PART 1
The plan for the day was simple: I'd go with Father to see this "fish pond" and find out how it could possibly help me gain the power to protect myself. Then, I would join Mother and Astraya for their training, as Mother had said Astraya would need to help her around the house first.
"Astraga, are you ready?" Father called from downstairs, already prepared to leave. "Let's get a move on."
I headed downstairs, and Father's face lit up, eager to show me his work. He clearly believed this would cheer me up.
Astraya, a little grumpy about having to do chores before training, called out to me. "Astraga, come home fast so you can see me train!"
"Of course, Astraya! Can't wait!" I replied.
Mother's voice carried from the kitchen. "Astraya, you missed a spot! No training until you finish."
"Coming, Mother!" she yelled back. Mother then came to see us off.
"Honey, don't forget to check the seals as well," Mother said.
"Seals?" I asked.
Father reassured her, "I won't. It's not just for the fish pond; the patrol is also part of the plan. And I'll teach Astraga everything before I leave for Manyblood's capital."
"Father, what seals are you and Mother talking about?" I asked.
He patted my head. "Now, what's the fun in just telling you? There's so much to show, don't you think?"
Mother hugged me, holding me a little longer than usual. She kissed my forehead. "Your father will find someone to protect you," she whispered, her voice full of reassurance.
Yeah, the Condottieri, I thought to myself. How powerful can they really be, and why didn't Mother want an elf to be my bodyguard?
PART 2
"We're almost at the first seal, son," Father said, pointing at a large rock in the distance.
A rock? I thought, confused. "First seal? How many are there?" I asked as we walked under the sun, which seemed intent on scorching my skin.
Astraya and I rarely went outside the house without our parents' protection and in most cases were never going out. The air out here felt different, so fresh.
"We are almost there, Astraga" Father pointed at the distance.
like I had said, the fresh air felt wonderful, but I was already tired. "We have four seals to visit today, Astraga," Father said. "Each one is two kilometers apart, so we need to be quick. Then we'll get to the fourth seal, where the fish pond is."
As we walked, I realized something strange. There were no neighbors, no houses in sight. "Father, are we really the only ones out here?" I was seriously perplexed by the amount of open fields that were present.
We arrived at the first seal, a large rock. "Well, technically, no," he said. "There's a village close by, but it's still quite far. Even though the Authority of Drogan has been held back for now, we still needed to keep a low profile, especially from Drogan's followers. He has subordinates who would receive a huge reward just for knowing you and your sister exist, or for killing you both."
"But Father, what kind of prejudice does Drogan have that he wants twins dead?"
"To be honest, son," Father said, "the reason for the death penalty for twins has been lost to history over the years. The only thing that comes close to it is this legend."
"Some say the arrival of twins is a bad omen….a sign of a great calamity," he replied. "I'm not well-versed in the history, but according to popular knowledge, it's tied to one of the Primal Dragons."
"Primal Dragons?" I asked, completely intrigued. This world kept adding new layers of mystery, and I needed all the information I could get.
Father explained that Primal Dragons are the dragons among dragons, those who have ascended to the pinnacle of the dragon hierarchy. "There are said to be six royals rulers of dragons amongst the primals , but for some reason, only four are known," he said. "There was a time when a legendary warrior from Verdum hunted down dragons not just any dragons, but Primal Dragons and their followers. She was so feared among them that she was nicknamed Kikimora, the 'boogeyman of dragons.' She had a continuous and endless battle with Vastava, one of the strongest Primal Fire Dragons, who had constantly terrorized humanity. Many times, the battle was a standstill, but she eventually died during the childbirth of her twins.
"Many believe the dragons had something to do with it, but to be honest, this is more of a tale than actual history." Father wanted me to understand the general idea that humans and dragons were not as close then as they were now. "The story is fuzzy in my head, and I might be wrong," he said. "How could someone so powerful die from childbirth?" he wondered aloud a logical question that I agreed with..
He then reached into his bag for his notes, multitasking as he continued the story. "Where did I stop again?" he said, finally finding what he was looking for. "Ah, yes. 'This was her moment of weakness.' The dragons feared she would reincarnate as a twin and hunt them once again."
He continued, explaining how most people who achieve Dragonhood gain a contract with a dragon to receive power. "Drogan is known for keeping his pact at an extreme level. An Authority is a divine gift given to humans who attain Dragonhood by the Eternal Phoenix, a power many dragons seek themselves."
Now in front of the seal, I saw golden words I couldn't read glowing on the rock. "What are these words, Father?" I asked.
"The Ashborn language, my son," he said. "Created by Derrick Ashborn for his family to effectively cast seals and barriers."
He began checking his notepad, where the same foreign words were written. He meticulously cross-referenced each character, as if checking an alphabet. It was strange.
"Father, do the letters change?" I pressed. "Why are you constantly checking the words?"
He explained that Mother had instructed this meticulous method. These were no ordinary seals; the words were "alive," and due to some unexplained phenomenon, they tended to change themselves. It was as if a letter 'A' might later turn into an 'a'. He said this was a major flaw of casting a seal in a side-branch family, and even he, a master of manomancy, couldn't explain why it made sense.
We spent an hour meticulously cross-checking each seal. We had now completed three of the four. Father explained that each seal had its own individual function, but I was still stuck on the first point. "A seal that is still considered weak can hold back an Authority, right?" I asked.
He pointed to my koi fish pendant. "The warding against the Authority was more the necklace's doing, not the barrier's. This barrier created by your mother is a perfect force for concealing presence. People literally pass through us; it's like we exist in an alternate reality, a domain within this one."
I was stunned. If this was the power of a side branch, what were the main families capable of?
We finally arrived at the last seal, the biggest one of all. "The cornerstone," Father called it.