One morning, Erik ventured into the woods. Shadow, an enormous black wolf with piercing red eyes—one of Katherine’s familiars—, accompanied him, offering protection. Erik scanned the forest floor in search of rare herbs.

After a fair bit, his eyes caught a glimpse of a flower with six blue petals, crouching down to inspect it more closely, the petals seemed crystallized. They glimmered as they reflected the dim light passing through the shadows cast by the trees.

Reaching under his cloak, Erik retrieved a well-worn glossary of herbs and plants, a gift from his grandmother. This book detailed nearly every plant in Draac, from common herbs that enhanced a soup’s flavor to rare flowers with significant magical properties and even poisonous plants.

"A Blue Rose," he muttered, finding an illustration that matched the flower before him. This rare plant thrived in snowy environments, its magical properties evident in its frozen blue petals.

For most, blue roses were merely decorative or useful for cooling food—as their petals would freeze anything they touched for a few days after being picked. However, to a potion maker, they served as a potent catalyst, accelerating the effects of potions and preserving them for longer durations.

Carefully, he picked the flower from its stem, feeling a chill that quickly numbed his fingertips, he hurriedly put it inside a pouch hanging from his belt.

Pressing on, Erik continued his search for the other plants on Katherine’s list: moonshade, bloodroot, and silverleaf.

Moonshade, with its calming and analgesic properties on its leaves, could soothe both the mind and body.

Bloodroot, once it had its fluids ingested, acted as a powerful coagulant that would stop bleeding.

Silverleaf, while lacking specific properties, was vital for balancing potions, preventing them from becoming too potent—which, in this case, would act as a poison and harm the person taking it.

With Shadow keeping a vigilant watch, Erik moved swiftly through the forest, gathering the requested plants. His heart raced with anticipation.

“And it's done!” he screamed out to the world as he picked up the Silverleaf and stored it in the last unoccupied compartment of his pouch.

After weeks of studying under Katherine, Erik had gained considerable knowledge of alchemy but had yet to create his potion. Today, he hoped, would mark the day he finally did.

As he celebrated, however, he felt that something was off. He felt a chill creeping down his spine.

“It's so silent,” the birds and other animals that would cheer him on his adventures were nowhere to be heard. He was used to hearing them every day. This was off-putting.

That’s when he looked at the trees beside him. “Oh no…” he let out a gasp, Erik stumbled back upon seeing X marks deep into the tree's bark.

Erik throughout his life had learned about the animals that roamed these lands and he knew that only one species did this—the cross face bear. That was a special kind of bear, besides the white “X” that distinguished itself from the brown fur on its face, this bear was known for being an extremely territorial and aggressive species.

With size and strength almost twice the amount of a normal brown bear, this creature was extremely dangerous and known for marking trees with X marks to show its territory.

Erik knew he had to leave quickly. However, as he stepped away from the area, Shadow growled. The dark wolf bared its teeth at some trees and assumed a protective stance.

“What’s wrong Shadow—”

A huff came from behind the trees. A moment later, the bear emerged, its eyes locked onto Erik and its mouth salivating.

Erik froze. That monster was so big it looked like it could gulp down Erik in one go. He felt like it was death itself staring at him.

The bear charged at Erik. He felt his heart pumping.

The world seemed to go in slow motion.

“Ba-dum Bad-dum” Erik felt his heart pulsating in his ears.

The bear slowly approached but no matter how much Erik tried to flee, his legs barely moved.

This was over.

That’s when he felt a burst of energy come from his mana core and instinctively jumped—

—Before Erik realized the situation, he was many meters high in the air, soaring above the bear.

‘What…’ he questioned what had just happened but his thoughts were interrupted as he started to fall.

Erik tried to fall flat on his feet but the momentum carried him forward. His knees slammed into the ground, and his body pitched downward. He threw out his arms, ending up with scraped hands against the rough dirt.

His face contorted in pain, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he struggled to regain his footing. His body felt awkward and uncoordinated, making it hard to get on one knee and then lift himself completely. Though he couldn’t worry about it now, his knees and hands burned.

