Ezra stood up with a groan.
"How do you feel?" Gregor asked.
"Dizzy, for the most part"
"Good. Go get some rest. We'll continue tomorrow"
Ezra left unceremoniously and fell asleep the minute he laid on his bed.
—----------------
The next day, Ezra reached the chamber he uses for training with Gregor at the early hours of dawn.
"You're here already?" Gregor was amazed.
"I heal fast"
Nodding, Ezra got to the topic.
"With my elements in separate arms, does that mean I can't use them in both arms?"
"Unfortunately, yes"
Ezra frowned as Gregor smiled.
"But it also means you'd be able to combine both elements"
"With practice, you'd be able to combine darkness and lightning, blood and fire perhaps? Even I'm not sure about your prospects"
"When can I get started?!" Ezra was excited, but Gregor doused his flames.
"That'll have to wait. For now, you and I will be practicing the five runes to carve in your body"
"Hmm, five?"
"Yes. I decided to include the concealment rune after all"
"Thank you" Ezra bowed his head.
"Aside from that, why do I need to get involved?"
"It's your body. To carve it in successfully, you'll need to move your mana in a way that doesn't counteract the runes, else you'll be risking death"
"Where do I start?"
Like so, Ezra went into a session of learning more intense than the last.
Two months later, Gregor approved of Ezra. He'd reached a satisfactory level.
Also, he had clocked nine years old.
Gregor studied Ezra's mana flow over the two months to know where to place the imprints.
It was time to put all he learnt to the test.
—--------------
To reduce the chances of unforeseen events, Ezra rested the next day to recover to his peak state.
During the two months, Bard had brought a substantial amount of beast carcasses.
Alas, the egg had not shown any sign of hatching since that day, annoying Ezra.
To decrease unforeseen variables even further, Gregor would carve the Runes at midnight.
Taking off his shirt, Ezra sat cross-legged on an elevated slab with his back facing Gregor and Bard.
"Ezra, drink this"
Bard handed him a purple potion.
"What is it?"
"A rune strengthening potion. This way the rune's effects will be amplified"
Ezra smiled and nodded.
"Thank you"
Bard gave a slight nod and stepped back, giving space for a shirtless Gregor to begin work.
Firstly, he chanted a spell and chains wrapped around Ezra, tying him down.
"What-"
"I can't leave room for error. Those chains are to hold you in place till I'm done. And because we're combining the runes, I'll have to do it slowly. Are you ready?"
"I am"
With that, Gregor placed a small wooden board in his mouth.
"I will now begin"
He pulled out a metal apparatus with a robust handle but a tiny edge.
*SII* the apparatus came on and the edge began heating up.
"Huu…" exhaling, Gregor began.
The moment it touched Ezra, he wanted to jump, but the chains held him in place.
Focusing, he moved his mana in a way to accommodate the rune being drawn.
"UGH!" he groaned, biting down on the wooden board. It was a pain almost unimaginable.
Thankfully, his fire affinity granted him enough resistance to the heat.
He soon discovered that the fire resistance was a curse, simply because the needle took longer than it normally should.
Ezra felt like dying, and soon enough, the pain became unbearable.
"AH!"
His screams grew louder as time passed, but no one would be coming because the chamber was built to isolate sounds.
Ezra's vein popped and, when the screams neared the breaking point, Bard came into his sights and tilted his necks upwards before emptying a potion down his gullet.
Thereafter, the pain reduced immensely.
Not long after, he was hit in the neck and, before he could register the pain, he fainted.
Waking up, he instinctively covered his eyes, the sun shining upon him.
He tried to move but a voice stopped him.
"Don't move yet. Your body's still healing"
Shifting his eyes from side to side, Ezra saw Gregor smoking from a pipe.
He was sweating immensely and veins had popped out all over his body.
"Don't worry about me. Rest" said Gregor while covering Ezra's shaking eyelids.
Like so, Ezra went back to the darkness.
But…
'What is this?' he wondered, looking at the vast stretches of dark lands.
Soon after, the winds picked up and the sand flew about, obscuring his vision.
When it settled, he saw two groups battling. He then realized he knew those battling.
