Liam woke in a flash to the sound of cracking coming from above him. Immediately, he leaped to his feet, the Core Shard in his hand without conscious thought. He could feel Heather and Ziac following suit. Heather almost immediately disappeared from his senses, and Ziac let out a Hellish Snarl. It sent shivers up his spine, but Liam was used to it, and the ability wasn’t directed at him, so he could resist the terror it tried to instill. What he wasn’t expecting was the internal response he felt from his own Beast Roar mana. Considering the similarities between the abilities, though, it made some sense to him. After all, Beast Roar seemed to be a more versatile version of Hellish Snarl that wasn’t specially locked.

Refocusing on his surroundings after he suppressed his sudden desire to Roar, Liam looked toward where he had originally heard the noise from while reaching internally for the mana to use Overload. He stopped immediately, however, because of two factors. The first was a shooting pain up his spine, and the other was Astra scrawling text across his vision.

Hold up there mister twitchy. Unless you forgot, you’re completely mana drained. So no mana dependent skills or abilities. Also, that's just Vit breaking his tier barrier. You didn’t notice that he triggered his tier change last night.

“Ah.” Liam said. He wasn’t properly awake yet. Relaxing he sat back down and groaned. Now that he was waking up, he could feel his entire body aching. “Mana depletion suuucks.” He said with some force. Twisting around in his seated position, Liam faced Ziac, who was crouched low to the ground and looking all around the clearing for a threat. “Everything’s fine, bro. False alarm. Vit is breaking into fourth tier. Sorry, I completely forgot to mention and I didn’t notice him starting last night.” With that said, Liam lay back down on the ground, his stomach feeling like a black hole. He wasn’t sure if he had ever been this hungry before. Ziac glanced at him before relaxing and nodding as Heather appeared a few feet away. She looked from the other kids sleeping, toward Liam sprawled out on the ground beside them. Setting her hands on her hips, she gave Liam a critical look.

“Hungry?” She said with no small amount of amusement. This wasn’t the first time Liam had ended up like this. It was just the worst he had ever had it.

Glancing at his sister, Liam nodded. “Pretty sure I’m literally dying right now. Care to confirm Astra?” Liam said as he held up his arm for all to see.

Astra promptly scrolled a reply across the proffered arm. Oh yeah. Reeeeeally big breakfast. And no mana at all for at least a day or two. That little stunt you just pulled did more damage than you think.

“Aw what? C’mon! It can’t be that bad!” Liam whined.

Pulling from an empty mana gland is a great way to cause permanent harm, Li. You are incredibly lucky you’re so sturdy. A normal seven year old might have crippled themselves for life or died doing what you just did. As it is, plenty to eat and some light exercise will have you back to normal in only a few days. Less if you’re nice to Sia and get her to patch you up… again.

Waving his raised hand back and forth, Liam groaned. “Alright, alright. I’ll be good.” Letting his arm flop to his side, Liam closed his eyes. “You saw it princess. I’m down for the count. Care to get breakfast?” Liam said to Heather, who snorted before transforming back into her Lupine form and loping off into the woods around their home.

Despite Liam's frivolous and lazy sounding words, Heather knew he was just playing tough. Liam insisted on being the one to gather food most days. Heather and Lorna had to fight him to let her, Ziac, and Lorna get meals. If he wasn’t getting up, he had to be hurting bad. She resolved to help him the best way she could, getting a meal high in mana content.

Liam, meanwhile, was falling back asleep. He wanted to remain awake to see what Vit had gained from his breakthrough, but the sun had barely started to rise and he hurt. Before he completely nodded off though, soothing mana flowed through his body, into his aching muscles and bones. He sighed in relief. Without opening his eyes, Liam said, “Thanks Sia. Sorry for having to heal for the third time in like, eight hours.”

His words were met with a feminine laugh that was most definitely not his younger sister’s. “My, your sister must get rather frustrated with you if this is a regular occurrence. Healing that often would be hard, even on a fifth tier Dryad.”

Opening his eyes, Liam saw it was actually Teafa who had healed him. She was kneeling over his body with one of her hands over his heart radiating a soft green light. It was a testament to his pain and hunger that he hadn’t noticed her touch. Behind her was his mother in her human guise, looking at him in much the same way as Heather had not that long ago. “Oh.” He said sheepishly. “Good morning. Thank you for the healing. Hi Mom. Everything… Everything good?” He questioned tentatively.

