//////
Leonard Diary :
The new knife I was gifted is truly peculiar. It was made for combat, and is extremly usfull and sharp. That and the unhumenly strong body Kieron showed surprise me, he truly has many secrets. Although part of it can be attributed to the fact that his mastery over magic surpasses mine, the gap is too far for that. He is truly an amazing individual, I am looking forward to witnissing the path he will take some day. I just hopes he surveves the journey.
//////
„I think we can talk again."
Throwing another dead monster on the big pile in the middle Leonardo remarked.
„Whatever can notice us already did so."
I nodded.
„After burning the remaining bodies we should start exploring the caves. I doubt that there are any more adult ones, but we should still be careful."
I threw in a bit of dry wood so that it burned better.
„Also I think we should prioritise the upper caves. There are less of them and we will be faster."
Leonard shrugged his shoulders"whatever"
Taking it as a confirmation, I started climbing the rock. It was actually quit easy as there were enough places to hold onto. Well in theory.
Leonard took my hand and lifted me up the last part, yeah I was a pretty bad climber, more so than ever because I had barely any place to practice.
Looking into the big cave Leonard started to speak.
„This should be the main one, the others functioned as nothing more than lairs. There was nothing in there other than bones and interestingly enough some sort of fruit."
I first removed the dust and debris from my clothes, you should have at least some decencie when moving into another persons home.
Leonard took out an iron lantern, It was surprisingly similiar to the ones hung on every door of the loggers rest. I wonder where he got it fom.
The light of it created a million shadows that danced around the room.
I think we were walking in a circulate pattern, as we took quite awhile to arrive at a round room that was at the heart of the stone.
In the middle of the room stood, what I can only assume to be a wooden totem an object of worship.
It was crude but I think it depicted a Serpent wrapped around a stone reaching into the sky.
Interesting was that the roof was constructed ,so that the light of the moon shone directly onto the statue and illuminated it.
The rest of the too was dark which highlighted the object.
I motioned Leonard to walk towards the statue, it was interesting.
The moment we stepped into the room something else fell into my eye.
At the other end of the room, previously hidden behind a thick veil of shadows were small bodies huddled into a corner.
They looked like human children not older than twelve. But on second glance I noticed the signature lack of eyes.
And if it were not for the shivering of these bodies I would presume them dead.
I looked at Leonard seeing that he noticed the problem as well.
„I don't kill children, monster or not."
I walked towards them to pick them up.
„But it is on them to survive in the wilds, they can't remain here."
Surprisingly they lacked all and every resistance letting me grab them by the hand and dragging them out of the cave. Many it was fear or an acceptance that they were the weaker party, I do not know. Turing around after setting them down, I could see them climbing down the mountain, as if their life was suddenly coming back.
On my way back I could see Leonard carrying two as well. Although silent at least he didn't disagree. His mood changes were quit out of place sometimes happy and sometimes quiet, I still can't quite wrap my head around him.
Going back what seemed like the last one delivered a huge shock to me.
As he was huddled into a corner, his back facing us, I didn't notice anything different in the dark, but his head had hairs.
Forcefully turning him around I stumbled back on disbelief as two round and tears eyes stared at me.
„Hey Leonard come here. Now."
Seconds after shouting I saw him running out of the tunnel with the second torch in his hand weapon in his other.
„What are you shouting about there is nothing..."
Then as if hit by lightning he stood still as well.
„What in auroras name."
He drew a circle onto his chest and pressed his finger against his temple.
„This Child is cursed we got to kill it."
I stared at him in horror, if you were being strict I never actually killed any human before, the one we met was already on a one way ride to hell, and the teachings of my mentor also never encouraged me to do so.
„What do you mean cursed you stumped Esoteric dimwit. He was borne a human like any other, there is not even a trace of gene defect or some sort of illness he is perfectly healthy. Instead of believing in stupid superstitions, look at the facts. This child was probably left here for dead by someone who did not want him, and was adapted by monster who because of they're lack of sight deemed them as one of their own. He is just like any one of us and more like a curse he was blessed as he made it out alive."
Well he also reminds me of myself. Not that it made me overly sympathetic, I just had to think back to my amazing teachers who took care of me. We could also take care of him.
Leonard looked at me like I was a fool.
„I can accept the mission, it was good to get some experience working together and using our ability's. But you want to take this useless child with us, what are we some kind of saints?
We can not save everyone, honestly speaking I think we can save no one, since the empire fell our human race was bound to be extinguished eventually. Look at you the hidden, cowering away while awaiting for your eventual demise."
Wow that were allot of pent up feelings, I was honestly surprised at my own outburst as well. Turning around I looked at the probably 12 year old malnourished boy. His hair was messy and his skin was littered with scares. Through still tears he growled at me, like an injured animal.
This will decide your fate'. I slowly took out a small disc like device out of my backpack and placed onto his head.
Not everybody had a talent for magic and it was already a surprise that Leonard had one.It is not certain jet, but I and my master theorised that the chance of a magic talent appetising was around one in a thousand.
The research on this field was still in its development stage but I had a theory. After a few Second of stillness the disc glowed in a pale blue light which caused the child to step back in surprise.
Leonard was still standing there unsure what had gotten into me.
„I knew it"
The light meant that he had a talent for magic. The method was not perfect jet, and it only had a 30% chance to successfully detect a talent, but if it did detect one it would be certain. A better method was to simply let the person try it out like I did with Leonard, but we had neither the time nor energy.
„See he is not useless at all, he has a talent for magic."
I beamed at Leonard.
„You only find these in rare cases."
He still looked a little lost on how the situation developed.
„And he confirmed my idea. So you know that basic about the force of mind, your will. By training magic, we also train our body and spirit allowing us to cast more spells. But I think that also applies in the reverse, by training your mind will you be able to train your magic."
I figured that one out when I and Leonard first used our magic's. Although it was my first time to use it too, I had a far larger magic capacity that could not just be explained by sheer talent.
„Look a rock can't have magic because that's what it lacks, a will. But baby's too have wills, yet I have jet to see or hear of a newborn being able to use magic. That is because there is a hard cap. A minimum requirement needed to first cast magic, and then train your mind farther. But without that first magic you can never train. A Paradox. I guess there are ways around it, but basically the theory is that circumstance, your life and character decide if you can or cannot learn magic.
And speaking about will this child must have allot of it."
I drank some water, to wet my dry throat.
„So basically he is a rare genius we absolutely never to keep, otherwise we lose out on an opportunity."
He placed his head on my shoulder and tried to shake me, a futile try.
„An opportunity for what, what are YOU planning, what do you even want."
��Well," I smiled brightly at him," world domination obviously."
I always wanted to say that. Well I would definitely not seriously go for world domination, just build my own small force. Yes definitely.