The air in the living room was thick with the scent of herbal tea and baked bread, a comfortable warmth that spoke of shared ti.
When Sokram finally stepped inside, he saw Savannah, Lucy, and Astrid huddled together on the couch, their heads bent in deep conversation, their expressions animated and unguarded.
Amber, who had been living there for quite a while now, was reading one of the books Sokram had written from the compiled knowledge he got from the Arch Mage’s Tower.
Despite the late hours, the girls were in no rush to leave as Sokram's family now trusted them fully.
So much so that Savannah and Lucy had been sharing his bed lately, as he rarely used it.
“So, did you manage to get enough moonstones?” Sokram stepped into the room, interrupting their girl talk.
“Only because of your fa with the owner of the Magic Supply Shop, haha,” Savannah replied, handing back the ring with the moonstone already crafted into runestones.
Seeing his surprised expression, Savannah grinned proudly, “Are you proud of , Master?”
Seeing her cheeks flush slightly and that mischievous glint in her eyes made Sokram’s heart skip a beat.
Lucy didn’t miss it, teasing him, “I guess his heart is more than just proud, hm?”
“I see the two of you joined my sister’s team when it cos to teasing . But yes, I’m happy you mastered this level of runecraft, little Savy.” Sokram patted her head as he used to do with his closest female disciples.
Savannah didn't flinch.
Instead, she leaned into the familiar weight of his hand on her head, her body relaxing into the touch like a cat settling into a patch of sun.
When he withdrew his hand, the corners of her mouth tightened, a flicker of disappointnt crossing her eyes before she could hide it.
He then asked her, “What do you an by my fa with the shop owner?”
Savannah smirked, stifling a giggle.
“That woman in the magic supply shop raised the prices on the recording crystals and moonstones, but after I told her it was for you, the woman gave a big, huge discount after I promised to convince you to sell those imagery display runic spells and formations to her. The sa ones you used for your trial and the traitors' trial.”
Sokram could see that Savannah was getting used to the fa Kazzah left behind and no longer showed any reactions when people ntioned the trials.
Even going so far as to only call Kazzah and Timothy traitors.
“Well, since you already did all the work, I’ll head back to the tower…” As soon as the words left his mouth, a chorus of groans and a collective sigh of protest filled the air, cutting off the end of his sentence.
The good-natured atmosphere in the room, so warm just monts before, was now filled with cooling disappointnt.
“Co on, you have barely spent any ti with us lately.” Lucy pouted.
“Yes, I miss talking with you. And I also have many doubts about the new runes you introduced to .” Savannah tugged at his sleeve.
“ too! I need your help with so new spell formulas I’m trying. I caught a glimpse of sothing after seeing Amira casting her spells through sourcing Magi from that Chaos Core earlier today.” Amber, for the first ti in the night, closed her book.
“And you promised you would help with elental fusion.” Astrid mimicked Lucy’s pouting face.
“I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. But I am very close to learning what I need.” Sokram dismissed them with a heavy heart.
He was very close to getting what he needed to take another step forward and couldn't afford to stop now.
Before leaving, he went to look for Margiory, finding her in the backyard with Hilda and Brunhild, who were guiding the cultivation of the remaining guards from the Androny family that were stationed in Eversnow.
Once they saw him, they ca to greet him.
It was clear his family missed having him around.
But once again, he reassured them that he was using this opportunity to expedite his plans, and soon they would see what he ant.
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On that note, he asked Margiory to transform one of the buildings they acquired recently into an alchemy lab.
He would also need cages made of Dark Steel, fifty big enough to imprison goblins and fifty small enough to imprison rats.
He asked her to have so of the guards capture the goblins for him. Margiory told him she would have it ready by the ti he returned from his mission.
After handing Margiory the list of ingredients, Sokram departed without another word.
At the palace, Sokram aided Kasine, Kamus, and Lymus with their Core conversion, Lymus being just a step away from completion.
At the sa ti, the other two had barely begun.
After the guiding session, Sokram returned to the tower.
Sokram wasn’t in a rush, but in so ways, he considered himself more desperate than any of ntyr’s fanatics; his hunger for recovering his lost knowledge and power consud him more than the hunger that cursed them.
Beyond that, he was genuinely excited about the next steps of his plan.
