Kai glanced back down at the roiling sea of crimson blood and then back up at Bear. He turned looking over everyone. They were frozen, their faces showing overwhelming shock.

“Um. Is there something wrong with a tier 2 blood affinity?” Kai asked nervously. “It should be powerful right? I mean that’s what you said about the lightning affinity.” Kai glanced at them before looking at the crystal. Was there something wrong with the blood affinity? Blood was life and he figured that it might give him some kind of healing magic. Though their faces said otherwise. Would it turn him into some kind of vampire? Would It make him want to kill people? Even worse would it make him want to hurt Sarah, Nixie, Tom, Thane or Bear. Or maybe do something worse. Kai’s throughs began to spiral further and further down.

Kai felt a blast of wind hit him as warm arms wrapped around him. Sarah pulled Kai into herself, her hand running down his back soothingly. “No Kai there is nothing wrong with your affinity. We were just shocked that you had another affinity. We all assumed that you only had the 2. We should have figured that you had the blood affinity given your eyes and hair.”

Kai could feel his mind calming down as Sarah soothed him. “What do you mean given my eyes and hair?” Kai asked her.

Sarah smiled at him but it was Thane who answered. “Your appearance can be influenced by your affinity. Why don’t we sit down and I can explain this to you.” He said while gesturing at the ground. “So first we should start with the manifestation of your affinities. There are 3 ways your affinities can manifest. The first one is when you are born. People that manifest their affinities like this generally have stronger affinities and it is more common for them to reflect their affinity in some way. The second way is they will slowly manifest till around puberty. The third way is something randomly triggering its manifestation. It can be anything from a good sleep to being about to die. Though 16 is the absolute latest that someone can manifest an affinity.” As Thane talked, the others slowly got over the shock and came over to sit with them.

“You're worried that the affinities will change you aren't you?” Thane asked him.

Kai nodded. “I’m already a monster. M-”

“You're not a monster, you're far from one. You’ve just had a bad life and had to endure a lot of hardship. You shouldn’t talk about yourself like that.” Nixie said, interrupting him. “It’s actions that make people into monsters and you are not a monster.” She said while, kneeling down to comfort him.

Kai looked up into her eyes and spoke. “I am a monster.” Yet again Nixie tried to interrupt him but Kai stopped her. “I am. I really am a monster. I was turned into a magical experiment. I can kill who knows how many people whenever I want. All I have to do is simply stop resisting. And now I have all of this strong magic.” As Kai spoke his voice grew quieter until his voice was barely above a whisper. “I… I don’t really care about helping people. I don’t really care if countless unknown people die because Seth takes my body. I’m not like you guys. I’m not a good person. I.. I’m scared that you will get hurt because I care about you. I would rather give Seth full control than let any of you get hurt. And on top of all of that my mind was literally broken and put back together. That’s why I’m a monster and I don’t care that I’m a monster. As long as I’m strong enough to protect the people I care about I don’t care about anything else.”

Kai finished speaking and everyone was quiet. “Like I said I’m a monster.” Once Kai was done speaking he wrapped his arms around his legs and buried his face in them.

Phantom hands grabbed Kai’s face forcing it up. Kai looked up meeting chain wrapped silver orbs. “You are not a monster.” Arthaya’s words rang out with a weight that mere words could not create. “You are a child who lost everything he cared about and found that he would sacrifice everything to avoid that ever happening again. You are a child that was forced to endure what would have broken most people and you did break. You are not a monster, you are a child that has had a hard life.” Arthaya turned and smiled at the others. “Thank you for taking care of him. I know that you see it as something natural that anyone would do but it isn’t. Along with that you now have to help him deal with me and Seth. It is something that I can not truly express my gratitude for.”

“You know I really don’t care that I'm a monster so you can stop reassuring me.” Kai said

Arthaya turned to him smiling. “I know you aren't scared of that. You're scared of losing control. You're scared that your elements are going to make you do things that you don’t want to do. I can assure you that it won’t but why don’t you listen to what Thane has to say. I’m sure that he can calm your fears.”

“Ok I will.” Kai said.

With that Arthaya’s phantom slowly dissipated. Thane walked over, sitting down in front of Kai. “Magic is a tool and like all tools it is used. It can not use you unless you allow it to. Your affinity defines the shape of your tool. Using a hoe would make you a farmer. Using a sword or spear would make you a warrior. Using a bow would make you an archer. Affinities are the same. Each one has something that it is naturally inclined to. Now you must remember that some farmers farm wheat while others farm potatoes. There is also a difference in what different archers hunt. A tool makes us something because that is how we use it not because it uses us.” As Thane spoke the other came over and sat down. Nixie sat down behind Kai grabbing him and pulling him up into her lap. “Affinities are the same. Taking a hot head that is constantly mad with a fire affinity. He might feed into it until he resembles a wildfire. Out of control and burning everything that comes close. Or if he has a lightning affinity he might feed into it until he resembles uncontrolled electricity. Now it doesn’t have to go that way. Instead someone calm might feed into a fire affinity and resemble a hearth fire. Something that provides for those around it that take care of it but something deadly to those who are careless to it. Or a lightning affinity, something that only strikes when it is good and ready, not before and not after. The way your affinity shapes you is dependent on how you use it and how you act.” With that Thane reached out and ruffled Kai's hair. “Now why don’t we go and get something to eat? It's a bit early for supper but we’ve been through a lot today.” With that the six of them got up and left.