After letting her son sweat for a moment while Teafa smiled at her out of Liam's view, Lorna finally let out a sigh and relaxed her posture. She crouched down opposite Teafa and grasped Liam’s hand tightly in her own. She would have given him a hug if she thought it advisable for him to do anything other than lay down right now. “It seems I made you all rather worried.” She said softly. Liam nodded slightly. “I’m sorry. Teafa… Teafa and, later on, her husband used to be the only people I trusted in this world. Until yesterday, I thought they were dead for years.” Lorna smiled softly at Liam, gripping his hand tighter. “Seeing her again was.. A lot to deal with. Still, I’m your mother, and I shouldn’t have let it overwhelm me. So I apologize.”

Liam was rather stunned. His mom was usually very reserved. This was not like her at all. Then again, she had been acting incredibly different from the moment she saw Teafa, so Liam more or less took it in stride. “It’s fine Mom. I love you.” He said simply, squeezing Lorna’s hand back.

With that, Lorna let out a breath, and her almost sad expression broke into a massive smile. “Good.” She said, with more cheer than Liam thought he had ever heard from her. She then reached out with her unoccupied hand and flicked Liam in the forehead. “Now if you ever try to fight someone claiming to be a challenger to me again, I will make your life a living nightmare. Am I understood?” She said, the smile never leaving her face.

Liam began to sweat. “Yes ma’am. Never again.” His mom was a thousand times scarier than that ape would ever be.

“Good boy.” Lorna said, patting his cheek. She leaned over and kissed his forehead right where she had flicked him. “Now you rest up and let me and Teafa fix you.” That said, she got up and walked over the Ziac. who was sitting among the still sleeping form of the younger kids.

Your mom is scary. Astra wrote across his vision.

Liam laid his head back on the ground as healing magic continued to take away the aches and pains left over from yesterday. “Mhmm.”

{}

Several hours later, Liam was sitting upright with his back against the horn in the center of the clearing. “Dang.” He said, patting his full stomach. “Teafa sure knows how to cook.” It was several hours after Liam’s conversation with his mother, and Teafa had just cooked a portion of the meat Heather had brought back for him and her to eat.

His arm vibrated with Astra’s amusement. He looked at the offending appendage to see what she was laughing about. It's more that this is the first time you have ever eaten cooked food. A normal human would have died eating your diet.

“Wait, really?” Liam perked up at this. “What do you mean by that?”

I mean that humans can’t eat raw meat easily. Especially not that of high tiered Beasts. All that unprocessed mana would kill them or ruin their intestines. That's why they cook it.

“Oh. Huh, weird.” Liam said interestedly. He knew that humans and some of the other sentient races cooked the food they ate, but he had assumed it was a matter of improving the flavor of the food, not a dietary necessity. "So then how come I'm perfectly fine?"

Because of your Calling. Life Eater doesn't just allow you to incorporate the Mana of your food into your body. It also transformed your entire intestinal tract into that of a Beasts when you first received it. Being as you are now, you can eat pretty much anything.

Liam sat still for a moment. "How did I not know this?" He said incredulously.

You never asked. You just took it for granted that everyone eats like you do. After all, your entire family are Beasts. Teafa is the first non-Beast you've had any real interaction with. Honestly, I probably already told you at one point, but you either weren't paying attention, or didn't understand what I meant. Or you forgot.

Liam nodded at that. He had a bad habit of zoning out whenever Astra started lecturing him about his powers. Any practical stuff stuck with him, but all the more complex information just made him feel lost. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm just no good with all the nuanced stuff." He said apologetically. It felt like all he had been doing since he got home was apologize.

It's fine Li. I gave up on trying to teach properly ages ago. It is a bit sad though. You have so much potential for magic, but without the patience and mentality to study the "nuanced stuff" as you put it, you'll never be a great mage. And before you say anything, those little enhancement cantrips Lorna managed to teach you don't count. Children can do that.

Liam shut his mouth. He had indeed been about to defend himself by mentioning what little magic he did know. Instead he shrugged. Liam had known for a while that he just wasn't very good at magic. The complicated understanding of the concepts necessary to craft spells was beyond him. "That's fine." He said easily. "So long as I can just stab my problems I'm not too worried about it."

