Our Second World book three: Personal Truth

Chapter 10: Haren

"Don't touch me!" Silver kicked his hand away.

"Ok. That's it. What is going on with you?" Haren huffed," you never act like this."

"It's n—it's nothing..."

Haren sat down on the floor with his back to the bed," Silver, I like to think we're friends, so I hope you know that I can tell when you're lying to me. Will you tell me what's bothering you? Please?"

Silver sighed and Haren could hear the bed sheets rustling behind him," just promise you won't freak out, ok?"

"Why would I freak out?"

"Just promise."

"Ok, ok. I promise I won't freak out."

"K." The sheets rustled again as Silver crawled out from under the blanket.

"Oh..."

"... really? That's your first reaction?"

"Well... I was expecting... uh... not that."

Now that Silver wasn't hiding, Haren could see strange, flame shaped marks like tattoos covering his arms and neck. They were various shades of reds and oranges, and seemed to have a slight glow around them.

"Well, you can see why I thought you'd freak out, right?" Silver gestured to the marks.

"Yeah. That's why you didn't come down? Because you thought we'd all freak out?" Haren asked.

Silver nodded," it's happened before, and they usually go away after a day or so."

"Wait, this has happened to you before? When?"

"Before I joined the knight academy, and a lot when I was younger," Silver answered," its part of my magic, the magic I got from my mother, and its hard for me to control sometimes— don't worry, it's only dangerous if I try to use magic."

"Why didn't you tell us about this before?" Haren asked.

"You never asked," Silver shrugged," and it hasn't been a problem... well... not recently, anyway."

Haren stood up and stretched his back," I'll tell the others you weren't feeling well, if you're ok with that."

Silver gave a small nod, and in a quiet voice, he said," I think that would be best..."

"Alright," Haren walked over to the door," try to get some rest, ok?"

There was no answer as Silver crawled back under his blanket again. Haren let out a small sigh and went out to the hall.

Riniya was standing by the door. She looked up with a guilty expression when Haren walked out.

"You heard?" He asked.

"... yes," she nodded with a frown," I'm sorry. I shouldn't have eavesdropped on your conversation."

Haren noticed a tray of food in her hands and smiled," what are you talking about? You just got here." He said.

Riniya looked confused for a moment, but realization quickly spread across her face," Yes. I thought Silver might be feeling hungry, so I decided to bring him some leftovers from breakfast."

"That was nice of you, but he's feeling a little under the weather today."

"I see," Riniya spoke a little louder," Well, I'll just leave this on the table in the kitchen if he gets hungry later."

The two of them walked down to the kitchen together. They stopped at the bottom of the back stairs and Riniya grinned.

"How was that?" She asked.

Haren smirked," you're a very unconvincing actor, but you caught on quick."

"So... he's not really sick, is he."

"...no, but that's what we're telling the others."

Riniya nodded, and the two of them continued to the kitchen.

"So um... I... wanna talk to you about something," Riniya seemed to be having trouble thinking of what to say.

"Sure. Go ahead." Haren nodded and leaned against the counter.

"Ok. Um... well... this morning, I was talking with Nephinae about... something, and I had an idea," Haren got the feeling he was missing a lot of the story, but nodded for her to continue," there's something a mages familiar can unlock, called Tier Breaking, where they can grow stronger and amplify their masters magic power. The percentage increase is different for everyone, but I thought that it might be something to try."

"True. If the six of us were able to accomplish this 'tier break' with our familiars, there would be no need to bother with monsters," Haren sighed and ran a hand through his hair," to be honest, I strongly doubted our chances of successfully taming monsters. It didn't really sound possible, but this idea of yours does."

"You think so?"

"Yeah. I'm sure we'd all grow a lot stronger. We should tell the others. If we're doing this, I want everyone to be in agreement."

"I'll gather everyone, then," Riniya said." Will the living room be a good place?"

"Yes."

After getting Rala from his room, Haren made his way down to the living room. Elviya, Nephinae, and August were already there. Sylviana arrived shortly after Haren sat down. Riniya came a few minutes later.

"Alright. Now that everyone's here, there's something I'd like to discuss with you all," Haren began.