CHAPTER 7

As the dawn rode over the forest and brought with it the light and warmth of the sun, for the Theandor family, it brought one more thing. It brought the anxiety concerning the upcoming meeting with a mysterious acquaintance of one of their friends. They could only wonder at what news would be brought to them, however they expected that it would not be insignificant, or good for that matter.

As they were woken by the morning sun, they performed their usual morning ritual. They clothed themselves, cooked, and started getting ready for the day to come. Although it seemed to be a usual morning for the family, it was clear that there was an atmosphere of tension and a bit of anxiety.

Grey had taken today off, because of the playdate that was already planned. So when the sun had been up for about an hour, the three were ready to head out towards Elrieden’s house. However, they were surprised to see him standing on their porch.

Lyvia asked him with a surprised and curious tone: “Elrieden, what are you doing here? We were just on our way to you.”

Elrieden could only sigh as he did not wish to do this, but was order to, and replied to her with a defeated and tired voice: “I was instructed to pick you up, we will be heading directly towards his house.”

Hearing this, both Grey and Lyvia were surprised. While he was their friend, they knew very few people as to who he could be ordered around by. They quickly snapped out of their stupor and asked him to guide the way.

To their surprise, he went towards the forest floor.

Lyvia was a bit surprised at this and with a confused but concerned tone she said: “Elrieden, we aren’t in a hurry are we? Why are we going over the forest floor?”

Elrieden replied in the same tired and defeated voice: “We are indeed not in a hurry, but that man does not like to waste time, and the other reason.. Well, you will see when we get there.”

Once again surprised by such an answer, they followed him along the forest floor. This was quite unusual, normally you would use the routes in the trees to get around, especially when you had something like a baby with you. While for Grey and Lyvia there was almost nothing that could be a threat to them here, it was still odd for dark elves to traverse the forest floor expect when they were in a hurry.

After traversing the forest floor for around an hour, they reached their destination. Upon reaching it, both Grey, Lyvia, and Daelyn stood there with surprise on their faces. Daelyn because he had never seen anything like it, but he still liked to see something else than the status quo, and Grey and Lyvia because seeing a normal house on the forest floor in a great forest such as Eleanor was quite rare. They were normally found in the capital and in the larger towns, but that was normally within the confines of the walls. This was a wood and stone house standing in the middle of nowhere, they looked at each and their expressions quickly changed from surprise to a stoic one. If someone had their house in the middle of the forest on the forest floor, that can means that they’re either an outcast from society, or they are trying to hide something. In the current situation, both options sounded equally bad.

Elrieden took the lead and walked up to the door. They were perplexed that before he could even remove his hand from the door, a goblin with six arms had already opened it. They were perplexed at seeing the little creature, since the arms did not seem to be natural and he himself seemed to be far stronger than a normal goblin.

Elrieden said with an irritated and mocking tone: “I know what it says on the sign, but we need to go in.”

Gob replied to his remark with a voice of disdain and pride: “That’s rude, we were expecting guests. Of course we would welcome them, what do you think we are, animals?”

Hearing this, Elrieden’s face could only flush as he was very tempted to strangle the goblin and be done with it. Deciding that it would be a bad idea, he beckoned Grey and Lyvia to enter.

Grey and Lyvia standing there with Daelyn, were unsure of whether to go inside. To convince them, the goblin walked up to them.

Gob bowed to them and said with a very courteous tone: “Goodday, you must be Lyvia and Grey Theandor, and this little must be Daelyn, right? The master has been expecting you, he has done a lot of research in order to help this little guy. If you would follow me inside, I could serve you some rosemary tea and we can start the conversation, okay?”

Being completely baffled by the goblin, both Grey and Lyvia went inside. Elrieden couldn’t help but chuckle at the difference of the behaviour of the goblin when guests were expected and when they weren’t, and followed them inside.

Daelyn however, remained outside and looked at the goblin. He was intrigued by the goblin, he didn’t seem to be living with his own species, but he seemed to be living with some different from him. He seemed intelligent and strong, but he did not live with any of his kind.

Gob said with a lightly mocking tone: “You know, it is rude to stare?”

Daelyn was unfazed by his question, he acknowledged the sarcasm in it, but ignored it. He was captivated by the goblin, being so different than the man that stood in the door, Daelyn could not help but feel friendliness towards it.

Daelyn ignored the remark, asked him with an innocent but questioning voice: “What is your name?”

“My name? It is Gob.”

“Did you get your name from your parents?”

“I did not receive one from my parents. Goblins only get names when they do something noteworthy.”

“Then how did you get your name?”

“Master gave it to me.” Said Gob, as if it was the most simplest of things in the world.

“Is your master like your parents.”

