image [https://i.imgur.com/n1tuixK.png]

After an exciting run in with the clan known as Crow-Gather, the group’s brief journey was close to the end. They made their way to the upper edge of the deep forest, and Sarah started to notice that the ground was getting increasingly more wet and muddy.

“Just where are you taking us, Rivell?? It’s like we’re wading through syrup.” She barked, mad that she was getting mud all over her legs and boots.

“Sorry, my Aunt lives in the Siestro marshlands. The terrain isn’t going to get any better unfortunately. We’re almost there though!” Rivell responded with an awkward smile, trying to restore some hope.

The further they walked the deeper the mud got and eventually they were wading through knee deep muddy water. Sarah continued to groan and complain until finally they saw a quaint little house built into a large tree. The house was slightly above the marsh, being lifted up by thick vines on both sides. A billow of smoke churned from the small chimney on the side of the house, giving it a fair amount of comforting charm.

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image [https://i.imgur.com/VRwmNcj.png]

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“There it is!!” Rivell exclaimed, excited at their arrival. They sped up their pace and found themselves at the front door. Rivell knocked and seconds later they heard a soft voice answer, “Coming!”

The door opened and out came an incredibly attractive woman with medium length blue hair, grayish eyes, and a quite voluptuous body. Her Siestian features could be seen through her fairly loose fitting clothing, decorating her neck and arms.

“Oh, Rivell!!! How is my precious nephew!?” She excitedly yelled while giving him a big hug, smothering his face into her large chest. Rivell tried to speak but oxygen was leaving him during the loving assault. She stopped hugging him and he tried to catch his breath.

“So, what brings you out to these parts my boy?” She questioned with a kind smile. Rivell finally composed himself and explained the reasoning for their visit, introducing Carmen and Sarah in the process.

“It’s nice to meet you ma’am.” Carmen said while bowing her head.

Sarah did the same and thought to herself, “Woah, just how young is she? She looks like she could be his sister, not an Auntie.” Rivell’s aunt accepted the greetings and introduced herself.

“It’s very nice to meet you all as well! I am Rivell’s Aunt, Raelina. Please, come inside!” She replied with a big smile, motioning for them to enter her humble home.

The trio entered and took a brief look around. The walls of the house looked like large green vines, adding a great deal of texture to the home. On the walls were many pictures and manmade trinkets hanging up. Off to the side was a little fireplace and a short hallway leading to a bedroom. Raelina directed the group to a table at the back of the living room and they all took a seat.

“So, what can I do for you Carmen? Rivell tells me that you’ve got a bunch of questions for me. I will try to answer what I can.” Raelina said with a motherly smile. Carmen nodded and cleared her throat, feeling ready to finally get some much needed answers.

“Well, you see.. I’ve been recently awakened and every time I use my Manifest, I lose consciousness and go kind of berserk. It’s like I don’t have control over my Manifest or something. Oh and I don’t know if this is related or not, but.. I also keep having these strange dreams. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, but it hasn’t improved at all. Any ideas?” Carmen replied, trying to ask questions in the best possible way.

“Hmm, I see. That is interesting indeed. Would you mind taking out your Manifest and showing it to me?” Raelina kindly asked. Carmen agreed and summoned forth her Manifest, placing the rapier on the table. Raelina stood and squinted at the weapon until a pair of glasses materialized on her face. It was her Manifest, Analysis Spectacle.

The peculiar looking glasses gave her the ability to analyze and break down the origins of any object she saw, acting as a sort of checkup process for inanimate objects. Raelina could learn the exact material used to make it, when it was created, the process used to make it, and many many other interesting aspects. The amount of information she could deduce from a single glance was astonishing.

She looked deeply at the black and silver rapier, scanning it over with her Manifest. A few brief moments passed by before Raelina had a moment of great realization.

“Ahh I see, I see!! Very interesting indeed!!” She said with wide eyed excitement. The trio looked at each other with confusion, wondering what she saw.

“Carmen my dear, it seems as though your Manifest has large traces of a second affinity within it. The Dark affinity! Which means you are actually a dual type Vesta!” Raelina added with great surprise.

“Dual type Vesta? What do you mean??” Sarah asked, confused by the phrasing.

“It means that she has two different affinities within her, Void and Dark! The vast majority of people in Resotera only have one of the twelve affinities passed down to them. But Carmen here has two of the twelve affinities.” Carmen looked totally shocked at the news and didn’t know how to respond.

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“Soooo… Does that mean I have other abilities besides my gravity manipulation?” She asked with great curiosity.

“Yes, you should.” Raelina gave a hearty nod as Carmen's face lit up with excitement.

“Oh cool! But, why would that cause issues with me using my Manifest?” Raelina paced along the table, getting ready to fully explain to Carmen.

“Well you see, when an individual gets awakened and receives their Manifest, the weapon will feed off of Core Energy generated from your Strand. That pool of energy is what gives it power. For a dual type Vesta, the Manifest has to draw from two Strands in order to function. If the Manifest can’t get energy from both Strands, it will reject the individual and try to fight against them.” She said calmly, removing her Manifest off her face.

“I’m guessing all you’ve been doing this time is training up your Void affinity, leaving your Dark affinity with little to no use at all. So, when you became awakened and tried to use your Manifest, it couldn’t utilize the full energy promised to it and thus didn’t accept you as its master. It would explain all the out of control, berserk moments.” Raelina remarked, continuing her explanation.

