"As your young but keen mind noticed, there are a lot of variables at play in regards to your situation. Due to restrictions that even I am not willful enough to trespass on, the information I can give you is limited." Selene said to me.
"Is there truly no way to bypass those restrictions? It is quite literally life or death for me if what you said will happen if I form my mana core. Surely that could warrant some leeway?"
"No. Your potential among humanity is likely the first of its kind, but that is all it is right now, potential. Perhaps if you had a life of contributions to the world, you'd have a better chance, but the fact remains that you don't and are just a child currently not fated to live long."
Why is it always rules? The Divine love their damn "rules", and even I followed them to the letter for what? Some stupid game they played with our lives, and even now in this world I am restricted by yet more rules.
"Can you help me, Selene? You owe me nothing, and I have nothing to offer you currently, but I will surely repay the debt one day if you can help me survive now. The fact is that I absorb mana regardless of intention or not, and one day I will form a mana core by accident, if not on purpose. What can I do?"
Selene looked at me and appeared to be pondering her decision. It was clear that she could help, but there seemed to be a price she would have to pay that made this no small favor.
"I have watched over humanity since before your history was recorded. Interfering with your race's development on the level you ask of me is risking my existence on the same plane as you forming a mana core. If you perish now, your soul will be reincarnated again and start a new life not knowing of this tragedy. My punishment will not be so kind, and I will be erased."
So she can't help. It is not fair to ask her to risk his life so that I may live one now. It would appear there was some reincarnation cycle in this world.. And what's the worst that could happen? I blow up who knows how many innocents along with me and just start anew? Would I retain my memories of my first life and this one, and how could I live with myself for doing so?
I could disappear into some remote area of the woods and detonate, at least then it will just be mys-
"You are a different breed than others of your kind, Lucian. Most of your kind would have asked me to risk helping them anyways, and yet I can see you are thinking of ways to safely take only yourself out, and not others. Why do you not value yourself above others, and ask me to do so?"
"Because you have a life of your own. What right do I have to ask you to risk yourself for me, especially when I am just a random human of who knows how many you have seen come and go?"
Selene once again seemed to consider the playing field. I could feel the hesitation in her silence, and wondered what she was thinking.
"I have lived a long time, and seen the scope of your race from start to finish. Why a child like you has been born is not something that I can answer, but perhaps with my help, you can live long enough to find out."
"Why? You have no reason to risk your life just to potentially save mine?"
"Because you are the first human to not request something from me, even when not doing so would certainly result in your death. The courage that decision takes is worthy of reward." Selene nodded at me.
"Are you aware of what a slave pact is, child?"
"Y-Yes, a magic circle that binds the slave to the owner. It allows the owner to punish the slave and even kill them if desired." I asked, wanting to back away from her.
"I am not going to put a slave pact on you, but it can be considered a similar function. In ancient times, before mana beast and the races of this land were at constant war, there existed a ceremony that created a pact called the "Equals Contract", that connected the lives of a mana beast and another together. This traditionally was used in the union of marriage between mana beasts, but was later adapted into a partnership between mana beasts and other races."
"So before the war we have now, the races of this land and mana beasts coexisted in some semblance of peace? If that is true, how did this war start?"
Selene went quiet when I asked that. Of course she would, I only saw her as a cat, but she was clearly a high level mana beast of some form. Living the life she has, surely she knew and likely experienced whatever incident sparked this conflict.
"I am sorry for asking that, Selene. I did not consider the possibility that you went through whatever the incident was, and please forget that I asked about it."
"Thank you, child. Bringing up the history at this point is irrelevant, so I will continue with my explanation" She said.
"A Equals Contract was a bond of partnership between a mana beast and their partner, and allowed different benefits like an innate ability to communicate like we are, without the use of mana. There was a special benefit when mages did so, and it allowed the mage to grow in affinity with the mana beast's element. It is rare, but some members of your nobility have guardian mana beasts and their offspring that perform this pact with mages and it increases their power in that affinity."
"Which also would create the motivation to hunt down mana beasts and force them to form the contracts to empower the mage…" Wait. Did Selene mention the slave pact because…
"Can a slave pact be used on a mana beast to force them to create the contract? Was my kind hunting down mana beasts, and enslaving them to be used for a damn power up?" My fists were tightening up and I was having a hard time keeping my cool. Tell me that I am wrong, Selene.
"…Yes" She said.
A simple answer. A single word that expressed so much depth from her. I needed to contain myself, Selene was obviously affected by this so what right do I have to lose control when she hasn't?
"Then why would you want to help a human like me? You don't have to explain it, I can tell that you were affected by this, but I simply do not understand."
"Let me show you something, little one." Selene waved her paw and what looked like a moving picture appeared in the air. It showed what I guess is the evolution of humans from rough attire building a campfire, to creating metal tools, and eventually learning to control magic.
"Humanity has only been working with magic for around a century, and while progress has been made, you are still only scratching the surface of its limits." The picture showed mages casting small spells like lighting fires with a small ember, and filling a bucket with water.
"Your kind has also worked with, fought against, and joined with other races like the Elves, Dwarves, and even the Fae on occasion." The picture showed scenes of Humans and the other races building houses, fighting in wars, and weddings with happy families of different races celebrating together.
"The enslavement of mana beasts became a cardinal sin that humanity committed against mana beast kind and has created the bloody conflict that is the Everlasting War." The picture slowly showed multiple battles where the different races of Elarion fought against hordes of mana beasts year after year.
Slavery was never something that I condoned, and actively fought against when and where I could as the Hand of the Divine. The Divine humored me, but ultimately my efforts were a small drop in the bucket compared to the wide scale "benefit" that slavery brought humans.
"You are angry against your own people for mana beasts you do not know, and ones who would now rather feast on you for the sins of your ancestors. I can see that you know this, and yet you stay angry at humanity. That is why I am going to help you, even though forming Equals Contracts between us and other races has become a taboo to mana beasts."
"Is there truly no other way, Selene? I do not wish to die, but you paying the price for me to do so is too much to ask."
"My life has been a long one, and for too long has it been stagnant. I wish to see the world that a child as pure as you brings and the changes you will make. The only thing I ask of you in return is to broker peace between my kind and yours when you have the strength to do so. If you are unable to do so, I know you will do the best you can."
This life has been too much. I have always lived an isolated life as Hand of the Divine, unable to connect with even my brothers and sisters in arms, and paraded as a trophy to the Divine. Here? I have a loving family and now Selene is risking her existence just for the chance to save mine.
"There is still so much you are unable to learn at this time, but know that this world shall surely change for the better if you work hard to achieve it, little monster. Now, come closer to me and I will explain how the contract works."
I did as she asked and she placed a paw between my eyes. Selene began infusing her magical power into her paw that was on my face and said, "An Equals Contract allows me to infuse your body with my power, and will make it so that I can store my power near where your mana core will form in your chest to help your body withstand the impact of the conflict between the elements."
Feeling the tremendous magical power starting to enter my body, I struggled to stay in place from the pain of my body screaming out. "I know that this must hurt you, child but you must withstand it. The pain you experience now will be nothing compared to what will happen if your body cannot withstand the core formation."
My insides were burning, and I wanted to scream out but nothing came out. Liam piercing me with Ascalon didn't hurt as much as this did. The mana entering my mana channels threatened to erupt from them at any moment, but Selene expertly controlled them to prevent it.
The mana flowed into my chest, and approached near where the power of the Lady of the Abyss left me and the power began to eat the mana flowing near it, and Selene froze and stopped flowing her mana into my body.
"Why do you have this power inside your body, child?!"