Chapter 56

  Compiling Facts With Dreams

  Morning came far too quickly, as it almost always does. Like a little enthusiastic puppy, wagging its tail, excited to see you and the world. You see it, and you almost want to be mad, but can’t truly find it in your heart to be mad, that is my relationship with mornings.

  At the table are Madame Bloom, Mr. Yi, and Markan, they acknowledge me with their eyes and a crisp head nod before they go back to their eating. Fortunately, I was cognizant enough to remember to bring back Mr. Yi’s jacket to him, where I got my first word of the morning.

  “Thanks,” Mr. Yi stated, before giving the jacket a quick once over. I had of course cleared up any messes with my Trash Skill. Once he was satisfied that I had cleaned it to an even better state than he had lent it to me, he shrugged and put the jacket over the back of his chair without even looking to see if I had done anything to any of its contents.

  I hadn’t, in fact, I didn’t even know if it had anything in the pockets at all as I didn’t check, but the fact that he didn’t even check spoke volumes about his either over trusting nature, or his value he placed in me. I didn’t know which, and frankly I was too tired to fully care. Instead, I just took note of the somber atmosphere and decided to keep quiet and eat. Well, I was going to eat, but it was only a second later that I realized I was doing this morning all wrong.

  Blearily I cast my Streamline Healing* Skill that allows me to purify my body. I am still getting used to having these amazing Skills and instantly feel better after a quick application of the Skill. With my mental faculties back, I take a seat at the table and begin eating nice warm eggs, toast, and a biscuit for breakfast. The food goes down like ash, but I am just thankful for any type of sustenance at this point.

  Once we are done, we all send a silent nod to each other that we are ready. At which point apparently, we leave the dishes on the table, this feels odd as I think I should at least take the dishes somewhere and maybe rinse them a bit. Only to shake my head and use my Trash Skill to have all the dishes perfectly cleansed before making my way out the door. This way whoever comes to clean up after us will only have to remove clean plates.

  Madame Bloom caught me, however, giving me an approving nod before heading out.

  “Oh, I can smell the eggs already.” The older Bloom boy calls out.

  “No bacon?” The second Bloom boy calls out shortly behind on the heels of the first male.

  I’d learn their names, when they become important, or when they truly introduce themselves to me. But right now, I am just a bit tired.

  They see me as they come down the stairs, I can tell by the way they frantically stop their downward assault on the stairs in a second, then all seem to stare at me and my procession of Bloom household elders.

  I choose not to look at them, instead just glancing at them from the corner of my eye as I walk past them and out the front door.

  Looking at the carriage I see that we once again have the younger morning driver again. I can also see that Mr. Yi is holding open the carriage door like a proper gentleman, an unneeded gesture, but one that I do appreciate.

  Seeing him like that, I just bow my head in thanks.

  “Here,” his one crisp word is accented with both power and a hint of his nationality. I still can’t place it, mainly because I don’t think I have met too many people bearing Mr. Yi’s features, or upbringing. In his hands he has a long wooden sword that I might have assumed was a toy one would give a child in my past life. But I also remember the older stories about how people were forced to practice with wooden swords, before the real ones were allowed to be used. Seeing this object, I figured it was something similar, which in hindsight was great as I was still a bit too tired to not hurt myself with a real blade, should it come to that.

  “Thank you,” I say, while bowing first in respect then only after getting up do I reach out to grab the practice item. It is heavy, but not overly so, think the best way to describe this practice sword is that it is dense, as if the wood used had been somehow compressed multiple times to give it a harder, more durable feel.

  Not one for many words, Mr. Yi just pointed for me to get into the carriage, before I could begin swinging the practice sword around and taking up everyone’s time. Still, it felt nice to have something that I could use to protect myself with, even if it was only a token gesture.

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  Once we were in, and the door was sealed, there was still an air of silence that filled the carriage. Madame Bloom waited, her back fully erect as she looked out a window that was apparently only visible from her side of the carriage, from there she looked and seemed to wait.

  I noticed a change once we went from the smooth packed dirt road leading to the manor with gravel to the cobbled street almost instantly. Still, it wasn’t until we were about a minute away from there that Madame Bloom nodded her head. A sign that we were apparently now able to talk, which she did.

  “Know that, for any other Apprentice, we would not take your words so seriously,” Madame Bloom began.

  Hearing her words, all I could do was give a bleary-eyed stare, as I felt I was missing something in this conversation.

  “As you know, we are going to Bloom Park to check out the events you think you saw while dreaming last night. While you do not have the capacity for spirit dreaming or far viewing, you do have an exceptionally high affinity for Earth magic, something you reminded us all of last night, when you had the chance to slot the Earth Attuned Skill.” Madame Bloom began.

  As she spoke, I could see Markan and Mr. Yi both nod in agreement with the old matron. It was clear that the trio had a bit of a meeting after I was down for the count last night. That was the only way to explain this seemingly unified front this early in the morning.

  I nod, not knowing what to say in such a situation.

