"Don't worry about it. Who knows, you could end up with even more powerful majik than me." Luke put a comforting hand on my shoulder, flashing me a quick smile. "Any of you could."

"That's doubtful," Alaina cut in, taking hold of her satchel for school and shaking Merkos, who was still fast asleep in bed. "It's in your blood. We'll be lucky if even one of us is born with any type of ability."

I fiddled with my hands, looking away from them all. "Well, maybe Luke is right. Or maybe all of us will be able to pass the test. That's not impossible." I hoped that was the case as I grabbed my own satchel from under my bed, shoving the countless books I had about tracking spells out of the way. I had read all about how majik could be used to locate lost objects or people. Now all I needed was the ability for it.

"It's pretty much impossible- Merkos come on! We have to go!" With that, Alaina was shoving the black-haired boy onto the floor, jolting him awake. He sat up, rubbing his head as he gave the girl a dazed look. "It's Testing Day."

It felt like forever, waiting for the other two to get ready while I paced back and forth by the door. I knew every child of ten Withers experienced the same nerves that day, but... I felt like I depended on that answer more than anyone else. I needed to be told I had majik, and what I could do. My fingers were tapping each other incessantly by this point, wishing that Alaina and Merkos could lace their sandals faster. As they finished, I was already throwing open the fort's door, stepping out when I felt a hand on my shoulder again. I turned, seeing Luke wincing a bit at me.

"Xoris... I-I saw the books under your bed. I know how much you want to find your mom but I want you to know that-"

I flinched. When has he gone through my things? I scrambled to try and explain myself. "Don't jinx me! What did you just say about me possibly having more majik than you? I can do this I-'' He cut me off with a shake of his head, and I hated the pained look in his eyes. Luke was never serious, and I glanced back at Alaina and Merkos, starting to make their way to school without me.

"It's not that I don't think you can have majik, I just..." He ran his hands over his face, his fingers scraping over the tips of his ears. "I had wanted to find them too. When I got my majik, the first thing I did was try to find my mom. But... she wasn't the loving person I had hoped she would be. When I went to the Fae forest, they turned me away. They... they told me my wings were too short. That I was too much of a Human to deserve them at all and..."

His hands trembled as he spoke, eyes wide as he shook under the hold of the memory, but he didn't need to say anything for me to understand. I could still remember running down the halls with him only a few Withers ago, my feet pattering on the stone as he drifted ever so slightly above the floor. The tally he went missing, the day he came home, wings in tatters and fearful tears streaming down his face. I already knew what they'd done to him, but he continued all the same.

"They said I was just the consequence of some Fae seeing what she could do with an illusion spell and a night on the town. And when I found my father... He was just some tired man who gave me to the fort because he couldn't think of how to take care of me. The only thing he ever did was bandage me up and apologise before giving me up a second time."

Tears were coming out his eyes now, fast and fresh at having to deal with the memories again. He wiped them away quickly, sniffing heavily. "I just don't want that for you. We all are here for you, Xoris. We're a family, not the people who turned their back on you. Please remember that."

"Thanks. It's... It's fine, really," I replied, pushing his hand off me. "I just... Lost something, something that was very important to me. It was a book, for sure."

At that, Luke laughed, the sound slightly broken from tears as he put a hand over his mouth. "You're such a bad liar, you know that? You shouldn't do that. Only bad people lie. But..." He wiped the back of his hand over his face, trying to dry it. "I'll trust you for now, so go pass your test then, all right?"

I nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed at how easily Luke had read through the lie. I should have just kept my mouth shut, I thought before running to catch up to the other two children, leaving Luke and the fort behind.

The school was a tall building, the roof made entirely from stone on the off chance of it raining. Despite it being the tenth and final day of the tally, the building was filled with people, both children and parent's eager to learn if their child was one of the special 'chosen' before gaining an apprenticeship or graduating. I wondered if any of them was my mother, waiting for her son amongst the crowd. The idea filled me with hope as I took a seat next to Merkos who was still trying to brush the sleep from his eyes.

