I stopped and heard Grayson howling painfully in the wind.
"what do you want?"
He walked out from behind a big tree on my right, wearing nothing but a shirt and deep jeans. His feet were bare and completely white, and his hair was flying in strands, making him look younger than his actual age. I can't tell, but my instinct tells me that he is not a mortal. This person is older than my grandparents. But how did I know
"I'm sorry for the discomfort you have recently felt, but I only awakened your own sleeping magic. It is now calling our blood, non-stop, until you know who you are and what you are." He tilted his head. Look at me with diligent eyes. "I just made a simple suggestion in your mind to bring Ephra to me, although I think you are too strong to do that."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I flinched. I have never been a person who is easily scared, but he feels like he is telling the truth. How much does he know about me
"Are your parents still alive?"
"My mother is. Why?"
"I'm surprised she didn't tell you. If your father is still alive, he might..."
"What happened to him? What did you do to me?"
I tripped over a rock and slammed my arm against another hard rock on the ground. The terrain under the leaves is very dangerous, I haven't noticed it. Now my arm has a fever due to severe pain.
"Damn!" It broke. I can feel the bones moving under my skin. It will recover faster than humans, even faster if I move, but I will not move unless I have to. It takes too much effort and cannot be completely changed. I can't take this risk yet.
"It will be all right in a while. The magic that you awaken is stronger than the blood of any shape-shifting person." He knelt beside me and stretched out my arm.
"Don't touch me!" I said angrily. I tried to crawl back, but my arm broke badly. It took me a lot of effort to take it out of my jacket. The painful shaking made me cringe, but because of the adrenaline, I could hardly feel the cold air. I stretched out my arm and pushed the sweater up, and found that there were two breaks, and a blooming bruise had taken up half of my arm.
Then a ball of fire burned in my blood, burned in my chest, and rushed towards my arm. I had enough time to grab Grayson's arm and shout. He grabbed me tightly, supported me with his other arm, pulled me in, pressed his chest, and clamped my arm with his own arm.
"Shhh..." He shook, and the flames in my arms made me panic and convulsions. I can feel the seductive loss of consciousness dragging me as I tighten my mouth and groan through my teeth. "It will be over soon. I promise. Then I can tell you what you are. You will be fine."
His words are not comforting at all. The pain made me unable to speak, so I concentrated on staying, crushing Grayson's hand was a bonus. The man who did this to me now says this is my own magic? He must have an abnormal mind, because it is impossible for my own power to do this.
I heard a cracking sound and my arms trembled. The pain started suddenly, as always, and continued until only a little bit of heat remained at the place where I broke my fracture. Holding my breath, I let myself relax. I closed my eyes, exhausted from the pain, and barely noticed that Grayson was still holding me.
"What did you do to me?" I whispered. I didn't have the strength to say something more ugly, so I succumbed to Grayson's pressure. I will deal with him later.
"I didn't do anything. You are a member of the Kerhan family. Blood calls for blood relations. Since your family was expelled, our curse has not touched you, but our power still exists in your body and was lurking for a while , But very active now. However, you will not suffer its consequences."
"This doesn't make sense. What strength?" My jīng strength began to recover. I have never recovered so quickly. I was able to sit up in five minutes, knocking me down before the sky, all this happened. I reached out to touch my arm. It is very straight, very smooth, without swelling and bruising at all. How is this possible? I haven't even changed my clothes yet.
"Your family rebelled before the curse fell on us. For centuries, the Kerhan packaging has been consistent with the Mark Till packaging. We thrive and live in harmony. One day, our leader, Greg The events promoted by here will change us forever. He stole a magical artifact from the royal family members of Mark Thiel, which was given to them by a powerful mage.
"When he got it, he used its power to try to overthrow the royal family of Marktier and claimed that the queen was his. But he was not strong enough, and when he used this power, he cursed his entire family. In exchange for the sky, we have to spend the day under the disguise of stones, frozen and unable to move... Like a nocturnal dragon that is cursed forever. Even if we walk at night, we are no longer beautiful A wolf, but a monster with wings."
