After an eventful day of training and understanding how the outpost worked, Xerxes walked back with the Lieutenant and Conrad. Every day was getting more and more tiring, but Xerxes was starting to find an odd sense of comfort within it.
There was structure again in his life. Even though the devastating experience he had a few days ago had shattered his world, it felt as if he was slowly building up the pieces, finding some sort of peace amongst the chaos.
Xerxes had gathered a lot of knowledge and even inspiration. There were soldiers only a bit older than he was, who were preparing their bodies and minds to face the dark woods of The Fallen Kingdom.
Their bravery had acted as a catalyst for him to not only grow in strength and companionship with the others but also to increase his bravery and overcome his past.
But even with that, he would be lying to himself if he said he was able to disregard what had happened to him; it was still tugging at his soul, and he had no feasible way to ignore it. After all, he was living amongst the monsters.
Conrad looked down at Xerxes, who was deep in thought. Over the years, Conrad had grown quite used to seeing children who had fear in their eyes, but with Xerxes, it was different.
He didn't 'fear' what his future was; he was uncertain about it. Xerxes seemed like the type of person to only accept one future, and that was the one in which he succeeded, where everything went right.
That seemed unrealistic. Conrad, and even Xerxes, had come to know this at a young age, so Conrad put a hand on the boy's shoulder and said simply, "It will all be fine, Xerxes."
Xerxes looked up, quite surprised, but knew Conrad must have been observing him and that he meant well.
He nodded, and the group advanced until they reached the castle. The castle seemed a bit more lively today. There were workers and maids pacing back and forth, and grand meals were making their way to the dining hall.
The Lieutenant made a foolish remark while rubbing his stomach: "They must have known I would be arriving today. What other reason could there be for such a big feast?"
Conrad replied with some banter, "I like you, Lieutenant, but I don't like you that much." The Lieutenant's happiness drained as his face turned gloomy.
"After all these years, Conrad, you still want to act like I ain't your best friend."
"You wish. You're just chummy with me to eventually get the role as head of the outpost." Both of them began laughing, as Xerxes wondered what Conrad and the Lieutenant must have been like as children.
They were now approaching the hall and had reached it. Conrad opened the door to see the whole family there. Food was being served, conversations were lively, and Leiya was enthusiastically telling her mother what she had learnt with Aemon today.
Leiya's eyes caught her father's, and she ran from her seat and jumped into Conrad's arms. They held each other for a short while, then Leiya greeted her father and noticed the Lieutenant.
"Hello, Mairon, long time no see. Did Dad tell you to come here?" she asked, not knowing why he would show up. But then the conversation from the morning played in her mind, "Ah, Mother needed your report, didn't she?"
The Lieutenant crouched and rubbed Leiya's head. "Exactly right, and it's been a while, little Leiya, but even though your dad misses me all the time, I can't come here often, only when things are quite important, like today. I won't be staying too long, but next time, I'll get you something."
Leiya smiled and said, "Deal." Then she saw Xerxes and waved, greeting him too. Xerxes walked back with Leiya to the seat positioned by Aliya.
Conrad and Mairon began walking to the left-hand side of the table. Mairon gave a formal and honest bow to Aemon.
Aemon called to him, "I've known you since you were knee-height, Mairon. There's no need to be so formal; you're family, my boy," he exclaimed.
Mairon chuckled and began speaking, "I look up to you the most, Sir. Always gotta make sure you can see that. I'd love to stay here longer, but I have to be quite quick about this meeting and what I found on my mission."
Aemon agreed, "Of course, that holds the most precedence, after all. So, tell me, what did you find?"
The Lieutenant took a deep breath before speaking, but he was sure not to waste a single second longer. "Seven days ago, as per your command, I travelled by myself to a further region of The Fallen Kingdom."
When Xerxes heard the mention of a further region, it immediately struck a chord of interest in him, making him adamant to hear what was happening.
"It was normal at first; there were no signs of any immediate danger. I slaughtered beast after beast, doing a regular clean-up, day after day. But on my third day there, I sensed something quite strange."
Aemon's face tensed as he listened more closely. Aliya, Xerxes, Leiya, and Conrad were also intensely listening, making sure not to miss a single ounce of information.
"I decided to travel to this strange source of power, but I wasn't able to uncover much in the surrounding area. I did all of this while keeping my caution. There were irregularities within the surrounding mana, and that is what made me confirm I was in the right area.
"I remained there for a few hours, and then I began seeing skeletons littered across the floor. It struck me as strange because all of our men wear armour. They seemed to have been dead for a very long time, and before I knew it, the trees began withering away."
Withering? Everyone shared the same thought. Even Aemon was caught by surprise; this wasn't ordinary—even by the standards of The Fallen Kingdom.
Xerxes took a particular interest. He wasn't as focused on the 'withering' trees; instead, he was focused on the skeletons.
Xerxes thought, How could there be skeletons? There aren't other people alive within The Fallen Kingdom. But would it really be that impossible to say? Aemon lives here, so could there be others?
The Lieutenant then continued, "Whilst I was there, even though I was scared shitless, the hairs on my back raising with each step, I knew I needed to uncover more. Or maybe it was the trees that were directing me? The trees wickedly pointed me in a particular direction and honestly I wished I never approached it."
Recalling his memories, he was practically seeing his vision in real time, as if it were occurring now. His voice shuddered, "I made my way forward, and there it was. A beast, not a normal beast, not a mana beast, but a step beyond them. It was an augmented beast. The ones that strangely looked slightly human but not, and luckily I had not fought it but someone else had..."
Aemon rested a hand on his chin, and the room fell silent. His voice was stern. "Continue."
"I saw its body sickly hung on a withering tree, and the most terrifying thing was that its soul core had been totally destroyed; the person or thing that had killed it had enough power to destroy a soul core, Aemon, a fricking soul core!"
