CHAPTER 6 - AN L’DER’S TRUE POWER

“How are you?” May shot straight up and embraced Kearan tightly, squishing me against his abdomen. After a few moments, she took a step back and caressed his face. “You’re still following your path? Look what it’s doing to you.”

A flicker of emotion came onto Kearan’s face, but he brushed it away, along with May’s hands. He gave a curt nod to Riyan who did the same.

Something was wrong here. If May really was Kearan’s sister, why was he acting so hostile towards her? Just what went on between these people?

“I see you’re still hanging in there. Now I’m sure you’re both wondering why I brought you here.” Kearen slipped his hands into his pockets and looked them in the eyes.

May sighed and returned to her seat, murmuring something about him being ‘as cold as always’.

“As Jay would probably have told you before, we suspect that father has awakened as an L’Der.”

“And what makes you think it’s him?”

“Rumours.” He said simply. “First of all, the district that holds the L’Der is the Astrid district, which is where he currently resides. I’ve heard rumours from my… agents that the leader of Helix has acquired massive amounts of followers in just a few days. To top it all off, most of the gang members have a tattoo that looks suspiciously like the Symbol of the Stone.”

Riyan frowned. “That’s not enough evidence, though. Besides, what did you want us for? Did you call us all the way here to tell us that?”

“No…” Kearan hesitated and shook his head. “I just wanted to ask you for a favour. In person.”

“Yes…?” May said.

“You know L’Ders struggle to coexist with each other. The Baron will probably have news of this already, and may be training his Gifted, preparing for an attack. With a new L’Der in the mix, new Gifted are up for grabs. Also, a new L’Der means a new threat. He only hasn’t attacked us yet because we haven’t been proven a threat. If father really is the L’Der, he’ll be in danger. This’ll be an excuse for the baron to wipe out the Helix gang for good.”

“You still haven’t said what you need us for yet.”

Kearan nodded. “I’m getting there. So what I’m proposing is, we find out exactly who the new L’Der is, and convince them to ally with us. The more L’Ders and Gifted we have on our side, the more of a chance we have against his army.”

“But can’t you do that yourself?” May asked. “You’re the guild leader, after all.”

“If the baron comes to attack us, we need all the help we can get. Rarq, Lena and Fern journeyed through No Man’s Land to the Nuintus Empire in an attempt to get more help and potentially recruit some more Gifted. However, they never got there. Me, Jay, Edith and a few others will go out on a rescue mission to retrieve them, hopefully gaining a few levels along the way. Riyan, I need you here to manage the guild and the people. May, I need you to find out exactly who this new L’Der is. I know you don’t want to fight. This is the best anti-violence option.”

May stood up and nodded. “Sure. I can do that. But will you be ok? No Man’s Land is no place to mess around.”

Kearan rolled his eyes. “I’m not your kid brother anymore. I’ve gotten much stronger. Besides, we have a strong team anyways.” He seemed to stop himself from saying anything else, and his facial expression changed back to emotionless. “Anyways. We’ll be leaving the day after tomorrow, so you can stay here the night. I’m sorry about having to blindfold you, by the way. I told Jay not to do that, but…”

May laughed. “Don’t worry about it. It reminded me of the good old days, where we would play blind tag all the time, remember? Jay would always choose to hide behind the bins, and we were never able to-”

“Go. Just… go.” Kearan interrupted her, his legs already disappearing. Disappearing? Like, seriously?

Just before his head faded into the background with the rest of his body, he pursed his lips, like he wanted to say something. “May, Riyan. The situation is tight. Food is scarce. The people are scared. I’m trying my best, but the future is bleak. I’m… considering overthrowing the baron.”

“You’re what?” The words burst out of May’s mouth instinctively, and she grabbed his disappearing shoulders. “Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?” She sucked air through her teeth, and exhaled slowly, trying to calm herself down. When she finally was, she looked into Kearan’s eyes steadily.

“Fine. You’re the L’Der. I’ll listen to you. But be prepared to deal with the consequences if you do.”

With that, she stomped off, grabbing her husband’s hand along the way. Riyan looked at where Kearan stood moments before, now just empty space. Damn, his disappearing act was seriously crazy. I couldn’t even tell he was there. Or was he not there?

One thing was for sure. I wasn’t about to leave so easily. If this man, no, this boy, wanted to overthrow my uncle, I was with him. This was my opportunity. It was obvious that he had some sort of influence over the people around him- especially if he was named a ‘king’. I would help him take down my uncle, and eventually take the seat for myself.

So with this thought in mind, I grunted and pushed myself out of the pocket as much as I could. Maybe I was too excited. Maybe I was too hasty. Maybe my telekinesis was getting more powerful. Whatever the reason was, I managed to push myself so hard out of the pocket that I literally popped out.

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“Shiiii-” I screamed as the floor rushed up to meet me.

Unsurprisingly, no one was going to save me. Not like last time.

So, a single thought formed in my head, to protect me from certain doom.

‘May, I really like how you smell and I was hoping we could-’

Ah. Not that thought. Pretend you never read that. I meant this thought;

‘Stop.’

