Marcus was stirring the embers, every few seconds glancing over at Cedric's sleeping form. Marcus had wrapped him in all the blankets and placed a wet cloth on his head to help with his fever. Why did this happen? Did I push him to hard and now may have crippled him or worse killed him? As marcus thought, Cedric breathing became calmer and his eyes fluttered open. Marcus jumped to his feet and moved to his side," Cedric boy are you alright?" Cedric eyes started to fill with tears and he started to cry.

" I saw him Marcus, I saw him" marcus looked down at the crying boy and grasped his hand to try and comfort him. After a few minutes Cedric started to calm down and was finally able to talk.

Before talking he took a few swings of water to relinquish his dry lips. " My father Marcus I saw him, he was standing on an open field surrounded by thousands of the cursed, and he stood his ground even though it was helpless he stood and smiled even."

Marcus nodded his head and smiled" yeah that sounds like Thad alright, but how did you know all that, the way you talk it sounds like you were there?"

" It's because I was, I was dreaming about this lake and next thing I know I was there watching the battle." Marcus pondered this for a few moments before realization sank in. He grabbed his bag and reached in and handed him the axes." They won't work for me remember", marcus placed the hands in his hands and to both their amazements he was able to keep them from falling.

Marcus spoke " aura symbols can be left on objects and in places, their mostly used to send message, but their are a few who can create some only for certain people, I think your father placed a symbol on the axes and when we awakened your power yesterday it must have triggered the symbols on the axes."

He looked down at the axes and felt a deep connection, his hands gripped them tighter. " But what about the lake I saw it was huge and there was this black tree next to it with blue leaves."

Marcus eyes widened" wait, what!!?, you saw a lake with a tree, how tall was it ?"

Cedric shrugged" probably 15-20 feet, but I don't see how this means anything."

Marcus jumped up." This means everything, the lake was your soul well, but I guess in your case it's a soul lake, the reason I called it a soul well is because most people only have a few gallons of soul power , but if this is true you have at least a few hundred!!!" Marcus started pacing.

" It all makes sense now, your body couldn't take the power and so it started to overflow and cause you to suffer a soul back lash, but this isn't even the most important part, each person after years of training starts to cultivate a tree in their soul. their soul feeds this tree and it represents the hours of hard work a person has put in and allows them to draw more power effectively, the color represents the element your closest too." Marcus stopped mid stride and suddenly his face turned pale.

He slowly walked closer to Cedric and then crouched down to his eye-level. In a shaky breath he asked " wa ... what color was it?"

By the serious tone of his question Cedric heart jumped in his chest and his mouth went dry" why?" Marcus's hand lashes out and gripped his shirt and pulled him so close he could feel his breath.

"What color was it" Marcus said in a tone that screamed danger.

" a bright blue kinda like in a lightning storm" Marcus's hand fell away and he fell on his butt. Clutching his head " nonononononono" he repeated" not so soon and not before we were about to reach the academy" Cedric sat up in his bed.

" Marcus what's wrong , c'mon tell me, your kinda freaking me out." Cedric had fear radiating from his body, after a few moments marcus sat up.

"What's wrong is that your at the level of a guard who's been training for years, you'll be the news of the capital and our enemies will hear of it and will investigate, they'll search your background and discover who you are."

Marcus's face covered in worry." You'll be killed almost immediately."

Cedric swallowed hard " is there anything we could do, we could somehow get through the test by cheating it or by bypassing it all together?" Suddenly hope shined in Marcus's eyes.

" That's it!!!" He pushed up from the ground and started to clean up the camp and gather there stuff into their packs." We need something that hides your soul aura, so others won't notice it, what we need right now is a soul limiter."

……….

They have been traveling for days, only stopping for a few moments. After awakening his soul Cedric has noticed his body has become stronger, he barely needs to sleep, eat, and drink. His muscles have become stronger and bigger, his clothes stretched tight against his frame. But the most pronounced feature would be his height, he stood at maybe marcus shoulders, but now he has grown taller than him and his body seems totally energized. They were traveling near some mountains that held some snow near their peaks, a few stray paths were etched across their sides. Marcus turned up towards one such path and started the long trek up.

