Lyam watched as the woman rushed out into the corridor. “Hey, wait!” He scrambled up to his feet and ran after her. “Who is headed here? Tell me. Maybe I can help!”

“I don't think you can,” She said as she hurriedly donned a cloak from the stand in the sitting room. “I've set up wards in five different directions a mile from here. The wards alert me whenever an outsider enters the forest. They are also meant to keep the outsiders from getting a mile close to this place.”

“Then why are you in a hurry to leave?” Lyam frowned. “Seems like the wards will handle the problem well.”

“They actually haven't been handling it well these past few days. A bunch of children managed to pass through the wards a few days ago. It was a chore and a half to make sure they didn't talk about this place. And right now, it's a magic user who just entered the forest. We can't let them find the cottage!”

Lyam frowned. “Children? You mean you were the reason why William can't speak of the forest anymore?”

“Who is William? Wait, it doesn’t matter. Just stay in the cottage until I return!” She clutched her crimson amulet in her fist. The tattoo on her arm sparkled. Then she disappeared right in front of his eyes.

Now the cottage was entirely silent with Lyam alone in it and Emma still in her indefinite sleep. It reminded him of the same grim silence of that castle chamber.

He went back to the quasi-library. He looked at his sister. The sun was dimmer. The light was fading. Soon Emma would–

“No.” He shook his head. “There's still some light. So at least there's an hour or two.” He let out a tired sigh and looked away from his sister.

His own words failed to reassure him. He knew he couldn't let her go. But he also knew he was powerless against this specific problem.

Almost involuntarily, his gaze shifted back to the cabinet. He looked at the orbs in there. He walked up to it and opened it. A gentle humming sound came from the two black orbs that held the flowers. The dust bloom itself seemed to vibrate with an ethereal energy.

Lyam reached out for an orb and laid a hand against its surface. He could feel the vibration against his skin. Accidentally, his finger passed right through with a slight pressure.

The boy realized something. He could really just pull out the flower if he wanted. And no one would stop him.

###

Damien rode his horse down the dirt path. His long coat fluttered behind him as he got closer to his destination. Felix rode next to him on his own steed.

“Are you certain you sense a child, master Damien?”

“It has to be,” Damien called out. “Life dust vibrates differently in creatures of different sizes, shapes and species. What the soul sight is showing me has to be a child.”

His mind was buzzing with the vibrations he kept receiving. He could sense life dust in two different forms. One of them obviously belonged to a live human child. Another was an almost inscrutable form of it–the vibration was similar to when a wielder used a [skill] like he was doing right now. But he couldn't sense any wielders around.

Damien was certainly fascinated, a lot more than just finding the lost child. He dug his stirrups harder into his horse. The steed dashed faster through the woods.

###

Even though the lady had asked him to not leave the cottage, Lyam didn't heed to her command. He walked out into the forest and ran north.

He had gone upstairs and into the attic of the cottage and peered out of the skylight in all directions. He spotted the crumbling spire of the Shadow Castle up north. And mentally drew the shortest path to it. She said the wards were a mile away from the cottage. So he would only need to run two miles away to distract the outsider.

And so he kept running in the direction of the castle. He hoped to not cross paths with something like a beast or the person with power that had made the woman leave the cottage in such a rush.

He looked down at the bundle he was holding under his arm. He had wrapped the smoky black orb in a rag he'd torn from his shirt.

“The barrier is delicate,” she had said. He didn't want the dust bloom to fall out. Not yet.

He kept running.

###

Damien pulled the reins on his horse. He sensed a vibration again. This one was quite close.

The child was nearby, but in a completely different direction. Damien looked where he had been headed. He grit his teeth. He would need to abandon his initial curiosity and change his path if the child was really that close.

He was about to groan in annoyance when the vibration was replaced by something else. Something much stronger. Something that Damien didn't need to use his [skill] to sense.

“Master Damien,” Felix said, “I can feel an oddly pleasant buzz in my head.”

“I know you do.” Damien nodded. “Someone has plucked a dust bloom in the vicinity.”

Felix raised an eyebrow. “Then you should use your skill to find its location.”

Damien frowned. “But that would mean we'll have to abandon the objective of finding the child.”

“My lord, leaving an unanchored dust bloom exposed has unfortunate consequences,” Felix said. “We don't know who else might find it. We wouldn't want our carelessness to become a reason for another unauthorized dust wielder being born.”

Damien was using [soul sight] again. He was scanning each direction. The child's vibrations had disappeared under the more intense vibrations of the dust bloom. Damien grit his teeth.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Did you find it?”

The young lord rolled his eyes and gave a nod. Both of them changed their directions and went the other way.

###

Lyam sank to his knees on the ground and covered his ears tightly. The dust bloom lay right in front of him, out of the smoky black barrier. Calling out to him with its beauty and its scent.

A shrill buzz echoed inside his head, filling him with overwhelming visions of power and strength and triumphant victories in battles he'd never fought. But he knew he would win. He could have all the strength that the flower promised, all his dreams would come true. All he needed was the flower. He just had to let it become a part of him and–

“No!” Lyam slammed a fist into the ground. “I won't let you…control me…damn you!”

Then his own resistance became painful for himself. His back arched, his fists clenched and his limbs grew stiff as he tried not to reach out for the flower.

Lyam was ready to tear his ears off just for the sake of stopping that shrill buzzing. He wanted to slam his nose into the ground just to get away from that sickly sweet scent. That's when a crimson mist thickened a few feet away from him. Then a familiar face was staring down at him.

