you know I was away on business for two weeks. Most of you know I received injuries while gone. Those injuries are bad enough that I will still be recovering from them in two months. I am actually using magic to conceal the damage from all of you, and I am using magic at all times to recover, which is a form of magical training in and of itself."

I glance around, and notice that people are uncertain and confused. Jason holds up a hand to the left side of his face, and when he pulls it away, everyone gasps, myself included.

His ear is partially missing, his eye is dull, his skin is a mix of blue and red with some portions missing, and grey force magic is stitching it together. He places his hand back over that side of his face and waits a few seconds, then moves his hand away.

"I am using a mix of light, heat, water, earth, and air magic," Jason says. "To create the illusion of health. Were you to touch me, it would feel like normal flesh and blood."

"What about your arm?" Niko blurts out. "And your leg?"

Jason thinks for several moments, then holds out his left arm. For a few moments, he thinks, but then shakes his head. The 'arm' disappears, revealing an arm of grey force magic instead. Only around three inches of his arm actually exists, and the force magic prevents us from seeing inside of it to the actual gore of his recovery. Or… is he not recovering?

Based on the looks his mamas and papas are giving him, none of them knew the damage was that bad. He is literally using force magic to stitch himself together, based on his face, and has an arm of pure force magic as he heals.

Does he have a leg of force magic? Now that I think about it, I have not seen Jason walk much over the last week. Are there issues with his substitute for his missing leg?

"For those who are unaware," Jason says as water and light bends around his arm, before the appearance of a normal arm forms once more. "I was attacked by a god, which is where I sustained these injuries. Due to certain factors, it's not possible to fix this with just holy magic. As a grey-level magician, however, I will recover entirely. Eventually. Until then, I am using magic to make up for that."

"Is that why ya ain't able to use spatial magic?" Alex asks. "Because ya're too busy using your magic for other stuff?"

"My healing doesn't have to do with spatial magics," Jason says. "At least, not fully. I did something kind of stupid while healing, and it's locked me out of a lot of the special magics unless I wish to risk my health. If I weren't injured, it wouldn't have been a problem, but it was sort of an emergency."

"Does it have to do," Alex says. "With whatever ya had to threaten the gods with?"

Everyone not aware of that incident stares at Jason, so he explains about visiting each of the sealed gods he remembered and delivering a threat to them. That makes everyone even more curious and worried about what happened.

Jason scratches the back of his neck, then fingers the tooth around his neck. A white spatial storage ring appears, and Jason reaches inside of it, pulling out a sword. We all stare at it. The weapon gives me a very ominous vibe, the sort where I am instinctively preparing to flee here. Just what is that sword? It looks isivinite, but there are no violet markings on it – the entire hilt is grey, and the jewels set into it are as well. The sheath was made of grey leather.

"I thought ya couldn't use spatial magics?" Alex frowns. "Didn't ya-"

"I simply activated a preset spell," Jason releases the tooth, and the ring fades. "I enchanted the tooth for a spatial storage a couple of months ago. It was done mostly on a whim, but turned out useful. It can't store much, though – this sword is nearly all it can contain."

"What is that?" Sage Elena asks, her voice tense. "Jason, what on Midlaris is that sword?"

"This sword," Jason says. "Is Reaper. It is the most powerful sword ever forged – more powerful than the combined might of every Magus Sword. A single nick from this sword, and you die. Even a grey-level mage would be killed instantly by it, no matter how powerful they were. This includes by any of its magical attacks."

The room is completely silent, and the ominous sensation I am feeling only grows stronger. Jason touches the tooth on his necklace for a few moments, and the ring appears again. He moves the sword back into it, and only then does the feeling fade away. The ring disappears as he drops his hand, and he looks at Sage Elena.

"And you are not sealing that away," he tells her. "It is absolutely necessary to deal with any gods which may find themselves loose and desiring chaos before I am capable of handling them without it. Enamas has taught me that much."

"How did you forge such a sword?" She asked.

"With great risk to my life," he answers, then looks back to us. "Let us return to the previous topic. Because of my constant state of high magical usage at all times, it acts as a form of training similar to the technique you will all be using."

As he speaks, I realize that he still has that grey magical glow around him. He never stopped using it once he began.

"Everyone using this new technique," he says. "Will find themselves growing at a decent rate during this training session for the same reason. You will also find it difficult and draining to perform. However, the main purpose of this is for the magical stamina and mental ability improvements. The real test of this will be when summer comes, as you will all be performing it then and there as well."

"We ain't able to just switch topics like that!" Alex exclaims when Jason stops talking. "Jason! Ya have a sword that can kill anyone, at any time, just by nicking them! That ain't the sort of thing we can just stop thinking about!"

"It's stored safely away," Jason says. "And the enchantment on this necklace is keyed to my magical power. No one else can access it. And there are twelve it cannot kill."

"Oh, really?" Alex asks. "Who could survive a sword named 'Reaper', Jason? I'm betting it destroys souls, too!"

"The Magi," Jason states as we all stare at Alex at his comment. A sword which can destroy souls? Did Jason truly create such a weapon? "We are immune to it's all-killing bite, though the Queen of the Gods would likely be annoyed if it were used on one of us. Now. Let us return to the discussion of how this spell is performed. You are all going to be using it starting as soon as you've learned it, and you cannot begin the activities for today until that's done. Oh! Before we do that, look at this board."

