"Damn it. What kind of law is this?
And why does my father have to follow it so blindly?"
"I suppose when Agatha told you, you didn't fully understand,"
Mnex's voice was calm as always.
"If we defy this law, your family will be executed."
So what?
Can't we fight back?
"Henry. Think. Calmly. What do you think will happen if you go against the entire kingdom? Even the soldiers following you now, do you really believe they'll stand with you when the crown calls you a traitor? They'll cut you down without hesitation. There are no guarantees."
I wasn't exactly sure why I was so angry.
Was it my mother's tears?
The thought of losing a sibling I hadn't even had the chance to know yet?
Or... was it my father's silence?
I took a deep breath.
Then another.
I started pacing my room, back and forth. My footsteps were racing my heartbeat.
This won't do.
I need to talk to Father.
I stepped out. My strides were firm.
Mnex kept reminding me how stupid this idea was.
But even he didn't know everything in this world.
Like the Janisarion Law…
I found them soon enough. My father and grandfather were in the study.
"My Lord Father, I need a word," I said. My voice was tense, my face even more so.
"What is it, Henry?"
He didn't even look at me. His eyes were fixed on a piece of paper.
"They're going to take Roderic from us because of the Janisarion Law. Is it true?"
He sighed deeply.
"It's true." That was all.
"That's it? There's nothing we can do? We couldn't hide him?"
He didn't answer. He stood, walked past me, and closed the door after glancing around.
Paranoid move, if you ask me.
He turned to face me. His face was dark.
"Watch your words. Walls have ears," he whispered.
"I don't care! They're going to take him away, and you're just watching!
Mother's falling apart! Do you have no pride?"
That word "pride" the moment it left my mouth…
Slap.
Everything went quiet.
Then came the sting in my cheek and the solid thud of my body hitting the floor.
Father had struck me.
Grandfather rushed to my side, helping me up.
My eyes stayed locked with Father's. Burning.
He looked back. Iron. Unmoving.
"That's enough, Henry," Grandfather said.
"Go to your room. You shouldn't speak of things you don't yet understand."
I said nothing.
I just turned and slammed the door.
"Told you," Mnex said.
I didn't reply.
Not now.
My face was burning.
But my heart, even more so.
The metallic taste in my mouth: blood.
But not now.
Not yet.
That night...
Sleep never came.
Thoughts crashed in my head, drowning each other.
My eyes were closed, but my mind was hell.
"I know you're still awake."
Mnex's voice cut through me.
"And I know you don't want to talk. So I'll say it just once."
A pause.
"If you don't want to lose your brother. If your mother's state is killing you…
There's a way."
I opened my eyes.
What?
"You need power. Real power. Enough that no king, no one, can force your hand."
I need to become a king?
"Even a duke wouldn't be enough."
Then what?
"Think, Henry.
"What makes you special? Something no one else has."
"Don't tell me this is about you again."
"Well… not just me," Mnex said. "But you're on the right track.
I'm not just a system. And there's something else."
What?
"Your mind world.
The analysis still isn't finished, we don't know what's causing the time shift…
But one thing's certain your mind world is different."
"If you use me better there, if you train harder there… anything is possible."
Right.
One minute equals a year.
Even if I can't stay long…
Even just 15–20 minutes a day...
I could become the strongest person alive.
My breath quickened.
A spark lit inside me.
"Now," I said.
"We start now."
I sat up in bed.
Closed my eyes.
And dove into my mind world.
"What do we start with, Mnex? I'm open to anything."
"For now, stick to fire. We're still at the basics, but we can try boosting heat. What do you say?"
"How?"
"Raise the hydrogen count. Pull in more molecules. Compress them at high pressure.
This increases both heat and density.
At first it turns orange, then yellow..."
"Not enough. I want more."
Mnex paused.
"More? What do you want, purple flames?"
"…Yes."
"Interesting. Well... to get purple, you'll need to reach at least 1600 degrees Celsius.
This isn't normal combustion. This is pushing the limit.
You'll need not just fusion but plasma."
"I can do it."
"Then begin. But be careful purple fire isn't a game."
I closed my eyes, picturing the flame.
My first spell, fire, stood before me again.
I had learned this summoning trick while trying to make a water orb spell,
but switching elements still wasn't easy.
Even the "Blessing of Elemental Affinity" TABAAL gave me didn't help much unless I had the right skill.
Every time I tried combining oxygen and hydrogen… I got the same result: fire.
But maybe that wasn't a problem.
Maybe it was an advantage.
If I could increase the heat… I could evolve the flame.
"Mnex, how do I make it hotter?"
"More hydrogen. Then compress. Then pray."
I started. I summoned hydrogen. Held it balanced with oxygen.
But I must have pulled in too much
The spell collapsed.
Tried again.
This time, I added oxygen as I approached the limit… still didn't work.
"Not hot enough."
"Because what you're doing is still combustion.
What you need... is the fourth state of matter."
"You mean... plasma?"
"Bingo. Superheated gas.
When you start stripping electrons from their nuclei, plasma forms.
Ionized gas.
The evolved form of fire.
In other words… purple flame."
"How do I make that happen?"
"You rip electrons apart.
Doesn't sound sexy, I know but nature gets weird sometimes.
Picture this: ions on one side, electrons on the other…
And you, in the middle standing like a god in the middle of evolution."
"…Nature's climax, really?"
"Don't ruin the poetry."
I took a deep breath.
This time, I wouldn't just add more hydrogen.
I had to focus hard enough to tear it apart
To strip electrons away from their atoms...
But it didn't work.
Not yet.
No matter how much hydrogen I summoned, it always ended in failure.
The first time, the flame exploded out of control.
The second time, it barely even ignited.
Too much, too little, nothing was balanced.
"Slow down," Mnex said. "This isn't a race.
If it were that easy, every noble brat would be walking around with purple flames, challenging gods."
"Then how?"
"Stop crushing the elements together. Spin them.
Force them to escape outward, not collapse inward.
Centrifugal effect. Spinning increases friction, friction increases heat.
If you spin fast enough, electrons won't want to stay put."
I breathed in.
This time, I didn't force. I didn't push.
I rotated.
I let hydrogen spin in wide circles.
I kept the oxygen calm and steady.
Then... I increased pressure.
Slowly.
Step by step.
The flame was familiar at first. Orange.
But then... something shifted.
The pulse inside it... changed.
It turned yellow.
And then...
After a few seconds of trembling darkness
Blue.
Silent. Almost no hum.
But dense. So dense, it seemed to bend the air around it.
Mnex fell silent.
For the first time... he said nothing.
He just watched
as if he, too, was part of the spell now.
I closed my eyes.
My mother's tear streaked face flashed before me.
That silence. That pain.
Roderic's tiny hands.
My father's... indifference.
This flame... was for them.
When I opened my eyes, the blue light had spread everywhere.
It lit up the very walls of my mind world.
"Mnex?" I asked, softly.
"Not purple yet..." he said.
"...But we're getting started."