Don't Destroy the World

Justine stared at her like she wasn't sure if she should be taking her seriously. "You are one feisty kid."

"45 seconds," Ember said.

Justine held up her hands defensively. "Okay, okay. Calm down. I followed you here."

"How?" Ember asked not lowering her sword.

"I saw you leaving or at least the acolyte you," she said, nodding at Ember. "I knew no one had entered the room so figured it was you. Checked just in case to make sure and then followed you. Even saw you switching faces when talking to those merchants."

Ember blinked in surprise. "You followed me...but how?"

Justine grinned. "My stealth skills are pretty damn good."

Ember mentally swore to herself. It should've been something she looked out for but she hadn't even thought about. Most people that had stealth skills belonged to the House of Rakel. She didn't think they had any connection to Lord Felis unless the King sent them to spy on the noble.

"Rakel?"

Justine snorted. "No. I wouldn't join their ranks even if you paid me a 1000 gold."

Ember found herself curious about that. Her interactions with the Rakel had found them to be an interesting noble house. While they officially worked for the King they weren't above taking side jobs. She worked with them and also fought against them. In the end, she didn't find them a bad group just opportunistic.

In any case, it definitely answered one question for her. "You're an unregistered Seedling."

Justine's mouth twisted and she shook her head. "Wrong again."

Ember's eyebrows shot up at the denial. "If you were registered, the Rakel's would have grabbed you up."

"You know, you certainly seem to know a lot for a kid that grew up in a small nowhere town," Justine pointed out and nodded to the sword. "Why don't you put that sword down and let's have a proper conversation."

"I could say the same for you," Ember shot back. She turned over her options.

The woman had saved her. She also didn't send out an alarm when she saw Ember sneak out. No one had attacked her since they left Goros and the woman could've. For all intents and purposes, the woman had helped her get pass the gate and even brought a horse which meant they might be able to catch up with the delegation or at least cut down their time on the road.

Ember lowered her sword and Mally shifted back into a bracelet on her wrist. It wouldn't hurt to give her a chance. Besides, she had her abilities and she could always use the practice.

"So you're a registered stealth Seedling that somehow managed to keep out of the grasp of the Rakels," Ember said as they continued walking.

"Not a Seedling," Justine said simply.

Ember stared at the woman. "Really? That's what you expect me to believe."

Justine shrugged. "It's the truth."

Ember rolled her eyes. "Sure. I might look young but I'm not stupid."

Justine let out a snort. "I could tell you but you seem like an attack first, ask questions later sort."

"That's fair," Ember said. It wouldn't be the first time in this life or the last that she had been told that. Stabbing things tended to solve her problems at least a good sixty percent of the time. Though so far, in this life, that path hadn't been working out as well for her.

"As long as you're not a serial killer, royal, or Shade, I won't attack you unless you give me reason to," Ember said.

"That's quite the list. What's a Shade?" Justine asked, curious.

"Trouble. Are you going to explain."

"I will but only if you do the same. I shouldn't be the only one telling my secrets," Justine stated.

Ember considered. She of course had no intention of telling her about all her abilities. As nice as Justine was she didn't know her. She hadn't even told her family yet so she certainly wasn't going to tell a stranger. Still she could give her some information, at least enough so she could use some of her abilities during their trip if need be.

"Okay," she said. "But you have to go first."

Justine nodded with a pleased smile on her lips. "It's true I'm not a Seedling. Couldn't be one if I wanted to. Too much Night Orc blood in me."

Ember's eyes widened as she turned to Justine in surprise. She looked the woman over but there was nothing about her that hinted that she had Night Orc blood besides being a bit tall and a little muscular. Her skin was pale but not the silvery white of the Night Orcs. To be able to look almost completely human while having Night Orc race blessing would be a boon to most. What was she even doing in a small town like Goros?

"How much of the race blessing did you get?"

Justine's eyes widened slightly at Ember's question. "Pretty much all of it. I was lucky or unlucky depending on who you ask."

Ember blinked. "Even with diluted blood you have the full blessing?"

Justine shrugged. "For the most part. My abilities are about seventy percent of those of a true Night Orc."

Ember whistled. "That's a lot."

Justine must be the most successful of the crossbreed experiment. The crossbreed experiment happened a long time ago, where humans set out to combine races, so they could gain their Race Blessing. Humans were the only race that didn't have a Race Blessing, instead they had the ability to become Seedlings.

Race Blessings were when everyone in a race were given the same abilities. For Night Orcs it was stealth, altered strength, rejuvenation, and regeneration, thought with the drawback that their full powers could only be used at night, while 20-50 percent could be used in the day depending on the Night Orc. Elves race blessing was plant manipulation, spirit communication, earth elemental, and far sight. They're drawback was that they could only access their full abilities in natural environments such as forests.

Humans had Seedlings instead, which allowed them to have a diversity of abilities among themselves which didn't have the drawbacks of only being used in certain areas or times. Instead, their abilities were limited and they had to meet requirements to gain them. And, of course, there were those that wouldn't awaken an ability at all.

