I nodded my head, and followed behind Windsom, we were going to meet someone named Aenon. I wouldn't say my first meeting with Lord Indrath went the way I wanted, but it wasn't bad, I was still alive. I might have said some things that I probably shouldn't have said, but it is fine.
"You disappoint me, child." Windsom shot over his shoulder as we exited the room and entered the hallway. The guards that were there before, gone, I didn't know where, but who cares. "I told you not to disrespect our Lord, and you did just that, and you made me look like a fool."
"Hey, you couldn't see through my clone trick, that is not my fault, that is yours." I told him, picking up my pace, and walking beside him. "And I wasn't bad in there, I just spoke to him like we were friends, that is all."
"You aren't friends, he is our King, you will never be his friend, you will never be his equal, you are lucky you are at war, and your continent needs you, otherwise, you would be killed as soon as possible." Windsom glared at me.
"If we weren't at war, I wouldn't be here." I replied. "Who is Aenon?"
Windsom and I walked in silence as he didn't answer, we turned the corner, and then he finally spoke. "Aenon of the Eccleiah Clan, of the Leviathan Race."
"Oh, the Leviathan race, interesting, this is going to be fun." I said, I don't think there is a Leviathan character in the novel. I don't even know what to expect, what is he going to be like, this is awesome.
"You better be better behaved with Aenon, he is, not so forgiving." Windsom told me, what Asura was so forgiving? Was he talking about how Lord Indrath didn't kill me? "Aenon is a strong warrior for the Leviathan Race, a master who uses water mana, just like you."
"I figured." Wasn't a Leviathan a sea monster in folk tale or something. "I'll be better behaved, I am sorry about before, it's just, I don't know, I'm sorry, I really didn't want to react at all to anything, but I couldn't hold back."
"You are eleven years old, so it is understandable, yet, I feel like you should have done better." Windsom said with a serious tone. "You are such a dominant figure in the war, and you behave like any other child outside battle."
"Ehh." I said, I don't think I act like a child outside of battles all the time, but I see what he is saying. I can't blame the Serpent's Will for everything, I could though if I wanted to.
We finally arrived at a door, and Windsom knocked, and a loud old voice shouted to us. "What do you want now!" This asura sounded old, and Windsom opened the door, and walked in.
"Aenon, I bring the boy." I followed him into the room, sitting on a one seat chair, was a man, he had a small body frame like Lord Indrath, not fat, not skinny, he had long white hair, which had light blue tips. He also had a white beard that was pretty long, and his eyes were light blue, and when he stood up, he was around the size of Windsom.
"Ahh." he grunted, examining me. "One of the boys who is supposed to take the Vritra down, interesting, I don't sense the Serpent in him." Why was he talking about the Serpent's Will? "Windsom, are you sure this is him?"
"It's his clone." Windsom and I stood five yards from Aenon, and he continued to speak. "You may show him what you wanted, I'll be back in twenty minutes, that is all you get."
"I thought I was here for two days?"
"Not anymore." Windsom answered, it was probably because I didn't accept Lord Indrath's whole deal, but only partially accepted it. "Aenon, mind his behavior, he is eleven."
"Get out, Windsom." Aenon said, and Windsom nodded, then shot me a look, and left the room, leaving Aenon and me in here alone. "Virion Leywin, the child who can control blood, the beast tamer of a Serpent's Will, you are a fascinating figure I had to meet."
"Thank you, Aenon, sir. I just heard of the Leviathan race maybe one hour ago, but it is nice to meet you." I said, not trying to be rude, I don't know who Aenon is, I can try to be nice to him. "You wanted to show me something?"
"Not exactly." Aenon said with his old, tired voice. "It's about the Serpent's will you have, I know you are a clone, which is a whole different category of confusion for me, but it is fine." Aenon started to pace in front of me, I stood still and watched. "Hearing what you just said, you don't know that a Serpent is a descendant of the Leviathan race."
My eyes widened; I should have seen that coming. "So, a Serpent is like a Wyvern?"
"Yes." He answered, but before he could speak anymore, I added something.
"But the Serpent core I got was only S Class, shouldn't a descendent of an asura be stronger?" I think that was a reasonable question to ask.
"If I had to guess, it was a young Serpent you killed, which I can't say I approve of." I was going to tell him Sylvie killed it, but he didn't give me the chance to. "I heard you can access two phases of your Will, but since the Serpent is our descendant, I think you should know that there are three phases."
I didn't react at all, I didn't know for sure if there were three phases, now I do, but knowing more about the Serpent, it makes sense. "I figured but are you telling me I can access it without killing myself."
"Why would accessing your third phase kill you?" He looked at me confused, I looked at him confused. I thought our bodies couldn't handle that amount of power, that's why Arthur almost died in the novel. "As long as you aren't in your phase three for too long, you should be able to access it."
