There was a word for a trial that was a calamity to the individual taking it in my old world… Tribulation. In my life as Callum, I was subjected to multiple such Tribulations. The politics of the Templar Order’s connection to the Holy Church led corrupt high ranking officials of the church to try to get rid of anyone that didn’t fall in line to their filth. The Tribulations rank at the top of my painful experiences in life.
Now as Lucian, I was facing another one that wanted to destroy me completely. Selene attempted to slow down time but was unable to due to the chaotic nature of the environment currently. Lord Wrath noticed the issue and tried to charge towards me to protect me, but he was not going to make it in time. Even I was not faster than lightning at my peak as Callum…
[Forgive my insolence, Lucian. I will apologize properly after we keep you alive.] My body grew rigid, and it felt like I was having an out of body experience like a high level meditation can enable.
Eclipse has taken control of my body. She has been able to do this the whole time?
She looked at the incoming lightning strike and said one word.
[Devour]
A black energy that looked to contain an infinite depth to it flooded out of my body, and… consumed the lightning. I saw my body cough up a small mouthful of blood, and the blood looked to contain some of the elemental conflict energy in it. I could not feel anything in my body currently though, so was Eclipse taking it for me?
Eclipse looked up to the “cloud” and said, [You took your chance and failed this time. Follow the rules and begone until the next time, or I will sacrifice my existence and consume you whole.]
The “cloud” seemed to have some level of sentience, as it looked like it was going to strike and then stopped for a minute at Eclipse’s words, and then dispersed.
Eclipse gave back over control of my body, and told me, [I am sorry for forcibly taking control over your body. There is no threat to me trying to assume control of your body permanently, that was one of the life saving chances I had to protect you. Once you are stronger, you will even be able to reject control of the chance entirely.]
“It is okay, Eclipse. I know you did that to keep me safe. What did you mean by following the rules?”
[I am sorry, Lucian. I can not tell you about that topic currently. You are not strong enough, nor unlocked the sufficient authority to learn about it as of this time. Grow stronger, and the answers will be made available to you.]
Another reason to grow stronger, I suppose.
[Using that move has drained a lot of my essence, and will take a bit of time to regain it and be back to normal. I will be in a deep sleep during this time, so you need to be extra careful to not fall into a dangerous situation until I can wake up, Lucian.]
Eclipse said that and the connection broke off before I could ask any questions. What is it with the Abyss denizens and just vanishing when you need to understand what is happening. I can forgive them both this time because they did save my life after all.
Lord Wrath reached my side, and looked at me and said, “Are you okay, Luce? That lightning felt dangerous even to one of my level. Whoever it was that destroyed the lightning was beyond powerful. The closest I’ve felt was the Head Oracle. I’d love to spar with them one day”.
“That will have to wait, Lord Wrath. Lucian, how does the mana core feel?” Selene asked. Oh right, I was caught up in the Tribulation that I did not realize what it was because of.
Looking inside at my mana core, I saw what looked like a clear spherical crystal with the black and grey colors on the edges like it was during the formation. Potent mana flowed from it into my mana channels. Where I had stored the mana in my channels before, it felt like that was nothing compared to the capacity in my core.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Before, I had to learn my capacity in my body through trial and error to gauge the mana levels, whereas now I just… Know how much I have. It was like doing a task for a month, and starting to feel confident, compared to the confidence someone who’s done the task for years has in it. The speed and efficiency of the mana flow was faster as well.
“Compared to how I was before the Equals Contract, my body feels completely foreign to me now on every level. It will take time to adjust to it now”.
“A lot has changed in a very short time, Lucian. I think right now, you should eat a good meal and rest to recover from the taxation of today. I certainly do” and Selene looked at Lord Wrath and continued, “I don’t suppose a certain Fae Lord would want to curry favor with us and treat us to a good meal, would you Luce?”
Lord Wrath caught the hint instantly and said, “Please, it would be my honor to have the both of you accompany me to my favorite restaurant in the Fae Realm. Follow me, please” and he gave a small bow and started walking out of the room.
----------------------------------------
Lord Wrath led us to a local tavern, full of rowdy Fae drinking together and eating a hearty looking stew. It reminded me of the Adventurers at the tavern in Seastrand… The tables looked really similar to, and I had to pretend to not imagine the heads of the twins and townsfolk laying bloody on the tables.