And the telekinesis actually responded. My body froze in mid-air, millimetres away from the floor. I was relieved. I had survived again. Once I released the telekinesis, my body plonked onto the floor relatively softly, and I sighed.

Now, what was I doing again?

A shadow appeared, covering me, and I looked up into the golden eyes of Kearan, King of the Alleyways.

‘Oh, hi there!’ I began joyfully. He was my saviour. The person that would carry me through the ranks to godhood. I had already decided.

However, I spied something else on his face. Was it… disgust? No, it couldn’t be. It was something more along the lines of suspiciousness, or curiosity.

“Did the potato just talk, or am I hearing things?”

‘Yes! Yes! I spoke! I’m June, an L’Der like you!’

I tried my most convincing smile… which probably wouldn’t have mattered, since Kearan couldn’t see my facial expression. Damn this potato body!

Since he was looking down on me, I couldn’t see his face. But I saw a glint in his eye as he raised his foot up menacingly and brought it down with massive force onto me-

“Wait!” May’s voice echoed throughout the room as she snatched me up off the floor.

Cradling me in her chest and arms, she asked me if I was alright, before turning to Kearan accusingly. “What were you trying to do? Do you even think?”

He cocked his head to the side. “Did I think? Of course I thought. It spoke to me. It told me it was an L’Der.”

“Then why did you try to kill it?”

“Because. I need to eradicate all the L’Ders apart from myself. It’s a threat, May.” Kearan said it like it was the most self-explanatory thing in the world.

“It’s a potato, Kearan. She just woke up today. She doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

“Yeah, May’s right.” Riyan vouched.

“Besides, it could be helpful to us, right?”

My heart melted a little bit. These kind folk were vouching for my life! I would be sure to reward them once I reclaimed my position as baron.

‘Thank you, May.’ I said to her mentally.

“How is a single potato going to be helpful to us?” Kearan asked doubtfully.

Ignoring me, May continued to plead for my life. “I don’t know, why don’t you ask her? As an L’Der, I’m sure she’ll have a handful of powers. And you…” She whispered to me. “You better prove yourself useful, or you can kiss your life goodbye.”

I shuddered. May’s scary side was, well, scary.

Kearan held his hand out, the palm facing towards me. Before I knew it, I flew across the room and slapped against the palm of his hand with a solid thwack. Damn, he had some nice control over his telekinesis.

“Now.” He growled. “I suggest you choose your next words very carefully.”

‘My name is… June, and I do have some powers. But first. Can someone explain to me what in the hell is going on? What is ‘No Man’s Land’ and who are you?’

He clenched his fist tighter around me and I squealed.

“I don’t think you’re in the position to ask questions here.”

Breathing in heavily, I reluctantly submitted to him. ‘Alright. Fine. My name is June, and I woke up for the first time today. I can see and hear due to a skill called ‘Area Of Awareness’. I have a weak telepathic skill that allows me to move. The rest of my skills are; ‘Mind Speech’, ‘Germinate’, ‘Potato Battery’, ‘Divine-’

“Stop. Just… stop. I don’t need you to list all your skills for me. Just answer my questions.”

I whimpered.

“Firstly, who were you in your past life?”

‘I…’ Something told me that if Kearan knew I had been the past baron, he wouldn’t be very merciful. Was it the fact that he seemed to hate all barons? Maybe it was what he had said before, about wanting to overthrow the current lord. I didn’t think he’d particularly like the previous baron hopping back into power.

Anyways…

‘I was… just a commoner. A nobody, really.’

He raised an eyebrow, but that was about it. Overall, he didn’t seem overly suspicious. “Next question. Where are your Gifted?”

‘Gifted? I don’t have- How do I even get gifted in the first place?’

Kearan sighed, exasperated. “Listen. You can’t get Gifted. The Gifted are there with you from the moment the stone grants your wish. You don’t get any more, but you can lose them if they die. Gifted can be traded among L’Ders. Their mark will not change but…” His voice trailed off and his expression changed.

“Why am I even explaining this to you? How do you not know this? Did you not partake in the tutorial?”

I was equally confused. ‘Tutorial? The heck is that?’

“When you first got your wish granted… huh. When did you get your wish granted? You said you woke up today, right?”

‘Three months. At least, according to G.’

“G? Oh. You probably mean Genie. That brat goes by several names. Anyways, three months is quite a long time... It’s strange. However, let's stop sidetracking. If you don’t know where your Gifted are- or if you even have Gifted, you’re fucked.”

‘...’

‘Eh???’

‘What do you mean I’m fucked?’

Kearan rolled his eyes and tossed me back to May who, thankfully, caught me. “A leader without their followers is worthless. An L’Der without their gifted is worthless.” He flicked his hand dismissively. “Do what you want with it, May. Hm… I’m feeling like some mash potato for breakfast tomorrow. What about you, Riyan?”

Riyan hesitated, and before he could say anything, Kearan was gone. He looked doubtfully down at me, a soiled, stained, potato and sighed. “You better come up with something, and fast if you don’t want to become his next meal.”

And that was the end of my first day as a potato.