"God dammit!" Riven yelled out. It's been 4 hours since Luka, Joey, and Kira all joined Riven and Jordan in their training of resonance, and there was progress and stalemate — two being Riven and Jordan. Both kept trying to progress in what their father had mentioned to them that could help them a ton in the future, yet neither could. Riven kept destroying the weapons that his father would give him, while at some point, after putting resonance into his brain, something like a mental block stopped Jordan from putting more into his mind. Both tried forcing more, but nothing was working. It was going so bad that Jordan had a migraine and had to take a break. One thing that also caught Riven off guard was the fact that the three who just joined them didn't get past the first part easily. At least two of them were still struggling, while Joey was able to move to the next step, but he started struggling there.
"Language!" Kaden rushed over, smacking Riven in the face with the wooden sword, then turned to go back to Joey.
"What's going on? I thought they would've been able to instantly catch up to me and Jordan, yet they're struggling for some reason even though the system analyzed it," Riven thought while rubbing the mark his father made.
"The system has no real control over resonance," Jordy butted into his brother's thoughts. "The system adapted to the power. It doesn't own it or really control it, but you guys can control it, meaning it relies on you, not the system. After you learn something, the system can make a skill — but only for you, not the other party members. They need to do it themselves."
"Wait, are you saying me and Jordan came to this point not because of the system?"
"But because of our natural talent," Jordy finished. "Kira and Luka seem to be not as talented to quickly go through it like we did, but you could help them in a way."
"How do I?"
"Remember what Dad did to you when we were in the backyard? Well, try to do the same thing, but try channeling it through them via outside of their body so they can get accustomed to it."
Riven had thought about it and got up, going to the two. He got in front of them, with them being confused.
"Extend both of your hands," Riven asked, with the two doing as told.
"What is he doing?" Kaden questioned, looking at his son, but then heard a loud knock.
"Those are probably the rest of our friends," Jordan said, getting up but was stopped by his father.
"No son, you need to rest. Stay seated," he ordered as he went to go get the door. Kaden reached the door. There he saw 7 kids standing outside on his steps. "Why did I agree to this again? It doesn't look like they're here for training — it looks like I'm running a daycare." Kaden then threw all of them the same gi and told them to meet him in the backyard. When he got there, he saw something that shocked him. Both Luka and Kira weren't sitting crossed anymore; instead, both were standing, and he could see with his eyes both were using resonance outside of their bodies, making them conductors. "What happened while I was gone?"
"Oh, they picked it up while you were gone. I was able to help them a bit," Riven said with a smile. He didn't know why he doesn't just tell his father about the system, but he's lied about his ability so much it just became second nature.
"Well, uh, go over there with the golden-haired boy and wait. I'll teach you what you need to know," he coughed. "My feats don't seem too grand anymore; it feels like all these kids have talent in the art of resonance."
The 7 then entered the hall. After a few minutes, they could see Jordan and Joey meditating while Riven, Kira, and Luka all seemed to be putting their hands on weapons that they used for battle, yet the weapon would get a dent in it, and they would just throw it away.
"Yo, when did you guys get this building? It looks amazing," Harkel commented while looking around.
"Attention!" Kaden yelled while smacking Harkel in the face with the wooden sword, sending him flying back on the ground. "Now this we didn't buy — you brought this," he said, pointing at Harkel.
"I brought this?" Harkel said, pointing at himself. "Ah yes, I did buy this," he said, getting up. Riven told him through the link what his father meant by saying he brought this.
"Good, now line up, you six," he ordered, with them all doing so. "Now let's get started." Kaden was shocked in amazement. After the same explanation he gave to everyone else, out of the 7, 5 were able to get a good grasp on resonance and were able to choose their paths. "What is with these kids nowadays? Well, they have to be amazing if they're friends with my sons," Kaden thought.
The 5 were Wren, Harkel, Skye, Leo, and Nico. Kaden took Riven to the side to ask him a question.
"Hey, what the heck are these kids, and how did they get it so fast?"
