The Serenpetal fields were as breath-taking as ever. The Spire’s light shone brightly across the fields, allowing the blue and white flowers to thrive. These valuable flowers stretching across the fields were the treasure of the Lo’Harkon House, even though the Baron and his kin only visited the farmstead once a year at most.
A young, slender man finished his tour around the boundary wall made of various sizes of rocks stacked on top of each other. A bead of sweat rolled down his pale face when he stopped for a breather. As his bright blue eyes turned towards the fields of Serenpetals, he shielded his eyes from the colourful auras of the flowers.
He still remembered the very first time he saw ‘mana’. It was around these beautiful flowers. Back then, his sight was so much weaker, he simply saw glimpses of colour around the flowers. Now, he could see all of it – strands of mana slowly stretching into the sky, absorbing all the light of the Spire of Kindling, like roots seeking nutrition. Some stretched only an arm’s length away from the Serenpetals, while others were as tall as a tree, creating a canopy atop the fields.
“Stop that,” He scolded one of those greedy Serenpetal plants with a faint smile on his lips. He had observed that the plants with the larger auras tended to bloom more and live longer, while those who lived in their shadow died after a single bloom, usually not even living long enough to be harvested.
Perhaps it would have been sensible to plant them further apart, instead of in close rows like corn and barley fields were planted, but he wasn’t quite stupid enough to suggest that to his father. Instead, he shook his head and let out a helpless sigh.
After taking a few moments to rest, he hopped over the chest-height boundary wall and sat cross legged on the ground, leaning his back against it. The soft chirping of the birds helped keep him relaxed, letting him know he was alone out here. He chuckled softly, the birds tended to fall quiet when his father drew close, almost as if they knew to stay away from him. They were right, of course – that hulk of a man loved nothing more than to snuff their lives out.
He paused. That was a lie – the one thing he liked more was money. Gold coins, which he earned plenty of with these Serenpetal fields that seemed to stretch on forever. Yet despite that, the man seemed greedy for more, always.
“Stop that,” He whispered to himself in an attempt to realign his thoughts. He reached into his pocket, and took out three petals, as blue as the beautiful lake by the small town of Serna. Their auras were weak, almost invisible even to him. They were the petals of a dead plant that his father threw aside in a fit of anger. The mana stored within the thin, elegant petals had almost entirely dissipated already.
With no hesitation, he threw them in his mouth, and chewed. Frankly, he hated doing this. They tasted quite horribly sour and made his eyes water. But they gave him something nothing else could – mana.
Or at least that was what he assumed. Whenever he chewed them, he felt something he could only describe as a gaping hole right at the centre of his body, below his chest. It was a cold and lonely feeling, it was a soothing feeling. It made him feel fear and confidence at the same time which, frankly, made little to no sense.
He looked at his hands. A grey coloured aura flickered around his body, while a brighter colour shone from where he felt that gaping hole. A soft, crimson coloured aura remained on the back of his right hand, on a sigil an Enforcer had placed when he was merely ten years old.
Around the sigil, his skin was deformed and scarred. He usually hid these scars with a glove, though gloves weren’t very practical when working with flowers as delicate as Serenpetals.
A while passed as he watched the aura around him. His aura. His power. He had learned how to control it, though he still couldn’t get it to do anything more than clumsily moving small objects or empowering his own body. He hadn’t learnt how to heal scars, or cure diseases. Or how to make someone simply… disappear.
Once the petals’ effect subsided, he let his aura vanish as well, and stood up. He couldn’t afford to waste much more time before his father returned from his little trip to the Baron’s mansion. He still had to prepare dinner before then.
Hopping over the boundary wall, he ran across the Serenpetal fields, to the small, makeshift hut atop the hill.
“Ash?” A weak voice called out as he stepped inside after taking off his shoes. He flinched, the door’s creak must have woken her up. “It’s me, sorry for waking you up.” He called as he took his cloak off in a hurry. He quickly put his gloves back on, then rushed through the living room, to his stepmother’s bedroom.
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She was a beautiful woman who had no business being married to that aggressive fool of a man. Her raven black hair glimmered with the last rays of the Spire’s light as she lay on her side. Her pale face split with a smile as Ash knelt beside the bed.
“I was awake,” Her sickly voice broke his heart again. “I was reading, don’t worry.”
He glanced at the makeshift bedside table, only to see a leatherbound book there. Theories about the Impassable Wall, a book Ash had randomly picked from a travelling merchant’s stock. “Did you like it?”
“It’s fascinating.” She took Ash’s long braid in hand. “You need a bath.”
Ash chuckled. She wasn’t wrong, his hair was covered in dirt, and he probably didn’t smell like roses. “Yeah, yeah…” He stood up. “Tomorrow, after I’m done with the fields.” He stretched his arms to the side, “So, chicken breast for dinner, with some salad. How does it sound?”
