Ben's blow on his head still hurt William, but he refused to admit it. After the group had been out of the bathroom for about an hour, William first had to listen to Ben telling him what he was thinking of, revealing his name like that without knowing who was around. Only after his friend had calmed down and then thanked Cale did he dare ask why they had no qualms with Aletta but did with him.
"Because you were screaming. Did you notice?", replied Cale calmly, in strong contrast to Ben's angry exclamation. He explained the whole situation from his own. By being able to use mana so well, it wasn't hard for him to sense when someone was around. It happend almost automatic, but when William had spoken up so loudly, they both immediately pulled him to safety before Cale let out a large mass of mana to check if anyone had heard. Of course, he had spotted people close enough, but none seemed to have really understood the words. Only the Igrikum he concealed in that part of the story.
Meanwhile, the five of them sat together in their room. Philippa had already buried herself under the covers while she wearily listened to the conversation between Aletta and William. Ben and Cale had also fallen exhausted onto one of the beds, both keeping their eyes closed as they talked quietly to each other.
"I thought the bath was supposed to relax us, not tire us out even more", Cale muttered half-heartedly to himself, while Ben responded with saying, William was an Idiot. "You could have taught him a bit better about keeping a low profile."
Aletta and William could not hear their conversation. They sat in the middle of the room on the floor in front of the heat crystal and exchanged old stories. By the fact that they had both grown up in similar living conditions, it was as if they were talking to a soulmate.
"He's your son too", Ben grumbled aloud, causing Cale to turn in surprise and look into Ben's serious eyes. For a moment they were both silent before bursting out laughing. Cale doubled over laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes and he had to force himself to be quiet. Taking a moment to recover from the comment, he took a deep breath and stood up. The others had their eyes on him before he walked up to William, came to a stop behind the seated swordsmen, and put his hand on his head. Amused, he moved it a little to the left and right, making William bristle in annoyance and try to get rid of Cale.
"We should go to sleep. You're welcome to continue talking tomorrow, but keep a low profile and watch who's listening. We don't want Ben to get any more grey hairs", Cale explained calmly, so Aletta nodded in agreement, got up and curled up in her bed. For a moment, Cale watched the young girl and then let his gaze drift over the other group members until it lingered on Wiliam. Since the incident on Holy Island, Cale was constantly worried about the well-being of his friends, occasionally feeling more like a father than a normal friend.
Eventually, the mage let go of William and crawled into the bed in the corner of the room. His limbs thanked him for feeling soft ground again. Cale looked forward to when back in Exarion, for there was a huge bed waiting for him. Right in front of a wide window with a beautiful view of the city. He usually had it open at night, which was an old habit of his, because he was used to sleep outside. If there was one thing Cales liked, it was the cold, although it was more of a love-hate relationship. Here, he didn't want to do that for the sake of the girls, especially Philippa who, thanks to Winstest's climate, didn't like the cold much.
While Cale buried himself in the blanket, he followed William with his gaze, who was the last to dim the lights and crawl into bed beside him. Cale then closed his eyes. Today had been an up and down day of emotions, that much was certain and the story had taken an unexpected turn, even if he approved of it. That everyone would introduce themselves properly sooner or later had been inevitable. The only problem now occupying Cale's mind was his plan regarding the second wave. He actually wanted to leave for Frignez a day later, but if the curfew was already in place, they would definitely not be able to travel north without a valid reason. This was actually quite inconvenient for Cale, as he really needed to get in touch with Aletta's fiancé. He needed him by his side against the dragon, but Grischa had unintentionally put obstacles in his way.
"Cale?", whispered William softly, causing the High-Mage to open his eyes again. The moon lit up the room through the curtain, giving him a comparatively good view of William's face. The swordsman had barely covered himself with a blanket as he gazed hauntingly at the mage. Cale knew immediately that a question was burning on his mind and judging by the probing look in the room, he didn't want anyone to hear him. The mage knew, however, that the others had already fallen asleep, so he motioned to his counterpart to continue speaking quietly. To his amazement, however, William got up quietly. He left the blanket behind him and slid over to Cale's bed. The latter slid all the way to the wall, while William took the vacant place and lay down in bed with him. Caring, Cale put his blanket over his friend, as the bed was just big enough for two people.
"What's wrong?", he inquired as quietly as possible, making the sound barrier appear as he looked curiously into William's eyes. The latter hesitated for a moment before gathering his courage and asking the question.
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"What happened?", he interjected, pointing his finger at Cale's chest. Instantly, Cale understood what William was getting at. He had seen the burn scars on his chest. "Those are pretty neat circles, which is why I don't think it's a normal injury. Have you been branded?"
