The Gods of Genisis and Feyrishians use the term "Seedling" to refer to the living beings on the Genisis Continent. This term is based on the Life Seed or Life Seeds that all Seedlings possess in their bodies. The Life Seed is an essential component connecting Seedlings to the life essence network within their bodies, ensuring they remain alive.
"Hurry, Nesha! Please take me to one of the Divine Race escorts before I lose any more life essence," Echo cried out in agony, rolling onto his back and looking up at the sky.
Nesha lazily waved a dark glass bottle above Echo's head and declared, "That's not an option."
Echo stared at the bottle and felt his mouth go dry. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked.
Nesha's voice was lazy as she spoke, "Yes, a friend from the Alchemic Race gave it to me for just this situation."
“I’m fine, really it's just a hole…”
“Nope, not getting out of this,” Nesha said in a tired tone as she held Echo’s head and shoved the opened end of the bottle into his mouth, dumping the content in.
“This is one of her crazy experiments, isn… Why is this so bitter? It burns! Why is it hot? Nesha, just end me now… I can no longer go on like this.”
“Nope, you cause a problem, and you're gonna fix those problems, just like we do with Char.”
Steam began to rise from the hole in Echo’s chest, and Echo himself was rolling in pain from the burning that was taking place.
“Oh right, she said to take notes,”
“It…ahhh… is one of her… ahhhh… experiments!”
“Quiet! I need to look at this to see if there is something I need to do,” Nesha said
“Bones melting,” Nesha looked up, “Nope, Eyes changing color, Nope,”
“What kind of list are you reading?” Echo screamed through the pain
“Nothing, it's blank,” Nesha turned the paper around, showing it was blank, “But you see how much you worried.”
“Oh,”
“Right Oh, anyway, the hole will stay there until we get a Divine Race Essence Art Wielder to look at it, so just cover it up and don’t do anything stupid, Echo,”
Just as the two were talking, an arrow crossed in front of Nesha and aimed at Echo, but another arrow knocked it down. Nesha paid no mind to the situation, but Echo jumped in panic.
“Seems Sivie is getting better,” Nesha said, giving Echo a smug smile, “If you don’t hurry, the other two will catch up to me and become seven-stars while you are still stuck at five-stars.”
“Easier said than done,” Echo said after he got up from the ground and started to return to the carriage to rest.
“Where do you think you're going?” Nesha said as she grabbed the back of Echo’s head, “You caused this problem, and you are going to fix it!”
Back in the group of bandits, most of them that could still move had run over to Kakai, trying to stop the leak of life essence from his body as best they could.
“Hurry and bring the bandages soaked in the liquid life.”
“There is not enough for vice-chief.”
“We used all of them to care for the others who were hurt.”
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“What! Go make more! Go get something! The vice-chief can’t keep holding on; he is losing too much life essence!”
“STOP!” Kakai lay on the ground, his face scrunched in pain, “I did this to myself. Just let me return to the Goddess of Life and my ancestors.”
“Nope,” The sound of a voice drifted into the group of bandits, but they saw nothing. When they turned back to the vice-chief, they saw the woman who cut him standing over him.
“DON’T TOUCH THE VICE-CHIEF!” The screams of all the bandits coalesced into one harmonized sound as they all charged at the woman.
“Pest,” The woman snapped her fingers and sent all the bandits flying away.
Kakai looked at the beautiful redhead standing above him, “The War Princess Nesha,”
Nesha heard this, and her eye twitched. Then she stabbed her sword into the ground beside Kakai’s head, but Kakai did not flinch; his eyes locked on the woman standing over him.
“You are strong,” Kakai said with pain.
“And you are not, so shut up, so I can heal you,” Nesha said
“Why…” Before Kakai could even start talking, Nesha shoved another bottle of whatever she had used on Echo to stop the leaking of life essence from Kakai.
After the bottle was removed from his mouth, Kakai screamed so loud that it became silent.
“She did something to the vice-captain!” the shouts of the bandits that were getting back up sounded from all around.
Nesha ignored the bandits running around her; she focused on the man screaming on the ground. Her head suddenly jolted to where a man with a hole in his chest walked from.
Echo walked into the group of bandits, his gloves already in the strap of the back of his pants.
“You… You killed my brother,” A woman screamed as she shoved a dagger into Echo’s left shoulder.
Echo looked at the woman in front of him, she looked thin and dirty, and her hair seemed like it was all going to fall out of her head.
“If you were aiming for my life seed, you just barely missed,” Echo said, moving the dagger; his mouth winced in pain, and when he stopped, a shining green bead shone in his shoulder.
The woman fell to her knees, “Why…” Echo looked at the woman in confusion before she opened her mouth again, “Why do you keep taking everything away from me?”
“I…”
Sivie, who had made his way over, put his hand on Echo, “She is not asking you but the gods, Echo, just leave her,”
Bandits in Genisis are divided into three categories, those who have abandoned, those who are abandoned, and those who never had.
Echo and Sivie continued to walk, watching as Nesha kept throwing bandits away from her and Kakai; it was a fascinating site.
“What do you want to do, Echo?” asked Sivie.
"I'm not sure, to be honest," Echo said, but it was clear to Sivie that his mind was elsewhere.
“You better decide soon. Nesha will not let you go without punishment after this. You’re nothing like Char.”
“I know, but there aren’t many options considering what we are doing right now,” Echo said, turning his head towards where the child was, but he noticed something odd.
Vanir and Carter had watched whatever this was supposed to be from beginning to end, and honestly, it was dull. Compared to what battles were like in Feyrish, this was…slow and simple. However, Vanir appreciated that it wasn't overly dramatic like in Feyrish. The Seedlings fought in a straightforward and understandable manner, which appealed to Vanir, who had limited combat experience. Every move had a purpose and was built upon the last, a rarity in Feyrish.
Vanir was about to continue with what he was doing before they started the duel. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man with dark skin, long black hair, and eyes that seemed like molten metal knelt beside the carriage.
“I pay respect to my savior, The Crown Prince of Feyrish and The Rosen Blades!” the kneeling man bellowed with his head down.
Vanir stared at the man from the safety of the carriage, “Was this man safe? He was just a Seedling. Could he do anything to him and Carter? What if he was a nine-star in hiding? No, that could never happen nine-stars are far too rare.” Vanir’s mind whirled with thoughts from his birth rite, the Rite of Questioning.
Carter watched as a strand of Vanir’s hair began to glow with a blood-red hue; Carter instinctually reached for his own hair. He couldn’t use his birth rites any longer; they were still in his body, but they were partly sealed, a great disgrace for a Feyrishian.
“Carter, what do you think about this man,” Vanir said, looking at the boy across from him, “He looks somewhat strange…”
Carter looked at the man. He knew where that man was from. A memory Carter held onto, whether he wanted to or not, resurfaced in his mind. Carter opened and walked out the door toward the man. Why he had no idea; maybe it was for closure, or perhaps it was for something else.
The man looked up at the approaching child his burning eyes seemed strange, as if emotions mixed and were burned, “Crown Prince Carter Verona,”
Vanir jumped out of the carriage as fast as he could, “CARTER!” but the man jumped at the child, his body burning in a white flame.