The very first thing Jack discovered upon returning were tears running down his face. Never for as long as he could remember, had he shed so much as a single tear. Yet in the last few days, he had done so in despair, regret, and now for the first time, joy. It was both a wonderful and bittersweet experience and one look at Felix told him the large man was feeling much the same.

They got control of themselves after a moment. “Come, let me introduce you to our people. At least, I assume you consider these children to be yours by the questions you were asking.”

They went back down the stairs only to be greeted by dozens of emaciated faces. “Come here children. Let me introduce you to the newest member of our family.”

At these words, there was an angry rumbling from the crowd. Several slipped away and out the back door. Jack made out Arthur’s silhouette leading them.

When this was over only a few remained, including Aster he noticed. Felix saw her too and he put on a disapproving dad face. “I believe that I told you to go to bed Aster. You have to be up early for school.”

The little girl seemed sheepish but firm. She shook her golden locks like a bull getting ready to charge. “But daddy!” She whined. “I have something to show you and Jac, so I asked Arthur to let me stay.” then without further ado, her hands began to glow green.

Felix and Jack were still on the staircase at this point so they hurried over to the miracle that was Aster's display. Several more kids were spooked and fled, leaving only three of the forty or so kids standing behind her.

The glow began to fade as a small daisy appeared in the palm of her hand. It wasn’t just the flower either. It was the whole shebang. Stem, leaves, and root system were all visible on this plant that before now had not existed in this world. Silently, she presented her creation to her father.

Felix took the flower from her outstretched hand. He poked and prodded it before his eyes grew wide. Then he took Asters hand and Jack felt a magical pulse surge through her. She shivered. “Daddy, that tickles!” She complained, but he could see the pride in her eyes. This was obviously the reaction she was going for.

Felix stepped back and looked at the plant in his palm in shock. “She has no taint. Somehow, her body was completely cleansed and she started the Metamorphosis. How is that even possible?”

Jack didn’t completely understand everything yet, but he figured that he got the gist of what Felix was saying. Felix had explained a little about the taint during his Q&A. “I think that was my doing. This morning I cast my only signature spell on her and cleansed her channels of what I believe to be the taint. Her core had some kind of sickly colored gunk that I absorbed and processed.” He clapped his hands together like a kid getting to the end of a book report and didn’t want the teacher to know that he hadn’t read it. “Yeah, well it restored her to peak performance and did… something else. Not sure what that is yet.”

Felix grabbed his jacket and spoke evenly. “You can cleanse the taint, inside of the human body?”

Jack loosened the hand on his uniform, he only had one and responded. “That’s right. My signature spell is called Laying Down Burdens. Master helped me create it.”

The big man gave Jack a giant grin and started laughing uncontrollably. He fell to the ground with a tremor and continued to chortle. Everyone else just watched awkwardly as he gradually gained control of himself. “This is a joyous day indeed. When you were Called, I was ready for disappointment. Champions are mostly more trouble than they are worth. You on the other hand are far more than I bargained for.” He peered around to the children skulking in the shadows.

“Come here Jason, Frigia, and Ignazio.” He turned back to Jack. “Can you do the same for them? I simply do not have the power to extract the taint from a living being. My power is mostly over the inanimate, not tailored towards life like yours is.”

Jack thought over what had happened the first time and compared the power requirements to his reserves. The conclusion he came to was frustrated. “Not right now, I only have enough refined power to handle two children like Aster. If they have any more taint then even that much is beyond me.”

Felix looked thoughtful and the children seemed both excited to use magic and terrified that they were going to be experimented on. Their trust in Felix must have overpowered their flight response because they did not move.

“So you just need to throw some logs on the fire. I saw that you had several that you hadn’t processed yet. He touched Jack’s forehead before disappearing. A moment later power flooded Jack, but he felt much of the mana he was compatible with escape into the ether after being refined. He must have not laid the Fire very well. I bet he just grabbed the whole stack and chucked it in.

Felix reappeared a second later. “Is that enough mana for you to work with?”

“I think so,” Jack responded in irritation. That whole maneuver got under his skin. He understood intellectually that it was the fastest method, it just felt so rude.

Jack pointed to the boy in front. “Do you mind giving me your hand?” The boy carefully stepped out of the shadows and took Jack's hand. He was younger than Aster, maybe right or nine. His emaciated features seemed hawkish and his clothes were dirty but well made. Jack assumed that was Felix’s doing. Black hair came down over his eyes, hiding their true color. He made the spell form and pressed it into the boy's body.

Several minutes later it was over. Both man and child were panting and covered in sweat and grime. There had simply been too much taint for Jack to purify or absorb. So he pushed it out through Jason's pores. It was an unpleasant experience. Cracking sounds came from Jason as he seemed to grow right before Jack’s eyes. Jason had gained at least an inch and was now sporting a healthy glow and body weight. Gone were the sharp impressions his body gave. Now he seemed to have that handsome look that every sports star seemed to possess.

The grime on their bodies seemed to dissolve into thin air. Leaving them blessedly clean. Jason sheepishly met Jack’s eyes. “Thanks. I feel so much betta now. Like I am really strong.” Jason flexed and tried to take a step. He ended up springing ten feet to the left before falling flat on his face.

Jack tried to get up but also moved far more than he expected to. “Are you okay kid?”

Felix leaned over and picked Jason up. He sent another pulse of magic through him. “He will be fine. He has been living in the orphan ward for far longer than Aster so he had collected more of the taint. When you purified it, part of it went into both of your bodies and strengthened them. We are not like the Magi. We cultivate our magic and our vessels, making us more powerful and well-rounded… Continue! Frigia, you go next!”

“Yes, father.” Replied the young girl. Jack placed her age about the same as Jason and after looking behind her, so was Ignazio. She had white hair and red eyes. Jack had never met an albino before but assumed that they were probably as rare here as on earth. Her expression was both cautious and full of excitement. This time when he was cleansing her body, Jack noticed that her body was absorbing certain kinds of mana more than others. He focused on purifying those types while pushing the types neither of them could use away.

After the process was finished, an aura of cold came out of her on top of her growth spurt. Felix was especially delighted and took her aside to have a whispered conversation, but not before ordering the last of his children, in the room, to come forward.

So Ignazio approached Jack and held out his hand in a jittery motion. The red-headed kid hadn’t stopped moving since Jack met him, constantly shifting and fidgeting. Jack cast the spell, this time he had an idea. When formulating the spell last night. His master had shown him how altering the runes in certain ways could give the spell additional effects. This was further increased by all that he had learned today. So he worked in another sigil, Temper.

When the spell went off the effects were immediate. The taint was cleansed faster and more efficiently than before. Though that paled in comparison to Ignazio’s absorption rate. Barely any of the power went back to Jack as it attempted to completely remake Ignazio’s body. at the end of the spell, both Jack and Ignazio collapsed.

It took some deep breaths to get up but he was able to finally see what had become of the boy. Ignazio’s hair wasn’t just red, it was burning at the edges.