"Han?" he blinked in surprise.
"Is that really you?"
'Han' was a black apparition, his face unrecognizable as it turned to Ezra and said…
"This is your fault"
Ezra was taken aback and ran to him but, before he could reach him, the sand blew once more and he saw all his men dead on the cold ground.
Kneeling to touch their bodies, the bodies eyes lit up with red and in sync, they said…
"THIS IS YOUR FAULT"
"No, no it's not"
He was about to continue rebuking them when he touched his lip, blood was dripping from his mouth.
Clarity came upon him as a sword ran through his chest.
'When…'
Everything was erased, and then…Ezra's eyes snapped open.
Gasping and panting, he looked at his arms.
'What…was that?'
Looking around, he determined the obvious.
'It was a dream'
He looked around, his eyesight blurred.
And then, it became itchy as the minutes passed by, then his ears and nose began itching as well.
Yet Ezra could not scratch them.
Upon becoming unbearable, he forced himself to sleep.
After who knew how long, he woke up. This time, his body was numb, but he found moving easier.
With immense effort, he moved his hands near his mouth, removed a mana stone from his ring, and put it in between his teeth.
"HUU!" like a machine awakening, Ezra heaved heavily before exhaling as he felt many things happen.
His eyes glowed blue momentarily.
The most prominent was how messed up his senses were.
From the sounds of birds chirping by the window, to the rotten smell of crumbs underneath a cupboard, to the slight scratch on the walls far from his position, too much information hit his brain.
Hastily, he sucked the mana stone back into the space ring.
Sweating once more, he let out rasp breaths forming a smile.
'That must be the clarity rune'
He was exhilarated, but likewise exhausted.
In no time, he fell asleep.
He woke up later, and a look around let him know that it was night time, whether he slept for more than a day he didn't know.
With a grunt, he began moving, his body had substantially recovered.
Grunts and groans came about as he mustered all the strength he could, managing to sit upright after a lengthy battle with fatigue.
Then, he got on his feet, only to fall to the floor.
He crawled, arriving at the door after more than thirty minutes.
Another battle then awaited him, opening the door.
Undeterred, he moved when the door suddenly opened.
Gregor stepped in rubbing his beard, when his and Ezra's eyes met.
Gregor squatted, maintaining eye contact with Ezra, when…
*Pam*
He pummeled his head.
Ezra holds his head in agony, about to cry.
Gregor sighed.
"Didn't we say you will stay still until the runes are fully settled"
Ezra calmed down.
"I had forgotten about that"
Gregor knocks his head once more.
"Of course, you did"
Shaking his head, he carried Ezra and placed him on the slab.
"I'm hungry" Ezra said.
With a wave of his hand, food came out of Gregor's space ring.
Ezra began munching without another word and Gregor took his leave.
The next three days saw Gregor give him food while he recovered.
On the fourth, Ezra stretched, looking over himself.
'I'm sure now. I've healed'
Over the last three days, he had tested the imprinted runes.
For one, the imprint rune was superb.
Any mana coming into his body would move in the form which he cultivated. He no longer needed to guide it.
Then the condense rune condensed his mana, increasing his mana - one of the purest - in quality once more.
Any of his attacks imbued with mana would do double what they normally did, and after enough condensation, maybe even triple.
His five senses had increased, especially his ears and eyes.
He could hear sounds from far places and his eyesight was able to see far as well.
The concealment rune pulled a veil atop his cultivation.
The outer effects of his elements were already suppressed thanks to Bard's bracelet.
Another thing was the usage of his elements.
He could freeze, burn, scorch and do a few other things fairly easily. Now he just had to get used to having the elements channeled at will.
What he hadn't tested was the swift rune.
To test it, he jumped off the slabs and stomped the floor.
After which, he did his routine exercises.
The results left him exhilarated.
'My sense of balance has increased, and so has my strength'
He clenched his fist.
'YES!' he hails inwardly.
This was it. With such foundational advantages, his potential was only climbing higher.
His eyes became cold as the faces of those on his to-kill list came to mind.
'It won't be long now'
A grin creepier than all others came upon him as his dark thoughts swirled in his head.
