While Elix slept upstairs, the conversation continued in the kitchen.

  “So, as you can see, Mr. Bastin, we are not the most wealthy of people you could have saved. We have no status, and we are currently living week to week on what we can sell from our farm. I am ashamed to say that a seasoned hero such as you will find little reward here. Alas, what little I can give, I will. As we are in your debt.”

  Elix’s father seemed to be over-egging it a bit with gratitude, and he had now put the ball into Ren's court.

  “A great performance… indeed. But unfortunately, I am not some lowly wanderer or guild fledgling. I have been around long enough to sense power, especially when it sits mere feet away from me. Judging by your aura, I would say that you are even stronger than I am. The cloaking skill you have used is of a very high level. I don’t think I would have been able to sense your aura at all if you had not let me.” Ren stood up and walked over to the window as he spoke, peering out into the darkness. As he did so, he raised his hand and ruffled the back of his hair, muttering something to himself.

  “It was simply a test. Don’t be hard on yourself, Mr. Bastin. I still have the skill activated, albeit at a lower threshold. Even at this level, it would be hard for below-exemplary Cardmancers to sense my aura. I just wanted to test your aura sensing abilities, I hope you are not offended. Allow me to introduce myself—my name is Gildamire Greenaker,” said Elix’s father, his voice shifting from the gratitude he had previously shown to a more low and serious tone.

  “What will you do now that you know my secret, Mr. Bastin? I would be truthful with your answer, as you can probably guess I have the skills required to tell if you lie to me.” Gildamire seemed to shift from the grateful farmer to a more authoritative figure.

  “Well, it’s not like I came looking for you or anything. I came here by chance. I took a quest from my guild, and by happenstance, the monster I was hunting had its attention focused here. I came across your boy and, well, let me just say he's…” Gildamire cut in before Ren could finish his sentence.

  “It would be wise not to talk about these matters out loud, with attention already being on this place. For years, I have kept him safe and nurtured him, but it seems that our time together is coming to an end. The attention from the monsters you speak of is down to me, but that is my business, I mean no offence but that is something I will not talk about” Gildamire was still sitting in his seat, and his face softened as his mind wandered to memories of raising his son.

  “I have my own path to walk, I have unfinished business, and now feels like the right time. Something has changed in the world. I am sure you feel it too. I have not felt this uneasy for a very long time. Fate is a funny thing, Mr. Bastin. Like the hands of a clock, I have moved through time until the day I will eventually meet the other hand. It’s unavoidable and was always meant to be. The time nears, and I will meet it head-on. I feel it moving again, forcing me to move, and thus I have no choice but to face my destiny.” Gildamire smiled. He had known that this day would come eventually; he knew that the signs had finally appeared.

  “I don’t really know what you are talking about, but I do think I know what comes next here. You can no longer stay hidden, not with monsters knocking at the door. From all the talk of change in the world and destiny, you want me to take your boy with me and my guild party.” Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "I haven't figured out exactly what's going on here, but I do have my theories. My party is short of a squire so I could take him with us, that's how these kinds of things go, right? You know, the ones where the mysterious stranger takes the young lad into the party, and some crazy stuff happens! Just like in all the great adventures.” Ren laughed and seemed to be enjoying the thought of taking Elix out into the world.

  Elix’s father sighed. “Yes, I suppose it would be good for Elix to set out and discover the world outside of this village. His mother is no longer with us, and I cannot risk taking him through the dangers I am going to face. So I cannot take him with me. Maybe this chance meeting is a stroke of fortune. You didn’t need to save this farm or offer help, to aid Elix in battle, but you did. I think that you could teach him a lot,” explained Gildamire as he took a sip of water from his cup.

  Ren turned around and smiled. A card materialised in his hand and he presented it to Gildamire, who walked over to him and took the card. He turned it over and looked at the face, and the M.i made a text box appear above the card, which read:

  Binding Word:

  A spoken agreement that is bound by magic. Upon reaching an agreement, this card becomes the tie that binds the individuals to maintain the agreement. Breaking the stated terms will result in death to the bond breaker.

  Requirements: F Rank

  Elix’s father looked at it and smiled.

