The Third Red 1: The Enemy Within

When he awoke Eric found himself lying in a bed in an unfamiliar room.

“Where am I?” he asked.

“You’re… arrgh! In the Carnos infirmary,” a female voice said.

Eric looked around and saw the source of the voice was a woman in a red dress with fang designs on it like those of the said family. Her face was covered with the mask of a crying woman. The symbol of the Suffering Sisters.

“I am Talona... Lady of the Carnos family,” Talona’s voice was an odd mixture of pain and joy. “My husband and son brought you and your horse here via teleportation. I took the pain from your wounds and closed them.”

Eric looked at his hand. The wounds were closed alright but there was still a visible mark from the bear’s fangs. He didn’t feel any pain though he should have.

“Why didn’t you heal it all the way?” Eric asked. “And where is Snowshine?”

“There would be no good pain to suffer through if I healed it more. I healed it as much as I needed to prevent you from bleeding out. Your horse as well,” Talona said.

Eric’s skin crawled at the words ‘good pain’. It seemed as if she actually enjoyed being in pain. That was the role of the Suffering Sisters though, to take pain from others. A noble cause, but the thought of one who actually enjoyed their own suffering made him cringe.

The door opened and Morum entered. “Ah you’re awake!”

Eric gazed at the lion boy for a moment. “How long was I out?”

“Only a few hours. I have your deer here for you to take home, and your horse is healed as well. At least enough she won’t bleed, and mother is taking whatever pain she would be feeling now.”

Eric pushed himself to his feet with his still wounded left hand. Talona grunted suddenly.

“Are you alright?” Eric asked the masked woman.

“Oh yes, pain is such a feeling!” she said with joy.

Eric cringed again at her pleasure of being in pain. Frowning, he put his good hand on the wounded one and ran his sorcery through it.

“Woota hela!” Be healed.

The wound healed the rest of the way. Not even leaving a mark.

“Thank you,” he said to both her and Morum. “Snowshine and I owe you our lives.”

“Well, I couldn’t leave a fellow hunter to die,” Morum said. “Follow me.”

Morum escorted Eric out of the infirmary.

“Well, I hope your inner beast is satisfied with the hunt,” Morum said.

It’s enough for now. Clauwing said in Eric’s head. I just wish we’d been able to get that bear as well.

As they neared the infirmary door, Morum turned to face Eric.

“I’m sorry for calling you a traitor spawn,” Morum said. “Your mother’s faults aren’t your own. Can you forgive me?”

Eric nodded. He would bury the hatchet with Morum since the lion boy had saved him. Taro and Tarair though, would take quite a bit more.

Morum opened the door and Eric found himself back at the Carnos Manor. Snowshine stood a few feet away with the deer carcass on her back. Eric noticed Snowshine’s wounds were still visible through her fur coat. Eric put his hand on the horse and healed her just as he had himself. He then took the reins and lead her back to Soyagone. When he passed through the drawbridge, Eric was surprised to find Rubara standing in front of the castle with Chosan.

“Ah, there he is now! The mighty hunter returns!” Chosan said.

“Welcome back little one!” Rubara said in her loving grandmotherly voice. She walked over and sniffed before growling. “What happened? I smell blood!”

Eric told her about the bear attack. Rubara then rounded on Chosan.

“First, he gets attacked by thieves! Then you allow him go down to a tunnel full of bloodthirsty goblins? And now you let him nearly become a meal for a bear!”

“I didn’t let him!” Chosan protested.

“I don’t care, it seems every time he leaves this castle, he encounters danger!”

“Not every time Granny, just some of them!” Eric tried to say.

“Well, I’m not letting you leave this place without proper protection again!” Rubara said. “From now on I’m going with you wherever you go!”

Eric gaped at this. “What? But Granny-”

“No buts!” Rubara hissed, her forked tongue lashing out. She turned to Chosan and showed her teeth. “Send a messenger to me whenever he is going somewhere so I may follow.”

“Y-yes ma’am!” Chosan replied at once.

Rubara flapped her wings and went into the air, returning to her small island nearby. Eric heard a distant thump as she landed.

“D-don’t mess with Grandma Dragon!” Chosan said shakily. “Perhaps we ought to have her in charge around here! She’d keep the troops in line!”

“She sure would,” Eric said still frightened as well. He thought of what his life would be like now, Rubara would be following him everywhere.

“Well, we s-still have some time before dinner is ready! What would you like to do?” Chosan asked. “We could make some potions perhaps? You haven’t had a chance to practice outside of Castle Scholar.”

Eric was tempted to say yes but then he remembered something. “I can’t! The Proving Times are tomorrow, I need to be ready for them so I can earn my silver nature badge!”

Chosan scoffed. “You know all the advanced nature spells! Arvis told me! You’ll be fine!”

“Well, I still need to work on my other powers!” Eric said. “I just got on better terms with Clauwing. Maybe I can learn something more about Beast Sorcery. I’m still having trouble with Greater Body as well!”

