Jerome woke up shivering like a leaf in the wind. His robes were damp with sweat, and he was lying on the floor. His eyes stung when he tried to focus his sight. He looked up to see two faces staring back at him with concern—Rihal and an astonishingly beautiful lady who looked to be in her mid-twenties.

Jerome wobbled to his feet, feeling mentally drained.

“What happened?” he asked, “why do I feel so weak?”

“Let me,” said the woman. She reached up to stroke his sunken cheek with beautiful slender fingers, “Sleep, child.”

Jerome felt a soothing aura engulf him, and he gave in to exhaustion.

“We should let him rest his mental exhaustion,” he heard her say before sleep took him completely.

~~~

Jerome woke up feeling refreshed. He sat up in bed and looked around. He was in his room, surrounded by friends.

“How do you feel?” Kilian asked. Jerome hadn’t seen him since he came back from Blade's Edge canyon.

“Good. I feel good. I was meditating and then…” he didn’t know if he should disclose his meeting with the Sovereign of Vorthe with them.

“The Sovereign is a powerful mind-reader, among other things," a beautiful voice said behind him.

Jerome looked in her direction. He remembered her. She was the one who put him to sleep when he came out of the mental plane.

“Jerome, meet Her Royal Highness, Princess Aeldra of the kingdom of Vorthe,” Kilian announced, startling him. He quickly got out of bed and bowed as gracefully as he could.

“Gratitude, Princess for your help, and…for gracing my room with your presence.”

Aeldra smiled at him “You don’t have to be so formal with me, Jerome,” she said as she stood up, walked towards him, and held his hands in hers helping him up.

Jerome was flustered. He hadn’t been with royalty this up close before and didn’t know how to act, except maybe Rihal and Kilian. But they weren’t from the direct line of the Royal bloodline, the Princess, however…

The Princess was a beauty, and he tried his best to look away from her as she observed him.

“You look so much alike,” she said.

“Right? I thought I was the only one who noticed,” Kilian said sarcastically, earning him a smack on the back of the head from Rihal.

Jerome gaped at them, surprised at their friendliness to each other. He never knew Kilian to be playful.

“Could you excuse us, Ash?” Rihal said as the Princess took her seat.

“But Uncle Rihal—”

“There’s no need,” said the Princess. “Sooner or later she’ll find out about it.”

Tension Jerome never knew was present, subsided in the room at the Princess’s words.

“But I will have to swear you to secrecy,” the Princess said to Ash. The tension rose back up.

“What does that entail?” Jerome asked as warning bells rang in his head.

“Calm down, Jerome,” Rihal said. “She just has to say a few words using an aspect of nature as a binding. As long as she says the right words, nothing will go wrong.”

“Well, what if something does go wrong?” Jerome asked.

“I’ll do it,” Ash blurted out nervously, holding the hem of her robe in a grip that turned her knuckles white.

“Ash? You don’t have to do this,” Jerome cautioned. Ash ignored him and took a deep breath, cycling to calm her nerves. She turned to face the Princess and nodded.

“Swear on any aspect of nature that under no circumstance will you reveal the contents of what is discussed in this room to anyone or make records of it outside this room,” the Princess stated calmly.

“I swear on the earth on which I stand that I would not reveal what is discussed to anyone outside this room or make records of it,” Ash repeated. A moment later she gasped and touched her chest as the oath took hold, binding her soul.

“It is done,” Kilian said.

“Now, how much did you discuss with the Sovereign?” the Princess asked, turning toward Jerome.

Jerome looked at Ash with concern, then he took a deep breath and recounted his experience with the Sovereign, although he left out things like his reincarnation.

“Technically, the Sovereign is…your father,” Aeldra Vorthe mumbled nervously. This topic could influence Jerome negatively and she wanted to prevent hatred toward the Royal Family.

Jerome held himself together, face down. He was not one to lie to himself. He had seen his reflection for a considerable amount of time to know his face or the semblance of it when he saw it on another person.

Aeldra observed him after speaking, letting her words sink in. The kid didn’t respond the way she expected. He already knows, she thought to herself. Or at least he suspects. “You’re not surprised?” It sounded like a question. Jerome shook his head slowly.

“I know what my face looks like, so I had my suspicions,” he responded tightly.

“Eons ago, when mankind inherited the powers of their ancestors…” Aeldra Vorthe began.

Mighty empires fell to ruin and new powers came to be. Wars were fought without end to seize better territories. These wars wrought a cataclysm of events that forced humanity to withdraw. The very essence of the world became chaotic and violent, rending warriors limb from limb on the battlefield and grinding them to dust.

As the wars for territorial supremacy raged on, the world grew ever more treacherous. The chaotic energies grew denser and more potent, leaving cities in ruin and mountains leveled. Without direction, the maelstrom of energy swept over everything in its path, leaving only flattened earth and scorched soil in its wake.

But hope yet lingered amidst the chaos, for a being of immortality from a higher plane of existence descended from the heavens. He brought with him the power to quell the raging energies that had plunged the world into peril. It was revealed that the chaotic energies had gained sentience, drawing from the souls of countless fallen warriors who had perished in the battles for supremacy.

One of the sovereigns in the world at the time, Vorthe, came forward and pledged to watch over the suppressed chaotic essence. Forsooth, it could not be destroyed, lest it unleashes its wrath once more upon the world.

The immortal sundered the essence into two, one born from pure light and the other of the deepest darkness, yet intertwined in their very essence. To Vorthe, he imparted the secret art of how to harness the light, instructing him that this sacred knowledge of the light be passed down to his descendants.

Thus, it came to pass that Vorthe discovered a dire connection to the very darkness he sought to suppress. A seed lay dormant within him, waiting to be planted in a descendant to give the darkness a vessel to inhabit. Only one of the bloodline of he who had embraced the light could become the harbinger of the darkness. Any other soul who dared to assume this mantle would surely perish, their bodies lost to the abyss.

Sadly, Vorthe lost three of his own sons to the insidious grasp of the darkness. Each time he had planted the seed within them, they had succumbed to madness after a mere few decades. The darkness was an alien entity within them, unlike the light which was a gentle and easily nurtured force. The darkness hungered for rage, chaos, and destruction, and any who dared to cultivate it was doomed to suffer the same fate as his sons.

And so it was that Vorthe resolved to implant the seed of darkness within the womb of a woman, to bring forth new life destined to be consumed by the darkness.

An excerpt from the Annals of Vorthe,

Written by Nor’d,

First Scribe of the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Vorthe.