"Oh." I looked at the ground, wait, did Arthur only almost die in the novel because he was in his third phase for too long. I don't remember every single detail, but that would explain it a little better. "Never mind, I was thinking if a third phase existed, I wouldn't be able to stay in it for health reasons."
"Well, that is true, I would say with your Lesser body, you would have access to it for about, I don't know, five to ten minutes, maybe less." That makes sense, and I could work with that, interesting, I guess I have something to look forward to now. "You know, I was told you were this cocky kid, bad behaving, but here you are, you don't seem cocky or anything."
"That is because I am trying to be a good boy." I said sarcastically, and the Leviathan smiled.
"There you are." He said. "Your third phase will break your understanding of what you can do with water, the amount of power you will be granted will be on another level, and from what I know, that is also how you control blood, right?" I nodded. "Well then, in the third phase, your blood magic will become even stronger."
"If I knew this, fuck, I could have killed him." I had to imagine that if I activated my third phase against Cadell, I would have been able to put up an even greater fight. "But there is another problem with that, obviously I need to connect with the Serpent even more, and doing that would give it more control over my brain, and the corruption would spread."
"I forgot about that." Aenon said, it was a pretty big deal, hard to forget, but he doesn't know me that well. "I would say, once, you can access it once before you lose your mind completely, after the first time, that power will break you if you try to use it again, and even after the first time, you'll give up a little more of your brain."
"There it is, such a disappointment, can't even use it." That is my trump card now, at least I know if there is a case where I need to retreat, I have that up my sleeve to get me out of any situation, well, most situations. "Was there any point in telling me that? I won't be able to use it, if Lord Indrath would have given me the cure, I could."
"I won't bring up the questions I have about that statement, but that wasn't the only thing I have for you." He said, backing away from me. "You are a Lesser, I know that, and I might be an old hag, but I would love to see the Vritra fall." He titled his head back and forth. "And maybe some others, so you should know the power you have."
"I thought I did." I was confused about what he was talking about.
The Leviathan shook his head. "No, if I am right, you probably connected to the beast will while focusing on only using it to control blood, from Windsom's reports, you don't use the magic that the Serpent possesses."
"Huh." I said questioningly, somewhat stunned from what he just said. "Wait." I see what he is saying, while I was going through assimilation, I was training with Elder Virion for the first time with my blood magic back in Zestier. "Are you telling me right now, that I haven't been using the Serpent's powers?"
"It is exactly what I am saying." I looked at him stunned, slightly feeling stupid. "Yes, your connection with water mana increases, and this is what makes you stronger with your blood magic from what you told me, but you are not using the abilities that go along with the Serpent."
"I feel like an absolute idiot." I said, looking up at the ceiling.
"To some extent you are." I looked back at him. "But I can see why you never did, you don't need it with your blood magic, however, one day you might, and if I had more time with you, I would try to help you understand it, but I am sorry that Lord Indrath declined that offer from me."
"Pft, go figure." I shook my head. "He doesn't want me getting too strong, I can see that, well, I knew that already."
"I won't question that either." Aenon said. "Listen, I don't have much more time, so let me explain something, you have access to the Serpent's powers, you just have to figure out how to control them." I didn't even know what those powers were. "The powers are different for everyone, so I can't tell you what they are, but they have to do with water mana."
"Would being able to control the weather be a power? I was able to have it constantly misting during a battle, it wasn't anything special, but it had a large range." I was thinking about my battle with Cadell, it was when I was trying to push the water mana into his blood.
"No, but the ability to control water mana to that extent is because of the Serpent, but it isn't an ability the Serpent has." Aenon told me, and now I had no clue what this ability could be. "Like I said, I don't know what you are going to be able to do, but I wanted you to know that you have not used the Serpent's powers to its fullest."
"Damn, well, thanks Aenon." I said sincerely. "I have a lot I need to look in too, at least one asura has been helpful." If he hadn't told me any of that, this trip would have been meaningless for me, but I am pretty sure it was never meant to have meaning.
The door swung open, and I turned around, standing in the doorway was Windsom. "It's time to get you back to Dicathen, you have no reason to stay any longer now that you declined the Lord's deal, even the partial deal you made isn't enough for you to stay." He said with an authoritative tone, that made him seem angry.
"I appreciate your words, Aenon, and hope one day we can meet again." I nodded my head at him, and then said. "Windsom, I didn't just come out and accept the deal, because Tessia is like a sister it me."
I walked out of the room, shooting a look at Aenon, he was smirking, probably because I talked to Windsom like any normal person.
"They should be ready for you in Blackbend." Windsom told me, and the two of us walked in the hall, it seems like my time in Epheotus is already over, a good hour or two, just because I didn't want to kill Tessia right away, I wanted time to think about it, jeez.
I'll do what I have to though, no matter what.