They say that The Shadow was one of a kind, Their might silenced even the dead, so sang the East’s scaled god, shaking the land with power, beauty, and horror.

3 Years Later

Darkness filled the ice cave in which he worked, but Xiren paid no mind. He could see through this type of darkness. Instead of utter darkness, the cave brimmed with an opaque haze only Lievers could pierce. The enchantment had been placed upon the cave by Granny Ledo. Xiren carefully trimmed the leaves of the Sephiol plant before him, taking small pieces of them and slipping them into what seemed to be thin air. If he focused, he could put any object into a cache of black matter that would immediately disappear after he let go of it. Whenever he summoned the cache, he could reach in and retrieve any item he’d stored with a thought.

"What in the world are you doing?" Amalia demanded, as she stepped inside the cave. "That is not the way I taught you to trim those plants!" She stepped beside him and used her hip to bump him out of the way. Then, she conjured her own shears from darkness and deftly began to clip the leaves in an especially dramatic way. She thrust the crystalline leaves into his hand. “Store these, will you?”

“What am I, your cache?” Xiren grumbled, stashing them.

Amalia grinned mischievously at his comment. "But of course! What else would you be good for?" She leaned towards him as if telling him a secret. "Didn't you realize the fact that no one likes you? You're an orphan, and your parents are traitors!"

Xiren rolled his eyes and cocked an eyebrow at her. "I'm not sure if you've forgotten, but no one likes you either! Us orphans have to stick together." He bumped her with his shoulder affectionately. "Though I must say, it is pretty cool that your parents are Harkens. I'm sure they'll come back one day, Lia, don't you worry."

"As will yours." Amalia smiled at him, passing him her last crystalline leaf and sitting on the icy floor. She leaned her head back against the wall, allowing the cold to flow over her body. "Look at us, Xir: outcasts, abandoned by our parents. They call your parents thieves and traitors; meanwhile, mine are good-for-nothing priests of a pompous religion. It's not my fault I'm an abomination! If anything, it's theirs! Perhaps it's karma for putting themselves above others. Their flesh and blood is their greatest shame."

Xiren sat beside her and placed his arm across her shoulder. "Amalia, daughter of Raxos, are you looking down on the Harken religion?" He gasped in mock shock at her. Then, his expression softened, and he shrugged lightly. "On a serious note, however, you are one of six natural-born Lievers in the village. Don't you know how amazing that is? Who cares about your parents? You are fantastic, and they are the ones missing out."

Amalia looked at him from the corner of her eye and smirked. "Well, for what it's worth, I don't think I need them, but I'm glad I have you."

A cracking noise came from the mouth of the cave as Granny Alice stepped inside. “I thought I would find you both in here. How is the harvest?”

Xiren got to his feet and bowed respectfully. “Welcome, Granny Alice. We have several leaves stored for now. The pruning goes well.”

Granny Alice offered a hand to pull them up. “It’s time for my class, and you both are late! I came to find you, since the other students… well, you know.”

They did know. Most of the other children in the village avoided them. Orphans had no morals, according to them, and there would be no telling what they could do. Without parents to contribute, they had to earn their keep. Though Amalia and Xiren worked harder than most—yielding more Sephiol than their peers—they were still shunned and scorned.

Xiren and Amalia followed Granny Alice from the cave. Stepping carefully from the mouth of the cave, Xiren paused, straining his ears to hear as a rumble ricocheted across the landscape from the coast. Nothing followed the odd noise, so he shook it off and continued behind Amalia. They trudged through the ever-present snow towards one of the largest Loakskin tents that stood on the edge of town. As they stepped inside, several of the pupils already seated in the tent quieted immediately, as if they had been speaking about them. The two sat beside some of the boys Amalia’s age, Edran and Magro, but both shuffled further down their bench as if determined not to be seen sitting next to the two orphans.

Granny Alice eyed this awkward exchange but said nothing. She had decided long before that she would not intervene with her students and instead, let them work it out amongst themselves. Despite this, the children had never fully worked it out. The silence stretched into an impenetrable haze until Granny Alice slammed her cane against the rug-laden floor to shatter it. A puff of dark mana issued from the tip of her cane, spreading through the room and flipping the hair of all the children before her, as though it was a gust of wind. “Now that we have all of the students present, let’s begin the lesson.”

One of the teenagers snickered. “Well, you can hardly blame them, Granny Alice. After all, you can’t expect orphans to know things such as punctuality. They weren’t raised right, you see.”

Granny Alice’s face hardened into a fake smile. She walked carefully over to the girl’s seat and slammed her hand down on the desk. The girl jumped in surprise and disbelief, her eyes widening. It was at this moment that she realized her working-it-out theory was never going to work. “My dear, you should realize when to keep your mouth shut. After all, I was the one who raised these two. They may not have parents like the lot of you, but they’re a damn bit better at taking care of the Sephiol than you irresponsible miscreants!” Alice spun on her heel and returned to the front of the classroom, ignoring the collective gasp from the other students and the surprised looks from Amalia and Xiren. 

Granny Alice spun to the front, her voice sharp. “Today, we’re discussing Lievers—pay attention.” She jabbed her cane at Magro. “How does one become a Liever?”