~~~

“So, what are your plans?” Aeldra Vorthe asked Jerome.

Jerome sat down deep in thought. He had a lot of questions. How did the Sovereign get his mother pregnant? Did he…did he force her? Did she agree to it? Jerome clenched his fists. No, it was best not to jump to conclusions. Rihal wouldn’t stay put while that was happening. He wouldn’t be here right now if that did. He’d be long dead for standing against the Sovereign.

“I wanna go find my friends. I’m sure not all of them are dead. And I want revenge,” he said.

Ash trembled. If there were a tiny chance that that was true, she’d take it. She still found it hard to believe that Jerome was some kind of demon that would bring ruin to mankind, though.

But he had declared that he would suppress the Beast no matter what.

“Are you sure about this, or are you just hoping,” Rihal voiced his concern.

“I have nothing else to depend on but hope,” Jerome looked out his window.

Aeldra sighed, she had expected things to develop this way.

“Very well, but you’d need to prepare yourself. You’ve been recuperating for a whole day, which shows how badly you need to grow your mental strength.”

“A whole day?” Jerome was surprised.

“Yes. The Curia Regis decided to open up Terra Praeta for you so you can gain some good fortune and resources now that you are a Sprout.”

"What's Terra Praeta?" Jerome asked. He had heard from Rihal that he’d be going on an adventure, but that was all he knew.

