Cain

I woke back up to blackness. For a moment I wondered if I had been blindfolded, but there was no sound either. I was also surprised that nothing hurt.

I didn't believe that "Brother Moss" would have actually hurt me, so he must have done something else.

It was probably only ten to twenty minutes later but it felt like hours had passed when I could suddenly hear again, the light that appeared blinded me.

"Brother Moss" sat across from me, instead of interacting with him I decided to look around.

I was in an abandoned warehouse, by the look of things. There were boards over the windows I could see and only a small amount of light was coming in through one high up. Looking further, the building looked like it was still in construction.

My captor cleared his throat so I looked back at him. He was wearing a robe that only left the bottom of his face visible, that showed me a creepy as hell smile.

I froze for a moment, hopefully he didn't notice, Clin has stopped moving away from me. That means he was either at the Palace or he had been found by Mason, either way it was a good thing for me.

I knew I needed to keep Brother Moss distracted once whoever was going to come for me for closer.

"Congratulations, You caught the kid who just unlocked his affinities a couple days ago. Are you proud of this incredibly difficult task?" I snarked.

“SHUT UP!” he screamed, backhanding me across the face.

Clearly the chair was secured to the ground somehow, as it chair didn’t even budge as I slammed to the side. It hurt like hell, but I was able to keep my expression even, seemingly infuriating Brother Moss even more.

“I had better get a huge reward for this! Your snake’s venom ravaged Brother Keys core, we had to put him out of his misery and your little friend lamed Brother Flame leg. But all will be well once our master arrive. Lord Mist has many questions for you.” Brother Moss said more to himself than me.

“Well, this escalated quickly. I didn’t even do anything to warrant this level of attention by your...organisation?” I responded, trying to rile him up and get some information at the same time.

I knew he was much stronger than me and clearly had no problem hurting me. If I can get him talking, maybe I can stall for time while the people with Clin make their way here. They were rapidly getting closer after all.

“You know nothing about the glory of the Mist. But we will change that soon! Lord Mist will take you to the source and you will tell us everything you know.” Moss ranted.

I had no idea what he was talking about and I clearly wasn’t going to get any more information from him.

“So where are the rest of your friends? How long is your Lord Mist going to take to get here? Glory of the Mist? Wait, I remember someone saying something similar to that...The Truth of Mist cult?” I rambled.

As soon as I said cult and his expression changed I knew I had made a mistake.

“WE ARE NOT A CULT! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. THE LORDS SHOW US THE POWER OF THE MIST!” he screamed in my face.

I decided it was smarter to not talk anymore, before he gets even angrier with me. Fortunately he didn't let me make that decision and put back whatever was blocking out the lights and sound earlier.

I was once again surrounded by darkness and mostly cut off from my senses. With my rescue on the way, I could still vaguely sense Clin getting closer, I could think about other things.

I was too weak. I had no control over my affinities, only my beast combat form that was still only a fraction of the power of others.

I looked inwards to observe my core again. I had been read more of the cultivation technique that I was given, the way I had it before was only the beginning level. The next task was the separate my upper and lower chakras, instead of my mana making a complete circuit around them, have it make an infinity symbol with my core in the centre.

My biggest issue was because of Clin, since I had no control over the bond, my mana had weaved through my crown and root chakra. This wasn't supposed to happen until I advanced the technique to the advanced level.

I immersed my mind into my mana and followed it along. Out of my core, down, around my lower chakras, deviating through my root chakra and back up around the top.

I followed it along a few times before I tried to change anything. As the circulation was making its way back up I pushed it back into the core instead. The movement felt like I was being stabbed in the chest, since it completely interrupted the upper half. Since I still had control I had to force it back through my core and out the other side.

I still had the three types of mana braided, keeping them in control, I could still feel the pathway that was there previously but I was going the opposite direction.