  “If we use this, you cannot back out of any agreement we come to. Do you think that this is wise? I think that it is not needed. I will let Elix travel with you, but what I do wonder is—what will you get out of this, Mr. Bastin, other than obtaining a squire, what are your motives?” Asked Gildamire intently.

  “If I am honest, which I know I have to be due to you having the skills needed to discern truth from lies, I will say that I am bored. Out of all the guilds in Arcadion, the guild that I am a member of is a Legacy guild called SunSiro . Only the best Cardmancers can join, and even then, you must have a family Legacy to be accepted into the upper ranks. I am intrigued by what Elix can do. In the countless quests I have been on, I have never seen anyone who has piqued my interest as much. What’s in it for me? I get to see what the son of Gildamire Greenaker becomes first hand.” Ren laughed, putting his hand behind his hair and ruffeling it while grinning.

  “You have yourself a deal, Mr. Bastin, on two conditions: condition one, Elix is free to leave you at any point—his path is his own. Two, you do not speak of me to anyone, including my son, as I believe that is a conversation between me and Elix, that we will have in the future. If you agree, come back tomorrow, and I will make all the arrangements,” said Gildamire with a smile.

  The card he was holding lit up around its edges with a pale blue glow before shooting out of his hand and back into Ren’s hand. The card then disappeared.

  Ren smiled. “I agree.”

  The two men shook hands, and Ren walked through the hallway and out of the house, the door closing behind him.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Elix rolled over in his bed, and as he did so, his head brushed against the spikes of his new creature companion. The shock from the sudden pain woke Elix from his sleep, and he leaped out of bed.

  “What the hell are you!” he muttered under his breath, looking down at the small white ball now snoozing on his pillow.

  The creature did not wake, so Elix decided to get up as he could see the sun had already risen—it was morning. Fingers of golden light filtered through his window, and the soft sound of birds singing their morning song could be heard in the distance. The contrast of the night before hit him all at once, and his mind went back to when he had left his father talking with Ren in the kitchen.

  As he stood in mindful contemplation, the little white creature stirred and woke up. Looking up at Elix, the creature once again climbed up his front and settled into the pocket on the front of his shirt.

  “I guess you want to stay with me. I'll have to see if I can find out what you are, little guy.”

  He patted his pocket gently and walked over to his bedroom window. The room overlooked the front garden of the farmhouse.

  No dead zombie cows. I wonder if my dad moved them. What a wild night—it feels like a bad dream, he thought to himself as he turned and walked out of his room, heading down the creaking wooden stairs to the hallway.

  That's strange, thought Elix.

  He was standing in the hallway. There was a black cloak with a hood hanging on a hook and a pair of sturdy-looking brown boots by the door. He had come downstairs to look for his father, but he didn’t have to look far as his father was sitting in the kitchen at the table, waiting for him.

  Elix walked in and took the seat opposite him, wondering what this was all about. His father looked serious, so much so that Elix wondered if he had done something wrong.

  “Good morning, Elix. How are you feeling? I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me.” Gildamire motioned for Elix to sit in the seat opposite him at the kitchen table—the same seat Ren had sat in the night before.

  The air in the room felt different; it was odd, Elix had never felt his home feel so intense. He walked into the room and took the seat.

  “Well, after last night I have a few things I want to ask you. But let's start by you telling me what's going on.” Asked Elix.

  “Elix, I need to be honest with you. I have spoken with Mr. Bastin, the man who saved our farm. He’s a Cardmancer from what’s known as a legacy guild. A legacy guild is one of the first guilds to be formed in the world. Only Cardmancers with a direct family legacy can be permitted to join a legacy guild. They are the oldest guilds in existence and were formed by the most powerful Cardmancers the world has ever known.” Gildamire explained as he gazed at Elix who was listening intently.

  "It's said that when the original guild masters passed the threshold of mortal power, they were granted passage to other worlds to expand their knowledge and power. These original beings are worshipped as the founders of their respective guilds and seen as gods.” Gildamire looked up at the ceiling and then back at Elix, awaiting his response.

  “Ok, so Ren is from some powerful guild. What's that got to do with me? And also, what's it got to do with you? I mean, if he's a powerful Cardmancer like you say, what does he want with us?” Elix replied.