Once again, Liam's arm trembled with Astra's laughter. Of course you would say that. Well, at least you're good at stabbing things.

Liam nodded and smiled. He may be terrible at magic, but he was great with more conventional weapons. Gabe told him that he was practically a prodigy when it came to spearmanship. Thinking of Gabriel, a thought hit Liam hard. He hadn't heard from Gabe since the fight with the ape. He hadn't noticed until now because of all the things going on in the meantime and the fact that the crotchety old man was sleeping more often than not. Still, it was strange for him to not interject for almost twelve hours now. Reaching out internally, Liam felt for the presence in his mind that was Gabriel. “Hey old man! You still alive?” He asked.

Liam felt a stirring inside his mind like Gabe was stretching after a long nap. “Wazzat? Shush. Feel like I got wasted last night. Where the hell am I anyway?” Came a drowsy response.

“Not hell, that's for sure. Last I checked the Demons kicked you out for getting too drunk.” Liam replied sarcastically.

“That actually sounds pretty familiar… Shit!” Gabe suddenly explained.

“Language!” Liam responded harshly.

“No time for that now!” Gabe waved off Liam’s admonishment before diving headlong into Liam’s awareness associated with his mana. Liam could feel Gabe rooting through the mana signatures for all of his powers. It was a very uncomfortable sensation, like someone running wet fingers up your spine. Liam shivered.

In response, Astra lit up. Li? What's going on? I can feel Gabe digging through your mana.

“I would like to know too, but he’s not really explaining himself right now!” Liam snapped. Whatever Gabe was doing was extremely uncomfortable.

“Ah ha! Damn. Damn it all! Kid what in Grims name is this!” Gabe exclaimed. Liam could feel him internally waving around the bridge between his Perseverance ability and Overload skill that had shown up after his fight with the greater arboreal ape.

“I don’t know. Astra, you figure out what that Berserk thing was? Gabe is asking.” Liam said, nonplussed. He didn’t really care. Astra would have told him if that thing was dangerous, and he certainly wasn’t going to be the one to figure it out, so he left it to Astra.

Liam felt a strange shifty feeling coming from his arm that had never happened before. Weeeeellll. I don’t really know. The words scrawled out in a rush. I’m working on it I swear. It doesn’t seem to be harmful, but I’ve got no clue right now. All I can tell you is that whatever it is, isn’t in any of the archives I can access. I think it might be something wholly new. Also, it's broken.

“Broken?” Liam asked, ignoring all the cussing Gabe was doing in the back of his head after reading Astra’s words. It was usually best to let him tire himself out when he got like this.

Yeah. See this bit here? She wrote, while Liam could feel her tugging on a piece of the mana that led nowhere.

“Hey, wait a second.” Liam said suddenly. “We already talked about this yesterday!”

I know. But a lot has happened since then. I figured you just forgot it.

“That was very fair.” Liam agreed. “So anyway, I remember now. Anything new to add?” He followed eagerly.

I still can’t be sure of anything. I double checked all historical records of skill and ability interactions and this one is new. The idea that a power can originate not from a skill or ability on its own, but the link between them, is unheard of. The fact that there was a third factor involved makes it easier to accept, but we have no real leads on what that third factor might be. Your idea has merit, but I can’t read into your past and see what ethereal concept you might have understood. So as far as all this is concerned, we just have to wait for it to trigger on its own.

“Aw, c’mon. Is there really no way to figure it out?” Liam said disappointedly. If he had a power that let him kill a sixth tier, then that would make protecting his family easier. “Hey.” Liam said, a sudden thought coming to him. “Why don’t you just compare the mana signature of the third factor to all the ethereal concepts until you find a match?”

Yeah, like I didn’t think of that already. Do you have any idea how many ethereal concepts there are? You don’t because no one knows! Even the gods have no idea. Even the known ones number in the billions. Maybe if I wasn’t like this I could run it against all those known ones, but as I am now it would take years.

