“Not only do you have the seal blocking your magic. There is now another that forces fealty and as a security measure, if anyone happens to find out will initiate a death curse. But it's weird...” He held a rather confused countenance.

“What’s weird?!” All this mystery and suspense was getting to me.

“They placed a seal on you but that does not explain the reason for the pain you felt afterward when you activated your magic. My hunch is something in conjunction with having these two seals on your body, is causing some kind of unexpected side effect.” He continued deeper into thought.

“Your shadow magic aims to destroy all foreign entities and threats. Normally death would occur the moment the seal is being removed but your first seal is somehow protecting the second one if that makes any sense. Considering the strength of your magic, whoever created the first seal was both extremely skilled and had it done to you at a very early age. Most likely at birth.”

“So you’re saying the constant pain was caused by the second seal trying to kill me, as a result of my magic trying to get rid of it?” This was becoming a cycle of confusion, one that fueled more questions and stress.

“Well, thankfully Eris’s blood solved all that…”

“I’m afraid that is equivalent to applying a bandaid on a festering wound. It still exists and hasn’t been removed.” He countered with unfortunate news.

“You mean the pain will return..., how can this be fixed?” That excruciating pain was something I never wanted to experience again. The intensity was high but not the worst, it was the constant never-ending agony that did it. Similar to having twenty-four-seven cramps across your entire body, accompanied by a blistering migraine. It made time slow to a bumbling crawl.

“Afraid there is nothing I can do. You need to remove the first seal, until then you’ll have to rely on Eris.”

I mulled over some options and it looked like there was a new high-priority task. Something I’ve been delaying ever since arriving in Avalon. I hope my uncle has some good news and knows something about the seal placed on my magic. I didn’t even know where to start the search for him. I could try asking Mia for some help, maybe her connections ought to find a useful trail.

My updated to-do list started with uncovering Ethan’s magic, finding my uncle before things got worse, and relying on Eris. I sighed at the last one since that was all I had been doing so far.

“Anything else on your mind? Now’s the chance.” Balthazar inquired on the off chance there was anything forgotten.

“There’s so much! Do you know anything about non-attribute cores, I’ve gained power boosts from them. Also, the beasts mentioned a close type of kinship between them and shadow users, do you know anything about that?” I felt bad turning this into an interview but it was too important, plus if he was willing to help then no need to hold back.

“That’s rather simple. One of the caveats of possessing shadow magic.” My ears perked up from his change of tone.

“Your magic does not mesh well with other elements. I’m sure you’ve experimented with trying to absorb some, only to fail. Right?” I nodded an affirmative as he went on.

“Think of shadow magic as a picky eater. The two exceptions being shadow cores and non-elemental cores or as you call them, non-attribute cores.” He mentioned shadow cores like they were commonplace knowledge. There was no information within the adventurer’s book, though it also failed to mention non-attribute beast cores too. Part of me wanted to hold back on asking but I couldn’t resist.

“Shadow beasts exist?” Thinking about it, it only made sense they would.

“They were around, back in my days... As you can see my current events aren't up to date. If you don’t know anything about them, for all we know they could have been exterminated to extinction, just like everyone else related to shadow magic.” He provided the biggest who knows expression, almost like a warning to not ask any more stupid questions. This would be something best to save and discuss with Elania, the source of the news.

“As for the friendship among the beasts. To have word spread like that among all beast kind would require the heavenly beasts to be involved. They are the only ones able to pass down commands or alliances of that nature.” He finished there and stood up, waving me with his hand to do the same. These were questions to save for Elania the next time we met as I complied and rose up from my seat.

The moment I did, the lawn chairs vanished followed by the expansive plains before us. Every time he changed the scenery it caused a sense of vertigo, luckily I fared well when it came to motion sickness. We both floated in the sky, this was the first time I’ve experienced flight, even if it was artificial.

The clouds parted as the sunshine sought to blind any onlookers. I recognized the city in all its reflective glory, as the same one from the trial, and a pale comparison of the repairing underground ruins that it is now.

The summer heat caused a brief dive further into immersion as my sight landed on the temple, the centermost structure below us. I had no control over our flight as we landed on the top of the temple stairs before the entrance.

“Volatis, are you here to resume your trials? Or have you brought others to participate in them? Though I recommend you not attempt anymore at your current stage.” Balthazar’s attire changed into formal wear, ready for some kind of palace ball that was going to take place shortly.

“Uh..., I wasn’t planning to risk it and even more so, now that you mentioned I shouldn’t. Are you able to offer a little insight as to what I may expect?” I waited to hear his reasoning.

“The next set of trials are mentally intensive and require a good handle on manipulating magic and ki. Both of which you are lousy in. Better to wait until your past memories return.” It seemed that was the most he was willing to speak on the matter.

“Fair enough. As for the others, I never really thought about it. Eris would probably be the only one capable enough to handle it, out of everyone here.” I tried my best not to take his blunt observation to heart.