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" Where are we going Marcus, you haven't said anything since we broke camp a few days ago." Marcus just grunted and kept walking. Cedric just sighed and followed him towards the peak of the mountain.

After hours of steep climbing they made it to the peak. Cedric dropped his pack and feel on the ground" THANK THE SAINTS" he yelled, Marcus stood above him and kicked his side.

" Get up you pansy it wasn't that bad, were here." Marcus pointed to the middle of the peak.

Cedric raised his head and saw a small stone structure. Rolling onto his back he looked at the building, it was relatively small, a simple door and a glass window on the right side, there was a chimney that was billowing smoke, indicating that someone was home.

Cedric followed marcus as they walked up to the door. Marcus raised his fist and gave a few sharp knocks on the wooden door." Who the hell is knocking on my door!!?" A voice yelled, followed by the sound of heavy feet stomping to the door. The door was whipped open" who the fuc...."

" hey Isaac long time no see" Marcus said.

Isaac mouth dropped open in a o-shape.

"Marcus what, when, where did you?" He sputtered. Isaac looked past Marcus and saw Cedric standing a few feet back. " who the heck is this giant?"

Marcus just laughed and grabbed Isaac, and pulled him into a hug." It's good to see you too Isaac, and sorry I didn't send word I was kinda off the grid for a few months, and this giant behind me is Cedric, he's my new apprentice." Isaac moved back from Marcus's embrace and gazed up at Cedric.

Cedric looked at this new fellow, Isaac was probably 4 feet tall with his back straight, he had blonde hair with a few braids and a full beard that was trimmed. He had a few singe marks on his clothes and his hands were dirty, like he just stopped working on something to answer the door. A dwarf he thought.

" Hey kid do I know you, you look like someone I knew way back." Isaac gazed at this boy and couldn't shake this feeling of familiarity that he felt when he looked at this kid.

Marcus gave a few coughs interrupting the two" Isaac this is Cedric, Cedric this is Isaac." Cedric moved towards Isaac and stretched out his hand.

" nice to meet you, sir."

Isaac grabbed his hand and shook, he winced when Cedric squeezed. " damn boy, don't take my hand off, holy saint Marcus what have you been teaching this kid he feels like he's as strong as Thad used to be when he was in his teens."

Marcus gave a chuckle " I actually believe that Cedric here would give Thad a run for his money."

Isaac shook his hand trying to regain feeling in it." Really huh, you know what he kinda looks like Thad when he was younger, heck even his aura feels like his" Marcus just smiled, after a few minutes Isaac's brain finally clicked " holy crap!! "

Isaac wrapped Cedric in a hug and gave a squeeze. Cedric's ribs were crushed and he gave out a wheeze as the air was forced from his lungs. " I can't believe it, after all these years I thought we would never find you." Isaac let go of him and turned to Marcus.

"I thought once you found him you were going straight to the capital" He said.

Marcus scratched his head and sighed " well that was the plan, but when we awakened his soul it lashed back out at him and almost killed him but I was able to force it back barely."

" So what, he's a little bit stronger then normal, so what?" Isaac said.

"Well the problem is that he's too strong, I guess he's at the power level of a Guard."

Isaac eyes seemed to pop out of his head and he yelled." Are you kidding me, what is he some kind of monster!!!?"

Cedric just smiled sheepishly, and shrugged his shoulders at the question.

Marcus smiled" so you see that is one of the problems we have, the other one is that I can't go into the city, the guards will recognize me and it'll be only a few hours before the queen knows of me."

"So what, are you going to send him there by himself?" Isaac asked.

" Well I was kinda hoping you would go with him." Marcus casually said.

Isaac turned and stalked into his house.

" hah you have lost your damn mind."

" c'mon don't be like that."

" I will be like that, why do you think I live here on a mountain, I want some peace and quiet, not be pestered day in and day out by people." Isaac sighed" so I'm guessing that you also want something else as well, come inside."

Isaac stomped into the house with a few grunts and a few choice words that made Cedric blush.

Marcus grinned and followed him inside with Cedric in tow.