“Oh. My bad.” Liam said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head with the hand he wasn’t reading from. Before he could dislodge the foot he had so firmly put in his mouth, an ear-piercing shriek filled the air. This bird cry sent a pulse through Liam’s body as he gained a new awareness. Liam could feel Vit’s mind once again, and it was sharper than ever. In fact, the difference was so extreme it nearly overwhelmed him. Smiling massively, Liam turned his head to the left, looking up into the branches of the Founder tree there. He could see a brilliantly shining light coming from about midway up the tree. Without having any time to react, the light was halfway to him. In fact, this glowing mass of light and fire reach Liam in well under a second from over half a mile away. Liam could feel joy and exhilaration flowing through his link to Vit as his avian friend flashed over Liam’s head doing loop de loops and ninety degree turns so fast that, were it not for the trail of blazing light in his wake, Liam would not be able to follow Vit’s flight path.

Finally settling down, Vit ended his hectic aerial ballet with a rapid dive right toward Liam. Just a moment before impact, there was a bright flash of fire from Vit’s wings and all the momentum of his dive disappeared. And there he was, hovering in the air before Liam, held in place by two jets of fire coming from the long flight feathers on his wings. The newly advanced lightwing falcon was radiant in a way Liam had never seen. He could actually feel the fire and light mana flowing off Vit in waves.

To top it all, when Liam thought he couldn’t be impressed any further, Vit shrank before his eyes. After entering fourth tier, Vit’s size had increased significantly. He grew from barely two feet from head to tail, to four and a half feet or more. Now, he shrunk down to only a little bit larger than his previous size, perhaps two foot three. Liam held his arm out at a nudge he felt from Vit’s newly improved consciousness, and his feathery friend landed gently on his arm, careful not to rend Liam’s flesh with talons that were noticeably sharper than before.

Vit broke the silence, speaking his first words ever. “Hello, blood brother. It is nice to finally converse with you.” The words rolled into Liam’s mind in an even, cultured tone. This voice belonged to a scholarly gentleman, and was not at all what Liam had been expecting.

“Well, well. You really got quite a boost there didn’t you?” Liam responded, a massive, goofy smile on his face. He could feel happiness and amusement through his bond.

“Indeed. It appears that Astra’s initial hypothesis was correct. Your constant use of Telepathy and my participation in Astra’s lessons on various aspects of this world improved my mind beyond all reason. I dare say I absorbed more from those lessons than you did.” The last sentence was sent with a hearty chuckle, which sounded rather strange coming from a bird. Especially to anyone incapable of hearing the telepathic conversation, as it would appear that a bird just randomly let out a rather human laugh.

Liam laughed alongside him. “Yeah I don’t doubt it. Honestly, it's a bit too much for me when she gets going.” Liam responded goodnaturedly. He knew his limits, and no one in his family faulted him for it. Even if it was more than a little frustrating to Astra. “So, how do you feel?” Liam asked eagerly. He hadn’t been old enough to remember many of his siblings' breakthroughs, and hearing them describe it always made him wish he had been born a Beast.

Vit drew himself up, standing tall and fanning his wings out. The kaleidoscope of brilliant white, gold, red, and silver feathers was a sight to behold. “I feel… Liberated. My mind is clear, my body strong and fast. I feel access to more power than I could have dreamed. More than that though, I feel that potential to become even greater. Like I’ve barely tapped into a fraction of my true potential.” Vit said with awe in his voice. “And.” He continued, drawing his wings in and turning his focus fully on Liam. “I know I owe this all to you. You took a risk when you saved me. Forming a blood pact with an orphaned and injured little chick. If I had died despite your best effort, it could have crippled you. I know that now. Even more, sharing your home and food with me and expecting nothing in return. Truly, I am alive and strong today by your hand. So now that I can say it, know that I speak the truth. Thank you, Liam, son of Lorna. I will follow wherever you go to my dying breath.” With that, Vit bowed deeply toward the young boy who had rescued, healed, and fed him when he was no more than a week old.

Liam smiled brightly. He didn’t really feel like anything he had done was worth much praise. He had seen a third tier prismatic viper attacking a defenseless chick. As far as he was concerned, anyone would have intervened. Especially considering the fact that the nasty little snake hadn’t been so much trying to eat the young bird, as torture it. The way Liam saw it, such Beasts didn’t belong in his mother’s forest. Liam extended his fist, and Vit bumped his head into it. “No problem, I’m glad I did it. But really, you got really smart. What the heck man?” Liam said with a laugh.

Vit bobbed his head in acknowledgement. “Astra is an excellent teacher. It's your own fault that she can’t get through to you.” Vit said, peering at Liam judgmentally.

