Shadows consume. Shadows writhe. Shadows rage!

New hunt. Chase the prey. Ignore the pups.

Red. Red. RED!

Blood across my teeth, flesh on my tongue!

I sat up and shook my head free of the snippets of dream sequence still fresh in my mind. My mouth tingled until I swallowed and licked my teeth.

After many failed starts that ended with me dropping the image and restarting, I tried to cast the spell correctly three times. The first time resulted in the same result as the last: a ball formed that quickly transformed into liquid fire, which I hastily shot at a passing stone. Yadalee practically jumped at the sight of me, and I apologized with a strained smile.

It felt like someone stomped on my chest; the incantation's retaliation for messing with it took its toll on my core.

Apparently, my intense staring at the sky disturbed the guardswoman enough that she not-so-subtly scooted to the edge of the driver's seat in an effort to get away from me. I took the hint for what it was and returned to the wagon, where I proceeded to try again. The second attempt was better; the ball held stable for far longer, but I still had to stick my arm out and bleed off the attack before it set the wooden wagon ablaze.

The third and final attempt, the one that brought me success, was both a great success and a slight failure.

The incantation left my lips. I impressed my will on my own mana and let it flow according to my rules. The sphere formed a bright thing that illuminated the dark cabin. Heat began to rush in, and I fought its rebellion against the strict cage I put around it.

In the end, the struggle between its need to incinerate things and my will was satisfied when I let the sphere contain some of its warmth, not a lot, equivalent to a hand warmer you'd buy for wintertime. But the spell stabilized, and I had succeeded in casting it!

It floated gently above my hand, and I held it up, enjoying the light it gave off.

Alice waved her hand around it and cocked her head. "It's warm."

Devon also felt around. "So your mana still affected the incantation."

"I could try again, but the moment I let it have its place in the sphere to add some heat to the incantation, it stopped rebelling against me. Instead of bucking, it flowed right in and complied."

"Alice?" he asked. "Give it a try."

She closed her eyes and began her own experimentation. Instead of creating a ball of short-lived napalm, the light would sputter and wink out. She kept practicing, and I busied myself by tracking the mana usage from the incantation. It wasn't a lot, but somehow more than what I'd normally spend on a single fireball.

I bet if there was no heat allowed in this, I'd be using even more to fuel it.

It was a simple observation that had me thinking about the future. Again, my points called to be used. It was a subtle thing that kept slipping its way into my head anytime I felt a lack of something. I couldn't ask Devon about it; Alice was here, and even if most of her attention focused on the building light in the center of her palm, she could still hear us.

The tug came, and I brought up my status sheet. The three points I had banked up disappeared into my wisdom to bring it in line with my other stats.

Name: Cain Veldman

Title: Crimson Hunter

Auxiliary Title: String Cutter

Level: 4

Stats:

* STR: 15

* AGI: 16

* CON: 18

* INT: 16

* WIS: 13 (+3)

* LUK: 16

Skills Unlocked:

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

* Summon Familiar (Freki)

Passive Skills:

* Ember Soul

* Shadow Bond

Maybe I was a fool to keep such a balanced build, but I was still better off than anyone at my level.

The new passive and the modified summon skill glared at me.

If only a reality-altering magical system could be direct with skill descriptions.

I closed my status and cut the flow of mana into my hand. The sphere of light burst apart in a shower of sparks, and I leaned back, letting my hood cushion my head against the hard edge of the crate behind me. For a time, I watched Alice, but my attention drifted away, lulled by the rocking of the moving wagon.

When I woke up, light no longer spilled inside the cabin; in fact, it was nearly pitch black. I cast the new incarnation, only to instantly scrunch my face away from the blinding light.

I dropped the image and tried again, fueling less mana into the spell. The new orb lit up the cabin, and I could at least see without feeling like a vampire staring at the sun.

The wagon was empty.

Using one hand, I stood up and pushed through the canvas flap. The cool night air brushed against my face, and I stared at the front of the wagon, noting the absence of the horses. Yadalee wasn't around, and it looked like the wagon was parked next to a set of trees off to the side of the road.

