Author's Preface
"You know enough by now, but this is sacred information I cannot give," Tu'rak said, shaking his head.
"Then the deal is off."
"Then you have just signed a death warrant for all of us!" Su'rak cried out.
Tu'rak rubbed his bald head. "Why do you even want to know this anyway? If you think you can somehow transform into a Guardian, forget it. It is a sacred ritual strictly bound to our bloodline."
"So there is a ritual," the Wanderer said, a smile spreading across his face.
Tu'rak swallowed hard. "As I said, it will not work for a human."
"That's for me to decide."
Tu'rak threw his hands up in frustration, spinning around. "You're insane!"
The Wanderer leaned back against the table, crossing his arms. "Aren't your people exhausted from slaving away for the Beyonder? You’ve been doing his dirty work for what? hundreds of years? And where has it gotten you? A grand, powerful species forced to cower in the dirt and hide in the shadows like vermin."
Su'rak hesitated. "That... that is our purpose. Besides, he promised us that we would rule this world once it is made suitable for his divine descent."
The Wanderer laughed. "Do you truly believe a god as arrogant as the Beyonder would ever share a throne? That he'll let anyone rival his authority?"
"We don't need to rival him! We will rule beneath his command!" Tu'rak barked back.
The Wanderer smirked. "So... more servitude is your grand reward?"
Tu'rak and Su'rak exchanged a long glance. The room fell into a tense silence.
Tu'rak slowly turned back to face him. "Even if - by some miracle - you somehow became a Guardian, you still wouldn't stand a chance against the Beyonder."
"I have more tricks up my sleeve," the Wanderer murmured. "I just need a little push."
"You are one crazy bastard," Tu'rak muttered, staring at him in disbelief. "You can't even hold magic inside your body anymore!"
"That is precisely why I need your help. Help me gain my power back."
Tu'rak stroked his chin tentacles, his eyes darting as his mind raced through the possibilities.
Su'rak stepped in front of him, clutching his arms. "Are you actually considering this madness?!"
"We're already in too deep, Su'rak," Tu'rak whispered.
"Yes, but we cannot betray our entire race for a suicide mission!"
The Wanderer stepped closer. "Remember... the god you worship broke his silence after an eternity just to catch a glimpse of me. Which means he is afraid of what I am."
Tu'rak shrugged helplessly at Su'rak. "He makes a point."
"I will not be a part of this treason!" Su'rak snapped, storming into the far corner of the room.
Tu'rak followed her, placing his hands on her trembling shoulders. "Su'rak... my love. Look at me."
She kept her gaze averted, but he pressed on, in a soft tone. "This might be our only chance to break free from these chains. We have spent an eternity serving the Beyonder without question, without pause. And what has he ever granted us in return? Eternal servitude. He didn't even grant us the blessing to reproduce. Our bloodline is slowly dying out."
He cupped her face gently. "Let's do this for us. You have always dreamed of having a child... maybe if we shatter these chains, we will finally have that chance."
Tears welled in Su'rak's dark eyes. She looked into Tu'rak's face for a long moment, then hesitantly, gave a single nod.
Tu'rak pulled her into a warm embrace, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"So," the Wanderer interrupted, stepping forward, "are you going to help me get my magic back or not?"
Tu'rak turned back to him, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Magic is merely a crude imitation of our true strength," Tu'rak said. "We are going to give you something far better."
They agreed that was enough for one night. The Wanderer would return to his administrative duties as the savior-king Altharion, while Tu'rak and Su'rak maintained their roles as Kuma and Serenya to keep the elders of the Murak tribe unsuspecting.
The next night came fast as the three gathered once again.
"First, you need to discard almost everything you think you know about magic," Tu'rak began, pacing the floor.
"You said something similar the other night," the Wanderer replied, crossing his arms. "If your kind doesn't use magic, why are you flooding Avaris with mana to pave the way for the Beyonder's return?"
"Because humans cannot withstand the Laws," Su'rak answered softly.
The Wanderer raised an eyebrow. "Laws?"
