The caravan of wagons and horses moved deeper into the swamp as we continued to march towards the city of Téves. I wanted to talk to Orias about going to Nebula tower instead, but his mood swings had only gotten worse since we left the clearing.
He was not the only person affected. In less than an hour, more than a dozen arguments had broken out among the soldiers. Fear of Orias kept them from devolving into fights, but the soldiers were becoming more irritable by the minute.
I kept my eyes peeled for anything that could be causing it, dreading the worst possible scenario, but found nothing suspicious. My first guess was the purple grass that grew sporadically in the swamp, but the soldiers knew better than to approach strange plants by now. Even if a few came into contact with the grass, it should not affect so many of them.
My second guess was a hidden Demonkin that could influence minds, but no matter how I looked I could not see anything through the mist. If something like that was following us, there were no signs.
The last option was something I did not want to think about. If it was true, then we were all in trouble.
For now, there was little I could do. Our best option was to keep moving and hope that everyone could keep themselves together until we were out of the swamp
“None of you are feeling irritable or suffering from mood swings, right?” I asked my family with concern. All the soldiers here did not worry me as much as something happening to one of them.
“I feel fine,” My mother replied eyeing the nearby soldiers cautiously. She had slowed our wagon so that we could stay at the back of the caravan. If things got out of control, we would be ready to flee away from the soldiers at a moment’s notice.
My dad and Charly also responded positively, but Donte hesitated. “Actually… Ever since we entered the mist, I have felt uneasy. It got worse when we entered the forest. Not enough for me to act like the soldiers, but I feel like… like a string that is about to snap. I also keep thinking those faces in the mist are becoming more real.”
“Why did you not say anything sooner?” My father said with a glare.
Donte hunched down under the weight of the glare. He stared at the boards of the wagon as he whispered, “I thought I was just being paranoid, and… I did not want you to think any less of me.”
“The faces are becoming more real?” I mumbled quietly.
“You still should have said something. On the battlefield, the ability to trust your comrades is more important than any strategy or strength,” My father scolded.
“Sorry,” Donte mumbled.
“Now the question is, what makes you different from the rest of us?” I asked curiously. Poking Donte’s arm, I examined his skin for any irregularities. “Dad’s silver protection is stronger than what the soldiers use. It should be able to stop any harmful substances, so poison, pollen, and gasses should all be eliminated.”
“Can you stop looking at me like that? It makes me uncomfortable.” Donte said, pulling back his arm.
Not caring about Donte’s embarrassment, I pulled down the collar of his shirt and examined his neck. His face turned beat red as he stammered a halfhearted protest. I paid close attention to his veins, but they seemed normal. I then checked his eyes and even made him take his shirt off at one point. Despite my in-depth examination, I found nothing unusual.
“I do not see any signs of mist poisoning,” I said thoughtfully, “At least we know it is not that.”
“Am I going to be ok?” Donte asked while pulling his shirt back on.
“Probably, but you have to tell us if your symptoms get worse. understand?”
Donte nodded, looking around nervously. “Should… should I ride on one of the other wagons? Just in case.”
“No,” my father replied sternly, “You are one of us, and you will stay with us.”
“Worst case, we can always strap you to the side of the wagon like luggage,” I said with a smirk.
“That’s not funny!”
Another fight broke out between two soldiers. One drew his blade, but before he could take a single swing, Orias’s massive hand crushed him into the ground.
“Anyone else want to defy orders?” He shouted. Standing tall with his innate talent in full effect. He was a towering giant amongst the men. Under the threat of violence, none of the soldiers were willing to meet his gaze. “Good. Then we set up camp here for the night. Rest well. Tomorrow we reach Téves.”
Orias picked up the limp body of the crushed soldier and roughly tossed him into the wagon alongside Istvan. Both were unconscious, but Istvan was much worse off. The soldiers had removed his armor earlier in the day, and I could see the veins in his neck had all turned dark red. The infection spread through his body quickly. He had even drunk some of the blood pools water directly, speeding up the process. If we did not find the plants for a cure then, at this rate, it would only be days before he fully transformed or died instead of weeks.
I shook my head. I felt no remorse at the sadistic soldier’s imminent death. I had been planning to find a moment at the end of the mission to take my revenge anyway, but I did not like how things were going. The loss of a strong innate talent this early greatly weakened the strength of our small force. It was only a matter of time before the Demonkin found us, and when they did, we would need every fighter we could muster.
After making sure the soldiers were following his orders, Orias stomped over to our wagon. I grimaced, hoping he could keep his emotions in control.
“Renald, I need you to use more Glyphs on my soldiers. Their stamina is running low. Having to renew their protections every hour is fraying everyone’s nerves.”
