Legacy of the Dark Sage

Without giving Kyran a chance to speak, Stella went on.

"I want to tell you a story," she started. "It was a story about four friends...."

Kyran did not attempt to interrupt Stella, realizing that what she was about to tell him was the story about the four people he was most interested in.

Stella went on to tell Kyran the story between herself, Caelan, Layla, and Zane.

As Kyran already knew thanks to True Void's unexpected slip of the tongue, Caelan was ostracized by his family because he did not possess any magic. He was also treated unfairly because his father never married his mother. Nevertheless, he grew up in his father's family because he was the first 'male' of the first son who could carry the family name.

It was a strange practice of the Ashtons where the first male of the first son had to marry outside of the family to spread their influence. No matter the circumstances of the first male. It was for this reason that Caelan was betrothed against his will to the eldest daughter of the Tower Family— who at that time had gathered enough military strength and influence.

One would think that being betrothed to someone who did not possess any magic, the Tower Family's eldest daughter— Stella, would be against it. However, they were somewhat surprised that she accepted the news pretty well.

The reason was definitely not because she was smitten by Caelan. It was more with Stella's nature and the fact that she already knew about him by then and even considered him as a close friend.

Being ostracized by his family did not prevent Caelan to find people he could call real friends.

Caelan met them during a gathering. At that time, he was bullied by his cousins and was saved by Zane. After that, the two became best friends.

Zane was already good friends with Layla and Stella because their families were business partners. Layla was also betrothed to him not because he liked her, but to strengthen the bond between the Regis and the Winfrey Families.

The Regis Family was only an average family at that time, but they were known for their powerful physique— a feat that mages lack.

The Winfrey Family coveted their physique but also did not want to be overly tied with them, thus, they betrothed the youngest Winfrey daughter who had a weak body constitution.

In any case, the four became friends with Zane at the lead.

During that time, the Human plane had yet to experience any war, and most people were busy with expanding their territories or establishing connections.

However, when Caelan turned thirteen, the first invasion finally happened and in a short span of time— a little over two years, the number of mages who had the ability to fend for the humans was greatly reduced. Ultimately, they started to enlist mages who had only graduated from school. There were even people who had yet to graduate but were already called to the military.

Zane and Stella were one of these mages because they were pretty powerful even though they were still underage.

With the two being dispatched to different places to participate in war, Caelan and Layla, who were both considered 'weak' because one was an ordinary human, while the other was always sick— were left to wait for them.

Soon, the two became close. One could say they were somewhat of a kindred spirit because both had a 'weak' constitution.

However, Caelan soon began to notice something strange about Layla. He once told Stella and Zane about it but never really elaborated on why he thought so.

Soon, the war escalated and even average humans were drafted into service. Nevertheless, these people did not participate in the war itself but provided assistance by infiltrating enemy camps, assisting in intel gathering, or doing magic research.

Caelan joined the latter and focused on deciphering the enemy's language.

But during his research, he discovered something that he did not tell Stella or Zane. It was also connected to the strange behavior he noticed in Layla.

Finally, Caelan managed to decipher the language of the invaders and discovered a way to 'stop' the war.

Up to this point in Stella's story, Kyran had already guessed most of it. It coincides with what Zephyr had said, True Void's offhanded remarks, and some information he found in the Shaiha temple.

Stella continued relaying the story by saying that Caelan became an ambassador of some sort between the humans and the invaders.

​ Finally, Stella confirmed Kyran's guess about who these invaders were.

They were White Lily's people, the Spirits who had just lost their plane to the ongoing Sovereign War.

As Caelan interacted with the Spirits, he discovered that the invaders consisted of three factions. He tried to explain this to the humans leading the war against the invaders, but no one believed him. Part of the reason no one believed him was the fact that he was known as the 'illegitimate' heir, as well as the fact that he did not possess any magic.

At that time, Zane already commanded a platoon. He was considered the youngest commander then, and when he heard Caelan's discovery, he believed him and did his own research by going to the places Caelan had mentioned to capture a few of the invaders.

Stella also did the same. Although she did not command a platoon, she was assigned to logistics, making it easier for her to move around different human strongholds all over the continent.

After a few years, they finally proved Caelan's discovery by presenting two different races who possessed different magic laws from the Spirits.

But by the time Zane and Stella succeeded in proving Caelan's discovery— unbeknownst to them— the latter was already in the middle of a 'transformation.'

The transformation actually started the moment Caelan interacted with White Lily and the Spirits. Because, unlike humans, White Lily and the Spirits were far more sensitive to magic energies and they explained to Caelan that it was not that he did not possess any magic, but that it was too potent he was practically 'sending' the magic energies in his surroundings into the void.

At this point in Stella's story, Kyran noticed something amiss. He remembered Zane received the Draconic core from the Dragon King, thus, making Zane not a naturally born mage with Draconic magic. This meant that Zane's innate magic was different. As to what it was, he had yet to ask Stella.

Apart from this, Stella never mentioned possessing an innate Time magic.

Kyran had an inkling that like Zane, Stella likely inherited the Time core from someone else. Just like how it was implied that Layla also received the Soul core from someone else.

Then what about Caelan? Who did he receive the Void core from? Because so far, from the way Stella was relaying her story, it appeared that Caelan did not receive it from anyone but had it right from the start. He only failed to understand how to access it because of the Void's nature.

As much as Kyran wanted to ask Stella about this, he had a feeling she would not be able to tell him. Caelan had kept far too many secrets even to the people he considered 'friends.'

Going back to Stella's story, she then explained how Caelan disappeared for a couple of years, and when he returned, he was already a different person— at least, that was how it seemed to them.

But the truth, Stella knew Caelan remained the same. The only change that happened was he now possessed a strange magic that even the other invaders seemed to fear.

In any case, when Caelan returned, one of the invaders, White Lily, and her people, suddenly disappeared. At that time, Stella and Zane did not know why they had disappeared, but eventually, they would know that it was because Caelan created a new 'world' for them to live in. Thus, it was no longer necessary for them to stay in the Human plane.

Or to be precise, the Spirits' new world existed in the Human plane but was not physically in the same 'line.'

After White Lily and her people left, Caelan went to 'negotiate' with the second race trying to invade the Human plane.

However, negotiating with the second race was somewhat hard, because they did not possess any 'body.'

The moment Stella said this, Kyran immediately recalled the Remnant Souls hiding in the Misty Forest.

All this time, Kyran had thought those Remnant Souls were humans who had died during the Chaos Era and then the Soul Emperor forcefully summoned their souls to use for her undying army.

Just as Kyran was planning to interrupt Stella's story to ask about it, he remembered the bluish-green sea serpent who became the soul of Tritus's trident.

Could it be that the second race was actually Remnant Souls from another plane that the Soul Emperor forcefully took to the Human plane?