"Yes," Tu'rak said, stepping forward. "Everything in this existence operates under a strict order. Originally, the world was governed and fueled by Qi to dictate these fundamental laws, an energy inhospitable to our Father, and to us."
"And you squids just decided to rewrite the fabric of reality into mana instead," the Wanderer said.
An arrogant smirk touched Tu'rak's lips. "Precisely. But we couldn't execute the conversion all at once for two reasons. First, our numbers are too few to generate enough raw mana to force a realm-wide rewrite on our own. Second, an instantaneous shift would have caused the structural integrity of Avaris to collapse."
He gestured toward the window, pointing at the dark skyline of Valoria. "So Father's design was long-term: manipulate humans and nature to naturally refine and store mana within themselves. What your people call mana circles."
"That still doesn't explain the difference," the Wanderer countered. "You still produce and store mana."
"The first part is true," Su'rak admitted, pulling back her sleeves to expose her pale forearms. "Nearly every living thing in Avaris produces mana now, and we are no exception. However, we do not store it."
Symbols began to form on her skin, glowing tattoos of swirling lines.
"These hexes continuously drain our mana, pumping the refined energy into the veins of the world," Su'rak explained.
"And more importantly," Tu'rak interjected, "they allow us to bypass crude spellcraft and directly manipulate the world's Laws."
The Wanderer stared at the pulsing marks on Su'rak's arm for a moment before raising his single eye back to Tu'rak. "How do I get those hexes?"
"Normally? A human would instantly burst into ash," Tu'rak said.
He walked over to a crude wooden board leaning against the wall and began carving into the wood with his fingers. "Every living entity possesses a natural affinity to specific Laws. Take a tree, for instance, it has a profound affinity to both sunlight and water."
He dragged his finger across the wood, etching a rough tree, a sun, and a river.
"Assuming that tree somehow gains sentience and attempts to master a Law through a hex, it must permanently surrender its connection to another. If it chooses water, it must sever its affinity to the sun." He drew X over the sun. "But a tree cannot endure without sunlight. Thus, its life force vanishes, and it dies."
"Humans rely on far too many fundamental elements just to stay breathing," the Wanderer noted.
"Precisely," Tu'rak said, turning back to him. "Except you aren't an ordinary human anymore. After receiving the blessing of the Guardians, you are effectively immortal. Since you cannot die... in theory, your body should be able to survive the severance and bear the hexes."
The Wanderer looked down at his right hand, flexing his fingers beneath the silk wrappings.
"Then let's stop talking," he said. "How do we etch them?"
"Etching them is the easy part," Tu'rak said. "You need to understand, no one has ever attempted this before. If it actually works, your body will constantly fight itself. You will endure the agonizing death and rebirth of your internal organs every single second for the rest of your immortal life."
The Wanderer flinched back. "Do you endure the same thing?"
"No," Su'rak answered. "All Murak were created to survive on water alone. As long as we keep enough moisture around us, our bodies stay balanced."
The Wanderer paused, processing her words before turning back to Tu'rak. "Then how are the Guardians any different?"
"A Guardian's ascension allows them to govern an additional Law on top of their base nature," Tu'rak explained. "Plus, the Beyonder shares a fraction of his divine essence with them to act as a vessel."
"Then why can't I just ascend directly?" the Wanderer said. "Why go through the torture of tying myself to a single Law first?"
Tu'rak sighed. "Because you must first possess a Law before you can ascend beyond it! Some humans have managed to tap into the Laws on their own throughout history. They only partially succeeded, to our surprise. Like Skida and her metallic skin. She somehow combined two Laws, but her control over earth and fire was pitiful compared to ours."
"Serenya did it too," Su'rak added quietly.
The Wanderer's head snapped toward her.
She met his gaze, and hesitated saying. "She was able to reach the Law of Light on her own. Not fully, of course... but humans are terrifying in how they adapt."
The Wanderer drifted for a moment, lost in the memory of Serenya's face.
Then, he stood up straight, staring with unyielding determination at Tu'rak.
"I'm ready," he said calmly. "Carve your hexes."