After studying the pool of mana for a bit, Kai decided that it was time to leave. It was surprisingly not that hard. To Kai, it was as if he had dunked his head into a pool of water and leaving that area was as simple as Kai raising his head out of the metaphorical pool.

Looking around, Kai found that he was covered in fresh blood and cuts. With everyone worriedly standing around him, looking down at himself. Kai realized that the lightning had cut his real body and not just that other body. He decided to make it simpler, he would call it his mana body.

“I need to heal him Thane, stop blocking me.”

“Nixie, you need to calm down. I don't know what’s going on, but Kai’s mana is acting up right now. Your spell will have no effect.”

The words of Thane and Nixie’s arguing came to Kai. Looking over to where their words had come from, he saw Thane standing in front of Nixie. Nixie ducked around Thane's arm and rushed towards Kai.

“Kai, are you alright? What happened? You're covered in blood. Here let me heal you.” Nixie frantically started pressing her hand to Kai’s wounds using her magic to close them up. Slowly, the wounds were healed, and the pain faded though it hadn’t really affected Kai.

“Nixie, it's ok, look at him, he's fine.” Tom had come over and was calming down his wife.

“Kai, you need to be careful. I was worried about you.” Nixie said as she pulled him into a hug.

Kai looked up at her and asked her. “But why did you just meet me? You have no reason to worry.”

“Because you're a child, and you should be protected from having to go through this kind of thing. Now tell me wh-” Nixie paused, her attention taken by something by Kai’s leg. “What is that?” Kai sat up following her gaze to where she was looking and froze. Mixed into the red was a single drop of gold. His mind raced trying to figure out why a part of his blood was golden. It might not have been a large part, but it was a part nonetheless.

Kai’s mind raced trying to figure out why since there was no way this could in any way be considered ordinary until his mind snagged onto a memory. He remembered just over a year being spent doing very little but training, and the fire that had been lit in his marrow to heal his broken bones. Kai felt his mind start to retract into himself as everything seemed to go cold at those memories. Only to be snapped out before he could fully retract.

“Kai, what’s that and why is your blood golden?” Nixie glanced up nervously from that spot of gold blood before she continued in a gentle tone. “Kai, are you ok? I know I've said this before but if you need anything, we can help you.” She glanced back down at the golden blood seemingly at a loss for what else to say.

“Nixie, I understand that you're worried about Kai. I really do, everyone here is, but I really need to talk to Kai about his mana first. You understand how dangerous, uncontrolled, and powerful magic can be, and you're looking at the results right now.” Thane said.

Nixie whirled around, shock painted across her face “But accessing your mana pool shouldn’t cause something like this. Nothing should cause this.” Nixie hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Something like this could only happen if you had an absurd amount of foreign mana in you and based on how many wounds he has, it would have left something far worse than just surface wounds.”

Kai thought about what she said. Realizing that even if that storm had hurt him, it had been controlled enough to not kill him. That was something interesting to think about later but for now, he should probably talk to Thane about this.

“Nixie, while I don’t know why this happened or what’s going on, this just shows that we need to get Kai’s magic and affinities under control.” Thane told her.

“Agreed, what have you told him to do so far?” Nixie said

“Wait, you agree?” Thane asked.

“Yes, if that's what happened when he accessed his mana pool. Then he needs to immediately get control of his mana.” Nixie told Thane as she looked at Kai, worry clearly painted across her face. As Kai watched them, he decided that eventually he would have to trust someone with his story, and if anyone could be trusted, it was them.

“I explained to Kai how to access his mana pool. Now that he has done that, we need to teach him how to calm his mana. He also needs to learn how to control it, but that can wait for now.” Turning to Kai, Thane asked him. “What happened in there?”

So Kai explained everything that had happened. He explained the storm that he had to part to be able to see the desert. He explained how ravaged it had looked, and he explained the lake and how big it was. That had got him some shocked looks after explaining that. Kai explained to them what had happened. It was Nixie who got control of herself first and started talking.

“I don’t think any of us have heard of something like this happening before, but I can explain what would’ve normally happened. That storm that you have been feeling is a defensive reaction of your mana. Normally it manifests as churning water or something similar to that. A storm being far rarer but not unheard of. This is a reaction of your mana when it feels you're in danger, kind of like adrenalin. When your mana is in this state, it is far easier to use, and it will react to you far easier. But there is some danger in this. If your mana gets too worked up and your control is not enough, it can result in what happened to you. When your mana is in this state, it can start causing uncontrolled magical phenomena due to undirected mana usage. You must be very careful when your mana gets into this state. If you allow your mana to have too much freedom, your body can get hurt from your mana raging through it. If this happens, you won’t be left with just surface wounds again. But this isn’t normally a problem for people since it can only happen in people that have an abnormally high amount of magic.” Nixie explained

As Nixie talked, the others seemed to recover from their shock at Kai’s words though he wasn’t sure why they had been so surprised. Out of all of them, Bear had been the least shocked. For him, it had been a simple surprise that faded fast into acceptance. For Thane, Tom, and Sarah, it had been much different. And it had taken them considerably longer to recover.