Guards were out, and a fire billowed smoke in the distance; I smelled soup on the wind.

My stomach growled and my shoulders dropped. It stopped protesting, but the hunger continued to gnaw at my insides. Since I wasn't about to raid the guards' entire soup pot, I sniffed around, seeing if I could find a familiar scent.

I did, and let it guide me.

Away from the people, away from the horses grazing in the corner, and away from the smell of food, I delved deeper into the woods. It took me a good minute, but eventually, I exited out of the treeline and found myself next to a small glen with a breathtaking array of flowers that glowed a soft blue under the moonlight.

Alice sat on a raised bit of stone near the edge of the glade.

She scooted over without turning as I approached. I hesitated, then joined her on the earthen chair. With the area softly lit, I stopped the incantation and watched the fireflies dance, their lights shifting bluer with each flower they touched.

"Pretty," I said.

"Very," Alice replied.

It felt awkward at first, but the silence carried on, and I enjoyed the smell of nature around us.

"You know, we never sparred, but I think we have a pretty good measure of our abilities."

She said hummed.

"Mmm?"

"That's… not true."

"Huh?"

What does she mean?

"You make no sense," she stated.

"Uh…"

Alice turned and stared into my eyes, the soft blue light of the glade making hers glow just as beautifully. "I didn't notice it at first, but you move better than I do; you're faster. I even think you're stronger."

A laugh erupted out of my belly, and I snorted. The noise sent the bugs flying away, but not out of the glade. When Alice continued to stare with her mouth pressed into a thin line, my laugh died down, and I crossed my arms.

"You're joking? Have you seen yourself swinging that giant axe like it's nothing?"

She leaned in, the blue shifting into a purple as the red glow amongst her irises took over. "You should be the same level as me, yet you move faster. If we raced, you'd win."

My smile disappeared, and I felt my cloak tighten itself around my shoulders. "You don't know that."

"But I can prove it."

The red in her eyes flared up but dimmed a second later, never fully disappearing. She looked calm, but her eyes told me she wouldn't back down.

I sighed.

"I promised Devon I wouldn't tell, but it wasn't an oath, so screw it," I began. I uncrossed my arms and stood up, placing some distance between us. "Your brother. Elias. The one who gave me access to the system. The origin of my inheritance from the Elias Ironhart."

The stone beneath her hand cracked, the sound filling the air as a thick line split the area around her fingers. "What about him?"

Pack. Kin. Is pack!

"I feel it in my bones; the strange foreign thoughts keep screaming it into my head every time I think about it. Elias is pack, was pack. A Grimm. Even if I knew nothing else about him." She waited, and I raised my hand. "I'm a Grimm because of him. My affinity for fire is because of him. But that affinity is because of a different reason. Alice, his lore strain… according to Devon and Adeline, it's not one of yours, it's not the same as the others. They said he wasn't… Pack."

The crimson in her eyes overtook the blue of her irises entirely, and the stone beneath her hand broke off into large chunks.

"How," she began. After swallowing, she slowly rose up. "What does this have to do with the difference in your stats?"

"Alice, I gain five stat points per level up. Not three. My Lore Strain is not the same as yours."

"I see."

Cold, simple, a hint of danger in her voice. It felt like I stood before a cornered beast, ready to pounce.

My nose twitched. I smelled blood and musk.

The rush of the new scent made both of us turn to see Devon dragging the corpse of a small deer. He paused and looked between us, his eyes lingering on Alice, who balled her hands. Alice turned around and walked out of the glade without saying a word. Devon watched her leave, and I put on a strained smile. I waved; he frowned.

Instead of saying anything that would get me in further trouble, I pulled out my knife.

Devon came to a stop a few feet away and stared at the knife. "Is there a problem?"

"Uh. I was going to offer to help skin it and prepare the cuts. I think I should learn how to, right?"

He glanced once more to where Alice had walked before sighing. "Good. We'll do it near the wagon."

I nodded and followed him out of the glade.