Riven didn't want to tell too much of their backgrounds — especially Skye's — knowing his father would have a reaction.
"I mean, Dad, they are pretty high up when it comes to the channel of power, you know, since they have direct connections to the academy, Ascension, and even one of them is part of the Voss clan, which is an enforcer of sorts," he said, pointing at Harkel, who just pointed at himself.
"Yeah, I get that they have big connections, meaning most of their family members are powerful and have good genetics, but what about them?" he said, looking at Leo and Skye. "They were able to get it at the same time, and they're not from a big family."
For Leo, Riven had no idea why he was able to get it so fast, but something was different that he couldn't put his finger on — but then he started to see it. "Is he getting taller?" Riven questioned.
Then as for Skye, she was also a person with connections within the family, even more than Harkel, being directly from the Zale family — but he didn't want to tell his father. He also didn't want to keep lying and lose his father's trust, and he felt like, out of everyone in the house, his father deserved to know.
"Come here." Riven walked to the house as his father followed behind, with everyone being confused by his action.
"Why did we need to leave?" Kaden questioned.
"I didn't want her to know I'm spilling her business, and—"
"We didn't want you causing a scene," Jordan walked in behind them, closing the door.
"A scene?" Kaden chuckled but soon stopped as he saw the look on his boys' faces. He then sat down. "So what is it?" he said with a face of seriousness.
"She's from—"
"The Zale is my family." They all then turned to see Skye standing in the doorway.
"Why are you—" Jordan was cut off by her.
"We knew you were talking about us, and I saw you land your eyes on me and could see the restraint in your eyes to tell him about me, and I now know why." She was going to talk more, but she stopped as she saw the look in Kaden's eyes — a stare that said, I should kill you where you stand. They could all feel an immense presence coming off the man as he stood, but only Jordan could see.
"Dad's body," he muttered as he saw his father's body glow crimson red. He could feel it fill the entire room. Kaden looked at Skye, with rage building up the more he looked at her, because to him he didn't see a girl — to him he saw Lucian. But looking, he could see the frightened look on both of his sons. This calmed him down, and he sat back down.
"Get out of my house," Kaden said calmly, holding his stance. Skye's eyes widened, but she expected this, so she started to head to the door but was stopped by Jordan.
"No, Dad, she can't just leave. They're staying here until it's time to go back to the academy, and Wren was her way. She has no way to leave," Jordan defended.
"Then I'll give her the money," he said coldly, but Riven then walked up to him, punching his father in the face. The room went silent. No one expected Riven to do that, of all things.
"What is wrong with you, boy?" he said, but he stopped himself — he could see Riven was tearing up.
"You're not the only one who lost something, you know. We were going through something, yet you just upped and left. You get no right," Riven clenched his fist. "You get no right to be mad at Skye for something her father did. And plus—" Riven waved his hand in Skye's direction, "she hates him more than you."
Kaden looked at him with a face that said, I'm giving you five seconds.
"I'm Lucian's daughter, yes, but Celeste is not my mother."
This caught Kaden's attention. "Those two have been married for years."
"Yes, but as you know, their marriage isn't exactly sound," Skye looked away, feeling like she was overstepping her boundaries.
"Fair, so you're a bastard child. But why are you here? Shouldn't you be with them?" he questioned.
"They didn't take me in. They felt like I had no talent, so instead they left me with my biological mother. But he never visited me or helped us out. While I was there, there was one person who always stayed by my side and tried to help me. She said she saw herself inside of me, said she went through the same thing years ago. I don't know if this name means anything to you, but her name was Kalder."
The three Harlows' eyes widened, which told her they knew who she was.
"Her name is—" but Jordan stopped before he said the name, the stare in his father's eyes making his whole body tremble.
"Ashirae," Kaden finished, which made the two have tears flow down their cheeks. They hadn't heard that name in a long time.
"What happened? I mean, she told me, but I can tell it was only the half-truth," Skye said, looking at Kaden.
"Long story short, your father is a possessive man."