Aurelion walked silently down a dark corridor. The pain in his palm continued to throb, and blood dripped to the floor intermittently. He took a deep breath. He looked at his right hand. Beneath the drying blood, the deep gashes his nails had made were visible.
"Foolishness," he hissed inwardly. This was the cost of losing control. This hand, these wounds, could hinder his fighting. They could disrupt his training. It was weakness. It was unacceptable, but he now understood better what he needed to do to prevent it from happening again.
He walked towards the door leading to the courtyard. It was getting dark. He went directly into the infirmary.
Old Healer Gretha was busy sorting some herbs at her desk. She looked up when Aurelion entered silently. Her eyes fell on his bleeding hand. Her experienced eyes immediately understood from the shape of the wound that this was not a fighting injury, but rather... self inflicted.
"Son? What happened to your hand? How did this happen?"
"It doesn't matter," Aurelion said dismissively, extending his hand towards the desk. "I just want you to take care of this. Clean it and wrap it. I don't want it to interfere with my training."
Gretha sighed. This child... The glint in his eyes and this indifferent attitude always unsettled her. Nevertheless, she did her job. She carefully cleaned the wound.
As Gretha taking care of the wound, the infirmary door creaked open and Nazgûl stumbled in. The orc brat still hadn't fully recovered, it was clear he was still in pain.
When his eyes met Aurelion's in the room, he suddenly flinched and he immediately averted his gaze, slumping onto a bench in the corner.
Gretha tightly wrapped Aurelion's hand with a clean cloth. "Be careful with this for a few days," she murmured. "Don't strain it. Don't let it get infected."
"Thanks," Aurelion said emotionlessly and quickly got up from the table.
When Aurelion left the infirmary, it was already quite dark. The courtyard was almost empty. Normally, he would have gone inside too. But not today. There were things he had to do now. He looked at his bandaged hand.
Linnea's piercing gaze, Harkan's attitude... Attacking Grok directly now would be foolish. He would be blamed instantly. Besides, this gnawing restlessness within him, this pressure, wouldn't subside. Instead of exploding, it needed to be channeled. No. There had to be a way that left no physical trace, no evidence.
Fear... Yes. Fear left no marks but gnawed at the soul. More... elegant. More controlled. And perhaps more satisfying to snuff out this inner fire.
He moved a short distance from the infirmary exit to one of the darkest corners of the courtyard. He was invisible but had a clear view of the infirmary door. He waited.
A few minutes later, the infirmary door opened again, and Nazgûl, stepped out. He looked around, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw no one, and started walking towards.
Just as he was about to step into a more lit area, Aurelion darted out from the shadows and blocked his path.
Nazgûl flinched in fear, taking a step back, but Aurelion was already beside him. With a swift and silent movement, Aurelion grabbed Nazgûl by his uninjured shoulder and pushed him hard against the nearby cold stone wall.
Aurelion leaned close to Nazgûl's face. His hand pressed the orc's shoulder firmly against the wall. "Don't move," Aurelion whispered, "And don't you dare scream." His eyes flickered for a moment to Nazgûl's bandaged nose. "If you make a single foolish sound, I swear I'll rip that nose clean off your face this time. Not even Gretha will be able to put it back. I'll tear you apart." The threat was so intense that Nazgûl's breath caught in his throat. he began to tremble.
Aurelion squeezed his shoulder a little harder. "Now listen to me carefully, orc." His face was only inches from Nazgûl's. "Tell that stupid brother of yours, Grok...not to wander around alone at night like you do. It can be dangerous out here. You never know what might happen to him." His eyes locked onto Nazgûl's terrified eyes.
Aurelion hissed impatiently at the orc's silence. He slowly pressed the finger into the sensitive area right next to Nazgûl's bandaged nose, on a still aching wound.
Nazgûl winced in pain, a suppressed whimper escaping his lips.
"Understand?" Aurelion asked again, his voice was calm, but the pressure of his finger increased. Nazgûl nodded his head up and down quickly and desperately. Tears had begun to fall from his eyes.
Once Aurelion got the confirmation he wanted, he removed his finger. He released his shoulder and took a step back. Nazgûl remained pressed against the wall, frozen by fear and pain.
Aurelion turned his back and made a gesture as if brushing dust off himself. He glanced briefly at his bandaged hand. Then, as if nothing had happened, he began to walk with calm steps towards the other end of the courtyard, towards the orphanage entrance.