Everything was slowly starting to make sense to the group, but after a brief thought, Raelina began to look puzzled. She tapped her chin and grew curious about something.

“But then again, if you’ve gone this long without using both affinities, how did you even get awakened?? A dual type needs both of their affinities at the same level before they can obtain a Manifest. Tell me, what happened the day of your awakening?” Raelina asked Carmen with a more serious tone. Carmen explained the whole situation of the ambush and how she didn’t feel anything until she gripped a box close.

“Did you say you felt your heart jolt coldly when you pressed the box to your chest? What was inside of the box?” She awaited an answer with eager anticipation.

“Uhh, It was a silver key with a heart shape at the bottom. Why?” Carmen replied, not sure what this had to do with anything.

“AHA!! That key you came in contact with must've been the Key of Open Hearts. It’s an ancient Manifest that has the ability to open any door or unlock/undo any seal it comes in contact with! The key has only ever appeared a few times in the past one hundred years and to think you came in contact with it, that’s some serious luck right there!” Raelina exclaimed with explosive excitement, shocked that Carmen came across such a rare relic of the past.

“My guess is that when the Manifest touched you, it unlocked your dormant Dark affinity. When that power got unleashed, it briefly spiked up and matched with your other Strand, forcing out your awakening in that exact moment. Wow!” She added, barely containing herself.

“Someone must’ve sealed your Dark affinity away when you were born or something, causing you to only have access to your Void affinity. Thanks to that key it was finally unlocked!” Raelina’s excitement was overflowing as she pieced everything together. Carmen looked dumbfounded by the realization, feeling overwhelmed by the onslaught of information.

“So you’re saying that I wasn’t supposed to get awakened that day? That I got my Manifest because of a random key?” She asked, trying to understand.

“Precisely! You shouldn’t be awakened right now and quite frankly, I don’t think you would have ever gotten awakened. You see, regular folks like Sarah or Rivell only have one affinity they need to build up to get awakened. Since you have two, both would need to be built to the same level before an awakening can occur. If you had never come across that key, you would still be on your journey wondering why nothing is happening.” Raelina explained while putting a pot of tea on the stove.

“If all of this is true, how do I even have an affinity with Dark? Aren’t they passed down from your parents? My father had a Void affinity and my mother had a Mind affinity. Doesn’t make any sense.” Carmen asked, unable to wrap her head around everything.

“Now that, I don’t know. The Dark affinity is fairly rare and was a lot more common back when a race known as the Boundless walked the earth. I’d say less than one percent of the people currently on this continent have it.” Raelina replied, putting tea cups down on the table.

“The Boundless?!? Are you sure??” Carmen jolted up, showing a stunned expression. Raelina was surprised by the outburst and nodded.

“Yes I'm sure. Honey, I study this stuff for a living you know. But how do you know about the Boundless? They were scrubbed from pretty much every ounce of literature available when they were sealed away.”

Carmen told her what Azhane said to them about their sudden appearance and what happened at the All-Nations Summit, not sparing a single detail. Raelina’s eyes went wide with slight fear as she learned about the situation.

“Oh my.. Never in a million years would I have believed they would be revived. This is not good at all…” She poured them their tea with shaky hands, barely keeping the liquid in their cups. Raelina walked back to the kitchen and after setting the pot down, she leaned against the counter with slight disbelief across her face.

“Maybe there’s a connection between your Dark affinity and the Boundless’ revival. You said you were having nightmares as well right? Describe them to me.” She asked, still looking fearful.

She went into full detail about the various nightmares she’s had over the past few months. Carmen described the sandstone colored ruins, the chanting in weird languages, dark purple skies, pale beings, and the inky black liquid throughout.

“Hmmm.. I can’t be certain, but I think you might be able to sense the presence of the Boundless. For some Vestas, when they sense others with similar affinities, they can perceive that information in a variety of ways. It could be a pressure in the body, headaches, sensations down the spine, nightmares, things of that nature. It would at least explain why you only just now started having these dreams, right when they started to be revived. You definitely have some kind of connection to them.” Raelina responded with a more serious tone.

The room went quiet as everyone pondered all the information they just learned. Sarah and Rivell didn’t know what to say about any of this, so they remained silent on the matter.

“This is all so much to take in… I’m a Vesta with two affinities, my Manifest hates me because it can’t use all my energy, I can sense the Boundless, and I only became awakened by complete, random happenstance. Correct?” Carmen remarked, slowly putting everything together.

“Pretty much. This information really changes things for you going forward, honey.” Raelina replied with a forced smile. Carmen sat there quietly thinking, tapping her chin before glancing up at Raelina.

“Okay... Yeah, I think I can accept all of that. But, what about my Manifest? How can I get it to cooperate? Surely I don’t have to train my Dark affinity for years before it’ll listen to me.” She asked with a worried expression. Raelina leaned back and thought for a brief moment.

“Hmmm, well... There is a temporary fix I could do, but... It’s pretty painful for the individual that has to endure it.” She remarked with a much darker look on her face.

“I don’t care. I’ll do whatever it takes! I don’t want to be left behind by everyone else.” Carmen said with great determination and resolve. Raelina nodded and turned her attention towards Rivell, instructing him to leave the room first so she could put her methods to use.