21 - Chapter 20 - Day 1811

Not long after, Sally came back leading Parth, Dexter and Philippa. They were surprised to be led into Adya’s suite, and even more surprised to find Gauri there as well. If Gauri wanted to meet Adya, normally Adya would go to Gauri.

“Thank you all for coming.” said Gauri. “You are the most trusted retainers of our house, and more importantly you are the closest to Adya. I am sure you have all seen and heard things, and realised that Adya is a special child. If you are going to be around her, then you will need additional protection, both for yourselves and for Adya’s sake.”

“We know Adya is special, driven and mature for her age.” replied Parth. “But how does that put her in danger?”

“Well, here is the crux of the issue,” replied Gauri. “To tell you more would reveal closely held house secrets. However Adya insists on what she calls informed consent. She also holds all four of you in high regard, so I will leave the explanations up to her.”

“Thanks mother,” replied Adya. “I am not going to force our loyal retainers into anything without full knowledge.” she turned to her retainers and continued. “I hope what I am about to reveal will not leave this room, whether you agree to my request or not.”

All four responded with acceptance of her assertion. They were already oathbound retainers, three bound to Adya personally.

“Well, let’s start with something simple,” said Adya. “I can create formations. I have managed to create a loyalty protection formation. I have tested it extensively with my mother. Not only is the formation effective, but it can also be removed with consent. I want you to watch me apply it to my mother. The idea is to show you what it does, and for you all, to hopefully consent to my placing the formation on each of you.”

“You can do what!” Parth shouted. “How is that even possible for a five year old child?” The other three looked just as incredulous, especially Philipa and Dexter who had watched her learn about formations just a few months back.

“I did tell you she was special,” smirked Gauri.

“If you agree to the formation, then I can tell you more.” replied Adya. “It’s not a matter of trust. To do otherwise, would be to put you under a significant amount of risk. I would not be comfortable with that. Why don't you all take a seat?”

They all looked at each other, all of them with similar expressions on their faces. None of them could understand how Adya was capable of creating formations, especially something as complicated as the one they were describing. Still, they took a seat.

Adya sat at the desk with her mother next to her. Gauri placed her hand on the table. Adya started to draw out the formation under the control of Sai. She described what she was doing as she proceeded.

“I am using a water soluble paint to create the formation,” said Adya. “That allows us to remove the physical mark once the formation has been completed.”

Philipa had never heard anything as incredulous as that, and she said so. “What are you talking about,” she exclaimed. “Everyone knows that if the formation is broken, then it fails.”

Parth and Dexter echoed her sentiment. “It’s how we fight formations, if they carry on working after they are broken, then there would be no way to breach a formation,” said Parth. “It’s how we have always been taught to fight.” exclaimed Dexter.

“You will see soon enough.” replied Adya tartily. “I take it you won’t object to a five year old drawing a picture on our hand with a water soluble paint right? Since you claim it’s not possible to create a formation like that, you should have no reason to let me play?”

The fact that she could carry on drawing while she carried on talking to them in such a tone made them worry. But what could they even say? Either she was right and she was creating a formation, while in the middle of a conversation and at a speed that was unheard of, or she was a formations master, that was creating an unheard of formation. The fact Gauri was participating did not help push the option either way. It could be a serious endeavour, or a mother indulging her child.

Now that Adya had some practice, it only took her around 20 minutes to complete the tattoo. As she did Gauri received the same notification.

You are being marked by a loyalty protection formation by Adya Garg. As this is a soul mark, acceptance is required to proceed.

The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Gauri Gurg and Adya Gurg. Gauri Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Gauri Gurg will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru).

Accept soul mark: Yes / No

“So,” said Gauri, showing off the formation. “As Adya finished the formation I received a message from the system.” She then proceeded to read the entire message.

As she waited for the questions, Gauri accepted the prompt. Then she read out the description from her status page.

Soul Mark - Adya Gurg

Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Gauri Gurg and Adya Gurg. Gauri Gurg may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Gauri Gurg will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru).

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Request removal: Yes / No

“I am sure you all have questions?” said Gauri.

“Or do you think mother is making it up?” asked Adya.

The four looked amongst themselves, then silently elected Parth to ask their questions. “Just how is this possible?” asked Parth. “How can she create a formation that interacts with the system?”

As he was asking the questions, Adya was wiping away the formation on Gauri’s hand.

“Is it true that the formation is still there,” asked an even more incredulous Parth. “Even after it has been wiped away?”

“Why don’t you volunteer, Parth?” asked Adya. “Mother has already told you that it can be removed, and we have tested that too. This is the second time I have placed the mark on my mother. We actually wanted you to be the first, as we wanted to see if it was possible for you to carry a mark from both of us. If you are willing, that is. We won’t pressure you.”

