Seventeen slowly opened his eyes.
The world felt heavy. Blurred. Too still.
His chest rose once, uneven. Something cold slid down his cheek, dripping along his jaw before soaking into the thin cloth beneath him.
He raised his hand and touched his face.
His fingers came away damp.
He didn't know if it was blood, sweat, or tears.
At this point, he didn't care.
He turned his head.
Myers sat slumped against the wall, helmet leaning forward. Seventeen slowly pushed off the bed to sit up and froze, startled by the fact that he wasn't in pain anymore. The bucket twitched upward the moment Seventeen moved. Myers almost jumped to his feet and rushed over.
"You okay boy? Do you feel any pain? Dizziness? Is your eyesight blurry? Do you feel weak?" Myers asked rapidly as he checked Seventeen's neck, arms, chest, lifting and inspecting with frantic hands.
Whether Myers cared about his well being or was only terrified of being purified if Seventeen died… Seventeen couldn't tell.
He let Myers examine him while he tried to gather the pieces of that dream.
The burning sky
The dead city
The screams
He pushed it aside
"What… was the rock?" he asked, confused and cautious.
Myers froze, hand still on his shoulder. The bucket angled down toward Seventeen, a glint of light flickering inside the metal.
"That was something I've been working on for a long time," he muttered. "I was supposed to gather more materials, do more research, but… well, circumstances changed."
He exhaled a shaky breath.
"It's supposed to be a mana core. Or at least an imitation of one. I thought I got it right, but after what happened… I'm not sure what it does now."
'Mana core?' Seventeen thought.
So he decided to test his luck.
"So… what's the difference between this one and a real mana core?" he asked, pretending curiosity instead of desperation.
Myers pressed a gloved palm against his chest. A faint blue light flowed into him.
"I intended it to be indistinguishable from the real thing," Myers said. "Except instead of replenishing mana from the surroundings… it siphons it from other sources."
His voice softened.
"It was meant for someone else…"
He stopped.
The bucket tilted, slowly… then dipped lower as he leaned closer.
"You're a smart little imp, aren't you?" he muttered, almost irritated he had been cornered into explaining.
Myers finally removed his gloved hand and stood, rubbing his glove against his coat like he had touched something dirty. He stood and stripped the gloves off. Underneath, his fingers were bone white, thin and pale as if they had never touched sunlight. His palms were smooth, no calluses, no scars, untouched by labor.
He tossed the old gloves into a bin and flicked a small ember off his fingertip. It dropped into the trash, and the gloves ignited to ash in a quiet burst of flame. He reached into his coat and pulled on a new pair.
"Since you've got that core inside you now," Myers said, "I can't have anyone discovering it."
The air thickened. His tone shifted.
"So from now on, to everyone else… you are Seventeen. My student."
He moved to the cabinet and flicked his wrist. The bottom drawer clicked open. A jar of swirling colored marbles floated out and landed neatly in his hand. He unscrewed the lid and plucked a small green orb.
"Here. Hold this," he said casually, tossing it.
Seventeen caught it and raised it to his eye to study it. The marble was smooth and cool, tiny sparks of green swirling like trapped fireflies.
He hesitated… then raised it toward his mouth.
Myers didn't even turn around.
"Don't eat the core."
Seventeen froze, cheeks warming in embarrassment, then slowly lowered the orb back to his palm.
Myers faced him again.
"Alright. Try absorbing it."
Seventeen blinked.
Seventeen stared at the man, unsure if this was a joke
He raised the core to his mouth again, eyebrows lifted as if asking silently: Like this?
Myers placed a palm on his bucket face, a universal gesture of disappointment.
"Right. You don't know anything about mana."
He exhaled slowly.
"Focus on the center of your chest. The cool sensation. The circulating energy. Find it."
Seventeen closed his eyes. Forced a breath out.
The hum of the runes faded.
The room disappeared and dissolved into silence.
He reached inward, searching for anything.
Movement
A pulse.
A flow.
A spark.
Even a chill.
Nothing.
His brow creased in frustration… and everything collapsed.
The hum rushed back, thoughts returned, and Seventeen opened his eyes again
"I don't feel anything," he said. "There's nothing there."
Myers tilted the bucket, confused.
"Fine. Forget that. Try absorbing the core through your fingers. Feel its coolness. Feel the energy moving in it. Pull that into your hand."
Determined not to look useless, Seventeen tried again.
Focused on the orb.
Imagined the swirling light being drawn into him.
Once.
Twice.
Ten times.
Still nothing.
He opened his eyes and looked at Myers.
"Nothing's happening. Am I supposed to practice with this first before trying the real thing?"
Myers stared, baffled.
"What? No. That is a real mana core. Even a child can absorb that… Here. Give it to me."
