The Heart of Gaia

"Argh!" I grunted.

"Come on! stand up! you won't be able to win in hand to hand combat if you gave out now."

"You're too strong Higime..."

The sun is burning bright and the cover of the trees shaded us from it, The breeze chilled my body as it passed through. We've been training since this morning, from basic weaponry to the earliest form of spells. I'm facing against Higime which was rough, it was like pushing against an immovable boulder. The difference between us was too great. From afar I heard Instructor Bardel passionately shouting at few of the recruits, exclaiming that they needed more willpower to keep going. He made us choose a partner and fight against them, in this case I'm partnered to Higime. I wasn't really friendly with everyone as rumors began to spread around that I was of Laxxo's Blood. Basically after the whole blinding light yesterday, most of them thought ill of me. They distanced themselves from us. As I sat on the grassy field trying to gain energy, I saw them currently whispering among themselves.

"Don't mind them." She said.

"I plan to."

Soon one of the knights of the keep came to the Instructor, the man spoke to him. I sensed an urgency in his movements. Finally he had dismissed everyone and told that that a meeting was about to be held. Soon everyone began returning to the fortress, except for a few people that stayed to train. Higime held out her hand to help me stand, we walked together on the way back.

"How come you have a hard time using your magic Knoxx?"

"I don't know, but your mother might has been helping me."

"You'll get scolded by Bardel tomorrow if you don't learn, not like I care or anything..." she muttered lowly.

"What?"

"I said, that's good although she still might be in the council meeting."

I bumped into one of the recruits by accident as my attention was directly on the conversation, I turned towards the person to apologize. Then I saw the same person that withstood Instructor Bardel yesterday, He was taller than me. As for my height I wasn't exactly physical astounding and only have been an inch taller than Higime.

"Oh! I'm deeply sorry!" he said.

"No, I'm sorry I wasn't paying much attention."

Oddly enough he was staring, as I stared back. He was handsome and had very feminine like features on his gentle face. I wonder if people would often mistake him as a female. He had a long gray and silky hair tied up like a bun, with black eyes. His physique at first glance looked skinny but he was really lean I could tell from his thin shirt. The awkwardness of him just staring was unbearable so I wanted to break it off.

"Uhm... We'll be off then."

"Oh no! Don't go, please... I was admiring your lovely curly hair! and your exquisite green eyes. Pardon my rudeness, Because I love beautiful men."

*Wink. Wink.*

"haha..." I laughed awkwardly.

"My name is Ambrose DeWitts, the most elegant of Elgans."

"Sorry, Knoxx is not interested." she said coldly.

As she interrupted and pulled me towards her, the shocked look on his face explained that he probably had thought I was into the same sexual preference. But it didn't matter as he laughed it off. Soon we exchanged formalities as we headed towards the drawbridge. he began to constantly yap about various things, I tried to actually listen to him but with his constant change of the topic I couldn't follow through. I glanced at Higime with an perplexed expression. Then I saw that she was actually listening to the chatterbox and had thrown some replies here and there. As they began to connect as though they had been long lost friends. As tough as he might seem, he was friendly. Soon we passed by a group of fellow recruits.

"Pardon me." I said as I accidentally bumped his shoulder.

He just stared at me with a smug look on his face. I ignored it and passed by.

"Filthy Laxxo blooded ingrate" he muttered under his voice.

"Hey there lovely! don't hang out with that faggot freak of nature." one of them haughtily said.

As another one of them laughed, I grabbed Higime as soon as I saw her fist clench. I whispered to her that It's not worth it. Then Ambrose was pretty calm about it but this wasn't the case until he said something.

"You know!" He pointed towards them.

"I don't like you people at all, you're not beautiful!" He smiled menacingly as his whole body began to erupt with muscles tightening his shirt.

Three of them hastily tried to leave but one of them was persistent, explaining how can they be afraid of such monstrosity. Ambrose came closer to this seemingly brave yet ignorant individual. And with a strong punch right to his gut he fell. His fellow colleagues took him away scurrying away like scared mice. Ambrose smiled with a sense of pride as soon as they left. Ironically as it may seem that the Liberators were meant to be a group against injustice but here there were people like them. Though I was never a judging character, they must have their own reasons. It would be amazing enough to still be like that after Bardel is finished with them. Soon we went our separate ways as I went off to meet Madame Cordelia as she had just finished the meeting. Because of the unusuality of my Corr she was helping me investigate it further. She was well versed in the knowledge of the magical arts, as far as I knew she was the best in her field in the whole entirety of the Liberators. Soon we met in her study, within hours she had been teaching me how to control my inner Corr, by visualizing. In a trance-like state but in between being conscious and unconscious. My mind fluctuated in between. She didn't start with basic spells as controlling the flow of my Corr would be decisive in activating it; I sat on the floor meditating.

"Remember to visualize growing power within you."

I heard her voice as I saw fire within the dark confines of my mind, growing every second.