"Students! Today is a special day, one marked by Palkhiv and Clesydra themselves as we set out to find each Human child born with majik derived from the gods," the headmaster announced, their long hair swept up with their arms as they raised them into the air. A cheer erupted around me as they brought their hands back down, placing them over a glass ball filled with fresh, Stained water from the river. "One by one, you shall come up to the stage, and present yourself to your god by taking hold of the Orb. There, they will tell of your majik to you, and you alone."

By now my legs were swinging in my seat from pure excitement. While my name was certainly not first on the list, I could be patient. I watched as one of my classmates was called forth, Nylo Alkhin. He sauntered onto the platform, a cocky smirk on his face as he took hold of the orb. The crowd collectively held their breath for a few drips, waiting.

All of a sudden, the boy let out a small cry as the water's heka reacted just by being near him, flashing from red to a rich purple as it sent a small, painful jolt through his veins. He quickly put the orb down before looking up at the headmaster.

"What a lovely start to this Wither's Test! Welcome your new majik-user, Nylo!" 

I snapped along with the crowd. Alaina glanced over, casting me a sour look for a moment, and I looked at my right hand, quickly switching to snap with my left so as not to be rude to the boy walking off the stage. I mouthed an apology to her, then a new name was called. It took a while for the list to wind down to the letter K, some children jumping as they were told of their proficiency, others being let down and led off the stage, but soon, I heard the first name I'd been waiting on.

"Alaina Kamdainn!" With that, she was pulling herself out of her seat, tossing her braid over her shoulder, then heading up the same staircase. She wasted no time putting her hands on the ball, before her eyes widened. The water inside whipped around, sloshing towards her as if to attack. She removed her hands, and in an instant the water died back down. She tore her eyes away from the sight, looking for my face in the crowd.

I beamed up at her, trying to silently form the words, 'I knew you could do it', whether she could see and understand them or not.

"Excellent, and quite a powerful reaction too. Merkos Kamdainn!" The boy stood up next to me, and I smiled, trying to offer him the same encouragement. My happiness for him only grew when the orb also shook in his hands, shocking him.

My feet were swinging quickly now, my fingers fumbling against each other in excitement as he walked off and they prepared for the next contestant. "Zor-is Kamdainn?"

I tried not to give the headmaster a look at the awful pronunciation as I pushed myself up the wooden steps. All the same, it could hardly put a damper on my mood as I looked at the glass ball in front of me, the size of a head. The red water swirled around in it, thick, and to me, full of promise. Without waiting any longer, I placed my hands on either side, lifting the ball a little as I peered inside, waiting for the heka to attack my latent majik and wake it up.

But instead, a peaceful sensation began to spread up my arms, relaxing every muscle in my body, and a daze settled in my mind as I stood there waiting. It was as if another presence was there, powerful, yet disturbed. Why, a strange voice asked from a place I couldn't see. Why must Humans be so wasteful, not even drinking, but hurting themselves just to become stronger than they already are. Parasites.

The words themselves made me jump, but the orb still lay docile in my hands while the crowd looked on, confused. Palkhiv? Is that you? I tried to think as a reply, but even then, I knew it couldn't be right. Palkhiv was a man, and this sounded more like an unmal. But I got no answer as the headmaster wrenched the orb from my hands.

"It seems you have no majik, but that's all right! You can aid Humanity in another way, by being a soldier, or other options. Off the stage now," the headmaster ushered, waving me away.

"Wait! I need to-" but I was cut off as a teacher came forward, taking hold of my wrist and leading me off the second staircase down.

"Next! Haern Madjun!"

Tears were streaming out of my eyes by the time the teacher led me back to where Alaina and Merkos were standing. I didn't even have time to explain before Merkos was throwing his arms around me. "I'm sorry. I know how much you were looking forward to being able to use majik."

"What happened up there?" I could hear Alaina asking. "You looked... almost like you weren't there."

"That's why I was trying to touch it again. Someone talked to me through it. They sounded like an unmal, but I didn't get to ask them anything," I tried to explain. Merkos just let go of me though as they exchanged worried looks.

"Xoris, no one actually gets to talk to a god with the orb. It's just supposed to be an extension of their will, or something, and besides there's no unmal god." Alaina cast another glance at Merkos before they nodded. "Come on. Let's go back home. I'm sure we can get the twins up by now and we can all eat breakfast, all right?"