Liam shrugged. “I know.” He replied simply. He knew he was a terrible student.

Vit nodded sharply. “Besides listening to her attempts to teach you, I believe our telepathic bond assisted my mental growth in this breakthrough. After all, even before reaching fourth tier my mental capacity was much higher than it should have been. Astra, your thoughts?” Vit said, directing his attention to Liam's arm.

Right, first of all, congratulations! You are one of the most impressive non-Transcendent ancestry Beasts ever! To address your idea though, I would agree. It seems likely that being around and connected to a sentient race for most of your main adolescent phase greatly influenced your transfer into adulthood. I would add, you ate a significant portion of a sixth tier Beast with a Transcendent bloodline right before breakthrough. Things like that tend to affect what you gain in the transition.

“Something to note for future exploitation, certainly.” Vit said interestedly. “Was it the fact that the mana from that Beast allowed me to breakthrough that shifted my abilities so far out of the norm, or that I ate from him at all?” Vit continued to muse.

There’s no real way to know, unfortunately. Yours is such a fringe case that I don’t have any reference data to draw on. Anything more is just speculation. The complexities of a Beasts’ breakthrough and mana interactions in general are beyond even the gods’ knowledge.

“Well, what all did you gain?” Liam interjected. He knew well enough that if Astra started down this path, she would be theorycrafting for the rest of the day. Especially since so many rare things had occurred within such a short period. Her excitement was nearly ever present since Liam experienced that blackout. Apparently that event stood out to her more than anything else strange that had happened in the hours following it all the way up to Vit’s breakthrough.

“Ah, yes. Quite a lot, actually.” Vit said. He might have forgotten that Liam couldn’t see Vit’s own mana. Astra had the ability to observe most peoples mana. That was actually how she knew what abilities that Teafa had, and what rank they were at. Liam had no such ability, in fact, the vast majority of living creatures can’t tell what abilities another has without seeing them in action. Not that it mattered much to Liam. Astra supplied him with any information he might need.

“The number of abilities I have nearly doubled. I even have racial abilities.” Vit continued with no small amount of pride.

That’s… How? A fourth tier lightwing falcon really shouldn’t have racial abilities.

“You didn’t notice them earlier?” Liam asked.

No, I was more focused on a few of his abilities that are considered fifth tier, and I was distracted. But he does have two racial abilities.

“Two? Well what are they?” Liam asked, facing Vit with anticipation. Racial abilities were exclusive to very rare Transcendent races. Creatures that were born into the seventh tier. For a lightborn falcon, a race that usually only ever reached third tier, having a racial ability wasn’t possible.

“Low Fire Affinity and Low Light Affinity.” Vit boasted, preening.

Liam let out a whistle. “They’re even affinities. That’s just insane.”

Yes. No wonder I didn’t notice them. Most of Vit’s profile is filled with light and fire element aligned abilities. Those two just… fade into the background.

Liam shook his head. “What do you mean?” He knew what racial abilities were since Astra’s classes on Mana Beasts were his favorite, especially the really cool ones like the Transcendent races, but profiles and mana fell into the same category as magic in his mind. Too complicated to be worth learning. But he could make an exception if it meant understanding Vit’s situation.

Ok, Liam crash course. Liam could feel a sigh radiate through his arm. You know what a profile is, yes?

“Hey!” Liam protested. “I’m not that dumb!”

Soooo. Explain it.

“Yes, er… right.” Liam said uncomfortably. “So a profile is like, all the different powers someone has in their mana? And something about aptitude or whatever.” Liam finished with a dismissive hand wave.

The sigh that came from his arm, Liam could feel in his bones. That's close enough, considering your normal level of learning.

Liam huffed indignantly.

Oh hush. Don’t get huffy with me. Grim knows I’ve tried to teach you. Anyway, you have the gist of it. Profile is a term used in reference to the overall mana content in one’s nexus. Most people have a sort of… flavor to their mana. This determines your aptitude with various skills and abilities.

“Ok, but how?” Liam asked.

That has to do with element hierarchy, which I WILL NOT be explaining to you. I refuse to make that kind of investment in a lost cause. All you need to understand is that the flavor of your profile determines your aptitude to improve in different powers. For example, Liam, your profile is more lightning and violence. That you have a high aptitude for Speed and weapon proficiencies.

