Finvir POV

  By the time we reached camp, the sun was already rising. When we got back, the other tribe members were celebrating. They strung up light jars with small magic balls of different colors, and music filled the camp. I, however, retired to the tent I had been lent and started looking over Aster.

  “Any wounds, I should know about?” I asked them, they looked at me with a surprised look before he responded “Nothing, just a bit tired. But that's it.” I nodded and gave them a pat on their shoulder before I sat down on a chair next to the bed he was resting on.

  “Do you have any other connection to this camp?” I asked them, they shook their head, I sighed “Eh I don't do anything for free so why don't you repay me by helping me”

  They nodded to me, “Okay, master.” the title slightly took me aback

  “I'm not your master, don't call me that” They nodded, and I got up and exited the tent.

  When I exited the tent, I was met by Neposh, who didn't look amused. “How dare you bring that Fuun no omamori back here!”

  I responded keeping my voice calm, “What was I supposed to do? Leave him to rot in that camp.”

  “Yes! They have brought nothing but pain and suffering to this clan! “Neposh said before he stomped off.

  I walked to the center of the camp, the party was still in full swing. The music was still going, the lights were shining and everyone was having a good time.

  I just walked back to my tent with the kid sleeping soundly on my cot “Sleep well kid” I said and sat back down on a chair, a few minutes later I was asleep

  

  Aster awoke and got out of bed. When they saw me sitting there, they asked, “Did you sleep there? Y-you could have asked me to move!”

  I looked at him and cracked my neck “Eh wouldn't be the first time I slept in a chair” I chuckled lightly “Come on, kid. They don't want us here anymore.” I lean back and hear my back pop.

  “What are we doing then?” He asked me.

  “Well, I and by extension you have a little business to take care of. “ He nodded, and we walked out of the camp, towards the capital, Shisaki.

  “So mast-uh Mr. Finvir, what is this business?” Aster asked me, still a bit nervous around me.

  “Eh, long story short, Brown and his men are holding the royal family captive to find this thing called the obelisk, so we are going there to hopefully get a large paycheck for saving them.”

  “But isn't that dangerous?” He asked me scared and I shrugged.

  “Eh, the danger is relative. If you want a good life, you sometimes have to do something risky.” I said.

  "I'm just a kid, though, I have my whole life ahead of me!" Aster responded

  I chuckled at his response "Kid, something you have to know about me is that life with me is going to be dangerous. So what are you good at?"

  "Uh I'm pretty good with my magic.." he sounded scared to mention it

  "And what is your magic?" I asked

  Aster looked nervous but seemingly out of fear, he responded "Blood."

  I stopped walking and looked at him, " Oh, I've never heard of that kind." I was going to continue but they interrupted me.

  "That's it?! What's your reaction?! You won't claim I'm the spawn of a devil or something?!"

  He was ranting so to make him stop, I put my hand over their mouth "Kid, look I don't care what magic you use or what happened to you in the past. But I don't care." I laughed at their surprised look and uncovered their mouth " Now before I was interrupted I was going to ask, Explain your magic to me." I kept walking and waited to hear his response

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  "U-uh uhh, it's an alteration type spell that allows me to manipulate my blood." they explained, " I am only able to manipulate my blood and it has to be a preexisting wound for me to use."

  I put my finger to my chin and I was going to respond before I heard something, it was a male voice. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard ' feed… void… here…' and it was then I realized we were next to a burnt-out town. Only two buildings stood, the rest were half-decayed, with moss and weeds growing on everything.

  " Finvir? Hello? You there?" Aster waved their hand in front of my face

  "U-uh huh?" I blinked out of my stupor, 'that voice. I've heard it before

  " Do you know this place, kid?" I asked

  " Uh yeah, this was the town of Tau, before brown and his men burned it down for keeping information from him." Aster responded with sadness in his voice "They were a big trading partner with us."

  I walked into town and tried to follow the voice. The kid was going to say something before we reached a large building that was still standing despite everything.