"But-" I clenched my hands weakly. I knew what I had heard, didn't I? Or was I just upset to learn that I would never have majik, or that any chance of finding my mother had been taken from me in an instant? I sighed, letting it go. "All right."

𓂀

The scent of death pulled Xoris out of sleep.

He sat up in the bed Kraim had given him, the thin, white sheets rustling in complaint at the sudden tug. The room around him was dark, and mostly barren, and yet, he could only see out of a small oval, the rest of the room shrouded not in shadow, but the unknown.

"Don't look Stained around the castle. There's no need to scare people when you can simply cover it up." Kraim's advice echoed in his mind, and yet...

No one's around right now, are they? And besides that, his skin itched from keeping them closed day after day, the constant discomfort only driven away when he was allowed food. Even then, it wasn't pleasant, Kraim watching his every move as if forking whatever green contents he was given into his mouth wasn't awkward enough. Still, the man had been right once again. He hadn't had any "lapses" in the few days he'd spent here. So that should mean having a quick rest won't do any harm, right?

Relaxing his hold on the heka in his chest, the full scope of his surroundings came into view: from the wooden headboard of the bed behind him, to the stone bricks rising up to a high ceiling only broken up by a single, arched window. The warm, stuffy air of the night weighed on his skin like an added blanket, but aside from being uncomfortable, nothing seemed to be amiss. Just a fruity, corpse-like scent that felt far closer than it should. Or perhaps he was imagining it with his last meal being several turns ago. Either way, it was pleasant.

The feeling was followed by aggravation rumbling through his chest at the fact that it smelt sweet at all, that he would even think of something so vile in the first place. He laid his head back down.

Still, even with the crisp, white sheets tugged over his head and the lingering smell continuing to coax his heka into a far more relaxed state, his mind was up now, full of racing thoughts. It had been four days since he'd returned. Four days of scouring the castle whenever Kraim wasn't watching him, trying to find out where the king spent his spare time without being shadowed by his advisor. Very rarely was that the case though, and the more time he wasted, the less time he had before Kraim sent him on the dekhr mission he'd proposed.

"I want you to find this Vampire, I want you to get this so-called Higher Beast's location from it, and then I want you to kill 'her'."

That was what he had agreed to, and yet, now matter how many times the idea had crossed Xoris' mind in the past few days, it felt... wrong. Not when the Vampire seemed so much like a person. She had been sly, cunning, fully aware of her every move, and more than that, she'd seemed concerned, not for her well-being, but for his own.

No matter what way he thought about it, every time his mind circled back to how hurt she'd seemed when he'd called himself a Thing, or who he worked for. The way she'd told him to come find her when he was ready, but for what? To be better? To give in?

Either way, he doubted it would fix much. Humans were falling from the king's ineptitude, and killing one more Stained didn't end the war. If Kraim was in charge, then it would be different. Xoris could be sent out alone onto a battlefield with no Humans to harm, taking down each monster with the Higher Beast being the last to fall to his blade. Maybe then, when it was all over and it had been slain, then Kraim would dispose of The Thing of Eyes and Teeth as the final Stained, and their work would be finished. No more people would be hurt, and everything would be peaceful. Fixed.

But Kraim said I'd be sent out tomorrow. Xoris sat up again, crumpling the sheets in his fists. A deep breath pulled through him from his side, the air filling his lungs until he pushed it out through the back of his head, rustling his hair. I'm wasting time. If I get sent to kill her, the king will live and hundreds of soldiers will die just like Luke did.

Rage coursed through him as he remembered Rajul relaying the information to him, the way the man had followed orders so blindly. The man he cared for had been killed, disposed of before Xoris had ever seen his body. But it was simply another, nameless, faceless soldier to the man who oversaw it all. Who would be the next?

Xoris stood, reaching for his sword beside the bed. The handle felt cool without his usual gloves, the blade perfectly weighted for battle. No more waiting. Either I kill him tonight, or the cycle continues. There was no time to explain the situation to Kraim, nor carry out the deed smoothly. He would simply have to explain it to him once there was no other option to be taken. Xoris was sure he would understand. Even when he'd arrived as a bloody mess, Kraim had taken the situation well, trying to smile, givng him another chance, even offering him a drink. Xoris nodded to himself. Kraim was smart, kind, and forgiving... He would understand.