“But I’m terrible with swords!” Liam protested. “The only thing I’m really good with is the spear.”

First of all, you’re filtering your perception of your aptitude for swords through the lens of Gabe’s perspective, and Gabe is still considered to be one of the greatest swordsmen to have ever lived to this day. His disappointment at your progress is based on his own. Compared to others your age, your skill with the sword is only above average. This compared your skill in spearmanship, which could be considered monstrous for one so young. Second, other parts of your profile put a damper on some of your weapon skills, like swords. Third, I wasn’t finished.

“Fair. Continue please.” Liam said.

Great. As I was saying, Vit’s whole profile is almost entirely made of light and fire, especially after his most recent breakthrough. Since affinities are so closely tied to their respective elements, having those two makes them fade into the rest of his mana with almost no trace. I honestly hadn’t noticed until Vit said what it was. Then I knew what to look for.

“Cool. So how does Vit have them?” Liam asked, nonplussed.

That… I do not know. He isn’t a Transcendent race. This isn’t like your Berserk. Racial abilities are a known and documented existence and Vit can’t have them. But he does. It makes no sense!

Liam leaned back against the horn until he was looking straight up. All three of them sat in contemplation until a thought struck Liam. “So where did the Transcendent races get them?”

Ah, that’s, well um. Nobody… knows.

“What’s up with that?” Liam said sceptically.

The Transcendent races are as old as the gods, if not older. The origins of their racial abilities are from before the time of recorded history.

“So maybe Vit did whatever they did.” Liam clapped his hands. To him, that settled it.

I wouldn’t say it's that simple. After all, the likelihood of Vit fulfilling whatever requirements that are needed to allow those abilities exist without it having ever happened before are astronomical.

“So?” Liam asked.

So what?

“If it's possible, then that's what happened. After all, you said there was no way he should have those abilities. Here’s a way.” Liam said, jumping to his feet. His food was finished digesting, and he didn’t feel like sitting still anymore.

You can’t just assume that! Flashed across Liam’s vision as he walked over toward where he could see a few of his siblings gathered around Teafa and Lorna. It appeared the two women were telling some form of story from the way everyone's attention was focused on the two of them speaking animatedly.

Liam frowned and waved his hand before his face. “Hey, no eye writing unless you have to! C’mon! Also, what’s it matter if I assume that Vit is the first of a new line of a Transcendent race? I mean, you’re not going to let it go anyway. I’m sure if I’m wrong you’ll prove it soon enough. So in the meantime, I’ll go with the coolest option.” Liam said, stretching his arms as he walked. He was feeling restless after having been out of commission for almost half a day. Most of his life had been spent learning or training, so sitting still felt… uncomfortable. He had been injured before, but between his own natural healing and some intervention from Aloysia, and the effects of Perseverance, any injuries he had just became another scar to add to his collection. The fight with the ape had been… different.

He had sustained massive internal injuries while also being almost completely out of mana. Then some mysterious crap he couldn’t remember happened and he was all healed up but still out of mana. That, combined with absorbing several abilities from a sixth tier beast and several hours of walking back home with Teafa, had messed him up inside in ways he didn’t even know were possible. Then he had to go and try to use his mana while totally tapped like an idiot. Liam was honestly surprised that his mom hadn’t torn him apart for that one. Lorna was very stern most of the time, and almost killing yourself was a great way to get the kind of lecture Liam would gladly lose a limb to avoid.

All in all, Liam wasn’t really feeling the best despite eating a very healthy and delicious meal, being healed by an expert, and resting for almost twelve hours. Despite this, he just couldn’t sit still anymore. He was starting to feel jumpy just sitting still. Thinking on that, Liam decided to leave his family to whatever they were doing. He was going to see what exercise Astra would let him get away with for a bit. Lifting his arm, which had been flashing and vibrating angrily as Astra made her displeasure at being ignored known, Liam asked, “Hey, what exactly is ‘light exercise’?”

This caught Astra off guard. Really, Liam was the only person that could throw her off so easily. She was sure it had to do with the fact that she couldn’t read his mind due to some quirk of their strange symbiosis. Deciding that any further attempts to correct Liam rather odd and erroneous logic about Vit’s unprecedented abilities would be a massive waste of time, Astra decided to answer. For you, light exercise would be a few hundred push ups, sit ups, and squats, followed by a light jog around the clearing two or three times.