Both had their benefits and drawbacks which led to the crossbreed experiments. Surprisingly, some of the non-human races agreed to the experiment. Everyone was hoping to gain an offspring that both had race blessings and could become a Seedling.

Unfortunately, the experiment was a failure. Even so, there were some hybrids that were able to gain race blessings and certain families kept at it, seeing it as more beneficial to have a race blessing than becoming a Seedling.

Justine must be from one of those families. At least she assumed Justine was part of that experiment. It was possible that she was the offspring of a romantic relationship between a human and a Night Orc though it was unlikely. Natural births between races were rare. It took a lot of work to actually birth a hybrid. It was why the crossbreed experiment had eventually gone out of fashion and was looked down upon by most.

"You seem to know a lot about hybrids. More than a girl from a small town should know," Justine said and there was a hint of suspicion in her voice.

Ember blinked and for a moment she wondered if she had been talking out loud but then she recalled their conversation. Even the few questions she had asked Justine was more than she should've known. It was a mistake...or was it? She didn't have any reason to pretend to be less intelligent than she was. it was unlikely that someone would assume she had relived her life since that was impossible. If anything, they would think she had some connections to someone powerful and more knowledgeable which technically she did - herself, or as people were led to believe, her mage teacher.

"I know a lot. I'm a mage apprentice. I'm supposed to meet my teacher in Hekral. Her name is Bloom Larisel."

Justine whistled. "You certainly have some connections. So you're a Seedling. That explains why you gave your blessing away."

Ember nodded and kept walking. Mentioning she was a mage's apprentice should help dissuade Justine from attacking her and gaining the wrath of a Bloom. Though, she was starting to think the woman really just wanted to help her though she had no idea why. She could see that she wanted to return the favor for helping her back with the blood leeches but she did that when she picked up her unconscious body. So why was she still helping her now?

"So are you going to tell me what your abilities are? You know mine so I think it's only fair given our agreement."

Ember gave a clip nod. "Illusions, which you already know. I also have the fire element and a mapping ability called Finder."

"Three abilities!" Justine said. "No wonder you drew the attention of a mage. You'll rank as a Bloom as soon as you register."

Ember nodded. "Just don't tell anyone. At least not until I'm registered."

Justine nodded. "I get it. You don't want Lord Felis to try to claim you."

"Yeah," Ember said. It was easier to let her think that. Besides, if she did register, they would only see Finder's Keeper and therefore she wouldn't even get a rank. By then, she and Justine would have parted ways and so she would avoid any questions about how she was able to do illusions and use the fire ability. Still, she might want to think of a good cover story just in case.

Before that, she had a more pressing question on her mind. "Why did you follow me this far?"

A strange look appeared on Justine's face. Instead of answering her question, Justine asked her one instead. "Are you connected to the Akashic Order?"

"As much as any Seedling is," Ember answered.

Justine's green eyes grew intense. "What about the Akashic Tree? Any special connection to it?"

"No..." Ember paused. She didn't think she had a special connection but then she remembered about what she had seen in her dream...vision? The Akashic Tree had appeared in front of her though she had no idea why. With what she learned from bird, it was likely that it was tied to her looping and possibly her curse. "Why are you asking me about this?"

Justine looked ahead of her with a thoughtful expression. "You know how I said I found you while on a stroll. Well, I wasn't there by accident."

Ember's lips tightened as she listened and her thumb rubbed against Mally.

"I was given a quest from the Akashic Tree. A glowing scroll just popped up in front of my face telling me to head over to Felis Manor and look around. I wasn't sure what was going on but I had nothing better to do so I decided to take a look. Lo and behold, there you were on the ground staring out with these empty eyes while a fire raged over at the manor."

Ember took Justine's words in with a creeping dread. Why would the Akashic Tree give Justine a quest to save her. no, that wasn't right. She said that the quest told her to look around. "There's nothing to say the quest as about me."

"What else could it have been about," Justine said. "There weren't any other unconscious people around."

Ember knew she was right.

"There was just one strange thing about it."

"Strange?"

Justine nodded. "Why did the quest tell me to look around? Should it have told me to rescue you or something of the sort? I had no idea what the stakes were and with how vague the quest was, I could've just ignored it."

That was a good point, but Ember had no idea why the quest had been so vague. Besides something else grabbed her interest.

"Is this your first time getting a quest from the Akashic Tree?"

"Yeah," Justine said with a nod. "I didn't even know the Akashic Tree gave out quests. Have you had one before?"

Ember shook her head. "No, but you're the second person who said they received one." The first she even heard of quests was when Patricia gained one. Perhaps this was tied to Patricia? She had the Oracle ability which the priest saw as a big deal based on how they treated her.

"Did the quest say anything else?" Ember asked.

"It sure did," Justine said with a grin. "It said I would be rewarded with a new path, so here I am. And I think that answers your question of why I'm here."

Ember stared. Justine stared back. It looked like things were getting a lot more complicated.