Whispers flew into the air as they watched Mor reeling on the floor, holding his hand and groaning. The burn was bad, half his upper arm, past his wrist to his entire hand was burnt.
Without wasting any time, TayDrigin rushed over. Bending low, she summoned an item from her Inventory, so it formed from a spark of light in her hand.
The item in her hand was a glowing capsule with a halo around its middle. Looking at it, one would assume it was a Radiant. But due to its color variation — that being green instead of white — it couldn't be mistaken for a Radiant.
This item she held in her hand was called a Life Essence, and it was one of the many mystical items gotten from the corpse of an Enthos.
Holding the Life Essence in her hand, she placed it in Mor's one good hand. Then she helped him squeeze it, so it crushed into green luminous dust that seeped into Mor. After Mor had absorbed the Life Essence, he took in a deep breath and at once his breathing became regular and his pain began to subside.
Once more, his wounded hand began to heal.
Taking in deep breaths, Mor found himself becoming cohesive. Then he rose his lids so he could see his mother's worried face. He wanted to ask what had just happened, but like a speeding train flying off its rails and crashing into a wall, Mor remembered it all.
He couldn't help but search the crowd surrounding him, so he could find Calis. And find him he did. Calis was standing next to his brother, forgetting his own predicament for a moment so he could worry about Mor.
Pulling his thoughts away from Calis, Mor sat up.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened back there." Mor said.
At once Sai punched him on the shoulder, while making sure to not disturb the Ethos on her left hand.
"Ouch." Mor exclaimed, then began to rub the spot SaiDrigin had punched.
"You gave me a fright. I thought the Enthos had done something to you." SaiDrigin said, gaze filled with dread.
Mor chuckled, then rubbed the back of his head.
"Sorry about that Sai." Mor said, unable to find anything else to say.
Pulling their attention, TayDrigin placed a hand on Mor's cheek and looked into his eyes.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She had asked, while scrutinizing his gaze.
"I am Mom."
TayDrigin did not respond immediately, she just looked into Mor's eyes for a few seconds. Then she rose onto her feet, and turned to face the Seedlings and Watchers.
"We will be stuck in here for the next two hours, so let's make ourselves comfortable."
***
Sitting on a chair of his own, Mor found his head filled with thoughts. But in an attempt to distract himself, he pointed his sights to the roof of the structure. Or rather, the lack of one thereof.
Looking at the structure from the inside, Mor could see the outside world as though he was looking through a net. This was the other thing that was amazing about the structure to Mor. Truly it was a technological marvel.
As he stared, he felt a bit annoyed that others weren't as mesmerized by the marvel of architecture as he was. And this was not even his first time seeing it. Not to say that they weren't amazed by it, but they didn't dwell on it as long as he did...still is even.
'To each their own I guess.' Mor had thought.
They didn't care much for the structure, but instead, everyone was gawking at his mother TayDrigin.
Removing his gaze from the structure and toward his mother, he saw a the Seedlings had placed their chairs around her and his sister, worshiping them as though they were gods. Even the Watchers surrounded them, except they at least were more poised.
"Is it true that you defeated five Red Aura Enthos at the same time?" A child had asked.
"No, that isn't true." TayDrigin said with a chuckle.
"What about the Black Aura Enthos that snuck into Nebula city? Did you defeat that one?"
"First off, no such thing happened. Just because the Enthos was black does not mean it was a Black Aura." TayDrigin said with a laugh this time.
"How about the time you fended off a horde of Green Auras for two days while you were waiting for other Amyntors to back you up?"
Once again TayDrigin laughed.
"Okay, that one was partially true. You see I did fend of a horde of Green Auras, but not for two days. It was just two hours okay?"
Upon hearing this, gasps flew into the air.
Mor at one point was also like these Seedlings. Hearing the incredible feats his family always pulled off was a feeling he couldn't describe. A shame those feelings completely overturned when he found himself bearing the brute of the opposite of such incredible feats.
Thinking on his mother's feats in particular, he wondered how an Amyntor could fend off a horde of Green Auras.
Bringing the ranks of these Ethoses and Enthoses to mind, they were ranked based on the color of their fur, exoskeleton or whatever else they had on their body.
The weakest was colored Gray, and they were known as Gray Auras. Normally, Seedlings who bonded would end up in this category. Then following the Gray Auras was Purple, then Blue, before Green, Red, Black and White.
Currently, there was a total of five White Auras in the world. Literal gods that can destroy entire cities in the blink of an eye.
Thinking about them made Mor grin. The powerful Drigin family, never had a single White Aura born into this family ever since it was first founded. This fact made Mor want to laugh.
Almost all the powerful families in the world of Nova were racing to have a White Aura, so they too could control a good portion of the world. Too bad his family had lost this rat race a while back.
