A hoarse and pained cry filled the room. Lucen's cries sent Selene into a frenzy, kicking her chair back and running to him as the sound of wood cracking against the smooth stone floor filled the room.
She swept him into her hands, kissing him softly on the cheeks and whispering, "Lucen, what's wrong? Hmmm, calm down. I'm here."
The guards at the door opened the great wooden doors, their heavy grating sounds piercing his skull.
Selene ran out of the room as he tried to manage his pain. It felt like he had stared into the sun, and now the white-hot radiance was burning through his veins.
She swept into the matron's office, a small room with a low desk covered in small notes and filled with brooms and mops.
"Miss Caulin, my son… I-I don't know. He just started crying."
The older woman was severe-looking and wore a simple black dress. "That sounds like pain."
The blinding pain was receding, but they soon determined it was in his head or eyes. While they soothed him with a rag dipped in cold water, the matron said.
"He is of the direct line… Lord Chester was said to perceive mana as a child and was hurt slightly by just seeing the protective runes in the walls."
In the end, they tied a blindfold around his eyes, but it was only a stopgap measure as they didn't know if the Runes would simply shine through the material.
Lucen, now cold and incredibly angry, began screaming, trying to summon words to curse the system.
[User complaint registered…]
[It was not properly explained, but by looking at Runes and practicing channeling, mortals can increase their Will(Magic power).]
[Looking at these Runes will also improve insight, learning to recognise the shapes of Runes is Insight.>]
[Some pain is inevitable, but your ability to learn and process spells will improve.]
"What's wrong, little Lucen?" Selene asked worriedly.
They returned to their rooms, and a sour look could still be seen on Lucen's face. His mother had been given a day off so she could spend time studying and caring for her strange child.
Lucen was stuck. Now blindfolded, he couldn't practice his Insight and Will, but he also didn't want to disturb Selene's studies with his incessant practice.
[User requires assistance…]
[User can grow Insight without learning the Runes. First, sense differences in the mana, then work on sensing Life magic.]
Lucen begrudgingly thanked the annoying system, closed his eyes, and kept them closed as he started sensing the flowing essence of the world.
There were subtle differences in the rate of the fires burning, and certain fires swirled about each other while avoiding others.
He decided to assign colors to these fires, trying to make out the differences.
Fire, life, burning, and also… personality. Each type of mana had a vague personality, and there was structure to it—order.
He was so immersed in the texture and momentum of reality that he didn't notice when Selene plopped onto the bed beside him. She raised her surprised son into her arms.
"I wanted to wait until you were hungry," Selene said, "since you're always so fussy." But it's been hours. You have to eat to grow strong and become a Knight."
Lucen frowned. Hunger was bad, but eating was so horrifyingly uncomfortable. He decided to continue immersing himself into the mana of the world… Maybe it'd make things easier.
■——■
Selene asked for an audience with Koril, Heimar, and even people outside the direct line for help with Lucen's Mana sense, but went unanswered.
Thankfully, Lucen stopped reading the Runes, so they were able to forget about it, but he could tell the experience left a poor taste in her mouth.
He was an illegitimate son, kept in the castle to prevent them from disgracing the Lightcloak family more. Lucen knew not to expect too much from the clan.
Months went by as Lucen studied mana, all this time unable to sense Life mana. But he could sense the mana of plant matter, or at least flesh. The system explained this was not true Life mana.
He could now sense individual objects and hone in on other types, the room was open to him even when his eyes were closed.
His mother wasn't working today; she was dressing up and applying some makeup. The large, red curtains were pulled back, letting the weak light of the Halo filter in to bathe the stone floors and soft velvet couches in golden light.
Laid out on the comfortable white bed was little Lucen, watching his mother. He was dressed in a black shirt and trousers with gold trims on the chest and cuffs.
"Your daddy is back," Selene said softly, taking him into her lap. "He's called for us, they are going to honor his defeat of a great Wyrm."
While listening, he put his hands in his mouth to scratch his itchy gums. The damn things would drive him mad soon.