“It’s a void world, separate but connected to our world!” Ash prattled out as if afraid someone else would beat her to it. “What? I wanted to be the one to tell him about it!” she remarked, slightly offended by the looks on their faces.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Jerome smiled, “Thank you, Ash. That was very helpful.”

Kilian smiled, squeezing his lips to keep from laughing out loud.

“So, it’s like a pocket reality or should I say a void space or a plane where life can exist independently of this world?”

Kilian whistled loudly to show his surprise. Everyone looked at Jerome, surprised he could understand what was said and even explain it in his own words.

“Those are some confusing words you spoke kid,” Rihal remarked, scratching at his jaw.

“Anyways, Terra Praeta can’t be opened for you alone so the First Elder will announce it at the upcoming Royal Banquet.”

“Will Hedon be joining the expedition?”

The room went silent for a few breaths of time.

“Very likely,” Aeldra said.

“That's all I need to know.”

“Prepare yourself to meet the Sovereign in person,” Aeldra said, rising from her seat. “Get him something nice to wear Kilian.”

~~~

Jerome took a deep breath to calm himself, immersing himself in his consciousness. He found himself in the mental plane once again. The plane was the same as before. However, he didn’t know what to do next.

Visualize the entire world...reach for it and push through the boundary in your mind. He remembered the Patriarch's words. Jerome sat down crossed-legged and visualized the entire mind plane. This time around, he didn't do it to leave but to get the feel of it.

His mind roamed the plane. It was like a void world. The last time he did this it was way bigger than how it feels now.

Or maybe my mental capacity has increased, he mused.

Jerome moved through the plane with just his mind. It felt weird, like being in multiple places at the same time. He hovered atop the trees, and the valleys. His mind was divided while doing this, like apparitions of himself—connected, yet separate.

He willed the cold wind to stir around him. Dead leaves were blown away leaving the land bare. Jerome reached down to pick up a handful of soil. It felt like ordinary soil, even though he knew it wasn't.

“A mind is a powerful tool,” he muttered. With just the power of the mind, one could visualize whole worlds into being, or push through barriers the body says is impossible to push through.

Jerome left the plane. When he came to, he was mentally drained and was breathing hard, but not as he was the last time. He quickly cycled to get rid of the fatigue. After a while, he inhaled and exhaled audibly, pushing through the barrier in his mind and stretching his senses around his tiny room.

Jerome made a note to study the barrier in his mind, and perhaps strengthen it. If his mental barrier was strong enough, no one would be able to barge into his mind as the Sovereign did. The sensation was similar to expanding his senses in the mental plane with just a little more effort, but it was nowhere as fast enough.

~~~

“He did it,” Kilian muttered.

“Yes, but he still has a long way to go. Can you compare him with the Royal Sprouts?” Rihal asked.

They had been monitoring Jerome’s progress from Kilian’s study for a while now.

“Give him time,” Kilian stated.

“He doesn’t have time.”

“Hmm. He’ll just have to find a way to survive.” Kilian stood up, ready to call it a night. “It’s what he’s good at.”

