They say that The Shadow was one of a kind, their power was unmatched. Even the Crocodile God of the East marveled at their glory. The immense power, beauty, and horror, they embodied shook the land.

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 being devoid of light, the cave was filled with an opaque type of oxygen that only Lievers could see through. 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. Should he ever call on this small cache, he could place his hand inside and call to mind whichever item he had placed inside. It would immediately pop into his hand and allow him to retrieve it.

"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 then forced the crystalline leaves into his hand. "Put those away for me, will you?"

"What am I? A storage compartment?" Xiren complained as he placed the leaves into his storage cache.

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 consider 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 held out a hand to help 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 work in the village, they had to earn their keep, and although Amalia and Xiren both worked hard on the Sephiol harvest, in fact, bearing more fruit than the other children, they were disregarded and treated with ill repute. 

Xiren and Amalia followed Granny Alice from the cave. 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 elongated into an impregnable epiphany, until Granny Alice banged her cane against the heavily rugged floor, to break 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 turned on her heel and returned back to the front of the classroom, ignoring the collective gasp from the other students and the surprised looks from Amalia and Xiren. “Now, for today, we will be discussing Lievers: how they were created, how they share their powers, and what it means to do so.” Trying to get back on track without placing any more stress on her two favorite children, she ignored them entirely. “Magro, you start us off. What must happen in order for a person to become a Liever?”

Magro sat up straight, seeing his chance to shine. “If a natural-born Liever shares their blood with another, then the person they share with has a chance to become a Liever, as long as they are already a magic user. If they are not a magic user, then the blood has no effect. Only those with magical blood are able to inherit the effects of mana.”

“Correct! Well done Magro, however, there is even more to it.” Alice spread out her arms and allowed her dark mana to flow freely through the room. “When a Liever shares their blood, it is a sacred thing. They are able to share their specific power with others. Since I, and the other elders of the village are natural-born Lievers we are able to share our powers with others. Only natural-born Lievers are able to create other Lievers. Can anyone tell me what the blood of a Created Liever can do?”

The rude teenager from before raised her hand. “In order to understand a Created Liever, you must understand the differences between them and natural-born Lievers. When a Liever is created, they are able to use the power of the Liever whose blood was shared with them. For example, everyone in the village who is a Liever has the ability to maneuver dark mana and use it as an extension of themselves to grab items and such, because that is Granny Alice’s ability. After they receive this ability, they also produce one or two specific abilities of their own. Created Lievers are able to share their powers with other Lievers by sharing blood.”

“Well said, Katri.” Alice nodded to her, seemingly forgiving her comment from earlier. “When Lievers share blood with one another, it creates a bond like never before. Many Lievers seek to become stronger by receiving blood from each other and gaining more powers, but to most, the sharing of blood is only to be done with your intended or the one you will marry in the future.” She began to walk amongst the class again as she continued to speak. “That being said, when you share blood, you only get the Lievers' own personal fundamental ability. I have many abilities that I have received from other Lievers throughout the years, but all those who have partaken of my blood only received the ability I was born with, dark mana manipulation. There is only one way for a Liever to steal all of the powers another Liever has accumulated. Do any of you know how this is done?”

The class sat in absolute silence once more, the children looking at each other in the hopes that someone would raise their hand. None of them knew the answer, except one. Amalia’s hand shook as she raised it, and her voice wavered as she began to speak. “Murder. If you k-kill a Liever and consume one drop of their blood, you will receive all of their power. Only the murderer is able to take this power.”

Alice nodded somberly. “This is forbidden. Obviously, murder is a horrid crime, punished by death in Lilan. No amount of power is worth murdering someone, ever. In fact, I’m not even supposed to be telling you about the ability to steal a Liever’s powers, but I believe that ignorance cannot be tolerated, and you will all need to protect yourselves.” She glanced through the tent, noticing that the sky had begun to darken. “That will be all for today. Return to your tents. I’m sure your families have meals waiting for you.”

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 followed Amalia to their secret place by the eternally frozen lake in the igloo they had 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. It had five midnight-black petals, and its seeds were diamonds. 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 of 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 flew through his bloodstream and all throughout his body. 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 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.