He gestures to the second chalkboard.

"As I'm sure you've all noticed," he says. "It's a chore chart. The numbers in each block corresponds to one of the five training groups. Chores can be performed in any free period, and this chart shows the assignments for each day we're here. I had Papa Samuel enchant it so that you guys can't alter it, so don't try."

There is some sort of trap spell in the enchantment, no doubt. Based on tales Papa has told me, Jason has plenty of experience with not being able to escape the traps or disable them, which means that we are likely to not succeed, were we to attempt to pass our chores off on to someone else.

(Jason, 16)

"Strip."

I look at Mama Elena with a raised eyebrow. She, Papa Jared, Papa Harold, Mama Alyssa, and Mama Elizabeth are all here for the training group, with Papa Samuel and Papa Michael in Mar and Kelrar. The five of them here pulled me into a room after I finished teaching everyone how to use the aural sheath, and I was sure it was because of Reaper.

At least no one asked me what it was forged of, that would no doubt give a few of them heart attacks.

"Now, Jason," Mama Elena says. "And remove your concealment spells. Show us the full extent of your injuries."

"You will freak out," I tell her.

"Now," her voice is firm.

I strip and set my clothes on a table, then I slowly release my concealment spells. I can do a small section quickly, as I'm not actually releasing it then but pulling it back under that circumstance. To reveal everything, however, means completely removing the spells, and if I try to do that quickly, I may end up releasing the mana stitching I'm using to hold myself together as I heal. Not sustaining that would result in me taking even longer to heal.

When I finish releasing my spells, I wait. All five of my mamas and papas here walk around me, examining the injuries and mana stitching. I can tell they know what that actually is, everyone else likely thought it was simply force magic used as threads.

It was, quite honestly, a technique I'd known as Nolan, but never recovered the memory of yet. The only reason I know about it is because I had a book with this technique explained on the Shattered Isle. That place was meant for emergencies, and I, as Nolan, prepared for memory loss as well. While those stitch the wounds together, I also have thin, almost translucent, force membranes sealing my wounds to protect from outside elements and contamination.

"How are you even standing?" Mama Alyssa asks.

"With my leg and magical leg."

"Jason!" She asks, and I grin.

"How much pain are you in?" Papa Harold asks.

"It depends on if I accidentally stop casting the holy spell I have active at all times," I answer. "It's both soothing my pain and increasing my natural healing speed. Without it, I would definitely be crippled, and I sometimes wake up with it off. I'm running many spells simultaneously, and they are a heavy drain on my mana, in addition to the subconscious releasing that can occur from dreams. Thank goodness we had my room soundproofed, or Mama Alyssa would have been in a panic most mornings last week."

Mama Elena hesitant reaches out and touches my left arm, the part that's made up of force magic.

"I'm still adjusting the spell," I hold up my arm. "But it acts as a normal arm. I can release the spell, I have a secondary one protecting the healing stump while not hindering it. I'm channeling my healing energies into more vital things."

"Things more vital than your arm and leg?" She asks.

"My spine, for example," I tell her. "Force magic is the reason I'm not affected by its injuries. My lungs and heart were damaged as well."

I gesture to the force membrane over the wounds on my chest.

"More important things," I say. "He managed to tear off a chunk of my chest with a swipe of his claws. Once I was conscious enough to direct my healing, I focused on the absolutely vital things. My heart and lungs only finished recovering for the most part over the last couple of days, while I was relaxing at the lake. Give me two or three months, and I'll be fine. I promise. It would be longer without my healing spell, and may be sooner based on how much more powerful I'll be as a result of this. I'm almost to middle grey now, and will have no doubt reached it by the end of training here, especially if I keep up my current training regimen. Naturally, the more magical power I have, the harder it will be to reach the next level of magical power, but I am sure to reach upper grey by the time I finish healing, with a chance at greater grey."

Had I already been middle grey when the fight occurred, my injuries would not be as bad, and I would not use as much power to heal, meaning I would have only chanced reaching upper, and it would be doubtful I would have reached greater grey.

Mama Elena pulls me into a hug, and I can feel her shaking as she tries not to cry.

"I'm fine, I promise," I tell her. "Or, well, I'll be fine. There are a few things I can't do, but otherwise, it's the same me you've always known. Do you mind if I get dressed and go back out there? I'm actually still pretty hungry since I'm converting everything into healing, and I want to help make decorations."

The door flies open as she releases me, and Alex bursts into the room, panic clear on his face.

"Niko's missi-" he freezes up when he sees me, eyes widening in horror. "Jason? Wh-wh-those inj-what?"

He passes out, and Mana Alyssa moves to check on him as I grab my clothes and start dressing. Niko's missing? Is that what Alex was saying? I restore my concealing spells as I dress, and Alex is roused during that.

"What's going on?" Mama Alyssa asks him. "Were you saying Niko's missing?"

Alex gives me a worried look.

"Alex?" I prompt. "Niko?"

"Yeah," he nods. "Niko said something about needing to go for a walk, and then he went outside. We checked, and he was gone. He used a gate to go somewhere, we think. Jason… your injuries… they're so bad."

"That's not important, Alex," I say. "I'll be fine. Niko might not be."

Why did he leave? Was he feeling bad because of his leg again? Is he worried about people finding out? Is he still feeling awful for being miserable when my injuries are worse? Without my full magics, I can't just track him down like I normally would.