  “Normally after such a night as last night we would let you go with a few guided meditations or thoughts to focus on, but your words and the coincidences that we noticed last night were enough for us to take your dream seriously.” Madame Bloom noted.

  I opened my mouth to protest, that I didn’t really want to do all this, especially if it turned out to be a false alarm. Especially if that false alarm ended up costing me my Saturday morning.

  “Do not worry, we were going to investigate the park today ourselves, even without you. But you did give us a few notes to consider. First, let me be clear, we have suspected that the park and its rifts have been used by unsavory individuals for a while now.” There is a slight pause, as Madame Bloom looks visibly flustered at what she is about to reveal next.

  “I think,” she began, but soon caught herself, “we think that the attack against you, the one involving Necrotic Fire was an orchestrated attack by whomever is using those rifts for nefarious practices. We also believe you, when you say that you think you could see the monster that came through the rift. Particularly if the monster in question searched for your bloody residue and consumed it.”

  Shiver.

  At that comment, I feel a slight shiver ran down my spine, as I remember the all-consuming void and how my consciousness slowly got absorbed by the endless darkness that resided inside the monster. Perhaps seeing my discomfort or just needing to get more of her thoughts out, she continued, not waiting for a response from me.

  “We also want to note that the last time we had signs of any activity this side of the rift happened the day before we finalized the agreement to foster you. Again, we, I was not entirely honest with you at that time. But when you first joined us, I didn’t know if you could actually make a difference. But it was clear that you did. First, your reactions were enough for one of the Necrotin assassins to come for you in broad daylight, a fact that was only possible due to our own negligence as caretakers,” Madame Bloom continued, and gestured to herself, Markan and Mr. Yi as she said our.

  “From our late night discussion, we also noted an overlap in your abilities to the activity seen. You were there for two days, and then last night, two nights later is when the next sign of activity was observed.”

  Hearing her words, I pause and reach out for the lifeline that had seemingly been thrown my way.

  “It was confirmed? You already know that there was activity?” I ask.

  With that Madame Bloom paused but then shook her head. “We don’t have proof yet, well any more than your dream, but we are certain that we will find evidence of activity.”

  Taking a moment, I realized that this was sort of nice. I don’t know exactly how I earned such trust from Madame Bloom, but the fact that she trusted me this much already seemed to speak volumes about how she truly felt for me. Hearing her speak, I honestly felt moved. It was hard to trust in this world, yet Madame Bloom did so easily.

  Going over the evidence that had been laid out, it did seem odd. I went to the park for two days in a row, and there were apparently no signs of activity for the next two nights. Also, the fact that I almost got an Earth attuned Skill last night, then what could very well be an Earth type Skill attached to my own awakened Bloodline.

  “There is more,” Madame Bloom added, then as if reading my thoughts she added, “your bloodline is also famous, as there are stories of how your old house’s founders could use their blood to hold off all but the deadliest of creatures, the Death Eaters. Creatures that are exactly as you claim, having glowing green eyes highlighting a sea of darkness. Underneath dark hoods and cloaks.”

  That brings me to a question that I have had for a while now, “why exactly are they called Death Eaters?”

  “Do I need to spell it out for you?” Madame Bloom declared raising an eyebrow in mocking jest. “No, but it is a good question, and one that we might need to show you, more than anything.”

  Clomp, stomp.

  Then almost as if by magic, we came to a complete stop. I would think that Madame Bloom was some type of fortune teller, at least I would until I turned backwards and looked out the window that was clear from her vantage point, one that showed we were now on the road leading to Bloom Park. A master of the theatrics, waiting until we had already arrived to deliver such a line, truly impressive.

  Pop.

  With that the young coachmen opened up our door, letting all four of us go out and explore the still gloomy, but far less creepy Bloom Park. At least it was less creepy than it was in my dreams last night.

  As we got out, I realized Madame Bloom was taking this seriously. At least she would be taking it seriously for the driver.

  “Good job, back to the manner and come back for us after the noon bell,” Madame Bloom noted.

  Given the current time, which I placed at just before eight in the morning, and the amount of travel time, it meant that Madame Bloom intended for us to be here for a good four hours without need for a ride home.

  “Roger that,” the young driver stated, as he closed the door, unlocked the horses, and rode off quickly.

  In a matter of seconds, I swear I could see a faint blue sheen swallow the carriage before it sped off quickly into the morning light. A light that somehow seemed brighter while away from the park. Only once the carriage was little more than a silhouette on the far hill did I turn back to face Madame Bloom and the others, then she said the words she said to me when we first met.

  “Shall we?”

  This time, I realized it was more of an order, than the humble request it sounded like.

  “Yes,” I declared and like that, they let me lead the way into the park. My only real comfort was the fact that I now had a giant wooden stick that I could whack things with. A stick that even now, I was already infusing with the power of my awakened bloodline, the power of Soul Devour.

  For the first time in a long time, I truly wonder about my bloodline’s original founders, and just what exactly they did to make it so Soul Devour was a Skill available to every member of their family.

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