Turning to the origin point of the scream, MorDrigin got onto his feet, ready to take action against any presumable threat.
"Ahhhh!"
The scream broke into the air once again, and this time, Mor discovered a Seedling grappling with the Ethos in his hand.
"You have to calm down." TayDrigin said, trying to get the boy under control.
"Get it off!" The Seedling screamed, ignoring TayDrigin as he tried to pull his Ethos away from his arm. But just then, a Watcher grabbed him and held him in place.
"Man up!" The Watcher screamed, his words getting the Seedling under control.
Though the boy was experiencing great pain, he held himself together. Shutting his eyes and gritting his teeth, he held fast. And within the second, the pain disappeared. And just then, the black blob in his hand began to swirl with an array of colors. Namely, the seven colors of the Seven Auras.
Everyone held their breaths as they watched what was happening. The Seedlings more anxious than everyone else.
As they watched, the blob had let go of its Seedling and began to levitate. It rose a feet or two into the air, as its rapidly changing lights began to glow even more intensely.
Then, it stopped on the color gray before glowing so bright no one could look at it anymore. After a second, the light faded and a thud could be heard.
Opening his eyes, Mor found the glowing blob missing from the sky. But everyone who surrounded it had their gaze fixated on the floor.
Just when Mor was about to run in so he could see, one of the Watchers had raised his hands with the newly formed Ethos in them.
The Ethos looked like a kangaroo cross bred with a crocodile. It was small, as small as TayDrigin's Ethos Helai, and its hard skin was Gray, indicating its rank.
The Ethos was a Gray Aura. Which was the lowest rank on the ladder. Despite this rank, everyone was still cheering the Seedling on, mostly because this was common and could be mitigated by fighting Enthoses and growing stronger. Thereby reaching new ranks with time.
"The first amongst the bunch to have a Formed Ethos!" One of the Watchers yelled with exuberant voice.
"And he's got a feisty one too." Another Watcher said, causing everyone to laugh.
In this moment, the Seedling became the center of everyone's attention. And while many thoughts were swerving around everyone's head, Sai was the first to speak up.
"His Ethos has taken Form?" She said, pulling Mor's attention.
Looking at her, he could see the astonishment in her eyes. Mor could tell that this was due to the fact that this Seedling's Ethos had formed faster than that of Sai's or MayHaden's. Despite the fact that he had gotten his Ethos after them.
Though Sai knew that the duration of the Ethos bonding varied from person to person, she still found it hard to believe.
"I'm sure yours will take Form tomorrow. Most of the Seedlings' Ethos will. So you shouldn't sweat it." Mor said, his gaze now fixated on the new Ethos in the hands of a proud Watcher. As Mor stared, the Ethos bit the Watcher's finger, causing him to yelp and throw the Ethos so another Watcher caught it and immediately put it down so that laughter once again broke into the air.
"That is a feisty one." A Watcher said, before continuing to laugh.
Though everyone was participating in the laughter — his sister now included — Mor found he wasn't able to join them, as he felt his heart bleeding. And he found Sai's words bearing truth. He really loved telling stories...but deep down, he also really wanted to be an Amyntor. Why was it impossible for him to achieve both?
***
Morning came around a lot faster than MorDrigin would have liked. Perhaps that was because he couldn't sleep throughout the night, and was only able to sleep right when it was time to wake up.
'Perfect.' MorDrigin had thought. He already was bad at fighting, of course he would need help becoming even worse.
With a sigh, Mor marched forward as they continued their search for an Unformed Ethos.
An hour had passed without a single Ethos spotted. At this point, everyone was getting anxious, most especially because the Whispers was decreasing in volume. Which left many wondering if the Ethos had taken Form without bonding.
Surely, such a thing couldn't happen so early.
As they marched on, everyone stopped for a moment when an intense violet light shot through the blue sky. At once, everyone had raised their gaze so they could see the beam of purple light that cut the sky in half.
"The Lumen Bridge." A Seedling had said, his voice more than filled with intrigue.
Staring at it, no one said anything as they just soaked up the beauty and maginificense of the Lumen Bridge's light.
Looking at the lights, Mor was all but reminded that he and his mother would be leaving Sai behind. And though the Lumen Bridge was not the way they would travel to Canopus, it was still a reminder of what they were going to do. So instead of admiring the beauty of the Lumen Bridge, Mor only felt hurt.
But lucky for him, he didn't need to look at it anymore, because once he removed his gaze from the violet lights and placed it on the path ahead. Mor found an Unformed.
"An Unformed." Another Watcher had said, beating Mor to the punch.
Almost immediately, all eyes were drawn to the path ahead so they could see the Unformed.
Preparing themselves, CalisVon was given his weapon and sent out. As Mor watched, he felt hist gut churning. After Calis, it would be him next. What was he going to do? Keep the control of his failures, or try once more like Sai had asked?
MorDrigin was not given the time to answer, because almost as soon as CalisVon had begun, he had failed. So that his brother grunted in anger.
Not thinking on Calis for now, Mor felt his heart pounding to a maddening degree.
Stepping forward, taking his claymore and making his way onto the small space where the Unformed was happened automatically, because his mind was consumed by the decision before him.
As he made his way into the space so the Unformed could see him. Mor found his heart lighting up for some odd reason.
'Why?' Mor thought, as he began to wonder why he was feeling this way.
Standing before the Unformed, Mor felt something in his heart akin to hope. Perhaps he could do this, perhaps he could succeed. Maybe Sai was...
'What a waste of our air.' A voice rang into Mor's head.
'That boy is the son of the great KaiDrigin? What a disappointment.'
'I'd rather die than become a shame like him.'
'Why does he even keep trying?'
'It would be better if he had died at childbirth.'
