Claire left the room, leaving Kai to his thoughts.

His frown deepened as he realised he had gone way farther into the past than he initially wanted. His intention with the forbidden ritual was to find himself somewhere around the period when the Third Mage War was happening.

It felt like the perfect period for him and also because the ritual didn't seem to hold the power to send him further back. It seems like he was highly wrong.

If Claire hadn't been lying and he doubted she was, then the Third Mage War would happen more than a thousand years later.

Who thought going back more than 500 years into the past was even possible?

Kai contemplated and regretted not learning about such rituals in detail. But in his defence, soul-succumbing rituals were forbidden for Mages to practise due to ethical reasons. One reason was also because no mage was crazy enough to risk his soul.

If things go wrong, the results wouldn't just be a petty death.

But, still.

Kai flinched at the recollection. The guards' behaviour with the mana weaver and the strangeness of everything started to make sense to him.

Regardless, at the moment, he had something bigger to worry about— King Thorian.

In the numerous texts he had read about different empires and kingdoms, there was only one ‘King Thorian’ he came across.

His memory served him with history as he remembered that King Thorian was the ruler of the Lancephil Kingdom.

His knowledge of the kingdom and era wasn't the best, but there were a few things he remembered.

Lancephil Kingdom had been one of the major players in the world around the late 800s. Although King Thorian Lancephil wasn't anything special, Kai remembered the details clearly because of his successor, King Eldric.

His actions led to the beginning of the Golden Era of magic— The best and the worst era for Mages and humanity as a whole.

Thinking about the era, his master had talked about with glee, but beyond the magical achievements and theories that had been developed, the period wasn't something he had personally liked.

Kai’s brows knit in reflection.

If Thorian is still the King, then, I must be around 20-30 years behind the Golden Era. I wonder how old is he currently?

The calculations in his mind added up as a glimpse of hope shimmered. He inhaled as much fresh mana as possible that was in the air. As soon as the air hit his lungs, he sensed the mana calming his racing mind.

To someone like him, that was the best thing about such a period. The ambient mana in the air was the purest and he felt like he could simply meditate all day.

Albeit he had no time and had to find his background and scour exact information about Arzan.

He looked through the room once again, this time, thoroughly enough to find something that would help him.

His gaze fell onto the ritual first. The same symbols and sculptings he saw when he first looked at them. He scrunched down. The harder he tried to decipher them, the more unrecognisable they seemed. Trying to match the language of symbols for different languages he knew, again, he realised that they were vague.

His finger traced a cross-like symbol that was etched on the wooden floor. A few of the symbols made sense, but they were from different languages, mashed together like a soup made up of leftovers.

No wonder Arzan had died.

Though, he couldn't be sure. All he knew the man could have been trying to do a similar ritual to his.

This is nothing like I’ve ever seen.

Kai finally gave up and got to his feet. He found a candle and lit up a fireplace. With some oil, it came to life. A simple spell might have done the job, but for now, he was powerless.

The room appeared much bigger than when he first saw it as light reached all the corners. The focus on the details became prominent as he raked through.

He also realised that this seemed to be one of the months of Frosania. The room temperature heated thanks to the fireplace and he was grateful that the window had a wooden panel to shut off the winds.

It seemed like Arzan was wealthy enough to have an impressive collection of belongings.

Kai glanced at the various bottles of scents. There were at least thirty bottles of different kinds. As he sprayed one in the air, the smell of lavender filled the room. Kai scrunched his nose, the concentration was way too strong for his liking.

These types of scents would be pretty expensive and only a select wealthy would have access to them in this era, leading him to believe that Arzan's standing was much higher than he initially assumed.

Next, he swept through a few other things, useless trinkets, pairs of clothes and shoes, a dagger, quills, blank sheets of paper and what looked to be a wooden wand that was merely a plaything.

Useless, Kai shook his head in uninterest. Arzan seemed like he was into all sorts of things. Surprisingly, there wasn't anything that pointed towards him being a cultist.

Aside from chalk that was used to draw the symbols and a bloody knife, there was nothing else.

Now, only one place was left.

In the right corner of the room, where the windows were tightly shut with curtains, Kai saw a shelf of books.

His interest piqued as he walked towards it, and grabbed hold of two of them. They were fictional books rather than about arcane symbols or rituals as Kai had expected. He couldn’t help but turn a few pages.

