***
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Amber questioned Leveness, as she stood near the large window at the back of Leveness' office.
"They'll be fine, Amber. I'm more worried about you getting too attached to them." Leveness responded.
"You don't get to pretend like you don't cherish your 'Weapons'." Amber replied with a scoff.
"Like I said before, they'll be fine. Their cores are already on the verge of entering Master rank." Leveness responded, finishing her paperwork and moving next to Amber.
"No matter how fast they grow, it wards neither danger nor death. I can even say that it invites them." Amber continued, her mind clearly moving down a dark path.
"The journey to Castillan is the safest stretch of land on the continent. It rarely has any formidable aether beasts, abominations don't come this far west and bandit activity has slowed on this side of the continent." Leveness reassured Amber's dark thoughts.
"I do hope your analysis is accurate." Amber ended, excusing herself from Leveness' office.
Leveness kept her gaze out the office's window, absorbing the beautiful landscape as her thoughts circled her mind.
"No matter where they go, the life of an awakener is often filled with blood and danger. It's even more certain as those two thrive in combat, almost like they were born to fight…"
Pushing her thoughts to the side, Leveness moved back to her desk, picking up a single piece of paper out of a scattered bunch.
"K has been studying their stigmas, he realized that something had been done to their cores that prevented Gaia from analyzing its contents entirely. Most likely it was the ice awakened they briefly spoke of because Valon was not capable of such abilities."
Placing the piece of paper back down, Leveness continued to ponder.
"A seal that functions to weaken them but they still grow at an abnormal pace… Is it even a seal?"
Leveness' doubt reverberated through her mind, "Is it a limiter?" she spoke out loud.
Her words held no confidence, but if she was right it could change everything she thought she understood. Limiters were extremely complex and haven't been used or seen since before the Dusk War.
For someone out there to be able to produce two limiters was a frightening thought.
What other forgotten techniques and abilities did they know?
Rushing out of her office, paper in hand and a plethora of questions swirling through her mind, Leveness only had one doubt.
"Why did they place a limiter on them?"
As she moved through the castle hallways, a realization came to her.
It was so obvious.
"They had to know about their potential, then decided to limit their abilities so that they could exist under the radar. But then why leave them to their own devices?"
Clicking her tongue, she barged into the Hold's library.
K was sitting at his desk as usual, reading a book titled "Artemis' Intricate Index of Seal - Empiric Edition."
"We might've been looking at this whole thing wrong, K" Leveness said as she littered the paper across K's desk, "It's not a seal, what if the awakened who did this made it look like a seal but it was actually a limiter?"
"Think about it? They could have foreseen that the lack of information provided by Gaia would have been presumed to be an error or the effects of their stigma. Even when William looked at their cores, he could not sense anything wrong with them. And the fact that they could use their stigma and stigmata with these effects mean that nothing was sealed."
"But why would they do that if they were aware of their potential? Why stunt their growth?" Leveness continued.
"Maybe they were trying to keep them hidden from whoever caused the fall of house grey?" K posed a valid question.
The grey clan was a renowned family of awakened warriors known for being powerful mercenaries. They used their god given talents to conquer the battlefield in favour of the highest and most honorable bidder.
Their disappearance over two decades ago had puzzled the minds of many, both their enemies and employers.
"They might lead us to the grey clan's legacy?" Leveness added, a serious look plastered across her face.
"Or what's left of it." K added.
"I need you to look into their lineage, K. Go through all the records you can find, and focus on any dealings clan grey had with the elves." Leveness gave K a final command before she left the library.
"All this progress yet nothing about Xaryus' bond." K pondered, his mind lingering on the cold sensation he felt from Xaryus whenever he had used his stigmata.
***
Xaryus and Zadius exited the gate and stepped into the familiar room that held the Lionheart manor gate.
One of the two guards stationed at the gate escorted them out into the front courtyard.
They took a moment to bask in the beauty of the manors garden and its exquisite details.
On the road leading towards the manor sat a simple, black carriage seemingly chosen to divert unwanted attention. Harnessed in front were two horses, their reins held by an old man in plain clothes and a brimmed hat.
Near the carriage, Velmo and Rosaly stood wearing comfortable clothes. Velmo wore simple brown pants with a white, short sleeved shirt tucked into his pants.
Rosaly was dressed in a basic grey and white dress, in stark contrast with her long flowing crimson hair and her beautiful features.
"Xaryus, Zadius! It's been too long." Velmo exclaimed joyfully as Xaryus and Zadius approached.
"Good to see you again, Velmo." Xaryus responded, sharing a soft nod in Rosaly's direction.
"Thank you again for saving me so many years ago." Rosaly said.
"You owe us nothing." Xaryus responded kindly.
Rosaly flashed a soft smile, "Let us prepare to depart, we don't want to be late."
"The road to Castillan should be safe but keep your eyes peeled. There has been some strange activity alongside the main road to Castillan."
"Bandits?" Zadius questioned.
Velmo simply nodded in response, "It's been recent so we're not sure if they intend to base down in the area or they're just passing through."
Xaryus and Zadius listened before entering the carriage, its interior covered in a velvet leather that seemed slightly worn.
At Velmo's command the old coach man whipped his reins and the carriage set out.
They exited the middle ring of the city and made their way through the common sector, passing through the city's main, northern gate and moving along the main road towards Castillan.