“Now what makes what you did so surprising is that you fought that storm into submission. That should have made it worse instead of better. Normally you slowly calm your mana by first calming your mind, and then convincing the mana that you’re safe and there's no danger. I don’t understand why it was different for you. Another strange thing is how you described your mana reacting to you. From your explanation, it sounded as if it was alive or at least had some kind of instinctive reaction to you. While all mana can react according to your instincts, this was far different.”

“I think that I know why that happened. I-” Kai was cut off from explaining by Thane placing a hand on Kai's shoulder.

“Kai I am also pretty sure I know why that happened, and if you want to talk about that, you can, but let's do it after everyone has washed up. Also I'm not sure about everyone else, but I'm starving and could use a good meal.” With that, everyone split up. Thane and Bear went to watch over the food while Tom did a quick round to make sure there was nothing trying to sneak up on them.

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“Come on Kai, let's get you cleaned up.” Sarah said as she and Nixie took Kai over to the stream. While they helped a bit every now and then to make sure all of the blood was scrubbed out of Kai’s hair, they mostly just floated in the water watching. There was something about the presence of someone that only cared for your well being that was soothing in a way Kai hadn’t felt for over five years.

Memories flashed through Kai’s mind. Memories of Isabell bringing in water, and then helping Kai clean up. Memories of the two of them working in the garden. Kai felt the overwhelming feeling of sadness, loss, and regret weighing him down. A final memory flashed through his mind. A sword flashed down, and her head fell to the ground. Hot tears rolled down his face at these memories. Kai felt warm arms wrap around him, holding him tight as he cried.

“It’s ok. It’s ok. You're safe now.” Sarah whispered to Kai. “You have nothing to fear, we won't let anything hurt you.” In that moment, Kai felt the sadness, the loss, and the regret that he had been repressing with an impressive amount of willpower. And the help of a fragmented twenty year old mind slipped. In that moment, he was a ten year old boy who had been through and seen more horror than most people could even dream of.

“I’m.. I’m not afraid of getting hurt.” Kai choked out before gripping Sarah tight enough that creaking bones could be heard.

Softly, Sarah asked Kai a question. “What are you afraid of?”

“I don’t want to lose anyone again.” Renewed tears fell as Kai buried his head in Sarah.

“Is that what you meant when you said that knowing someone is enough to get hurt?” Kai nodded at Sarah’s question. “Then it’s ok. I promise that we won’t die, so you don’t have to worry.” Silently, the three of them finished cleaning their bodies and clothes before switching with Bear, Thane, and Tom at the fire.

As the three men washed, Kai, Sarah and Nixie sat down to eat. Nixie cut off portions of meat from the lynx that was roasting, passing to Kai, and then Sarah before cutting her own.

“Can I have some more?” Kai asked her, holding up his clean plate.

Nixie blinked at him in surprise but before she could answer, Sarah started laughing. “Here let me do it. He’s only ate with us once, but last time, he ate almost as much as Bear did.” Sarah grabbed Kai’s plate and a knife, and then proceeded to cut off a large slice of meat that a ten year old couldn’t have been able to eat. Sarah and Nixie watched as Kai ate every bit of food before setting his plate down satisfied. Bear, Thane, and Tom joined them at the fire after cleaning up in the river. Kai hesitantly started his story, not entirely sure where to start.

“For the first five years of my life, I lived with my mom in a small village. My dad was dead before I was born. I don’t remember what the village was called, I just remember that the plants in the nearby forest were all a beautiful amber color. When I turned five, my mom took me into a nearby town to learn if I had magic. They told us I didn't have any.” Kai glanced down at the medallion that he was clutching tightly in one hand. “I think it was a week after that our village was attacked. Our home was a little ways outside of the village closer to the forest. When we learned about the attack, my mom picked me up and ran towards the forest. She gave me this medallion and-” Kai paused, choking on his words as tears flowed down his cheeks.

Nixie wrapped her arms around Kai and pulled him into her side. “You don’t have to continue if you don’t want to.” Nixie told him softly. Kai shook his head and then continued.

“She gave me this medallion and told me to run, to live. She bought me some time as I escaped into the woods. I-” Again Kai was choked up momentarily before pushing himself to continue. “I watched as they killed her for getting in their way before chasing after me. I don’t know how I managed it, but I was able to outrun them.” Kai paused, looking down at the medallion in his hand as more tears ran down his face.