The rest of the table gulped, besides Aemon and Conrad. Those who did were surely ignorant of the severity of the situation. Leiya and Xerxes looked around cluelessly, not exactly knowing. Secondly, the Lieutenant mentioned an 'augmentation' being a step above regular mana beasts; if so, how?
Xerxes' curiosity got the better of him, so he asked, "What is an augmentation?"
Aemon quickly responded, "It was something I was hoping to teach you quite soon. It is a form of magic that supersedes the original elements and is made in conjunction with two elements. For example, the Lieutenant stated this beast was wrapped in vines, which is a predominance of 'nature' magic. Nature magic is utilised from the elements of water and earth."
After the explanation, there was silence until Aemon asked, "Do you get it, Xerxes?"
"It means that not only could a beast use two elements at a higher level, it also had the intelligence to utilise augmentation magic in order to attack, but even with all of that, its core, which would be the equivalent of a tier 3 core, was completely destroyed."
Part of Xerxes regretted asking the question; part of him, however, invited the mystery. Only then did Xerxes start to realise more about augmentations. He had recalled the mention of the concept within the guild, and he finally understood the gravity of the situation.
Augmentations required at least two elements, within a tier of one another, to combine with extreme precision. This way a new element could be unlocked which granted drastic amounts of power, that was more resilient and potent.
"So then what abomination out there killed it? Are there stronger beasts? What is it exactly?" Xerxes urged to know the answer.
And it seemed, for once in Xerxes' time of being here, not even Aemon himself had an answer for what it was.
Conrad even seemed shocked at this result, too: "Father?"
However, Aemon was trapped in thought; he needed to think deeply about what could have done it. Compared to the citizens and even higher-ups of The Truth Kingdom, his own family, he knew many things that they didn't.
For his entire life, he had decided to keep them secret; he didn't want to expose their idea of comfort to such dangers, but was the time approaching where he would have to?
With Aemon remaining silent, the Lieutenant proposed an idea, "I believe we need to bring the beast back; our priority should be that. From its body, I believe Mrs Aliya can do some research, though the entire surrounding is surrounded by beasts that I'd need assistance for."
Aliya spoke, "If I was able to get its carcass then I would be able to start experiments as soon as possible, but the very thing you're suggesting sounds almost impossible."
It was not only her medical expertise, but Aliya was ready to demonstrate her knowledge regarding the outpost, "Suppose we retrieved the carcass, how would we go about doing it? I suppose you would need an ample amount of men, but then it poses the problem; diverting our forces who supply mana to the outpost would be reckless as even greater problems could arise."
She then raised her fingers, listing off another point, "I suspect you're going to ask my husband, or even Father, to go. If Father was to go then it would spell disaster for the barrier, as it can only be self-sustained for no more than a few days without his mana, and Conrad needs to be here to provide support, so what do you suggest?"
What the Lieutenant was about to suggest made him even nervous proposing it, but he went through with it regardless, "A problem we have, even if we did have the numbers, is that most people in the Truth Kingdom genetically are born with water or wind, so we are limited on that front. So what I would require is someone who has a good knack for fire magic and decent physical prowess, as most beasts there use wind magic."
His gaze then shifted towards Xerxes; both Aliya and Conrad frowned slightly.
Xerxes seemed surprised, too, but the exact person he was trying to describe was Xerxes himself!
Conrad asked, with hostility tinged in his voice, "What are you getting at?!"
Sighing, he explained with equal frustration, "For crying out loud, Conrad, this boy is training with the Governor every other day in fire magic. Not only that, he was able to give you a battle better than most of our trainees and even on the level of some of our medium to top-ranking guards. Imagine how strong he can become with only a few consistent months of training!"
"It may seem dangerous, but giving the kid a real experience like this can help; not only that, I think we should bring Leiya; no one in the entire kingdom has got more potential than her; hell, the punches she dishes out are more devastating than my Mrs!"
His voice lowered, trying to simulate a tone where he could get some understanding, "Put it this way, from what I've heard, the kid has 'died' before; he's been through it and he had sword skills that you had in your 20s, not to mention he's gotten magic training from a man who was literally the ap-"
Aemon raised his power, making the Lieutenant choose his next few words carefully, which he did.
He cleared his throat, not continuing, as silence befell the room.
Xerxes looked around and Leiya didn't look overly concerned. If she were able to go into battle and have Aemon there as backup, she had nothing to worry about, but that was if he could come. Her face would definitely be telling a different story if it weren't the case.
Conrad was still angry at the fact Mairon was even suggesting it, and Aliya looked quite worried and tried to seek answers from her father-in-law.
And Xerxes himself?
His hands were shaking and he didn't even realise it; he even raised them slightly to acknowledge that. Even with that matter, multiple questions barraged his mind.
'If I don't agree to this, then what would I do if something like 'that' confronted me when I was trying to get back to the Layne Kingdom? What would I do if I at least didn't know how to operate and fight? I won't know if I keep on hiding behind the blanket of power Aemon and Conrad provide, so what should I do?'
He thought for a few seconds and really analysed himself. Ever since he started training with Aemon and Conrad, he realised the extent of the power that was out there to be claimed.
Though the analogy felt humiliating, he considered himself to be a starved animal who got a taste of luxurious food. That was the sort of hunger he felt to acquire power and knowledge. He wanted it badly not only to get back to Layne but for everything that went beyond this chapter of his life.
So, he interrupted the tension that had settled within the room, and coldly stated, without any room for objection:
"I'll do it. I'll help you, and I'll do everything in my power to bring it back. Beasts, whatever caused this, the whole entire Fallen Kingdom for that matter scares the living hell out of me, but I'm tired of running from the past. I want to go."