He pulled a white cloth from his coat and caught the marble as Seventeen gently tossed it back. Myers wiped it meticulously clean, then flicked the cloth into the bin.
He examined the core, turning it between cautious finger. He studied the core closely, turning it under the light, searching for what might be wrong. then pinched. The marble dissolved into dust like light and flowed into his fingertips.
He muttered to himself.
"Maybe it's because he's manaless… no, the core should've absorbed even without prior training… Did rushing it alter its nature…? I know I rushed it, but not to this extent… Maybe the materials weren't good enough, maybe the backlash changed it…"
His bucket dipped lower as he scratched it like a chin, still mumbling.
Suddenly-
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Knuckles slammed the metallic door.
Myers flinched. The bucket snapped toward the noise.
He hesitated.
"Who is it?"
The door creaked open.
Seventeen turned too.
His eyes widened.
The pig headed man.
The one who had thrown him into the ring.
"I need my fighter, Myers," the beastkin grunted. "He should be ready again… right?"
Myers stepped forward, tone confused but steady. "He's all patched up for now, but why do you need him again already?"
The beastkin's stepped closer. His breath smelled of rot and cheap liquor.
"Why does it matter to you what I do with my property?" His voice was low and threatening, each word heavier than the last.
Seventeen watched the two stand face to face.
The tension thickened.
Bucket to snout.
Waiting for the other to give a reason to attack.
Myers didn't move.
"Well, Boarn," he said calmly, "it matters because Seventeen is now my student. So it's my right to know."
Boarn stared.
Then his face twisted.
"He… he he…"
His body shook.
"He HEH… HA…"
The laugh burst out. Loud. Ugly.
"HEH HA HA HA HAA!"
A grotesque laugh exploded out of him, his stomach shaking in violent ripples. Spit sprayed from his mouth in thick droplets. They flew toward Myers. Then stopped.
Faint blue runes carved into the bucket lit up.
A mana shield shimmered into existence.
The spit splashed and slid down the barrier like rain across glass.
Boarn wiped his mouth and snarled.
"You think Magnus will allow this?" he growled, stepping even closer.
"He won't."
He jabbed his finger at Myers' chest.
A mana ripple blocked him instantly.
"He's my property."
Jab.
A clean ripple of mana stopped him short.
"I found him."
Jab.
Barrier ripple. No movement.
"I brought him in."
Jab.
The fain blue light remained unmoving.
"I fed him."
Jab.
Myers didn't flinch.
"I. Own. Him."
Jab.
The last thud echoed hollowly against invisible glass.
Boarn pressed his face forward, cheek straining against the shimmering light, breath fogging the metal. The mana shimmer didn't budge an inch.
Myers stood straight.
Calm.
"I decide where he rots," Boarn snarled.
It hung in the air like a blade.
The barrier held.
Myers didn't move.
Instead… he leaned in too.
"I already got permission from Magnus," Myers said gently. Too gently.
"I own him now."
A small playful tilt of the bucket.
"If you've got a problem… take it up with Magnus."
He let a tiny hum slip, amused.
"Or… are you afraid it'll happen again?"
Boarn froze.
Myers leaned just close enough for Boarn to see his reflection in the polished steel.
"I forgot to ask earlier…"
A metallic tap echoed as he shifted slightly.
"How's your eye?"
Boarn's milky white eye widened. His milky white eye gleamed back at him through the reflection.
The jagged scar carved across it twitched.
Once.
Twice.
Seventeen saw the flesh pulse, as if memory itself hurt.
His fist trembled.
His shoulders shook.
Fear.
Rage.
Shame.
All tangled inside him like a cornered animal.
Boarn's fist clenched tight. Knuckles whitening beneath pink wrinkled skin.
Myers just sighed, bored.
"Anyway," Myers said suddenly, brushing his sleeve as if dusting crumbs away, "Magnus gave me something to pass along. Compensation."
He reached into his coat and pulled out a brown pouch. Heavy enough to strain the fabric, yet handled like nothing special.
Myers tossed it lazily.
No mana.
No ceremony.
Just a casual throw.
He flicked the bag forward.
Boarn slowed the fall with a pinch of fingers, causing the bag to drift slowly to his palm. The beastkin opened it a hair.
A myriad of colors.
Crystal light shimmered across his snout.
Dancing across coarse skin and into his single good eye reflecting like a rainbow on his milky white eye.
He froze.
Just for a heartbeat.
He closed it quickly. Tied it tight.
"…Fine," he grunted. "This works."
He stepped back, forcing composure into stiff legs.
"I'll just get another walking the streets."
He spun on his hoofed heel and strode out with hurried steps… eager to inspect that bag in private.
As if the boy… didn't exist at all.