“Really? That's barely anything at all!” Liam whined. He did that several times on a regular basis, as well as weapon training and skill practice. Usually that was all wrapped up before lunch. Liam would then go out and get lunch for everyone. They would all eat together, and Liam would spend a few hours with his siblings, playing games and learning (or trying to) from Astra. After that his day could vary from more physical training to sparring with Ziac and Heather, to bugging his mom to teach him more lightning magic. Liam knew he was hurt sure, but this being this restricted was torture!

Liam's arm shook with an intense sigh. Li, don’t make me get Lorna to tell you to behave. You overexert yourself as it is. With you being nearly dead, you’ll have to cut back on your training to what I just said. No arguing. Anything more could be dangerous. And absolutely no mana. I don’t think you understand how close you are to causing permanent harm to your mana gland.

Liam let out a sigh of his own. Really, it was his own fault he was in this situation. He hadn’t made very good decisions yesterday ever since he first encountered that stupid ape. Liam’s hands clenched. That monkey had been spouting a whole bunch of crap about his family! How was he supposed to just let it go! It was ridiculous. His mom had said to not mess with any challengers that came for her, but that ape had gone too far! Challenging Lorna was one thing. Nature was harsh, Liam understood that. But the glee with which that ape had talked about what he was going to do to Liam’s family… It was wrong on so many levels Liam could hardly think of it without feeling his anger rise. Things like that should be purged from this world and he refused to stand by and let them pass.

Feeling a new resolve solidify in his mind, Liam clenched his hands even tighter. He had decided on this. Threats to the people he cared for would be eliminated without mercy. He would not falter on this ever again. Even if it went against his better sense, or the words of Astra and his mother, he would give his life for his mother and brothers and sisters.

Inside Liam’s mind, Gabe could feel a dramatic shift in the young boy’s thoughts. It was enough to knock him out of the fuge of anger and fear that had overwhelmed him at the sight of that thing he had seen in Liam’s mana. Gabe remembered only the barest hints of its creation. He had been much more aware of what was going on than Liam when it had happened. The boy had been in immeasurable pain from having his body shattered by the ape. What little of his mind that wasn’t shutting down from shock had been consumed by anger. Anger at himself for being weak, anger at the ape for the words it had spoken, anger at the gods that was ever-constant in his mind over the fate that had been thrust upon him without his consent. Gabe had watched uncaringly as all this flowed through Liam’s mind as he lay dying. It's not that he didn’t care for the child’s suffering. Gabe had found over the last few years that Liam was a person he could at least tolerate, a rare thing to be sure.

No, he didn’t care because he knew that when the boy died, so would he, and Gabe longed for nothing so much as to die again. The only reason he helped Liam was the geas Balthazar had placed on him when he was Called to be the gods’ puppet of a Hero. It compelled him to take heroic actions no matter his personal opinion or desires, and he cursed it with every breath he had ever breathed in his time as the Hero of the seven gods. It had been that greatest blessing he had ever received when he died to the damage he received in that final suicidal battle that took his life.

But then, just when Gabe had been preparing for the sweet embrace of death that would free him from this prison, the world froze. Everything stopped, and Gabe felt the most terrifying presence he had the misfortune to encounter in his entire cursed existence. It had reached into the boys mana and molded it like clay. Gabe welcomed death. He feared nothing and no one, not even that seven gods or their ancient enemy from beyond. Hell, he had fought it’s champion! This thing though, it instilled a fear in Gabe so intense he felt his very identity begin to collapse from it’s presence and it wasn’t even focused on him! How he survived the following moments, he would never know. As Gabe felt himself losing his grip on consciousness, he saw that boundless power form something within Liam, and then he passed out.

Following Gabe’s return to the waking world, the first thing he did was find out whether or not that whole series of events had been real, or some kind of hallucination induced by this strange imprisonment he suffered under. To his horror, he found that his memory was correct. Gabe wasn’t sure what this strange bundle of mana was, but considering his luck and its origin, he was sure it was nothing good. Now, feeling a sudden shift in his host's mind, Gabe feared that whatever this thing was was starting to affect Liam. Wouldn’t that be just perfect, Gabe thought. I finally come to terms with this whole messed up crap and he goes and changes on me.

