The path was not long, a couple hours at best, but for Sirius it was bringing back painful memories. We grew up here, learned magic, hunted, helped his master around, played with Seth. Manasnake was giving him some courage, tightly tied around his body. Something about its behaviour made Sirius feel like nothing had happened. However, it was not the case.

  The closer Gregor led Sirius to the hut, the more pronounced the changes were. Thick roots sprawled endlessly in all directions, bulging the earth in some places and opening pitfalls in others. Gregor carefully threaded the path, leading Sirius closer and closer to the epicentre. Seeing the boy's distress, he decided to distract him with stories of the past.

  "Sirius, did you know that Verden was a member of the clergy?"

  "What?" Sirius asked, genuinely surprised. Verden never visited the church, nor did he pray to anyone at home.

  "In Kingdom it is forbidden to practice magic if you are not in the church."

  "But why he was not a believer? I thought everyone is... Wait. But how did he learn magic then?"

  "The thing is, he wasn't born in the Kingdom, so he knew how to do magic before coming here."

  "Seriously? I never thought about that, to be honest, I just thought you were always friends."

  "Well, we knew each other for a very long time, but we met when we were adults. I was born in Rivervale, and we was a child of druids."

  "Who are they? Are they the barbarians to the east, Melissa was talking bout?" Sirius asked.

  "Oh, he didn't tell you. Figures, they exiled him for his specialisation. Some old fart decided that healing is 'against the will of the world', huh."

  "Wow..." Sirius mused with amazement, "So, the druids don't have gods, but the world is like a deity to them?"

  "That's right. Verden invented the healing magic by studying his own body and the flow of mana. He was given a choice either to stop studying medicine, or be exiled, at least that's what he told me. Of course, he decided that other people will be more grateful and left."

  "Is it when you met him?"

  "Yes, I was stranded in the forest, my lungs filled with fluid, and I was dying alone, far from home. He found me when I lost consciousness in these areas. Back then I was a young and rather zealous man, so at first I was terrified. Then I got angry at him for being an outsider who does magic. But we talked, and I gave up the idea of selling him out to the Order."

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "What Order?"

  "Ugh..." Gregor stopped talking for a second and cursed at himself. "The Silver Order. The one that upholds the obedience and the purity of faith and magic in the Kingdom. They rule over church and help guide the King and Queen. And so, I introduced Verden to them voluntarily. A bit of back and forth ensued, but we managed to persuade that Verden is not a threat or a rogue mage."

  "Why? He wasn't going against them, right?"

  "Oh no, he did. He studied magic by himself."

  "And... That's it? Is it enough to be sentenced by Order?" Sirius became tense.

  "Not only that. Did he teach you about astral bodies?"

  "He only told that it is like a soul and mages can build their souls to become stronger, or something like that," Sirius vaguely remembered the lessons.

  "Almost. Astral body, just like your physical one, has a number of organs, and mage can condense them when their control of mana reaches a certain point."

  "Did Verden do something wrong with his Astral Body?"

  "In the church Mana Pool must be the first, it is a requirement to become a part of the clergy. Without it a regular person cannot store mana, and townsfolk needs it to participate in sermons. The ritual you witnessed today at sermon was people donating their own mana and recharging the church's reserves. The sudden flow of mana scared you, I think."

  "Yes, it did. But that night a mana was sucked from the world. It was very painful as well."

  "Poor boy," Gregor ruffled Sirius' hair, "I can not imagine what you went through. Your soul is also made of mana, so it was pulled as well by the flow."

  Sirius shuddered at the memory, "So... What did Uncle Verden do?"

  "Oh, yes, of course. Verden, just like any druid, possessed a Mind's Eye. It is an organ which heightens one's perception of mana and Astral World. That is how he studied human body and why I can't learn it, since I have no Mind's Eye."

  "And what happened after you met?"

  "We became friends, and after he condensed a Mana Pool, I introduced him to the church and the village. He didn't live there because he was used to living alone, but he often visited Rivervale and cured people. Needless to say, for his help he was accepted. The Order has finally accepted him and made him a priest. They only forbade him from travelling, but he didn't want to either way."

  By this time they have finally arrived to the tree. From below the view was even more terrifying. Thick trunk hanged over them, blotting out the sky, purple leaves shimmering in the last rays of light. From up close, green wood emitted dim light, as if a small suns were trapped inside translucent crystals. Being here was hard for Sirius, he felt the mana move inside these massive branches and in the roots, carrying a powerful flow of world's energy. Seth was also drawn towards the crystals. Perhaps, as a manasnake that fed of energy, he viewed this whole tree as a snack. Not that he could bite into the hard rocks, but clinging to it gave him a lot of pleasure. As for Sirius, he wasn't as scared like earlier, and it took him a moment to understand why. The entire tree emanated a familiar aura. The aura of Master Verden's spells.

  "So it was him..." whispered Sirius, falling to the knees.

  "Hmm?"

  "It is his spell... He wasn't killed by the Order... He did it himself..."

  "I knew you would notice that. I know this spell. Druids are very zealous when it comes to the World. They see living as being separated from it, and death as a way to return into the world. And this spell... They call it Final Flash, an extremely powerful spell which united him with the world. The work of his whole life. I even helped him to perfect it."