Parth looked worried, and sat in thought. While he was hesitant, Sally spoke for the first time. “I trust you miss Adya.” said Sally, “You have always been nice and kind to me. I am happy to volunteer.”

“Thank you for your trust Sally.” replied Adya, “Please come and join me here.”

Sally switched places with Gauri and Adya started drawing out the formation. With additional practice and Sai learning the intricacies of this particular design, Adya was getting more confident, the confidence translating into speed of execution. It took her around 12 minutes to complete the formation design on Sally’s hand.

“Sally, if you are happy to, then please read out the message you have received from the system.” requested Adya.

Sally opened up her message and began to read it out to the room.

You are being marked by a loyalty protection formation by Adya Garg. As this is a soul mark, acceptance is required to proceed.

The effects of acceptance are as follows. Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Sally retainer to house Gurg and Adya Gurg. Sally may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Sally will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru).

Accept soul mark: Yes / No

Once she finished reading out the message, the other three were looking at Adya with shock and awe.

“If you are happy to proceed, then accept the prompt,” said Adya. “If you are not sure, then you can reject it.”

“I am happy to accept it.” replied Sally then accepted the prompt. “Do you want me to read out what it says?”

Adya looked at the three who had not yet received a mark, and at a nod from Parth, motioned to Sally to continue. Sally proceeded to read out the description in full.

Soul Mark - Adya Gurg

Those carrying the mark may identify each other. The mark may not be removed without mutual agreement by both Sally retainer to house Gurg and Adya Gurg. Sally may not breach the confidence of Adya Gurg, willingly, under coercion, fooled by an illusion or by accident. Sally will be protected from soul intrusion and mind intrusion by any abilities below the defined level (Rarity Rank 8 - Guru).

Request removal: Yes / No

“Why don’t you focus on the identification part.” said Adya, now curious. “You and mother are both soul mark holders. I want to see how it feels for you to identify each other.”

Sally and Gauri both looked at each other and then gasped in surprise.

“What happened?” asked Adya. The other three looked on in confusion as well, so it was clear that whatever it was only affected Sally and Gauri.

“I saw writing appear above Sally’s head for a moment” said Gauri, “Then it was gone. It was a system message. Did you see the same Sally?”

“What did it say?” asked Parth, now very curious.

“The message above Sally said ‘Soul Marked - Adya Gurg’.” replied Gauri

Sally was nodding her head as Gauri spoke. “It said ‘Soul Marked - Adya Gurg’ above my lady,” said Sally.

It looked like it provided a basic identification to the holders of the same mark. Interestingly, with each result more options were presenting themselves to Adya’s every curious mind.

“So, now that Sally has confirmed what mother said, are the three of you willing to proceed with the mark?” asked Adya as she wiped off the mark from Sally’s hand.

Phillipa was the next to volunteer herself. She took Sally’s place next to Adya, and in 11 minutes had gone through the same process. They completed the same tests as with Sally, and she reported the same results.

“May I try and remove the mark Miss?” asked Philipa hesitantly.

“Of course.” replied Adya and then they proceeded to go through the process to remove the mark. Phillipa confirmed to the room that it had been successfully removed and Sally and Gauri no longer saw the system message above her head.

“I think that should prove our tests successful,” said Adya. “Shall I place the mark again?”

At a nod from Phillipa, Adya noticed something different. Philipa still had the formation drawn on her hand. It only took a touch of mana to the formation for Philipa to receive the notification once again. It seemed that the drawn formation was the inciting factor, and while it remained it was simple to re-initiate the process. It also meant that the existence of the tattoo actually didn’t mean anything. More data points for Adya was always better.

After Phillpa was done, Dexter stepped up. Adya only took 10 minutes to complete the formation and he accepted and then proceeded to carry out the same tests with the same results.

“Can we test the range limitation miss?” asked Dexter.

“Sure.” replied Adya. Dexter took off at a jog for the far side of the estate. About 20 minutes later, Adya received the request to remove the soul mark, and accepted the request. Another 20 minutes later a huffing Dexter returned back to the suite.

“I went as far as I could, and ran in a straight line towards the farms,” said Dexter. “Almost made it halfway to the woods, and it still worked.”

Adya looked at the tattoo, and noticed a few lines had been marred by sweat. She tried to insert mana, but it failed to do anything. That was good to know. She took her time to clean off the marred formation, and redrew it to initiate the mark again.

Once she was done, she looked towards Parth. “You are the last one left.” she asked. “What do you think? Want to try it out?”