He heard another huff.

He Instantly turned back, seeing the bear charge at him again, its eyes completely locked onto Erik. Erik tried to get up but the pain was too much. He couldn’t move.

That’s when Shadow intervened. The black wolf pounced on the bear, claws, and teeth tearing into its flesh. With swift precision, Shadow pierced the bear's skin and ruptured its neck.

The bear tried to fight back but Shadow had already done lethal damage. It was over in less than seconds. The abominable Cross-Faced Bear lay dead.

Erik breathed raggedly for a couple of minutes, watching the unsettling body lying on the ground, blood dripping out of its neck. Shadow sat next to Erik.

‘I would have been dead if not for him…’ Erik turned to the black wolf and scratched her fur. He was graced by a wagging tail in response.

"Remind me never to enrage you, Shadow," Erik said.

Erik tried to get up once again but his knees failed him, he collapsed forward but just before he hit his face on the ground, Shadow stopped the fall, positioning herself beneath Erik.

"Thanks, Shadow," he whispered, his voice filled with gratitude.

The beast whined in response and moved back to its house.

----------------------------------------

“How unlucky you were, to find that kind of creature in a simple walk to get some plants,” Katherine gave Erik a green potion. It tasted weird but soon enough, the feeling of having his body battered subsided. “What a waste, using a healing potion on a brat that couldn’t see bear’s territory right in front of his face,” she sighed before pinching his cheek aggressively.

“Ouch ouch ouch,” Erik cried before realizing it didn’t actually hurt this time. His skin only felt numb despite her nails piercing and pinching it. Erik touched his face, feeling the weird sensation.

“Potions are amazing right?” she rhetorically asked, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, thanks, grandma. And thank shadow for me too, if it weren’t for her I would be dead,” he said, giggling.

"Well… uh… it’s whatever. Can’t have a brat like you die on me or else Alice would be done," she said, looking away from Erik, though he could see she was taken aback by his words.

Deciding not to press forward with this, however, Erik brought to life what had been taking space in his mind. “How did I jump so high in the air?” what he did was inhuman, he knew it, so he couldn’t figure out how.

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Katherine frowned slightly. “Why are you asking me, I wasn’t there,” she complained but afterward actually took a moment to ponder. She looked at Erik while in deep thought. “Let me check something.”

Erik slowly nodded and she reached forward, bringing the palm of her hand to Erik’s chest, and rubbing it on his shirt.

“Um… am I dirty?” he asked after a few seconds.

“Shut up, I’m concentrating here,” she said, bringing silence to the room.

Katherine’s hand lingered on Erik’s chest as she concentrated, her brows furrowing in concentration. After a few moments, she pulled back with a look of genuine surprise.

“Wow,” she said, clearly impressed. “I knew you had a mana core, but I didn’t expect it to be this developed already. That’s quite rare for someone your age.”

“Really?” Erik asked, his eyes wide open. “Well I don’t think it's much developed, I can’t do much with it.”

“Well, you’re just inexperienced. Thankfully, you lack any kind of magic training,” she scoffed at the thought of him learning magic. “Still, it means you got more talent than most. That’s why you could jump so high, you must have enhanced your body with magic.”

Erik smiled slightly. He looked at his hand and flickered a small flame for a moment. This somewhat reminded him of the moment he and his father talked about magic.

“So you got fire magic? Well, that’s just like Kaf.”

Erik nodded, his gaze drifting upward as he thought about it. “Isn’t your mana fire too? Since you’re my grandma… actually,” he paused, a realization dawning on him, “Ben can create water, which is different from what you can do. So, I guess our abilities are just based on... chance?”

Katherine shook her head, a smirk tugging at her lips. “It’s not exactly chance. Generally, mana elements are passed down by your parents. Since Ben has water magic, Alice must have that element as well—even if she hasn’t awakened it. As for me, I actually have the darkness element,” as she finished, her hand became enshrouded by a dark mist.

