The boy was still reeling from the death of his teacher, three days had passed since the convoy set off from the Kallithene Hills. There were a few days left before the group arrived at their destination, so there was plenty of time for Caedyrn and the youth to spend their time together. Learning the truth of Vishnamitra’s poisoning hit the boy even harder, that which the man had whispered to the Scholar right before his death was that he himself was responsible.

Vishnamitra’s purpose for such an action was to protect his student. It was before his final battle within the arena, just before he completed the gauntlet that Vishnamitra discovered the plans for that final battle. Xeander had arranged for student to be pitted against master, in such a situation Vishnamitra would never lift a weapon against the boy.

He would have been forced to kill his own teacher, and in doing so would destroy the youth’s potential and his drive to escape. That was something Vishnamitra could not allow to occur, and thus he had decided to make the decision on his own term. It was only through the assistance of his friend Peukestes that he had even been able to acquire the ingredients necessary to brew the poison in the first place.

“Boy, your teacher gave his life twice to protect you… and before his death I made a promise. That promise was that I would raise you, protect you, and train you. You are one of us now, and we do not have the luxury of patience. My teachings will be harsh, and you will need to expand your repertoire… strategy, tactics, reading, writing, mathematics, those are some of the things you will learn in the Akademie once we arrive in Temrenos. For now, reading and writing will do, after our training Mera will arrive… I have been informed the two of you are acquainted, that saves me some time. She will oversee your mentoring on that subject, and when I feel you are ready, I will hand over this letter from your teacher… Not a second earlier.” The youth’s ears perked up when he heard Mera’s name, the reaction was a good sign that he would put effort into the training. Yet he only lifted his eyes from the ground upon the Scholar’s mention of the letter, eying the scroll hungrily like a starving dog.

“Whatever is written in this letter would place you on a dangerous path. You have no idea of your teacher’s past... his exploits, but I can prepare you. For now, observe these items, one you will consume now, the other later.” The Scholar placed a padded box upon the floor of the moving wagon and pointed first at the vial filled with a thick black substance.

“Borgrul’s Blood, this potion is created using a number of venoms found in the south, trees and plants both venomous and non-venomous, in addition to multiple medicinal herbs all of which can be found in the Jormani forest… at great cost. You will drink this, once a month, for five years… Maatilani! Demonstrate the effects if you please.” Rising from her seat in the corner, the warrior woman grasped her knife and plunged it into her arm. She did not so much as flinch, her eyes always focused on the boy. Then the boy watched as her wound began to heal, the flesh slowly knitting itself back together, one strand at a time.

The woman was not done however, as soon as the wound had healed, she took the same knife, grasped the tip between her fingers and began to push, nothing happened. Maatilani waited a few seconds for the boy to acknowledge the authenticity of the weapon before trying again, this time her eyes turned bloodshot, followed by her muscles swelling to twice their original size. Now when she attempted to bend the knife, she had no trouble twisting the metal into a single loop.

Picking up the second item, the Scholar rotated the circular emerald pill, “This is Salithene’s sleep, until you drink Borgrul’s blood and push your body to the point of breaking, you should never take this. This is a lethal poison, it will kill you, but the manner of death is a peaceful sleep. However, when used in conjunction with Borgrul’s blood, it will counteract the blood from boiling after overuse of the enhanced abilities. Think of it as one being ice and the other fire, together they neutralize the negative aspects of both.”

Without waiting for a reply, he stood up and retrieved a thick oaken branch, upon return he stood behind the youth, leaning on the stick, and watching him closely. “I’m sure you have noticed some changes in your body, specifically your senses and ability to better control the prana in your spiritual core. But I’m sure you’ve also noticed the significant decrease in prana absorption… Your teacher and I placed numerous rune inscribed gems within your skeletal frame, they counter the three mana crystals located below your right and left collarbones, in addition to the base of your breastbone.” Caedyrn used the oaken stick and hit the boy with the end in all three spots, sending him reeling.

“Get used to the pain, there is more where that came from. Right now, your body is afflicted with a curse, death mana is what has caused your skin to fester… it needs to be dealt with. The body we have granted you will help; with it you can absorb the mana you consume. The combination of runic gems and mana crystal has created glyphs of absorption, they will consume the mana, some will go towards the containment of the crystals, and you can convert the rest into prana for deposit into your core. There are other ways to use the captured mana, but for now we will deal with the residual death mana plaguing your body… Now meditate, focus and absorb the foreign bodies as if you were a cat hunting mice!” Just as the youth started to meditate a powerful strike from the oaken stick sent him face first into the wooden planks below. “Do you think I showed you Borgrul’s blood to impress you! Drink the potion… learn to maximize your training!”

This is how the two’s day continued, the boy would meditate, and the Scholar would beat him whenever his guard was down. The man’s explanation was simple, the beating achieved two goals, it would force the potion to fix the damage and thus break down and rebuild the muscle. The other was that if he wanted to be able to reliably use his aura in battle, the boy needed to be capable of focusing even in the midst of combat. Even if he were to lose a limb, he should never be unable to deploy his aura, thus he would need to master battle meditation, hence the training.

There were still a few more days left in their trip through the Naulos pass, the mountains towering overhead and the biting cold wafting through holes in the wagon’s bonnet. Occasionally some poor unknowing band of robbers would attempt to waylay the caravan, which Maatilani was more than happy to entertain. Assuming the men weren’t killed by her vicious beatings, they were simply tossed into the rearmost wagon along with the other freezing prisoners.

At the end of the long and arduous day the young arena champion could take solace in his quiet time. Being taught how to read and write, as well as the free time he and Mera would spend chatting. However, the boy had learned after the first night to never accept certain gifts from the girl, that was yet another hard lesson.