Rihal chuckled, “I guess you’re right. He is good at surviving.” He stood up as well and vanished as Kilian left the study.

~~~

“Breathe…in…and…out,” Layla’s voice lulled Jerome into a trance.

He meditated and cycled this way for another full cycle, absorbing essence at a very slow rate and healing his wounds as well.

Jerome sank into his consciousness, entering the mind plane to study it more closely. He was sure it was connected, or perhaps, created by the mind-calming stone.

Now he could be in here and still sense what was going on outside his body.

“Jerome.”

The moment he heard his name he knew it was already a full cycle. He came out of his trance feeling healthier than he was before.

“Urgh,” Layla stepped down from his bed and groaned lightly as she stretched her limbs. “Never gets easy,” she said.

“Sorry,” Jerome said with a smile. “I feel a lot better now thanks to you. Will you be going to Terra Praeta?”

“Sure. Last I heard, there were over fifty of us going from the Royal Family.”

Jerome was surprised at the news. Fifty was a pretty big number was it not? “And the other great families?”

“You’re wondering if Hedon would make an appearance,” she said with a smile. “he’ll be there for sure.”

“Actually, I’m wondering how many of his clansmen I’d have to fight to get to him,” Jerome said.

“Oh! Ahem,” Layla blushed. She wasn’t a warrior so she didn’t think like one. She thought like an assassin which wasn’t a bad thing. But Jerome was more of a go for the kill kinda person.

“They have twenty slots each, while 2nd tier families have fifteen slots, 3rd tier families are the most abundant in Vorthe, they've got ten slots each.”

“How do you know all this?” Jerome asked in surprise, he only wanted to know how many Sprouts would be coming along with Hedon Alvric.

“My mom’s a Sage,” Layla said with a smirk, “and just so you know, she's unto you.”

“What?!” Jerome shot out of bed as quickly as possible. He still remembered the Sage that appeared in his room and caused him to have a major breakdown with just a word so he shuffled up to his window and shut it close, so no one could pass through.

“I told you I wasn’t looking. My mind was elsewhere!”

Layla snickered at him, “Right. Elsewhere, like I’d believe that.”

She knew her mother didn’t need windows or doors to enter this room, with a thought she'd appear where she wanted to be. It was a lot of fun torturing the poor boy for a while.

“You’re toying with me aren’t you,” Jerome limped back to bed and took out his storage bag containing the Sunfire stone.

Layla laughed mockingly at him.

She got up from the edge of the bed, ready to leave, “Terra Praeta will be opened in one lunar cycle. Don’t get yourself killed.”

“You too,” Jerome smiled at her.

~~~

Jerome exercised his perception for a long time, making it stronger with every scan. It was a torturous experience as he felt like his brain would explode. He had to take a breather from time to time so as not to damage his soul.

The body of a sacred artist was self-repairing. They never should need elixirs or pills except in severe cases, or when their aptitude wasn’t good enough to advance to a new Realm. Taking elixirs and pills even in normal cases, however, will lead to unforeseen circumstances. That’s why so many steer clear of them.

Nevertheless, alchemists still refine pills for sacred artists—you never know when you might need them. After a few more hours of practice, Jerome took out the Sunfire stone as he thought of an idea. It was a crazy idea. And probably a very dangerous one.

“No one who achieved great things stopped because it just might be dangerous, let’s see if this works,” he muttered to himself.

~~~

“Disciple Jerome, Open the door!”

Kilian’s guards banged on Jerome’s door to wake him up. The maids had reported hearing a series of intermittent explosions coming from his room all night. They’d had to stay awake praying that the palace wouldn’t collapse on them.

Very early this morning, the explosions stopped, and they cried out to the guards who ‘supposedly’ should be on guard duty but slept through the whole ordeal the night before.

Jerome woke up groggily, he could hear the guards banging on the door, but all he could focus on was the head-splitting pain he was feeling.

“Break it down,” Kilian said.

And the door came crashing into the room, dispersing the slouchiness in Jerome’s eyelids.

Kilian entered the room flabbergasted. Every single piece of furniture in the room had been burnt to ash. Jerome himself looked quite disheveled with his long hair standing on ends and his skin covered with a fine sheet of soot.

One of the guards whistled to express his surprise.

“It’s like a dragon’s den in here,” he remarked.

“More like a muddled pool of fish and dragon,” another chipped in.

The rest of the guards giggled. Jerome glared up at them. He wasn’t going to take that insult lying down.

He coughed up a large amount of black plume as he stood up and said, “And the fingerlings should run as far as they can else, they become fodder for the dragon.”

The guards’ hostility rose in moments as they all stared daggers at him.

“That’s enough all of you,” Kilian ordered, and they all retracted their gaze from Jerome.

“For disturbing the peace of my home, I should punish you. However, since these dumbheads,” Kilian pointed at the guards, “didn’t do their jobs, they’ll be punished along with you.”

“Apologies, Lord Kilian,” the guards apologized solemnly.

“I thought you were going to reduce the punishment,” Jerome muttered.

“You said what now?”

“Nothing.”