Liam, unaware of Gabe’s worries, felt his new resolve solidify in his mind. Giving up wasn’t on the table. If he wasn’t strong enough, he would just have to work harder. With that in thought front and center in his mind, Liam started to jog around the boundaries of the Founder trees. His mind was still lost in angry thoughts centered around what could have happened if he hadn't fought the arboreal ape. His mind was filled with images of his brothers and sisters dying in pain, and his anger rose in response to his morbid thinking.

Internally, Gabe was screaming in fear as he felt the ball of horrors in Liam's mana twitching in response to Liam's thoughts. He was sure now, whatever this was, it was affecting Liam's mind. Terrified of the implications for him, as a being composed entirely of thought, Gabe desperately attempted to shift Liam's attention without alerting him to the affects going on in his mind. After all, if this thing could manipulate minds, it must have some limited sentience of its own. Gabe figured alerting Liam to its presence might set it off. Even if he was wrong, Gabe wasn't willing to risk his life on it.

“Hey kid,” Gabe said, trying to eliminate the fear from his voice “What do you think you’re doing? I know Astra can’t be ok with you training with the shape you’re in.” Fortunately Gabe’s goal was achieved. Liam’s focus was broken, and the Berserk mana within him ceased it’s strange movement.

“Hmm? But Astra signed on it so long as it was less than normal. Anyway, are you done sulking or freaking out or whatever it was you were getting so worked up over there?” Liam responded, his angry, negative thoughts scattering at Gabe’s sudden intrusion.

“Ahh, yeah. Whatever happened to you knocked me out pretty good kid. Maybe we don’t do that again? Hit me like the morning after I got wasted at Centralia with that cute Xescaegran princess. Freakin’ awful. Although the whole process of getting there was way more fun that time than it was now.” Gabe said, ending with a bit of a chuckle, remembering his early days.

“Well, I don’t know what happened. Neither does Astra, so can’t really stop it if it happens again. Sorry it wasn’t as easy on you as it was on me though.” Liam said, not really getting what Gabe was talking about except that the whole experience hadn’t been that great for him. Liam thought that wasn’t very fair. He had woken up from that whole event feeling much better than he did before he passed out. It made him feel worse about the whole situation, knowing that Gabe had been harmed. Liam had pretty similar feelings about Gabe’s situation as he did about Astra’s. Both had been tied to him against their will in ways that took away from them the things they had valued most. Gabe had lost wyvern more of his freedom, and while Astra hadn’t really been a conscious being before being attached to him, she had lost most of her omnipresence in the process, which she seemed to value highly now that she was conscious. That’s why Liam tried to make their stay with him as enjoyable as possible. With Astra, he succeeded more often than not. They had gotten along well from the start. Gabe, not so much. Luckily, Gabe didn’t seem to blame him for the situation he was in.

“It's fine kid. Not your fault. Although, if you two do figure out what happened or who did it, give ’em a kick in the shorts for me ehh?” Gabe said good naturtly. He was just relieved he had seemed to have interrupted whatever strange thing that Berserk was doing to Liam’s mind before it could change him too much. He still sounded like the same kid to Gabe anyway. Maybe whatever was going on was more subtle than that. Not much Gabe could do in that circumstance. The kid’s mind may seem pretty weak at first glance, but it was hard as rock. Anything deeper than just surface thoughts, Gabe could only catch a glimpse of, and he lived in the kid’s head!

Caught up in their internal musings, neither noticed Teafa and Lorna disengaging from the rest of the children and walking over to Liam. Right up until Lorna tapped Liam on the shoulder, causing him to leap into the air spinning around while stifling a surprised yelp. “Uhh, yeah Mom? Teafa? Whats up?” Liam said, trying to cover his surprise. Judging by the smirks both of them shared, It didn’t work. That seemed to be the least of their concerns though, as the humor left them rather swiftly. Lorna’s face drifted into a frown, although the look in her eyes told Liam she wasn’t angry at him. Teafa on the other hand, appeared rather neutral, but something told him that she was actually nervous. What she would be nervous about that had to do with him, he didn’t know.

“Liam.” Lorna barked out suddenly.

“Yeah Mom?” Liam questioned.

“You should go to Wrolis.”

“What?”