“My master raised me, he did not birth me. Silly dark elf. Wait! Are you a dark elf?” Said Gob, as he looked at Daelyn with an inquisitive gaze.

“No, I’m a human, I don’t know who birthed me, and my real parents are Grey and Lyvia.”

Gob continued his gaze for but a moment, before talking to Daelyn with a calm and friendly voice: “We are quite alike, aren’t we? Both left by our parents, and then adopted by someone who raised us, who were of a different species.”

Daelyn returned his inquisitive gaze and asked him with a dead serious face: “Does that mean we can be friends?”

Gob was lost in thought for a moment, before smiling and answering with a happy tone: “We can only find out in the future, can’t we?”

Seeing this response, Daelyn could only chuckle and enter the house, followed by Gob.

As he entered the house, he was both surprised and overjoyed. The house seemed to be quite large from the outside, but from the inside it seemed cramped by the large amounts of books, papers, and artefacts. It was like a heaven to Daelyn, he would be able to read so much about all kinds of magic, learn so much about this world, and, most of all, he would be able to pursue his dream.

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Looking over at the door, Orthrus saw Daelyn standing there with blinking eyes. He was completely absorbed by the large amount of books and knowledge surrounding him. He had an expression of wonder and a tingle in his eyes, betraying his desire for knowledge. The little guy remembered him of himself when he was young, he was just as adamant about gathering knowledge and using it, as he heard from Elrieden, this little guy was. Seeing the tingle in his eye made him recall another scene, a scene about a particular goblin with a similar glint in his eyes, a desire for power through knowledge. A wish that still has to come true.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he directed his guests towards the table.

“Good day, mister and misses Theandor. You might be wondering why I have called you here today.”

Before he could continue, Lyvia blurted out with a nervous but pride tone.

“It’s about that he is able to access the soulspace at this age, right? We are so proud of him!”

“That is part of the reason.” Orthrus continued with his calm tone and demeanour.

“Apart from this, we have a more pressing matter at hand. Namely Daelyn’s affinities and his heritage.”

“What do you mean ‘heritage’? Did he get an affinity from his biological parents?” Asked Lyvia with a worried tone, she would like to know what this meant for Daelyn.

“That is what I have been trying to find out the last three years. The records on the soulspaces of children are nearly non-existent, due to the moral code of the soulmages and the rarity of such a thing occurring at that age. But from what I have been able to find, I have a suspicion that the objects in Daelyn’s soulspace are his inactive affinities.”

After hearing this, both Lyvia and Grey were excited. However, they still had some anxiety due to his earlier remark. Lyvia was particularly worried about one statement.

“Earlier you said something about his heritage, what did you mean by that.”

Orthrus could only sigh and start with an apologetic tone.

“I’m sorry to tell you this, but you have been lied to. Mister Elrieden had told you that the information was hazy, right? That there was a magic in place to obstruct his search. That was a lie, he did not receive any information.”

Lyvia was unsure what this meant, but it would not be such a difference right?

“But, that isn’t a very large difference, right?” She asked with an unsure tone.

“I wish that was the case. The magic he used is to identify the mana signature of the child and compare it to its parents, normally it’s quite similar to either one of them, and that enables the shaman to find the parents. There are magics that block or alter the perceiving of the mana signature, but this is only on small levels, and at most it obstructs a part of the information. Understood?”

With a nod from both Grey and Lyvia, Orthrus continued.

“Now this is where it gets tricky. There are multiple options for this kind of magic, firstly there are some magics that allow for complete information blocking, but those are very expensive and they must be employed throughout the day and throughout the week. Secondly, the parents’ mana signature can change drastically, this normally happens when they pass away, or when they turn into something like an undead and lose their mind, and lastly there is the most unnerving and difficult option for us. The third option is that the parents are either powerful dark mages or blood mages, the mana of the shaman can’t read the dark mana or blood mana of those mages, making them untraceable.”

Hearing this, both Grey and Lyvia paled. Daelyn’s real parents could be dark or blood mages, this could be disastrous. While such magi were accepted in the dark elf community, Daelyn was already an outcast at the moment, and he was human. Being accepted in the dark elf society like this would be extremely hard.

Orthrus interrupted their train of thoughts.

“While the possibility is there, it is not a fact, and we can see if he has it or not. We just need to ask him to describe the intent behind the objects present in the soulspace.”

After hearing this, all three turned to Daelyn who was sitting on Lyvia’s lap. They all had different gazes, Orthrus had one of expectations and hope, Grey had one of anxiety and stress, and Lyvia had a gaze of motherly love and worry. She worried for the future of her son, she could not help but want him to live a life free of such prejudice.

Daelyn had been listening, he had been able to answer this question for a while. But he was almost afraid to answer it, from the gazes of his parents and Gob’s master, Orthurs, he was not able to discern what would be the right action, until his mother asked him.