~~~

“Remind me to teach this kid a lesson when we leave this place,” Abbott said. He was the head guard on duty the previous night.

Ten Sprouts, including Jerome, crammed themselves into a dung pit, using their legs to loosen the dung. There was no real necessity in what they were doing, and it was torture. Their heightened sense of smell was constantly assaulted by the concentrated smell of dung, making it quite difficult to breathe.

The pit was small and should at best fit six adults with as little space between them as possible.

“Do you think you’re man enough,” Jerome replied, taunting him.

Abbott went red with anger, “Let’s see if that silver tongue of yours can keep ya safe when we leave this pit. I’ll teach ya what respect is if it means bedding your mama right before your eyes,”

The guards in the pit burst out in wild laughter. Jerome saw red. His anger built up until he didn’t hear anything around him anymore. No one had ever slandered his mother in front of him before.

The guards noticed he wasn’t cussing back at Abbott and soon their laughter died down as they noticed something else.

The essence around Jerome became chaotic as it reacted with his essence causing the space around them to compress and heat up, giving them a feeling of suffocation.

Jerome lunged at Abbott, but Abbott, fearing whatever technique the kid was about to unleash, tried to climb out of the pit. His colleagues saw this and joined him, but before they could, the pit exploded, scattering dung everywhere.

~~~

“You do realize that you’ll be meeting the Sovereign today, right...at the banquet?”

“They started it.”

Rihal sighed. Jerome truly had changed. He was beginning to resort to violence too quickly, just like the records stated about the other fated Dark Ones before him. He once thought Jerome would be different, that under his tutelage the kid would have better control of his nature. But nature wasn’t something one could go against.

“You’re changing, Jerome,” Rihal said solemnly.

Ash, who was washing Jerome’s hair, paused at what she was doing and looked up. She had dragged him away from Abbott not long ago so she could clean him up and prepare him for his meeting with the Sovereign.

“Should we leave?” She asked.

They were inside a washroom with Seventeen and two other maids. Naturally, she knew these maids couldn’t be a part of the discussion Rihal was about to bring up.

Rihal smiled at her. He looked to the maids and nodded, signaling to them to leave. All three maids bowed and left with Ash. The door closed behind them leaving both men alone in the washroom.

“They started it,” Jerome stated again. His anger hadn’t subsided.

“Listen to yourself. You’re clearly losing it. Can’t you see your anger’s getting out of control?”

Jerome raised his brows in surprise as his anger receded like a tide, causing Rihal to let out a breath of relief.

Well, that was easier than I thought it would be, Rihal thought.

“I’m sorry,” Jerome said, looking away in shame.

“That’s why I’m here—to remind you that you’re still human.”

Jerome nodded slowly. “I wanna be left alone,” he said.

Rihal observed him for a while before speaking. “Abbott didn’t mean what he said. At least not in the way you think. It’s just, the guards are more…free when it comes to cussing. They don’t hold it to heart,”

“I understand, and you don’t have to baby me. I’m not a kid anymore.”

Rihal smiled. “But you are a kid, yet you always act so mature that I forget you’re a kid.”

Jerome wanted to respond to that but stopped himself.

“And now you act like a kid, and I remember you’re a kid, and want to treat you like one,” Rihal said as he walked out of the washroom. “He says he wants to be left alone,” he told the maids outside the washroom.

“Rihal,” Jerome called out and Rihal looked back.

“What's an Epos?”

Rihal turned back and walked into the room. “How do you know that word?” He asked.

“The Sovereign mentioned it. Hedon used it at Blade’s Edge Canyon.”

“Well, that’s bad news,” Rihal said.

Jerome turned to him to catch his meaning.

“If Hedon can use an Epos, granted it was given to him, you can’t beat him,” Rihal declared.