"I've read about the dragons and their kin," Selene said excitedly. "Wyrms are dragons that carry weapons like men and shake the earth."
Selene carried Lucen to the window. They were low on the high, multi-floored castle, but still so high off the ground he felt dizzy.
The castle was inhuman. Its doors rose too high, roads and highways of stone ran between the grey towers, and floating gardens wound around like green vine bridges.
Building this place, Lucen thought, must have been a grand undertaking. Something he didn't believe possible for medieval humans.
At least, not normal ones.
"I want to ask for a tutor," Selene said, staring somberly into the Halo on the horizon. "But, I fear, your father won't be willing to grant me many favors."
They hadn't been visited by any of the Lightcloaks—not even Koril, Lucen's grandfather, who brought them here. Lucen heard from the nannies that Heimar, his father, had three children with his wife, Kurenna.
Kurenna was seemingly unaffected by her husband's infidelity, but one rumor Lucen heard chilled him endlessly.
She had been in this very room, simply watching them sleep. When she left, the guards at the door were baffled as to how she had entered.
Lucen wondered if Selene had ever learned what happened that night and if she confronted Kurenna. But he'd rather she not; it was better to stay out of the way.
"I will keep my favor for you," said Selene, rubbing his nose against hers. "You, my beautiful boy, will be a knight. I'll sacrifice anything if I can give you that chance to call on the power of god."
Lucen cooed, offering his mother a kiss. He felt, deep in his heart, that the god she so revered was long dead.
The older nannies, those born before the destruction of the Heart, all remember a time when there was morning in these lands.
Now, the world was locked in an eternal dawn and dusk, the Halo's light never getting bright enough to bring morning.
Lucen would have suggested that this god install a sun, but who was he to query god?
Someone knocked on the door, coming in at Selene's behest, and it was one of the ridiculously tall knights.
His voice boomed from beneath dark red armor. His helm had two great horns and was etched with red glowing lines shaped in strange runes.
The headache that would destroy him, Lucen thought, waited for him within the magical Runes drawn over this giant's armor. So, he avoided them dearly.
"My lord, Heimar Lightcloak, calls on you, Lady Selene."
Selene wasted no time, following the Knight out into the titanic stone hallways of the Grey Keep, and hugged Lucen tighter in her arms as the two giant knights marched on her sides.
Lucen squirmed against her chest, always eager to study the halls of the great castle. The corridors were lit by massive torches that looked like iron baskets of roaring flame.
The halls displayed the black and gold banners of the Lightcloaks, whose symbol was a twisted golden heart. At one end stood a titanic weapon set of two swords crossed behind a shield.
Humans did not build this Keep, Lucen finally decided.
Even the giant knights thundering beside them in their heavy armor could not wield those two swords or lift the enormous silver shield. The silver, near-unblemished shield bore the image of an axe wreathed in fire.
They climbed a flight of stairs to the highest floor of the Grey Keep.
Selene stopped at a monolithic door, so heavy that Lucen believed you'd need a bulldozer to open it.
The two great knights flanked the door and knocked.
"Lord Heimar, we bring Lady—"
"Open the door," a cold, heavy voice ordered from behind the colossal doors.
The great knights braced themselves, then began pushing. The doors groaned with a quaking force that vibrated in Lucen's chest.
Light spilled from behind the doors. Wind escaped the room, plowing over them.
A man stood at the edge of a terrace, staring into the heavens. He wore a black leather vest and black trousers, his hair was inky black, and his eyes were golden, hiding an inner light.
In the shadows of the terrace was a tall woman in white robes and wearing a crown of flowers. Brown hair flowing down her back, with eyes so deep and dark.
There was a gathering pit in the center of the room, and at the center of that was a crackling hearth. The pit was lined with velvet seats, where three playing children sat.
"Come inside, we will meet with the Patriarch soon," Heimar said solemnly.
Lucen smiled. Finally, he would meet the patriarch of the House Lightcloak.