Erik’s eyes widened in surprise, his gaze finding itself in the abyss of darkness. “So it's completely different from ours,” Erik said, surprised. There was more to magic than he knew, if Ben was here, the boy would spout thousands of questions at the witch.

“Yes. It’s also very unlikely that anyone in your family has the predisposition for darkness since I’m not kaf’s birth mother,” she said, her confession drawing a gasp from Erik.

He didn’t expect that, however it made some sense. While Kaf was a tall, broad-shouldered man towering over two meters, Katherine was slender and frail-looking. Her sharp, pointy nose, dark hair, and brown eyes were in stark contrast to Kaf’s red hair, fiery eyes, and round nose.

Realizing Erik’s surprise, Katherine sighed. “They really didn’t talk of me, did they?” she asked and upon Erik nodding, she continued. “Well, it was about thirty years ago…”

Erik perched forward from the stool, curiosity taking over him.

“At the time I was already living in this cabin. One evening, I noticed my familiars were unusually anxious. Shadow and the others were pacing and whining, clearly sensing something was amiss. I went to see what it was and found a human baby on my doorstep, wrapped in a blanket. He was all alone,” she said, interlacing her hands to think about such distant memories, though to her it felt like it was yesterday. “And to think he died before me..” she said, this time with a heavier tone followed by a pause.

“So… you don’t know where he came from?” Erik asked after thinking for a few moments.

Katherine gently wept her face with the sleeves of her black dress. “Yes, that baby was your father. I searched the entire forest but couldn’t find anyone, I also couldn’t just walk to the nearby villages so I raised him as my own and taught him everything I knew,” she said, her eyes and voice displaying her fondness for him.

“How was he like as a child?” Erik asked, curious as to what such a powerful figure would’ve been at his age.

“Honestly…” she thought, holding her head. “He was as bratty as you.”

Erik’s eyes widened in disbelief. “W-wait, you mean he was like—”

Katherine chuckled as Erik’s jaw dropped, trailing off as he tried to imagine his imposing and wise father being anything like him. It just didn’t make sense how he could’ve been so different as a child. In Erik’s mind, his father was something like the perfect adult. A strong man with a good sense of morality and a kind nature.

Seeing Erik’s shocked expression, Katherine’s smile softened into a serious, affectionate look. “He was a wonderful child. Curious, determined, and always wanting to help others. He grew into a strong and kind man. He even set into adventures throughout his life one time he brought a girlfriend with him,” she trailed off into a laugh.

‘Oh, so must be how mom came into the village’ Erik was never too interested in that kind of thing but he knew that she came from a southern domain.

“I guess I have some big shoes to fill,” Erik smiled faintly.

“Oh no,” Katherine asked, stopping her chuckles and turning back to normal. “You’re yourself, person. It's good to want to make your parents proud and be a good person but you’ll never be your father and you shouldn’t try to be.”

Erik felt a weight lift off his shoulders. All this time, he had been trying to live up to what he thought his father was, torturing himself because he couldn’t. No one had ever told him he didn’t need to.

“Thanks…” he said meekly, quickly shaking his head to avoid letting her see his emotional face.

Katherine stretched her arms. “My old bones don’t like being in the same position for long…” she said, getting up. “We have a potion to brew, remember?”

Erik smiled, feeling a bit lighter. “Alright, let's do it.”

Erik jumped off the bed and quickly went to fetch the ingredients he caught today and set to work under Katherine's watchful eye.

“I’ll explain the process only once Erik,” She said seriously so he would try to understand. “First I want you to grind up Blue Rose petals until they are a fine powder. Be careful not to touch them directly—use the mortar and pestle.”

Erik nodded, carefully placing the frozen blue petals into the mortar. He used the pestle to grind them, the cold radiating from the petals making the stone frosty to the touch.

“Good,” Katherine observed, her usual stern demeanor softening as she saw Erik’s focus. “Next, measure out exactly four leaves of Moonshade. Too little and the effect will be too weak, too much and its effects will be too strong if we don’t delude it enough.