  “Well, the thing is, son, we came to an agreement… regarding you.” Gildamire stood from his seat and paced over to the kitchen sink, gazing out of the window over the fields and off into the distance.

  “What do you mean by an agreement?” Asked Elix with confusion.

  “I have some important business outside of the village—some things that I have to do. I know you don’t trust Mr. Bastin fully, which is okay, but I do need you to trust me.It’s become dangerous for you to stay here. Those monsters won’t be the last, and that is kinda my fault kid. Before I met your mother and before you were born, I was quite the adventurer and also a Cardmancer myself.” Gildamire’s shoulders relaxed as he spoke the words he had thought long and hard about over many years. He had often found himself wondering how this conversation would unfold.

  “Are you serious? You were a Cardmancer? I mean, that’s pretty cool. What kind of card magic did you do? I never would have had you down as having such an awesome past,” Elix said, looking at his father excitedly. If there was one thing that would soften the news that his father had kept secrets all of these years it would be talking about Cardmancers and magic cards.

  “I had to keep it from you to keep you safe, and I would ask that you keep quiet about it as well. You are old enough to know now and also old enough to keep it a secret. When you get stronger, I will tell you more, but right now, if certain people found out about me and that you were my son, I am confident they would hunt you down and kill you. For this reason, I want you to get stronger. Come and find me, Elix, if you can, and prove that you are strong enough to know all of my secrets. As it stands, for mine and your safety, I cannot tell you more. As long as you keep my secret you will be safe.” Gildamire looked sternly at Elix with a strength Elix had never seen in his father before.

  “What, really? You're going to leave a cliffhanger like that and not just tell me everything so I can know what I'm going to be getting stronger for? You are going to do the whole ‘go get stronger thing’ and level block me from knowing what’s going on. Incase you havent noticed i can’t level up so how am I supposed to get stronger”

  Elix stood and placed both hands on the table, looking at his father in annoyance. The creature in his pocket stirred, and when Elix leaned over the table, it rolled out onto it with all four of its legs spreading out from its round spiky white body.

  “For the love of… this thing again!” complained Elix.

  “I wouldn’t curse such a rare gift, son. That is a Leyef—a familiar—and they are said to be extinct. I have only ever seen one other, albeit it was not white and was much larger. These creatures are not seen often in this age. I would imagine you gave it something to eat that had traces of your mana, and that’s why it is now attached to you. I find it odd that such a creature just happened to find you, but I sense no evil so I am sure it will prove helpful in the future.” Gildamire was stooping over the table examining the small Leyef creature. "Well, it makes sense that you would attract other things than just monsters. This leads me to another topic—you and your lineage.” Said Gildamire.

  ‘A Leyef? Well, I've never heard of them before, but I guess if it's rare and might be useful, it can stay.” Elix picked up the Leyef and looked at it in the palm of his hand.

  “I'll call you Lef.”

  Lef looked up at him with a bored expression and walked up his arm and back to the top pocket of his shirt.

  “Ok, there is a lot I need to understand here. Why is my mana unique, and what is a lineage? I haven’t got a clue about any of this. Some weird stuff happened last night that made no sense to me at all. Just tell me in the most straightforward way possible, please,” asked Elix, now more confused than before.

  “Ok, you have a unique mana signature and aura because you have a lineage within you. A lineage is a skill path that falls outside of the M.i. A lineage will offer the ability to use cards associated to that particular lineage. No one knows what their lineage will be until they awaken them and begin to walk the path of their lineage, obtaining the cards linked to it. They are passed down through families at random, and nearly all powerful legacy Cardmancers possess lineages that enable them to use powerful card techniques.”

  “Right, okay, I get it. I have a hidden power that, when it awakens, I will be able to get better cards and be more powerful. So does that mean that you have a lineage as well? I got it from you, right? So you can train me to use it?” asked Elix.

  “Unfortunately not, son. I will explain more shortly, but for now, I think it’s best you follow me, and I will explain what Mr. Bastin and I agreed.” Gildamire walked to the cellar door. He took out a strange-looking black key and put it into the lock. There was the sound of five locks clicking open.

  “Follow me, Elix.”