Grabbing two more from the cluster, Kai started to read a few pages.

Hmm.

Kai noticed a pattern in the books as he kept everything in order. It was all books of Mages who were heroes of sorts. A hobby of reading fiction was something that they both seemed to share in common. But what caught his attention was something else.

Among the books that were inclined to the left on the shelf, one book, red in colour, was slanting towards the right.

His hands immediately went to it and grabbed it.

Opening it up, he saw handwriting that seemed familiar. It was similar to the note that he had found.

•••

Kai’s fingers wrapped around the knife. He cut a piece of bread from the soft loaf. The fork assisted him. He chewed on the bread and quickly kept the utensils aside. He took the diary to his hands and continued where he had stopped.

The messy cursives grabbed his full focus once again.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

He had spent the past thirty minutes reading and trying to get to know the man better. And luckily, he found a lot of information about himself and his family.

The diary seemed to have written records of everything that happened in the last year. Information including his family, disputes and even stories related to what had led Arzan to be banished from his own house.

Kai’s eyes followed the letters.

12th Junaris, 865.

The times are changing, I could feel it. I have to let it out, but writing is a whole lot better than discussing it with someone. It all started with the succession. The talk about succession is not any kind of pretty around the palace. The only thing Lucian talks about is his plan for the duchy. Father barely says a word, but it seems like the conclusion has been made. I couldn't do anything about it, having advised to be kept out of the feud. I'm powerless.

Kai realised that it was still the middle of last year— ‘Junaris’. As soon as the first son of the Duke was of age, the discussions of the succession had started to spread like wildfire.

Finding that Arzan was part of the Duke family, albeit one that hadn't left a mark in history was surprising, but a better rank among nobility gave much better standing to him.

He continued to read, scanning through the pages.

The records weren’t consistent, but it looked like if Arzan had something interesting in his day, he wrote it down.

Pages after pages, his writings included situations he encountered, a few important and a lot that he skimmed through. Likewise, months passed in the diary when something caught his attention.

20th, Novaris, 865

Things have taken a rather expected turn. Today, Lucian and Edrian almost ripped each others’ heads off at practice. I wasn’t there, but I heard about it. Although I’m not allowed to go to the grounds filled with practising Mages, I wish I was there to watch. On the other hand, I’m glad I didn’t. From what I heard, Lucian was winning. He is the eldest and the most powerful after all. And Lucian’s alliances to the succession are way more than Edrian's. I was a mere spectator in the war. Sometimes I was thankful for the peace, but I felt like a coward. If only I had been a Mage like them…

Kai sighed, feeling somewhat bad for Arzan. He practically stayed a shadow among the kingdom elite filled with Mages. His mention of, ‘If only I was a Mage’ had been written over several situations. Some situations were horrible, but some were also his own doing.

But, why didn't he awaken as a Mage? Maybe there are answers to this itself.

He leaned towards the desk, adjusted in his seat and started to turn pages. The stories were few and far between, and even finding connections was sometimes hard for Kai.

24th, Junaris, 866

It’s been over three days since I’ve been appointed. From what I’ve heard, the place is… different. My worries about certain things only keep growing more and more as I continue to think about them. Therefore, I had to pick my quill. That place… City of Veralt. Who would’ve thought that I’d end up ruling there? Not me, but Lucian did. I can still see it when I close my eyes, how he was not surprised when my father announced my title, that too, right after he announced his successor. Father’s exact words were, “Arzan, I appoint you to be the Honorary Baron for the precious City of Veralt. The city would cherish a leader like you.” In other words, a powerless leader that the city could throw stones at. Lucian’s smile… He knew it, But that look on his face that he gave me in front of the family…

The entire page was filled with hatred towards his brother’s attitude and how he wished to vanish from their sight as soon as possible.

Details about his father, The Duke, his elder brother and his second elderly brother were all over it— But then, Kai realised that there was no mention of his mother throughout Arzan’s diary so far.

Kai wanted to understand Arzan better, but his emotions were uncertain with all the hatred he was letting out, it was hard.

What were his intentions after coming here?

Kai hoped that there would be more about his stay here—in the city and read the last line of the page.

… today was chaotic. But I’ll stop here. My prayers are for tomorrow in a new place-City of Veralt.