Erik measured the Moonshade carefully, adding it to the bowl with the powdered Blue Rose.

“Now the liquid of the Bloodroot inside a vial.”

Erik carefully split the Bloodroot with the knife, allowing the thick, dark red fluid to drip into the vial until it was full. He handed it back to Katherine, who nodded approvingly.

“Good job. Now, light up the cauldron,” she said.

Erik extended his hand toward the cauldron, concentrating. A small flame sparked at his fingertips, quickly igniting the wood beneath the cauldron. The fire grew steadily, heating the cauldron until it was ready.

“Fill it halfway with water,” Katherine continued.

Erik fetched a large pitcher and began to pour water into the cauldron, watching as the level rose to the halfway mark.

They waited for a few minutes until the water started to bubble gently.

“Now, pour the ground Blue Rose and Moonshade mixture into the cauldron,” Katherine instructed.

Erik carefully added the powdered mixture to the bubbling water, stirring it with a long wooden spoon as it dissolved, turning the water a shimmering blue.

“Add the Bloodroot essence now, all six drops,” she directed.

Erik added the drops one by one, watching as the potion hissed and darkened slightly. He closed the vial with a cork lid and placed it aside.

“Lastly, we need to add twenty shavings of Silverleaf. They will stabilize the potion and prevent it from becoming too potent,” Katherine said.

Erik shaved thin pieces of Silverleaf into the cauldron, counting each one until he reached twenty. The liquid shimmered and he steered and settled into a smooth, glowing green elixir. It reeked a foul smell that perpetuated through the small cabin, leading them to stop the fire and open the windows while waiting for it to cool down.

“Alright,” Katherine said, interrupting Erik, before getting up as well with a groan as she did so. “Now, tell me, what do you think is left to do?” She asked, testing his knowledge.

He sighed before crossing his arms to ponder for a moment. He had never done it himself but watched her do it a few times already. “We need to strain it to remove any solid particles and then we can bottle it up.”

She nodded and let Erik do it. He had a bit of trouble with moving the cauldron over without spilling anything and slowly letting it drain into a jug with a filter on top but managed to do so. A few moments later the green, viscous, liquid had set onto it. Had it not been the horrible smell, Erik would’ve looked at it for a while, amazed at what he had done.

‘With so much, I could probably fill at least ten pots to the brim,’ Erik wasn’t wrong, he was able to fill a dozen pots.

“Not bad,” Katherine said after eyeing all the potions closely. “These are healing potions comparable to a 2nd tier spell.”

“You mentioned those ‘spell tiers’ before, what are they?” Erik inquired.

“Eh, nothing important for you right now, just know that these potions can probably save you even if you’re bleeding a lot,” Katherine replied, waving her hand dismissively.

Erik frowned in slight annoyance but before he could say anything, she shoved six potions to his face.

“Here, take these.”

Erik gently took them one by one and placed them into his bag. “What do I do with them?” he asked as he did not expect to get anything.

“Use them if you get hurt—or like I’ve said before sell them, healing potions like these sell for a fair amount, enough to get by for a while. Just remember, it will go bad in about a week so be quick.”

‘A week.. that’s not much time but it's still amazing that I can have done and now that I know the recipe it’ll be easy to recreate more.’

“Thanks, old-” Erik said teasingly but before finishing, her deadly nails pinched his cheek once again.

He rubbed his hand on the red, hurting skin before carefully packing the potions in his pouch. He headed to the door. “Thanks for everything, Grandma,” he said earnestly.

Katherine's stern expression softened, and she gave a rare, warm smile. “Take care, Erik. Remember what I said.”

Erik nodded with a broad smile as he stepped outside into the cool forest air. He waved goodbye, as he disappeared within the woods, he was used to doing that journey but just to make sure it was alright, Katherine sent Crow after him.

Katherine stood at the doorway, watching him move further and further away until he couldn’t be seen. Her eyes softened with a mix of pride and fondness. “He’s a good child,” she mumbled, smiling as she wished to help this family move in a better direction.