"Now try moving the said power and hold out your hand."

I held out my hand as I visualized on moving the power.

"Yes... you are doing well."

Until finally the fire died out, as I huffed out in exhaustion.

"Hmm... How peculiar..."

"It's not working, no matter what I visualize."

She stood and went to her notes, as if looking for something that could help. My mind went blank as I stared into my palm, "Great power" I thought sarcastically. I turned and saw the crystal on her table that reminded me of the first time I had killed someone, the haunting memory flashed before my thoughts. The horrid picture of the burned corpse of that old bandit made me feel groggy. I remembered holding a Viscorr at the time. I called onto her and explained what had happened, she told me that the crystal might have probably aided in flushing out the Corr inside me. The reason why I had a hard time was because of the fact I was exposed to my father, his power had been a natural deterrent and had been blocking the constant flow of my overwhelming Corr thus resulting in a bad fluctuation of energy within me. I had demonstrated her first and saw that it was quite effective. With her eyes she saw the small growing difference each time I used my power while holding the crystal. In the meantime she took to her drawer and pulled out a small necklace, she said that it was from my father and that I was wearing it ever since he saw me. Apparently he took it away because it lit up a particular mark on me but it had the same characteristics as a Viscorr. I took it. he must have thought that it was for the best.

"Now make it a daily routine to channel your Corr, In time your fluctuation will be back to normal. Try it now."

I closed my eyes as I began focusing all my energy into my palm. I felt my eyes burning again and as I opened it.

"Extraordinary! Energy so immense that your whole body begins to emit it, your veins are glowing bright like the sun, as your eyes look like the stars at night. A-and that mark! I've seen that before! I'll have to research it again!" she said passionately.

Every inch of my body felt was aching, It was the same feeling in my dreams when that large orb had attached itself to me. The only difference was this is too exhausting.

"Explain what you're feeling, describe how it feels..." she said intently.

"My body feels extremely burdened, it feels like being on fire. I can't see, but at the same time I do."

"What do you see? do you see me?"

"I only see a silhouette figure of you wi-with an orb glowing intensely inside it."

"Fascinating, it seems you have the same sight as I do!"

She seemed surprise but at the exact same time was enjoying herself. I close my eyes out of weariness as it became harder and difficult to maintain the Corr flowing throughout my body. In the darkness I saw the same exact figure that haunted my dreams, it was a long time since I've seen it. The enigma was staring at me. Briefly I saw the small thread that connected me to the orb, It had grown twice the size.

"Don't hold it too long!" It shouted.

Surprised, I let go of my control and sent the ball of intense power flying towards the empty stone wall.

*BANG!*

I opened my eyes and felt extremely tired, hurriedly I looked for Madame, fortunately she was already sitting on the desk writing. As if she didn't hear such a large explosion.

*Pant... Pant...*

"I'm sorry..."

"Oh! don't be! I've learned a lot from you! I can have that wall fixed in no time."

After she finished her notes, she told me about the meeting that they held earlier. Commander Rhys finally decided to make a move on the City "Everglow", she explained that they'll be freeing the slaves in the underground black market beneath the city but the main purpose was to find the original successor of the throne.

"There are a lot of hidden pathways underground and we've tried mapping every detail... We've also found a lead to the whereabouts of your father"

I felt my heart raising out of joy, the thought of having him back felt like a dream come true.

"Our intel claims that your father had been kept underground and not in the kingdom, the reason is still unknown."

She hesitated but eventually continued.

"But unfortunately Knoxx you can't come."

"What?! why not?"

"The commander can't risk of losing you in this operation, and your father is not the goal."

"No! I need to go! my father is waiting for me!"

"Even if you go child, you can't even protect yourself! Don't be foolish! do you want to be a burden again? I'm telling you this since I'm going to be apart of the operation, Although he might not be the goal, if the situation proves not to be risky. I might be able to save him." she said sternly.

I ignored what she said as the anger swelled in me as I felt the injustice and the feeling of oppression. Soon people that heard the explosion came as Madame had to explain the situation so she dismissed me. Before I left I heard one of the high ranking officers that a meeting well be held later tonight. A thought crossed my mind as I heard it, The constant feeling of longing for someone is something they can never understand. I'd do anything just to see my father again, to be safe, alive and well. He'd do the same; So will I. I waited near the council room until each member finally attended. When they had finally started I eavesdropped on their conversation, listening by the door. I heard them talk about all kinds of matters pertaining to the welfare of the organization. Until finally they talked about the operation on Everglow, after a lengthy conversing between each of them. They mentioned the only way of getting there was to Teleport inside at night as the city only had a few entrances towards the Black Market and was mostly heavily guarded. This was the only way for them to sneak in large amounts of people without getting caught, they mentioned a specific location for the Teleportation Circle inside the Fortress.

"In two days time, we'll be commencing the operation."

When I heard that I knew it was my chance...