  "This place feels so cold, but it's still summer and it was mild heat before this point," Aster muttered, I looked at him

  "We're near a void rift." I started and Aster looked at me with a confused look that said something along the lines of 'That explains nothing', " a person built a shrine to Inanis in the town. When the shrine was destroyed, the runes that were engraved into the shrine became unstable and tore a hole into the void." I explained

  "You seem to know a lot about this." the kid said calmly before pulling out his notebook and yelling excitedly " Please! You have to tell me more!"

  There was a long silence before I let out a loud bellowing laugh, Aster looked at me with a confused look “Was something I said funny? I’m c-confused.”

  I cleared my throat and looked at him “No nothing was funny, was just surprised I found such an inquisitive mind.” I continued “I'll tell you all about the void, just as soon as we close the rift.”

  “Why do we need to close it?” the little scholar asked

  “Because if we don’t, it could corrupt the land making everything in a five-mile radius unable to support life” I pushed the door open and walked in, I heard Aster mutter quietly 'Let's get to it'.

  When we entered the house the temperature dropped even lower, Aster seemed to be affected the most, I think it was a mixture of him being an argoinian and because he was used to the warm seasonal weather of windshire.

  After I opened the second door, we saw it. Multiple black glass shards protruded out of the ground, in the center was a small table with a purple cloth, and the symbol of Inanis was embroidered onto it, candles with black flames littered the table and around it, and on the table itself was 2 large chunks of stone with inanis's symbol, on closer inspection they appeared to be whalebone.

  " that is what's corrupting the shrine." I started to explain to the kid "Usually those runes are just symbols but I guess when the town was burnt, the symbols were damaged as well causing the link between the void and the runes to be disrupted."

  Aster quickly started writing but his hand was shaking slightly " Mr. Finvir…" he finished writing before taking a big breath " Is i-it normal to h-hear voices?" he whispered in a scared tone

  " Uh? Oh yeah, it's normal." I stated matter-of-factly

  " Then w-why aren't you r-reacting to i-it?" they asked

  "I was marked by inanis so I already have a connection to the void, therefore I am used to the whispers of the void." I responded, "Just sit back and let me get rid of this shrine."

  I walked up to the shrine and as soon as I picked up the runes the mark on my hand started glowing.

  The world around me slowed to a stop and it all became black and white before I floated the human form of inanis " Ah Finvir my old friend, it appears you found a shrine of mine. " he said in his usual monotone voice " and with a new apprentice, I wonder if this one will end up like the last. " he walked around the time stopped Aster " oh well only time will tell, I have plenty of it after all."

  he was about to fade away before I said something "You know the rules, I or any other marked to find your runes then we get a new power."

  Inanis looked at me and chuckled " Of course, how forgetful of me." he reached towards my hand and as soon as he touched his mark, time resumed and the temperature returned to the usual warm climate of windshire.

  " What just happened?" Aster asked, "It felt like my brain went blank for a few minutes."

  I responded, "Just fixing the rift." I heard the same whisper as before ' Dark… vision..' . Must be my new power, I clenched my hand and said in my mind 'Dark vision', I saw the yellow outline of Aster and a cone in front of him supposedly his field of view. I released the spell and muttered, "Neat."

  "What did you do..? You closed your eyes for a good few seconds there." the kid asked

  "don't worry, I'll tell you later. Let's go." I walked away from the shrine and out of the town

  As we were walking Aster asked "What exactly is the void? I know it's the realm that inanis has control over and it can be very dangerous for regular people."

  I looked up at the clouds and responded "Well im not the most knowledgeable person on this subject but from what I learned, the void is a between of sorts. " I took a deep breath " So you know how every god has a realm that they preside over?" the kid nodded "Well after Inanis made his children they all took a slice of space and made it their own, Inanis took what remained and made the void.” I finished and looked back to Aster who was writing everything down in his journal “That enough for you kid?”

  Aster nodded his head “Yes sir.”

  “good, let's get going, I think there is an inn up ahead.”