The shapecrafter lady rolled her eyes as she looked down at the boy, writhing as if he was shaking a seizure. “Why do I always end up in these situations?” She took off her crimson amulet and put it in the boy's hand. She wrapped both her hands around his and closed her eyes.

The two of them disappeared in the red mist, leaving the dust bloom behind.

###

Damien arrived on his horse. The sun was almost completely down. He wasn't using [soul sight] anymore. Or the unearthed dust bloom's vibrations would've overwhelmed his senses in such a close range.

He looked down at the blue flower that was slowly withering on the ground. He picked it up and imbued it with the life dust from his own reserves. That would slow down its death. But not for too long.

Now that the flower had found a temporary anchor of dust, it wasn't sending out the same lethal vibrations. Felix nodded proudly at the young lord. “We should head back, master Damien.”

“But the child–”

“We've already found something more valuable, my lord.”

Damien gripped the reins tighter. “How can you say that, Felix? A child's life is at stake.”

“That's just the truth, my lord,” the noble said. “That flower can birth another talented wielder like yourself. It belongs to House de Croy as any other dust bloom found in Rose County. Your father would be proud of you for acquiring such a treasure.”

“Father sent me to handle the Vermeil situation, Felix. This is part of my duty.”

“And you are doing a lot more by bringing home more than what he asked for.”

“You really want me to just let that child die in a jungle?”

“The child is in the jungle, master Damien. The commoners have named this place the Oaken Abyss. Hardly anyone returns alive from here, let alone a child.” Felix shook his head and looked at the young lord. “We must make haste now. The flower needs to be delivered back to the estate and preserved.”

“Let's just take one more look for the child again, Felix. Please!”

“Your father will be very disappointed if that flower withers while you went searching for a commoner.”

“I'll keep imbuing it with life dust,” Damien said, stubbornly.

“You still won't be able to use your skill while holding onto the unanchored flower. What if we get ambushed by wild beasts drawn to the dust bloom while we go looking for the boy and his sister?”

Damien wanted to argue but his resolve weakened when he looked down at the flower. His face turned sombre and grim.

“It's okay, master Damien,” Felix said. “Part of being a wielder is to decide between doing what's right and doing what's important. Let's head back now.”

###

Alda saw the wielder and his noble companion trotting their horses out of the forest. She made her way up to them. “What happened? You didn't find my Lyam and Emma?”

The wielder didn't speak, nor did he meet her gaze.

His companion spoke up instead. “No we didn't find them. It was a false alarm. Your child was probably abducted.”

“That's not true! Lyam would never–”

“As a grandmother it may be difficult for your heart to accept it but that's what apparently happened. ” He reached into his coat and pulled out two pieces of gold. “Stop clinging to a false hope and buy yourself something to eat.” He tossed the gold at her and led the young lord back to their gaudy carriage.

Alda just stood frozen, watching the vehicle pulling away. Then her head sank to look at the gold the noble had thrown her. The setting sun glinted in the emperor's face stamped on the coins.

###

Lyam woke up in a bed and a room he was now familiar with. He sat up with a jolt and looked out the window. The sky was dark. The forest was quiet. It's already night!

The woman appeared at the door of the room just as quietly as she had last time. But what she told him now was a lot different.

“Don't worry about your sister,” she said. “She is still alive. I mean…she isn't dead at least.”

Lyam didn't quite breathe a sigh of relief. He got off the bed and went out of the room and down the corridor. He rushed into the quasi-library where Emma was.

Her position from the bear pelt was unchanged. But she was still trapped in that same sleep. Lyam looked at the hollow sapling on the windowpane. Now that the sunlight was gone, it seemed to be harvesting life dust from another source.

A smoky black orb inside which lay the dust bloom flower. The second flower from the cabinet. Lyam's eyes went wide. “It can…harvest the dust from the flower?”

The woman nodded. “The barrier of the orb doesn't let the flower wither as quickly as it would in naked air. And since the flower itself has magic, it will keep her alive for the entire night.” She turned to leave.

Lyam looked at her. “Wh-Why did you do it? Why did you save my sister?”

The woman sighed. “What you did with the other dust bloom was reckless but it still helped us evade the problem headed our way. I thought I should at least return the favor.” She shrugged.

“You are really not mad at me for using the flower without your permission?”

The woman sighed again. “I'm more relieved that we didn't get caught.”

“But what does this mean for the future?” Lyam asked. “Emma might survive the night but what about tomorrow?”

The woman frowned a lot more visibly now. “Get some rest for now. We'll think of it tomorrow. I'm heading out for an errand.”

“This late?”

The woman just nodded and went into the sitting room. She was putting on her cloak again. “I have to go and work on the wards some more. I don't want this evening's events to repeat again.” She then reached for her crimson amulet.

“Wait,” Lyam said.

She looked at him, raised an eyebrow.

“I forgot to tell you my name. I'm Lyam Laurent.”

The woman smiled at him and said, “Aveline. Just Aveline.” Then she clutched the amulet and disappeared in the cloud of red mist.

A few minutes passed. Lyam made his way back into the library. He sat by the wall opposite the window and looked at the hollow sapling. Then he looked down at his sister and felt his jaws tightening at the sight of her. “I'll bring you back, Emma,” he softly said to her sleeping form. “I promise you, I will.”