Shades of the New World

"Oh, you're back, what happened? You seemed like you were in a lot of pain," Evin suddenly said.

[I can't tell you what I want to tell for a reason that I also can't explain to you] the voice said enigmatically.

"What's he saying?" Rith asked with interest.

"It said that it he can't tell me what he wants to tell me because of a reason, which he also can't explain," Evin said.

"Ah, it must be the thing. But isn't it supposed to be washed away after one dies? Why does his follow after him?" Rith and Ssatsko questioned.

Evin was undoubtedly starting to believe that to receive the education of a mage, one had to go through some unusually unpleasant procedures.

[Hey, don't call me it, I'm a proper person and my name is Karan, though I don't have a last name]

"Hello, Karan, my name is Eviendra, Evin for short. How did you end up in this forest, with a crow as a host?" Evin asked out loud.

[I don't know much, but I suppose I was reincarnated and became one of the Empress' Blessed. I can't tell you some things, but I think I can explain my general situation in a simple manner]

Then, Karan told the group about what he could talk about.

He was born as a human orphan in slums of Tower City, living life as a street urchin, begging and thieving to stay alive. One day, a number of orphans were abducted by some unidentified people and taken away to the East. He was one of such orphans, and he became an experimental subject of that organization. Sadly, the only thing he could disclose to the group was that it was located in the East, judging by the staff and constantly dry atmosphere.

Karan could not tell what exactly they were researching, but it gave him the ability to nullify the effects of the World of Life and also ignore the invincibility of the Layeq people. He was usually heavily controlled, but thanks to an opportunity which allowed him to use his powers freely, he managed to kill a bunch of the people there and also kill himself in the process. He knew that the only way to truly free himself would be to die, so he did not hesitate to suicide.

He actually knew Elashin, as one of the combat members of that organization. Karan could sometimes see Elashin guarding him when he was being transported from one place to another.

Evin asked Karan about how the organization could track him after he died, but Karan was not allowed to tell him. He reassured Evin that they can't know where he is exactly. They only know where his soul went to after he died. Evin was very interested in how they tracked Karan's soul. It was something he was trying to learn more about, since it was one of the things he was trying to research about in his new life in Alvox.

Karan then continued his story. He was unconscious for a long time, but after some point, he finally realized that he was still alive. But for some reason, he was in control of a shifting metal body. He spent many days trying to assume the shape of a human, but every time he tried to do so, he would find himself in unbearable pain. The only forms he could safely assume were the forms of various weapons and armor. So, giving up on taking the form of a human, he started trying out the various actions he could take in the form of a sword. He realized that he could beckon living beings closer to himself. Using that ability, he finally managed to stick on to a raven. He also tried communicating with it, but, sadly, the crow did not understand Imperial. He spent some time with the crow while it hunted and realized that his anti-Layeq powers were still with him.

He then tried to have the crow leave its territory in search of humanoids, but he could not force it to do anything. He could only slightly influence the creature. But he still made the crow fly around its territory in search of humans, and he finally found Evin's group. He tried to detach itself from the crow, but for some reason, he couldn't cut the connections so easily. All he could do was to influence the crow to attack Evin's group.

The rest was as the group experienced. But right after the connection between Karan and the raven was forcefully cut off, he suffered an awfully unpleasant experience, which was the crow's death. That made him scream incoherently inside Evin's head for a few minutes.

After the fight finished, he tried to tell Evin about the organization, but was faced with another horridly unpleasant experience, the reasons which only Evin did not fully know.

"Will that organization come back to find trouble with us?"

[Those damn bastards will come here again to learn about what happened to the three mages they sent. But I'm having a feeling that if they don't find anything, they will give up rather than try to find trouble around here. The feeling I got from those rats was that they meticulously avoided the countries and the official organizations. They'll surely go the extra mile to uncover my position, but they can't go overboard. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I'm thinking, ] Karan said.

"Does that mean if we stay low for a bit we'll be fine afterwards?" Evin asked.

[Nothing's for sure, but I do hope you're right,]

Evin explained what he heard from Karan to the other two.

"Ssatsko, can you search their bodies for a tracing object of any kind?" Rith ordered.

The old man did as ordered and brought back the mages' possessions. In total, they found 50 kilograms worth of crystal-grade lodestones, two daggers, a sword, a storage ring, some book that was written in Eastern and a symbol depicting a dozen small stars surrounding a big star.

