"What's a calix?" Aiden asked the wisps, his curiosity stirring. The idea of being something beyond a helpless boy trapped in a mansion—a piece of something larger—filled him with a quiet sense of purpose. He wanted to explore this new identity further, to understand what it meant for him.
"Oh, right!" Lucius said, hovering closer toward the boy. "We forgot to tell you."
"Riven, you're the nerd," Caelum said, flying to the side to give Riven the center stage. "Please do the honor."
Riven hovered at the top of the veranda, his light flickering as he struggled to recover everything he'd read a thousand years ago from his hazy memory. "A calix... is what we call a mortal who can wield the power of the gods."
"In ancient times," Riven began his story, "whenever an immortal perished in the mortal realm, we believed that a calix would be born of mortal descent. Its role was to act as a chalice for the gods, collecting and storing the power spilled from the immortal's essence so it doesn't cause instability in the mortal realm." He hovered closer to Aiden. "And the witch said you're a calix—a chalice of gods."
"I'm a chalice?" Aiden's eyebrows furrowed deeper. "A chalice that collects and stores an immortal's spoilage?"
Lucius bobbed himself. "That's what the witch said," he said. "But we believe she's wrong. Well... not entirely. But there are holes in her theory."
Aiden tilted his head, frowning in confusion. "Holes? What holes?"
Riven shifted, his form flickering slightly. "When did you realize you're a calix?" he asked.
"Yesterday? Or was it three days ago?
"Well..."
Riven explained that a calix is born knowing his purpose: to fulfill tasks assigned by the gods. They would communicate with him through dreams—and Aiden, clearly, had never experienced that.
"We actually have a theory," Lucius said. "We'll demonstrate it for you. Caelum, take your position!"
"Right," Caelum replied, drifting to the other side of the veranda.
Lucius gave a mock cough, or something close to it, before crying out in a deep, dramatic tone. "Oh, Great Whoever You May Be!" he declared, swooping toward Caelum. "Another insignificant immortal has perished in the mortal realm!"
The moment Lucius began his overly dramatic monologue, Aiden and Riven exchanged a look of shared exasperation. Riven's glow dimmed, pulsing with irritation, while Aiden rubbed his temples, suffering from second-hand embarrassment.
"Tragic!" Caelum answered with feigned concern, but keeping their lame play going. "Anyway, you know the drill... uh, Another Whoever. Send a calix to that place immediately!"
"Fret not, Great Whoever!" Lucius replied. "We've already blessed an infant born seconds ago as a calix!"
"Marvelous! I'll go down and check." He zipped around the veranda, darting up and down to keep the scene alive. Then he paused over Aiden, looking down. "No! This infant's an idiot! Find another one!"
Aiden's face slackened, his expression showing mild displeasure. Unimpressed by the mediocre acting and the poor script, he would've thrown tomatoes if he had any. But despite his aversion, their story was painting a clear possibility.
"But, Great Being!" Lucius wailed. "He's already been assigned as a calix. We can't just retract the blessing!"
"Then sever his meridians!" Caelum said dismissively. "Who cares if he ends up useless his entire life?"
"And... scene," Lucius said, dipping his wispy form as if taking a bow.
Caelum zoomed to the center. "That's what we think happened," he said. "Maybe some Great Whoever messed up, and because of that, they had to retract your blessing and sever your meridians."
Aiden fell silent, no longer confused but no longer feeling anything as well. Mixed emotions were dwelling on him, but exactly, he didn't know what to feel because of his ironic situation that was almost laughable.
"So..." Aiden said, his voice quiet as if talking to himself. "I was a mistake?"
The idea didn't surprise him. It almost made sense, given his miserable upbringing. A mistake? He'd dealt with enough disappointments to know things always go against his favor. He wasn't shocked by another misfortune, just... resigned to it.
The three wisps fell silent, witnessing the resignation in Aiden's eyes. They each checked on another's gaze, their lights dimmed gray.
"Y-you can't say that," Caelum said, slightly apologetic for his impromptu script from earlier. "It was just... Lucius' dumb theory," he said, earning a flare up from Lucius. "He could be wrong. Maybe you were born to be a calix but something went wrong."
Riven bobbed up, trying to steady the conversation. "Even if you're not a calix, you're built like one," he said. "And we can work with that. Severed meridians aren't entirely irreparable—it's a long shot, but it's possible."
"Exactly!" Lucius chimed in, his light glowing brighter. "You're still a calix but with more freedom! No rules to follow, no gods bossing you around!"
Aiden gave a wry smile. "Right. No gods bossing me around."
"Believe me, it's so much better!" Caelum said, almost overcompensating for his guilt. "It's like being a knight with a sword but no mission. You can do whatever you want with that sword. Screw the mission!"
Riven burned a bright red light, reprimanding Caelum for his words, his lights dimmed he almost merged into the background.
"That's the worst way to put it," Lucius said. "But quite accurate."
Aiden felt a flicker of something close to enlightenment, though he wasn't sure if he truly believed them. But the thought of being able to turn things for the better, even if it was just a sliver of hope, was hard to ignore. Maybe they were just trying to cheer him up—but maybe, just maybe, there was a chance they were right.
"Screw being a calix," Aiden said, already moving on from his mistaken identity. "I've accepted my fate anyway," he sighed. "If I need to cast a spell for class, I just have to get beaten to a pulp. Then, for the next class, I'm powerless again—and have to get punched all over again. Simple."
"Sounds fun," Caelum murmured.
"No. Our trip to the dark forest wasn't futile." Riven said. "Now that we know you're a calix, there are plenty of ways for you to absorb essence without needing a beating."
Aiden's eyes lit up, and so did Caelum and Lucius.
"Really?" They asked in unison. "Bastardsson/I won't have to get punched again?"
Riven flicked green. "I'm not sure if it'll work," he said. "But some mortals practice a martial art that lets them absorb the energy in their surroundings and develop their qi. It's commonly practiced in the East... something they refer to as Tai chi."
"Tai chi?" Aiden mumbled to himself. "I didn't know tai chi could work that way."
"It would never work as a method of cultivation if you were an ordinary mortal," Riven said. "But since you're a calix, and the current mortal realm is shrouded with thick celestial energy, it means you can gather energy from almost everywhere."
Aiden stared at his fingertips. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let himself feel the surrounding energy. Perhaps it was because he wasn't focusing too much, or the fact that he could hear Lucius and Caelum murmuring in the background, so he felt nothing. Not even a tickle on his nails.
"It's okay," Riven comforted him. "If we're lucky enough, we might find you a master."