Magro straightened. “A natural-born Liever shares their blood with a magic user—only then can they inherit mana.”

“Good,” Granny Alice snapped, dark mana swirling from her hands. “Natural Lievers like me and the elders can pass our gifts—mine’s this.” The mana flipped Katri’s hair, earning a scowl. “Created Lievers get that power, then forge their own. Katri, what happens when they share blood?”

Katri smirked, eyeing Xiren oddly. “They pass their unique abilities—like your dark mana manipulation runs in us all. It’s a bond, sacred, meant for your intended.”

Granny Alice’s gaze darkened. “Right. You get their root power, not their full arsenal. I’ve collected plenty, but you’d only taste my first gift.” She paused, voice dropping. “Unless you know the forbidden way to steal it all. Amalia?”

Amalia’s hand trembled. “M-murder. Kill a Liever, drink their blood, and it’s yours—all of it.”

“Exactly,” Granny Alice said, somber. “A crime punishable by death here. I shouldn’t even speak it, but ignorance is weakness. Barthain’s been quiet too long—they’ll come for us yet. Class dismissed—go eat.”

The children shuffled out of the tent, their countenances somber. The heaviness of the lesson bore down upon them all, the knowledge like a palpable weight upon their shoulders.

Xiren trailed Amalia to their hideout—an igloo by the ever-frozen lake they’d built together. As they sat together in the snow, Amalia held her hand before her. A flow of black mana melted away from her hand and gently touched the snow. As it did so, a black flower grew from the ground. Its five midnight-black petals cradled diamond seeds. Amalia gently picked it by the stem and held it out to Xiren.

His eyes widened with curiosity. He had never seen her use her power before, at least not her specific power. “Are those real diamonds?”

Amalia nodded unsmilingly. “Yes, but I’ve never had any need for them. Alice wouldn’t let me sell them anyway.” Xiren took the flower from her, studying it and turning it over in his hands. “Do you want it?”

“Want what? The diamonds?” He asked, absentmindedly, his thoughts fully focused on the brilliance before him.

“Yes, and my power.” Amalia traced a design in the snow, a shy blush creeping up her cheeks.

Xiren nearly dropped the flower in surprise. “Your power? But didn’t Granny Alice say we are only supposed to share it with our special someone?” His eyes met hers, and he froze, finally understanding. “Oh. You really think of me that way?”

Amalia turned her eyes away from his, her blush deepening in her cheeks. She pulled a small knife from her belt and made a small cut on her forefinger. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “I-I do.”

Xiren placed her flower in his magical storage, then carefully took the knife from her and made a cut on his own finger. “I do too.” Her eyes immediately flew to his, shining. They each grabbed the other’s hand and lifted it to their lips.

Xiren could tell as soon as her blood touched his lips that her power was his. An odd sensation surged through his bloodstream, a burning yet frozen pain pierced his being, his shoulders twitching as if something unseen flexed. Refusing to act as though the pain had affected him, he opened his storage cache from thin air and retrieved a Sephiol Potion. Uncorking the small bottle, he poured a small amount on both of their fingers and watched as their skin knit itself back together as if they had never cut it at all.

Amalia closed her eyes as if focusing, and her own storage cache appeared in the air. “It worked!” She exclaimed, her voice bright with excitement. “Now I’m just like you!”

Xiren opened his hand and allowed dark mana to flow into the snow at their feet. To his surprise, nothing happened. He looked over at Amalia, his eyes holding his question. “Why didn’t it work?”

“It only works where you can see darkness on the ground.” She pointed towards a spot by the lake. “Focus on the beach over there and try to see beyond the physical. Imagine you are looking through the snow.”

Xiren stood and walked toward the spot she indicated, trying to do as directed. He stared at the patch of snow, hard, but nothing was revealed to him. Finally, he placed his hand above the snow and felt a humid warmth. He looked toward his hand and finally saw it– a black mass floating above the snow. He poured black mana from his hand into the snow below, and it sucked the black mass into the snow itself, sprouting a black flower with diamond seeds. 

He immediately turned back to Amalia, his fist pumping the air. “I did it!” He plucked the flower from the snow and carried it over to her. “Milady,” he bowed deeply as he handed it to her. She curtsied and took the flower, giggling.

“You did great! It’s a beautiful flower!” She twirled the flower between her fingers and gave it a sniff. “It smells beautiful too!”

“Really?” He leaned in and smelled the flower. “It smells like honey! What do your flowers smell like?”

Amalia took another turn smelling the flower before answering. “It appears that this power gives the flower a different scent for each person that uses it. For example, my flowers smell like sugar berries.”

“What are sugar berries?” Xiren asked, intrigued. 

“They are the sweetest berries you’ve ever tasted. They only grow in Barthain. They’re red in color, and they have pink juice that will stain your fingers if you don’t lick them off fast enough.” She smiled, remembering the sweet memory, then her expression turned sour. “My mother gave me some once before she sent me away.”

Xiren scowled at her recollection. He opened up his storage and pulled the flower that she had given him earlier from its dark depths. He gave it a sniff and smiled. She was right. It was the sweetest smell he had ever encountered. Over Amalia’s shoulder, a shadow moved—watching them.