"Is that a Loriat crest on the back of his cuirass?"

Tristan froze where he was, but held his ground; he might be a little chubby and fat, but he still had the stature to face those guys if he needed to. As of now, his origins had been exposed, but he was neither shaken nor frightened. Coming to terms with his identity, if anything he would now have to behave like a worthy member of House Loriat, and he couldn't pass off as a mere villager looking for work.

"As a matter of fact, it is" Pridefully replied Tristan, holding his chin up high.

"That's Tristan Loriat!" one of them pointed out, as the others widened their eyes.

The blonde youth nonetheless approached the unwavering duo, "Tristan, we are surprised to see you on this side of the Trikonos, have you decided to join up with your father to gamble?" smirked Gavan while shaking Tristan’s hand.

“Not at all, we were just checking how different things were. It's hard to convince myself that I once lived in this district, everything feels so different.”

“Of course it does, since the Tiberius moved to Fanrir, all the undesirables were sent to the other side of the river. You should be grateful for our presence, knowing how it bad things were here back then and how they are now. The higher standards of living require a tolerable neighborhood, and that can only be achieved through filtering the masses, thievery has been reduced tenfold on this district.”

“On the other side people are in need of food and warmth. This was a peaceful town but beyond the bridge… it's a war zone.” Whispered Tristan, but his opinion fell on deaf ears.

Ignoring the mutters of the one before him; Gavan inquired with curiosity, "What were you doing up there, has Lord Loriat dried up all his family funds to the extent you are here picking fruits to avoid starvation?"

The three Tiberius boys beside him began to laugh in pure derision.

"You should have your servant beside you to climb up instead, their calloused hands would certainly have more grip than the ones you have."

Tristan clenched his fists, the anger he was harboring within hadn't been born today, nor last year. It could not be simplified to a single event because it was tough to reminisce when it had settled. Without a doubt, even Jin had noticed the comment had left Tristan off-balance. Like a fruit that was growing and developing little by little, so were the rumors that began to emerge about his father's habits, until, in order to pay the costs, he had to sell a portion of the land they all owned.

"This is not a servant, he is my friend Jin, an Elemental Warrior," Tristan specified as he held Jin back, "We should report back to Gustav, come on."

"Before you do that, how about you pay us the passage tax?"

Tristan gave the nobleman a fierce gaze in defiance.

"This is Tiberius-owned land, you are not one of the workers therefore you should naturally give us something in return."

"For what?" Jin asked.

"For allowing you two pass, what else bastard?"

Tristan could feel the tension in the air. The last thing he wanted was to offend anyone from the Tiberius House while on the other side of Trikonos. Any wrongdoing here could lead the two families into a conflict that would plunge the entire city in blood and chaos. Wanting to avoid that, Tristan quickly patted his legs looking for some coins to share for their peace, but he had left his bag with his belongings in the western district with his uncle.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"I left my purse of coins on the other side of the Trikonos…"

“Are you trying to outsmart us, Tristan Loriat?” Said Galvan Tiberius, as he deliberately cracked the joints on each of his fingers.

Tristan suddenly felt a light touch on his shoulder followed by a whisper, “Don’t worry, I got this,” as Jin’s sharpened iron sword was thrown toward the group of Galvan’s men.

"You can keep my blade instead, take this!"

Using the tribute as a pretext, Jin had purposely hurled the slashing blade so that anyone standing in its path would be open in half. Spinning in the air with the wind in its favor, the young Tiberius' eyes bulged in terror, flinging sideways as they could to dodge. As the Tiberius' lads rolled to the ground in fright and chaos, Jin and Tristan quickened their pace and crossed the bridge while Gavan and the others cursed them behind their backs with every offense their vocabulary mustered.

Tristan had gotten what he needed, with a dollop of Dracaena white leaves stuffed between his armor and shirt they were now heading towards his uncle, Gustav Loriat's alchemy shop.

Just as the uncle had gotten up to close the shop, he saw two young men running towards him. Humming between smiles, he shook his head, not believing the accuracy of the promise they had made him.

"We told you...we told you we’d be back before you closed,” uttered Tristan as he reached his uncle.

“Did you bring the Dracaena with you?”

Tristan placed the leaves on the table while Gustav promptly proceeded to gather the plants and place them in a small brass pot.

The dracaena White leaves Tristan had been collected narrow and awl-shaped, with so many added in a small pot they were then smashed thoroughly to extract the elemental essence that they carried.

Now that they finally had the ingredients Gustav Loriat got to work. As if working completely automatically he managed to gather all the essence he needed and mixed it with the rest of the materials.

Placing his hand over the top of the pot, beams of orange lights began to be thrown towards the walls of the glass compartment. However, instead of using a lid, Tristan's uncle kept handling the vial with just his hand; holding content liquid with one hand while concentrating his elemental powers in the other, he fed the vial through the base heating the solution. The Minotaur's horn was properly cut into smaller pieces with the sharpest knife. Every time a small piece of the horn was carefully placed in the compartment, the response was immediate. As if nudging an exotic tiger that didn't want to be tamed, the emotions of that creature's last living moments reverberated with each added pinch. The liquid began to move like an ocean about to face a storm. Throwing himself violently against the walls of the glass as if the materials themselves wanted to escape the vial and the only thing containing them inside and slowly compressing them was the innate talent of the alchemist. The stirring continued for consecutive minutes until at one point even Tristan imagined the glass would give way, however his uncle's elemental energy had compressed the friction and processed the materials until finally, they surrendered to the burning solvent. It was said the potency depended as much on the ingredients as on the alchemist's rigorous precision for perfection.

Smoke came out of the top of the flask the second Gustav removed his hand from the mouth of the container. And like a scalding cauldron that seemed to threaten everyone around it swirled. Jin felt very surprised by the dedication and experience that the gentleman in front of him showed. Despite being an old man, his hands worked in such a way none could replicate such a meticulous rhythm. Each step in the reaction seemed to be performed at defining moments when the slightest sign of elemental instability requiring drastic adjustments to prevent rare materials from being lost.

And that was exactly what had happened. The alchemist Gustav Loriat had gone out of his way to do his nephew a favor. In the last hour Tristan and Jin had been gone, the middle-aged Guardian had inquisitively sought for alchemy tutoring books that detailed potions that stimulated the awakening of a nucleus. The sixty minutes he had had was enough to review all sixteen steps to efficiently minimize the chances of failing in the extraction process. Now before them lay the result of his judiciously planned work of which everything now depended on this final challenge for Tristan: to tap into the elemental and awaken his affinity.

“It’s ready nephew, be careful, you must drink it while it is still stable. Now there comes the time where you must remain steady and strong, at peace with yourself. What comes next is not present in any books or manuals ever written.”