“For a time after that, it's a blur. The first thing I really remember is my last day in an orphanage. An old man came in looking to adopt some children with magic. I think there were three of them. Apparently he liked something about me because despite being told I didn’t have magic, he took me too. I don’t remember how long we traveled, but eventually the old man met up with some people. They talked about… something. I don’t remember what it was they were talking about. But whatever it was, it let me know that I didn’t want to go wherever they were going. I think that I managed to use this sense enhancing thing since I was able to hear them when no one else could. When I tried to escape, the old man used some kind of magic to trap me.” as Kai spoke these words, he could hear Bear’s bones actually creak from how hard he was clenching his hands.

“The old man didn’t let me have any freedom after that until we arrived. They threw me in a cell with 30 other kids, most of which were around my age. After that, they left me, every day some kid or another would be taken, and another one would be returned. But over time, they stopped returning the kids. It wasn’t until a year in when they finally took me. After running some tests, they injected something into me.”

Kai shuddered at the memory before continuing. “Each injection felt like liquid lightning scorching my veins. I think they did that every week for years before something finally changed.” As Kai spoke, he pulled his legs up and set his arms onto his knees as he began to rock back and forth. “They took me to a strange room with these weird symbols engraved onto the walls. In the center of the room, there was a ball of chains. They did some kind of magic that forced the ball of chains to bond with me. I tried to resist, but there was more force behind it than I could stop. Even when the pressure was bearing down on me, I refused to give in, but something had to give, and it was my mind that gave first. It's strange what happens when your mind shatters. You find that you can’t properly process the pain, yet somehow you can still feel it.” Kai’s knuckles were white from where he was tightly gripping his medallion, and the pace of his rocking had only increased.

“Kai, you don’t have to continue.” Nixie softly told him. But Kai continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted.

“I don’t know how long it was before my mind had healed enough that I could form my first real thought. When I finally came to, I found that someone had been training me in unarmed combat. Many of the movements were instinctive by that point. From there on out, my days consisted of ten hours of training always signaled as done by a broken bone if I didn’t already have one. At the end of the ten hours, I was given two hours to eat, sleep and use the bathroom. After that, it was another ten hours, and then rinse and repeat every day. To heal me, they would inject a strange substance into my bones that felt as if it was burning away my very marrow. That went on for what was probably a year. I'm not sure what happened, but eventually things changed. One day I woke up, though this time it wasn’t to something painful from the person that had been training me, it was the lack of it.” Kai shivered at the memories of boot to the gut or other parts of his body that had woken him up plenty of times.

“They took me out of the cell that they had been keeping me in. I think they mentioned taking me somewhere. Though I don’t know where they were taking me since we never arrived. As we were walking, I felt... something. It was similar to when they forced me to bond with the Arthaya but different. It wasn’t something being forced to bond with me, but it was forcing me to bond with it. I tried to resist, but I couldn’t. It forced its way in, and then it took my body. When I tried to take my body back, it dragged me somewhere. I think it was some kind of mana scape.” Something about Kai seemed to change as his shoulders sagged. It was as if he had been carrying the sky on his back only for it to be replaced with a mountain.

Kai held up the medallion “Turns out this medallion was connected to a tier one bond armament. It tried to beat me into submission. I resisted it, but I was losing, and I don't think I could have beat him. Turns out that ball of chains was also a bond armament. She was able to lock Seth inside of me, making it so that he can't take over my body as long as I don’t use the scythe. From there, you know everything.” Kai finished his story before hugging his legs into himself

Sarah warped her arms around Kai, pulling him in before she spoke in a soft voice. “Kai, when we found you, there was a woman. I’m gonna guess she was Arthaya. She told us a bit about what you had been through. She also asked that we take care of you, and we told her we would. We will keep that promise. However you want your future to progress, we will do our best to see it happen. All you have to do is ask, and we will find you a home where you can live as normal a life as you can if that’s what you want.”

Kai glanced up at Sarah from where he sat, and then over at Bear and answered the question from earlier that morning. “I want power. I want the power to control my fate and the fate of those that I hold dear. I want the power to control my life and to never be pushed around again.” There was an intangible weight to Kai’s words that weighed down on everyone there. They were more than the words of a child seeking to gain control of his life. They were a declaration that held more weight than any of the people there could ever understand. There was a shift in the tide of Kai’s fate that had a ripple effect that would be felt across the world for millions of years to come.

As if in reaction to Kai’s decision, the medallion in his hand began to almost imperceptibly vibrate as a suction force grabbed onto Kai’s mind. The world seemed to fall away as Kai was drawn into the meta physical mana scape of the medallion.