With every step he took, there was a strange sense of satisfaction within him. As the shadows swallowed him, he left behind a trembling orc and threat hanging in the air.
When he returned to the orphanage, he spent the rest of the evening in quiet observation. He didn't retreat to his bunk immediately. From a quieter corner of the common room, he watched Grok and the four Northern boys who had been with him that morning.
After a while, Nazgûl joined them. Although Grok and the others teased him briefly, they cut it short due to Nazgûl's obvious fear and his pain. Nazgûl pulled Grok aside, and the two began to talk.
Nazgûl's expression was clearly fearfu. Grok's face, on the other hand, was progressively darkening, his brows furrowing, what he heard making him even angrier.
Just as their conversation was ending, Aurelion calmly got up from where he was sitting and walked directly over to them.
He said nothing. He just stood there and looked at them. With those steady, expressionless, golden eyes... The moment Nazgûl saw him, he froze. Grok also turned and saw Aurelion, looking at him with a mixture of surprise and anger.
Aurelion stood there for a few heartbeats, watching their discomfort, Nazgûl's fear, and Grok's anger with cold satisfaction. Then, he slowly turned his back and walked away with the same calm steps.
Later, when he saw Grok leave his friends and head towards the latrine, Aurelion silently followed him. He didn't go inside.
A few minutes later, when Grok came out, he was walking looking straight ahead.
When Grok noticed the small figure standing motionless right beside him in the doorway, he almost stumbling.
His eyes turned to Aurelion with surprise and a hint of fear. Aurelion again said nothing. He just looked at him expressionlessly. Grok grumbled, and quickly walked past him down the corridor.
When it was time for bed and the large lamps in the dormitory were extinguished, the children had retreated to their beds.
Everywhere was quiet. Aurelion was not in his own bed. He slowly walked past the row where Grok's bed was located. Grok was already under the covers. Just as he reached Grok's bed, Aurelion coughed lightly, dryly, as if clearing his throat. The sound was small, but in the silence of the night, it was audible enough.
Grok froze stiff under the covers. That sound... It was very close. He quickly sat up and looked around, but Aurelion had already reached the end of the row and was heading towards his own bed.
Grok only saw a faint shadow moving away. Was that cough a coincidence? Or... When Grok lay his head back on the pillow, his eyes were wide open. That elf was playing with him. Getting on his nerves.
Aurelion, however, lay down in his own bed. His bandaged hand throbbed faintly, but he didn't care. A cold smile, invisible in the darkness, played on his lips.
Aurelion closed his eyes but he wasn't asleep. Though his body ached from Harkan's extra training and his own wounds, his mind was working with unusual clarity.
That moment of explosion in the corridor, that brief instant when he'd completely lost control and dug his nails into his palm... it was different. Both frightening and... alive. He slowly lifted his bandaged right hand. He replayed that moment in his mind. The suppressed wrath, the pain, the tearing of skin by his nails, and then... that momentary golden light. That strange, internal throb that emanated from the very center of his palm, from where the Seal was. It had lasted only a heartbeat, but it was real.
"What was that?" he whispered to himself. Linnea's words came to mind: "Every living being has an energy center... a "Core"..." Then Elara's mention of the "river within her"...
Was the Seal's reaction, that glow, related to this "Core"? Did it only manifest in moments of intense emotional and physical pain? Or... was it something that could be felt, controlled?
His curiosity overcame his fatigue and pain. He sat up, cross legged on his bed. He closed his eyes. He erased the presence of the sleeping bodies around him from his mind. First, he tried to just listen, as Elara had said. He slowed his breathing, focused on his heartbeat, the blood flowing through his veins, the slight ache in his muscles... There was nothing beyond normal bodily sensations. Only the throbbing in his bandaged hand distracted him somewhat. "Nonsense..." he thought. "How can you listen to a river?"
Perhaps it needed to be forced? He directed all his will inward, as he had tried to do against the wall before. In his mind, he imagined a small, dim ember in the very center of his chest. He tried to animate it, to send energy to it, to feel it.
He held his breath. His heart quickened, but this was merely a result of physical exertion. There was no movement, no vibration, no flow within. Just emptiness and a growing headache. "It's not working..."
He remained motionless for a few minutes. Perhaps the problem wasn't forcing or listening? Perhaps the secret lay in that word Linnea had mentioned: "harmony"? To work in harmony... Perhaps instead of trying to feel it, he needed to simply accept its existence, to become one with it?
