Chapter 11: 11. MADNESS IN KNOWING

“Before I tell you anything, could you give me a narration of the events that occurred before you found yourself here?” Eliora asked.

Though I didn’t wish to relive those moments, especially when Yukina lay helpless on the floor, it wasn’t difficult to give her the details of what happened. 

Her expression could easily tell that she listened attentively to every word I said, and when I was done with my narration, she sighed,

“Just as I thought.”

She took a few spoonfuls of porridge before carefully placing her spoon on the table beside her plate.

“What I am about to say to you, even I don’t know much about it. It’s something that I’ve been looking into for the past fifteen years, but I could tell you for a fact that there are not just only humans in this world. People like you and I exist, and we aren’t particularly human.

My eyes widened upon hearing what she’d just said, as cold sweat ran across my face.

“Wait, what?” I shouted, breaking away from what seemed to be an auditory hallucination.

“I can tell how shocked and surprised you are, I felt the same way when I first found out for myself, but it doesn’t call for panic. We are very much like humans, just some subtle differences.”

At that point, I knew I had to prepare myself for a lot more inconceivable talk disguised as words from Eliora because she seemed to have a lot of it. I wasn’t sure if I was mentally prepared to digest the constant supply of frightening information she was feeding me. First was that she was my mother, the second was Yukina being my sister, the third was that I wasn’t even a Choryth, and now, I wasn’t human. Maybe I was the one who was going crazy because, somehow, I was inclined to believe whatever she said. I needed a break.

I didn’t even realize that she had been calling my name. I was dazed, lost in thought, until she touched me, snapping me back to my senses.

Surreal how my life had been uneventful for so long only to be a facade that bore a lot of secrets. Besides me not being entirely human, every other thing Eliora said to me was somewhat connected.

“Should I stop, for now? It seems like it is becoming too much for you to process.”

“No, No. You should continue,” I said hastily.

She paused for a moment before she continued.

“From what I’ve discovered so far, beings that look very much like humans, called divines and demons, exist, and from what you told me earlier, I am certain that Yukina fought against a demon. Honestly, I am proud that she was able to hold that much against one.”

Eliora wasn’t the only one proud of Yukina. I was proud of her as well. I had my head filled with mixed feelings. Foremost, I was relieved that she was alive at least, having a little bit of faith in Eliora’s comment that she was, though I still felt uneasy about it. 

I didn't know how to come to terms with the possibility that Yukina was my sister. Though she had always been a sister figure to me, I had always hoped that maybe one day, our relationship would develop into something different when I got older.

As things stood, nothing had to change. I just had to be the brother she had always seen me as.

“What exactly do you mean by demons and divines?” I asked her.

She conjured a little flame and made it disappear with a snap of her fingers. Almost immediately after the flames disappeared, she conjured a floating water ball. Just when I thought the show was over, she dissipated the water ball and levitated a few stones twirling them in the same motion as her fingers. As jaw-dropping as it appeared, I wasn’t apparently surprised; it seemed like I was becoming immune to her rude awakenings.

There was no need to ask her how she could control three elements in their base form. She had reasons for showing it to me, so I had to be patient, as it was very likely that she would tell me why she did it.

I would have questioned my sanity at that moment if I hadn’t seen Vixra do something similar, though Eliora’s was a step higher, being able to control three against Vixra’s two. Many questions in my head needed answering, and I wished they were all answered at once.

“You see, I am quite certain that you are familiar with what the Feel is, but you are most definitely unaware of what mana is. What you know as the Feel is just a medium for mana manipulation, more like a gift that grants one the ability to manipulate the mana around them. However, not all humans are fortunate enough to be able to use this gift. Only a few are privileged. Yet, even the fortunate ones can only draw out a very limited potential from the mana they are able to manipulate; that's why humans can't have more than one elemental attribute unless they are deviants who could have at most two, which manifests in a fused form.”

I had an idea about what mana was, but vaguely. It wasn’t talked about much in books, but it popped up here and there. I had always believed it was the form a conjured element took, but from the looks of what Eliora said, it seemed that I was wrong.

“It’s evident that humans aren’t supposed to manipulate mana in the first place, and I don't know why humans have such restrictions. What I am trying to say in a nutshell is, there are beings who could manipulate mana much better than humans, and that's where divines and demons come in.”

It would have been much easier if I was a caster; at least I would have known what the Feel felt like and felt more connected to what she was saying. Though I was surprised to hear what she said, it was still all theory to me.

“You said I’m not entirely human, so which category do I fall under, a divine or a demon?”

“You are a mix of both human and divine, same as Yukina.”

I almost concluded that my human nature was dominant before I remembered the grey domain. I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that I was a divine; my best guess was that it did.

“So why can’t I manipulate the mana you talked about? Does it require specific training? And why is Yukina a stillbringer?”

She stretched her hands sideways,

“You can, but you don’t just know it yet. There are limitless possibilities of mana manipulation that stretch beyond elemental attributes, and I first became aware of it thanks to you.

“Me? What did I do?” I queried.

“As weird as it may sound, I believe there is a possibility that you have abilities of spatial manipulation.”

