Sirius moulded yet another stone plate from the ground and looked at what he had achieved so far. A square walls made of stone, with no holes for a door or any interior. It had no roof in fact, so calling it a building was stretching the definition, but it was a start. Sirius exhaled with satisfaction and plunged on to the ground, infusing some mana to soften the landing. He lay there, looking at the smooth grey plates with orange veins and thought. Something that Calmness of Storm added just before his departure: "What is your source of power?"

"What did he mean, wasn't it mana?" mused Sirius, catching the attention of Seth. He was as lively as ever, and Sirius decided to repeat his attempt at communicating with Seth. Immediately after their minds connected Sirius touched snake's thoughts.

Happiness. Lonely.

"I am sorry. The last time was bad for both of us, I will try better."

Agreement.

Sirius carefully controlled the thin strand of mana connecting their Astral Bodies and tried passing his thoughts. He thought about the sentence he mused about.

Stop! Many! Hard! wriggled Seth, painful pangs returning back to Sirius.

Immediately stopping the flow, Sirius decided to revert to verbal talking, "Sorry, I will try better next time."

Shame. Good.

"If you had all the power in the world, what would you do?"

Seth thought for a moment before giving an answer, Do? Eat!

Sirius smiled. "What do you think I would do?"

Kill. White-human. Red-humans. All.

"You so sure?" Sirius answered and sighed. He didn't like that characteristic of him, but that was most likely true. "Why would I though?"

Save. Help.

Something inside Sirius snapped into place. What is the source of HIS power? At first it was the drive to learn, curiosity, the thirst for knowledge, but after the attack on his home things changed. He wanted to protect himself, be powerful to oppose those who tried to hinder his development. And the moment he got the tiny sip of real strength, what did he do? He said Uncle Gregor to give him away and say he went rogue. Why? To protect him. To save those who supported him from the wrath of the Order.

"To help and to save..." he whispered.

It was a noble goal. He stepped on that path the moment he learnt medicine and anatomy under Uncle Verden's guidance. But the whole picture, however bright it was, was still covered in dark blots. He did injured a couple of people on his escape, one man self-destructed, killing all his teammates, and Sirius had to put him out of the misery... Was it all worth it? In those people's eyes he was the devil's incarnate, the traitor, the danger to their families, rogue mage that could will the common man out of existence.

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"I really want to destroy the Order, but... Why?"

Seth just blankly stared at Sirius, listening to his musings. He was smarter than a regular snake, but there was a limit to his understanding of human's world.

Sirius sneered a little and continued talking to himself, "Yeah, right... They tried hurting those who helped me. They wanted to kill me because... I am the Child of Prophecy. One of them," he added, as he remembered the woman who was the Child of Prophecy as well, but thought to be the only one. "I am but one Child of Prophecy. There were hundreds of them before me, and they all had miserable lives in Order's dungeons, being brainwashed from the young age."

Bad?

"Oh, yes, very bad. Imagine living in a box your whole life."

Bad.

Sirius nodded. He sat upright and flattened the ground with a slight wave of his hand. He began doodling on the plane, drawing the rough outlines of his path. RIvervale, the Ravenloft to the west, in the direction of the capital, his journey to the east, sudden turn south and his final destination at Plain Veins. If he wanted to uproot the Order, he had to find allies. He began thinking about other nations. Some city-states of the south, maybe people on Southern Archipelago? No, they are under oppression as well. He could find the like-minded druid tribes, but they are rare and scarce, with power and knowledge being the only source of authority. That left the Republic. Guards called them 'Godless savages', but why would everyone be so afraid of them, if they were weak and divided? Something wasn't aligning.

"And they won't even listen to me, since I am from Kingdom. Unless I prove that I am not sided with them... Or unless I am strong enough to protect myself. But that's all in the future. What do I do now?"

What?

"Oh, I met with Calmness of Storm and uncovered that the girl you are so fond of is going to die without healing, but if I help healing her, she will be exiled."

Seth bared his fangs and arched his body, ready to attack, Die. Bad.

"Yes, bad. I mean, why should I bother, there are countless people like her in druid tribes, who are pushed by tradition towards certain death..."

Seth's intense gaze conveyed his feelings better than the thought communication did.

"Yes, I know you like her... Ugh, what am I getting into once again? I promised I would help, but if it means getting exiled, would she want it?"

Ask.

"Ask her? The question itself can pose danger to her. She will begin to doubt her worldview, and her father will surely notice that. And then who knows what will happen..."

Bad.

Sirius nodded silently. His future scared him much less than his current situation. At least he could prepare for the incoming confrontation with the Order. But for what to do now... He could not form his plan of actions.

With those heavy themes on his mind, Sirius rocked back and bounced the earth underneath up, pushing him upright. He liked moulding earth more and more as he worked on his hut. He could make ground move like water, simply by making it more soft and mobile, gently pushing it to follow his will. He covered the basement by a sheet of rock from under the layer of soft soil and finished the roof by levitating the stone planks on top. Each of them easily weighed five times his own weight, and he employed all techniques he knew to hold the slab off the ground: condensed layer underneath, constant upward stream to push it up, locking the mana into the material to manipulate it directly, even using his metal bars as a handle. Maintaining all even for a second spread his mind's power thin, but with regular breaks he managed to cover the top of the stone box he will call 'home' in the future. Finally he was left with this ugly hollow brown cube of stone, once again out of breath and incredibly hungry. Sirius strained himself once more to weld the edges of slabs, so that they wouldn't topple over while he was gone. With a satisfied smile he left his creation staying in the middle of the field and walked towards the city centre hoping to find a place to eat.