He tried again. This time, he didn't force it. His breathing was regular. He imagined a calm, deep ocean of energy at his very center. A slowly flowing, silent ocean. He didn't try to control it. He just thought of himself as a part of it. He focused all his attention inward, as if trying to catch that invisible current beneath his skin. He just tried to feel. He listened to the deepest, quietest corner of his body.
Minutes passed. The cold air made his skin tingle, a distant snoring sound could be heard, but Aurelion had shut all of it out.
Just as he was about to give up... there it was. So faint, so fleeting, he almost missed it. Just below his ribs, somewhere deep inside, a momentary tingle. It lasted less than a second. Not a warmth, not a vibration, just... a different sensation. The sensation vanished as quickly as it came.
Aurelion's eyes flew open. He held his breath. "Was... was that it?" He tried to focus again, to recapture that sensation, directing all his attention to the same spot.
But it was gone. Vanished. He tried again, still nothing. Had he imagined it? Or had one of his muscles twitched? Or maybe... had he truly received the first, faintest signal of the existence of that "core," within him? He couldn't be sure.
He looked at the bandage on his hand. The Seal was motionless. There was no glow. So this sensation was different from the reaction during that outburst.
He lay back on his bed. He hadn't succeeded, no. But that momentary, tiny sensation... it had ignited a spark of hope within him. If this wasn't an illusion, then he was on the right path. It was just... a very, very long path. And learning this would be even more complicated than he had thought.
As the first light of day painted the sky a pale gray, four small figures appeared on the hardened mud in front of the warehouse wall.
Lyra, Kael, and Elara gathered around Aurelion, but there was more than the usual distance between them. All their eyes were on the bandage wrapped around Aurelion's hand.
Aurelion stood before them. For a few long seconds, he silently scanned them. His gaze lingered on each of their faces.
Finally, he broke the silence "The question I asked yesterday... did you find an answer?"
There was a moment's hesitation. Then Kael spoke first. "Yes,"
One of Aurelion's eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh? And what is your answer then?"
Kael didn't hesitate. "...Like in your fight with Nazgûl... we have to go all the way. We have to put everything on the line."
A faint expression appeared on Aurelion's face "In that case," he said simply. "Show me."
And suddenly, as the words hung in the air, Aurelion launched himself at Kael. He used his left side. A swift left fist aimed directly at Kael's guard. But Aurelion wasn't aiming for critical points. His eyes weren't on Kael's eyes, but on his reaction. What would he do? Would he wait again?
Kael flinched, his guard wavered, but this time he didn't back down. As Aurelion's fist struck his block, Kael gritted his teeth and, instinctively took a step forward and threw his own punch. The blow missed, but Kael had retaliated.
Against Aurelion's second, lower attack, Kael tried to protect himself again. Just as Aurelion was about to make a move to grab him, Kael didn't wait this time. He threw a hard kick towards Aurelion's leg. The kick hit Aurelion's knee. Pain contorted his face, but Kael had attacked at the cost of taking a blow. "Reckless..." Aurelion thought.
"Stop!" Aurelion suddenly pulled back. There was both surprise and a kind of determination on the wolf boy's face. He had taken a beating, yes, but he hadn't remained motionless.
"I don't think I asked you to change your fighting style," Aurelion said "My aim was only to see if you stood behind your words. And your... recklessness just now, confirms it. You have the will to fight, you just need to learn how to use it. You need to find a balance between your defense and your attack, instead of foolishly rushing forward."
Then his gaze shifted to Lyra. "And what about you, fox? What's your answer?"
Lyra sulked, crossing her arms over her chest. She averted her eyes, her cheeks slightly flushed. "From now on, I won't let my opponent distract me," she grumbled. Then she lifted her head. "In fact... I'll be the one doing the distracting!"
"Nonsense." Aurelion's reply was instant. "You? You can't even control your own anger. You're impatient, you jump at every insult you hear. Your instincts act before your mind. Do you really think you can trap someone with your intelligence?" Aurelion slowly walked towards Lyra as he spoke.
Lyra tensed, taking a defensive stance. "You're not aware of what you're doing," Aurelion continued. Just as he entered Lyra's defensive range, he suddenly attacked. Lyra instinctively jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the kick.
"Every move you make is unplanned!" Aurelion didn't stop, immediately following with a low sweeping attack. Lyra jumped again to escape. "You react without thinking about your next step! You attack just like a cornered, mad animal!" He approached again, probing Lyra's guard with a series of light punches.
Lyra tensedly tried to block, to retreat, her eyes flashing with anger, but she didn't utter a single word.
