Kris Mackwood
After Tyler left the room, closing the door behind him, an awkward silence settled in the room. No one knew what to say. Kris did not like this silence, so he decided to speak first.
"Take a seat."
Kris said to the old man, pointing his hand towards the chair that was beside the bed. Lao Lee bowed his head and took the seat, while Mike sat on the bed beside Kris. Lao Lee understood that he should start the conversation, so he said,
"Master, is there anything you want to know?"
Kris felt uncomfortable with the way that Lao Lee addressed him. Lao Lee was clearly older than him, so an older person addressing him as 'master', made him uncomfortable.
"Please, don't call me master. Call me Kris."
Kris said with a small smile and continued,
"About the things I'd like to know, I think you should start by saying about my nature. I have no idea about what I am."
Lao Lee nodded understandingly and closed his eyes, aligning all the information in his mind, before he spoke them.
"You are a quarternix. Quarternixes have the ability to heal through their blood, it can also be considered as a cure for all illnesses. If the owner of the blood is willing, any illness in the consumer can be healed. This only works with the owner's willingness, if the owner is unwilling, the blood will work as a poison and kill the consumer. Quarternixes are a rare race, that has almost gone to extinct by now. They are mostly human, their ability is in their genes, so they also possess another ability like everyone else. This race consists only of women because the healing ability can only be inherent to a child by their mother. Your case is special, your mother had only sons, so you have inherited her healing ability."
Lao Lee explained while Kris and Mike listened to him intently. Kris nodded his head and questioned back,
"Does that mean, only one of us has it, that Mike is normal?"
Lao Lee nodded his head in agreement.
"Yes, your brother has not inherited your mother's ability, but the situation with your sons is different."
Lao Lee explained, but as Kris heard about his sons' situation is different, he looked puzzled.
"What do you mean, 'different'?"
Kris asked the old man, genuinely having no idea about the difference in their situation. Lao Lee replied in a matter of fact tone,
"As you are a man, and your babies are also boys, they have both inherited your ability. That will make them more powerful, and also more unsafe."
Kris looked at his sleeping angels and smiled, that smile was a sad and painful one.
"That means many people will come after them for their power, right?"
Kris asked Lao Lee and Lao Lee slowly nodded his head as a reply. If having a small power in him made people like Yan come after him and try to harness his power, then having greater power meant, people like Yan will come to his boys like a moth to the flame. This made Kris's heart stir with worry.
"You said the owner must be willing, so how come they are in danger?"
Mike, who was silently listening to all this time, questioned Lao Lee. Lao Lee understood what Mike meant.
"It does not mean that there are no ways to harness the power of a quarternix."
Lao Lee said and continued,
"During ancient times, when quarternixes were common between humans, they were often used as a medicine during wars. This made the other races enraged. They had to rely on their own ability to self-heal, while humans used quarternix blood as a medicine. So they got together and tried to make a tool, that can harness the ability of a quarternix, unwillingly. After many attempts, they finally succeeded, and that tool is named 'the qnixmirror'. when a quarternix looks at their own reflection through a qnixmirror, through that time the mirror is able to absorb the healing ability in the quarternix's blood. After it was invented, other races went on a spree, kidnapping every quarternix and harnessing their power, until they became extinct. The mirror was conjured with dark magic, but it didn't have the ability to contain the harnessed power. It is said that the mirror cracked after containing too much energy, and that cracked mirror was lost forever. But looks like your mate's mother was finally able to find and mend it."
Kris and Mike listened to the old man closely, paying attention to every word that left his lips. As Lao Lee finished his explanation, Kris questioned him again.
"What did Yan mean by saying that quarternixes are all haemophiliacs?"
Lao Lee nodded his head in agreement and started to explain again.
"The ability of quarternixes lies within their blood, so it causes them to be a haemophiliac. But about your mother's death, it's impossible that she bled to death during her labour. She might bleed to a certain extent, but to her death, impossible, unless-"
Lao Lee stopped his sentence in the middle, causing Kris to glance at him with a puzzled look on his face.
"Unless, what?"
Kris pressed the question, determined to get the answer out of the old man.
"Unless she used a drug to dilute her blood. You see, humans use those kinds of drugs to prevent clots. There are many drugs that are effective on humans, but there is only one that is effective on quarternixes, Apixaban."
Lao Lee finished his explanation. Mike was not satisfied with this answer, so he further questioned,
"How can it affect our mom?"
"If Emily consumed this drug during her pregnancy period, it would cause her to bleed a huge amount of blood, during her labour. Causing her to fall into a coma and eventually die, in a short period of time."
Lao Lee answered Mike. Kris was overwhelmed with all this information, that he forgot to ask the main question in his mind. When he finally remembered it, he directed it to the shaman, without wasting any time.
"Lao Lee, how did you save me today?"
Lao Lee smiled and pointed his finger to the locket that now hung around Kris's neck, next to Lan's ring. Kris looked at the new item that hung around his neck. As he took it to his hand, he saw the engraving, which said, 'Kris&Lan'. This sight made tears to well in his eyes. Kris looked at Lao Lee with a look that asked for an explanation. Lao Lee understood that look and answered,
"This is an enchanted locket, it contains yours' and your mate's blood. This will help to contain your lifeline in your physical body until your mate comes back to you. But remember, you can never take this off. If you take this off you will back to the weak state that you were after giving birth. Also remember, you can't use your ability frequently as this can only help you to use your power to a certain extent. The healing power in your blood is still there, but your learning ability will be limited."
Shen Wei nodded in understanding, and asked,
"Does this work on Lan the same way?"
Lao Lee nodded his head as the reply said,
"This has the ability to heal any mate that has their blood in it."
Kris nodded again, clenching his hand around the locket protectively. He looked at Lao Lee again, seeing that he was hesitating t say something.
"Is there anything else?"
Kris asked Lao Lee. Lao Lee looked down at his hands, which laid on his lap, took a deep breath and replied,
"I am sorry, master. Even though I saw what was going to happen, I didn't take any action and caused you to fall and get separated from your mate."
All the tears that Lao Lee held back for weeks, finally came flooding down. Kris stretched his hands and took Lao Lee's hands in them. And spoke with a kind and soothing voice,
"But you are here now, aren't you? It means that you are helping me to rise. Forget the past, we will look into the future."
Lao Lee was wordless, he knew that Kris was a kind-hearted man, but he never imagined his master to be this kind and caring. Lao Lee smiled back and turned to Mike and said,
"I am sorry, young master Mike."
Mike smiled back at the old man and said,
"Let's look into the future, Lao Lee. Forget the past as Krissy said."
Lao Lee smiled seeing the understanding behaviour of the twins. But there was something else that he needed to discuss with them.
"Master, I think it will better if you leave China for a while, with the babies."
Lao Lee said looking at Kris with a worried face.
"Leave China? What if Lan comes back?"
Kris questioned Lao Lee in a surprised tone.
"It will take some time for him to remember you, and when the time comes, you will eventually have to come back."
Lao Lee replied, but Kris was not satisfied with his answer.
"Have you seen what will happen?"
Kris asked Lao Lee, as he knew that the old man will not say something like this unless he had seen what will happen afterwards. Lao Lee nodded and said,
"It will be safer for young masters."
Lao Lee looked at the still sleeping angels, before turning his head back to Kris. Kris hesitantly nodded his head and said,
"I will ask Tyler to make the arrangements. Are you going to stay with us?"
Lao Lee smiled and shook his head before he said,
"I will come back when I am needed."
As soon as these words left his lips, he disappeared into thin air leaving a dumbfounded Kris and Mike behind.