“Delicious.”
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Bhaile-Morn’s gates closed as the Spire of Kindling dimmed, and the life-giving light vanished for the duration of the night. Two people watched the gates close from the High Tower, from the office of the Thirteenth Inquisitor of the Empire.
A young woman with short, raven black hair clicked her tongue. “Boring.” She was much shorter than the man she was standing next to and dressed much less modestly. Her tight fit clothes showed every curve of her body.
The Inquisitor didn’t quite care how she was dressed, nor did he care about her remark. His gaze lingered outside the window, on the lands stretching far and wide. It was a view he had gotten too used to by now, after years of holding this post. It wasn’t magical anymore, it just reminded him of how many places the cult had to hide from him and his men.
“Should we go?” The woman asked.
“Patience,” The Inquisitor crossed his arms. “We will wait for Maple.”
The woman scoffed. “That man will be the death of you, Victor. I have never seen a man so careless-“
Inquisitor Victor shot her an annoyed glance. “Yet he is the only one who can read Ancient Duskborn.” He reminded her with a sharp tone. “He found the tablet, and the ruins in the Glimmering Woods. He can find the Burial Grounds faster than anyone else.”
Kira’s lips curled down. She was about to speak up when Victor suddenly flinched. His gaze snapped southward. “Summon the Enforcers,” He ordered Kira. “Two marks have lit up.”
The raven haired woman bowed her head. “Of course,” She said with a sly smile on her lips before she quickly left Victor’s office. He ignored her smile – she had made it clear she didn’t agree with the ways of the empire. As long as she lived here though, she had to follow its laws and customs. Such was their agreement.
As the door to his office closed behind her, Inquisitor Victor cast his mind into the past. Bright blue eyes filled his mind’s eye, and a voice pleading for a better life.
He leaned on the windowsill, letting his head hang low as he let out a deep sigh. “I should have…” He whispered.
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“Ash!” His stepmother exclaimed as he reached for her empty plate. She caught his hand, grasping it tightly with both of her hands. “Look,” She touched the back of his right hand. Ash looked down, and immediately pulled his hand away from her as crimson tendrils of mana wrapped themselves around his fingers.
“What?!” he exclaimed, his heart raced with a mix of emotions. He hesitantly slid the glove off, revealing his scarred hand, and the crimson sigil glowing with a defiant light. It was bright enough to drown out the candle lights.
“It really has been ten years since then…” His stepmother muttered with a somewhat sorrowful smile on her lips. She pressed her palms against the table and pushed herself up on her feet with some effort. “We better pack your bag,” She stumbled towards his room.
Ash pried his eyes off of the beautiful crimson lights dancing around his hand. Seeing her have trouble even walking these few steps, his heart sank. “I can’t leave you like this.” He walked up to her and helped her sit on his bed. “You can barely walk, I can’t leave you. Not now.”
She looked down at her feet. Her raven hair fell before her eyes, obscuring her expression. A few moments passed before she spoke. “I have little time left, Ash.” She said with a sorrowful expression. “And that’s alright, I had all the time I wanted. I got to see you grow up. I will even get to see you leave for a better life.”
A lump settled in his throat as he sat beside her. “I don’t want to leave you like this.”
“You will.” Her voice was sharp, the sorrow was gone from her expression. Her eyes glimmered with strength of will. “You will leave tonight, and you won’t ever look back.” She grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. “Promise me three things, Ash!” She hissed, with newfound strength in her voice.
Ash bit his lips. How could he not look back when she was dying?
“Always do you best. Promise me that you will always try to succeed with everything you’ve got.”
Ash nodded. He didn’t trust his voice not to falter.
“Don’t blindly trust anyone – not even the Imperial authorities. Think, always think, always look for reasons why others would help you. Bhaile-Morn is a cruel place, nothing is done for free there, do you understand? Only trust yourself.”
“Ok.” Ash nodded. “I promise.”
She smiled. “Good. Then let’s pack your bag. Go get the laundry from out back.”
Ash nodded and got up to leave the room. Just before he reached the doorway, he paused. “What’s the third thing you wanted me to promise?”
She smiled. “I’ll tell you later. Now hurry.”
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As she watched young man leave with wet eyes and slow, hesitant steps, carrying a small backpack, Irena’s smile slowly faded. “It was about time already…” She whispered with a scowl. She turned around, and went back inside, then took a piece of paper from her room and scribbled something down with a coal pencil.
Once she was satisfied, she took a knife from the cupboard, and went to her bed.
‘Ash was summoned by the Enforcers, he has gone with my blessing. You no longer have power on him. Our agreement has come to an end. Do not seek him, or I will come to haunt you.’