All of these memories rammed into Mor like the fist of a White Aura. Reminding Mor that he just wasn't good enough. He was going to win this, so it was better that he failed because he wanted to.
Standing there, Mor stared the Unformed down as it raced for him.
He didn't move, he did nothing apart from stare.
Once the Unformed was an inch away from ramming him, TayDrigin intervened.
He had been pulled from the fight. And once more, he didn't protest.
Not able to look anyone in the eye, Mor fell his gaze, as he felt his heart burning.
'There was no point in trying.'
Not long after, a Seedling defeated the Unformed, so that cheers rose into the air.
***
Another hour had passed and several Unformed had been defeated so that now, there were only five Seedlings left. MorDrigin, CalisVon and three others.
During this time, Mor had made sure to keep his distance from Sai. An endeavour made very easy, as it seemed she didn't want to be around him either. This made Mor feel like turd. But there was really nothing he could do.
'Apart from try.'
Also, Mor had observed something about CalisVon. It would seem that he too had given up. It was obvious that he wasn't trying anymore, which made MorDrigin wonder if this was somehow his fault.
"Let's take five." TayDrigin had said. Aiming her break at the Seedlings who had been going at it for an hour now.
Mor couldn't care less though.
As everyone rested, Mor sat in a corner, busying himself with his thoughts on his book.
Just then, CalisVon had excused himself and made his way into the forest to relieve himself. As he walked, Mor couldn't help but stare at him. He continued to watch him till he made his way deeper into the trees.
Just when Mor was about to remove his gaze, something caught his attention.
In the distance, CalisVon had changed directions and was going right as opposed to the straight path he was taking.
Almost immediately, Mor realized that was where his brother had excused himself to three minutes prior.
Feeling a bit uneasy, Mor rose, excused himself and began to follow Calis.
Not too long after he heard yelling. Which was not audible only three seconds prior.
"Are you trying to fail?!" The voice of Calis' brother shot into the air.
Making his way closer, Mor could see beyond the trees Calis with his head bowed to his brother who was in front of them. And in between them was a small statue which sat comfortably on the floor.
Looking at it, Mor knew in an instant what the statue was. But that was not his priority as of now.
Returning his attention to Calis, Mor waited for his response.
"It doesn't matter if I try. I'm still going to fail." CalisVon said, shocking Mor and his brother to silence.
"What?" His brother responded.
"I can't do it any longer."
"Have you lost your mind?!" His brother boomed. "If you don't bond today, father will never let you try again."
"It won't change anything if I try...I'm not good enough."
Upon hearing this, Mor felt something shift within him, so he fell his gaze.
'Dammit.'
"You idiot!" His brother yelled before giving him a backhand so he was knocked off his feet.
Seeing this, Mor couldn't stand and watch any longer, so he ran in and stood in front of Calis.
"What do you think you are doing?" Mor said, anger filling his tone.
"Get out of my way if you appreciate having your limbs."
"Go ahead, I dare you." Mor said, not wavering in his stance.
Looking him down, Calis' brother dawned a look of realization in his eyes, then he grinned.
"Wait a minute. It's you...the waste of the Drigin family's semen." Calis' brother said just before laughing.
Once he said this, Mor felt anger wash over him.
"Why are you here? Trying to protect my brother from me? You think he is a weak nothing like you?" Calis' brother said, just before losing his smile. "Don't lump him in with trash like you. The only reason he's losing is because he isn't trying. Which is why he needs a good beating."
"Touch him, and you'll regret it." Mor said with a neutral voice despite the fact that he was burning inside.
"Why? Because you'll call your mommy on me?" Calis' brother said with a grin.
"Precisely." Mor said without batting an eye.
At once his grin disappeared and was replaced with a frown.
"You're going to regret this." Calis' brother said to Mor, before turning his gaze to Calis. "And you, lose out there and I'll deal with you for the rest of your life!"
After saying this, he turned his gaze to Mor, staring him down with an anger filled gaze. Then he turned around and walked away. As he walked, the statue on the ground disappeared into a plume of smoke.
Once he was gone, Mor had lost his defensive stance. So that all the words Calis' brother said began to dig into him dozens of very sharp daggers.
Ignoring the pain, Mor turned to Calis, who was getting onto his feet.
"Are you okay?" Mor had asked, but he received no response.
Instead, Calis bowed and thanked him for helping before walking away.
As Mor watched him leave, he couldn't help but feel like something was out of place. Calis had talent, he was wasting it by not trying.
"What you're doing isn't fair to yourself." Mor said, halting Calis in his tracks. "If you don't try with everything you've got, you're only going to regret this day."
Following this, Calis turned to face Mor, so that for once an expression could be seen on his face. And the expression was clear confusion.
"What gives you the right to say that to me?" Calis said, freezing Mor in place.
Without saying anything else, Calis turned around and began to walk away.
***
An hour had passed and Mor couldn't help but think on what Calis said to him. Those simple words had stirred up an ocean of emotions and thoughts within Mor that he couldn't quite understand. But one thing he did know, was that Calis was right.
What gave him the right to say that? He was probably even the one who put the idea in Calis' head.
He was losing without trying, hiding behind the illusion of control, just so he could run away from the pain of actually failing.
The more MorDrigin thought on this, the more he realized how much of a coward his was being.
How could he have been such a disappointment? Not only to his family but to himself. If he were to stand in front of the fictional heroes he idolized, could he look them in the eyes with pride and say he gave it his all?
'Dammit.' Mor thought, gritting his teeth.
In this moment, standing before an Unformed with his claymore in his hands. Mor felt anger filling his heart. Anger at himself.
As the Unformed raced toward him, Mor gripped his claymore and gathered all of his courage.
"I'm not going to give up!" Mor screamed as he swung his claymore.