"You only trust your instincts!" Aurelion hissed. "And that makes you stupid! You're a dumb animal trusting its instincts!" Aurelion paused as he was about to deliver a final, harder blow. Lyra was panting, her face flushed from both anger and exertion, but that stubbornness was still in her eyes. "Maybe... maybe you're right." She lifted her head, looking directly into Aurelion's eyes. "But now... I'll try to change."
This confession stopped Aurelion. This girl, despite all the insults, had maintained her composure and admitted her weakness. This... was impressive.
The harsh expression on Aurelion's face softened slightly. He took a step forward and lightly touched Lyra's shoulder, whose eyes widened in surprise.
"I believe you," he said simply.
Then his eyes turned to Elara, who had been watching them all this time.
The familiar look of hesitation in the girl's eyes instantly brought Aurelion to the brink of losing his patience again. That same fear, that same passivity...
Elara's green eyes suddenly narrowed. She bit her lip. And in an instant Elara let out a small battle cry and lunged forward! She attacked Aurelion directly.
Aurelion was genuinely surprised for a moment. He easily blocked Elara's flailing little fists. The girl's sudden courage... was impressive. But also... dangerously clumsy. This wasn't a game.
Aurelion saw that the girl's guard was completely open. He had to teach her a lesson, yes, but not like Nazgûl. A controlled lesson. As he caught one of her attacks, he quickly ducked and delivered a hard punch to Elara's solar plexus.
"Hmph!"
Elara's breath hitched. Her eyes widened in surprise and pain. She stumbled back a few steps, doubled over, coughing and gasping for air. Aurelion just waited. Would she give up? Would she cry?
She gritted her teeth. She lifted her head, took her stance again, and without a word, walked towards Aurelion again.
The nervousness was there, yes. But something else had replaced the fear. A will. Aurelion easily caught the next clumsy punch aimed at his face with his left hand.
Elara's arm was trembling, but she wasn't looking away.
A genuine, involuntary smirk appeared on Aurelion's face, perhaps for the first time that this girl... showed courage.
"Well done," he said. He gently released the hand he was holding.
Elara looked at him in astonishment. This wasn't the reaction she had expected. But that "well done" seemed to have made all the pain worthwhile.
Lyra's mouth was slightly open, as if she couldn't believe what had just happened. Kael, whose face was usually expressionless, had a rare, slight look of surprise.
It was Lyra who broke the silence first. She approached Elara. She lightly patted her on the shoulder "Wow, Woodpecker," she said grinning. "Turns out you have some fire in you! You really surprised us. I think you especially surprised him." She glanced at Aurelion out of the corner of her eye.
Kael also approached. He looked at Elara, didn't speak, but he smiled slightly and nodded in approval.
Elara's cheeks flushed with this unexpected attention. Her eyes sparkled. "Well... I... I guess I was just tired of being scared," she mumbled shyly.
The trio began to whisper among themselves.. A new, bond was forming between them.
Aurelion stood a few steps back, watching them silently. This momentary warmth that this small group had created among themselves didn't concern him. Or so it seemed. Inwardly, however, he was thinking, "Good. An unexpected result, but acceptable. If they support each other, perhaps they'll develop faster. Fewer headaches."
After a few minutes, he cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to him. The whispers instantly ceased. "If you're done talking," Aurelion said, his voice returning to that harsh instructor tone. "We continue training. This time, instead of flailing around foolishly, you will focus on your own styles."
Finally, as the sun rose higher and the courtyard began to warm, Aurelion ended the training. The three youngsters were out of breath, but there was a different expression on their faces. Fatigue, but also the vitality of having accomplished something, of having learned something new.
Aurelion turned to them. "Listen to me," he said. "That pack of fools from yesterday... or others... If they bother you again... you will be ruthless. Do you hear me? No more retreating, ignoring, or being afraid. I want to see you actively retaliate, put them in their place." He slowly approached, his voice dropping to a whisper. "If someone raises a hand to you, don't just block, break their arm. If someone insults you, don't just stay silent, tear they tongue so that they won't dare open their mouth again. Whoever messes with you... you will make them regret it. You will make them regret it so much that they will fear even your shadow." His eyes flickered for a moment to his own bandaged hand, then back to them. "Don't worry," he said, a sinister promise in his voice. "I've already started. You will too."
And turning his back, leaving them there with the weight of his new instructions and their own internal conflicts.
Defense was over, the attack had begun.