Chosan thought for a moment. “Fine. I suppose I could have Arvis teach you some Soron Morsu at least.”

“Soron Morsu?” Eric repeated eagerly. “Combining two inherited powers?”

“Indeed. Would you like that?” Chosan asked.

Eric thought of combining his nature and beast sorcery, creating an opinicus made of fire, lightning, or some other element. The idea was appealing.

“Yes!” he shouted.

“Very well. But after the Proving Times you shall spend more time on pleasure! Arvis!” Chosan shouted toward at the tower behind him.

The resident sorcerer stepped out onto the balcony of his tower. “Yes, Lord Chosan?”

“Eric would like to learn some Soron Morsu before dinner!”

“Ah! Very good! Look out below!”

Arvis laughed and to Eric’s surprise jumped off the top of the tower. But before he could hit, Arvis was surrounded in an orb of yellow light. His descent slowed until he stopped suspended over the ground, then landed safely.

They went to the middle courtyard for sorcery practice.

“Well, which Soron Morsu would you like to learn first?” Arvis asked.

“The one between my natural powers of course!” Eric told him.

“Right then! Nature and Sight!” Arvis said.

“You mean Nature and Beast,” Eric corrected him. Why did so many think he had sight sorcery as a natural power? His birth scroll should have the information.

“Oh, uh… yes!”

Eric felt a jolt as though something electrical sparked in his head. He grunted, why did this happen whenever someone said he was born with beast sorcery? That feeling only occurred when someone lied, but how could they be? There was no way he had other powers, not without the Heirs Heirlooms.

“Well, combining those two powers is different than using them individually,” Arvis explained. “For nature, you always have to channel it through your arm, but to give it a beast you must start from where the beast is currently residing in your body then guide it to and out your arm. This can be dangerous. Because if you were to use… say… fire… when you passed sorcery through your heart you would cause great damage to yourself. Many sorcerers have perished this way.”

Eric shook at the thought of his heart catching fire.

“Lucky for you young Lord, I’m here to prevent that. Viset soron e orgas!” See sorcery and organs.

Arvis’s eyes lit up and turned yellow as he activated his sight sorcery. Now he would be able to see Eric’s sorcery flow as well as the organs inside.

“I can see the beast in your chest, here.” Arvis touched the spot on Eric’s chest.

Eric concentrated on drawing sorcery from that area. He directed it along a path up his shoulder. Eric could just imagine Clauwing screaming as though he were trapped in a flying cage.

“Good, now say an elemental Soron word and Carniv!” Arvis said.

Once Eric felt the sorcery enter his arm, he converted it into an element, focusing on the intense heat of the summer sun on his back, and extended his hand to the sky.

“Fyra Carniv!” Fire Beast!

A huge flame flew from his hand. Clauwing squawked as he formed and looked around. He appeared different than he had when Eric confronted him this morning. Instead of the red and blue feathers he was now completely fiery orange.

“Rawt! What’s going on?” the opinicus squawked. To Eric’s surprise Clauwing’s voice sounded both in his head and outside.

“We’re practicing Soron Morsu,” Eric told him.

“Well, warn me next time you’re going to do something like that!” Clauwing complained.

Eric frowned as he heard the two identical voices saying the same thing. “How are you still in my head if you’re out here?”

“You didn’t send him out entirely Lord Eric,” Arvis explained. “Souls are made of a great amount of energy. When you created this one you merely sent out a fraction of the beast’s soul.”

Clauwing looked around. “Rawt! This is strange, I can see through your eyes as well as those of this fire me!”

He prepared to land on the grass. Eric’s eyes widened as he realized in a split second what would happen.

“No don’t!”

Too late. The fire opinicus landed on the yard which caught fire that began to spread. Clauwing squawked in fright at the sight of flames, forgetting he himself was made of fire. He flew back into the air.

“We must put it out quickly! Aga levras!”

Arvis reached toward some watering buckets nearby and drew water from them, he brought the liquid down on the fire. It hissed and quenched before vanishing, leaving only some blackened grass.

“Sorry Arvis,” Eric said.

“No, I should have remembered making an element with a mind that’s different from your own can be dangerous.”

Fire Clauwing had to remain airborne to avoid setting anything else aflame. Eric created a wind, lightning, plant, and water opinicus. Being able to see through so many eyes confused Clauwing. The nature beast manifestations began to crash into the castle walls.

“Clauwing! Stop! All of you!” he yelled.

But they didn’t listen.

“How do we stop them?” Eric asked Arvis.

The resident sorcerer reached out, yellow sorcery arms firing from from his hands. He took hold of each manifestation with the arms then drew the sorcery in, dispelling each nature beast manifestation.

And just in time.

Behind them, Chosan called, “Supper!”

Eric went into the Great Hall and had supper, then spent the rest of the evening making potions with Chosan before going to bed. Tomorrow, he would go through the Proving Times and hopefully get a chance to earn a silver badge as well as the title of War Caster.