I looked at her open-mouthed in awe as the thought of the grey domain struck my mind.

“Though I’m not really sure about the nature of your abilities, you, disappearing from a place and appearing right in front of me, has happened before,” she continued.

"I grabbed my hair with both hands in frustration. I was listening, but I wasn't sure I understood her words. I took in a long breath, trying to keep myself calm.

Maybe the best thing was I stopped trying to know whatever surrounded my past because the more it was revealed, the more complicated it got. Coming to think of it, I was never interested in the first place. I just wanted to know who she was and why I was here with her.

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She seemed to see through my frustration as she exhaled audibly through her mouth.

“Listen, a lot of things are complicated, even for me. There are a lot of things that I don’t even understand and a lot of questions that I desperately need answers to, but right now, my priority is to keep you and your sister safe because I believe it’s only going to get worse from now here on. Demons are scheming something which I don’t really have an idea about, but one thing I am sure of is that they are hell-bent on killing any divine they come across; that must be the reason why you and Yukina were attacked.”

I resolved not to ask her any more questions. I just needed to be sure that she was my mother, as she claimed, that Yukina was safe, and if everything she said about mana, divines, and demons were true, she was probably my best shot at understanding the grey domain.

“I need to see Yukina. I need to get back to Stafford because if she is alive, as you said, she would have probably gone back to Lord Edger, and she would be worried sick that I am missing. But I also need you to help me understand how to manipulate this mana you talked about.”

“You are right, but I would be going with you to Stafford,” she said to me.

She paused for a brief moment, 

“About your mana manipulation, have you noticed anything strange recently?”

“Yes, there is something I call the grey domain, and when it manifests, everything around me appears in silhouettes. Movement in that state becomes slow and difficult, but in reality, it is quite the opposite. I don’t also feel any pain in that state, and it was right about that time the color of my eyes changed to blue just like yours.”

“When was the first time you experienced this grey domain?” she asked

“It manifested right when Yukina and I went up against a falx.”

She looked surprised,

“Did you just say falx? How do you know what a falx is?”

She seemed to know more about it than I did.

“Not much. I saw a picture of it once, and the creature we saw looked much like the one in the picture, so I assumed it was the falx.”

“I was right about your encounter with a demon. Falxes are creatures controlled by demons. They are more like their guard dogs and are very difficult to kill. How did you guys manage to kill one?”

“I stabbed its eyes.”

“And how do you know about its eyes?”

“Grey domain,” I replied carelessly.

She looked at me intently, but it didn’t feel out of the ordinary, and before I could blink, ice spikes appeared from nowhere, just a few centimeters away from my throat, as they approached with insane speed. I was practically helpless, and the only thing I could do was to activate the grey domain, hoping that I would be able to somehow evade them, but that was a tall order.

I activated the grey domain just in time, but it was futile as I could literally feel the icy tips of the spikes on my throat. It wasn’t a bluff; Eliora was actually trying to kill me. 

Just when I thought it was over for me, I got sucked in again, just like I did during the explosion in Ausbane, but this time the feeling was different because the grey domain was active.

I reappeared next to her, the last place my eyes made contact with before I was sucked in, and just like that, I avoided all life-ending spikes she shot at me. I shot her a death stare, too stunned to speak, not just about the fact that she wanted to kill me but also about how I was able to do what I just did.

“Though it seems that I was right about your ability. I believe that there is more to it.”

“You just tried to kill me, yet you are comfortable talking casually like nothing happened,” I said with an anger-laden tone. 

I was angry, but that was the best I could afford because, as it stood, I was at her mercy.

“I can’t possibly kill my son, and if you noticed, the spikes were already shattering when they came in contact with your skin,” she said, smiling.

Everything happened so fast. I had other things to worry about than watching spikes intended to kill me shatter.

“Most importantly, did you do this?” she asked.

“No, it just happened,” I replied.

“Don’t you see a pattern here? There is a sort of power inside you that keeps you from harm’s way, and it seems to have a mind of its own, using your abilities to protect you from life-threatening situations, and I just happened to confirm it right now.”

As weird as she sounded, she made a lot of sense. Though I was able to activate the grey domain, it first manifested on its own, and I hadn’t been able to learn much about it. Now, it seems like I’m able to teleport, and again, it happened spontaneously, completely out of my control. 

Just when I thought I could take a break from the mental torture that plagued me since I met Eliora, there seemed to be a lot more of it awaiting me.

I wished I had never left the castle and remained the naive son of lord Edger. The ignorance was indeed bliss, but that was just wishful thinking as the reality was that there were a lot more crazies to come. The thought of Yukina’s safety still bugged my mind,

“I think I’ve had enough. But I’m curious to know, how are you so sure that Yukina is okay?” I asked tiredly.

She placed her right hand on the left part of her chest,

“I just know because I can feel her, you included. And right now, I can still feel her, so she is most definitely fine.”

I breathed relief and scooped the remaining bits of porridge in a spoonful into my mouth. It had already gone cold, but I cared less. I had to find a way to grasp whatever ability it was that I had.

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