"I was raised at the temple. There were 30 of us." Sil closed his eyes and held his wife tight. He felt tentacles wrap about him as Caser included him in a family hug.
Sil was always talented. Being able to hold six abilities meant he got a lot of praise from the teachers. The others called him names. He got good grades and good marks in everything. He was top of the class with Raten right below him. Vorden was the bottom of the class.
All three were considered outcasts. All three always felt alone. Raten lived to beat people up, it seemed. He never lost to the other students, except Sil. If they hurt Sil in the combat class, Raten would punish them.
Vorden was the one with social skills while Sil had no social skills and didn't understand why others treated him the way they did. He took everything literally. Awkward would have been putting it mild. Sil frequently cried in the back of the classroom. Vorden eventually started talking to him and Raten the same. They became good friends. Since the kids were not raised by parents, they had councilors. Caser was his.
Caser's ears perked up and he purred when he heard his name. Sil smiled and scratched him behind the ear. "You are named after him!"
Sil never understood the meaning of all this. When he'd meet with Caser, he'd sit there and cry. One day, Caser read a comic book about super heroes saving the innocent and protecting the people. "I thought with as powerful as the Blades were, they would be super heroes." Sil scoffed.
Sil asked Caser about it and Caser told him made he could be the first Blade to be a hero. The idea of protecting others suddenly gave him purpose. It gave meaning to all the training and classes. He worked harder to get even stronger so he could be the best super hero ever. "I was 8…"
One day they had another sparring session, they were always on a Friday. Sil refused to fight because strong people should never beat up the weak. The teachers were in an uproar and the other students were angry. They could not get stronger by fighting Sil because he simply refused.
Sunday, late in the evening, Sil was called into Caser's office. Grandpa Hilston was there. Grandpa attacked Caser in front of him. It was a lethal blow. Sil stood there, afraid. Caser touched his face and told him he would never be alone again. Grandpa told Sil if he was the winner of the event in the morning, he would bring Caser back to life.
Sil was frozen. He loved Caser. He had been the only father-figure Sil ever had. He didn't have a mother-figure. Lana caressed his hands as they held her tighter.
The next morning, they were all gathered outside. That was the normal time for indoor classes. Everyone was excited thinking something fun was going to happen. They were then told they were to kill each other. Only one survivor was permitted. The last remaining person would move to the castle and be part of the family.
The kids all looked at each other thinking it was a joke. Raten was the first to touch a Chained, a person Hilston collected so he could use their ability. He threw a wind blade and killed one of the boys that picked on him. Sil hid in the temple.
When Raten and Vorden found him, there were just three others left. They had been killing the chained after taking their abilities so the others would not get an ability.
"You were all only 8 years old?" It was Dobin, in shock.
Sil nodded.
Raten was covered in blood. Vorden had none on him. Raten had a plan for the three of them to escape the island. He gave Sil the two abilities he had. They went looking for the earth ability. It was needed for their escape plan. They ran into the three remaining kids. Sil got the earth ability and Raten killed them.
When the three friends got near the wall the teachers created to keep them on the island, Sil realized if he escaped, Caser would not be able to come back. His only option was the kill Vorden and Raten and then bring back all three.
Sil, Vorden and Raten realized after that escape was futile. The teachers were all invisible and were watching the whole thing. In the castle, Sil asked Grandpa Hilston to bring back Caser and if possible, Vorden and Raten as well. Grandpa Hilston told him they were useless people and he should forget them. The dead could not be brought back to life.
Sil left the control of his body and retreated to the back of his head. There he saw his friends. For days they sat there looking at each other, Sil cried most of the time. Vorden and Raten didn't want to live like that. Sil finally yelled at them, "then you go out there!" and a chair appeared in this room in his mind.
Caser had given him an ability when he touched him the previous night. The Blade ability allowed them to hold the abilities for 24 hours. Sil still had that ability.
It was the ability to absorb the consciousness of the person you kill. For nine years, Vorden and Raten lived inside Sil and they shared his body.
Vorden was chosen as the spokesperson for them since he had the people skills even though he was weaker. They had to go through a lot of training every day. Eventually it was found out that Sil was not in control of his body when a task was prevented that Sil should have been able to handle but Vorden and Raten could not. Vorden was forced to explain the situation.
Vorden only had one ability. Raten had two. When they entered his body, they used Sil's ability slots so Sil was only able to use three after that.
Caser had killed the person he got the ability from so there was no reversing it.
Sil refused to come out. All three of them were afraid of Hilston who wasn't even really their grandfather, but their father. He was the father of everyone on the island through cloning. He'd go away every 10 years and come back with around 30 babies. Sometimes there would be more because twins came through. Other times there would be less as a baby had been unviable.
The others on the island were those who survived The Event as it was called, left for dead when attacked by the other students. The head housekeeper always did a sweep to see if there were such kids. They would then be tended to and would live in the village, temple or become a house servant which was the most dangerous job. Hilston would kill anyone who displeased him. Noone knew how old he was, either.
When they all returned from summer vacation and saw the state of military base two, Vorden knew the base was destroyed using the lightning ability but was it the Blades or the Graylashes? Then they saw the devastation of Dreamland City. The soldier they met there didn't know the cause. With Truedream being a danger, Vorden needed to get answers. Sil agreed even though he didn't like it. They needed to know if he was Chained or a danger to humanity.
Sil did what he always did when he was upset. He went to the back of the room, wrapped his arms around his knees and rocked. He stayed that way until he heard Lana's name. He wasn't even sure who said it but he went forward to find out what was going on.
"My Lana was standing there were glowing green eyes and green tears. She leaned into Vorden and whispered "he must be stopped" and I wanted to retreat again but she was upset so I stayed and listened as Vorden took her to our room to talk to her. I knew he'd take care of her but I wanted to be there in case she needed me. She had gone outside and the trees showed her what happened that day and that the man looked like an older version of me."
Sil was even more upset because Hilston had upset his wife. But he was still terrified. The monster leveled a city to get at one man. Sil left instructions for Lana through Vorden and Vorden made sure she understood them all. Every measure that could be made to ensure Hilston didn't find out about his little family needed to be made. Lana would essentially be in hiding but she was planning on living a quiet life in seclusion after a sorts, anyway.
She would have those she trained out doing the surveillance. That was the plan anyway when they had discussed things. Sil couldn't explain the task set out by the king and had a feeling Lana might get personally involved in that since it was in her personality to take charge of something like that.
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