The swordsman realised that Cale was uncomfortable with the question, and for the first time he realised that his friend was not going to answer a question for him. Cale had so far satisfied every one of his inquisitive questions, even if they did not particularly please him, but the fact that he did not produce a word made it clear to William that he had seriously gone a step too far. Last night he had still felt that he had gone too far with his statements, but Cale took the conversation surprisingly calmly, as if it had never happened. Nevertheless, William managed to bring up uncomfortable topics again.
Just as William was about to take his question back, Cale carefully pulled his shirt up. With an embarrassed look, William watched as his counterpart exposed his thin, comparatively well-built torso and revealed the wound. Now, William also recognised exactly what was depicted on it. There were three circles of different sizes, one inside the other, touching at only one point, quite close to Cale's belly button.
"If you tell anyone about this, mercy on you. I've never told anyone about that."
Cale's whispered threat made William look up for a moment before his gaze glanced back to the circles. Somehow, he felt a power coming from them that reminded him of the Igrikum in his hand. Hesitantly, he raised his hand as if to touch it, but paused.
"Is this your Igrikum?", the swordsman asked cautiously, prompting Cale to reply with a soft laugh.
"Not exactly, the Igrikum itself has no physical form. But it was created by my Igrikum, so you weren't entirely wrong", Cale explained quietly, taking William's hand carefully and guiding it to his torso. William was visibly uncomfortable with the situation, wanting to turn away, but he could feel the Igrikum in his reacting with the circles. With his fingers, he first touched the rough scar lines before placing his whole hand on them and feeling something move behind them. Startled, he withdrew his hand and looked up, Cale on the other hand just smiled. "That's my mana, don't worry."
Confused, William exchanged a glance between brand scar and Cale before the latter continued.
"You know, I have a little problem with my pure mana. I have so much of it that I can't control it anymore and that can be quite dangerous. That's why I locked it up with my Igrikum quite a few years ago. Three barriers block my mana into individual compartments to prevent it from leaking out unintentionally, and those barriers have formed as burn scars on my skin over time."
Wondering, William stared into Cale's eyes before placing his hand back on his torso. He didn't really understand what that meant, but one thing was clear. Anything involving the Igrikum was a huge leap of faith.
"I don't quite understand, how much mana do you have?", he huffed, making Cale think for a moment how he could explain it to him more simply without having to delve too deeply into his past.
"Do you know the counting method of how mages measure mana?", he inquired, to which William nodded in agreement.
"I know that normal mages have about 20 to 30 RM, some High-Mages are said to have 60RM, correct?"
"Yes exactly. A normal human has between 5 and 10 pure mana mass, the students at the school usually start around 15RM. Most adult mages have 20 to 30 RM and all High-Mages have over 50RM. The eldest himself has 80RM, making him one of the mages with the largest proprietary mana supply that have ever lived."
Understanding, William nodded and eased away from Cale, who pulled his top back into place and continued speaking.
"I have more. I'm somewhere over 500RM, but the mana crystal, which was supposed to measure mana mass, couldn't detect more. Purely by my feeling, though, it should be 600RM, of which I'm currently blocking a good 92% with my Igrikum."
"Where did you get that much?", admitted William in amazement.
"I have no idea. It wasn't always like that. For some reason, it doesn't stop growing. I didn't even know such a thing was possible for a long time. Actually, it's impossible for a human to grow their mana pool, which is why I never understood what made me different from them. Believe me, I tried finding useful information on the subject for a long time, but you just don't find such things in books. At some point, my mana occurrence became so great that my mana pathways could no longer take the pressure and I was constantly in extreme pain, until I came up with the idea of my Igrikum. It has since become quite light, so I don't even notice it anymore."
"Can it... break?"
"Only if I consciously do it myself. It's still my Igrikum, my shield, and a shield protects from attacks. No one can access it from the outside, so it can't just break", Cale explained, giving William a brief smile. The fact that his own Mana makes him felt like it's killing him from the inside was something Cale needs to keep to himself, as well as the fact that he had a few theories on the subject. Foremost among them was the fact that the healers in Frignez might know something about it, but Cale had never dared to raise the subject in front of them. Generally, he was wary of revealing such information in front of the wrong people.
Back then, when he had revealed himself as a mage during the storm, it had admittedly been a spontaneous action at first, and Cale had not intended it that way. Since he had great trust in Wiliam and the rest of the group and had generally never planned to keep the secret to himself forever, he finally revealed himself. The survival of his old friend was clearly more important to him than any secret that was not even a real secret to beginn with.
William, on the other hand, remained silent after the statement. For a moment, he felt as if the whole world was lying at his feet. The Igrikum in Cale's chest responded to the Igrikum in William's hand and pulsed when you were close enough. At that moment, he could literally see the sea in front of him, raging behind the barricade.
Like a beast waiting to be released.