Cain was in the middle of the stands of the arena on Eriel's fields, he patiently looked at Malakin, the Master of Weapons, waiting for an explanation that would satisfy his curiosity. Adalind had recovered but did not want to leave; she wanted an explanation for her defeat. The girl had never been defeated by someone of the same age as her before.
The Master of Weapons finally seemed to have decided the best way to explain to them about Lineage. But before he could say anything Cain started talking.
"Malakin, you said this was caused by my Lineage manifesting, but shouldn't it start to develop when I make twelve years of age?" asked the boy.
"It is true, normally the Lineage will only start to develop when a kid reaches twelve years of age, it is rare for it to manifest even a year before it. In your case it has already manifested at ten years of age, I never heard of it happening before." said the Master of Weapons.
"But why he lost control over himself?" asked Adalind with curiosity in her eyes.
"Well even though you two know about the existence of Lineage you have never been properly introduced to it. Normally we wait until the kid manifest it to have the first talk about it, since the Lineage may vary from person to person. For me to be able to explain about the Lineage I'll have to explain about the origin of humans, do you understand me?" the kids made an affirmative sign with their heads which seemed to be enough to Malakin.
"Well, in the beginning there were only the three Divines, Urair, the Divine of heaven, Ganra the Divine of Earth and Portiu, the Divine of the Seas. The Divine forged the world we know. Urair the Divine of heaven created the first creatures. Ganra and Portiu approving of Urair's idea also created new forms of life, but the Divines are proud, and they wanted to say their creation was the strongest, in order to do that they gave them forces that only a Divine could have, these forces are what we call Lineage. Ganra created humans in his likeness and presented each with a small fraction of its power, but that power is too large for a mere mortal use, so each Lineage has its "price" that must be paid in order to be used." the Master of Weapons then stopped his explanation to see if the boys still understood, after confirming that they still followed his story he continued.
"So, the Lineage is a power that is granted to all descendants of Ganra, but changing from Clan to Clan, because of this we can know which Clan a person belongs to only by seeing their Lineage." those last words made Cain's eyes sparkle.
"You said that the reason of what happened in that fight was my Lineage manifesting, it means that now you know my clan?" the boy was getting excited and hope was easily noticed in his eyes, the hope to answer the question he was asking all his life, who he really was?
"No Cain. Your Lineage is one I had never seen before; it is not connected to any of the known clans of the continent." said Malakin apprehensively. Instantly the joy on the boy's face disappeared.
"I will take from here Malakin. Cain, this method to check the Clan through the Lineage is only sure when parents are of the same clan, when the child is born from the union of people from different clans there are three options, the child will either inherit the lineage of one of the parents, or on rare occasions he will get a completely new Lineage due to the mixture of the two previous strains, or on even more rare occasions the person is born with both the Lineages." Heirloc, who was on the side all the time decided that now was his turn to speak.
Hearing those words Adalind suddenly intruded into the conversation because she did not stand the curiosity that consumed her.
"Are you implying that his Lineage is a mixture of two others? I already was thinking about this possibility, but why he lost control and attacked me? I still remember his eyes looking at me like they saw a defenseless prey; it looked like he had the intent to kill me. I won't forget his eyes at that time; I think they will haunt me in my dreams." said the girl shaking.
The Master Initiator restarted speaking after the interruption was over.
"Malakin told you each Lineage has its price, this is paid to the Divine Ganra in order to borrow his powers and use them. For example, Cain's Lineage according to what I saw, and the Master of Weapons seem to think the same way, has to do with his blood, as he bled the boy became stronger and more agile, but it seems like the power he received was more than he could control making his body move on instincts with the simple goal of eliminating his opponent. In this battle the opponent was you, Adalind. His Lineage developing at such a young age is unprecedented, normally the child will begin to develop it between twelve and fourteen years of age. For that reason, we could not expect it to happen here." the Master Initiator looked at the boy with a facial expression that emitted guilt.
"Well, we said everything we could. Tomorrow, if you are interested you can search the library for more information about the clans and Lineages. Now take Adalind to the lodge and then go home. I'll finish evaluating the battles and the students we saw today with the Master of Weapons." and with those words Heirloc dismissed Cain and Adalind and turned his back to discuss with Malakin the distribution of activities and training for each new student.
The kids were leaving Eriel's fields, quietly trying to absorb the information they had just received. On reaching the gate Adalind finally broke the silence.
"So, they are saying that you're some kind of genius?" Cain turned to face her being surprised by the question.
"What do you mean by that?" said the boy.
"You heard them, it is not normal for someone our age to already have developed his Lineage. Even in my Clan I never heard of it happening." Cain understood what she was implying.
"I do not know, what they told us is not enough. I had already seen other students using their Lineage, but I had never been able to study about it because the books about Lineage are on the students only area. I'm going tomorrow to the library, it will be the first place I go when I wake up." said Cain as they walked through the dark streets toward the female lodge.
The light from the lamps poorly lit the way, the street still had some older students talking to each other happily at the reunion after the months of winter and the sound of their talk was the only thing Cain and Adalind could hear. Somewhere Cain could smell bread being made, as it was night already he imagined someone was preparing the dinner.
"Then I'll go with you, I also have some doubts about it, and since you seem to know how to get to the library it will be easier." Adalind said, with a voice that showed she was determined.
The two arrived at the lodge, the big house made of stone served as a shelter for the female students of the College, it was a mixture of colors, some parts were red as wine and other were beige.
"Well, we have arrived. All right, we will go together tomorrow. Be ready at ten o'clock, I will pass here to get you." said Cain. The girl seemed happy that he agreed with taking her along.
"Okay, I'll be ready. Bye." She said happily, Cain had the impression she sang the last words.
"Bye. See you tomorrow." Cain replied.
Adalind knocked on the door of the lodge, which made an old woman open it. Jonta was the housekeeper of the lodge. The dim light from the lamp hit the short woman's head exposing the wrinkles that spread across her pale face. Jonta, had a short temper and was very strict, the boy remembered that, so in order to avoid being apprehended for taking so long to get Adalind to the lodging he swiftly made his leave. Cain continued his walk back to the tower of the Master Initiator, he wanted to sleep as soon as possible, if his curiosity allowed him, that is.
On the way to the lodge he tried to remember what it felt like when his Lineage activated, it was like he was alive for the first time, adrenaline rushed through his entire body and he felt like his body was getting lighter and lighter, but something about it terrified the boy. At some moment he simply lost control over his own body, it was like he was a prisoner inside of himself, stuck while someone else had control.
The power it gave him was amazing, but the drawback was huge, if Cain wasn't the one in control he did not feel like he was the one who had won at all.
'I will master this ability, I want to be able to use its amazing powers, but never again I want to lose control of myself, if it's not you who are moving, then what's the joy of the battle?' The boy thought, talking to himself.
He reached the Master Initiator tower, it was time to sleep, tomorrow he would head to the library with the beautiful girl he had met today and there he would find the answers he needed.