“Daelyn, I know it is hard on you, but could you please describe the feeling you get from those objects?” She said with a soothing and gentle tone, like only a mother could.

Daelyn, hearing his mother ask him with such a soft tone, relaxed and complied.

“There are two objects inside the soul space, they both have a ball like appearance, and they pulse from time to time.”

Hearing this, Orthrus was becoming more confident in his research. It seems to be his affinities, it can’t be anything else.

“At what rate do they pulse, and how big are they?”

“They are about the same size, and they pulse at the same rate. It seems they are almost identical except for the feeling I get from them.”

Hearing this, Daelyn shivered a bit. While they were a part of himself, the feeling he got from them was not very pleasant.

“The first one is black. It gives a cold feeling, a cold that chills your entire being, a cold that you can feel in your soul. Besides the cold, it gives a feeling of death and decay, like it embodies those features and is able to use them.”

Hearing this, Orthrus had a large grin on his face. He had dark mana affinity! I can finally get another exper… disciple, disciple. While Orthrus was grinning, Grey and Lyvia looked at Daelyn with worry. He had a dark mana affinity, how will he ever be accepted in the community! The others still don’t know it, but after his fifth birthday, this could only lead to trouble.

Orthrus was excited, if he got two affinities, he might be able to use both if the other one is strong enough.

“Okay Daelyn, now what is the feeling of the second ball?”

“The second one is red. It gives a lukewarm feeling, like the warmth of a body, this warmth fills me with vigour, and it gives me the feeling that my blood is about to boil. Besides that, it gives the feeling of a very hungry beast, devouring its prey with the same vigour, but a lot more bloodshed. Like it hungers for the blood instead of the flesh, like a beast that devours the life force through the blood.”

Orthrus’s face paled with every sentence, until Daelyn was finished and he was white as a ghost. He was perplexed, this has never happened before. Something like this had never been recorded in known history, this duality of affinities is unheard of! Orthrus had some hypothesizes about these affinities, but thinking they were possibly the same strength, he could only pale as he racked his mind thinking about the possibilities.

While Orthrus was deep in thought, Lyvia and Grey also understood what happened. They knew that Daelyn would face even more obstacles in his life now, he was a dark mage and a blood mage! This was unheard of! Even in their days as adventurers, they had never heard of something like this. They knew that the ensuing conversation would be very heavy, and decided to let Daelyn go look around the room.

Orthrus was too deep in thought to notice this, while Gob invited Daelyn on a tour of the house. Daelyn accepted greedily, wanting to see the amount of books and knowledge this unknown house held.

Gob was extremely enthusiastic in giving Daelyn a tour of the house. He highlighted several things he himself had a close connection to, such as he chair he had sit during his learning session, these were normally met with a ‘wow’ and ‘ohhhh’ of wonder. Besides that, he showed Daelyn all the books in the house, and how they were organised, while Orthrus was normally absorbed by his research, Gob did the housekeeping. He cleaned the place, cooked some basic meals, and organised the wealth of knowledge that was present in different categories, and on alphabetical order of the name of the author, making it very organised and easy to find certain books. Gob himself was proud of his organisation, because master had praised him several times for it.

As Gob started a story about his endeavours to clean this place, Daelyn absentmindedly wondered off, without Gob noticing. He started to wonder the halls filled with books, amazed by the wealth of knowledge, he couldn’t help but hope that he could come here more often to read. He continued his wandering, until he came across an iron door. The walls next to the door were made out of stone, and seemed to have a magical reinforcement spell on them. Daelyn didn’t know how to recognise those, but he felt some magic power coming from it, and the stone seemed unnaturally smooth so he suspected that it was so. He approached the door that seemed to have a similar, if not more powerful enchantment on it.

As he approached the door, he noticed that it seemed to be awfully tidy around the door. Daelyn had noticed that there was some dust gathered around the house, and there were some piles of books standing on the floor here and there, but there was nothing around the door. There were only two candles on either side of it to illuminate the way, there were no piles of books, bookcases, and there was almost no dust. While Daelyn did have a feeling of caution, it was overruled by his curiosity, and a strange familiarity he felt coming from the other side of the door.

He walked up to the door, and as he gripped the handle, he felt almost no resistance. Daelyn opened the door just enough to peek inside, he saw multiple cages with different kinds of animals in them. From large turtles with shining shells, to porcupines that seemed to have thousands of needle thin protrusions. The halls seemed to continue around a corner it, making it so that Daelyn could not see the end of it. The feeling of familiarity that came from around the corner washed over him, and he could not help but follow it. Oblivious to the sounds of the different kinds of animals, and oblivious to the door closing.