There it was. Kai quickly turned the page, wanting to read more. But his eagerness halted when he found the rest of the pages empty. The white, blank pages stared back at him.

24th, Junaris, 866

Kai noticed the last date. If his estimations are right, it should’ve been six months ago that the records stopped. Six months that Arzan had been here.

This is strange

Arzan had used this diary for over a year, yet it had stopped six months back, right after he was banished to this city. It didn't make sense.

The timing just wasn’t right, Kai could feel it.

The ritual… I found nothing about it

Kai thought again. If he found nothing about the ritual for a year, that could only mean that the knowledge was recent. And there was no way that someone like Arzan wouldn’t have mentioned a ritual if he knew before.

Something had been amiss.

The knock on the door withdrew Kai’s attention from Arzan.

He stood up from his seat and went to open it.

“Lord Arzan,” the guard said, giving a respectful nod to Kai.

It was the same guard who talked to Kai about putting the Mana Weaver away. This time, he looked a bit more collected than before.

“Yes, what is it?” Kai questioned.

“My Lord, The mana weaver we captured has been secured in one of the cells, as you ordered. The Clerics in the church have tended to the injured, and things are under control for now,” the guard said, giving him a brief report of all the things.

Kai nodded and took in the information, but caught something in the guard's eyes. He looked to be hesitating about something.

“Is there nothing else?” He probed.

“There’s one more thing, Lord Arzan.” The guard’s eyes shifted to the floor immediately. He struggled to decide between the words.

Kai halted for a second but responded, “Speak freely, what is it?” he urged, the need to know the guard’s visible hesitation grew within Kai.

“Knight Killian was quite displeased with us. He was angry that we didn't eliminate the mana weaver immediately,” the guard said while looking at Kai. His eyes were searching for Kai’s reaction.

Kai nodded, taking immediate note of the name— Knight Killian, but he refused to show any emotions. This was the second time it came up. He knew nothing about him, therefore he avoided any sort of comment.

He had to meet with him sooner rather than later anyway.

“I will deal with him. For now…” Kai shifted the focus to the mana weaver, wanting to know more. “About the Mana Weaver, it was one of the guards, right?” He questioned with a frown.

“Yes, Lord Arzan.” The guard nodded. “He suddenly mutated in the middle of the practice drill and attacked. There were no deaths, but some of the men got injured. We questioned other guards, but there were no hints. No one noticed any changes,” the guard explained. “His family is in a similar cell, in case they’re corrupted.”

Kai nodded again.

“Don’t do anything excessive. Keep the family safe for a week, and release them if there’s nothing strange. That’s a direct order. I will come down to meet the weaver tomorrow.” Kai’s words were firm. He paused before adding, “And as for Knight Killian, you don't have to worry too much about him. The mana weaver matter is something I will directly handle,” he said further, addressing the guard.

The latter nodded and gave a formal acknowledgement, leaving Kai’s doorstep.

Kai closed the door and walked back inside, still lost in thoughts.

The mana weaver issue was strange since there didn't seem to be anything out of place in the estate. It meant that the corruption was either artificial or the guard had come in contact with dead mana directly. It could also be other things, but he would have to investigate more for now.

In his current state, there were limits to what he could do and a mana weaver appearing in the estate meant that there might be others around.

He needed to do something about awakening his Mana Heart first of all. He sat on the little chair in front of the table and thought of one strange thing that recurred in his mind.

When he had focused internally, he found that all the mana organs were present. But in the diary, Arzan continuously mentioned that he wasn’t a Mage and how if he was, things would have been vastly different.

Why couldn’t he awaken as a Mage if he has all the organs? Even if his talents were weak, he could’ve gotten help from other Mages. He’s a Duke’s son, for Heaven’s sake.

Kai scratched his head, pondering over that mystery. He closed his eyes and focused inwardly.

He took slow breaths— Inhaled and exhaled. The air filled his lungs as his focus started to brush over his Mana Brain then his Mana Heart, and finally his Mana Veins when he immediately stopped.

His breath hitched in his throat when he realised what had happened.

There had been a few possibilities he had thought of, but this one was the strangest of them all. Arzan didn't suffer from some disease or a dead Mana Heart which might have been a common problem to awaken as a Mage.

“He was poisoned.”