According to legend, only Seven White Auras could be born every five hundred years.
And as of now, many powerful families were giving birth frantically, trying to get their offspring to become a White Aura. But Mor believed that wouldn't happen even in their wildest dreams. The fact that there were already five White Auras in the same time period was an anomaly in and of itself.
Mor doubted there would be an even sixth in this lifetime, let alone seven. Just because there would be Seven White Auras every five hundred years did not mean that it would be at the same time.
'So good luck with that,' Mor had wished to the powerful families. 'Maybe in the next hundred years or so.' Mor said, then he found his gaze falling on his sister SaiDrigin. Then toward her Ethos.
For a moment, a very infinitesimal moment, Mor wondered if her Ethos would form to become a White Aura. Thinking on this somehow made Mor uneasy, so a pit rose in his stomach and he felt like throwing up.
He did not know exactly why he felt this way, but he didn't like it. So he removed his gaze and his thoughts from Sai and instead placed it on Calis.
CalisVon was seated alone in a corner. He was peering out into the forest, watching the blue light that bathed the entire forest.
Mor had been watching him for a couple of minutes now, waiting to see if his brother would try anything stupid. But he did nothing. He just stood in a corner, sparring with thin air, trying to become better. Better for his family name.
Thinking on this, Mor leaned back and sighed.
'This whole family thing is really getting on my nerves.' Mor thought, as he placed a hand on his face and shut his eyes.
Funny enough, he didn't need to cover his face with his hands. Because anything he would shut his eyes while inside the structure, it would be as if not even a single ray of light was present in the building. He just covered his face because he wanted to.
Not long after shutting his eyes, Mor found him drifting into dreamland.
At least he thought he was dreaming, but within the second he thirteen years old once again, he was crying and on his knees.
Standing before him was a figure he couldn't quite see, but he could feel him with every sense he had. The figure was as big as a house, he radiated an intense aura and his presence felt suffocating.
Mor was kneeling, crying, begging for forgiveness.
"How many times will you disappoint me? How many times will you disgrace this family?!" The figures voice boomed with a menace and might that made Mor's being quake, eager to shatter into pieces.
"please forgive me father," Mor had said, his voice barely a whisper. "i tried my best, i..."
"Enough!" His father's voice boomed, and in the blink of an eye, his father's hand the size of a human slammed into him.
Mor felt his entire body shatter, every bone, muscle and nerve. He flew a great distance back so that when he fell, he fell like a lump of meat without anything holding it together.
Following this intense pain, Mor found his vision blurring. But just before the darkness could take him, an incandescent golden light shone in front of him, taking on the figure of an equally powerful being.
But whereas his father felt like a demon, this presence felt like an angel.
Unable to think or see properly, Mor didn't know what this angel had done to him that the world of pain coursing through him had alleviated and began to disappear slowly. But even though he was feeling better, the pain that almost killed him began to take its toll, so he started losing consciousness.
While looking at the golden light, the angel, the last thing he saw — felt, was the anger pouring out of her. And in the blink of an eye, he felt the two forces collide with one another.
"Mor." A voice MorDrigin would never forget even if he had lost all semblance of himself had called out. Opening his eyes, he found a figure standing over him. So that as the blue light shone behind her, she looked like an ethereal being.
Seeing her, Mor felt a calm, a warmth and a comfort he couldn't describe.
"Mom?" Mor had asked, wondering why she had woken him up. It was in this moment that Mor realized his breathing was irregular, and he was covered in sweat.
Sitting up, Mor tried to control his breathing, while wondering if he had just relived that moment in reality, or in a dream. Because it felt too real to had been in his dream.
"Are you okay?" TayDrigin had asked Mor.
He didn't respond immediately. Still trying to control his breathing, he turned his sights to the Watchers and Seedlings. They were now gathered around a fire, cooking up a meal that had a very tantalizing aroma.
Finally reacting, Mor rested his face on his hand, while rubbing his eyes.
"I'm fine Mom." Mor responded.
Hearing this, TayDrigin kept quiet for a few moments. Then she spoke up with solemn voice not custom to her.
"Did you have that dream again?" TayDrigin had asked Mor, who kept silent.
He rose his head, then looked into his mother's green eyes.
"I did." He said, faltering his gaze at the last moment.
TayDrigin hesitated, then she pulled up a chair and sat beside him.
"I didn't come here just to play Watcher for you and Sai." TayDrigin had said, staring up at the sky as she watched the blue light surrounding the sun fade away. This structure also seemed to quell the intensity of the sun.
"So...why did you come here then?" MorDrigin had asked, his thoughts now rapt by his mother's words.
"Well..." She paused, then diverted her gaze from the sun and toward SaiDrigin, who was talking to the other Seedlings and laughing. "I wanted to tell you that I will be leaving Nebula city."