Slipping off the water-filled leather of the mattress, he crept over to the door. A few eyes on his arm wandered over to the wooden table he'd been given to rest his armour on. It sat there, the golden insignia watching him betray the one who had given him his status. And yet, it had never truly been his choice. Just another order he'd followed with a bent head.

Xoris shot it a glare, heka flaring up in his chest with its familiar, apathetic outlook. He didn't need it. It would be easy. Usually a plain white shirt, reaching down to his calves and tied to his waist with a yellow sash wasn't battle attire, but he wouldn't need anything better.

Not to kill such a pathetic insect.

Xoris paused, eyes narrowing at the ground at that. The words echoed in his mind, feeling strangely foreign, but it wasn't another voice. The thought had come from himself.

His ears pricked, but the only sound was of servants walking outside his door, a good number of them actually from the twenty or so heartbeats he could make out, even so far away. His fingers curled tighter around the blade, a sudden urge tugging him to leave the room. To greet the visitors.

Stop it! He shook his head, trying to make the feeling leave. All he wanted to do was dispose of the king, and yet... He cast another look at the blade. There was an instinct in him, behind the vengeance and greater good. He despised the king, hating every moment of watching him lazily feast and order Kraim about, but thinking about the king in such a lowly fashion, like Xoris himself was better than him— 

That's not me, is it? I don't think like that. But it wasn't like the Vilve talking to him, another presence connecting to his own. It was his will, his wants, as if the only thing guiding him forward was himself with no one else to blame.

His shoulders shook, eyes darting fearfully towards the table again. ...I didn't want the armour on either.

It seemed foolish, grabbing for the breastplate and hastily putting it on. After all, if his mind was truly his own, why wouldn't he listen to himself? What point was there in rebelling in his own thoughts? And yet a desperate panic raced through him, tightening his chest and prickling at his skin as he finally grabbed the green cape: the last piece.

A breathy laugh crawled out of his chest, hunched over to fumble with the cloak's clasp. "Ha... What now, Self? I have the armour you didn't want. What else don't you want me to do that I'll be carrying out anyway?" The mouth on his face chuckled as the words flowed from his hand, wrist rumbling with each lower tone. "Go on. You're me, aren't you? But how do you control yourself? You're already you. You can't control yourself. You can't- You can't-"

You can't control yourself.

He cut himself off, staring at the door continuing to stand in front of him. It took all of his effort to focus back on the room, to pull himself out of... whatever he'd been doing. He dragged a hand down his face, wiping away cold sweat. What am I doing? All he'd had was a single, strange idea. It didn't mean that he was something besides himself, or that he was working against his own body. All he'd done was think over his mission once again, and now he was wasting time talking to himself like a madman.

That's it. No more stalling. With one final breath, he pushed aside the tarp covering his door, craning his head to peer out of it. He was surprised to find though, instead of an empty hallway, the end of the corridor contained two men, dragging... something behind them. Xoris would have called it a Human, but it left a trail of black sludge on the floor behind it, the form bloated, misshapen, all the while carrying that same horrid yet comforting scent.

"Come on, Delhi!" one fiercely whispered to the other, huffing to pull the decrepit thing another pace or so. "We don't have all night."

"Like I'm not putting in any effort. This daljur is heavy."

Xoris flicked a single green eye on his neck up to glare at them. That was no way to refer to a dead body. If anything, he was the one who should be called that for literally being the descendant of a Beast, but their lack of respect was quickly forgotten as Xoris' mind trailed back to the man in the tavern grabbing at his cloak, shouting in his face about how he'd done nothing to stop a cult from stealing the dead.

But that can't be right. Here, in the castle? What would the king need corpses for? Then a realisation struck him, and he froze, a chill finding its way to dance down his spine. Unless.. They're for me. But that also didn't make sense. The cult had been brought to his attention far before he had done what he had to the general. So this has to be something else entirely.

Whatever it was, the idea of it made his skin crawl. Though, if anything, perhaps it was just another reason to take down the man in charge. He took another step out past the door, sword in hand. Right now, it didn't matter where the strange thought had come from, or where the king was. For now, he would follow them, see what secrets they were holding, and then— Then he would strike.