He ordered for our table, and we had a plate of meat I did not recognize, but I could tell it was mana beast meat of a quality I was unfamiliar with. Accompanying it were sides such as freshly baked rolls, a stewed vegetable that reminded me of a cabbage, and a large tankard of a red sweet smelling drink.
Lord Wrath looked at my confusion at the unrecognizable food and said, “I may have gone all out to treat you. A user of Wrath needs to make sure they eat plenty and train their bodies to better resist the corruption of the Sin”.
He then pointed out and told us what the items were, and the two that struck me the most was the tankard, which contained a drink called Faerune Juice, which was apparently a great restorative drink that worked wonders after a long day or labor or battle. Taking a sip of it, I could feel the mana in my body recovering quicker than normal. A wondrous drink for sure that tasted amazing.
The second one struck a different chord in me, and it was the meat of a Tier 6 mana beast called a Moon Elk, and was a rare high tier mana beast in the Fae Realm. I stared at the meat and remembered my parents. My dad’s joke that I could repay them back one day by bringing them a high tier mana beast for a meal. A meal we can never have now.
Taking a bite of the meat, I understand why my father desired it so much. The meat was perfectly tender, juicy, and worked wonders on the tongue. The mana contained in it was also extremely pure, requiring almost no refinement to process it.
“Thank you, Lord Wrath. A promise I made to my father years back was to bring him a high tier mana beast once I grew strong enough to hunt one, as a means of paying him back for hunting to feed my ravenous body. Now I understand why he wanted to taste one so badly. It tastes absolutely wonderful”.
Lord Wrath reached over and patted the top of my head a few times. With a soft look in his eyes, he said, “I know the events of Seastrand are still fresh to you. Losing family is hard, and the pain never will quite go away, but do your best to remember them and live in a way that would make them proud, Luce”.
He was a kind man after all. “Can I ask a question that might get personal, Lord Wrath?” I asked him.
“As long as it’s something I can answer, go ahead!”
“You’ve been on my side since I arrived, why is that? Why have you been so kind to me, and asked nothing in return?”
“It’s… Complicated. When you first came through the Fog Wall, I thought you were just a lucky kid. Then you summoned the flames of Wrath to break through our illusion spell, and the Wrath flame was a relatively pure one at that. There’s no way a normal kid could create a Wrath flame, much less one of your purity” and he pointed towards the side of his chest, opposite of his heart.
“The Fae Lords are ones who have reached the pinnacle of using their Sin. When we succeed in the position, the final trial is to accept a part of the original Sin into our body and survive the process. A normal Sin flame would not cause a reaction in this flame in our bodies, yet yours did. The Sin told me to keep you safe, and help you get stronger. The Fae obey our Sins to the highest degree”.
“Does the Sin wish for me to grow your faction and serve it?”
“Not even a Fae Lord can do anything but guess at best to the motives of the Sins. The closest would be the Oracles prophecies, but we are only privy to the important ones that we have to watch out for, such as the two pertaining to you. You are welcome to join my faction if you wish, but I will not force that upon you, and will provide you training all the same”.
I was right. He truly is a kind man.
“I will avoid joining any factions for the time being, but if I join one, I promise to look to yours first, Lord Wrath. What did you have in mind for the training?”
“First, I think we need to get you adjusted to your new body and mana core. The Fae are not a race that uses mana cores, but I think Selene can assist you in that regard. What I was going to focus on was physical training, as well as teaching you my hand-to-hand fighting style using the Wrath flame. Seeing the result of the almost assassination on you, I think it would fit you very well”.
Was he referring to the state I left the assassin in?
“I will be able to help you in regards to the mana core adjustment. Even though we have an answer, we should still allow Sylas to research your abyssal power as a token of gratitude for the strenuous work he went through to keep you alive after the assassination attempt” and I nodded in agreement. Sylas never pushed his luck, and always asked permission before doing anything or observing anything from his scientific approach.
We all were eating our food, and it was delicious to say the least. I wish my parents were here to taste it, but one day I will fulfill our promise and build a proper grave for the both of them, and offer the highest tier mana beast meat I can for them.
“Where do we begin, Lord Wrath?” I asked.
“If it is okay with Selene, I was thinking morning training with me for physical exercise and sparring, and the evening would be free for Selene’s training with you” and Selene agreed to that timeframe.
“Okay then, let’s begin the training starting next week then!” Lord Wrath said.