Now I can move and feel much better. Because of my dizziness, I still couldn't stand up, and I gave him a cold and sharp look.
"You are so crazy that you thought I would believe in this kind of rubbish. You don't know my family at all!" I stretched my hand to my belt and drew the hunting knife. I still cannot move my injured arm completely, but I can use my other arm well.
"This is a fact," he said. He raised his hands to express peace, but I won't let my guard down by his side anymore. Something bad happened around Grayson.
"How did you know?"
He sighed, apparently thinking I was easier to persuade. He thought about it quietly, then stretched out his hand. "Give me your hand."
I hesitated, but after experiencing so much, I thought why not? I gave him my left hand, my good hand. He supported it with one hand and drew a symbol on my palm. The moment he took his finger away from my skin, a rune began to emit a terrible, bright yellow sè.
"This is the hallmark of the Kelhan. All descendants have it."
"What?" I gasped.
When he showed him to me, my eyes opened wide. This is a different rune, but it has the same light as mine.
"Yours is different," I pointed at him and pulled his hand towards me, trying to see more clearly. It is a square with curved spikes extending inward and outward from every corner. Glancing at mine, I saw the same nail shape, but with a circle.
"Most of us are not from the exact same family."
I stared into his eyes. They are gleaming dark gray, like polished stones. There is no malice there now, only a deep sorrow radiates from them and penetrates into my soul. In the frozen forest, this expression is a cold expression, but despite this, I still feel warm.
"I'm not cold anymore," I said. I pulled away, looked around, and began to study the forest. The weather is still cold and the wind is biting, but this feeling no longer bothers me. I stretched out my palms and looked down at them. My skin is not as pale as it used to be, but a faint grayish blue sè can be seen under the surface. "What's wrong with me?"
"The blood of your drip beast has boiled. The cold has no effect on us, but the face of the stone comes from a curse. You look pale, but not as bad as the rest of us. For centuries, we have every day Are all responding to this curse."
I looked at my hand again. "what does this mean?"
"You can now transform into whatever you want."
"Turn into a statue of a beast?"
He nodded. "A wolf-dripping beast."
We searched the whole city, but found nothing. The fog has not yet appeared. I am sure it will come out after dark, so I let most people go home and rest. I went home alone and slept for a few hours. Fatigue and lack of sleep are dangerous companions. Besides, I haven't seen Lily for several days, and miss her more than I thought.
I never rushed home before I had Lily. She is everything to me, but I doubt that she knows how I feel. She was upset recently, which bothered me a lot, but I gave her my own space, knowing that not doing so would suffocate her. Lily is not the kind of woman who likes to be spoiled. At least not now. Maybe when she was in the palace before.
I want to know what happened to her. She has been immersed in her own world recently and seldom expresses her thoughts and wishes. Her coldness is unacceptable, but I don't want to force her. She will understand eventually, I hope.
"Lily?" When I walked into the apartment, I dropped my jacket on the sofa. This silence seems to appear abnormally. no respond. I checked every room, but she was not there. I thought she went for a walk after get off work. I hope she will come back before I leave at night. I thought about calling her, but she needs her own space. I don't want to disturb her time alone, so I sent a short text message.
Go home and rest for a few hours, love you.
I didn't expect her to answer. She sometimes does not look at the phone for several hours. I don’t think that royal family members make calls only half as often as people in the city. If the servants always follow your arrangements, then there is no need to communicate in words. It took me some time to get used to her quirks, but she was also getting used to it.
After taking off the last piece of clothing, I slipped into bed, closed my eyes, and felt tired and running on my muscles, which relieved my pain. Under my exhausted body, this bed felt like a piece of heaven. It was a long day patrolling the temple, especially as this new threat lingered on the fringes of the city.
But is this really a threat? (To be continued) (End of this chapter)