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“I do not have enough glyphs to use on everyone, the horses, and the wagons. Even working nonstop, my son and I can only draw around seventy-five glyphs a day. After what my family and our wagons use, I can spare twenty-seven glyphs a day at most,” My father replied with a frown.
“Twenty-seven? You have got to be joking! What am I supposed to do with only twenty-seven glyphs?”
“Sorry, but I did not have time to prepare as your soldiers did. I can only draw as we go,” My father replied with an even tone that seemed much more polite than when he normally talked to Orias.
Orias spoke roughly with a glance towards me, “Rather than wasting your protection glyphs on those brats, your family should use blue glyphs for a while. My men and I will take the silver glyphs you create.”
My father’s eyes narrowed. He spoke with a cold tone, “I think not. I am not putting my family at risk on one of your whims. How I decide to distribute my glyphs is my business. Take the twenty-seven and be happy I am providing glyphs for your men at all.”
“Are you defying my orders?” Orias growled.
“I am not one of your soldiers. You gave up that right a long time ago.”
Orias began to swell in size as he stared down at my father, but before a fight could break out, my mom spoke up.
“Orias, do you really want to start a fight with us?”
Orias blinked a few times as he looked at my mother. He placed his hand on his head and sighed as he shrunk back down to normal size. “No. I did not come over here for that. This cursed mist is messing with my head. The truth is… Renald, Tia, I need your help. Everything is falling apart and I don’t know what to do. I was hoping that your protection glyphs would be able to resist whatever is causing this.”
“I really do not know how to help. One of ours is affected too. My glyphs are of little use here,” My father replied shaking his head, “This is unlike anything I have ever seen.”
Orias grimaced. “Is it really hopeless? At this rate, infighting will end us before the Demons do. I just need a way to keep my men calm till we find the cause of this.”
I slapped my forehead with enough force that the sound echoed through the forest. “I am so stupid!” Everyone looked at me, surprised at my sudden outburst. “Orias, if you do not mind your soldiers being the experiment of an untested innate talent, I might have your solution.”
“You?”
I nodded, and my right eye began to glow. “I do not know how long it lasts or what side effects it may have, but I can suppress negative emotions for a short time. It might be enough for us to get through this.”
“Is it the same thing you did to Istvan?” Orias said cautiously.
“Not… exactly the same. I don’t really know how this talent works yet.”
Orias hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “You will use it on me first. If it works, I will let you try it on the others.”
I barely contained my excitement as I hopped over to Orias. This would be my first opportunity to really test out this new talent. Being able to study a new innate talent was something only a few ever got to experience more than once. It would take a long time before I truly understood what I could do, but nothing was better than a willing test subject.
I motioned for Orias to bend down so I could look him in the eye. I did not really know if it was necessary yet, but it was a good starting point.
A small light blue flame ignited inside my eye. Calm and gentle, it was nothing more than a small candlelight compared to the roaring green flames in my body.
Unlike when I used my flames to create undead, this little flicker of fire did not leave my body. Instead, the gentle light it emitted flowed from my eye and into Orias.
I studied the process carefully as I willed for joy and happy thoughts. Suddenly, Orias started crying. Large tears flowed freely down his face. He did not even reach up to wipe them away. He collapsed to the ground, covering his face with his hands and sobbing loudly.
I blinked and stopped using my innate talent. I did not understand what happened at all. I was not trying to make him sad, and yet he sat there crying like a baby.
It was only after several minutes that he was able to compose himself enough to wipe away the tears and stand up.
“I… I am sorry. I did not mean to do that,” I spoke, not willing to look at him directly in case it caused him to start crying again.
“Do not be sorry. I have never been so happy. Bittersweet, but happy.”
I looked up to see Orias smiling despite the tears.
“What did you experience?” I asked curiously.
Orias hesitated for a second before speaking. “For a moment, you looked like her… my big sister. She was the only true family I ever had. She raised me, and when I was little, it was just me and her. Shortly before I joined the Novus military she was murdered. Your talent let me see her face, hear her voice. I could even smell the perfume she used to wear.”
“My talent did all of that?” I remarked in surprise.
Orias nodded. “I do not know how much it will help with our current problem, but if you are willing, I would like you to use your talent on my men as well.”
I agreed to help, and Orias hurried off to gather his soldiers while I pondered just what my power was. I knew for a fact now that it was not telepathy. I could feel it when I affected him. I never entered his mind. It was almost like…
“Since when could you do something like that?” My mom asked.
“Only recently.” I looked up at her and smiled while pointing at my right eye with a big grin. “This is not Aurielle’s talent. It is mine.”