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What felt like hours later, I managed to complete the circuit and reattach my mana to my crown chakra and my core. A tremendous sense of relief rushed through me, My mana moved faster and accumulated in my core faster. It seems vaguely reading cultivation novels when I was younger really did help with this. Pity I hadn't paid more attention, could have made myself OP or something.

Just after I advanced to the intermediate level of my cultivation technique I opened my eyes and felt that Clin was both in pain and had arrived.

I sent feelings of relief through our bond. He responded with, what I thought was, determination.

I waited for Brother Moss to come back and use me as a shield or try to escape with me, but almost ten minutes later nothing had happened yet. The darkness around me disappeared with a bang, the room was full of Royal Guards and cultists in robes.

I could vaguely hear people chanting to cast spells, much more embarrassing than I thought it would be. For the first time since I had been captured I decided to actually use mana. Very slowly I withdrew a strand of fire mana out of my core and created a flame between my hands, the tape that secured my hands melted off me, my mana protecting my skin.

I could feel Clin getting nearer from behind me, I turned to find Mason running towards me, surrounded by shadow. A small Fireball flew through the air, slamming into his side, sending him tumbling to the floor.

“He’s ours!” Brother Moss’s voice yelled out.

I ran over to Mason, only to find the spell didn’t even make its way through his shadows. It was weird, the Truth of Mist cult all seems very powerful, but only in a single element. Moss was exceptional in his teleporting when he was chasing me, but that Fireball was quite weak. Maybe it had something to do with the cult.

Mason jumped to his feet and grabbed my arm, dragging me away. I can’t believe I had spaced while there was a mini war going on around me. Honestly, as we ran I saw that the cultists were losing terribly, the Royal Guards exponentially stronger.

I was running next to Mason when I felt Clin wanting to get back onto me, I reached out, without looking and felt him slither across my arm and wrap himself back around my neck.

We were mere metres away from the door when I was tackled to the ground.

“I told you, you can’t get away from me.” Moss hissed into my ear.

I felt a jolt run through my body, like I had fallen a very small distance. It happened again, I looked at Brother Moss to see a very confused look on his face.

Suddenly, he was thrown away from me and a voice rang out.

“Did you think we wouldn’t lock the area down?”

I didn’t get to see who it was because Mason chose that moment to pick me up and start running again. Honestly I felt rather useless, all I had done was get captured then run away.

We got outside where we found even more soldiers appearing to surround the place, clearly even they didn’t want to get in the way of the Royal Guards. I turned to Mason,

“I guess I owe you a drink or something? What do you get for a guy who risked his life for you?”

He laughed in response.

“We’ll talk about it later. We need to get you back to the Palace, my aunt will kill me if I take too long. I was even sent a babysitter, Corporal Collins should be around here somewhere. You might like him, he also has a snake familiar.” Mason responded.

As he was speaking Royal Guards were starting to exit the building and the soldiers were entering. One of the Guard walked straight up to us,

“Prince Mason, Mr Herondale, we have to go now. The terrorists have been captured and the military are taking over the scene.” he said.

We started walking, with another three Royal Guards moving around us.

“Cain, meet Corporal Collins.” Mason said.

“Hey, thanks for helping save my stupid ass.” I said with a chuckle.

“Thank your familiar, without him we would have taken much longer. He was relaying information to us through your bond, he was even bossing around my Copperhead on the way here.” Collins laughed back.

We were less than fifty metre down the street when the building behind us damn near exploded. Clin and I both reached for our Void mana and threw it behind us, he took control of it and created a barrier somehow, debris hitting it as I turned back around.

A man wearing a cloak and black mask walked out of the debris, a water barrier undulating around his body, stopping all weapons and spells being fired at him. Like a god of the sea, jets of pressurised water were shooting out of his barrier and sending the soldiers flying.

“Hmm, where did my little prey disappear to? I was so hoping to meet our new young friend.” a sinister voice rang out from him.

“Lord Mist I presume?” Captain Smith answered back as he stepped forwards.