Then Rith fiddled with the storage ring and opened its contents. The group was shocked with what was contained in it. Dozens of bodies of young children, mostly newborns, littered the storage ring.

"What's this?" Evin couldn't help but ask.

"I've heard from the guard at the gates that there were several cases of missing children in the town. To think that these easterners were the cause behind them..." Ssatsko said.

"What?"

"I'd guess that they realized that Karan had become a Child of the Empress. Where do you think they would search for first?" Ssatsko asked.

"Then does that mean that when they came to my house, they were actually looking to kill me?"

"Well, obviously the time period between Karan's death and your age don't add up, so they probably did not intend to kill you," Ssatsko said.

Other than that, the storage ring contained food, camping equipment, spare daggers, another 70 kgs of rock-grade lodestones and a bunch of miscellaneous and personal objects.

The amount of lodestones the mages possessed suggested that they were quarter-core mages.

The last two possessions were taken from Elashin's body, and Kalan started reading the book.

[Religion of the Ascendants? What's this shit? ] he cursed out.

Evin explained how he first met Elashin and how the man tried to pull him to his new religion.

Hearing the answer, Karan fell unusually silent.

"What happened?" Evin asked.

[I realize that I cannot tell you about this religion as well, ] the man said in an unnaturally proper way. The man would always curse whenever he talked, so such a way of talking made Evin abnormally terse.

This behavior hinted at something sinister to Evin. The fact that the Religion of Ascendants were somehow connected to that organization that captured Karan was quite unexpected.

Evin told Rith about Karan's new answer. The Cosmic seemed like she did not expect the answer, but still knew something about the matter.

"Well, there's nothing we can do for now. And I've also checked their belongings, they didn't have any tracing devices, so what do you want to do with them?" Rith asked, back to her Cosmic, professional personality.

"Ssatsko, what do you think? I mean, we did just murder some foreigners in a forest. Hopefully, no one knows about it, but I still feel like there are risks," Evin asked.

He did not feel very confident about this matter at all. First of all, was it really okay to just murder a few people which had some conflict with you. Not even mentioning morals. What were the political implications for this action?

'Well, I guess politics shouldn't really matter for us, since they've literally killed a few dozen children

"These things aren't as rare as you're making it out to be. I don't know how it was like in your World, but here, only the strong are right. Two parties wanted that sword, and ultimately it led to violence. Nothing unusual. Especially so since they're from another country. And as Karan said, these people aren't really affiliated to the East, so there's also that," Ssatsko explained.

"Then let's burn the bodies and go back to town. We didn't find anything interesting, so there's no need to dawdle on this topic. Let's go back home," Evin said.

"What about the children's corpses?" Ssatsko asked.

"Ugh, shit... Although I'd love to let the families know about them, I feel that it's best for us to keep our involvement hidden. We'll carry the storage ring back to town and try to give it to the Mage Association anonymously," Evin said and the three proceeded with the agreed plan.

After finishing the dark work, they went on their way home.

While on the journey, Evin asked Karan a few other questions.

"Can you turn into something a little more low-profile?"

[I don't think I can. Strangely enough, when I become smaller, my weight also gets reduced. Look,] Karan replied and turned into a dagger.

Just as he said, Karan's weight became much more bearable for Evin.

"How does that work?"

[I don't know, I've just been able to do it naturally, but I don't know the exact reasons. And also, when I turn into something that's not meant for battle, I feel extremely unpleasant. So I don't want to do that]

Hearing the answer, Evin replied after a few minutes.

"Do you know there're rings that are made for assassinations? They put a small prick on the ring and coat it with poison. And if you shake hands while wearing that ring, you can inconspicuously poison someone without them knowing it. Try turning into that"

[Sure, let me try]

Karan did as instructed and turned into a ring which had a little spike on it's outside.

[Hey, that worked, I'm not feeling weird, like last time. I don't get this shitty fucking race. Why the hell are they so hellbent on hurting people, that they refuse to take on a form that doesn't try to kill someone in one way or another,] Karan grumbled.

Evin wore the ring and found that it didn't weigh as much.

"Your weight changing ability is so mystical. With this, you can lay low for the time being," Evin said and walked on.

Rith then came to Evin and told him that his bank profit money is starting to accumulate.