After their conversation, Nira offered Adder to stay with her.
To which Adder happily accepted, seeing it as another chance to remove himself from that dark future.
Soon Adder and Nira became inseparable, and after a week of Adder living with the Fury.
Adder had asked for training advice from Nira, the boy wanting to make use of his power to his fullest potential.
Nira is unsure that Adder could even make use of the Furie's way of training, so starts with the basics.
A part of said basics, includes the spell [Mana ball].
The simplest spell and the bedrock of all known magic , meant for training and testing one's mana affinity.
The color of the orb represents the caster's magic affinity.
Adder not having even touched before, this was an important moment for him.
So even though he could have casted it in less than a second, he allowed himself to take his time.
His mana traveled from his heart to his hand and then to the tips of his fingers.
Nira watched as the boy slowly condensed his mana into a sphere, she then instantly recognized Adder's affinity.
…
A milky pale yellow Venom, Nira stood there in a cold sweat, in all her twenty years of traveling the realm.
And no matter how far she traveled, Nira found no record of a venom affinity.
Of course there were tales and records of poison magic, but no it wasn't like the magic granted by the Hydra at all.
The poison of said magic was unchanging, the casters unable to in any way weaken or strengthen their poison.
A magic seen as lowly and pathetic only useful for those who hide in the shadows, and Nira couldn't have agreed more with their view.
Because it was nothing like the affinity that the Hydra gifted to his furies.
People gifted with the Hydra's mark could change the potency of their venom.
With this unique ability seemingly only found in the venom affinity, the furies could easily end conflicts with out needless slaughter.
Using the weakened venom to make their foes powerless but still very much alive.
That sense of mercy the furies would become famous for, was held by the followers of the Hydra with a great source of pride.
And of course Poison, lacking that innate ability made Nira lose any and all interest she had in the mysterious affinity.
But now Adder stood in front of her, the very presence of his magic awakening the memories of her youth.
Adder, noticing Nira's shock, explained the reason behind his bizarre mana.
"It's because I'm a warden."
Adder laughed while looking at the pale yellow orb, the color did surprise him due to legends telling that the basilisk's venom was pitch black.
"Every warden's mana affinity becomes forever changed by the nature of their inmate."
But Nira interrupted the explanation, putting her hand on his shoulder.
Adder himself didn't even see her move, but his question died in his throat as Nira spoke to him.
"Close your eyes and imagine a pyre."
The way she spoke was soft, but it held a sense of urgency that could not be ignored or dismissed.
So Adder shut his eyes as tightly as he could, [Mana ball] still floating above his hand and tried to follow his teacher's directions.
…
Now this was a method made by the Furie's, a way to train and practice one's control over the dosage of venom.
So as Adder now sat, eyes closed with [Mana ball] in hand.
Nira kept her eyes on the magic, even as she spoke.
"Have you pictured the pyre?"
Adder nodded, trying to take this as seriously as Nira.
"Now imagine that the Pyre is going out as slowly as you can."
Adder did not answer, but Nira watched on in wonder as the mana's color slowly shifted from the pale yellow to a color that could barely be called white.
Nira eyes wide, fought with everything they could not to let her feelings change her tone.
Not allowing her joy and excitement, ruin the return of the venom affinity.
And with it, the first real hope of any sort of revival for anything from Lerna's history.
Nira, using what remained of her will maintained her commanding tone.
"Now Adder, this is the important part."
"Imagine that the Pyre slowly sparks back to life, becoming brighter than ever before."
Then Nira watched in baited breath, as the orb went from white to pale yellow then to a deep golden color.
Nira slowly and silently made way towards the miracle, and when she was in front of the boy.
She hugged him, her pull canceling Adder's magic due to his surprise.
As Adder tried to figure out what had happened for him to be constrained in such a way.
He found that for the first time in his life, he was being hugged.
…
Adder spun his spear around him, his body reinforced with mana.
Nira was sitting a few yards back watching her sole pupil with a blank expression.
It had been three weeks since the start of Adder's training, and due to him actually having the same attribute as the furies.
Meant that he could be taught their teachings with no issues.
"Venomous Three!"
Adder roared, the spear's blade glowed pale yellow, as it pierced forward to serpents made of mana coiled around the spear.
When the spear struck the dummy's chest, the two serpents struck two different areas.
With this one attack destroying the training dummy, Adder smiled at this move that allowed for three attacks at once.
Nira looked on with a smile, Adder since the beginning of his training had shown great affinity with the methods of the furies.
Even with Nira's pitiful spearmanship, Adder was able to not only learn the original move, Venomous Duo.
He somehow made it his own with Venomous three, even if Nira died at this exact moment she could rest knowing she was able to at least save a piece of Lerna.
But as Adder waved towards her, Nira for the first time in over two decades didn't want that moment to come anytime soon.
…
That night, Adder was restless for the first time since seeing his future.
Feeling that sleep would continue to elude him, Adder decided to pull up a chair and opened his bedroom window to enjoy the midnight autumn air.
Adder had strangely always loved the cold, many used to joke that he was born to be coldblooded.
Adder shook his head, now was not the time to dwell upon the past.
For once he felt like he was finally pushing himself to his full potential, and so as he leaned on the windowsill Adder smiled as the autumn winds blew around him.
But as Adder looked out to the field,he found that something in the tall grass was moving towards him.
Adder saw it slither through his ability to see heat, a sense that Nira had named fire sight.
What came to Adder, was a serpent but it wasn't just any snake.
It was a crimson tormentor, a feared creature due to their unique venom.
Adder of course was confused by this greeting by a reclusive and territorial animal.
And his confusion only grew as the bright red serpent slithered up his windowsill.
But as the serpent sat on the sill, the snake then seemingly bowed to him.
At this moment Adder had realised two things.
One, he had several more visitors slithering his way.
And two, they had all arrived here to pay respects to their king.