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With that they went back up to the main room and found a table for them to sit down at and eat. Looking around Kai found that there were very few people in the room. Not counting the people that worked there. There were only 6 other people. Thinking back to last night Kai was pretty sure that there had been at least 40 people.

"Where is everyone at?” Kai asked while looking around.

“Most are likely still out hunting.” Tom said, turning from where he and Bear had been ordering drinks. “It is fairly common for hunters to stay out working right up until night before coming back. So it will most likely be another couple hours till people really start coming in.”

“Hey Kai, what kind of fighting do you want to do?”Nixie asked. “Me and Thane were talking about trying to find you some spells when we go out to pick up the clothes after eating.”

“What options are there?”

“There are essentially 3 options. The first is a front liner. Sarah, Tom and Bear are font liners. Front liners are people that specialize in melee fighting. Though that doesn’t mean that they don’t also use magic. Most simply use it to support their role. For example Tom has a couple spells that create fire on his sword or do similar things. Whereas Bear doesn’t have any magic. The next option is ranged. Ranger fighters are people who specialize in using ranged magic or other similar weapons like a bow. Thane would be a ranged fighter though he is more a mix of that and the third role. I also have some ranged options though I focus more on the third one. The third role is support. People who specialize in support are almost always magic users. As the name suggests they support their team mates. To do this they generally use spells to heal or enhance their teammates. Though there are some spells that can hinder their opponents or they control the battlefield. Though those types of fighters are rare.” Nixie said.

As Kai was thinking about it the waiter arrived with the drinks Tom and Bear had ordered. Looking at the drinks made Kai realize just how thirsty he was. Reaching out he grabbed the smallest glass. Which he assumed was for him and immediately down the whole thing.

“KAI NO DON’T DRINK THAT!” Bear shouted lunging to stop him.

It was too late Kai could feel his throat burning as the liquid slid down it. Looking up Kai asked. “What’s wrong?” He wasn’t sure what he had just drank but nothing seemed to be wrong.

“Bear what did Kai just drink?” Nixie asked, her voice slightly panicked.

Bear winced at her words. “The same from last night.” He said while glancing over at Kai. “Are you ok?” He asked.

Nixie immediately rushed over to Kai. “What do you mean, are you ok. Of course he’s not ok. Four glasses of that is enough to get you drunk. He's a small 10 year old boy.” Water mana began to swirl around Nixie’s hands as she continued to speak. “You giving that to him is like handing him a glass of poison.”

“Hey, I didn't hand it to him. Besides, look at him. He’s clearly just fine.” Bear said defensively. Despite his words he still looked worried.

“You might as well have handed it to him and of course he’s not fine.” Nixie snapped back.

“I’m fine Nixie, I don't feel anything.”Kai said.

Nixie completely ignored him as she continued to try and purge the effects of the alcohol. Her mana felt like a gentle soothing rain that washed away any dirt and grim. Yet as it tried to enter him it was quickly destroyed by lightning, burned up by fire and purged by flowing blood.

Nixie let out a quiet growl of annoyance. She seemed to focus more and he could feel some of her mana slip into him too fast for his to stop it. Though Kai wasn’t actively trying to stop her he simply could control his mana well enough.

“There..there’s nothing there.” She said hesitantly. “Where is all of the alcohol? It's like your body has purged it all already.”

“See I told you he looked fine.” Bear said. “You are fine right?” Bear asked quietly while leaning in towards Kai.

“I’m fine Nixie. I don’t feel anything from it.” Kai said, trying to reassure her.

“Hey Nixie, remember Kai’s specific affinities will passively help him purge any toxins even without any training.” Tom said, while offering her a glass.

“Oh.” Nixie said. “Yeah I guess that does make sense.”

“What about the gold in my blood would that have an effect?” Kai asked.

“It might.” Nixie said hesitantly. “We don’t really know what kind of experiments they were doing or what they did to you. So it's hard to gauge what the effects might be. Though I would not be surprised if that is one of the effects.”

Time passed and eventually their food arrived. As they ate, people slowly began to trickle in. Kai’s meal was slightly larger than Tom’s and the same as Bear’s. A single steak the size of his plate and a second plate piled full of mashed potatoes and gravy. Like that they ate while laughing and talking.

“Me and Nixie are going to go out to the market to pick up the clothes and see if we can find any spells for Kai.” Tom said, as they were leaving Nixie gave Kai a hug and told me she would see him tomorrow.

A bit more time passed and Kai could feel himself getting sleep. Eventually Sarah noticed and asked him if he was sleeping. When he said yes she took him up to their room and they both got in bed to sleep.

“Hey Kai.” Sarah said.

“Yes.” Kai said sleepily in response.

“Earlier you said that you would rather give Seth control than let any of us get hurt.”

Kai pulled the blanket up so that it was covering most of his head. “I would.” Kai stated plainly.

“Please don’t.” Sarah said. “None of us want to see that happen to you. We would rather get hurt or even die than see you become a puppet.”

“Ok.” Kai said, but as he fell asleep Kai couldn’t stop remembering the flash of a sword and a head falling to the ground.

“I will not lose anyone ever again.” The words slipped out as barely a whisper.