As the Captain stepped forwards, walls of stone shot from the ground, completely stopping the water attacks on the soldiers.

Instead of answering, the water barrier around Lord Mist darkened, it looked like something was moving through the water but I couldn’t see well enough, even with my increased vision.

Blades made from wood suddenly shot out of the water, aiming for the Captains face. The small shield strapped to his forearm expanded to cover over half his body, he threw his sword back at Lord Mist, as the sword was flying through the air multiple copies of the sword appeared.

Lord Mist turned, his wave of water covered by roots shooting out of the ground, stopping the swords dead.

“I guess we will have to finish this another time.” Lord Mist stated as he walked back into the building.

Corporal Collins basically pushed us back down the road, away from one of the most incredible fights I have ever seen. Neither of them had even landed a blow on the other, and they changed elements so quickly, without chanting like I heard others do. I would have to ask Mason later.

Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to ask Mason anything, as soon as we got back to Palace we were whisked into a medical area to check us for injuries. Due to my Beast affinity, I healed much faster than I used to and was completely fine by then, I was apparently dehydrated so they fed and watered me.

I was then escorted to Essie and the King in his study. It had been a long night without sleep but I also didn’t know if they were going to delay Mason and I leaving.

“Cain, we have failed to protect you. I am sorry this happened to you..” Essies started.

I waved her statement away and interrupted.

“We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a crime of opportunity, they didn’t know who I was until we accidently used my name. I almost wonder if it would be better if I went by a different name while I was at this academy? You could spread a story that you were afraid for my safety and kept me here.”

The pair exchanged a look before turning back to me.

“That is an option. We would have to call the headmaster while you were on your way today. We can’t delay your trip as you are already almost going to be late to start this year. We had delayed sending you both for the celebration last night.” Essie answered.

“Did Mason have a companion when he was younger? We could say I was him.” I asked, thinking of some of the novels I read years before.

“He didn’t. We could say you are the illegitimate son of Master Gregor. I’m sure he would agree. How do you feel about Scott?” The King answered.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. The son of Derek the Werewolf called Scott, how very Teen Wolf.

“Is that not to your liking?” the King asked sternly.

“I’m sorry, there was just a television show that the names reminded me of my time. Just would have preferred to be more of a Stiles than a Scott, but Scott it is. As long as Master Gregor is ok with it.” I answered with another chuckle.

“Now that is settled, we need to get your things and get you and Mason on the jet.” the King finished, dismissing me with a nod.

Essie escorted me through the palace to my rooms. A bag of clothes was already waiting for me there.

“I’m sorry if it feels like we are getting rid of you here Cain. I believe it will just be safer for you at the Academy with Mason.” Essie tried to console me.

“It’s ok. You have taken care of me these last few weeks. Even though it has been a whirlwind ride, I don’t believe I would still be alive in this new world without. You are Mason are the closest thing to family I have.” I told her, a hitch in my voice as I suppressed tears again.

I saw a tear run down Essies face and she wrapped me in a hug. I hated being emotional, but you win some lose some I guess.

The conversation lulled after that and we picked up Mason in silence as walked deeper into the Palace than I ever had before.

Mason had a grin on his face that I had learnt not to trust as we came up to a large door. Essie opened the door and I was shocked, this was the science fiction future I had been looking for! What appeared to be planes, futuristic spaceships and “normal” looking cars filled a very large room.

I followed the pair while rubbernecking around the massive hanger under the palace. There were so many different types that had clearly been inspired by pop culture I was shocked. One to my left looked like the alien fighter ships from Independence Day, the one next to it from Stargate, the one we stopped at looked like a futuristic black version of a normal jet.

We walked up to the steps to find Corporal Collins already there, apparently he was our pilot for the evening. Mason and I got comfortable in the plush seat in the cabin, that was the same as any private jet I had seen pictures of before.

I was keen on asking Mason about the fight we saw between Captain Smith and Lord Mist but my exhaustion finally caught up with me and I passed out.