Steps that would not only shock his family but also the rest of the world, maybe even the galaxy.
But as soon as he entered through the doors of the tower, he found Sahvus, Sienna, and Camile.
They seed to be talking about sothing before he arrived, but this ti, when he entered, they were all very polite toward him.
“We greet the Seeker Candidate.” They said in unison.
But Sokram never liked being treated with so much reverence by his elders, so he rushed to ask them, “Please, don’t act like that. Just treat like you have been treating before.”
Knowing a little about his personality by then, they all quickly agreed, and Sokram went back to reading without having any more awkward interactions.
But the hunger in their eyes, a raw, predatory glint that Sokram had only witnessed in Camile so far, was deeply unsettling.
As previously stated, every follower of the Nether shared the curse that consud the Lord they followed.
ntyr, before she found the light of Evolution in the Nether, was cursed by Nhiria with the eternal hunger for the sa knowledge and secrets she used to tornt those in the era she ruled over the world.
A world she shared with Harten and Belladona.
But even after ntyr found her light of redemption and beca the first Princess of the Nether, that hunger, although controlled, never disappeared.
That would be her eternal punishnt for all the genocides and tragedies she caused.
When Sahvus and his family decided to give themselves to ntyr, that curse also manifested in them.
Like ntyr, they hungered for what they didn’t know or couldn’t explain.
And Sokram was a true mystery to all of them.
But the fact that he was a Seeker Candidate now made him untouchable, especially because ntyr’s eyes were on him even before they t.
So, they left the young dragon alone, and Sokram remained inside the tower reading undisturbed for the rest of the day until the next one, when it was ti to go back to the palace’s training grounds.
And after finishing another guiding session, he returned to the tower, staying there until it was ti to leave for the mission.
Had it not been for Savannah coming to pick him up at the palace, he would have stayed there for even longer.
But he still managed to read for a little more than a day, or ten days inside the tower.
In those ten days of incessant reading, he read through the entire hallway on the second floor pertaining to alchemy.
He had read almost two thousand books and finally felt confident he had learned everything necessary for the next step.
Before leaving the city, Sokram took Savannah to the market despite her trying to rush him.
But seeing Sokram was after sothing specific, sothing he only found on a stall at the very end of the Main Market Street, she let him do what he needed.
The old lady who owned the stall was surprised to see Sokram picking the Purple Honeyed Berries by their sll, as most buyers would choose them by color.
She even tried advising him against the ones he picked, thinking he didn’t know what he was doing.
Yet, Sokram insisted on buying the overripe ones, so that were even close to rotting.
Savannah only observed from the sidelines; she understood he wouldn’t be doing that for no reason, but couldn’t figure out what the reason was this ti.
After picking enough fruits to feed a few families, the guilty smile on the old lady’s face betrayed her happiness at not suffering losses over the overripe and rotten fruits, as Sokram insisted on paying her the sa price the ripe and good quality ones would cost.
In the end, Sokram spent a total of 4 gold and 57 silver on almost 10 kilos of Purple Honeyed Berries.
After that, they finally left toward the South Gates.
Savannah inford him that she had picked Periklis for him and that Oliver had sent a ssage that he would be going on another expedition to find more eggs after getting a tip about the location of an Ice Phoenix’s nest.
A slow, genuine smile spread across Sokram's face as he watched them.
The scene was a symphony of motion and sound.
The quick, sharp clash of Kina and Kiana's swords as they excitedly reenacted so sword techniques.
The low hum of Amber and Amira's magic shed well with the sound of their voices in a deep discussion about so spell.
And the quiet, focused rustle of maps and whispers from the Kan, Lucy, and the twins, who discussed their route with everyone’s mounts ready and packed beside them.
Only a few months had passed since he joined the team, and they had already grown so much both ntally and in strength.
Though in terms of power, he still couldn’t count on them when things got ugly, but he knew that soon this would change, and they would surpass him until he ca of age.
The journey to the nest was a tranquil affair.
The only sounds were the soft thud of hooves on the dirt road, the rhythmic squeak of leather saddles, and the gentle whisper of the wind through the snowy grass.
The air was clean and crisp, carrying the scent of pine and damp earth, a welco change from the city's close confines.
Sokram didn’t notice any unusual movents around, nor any strange behavior from his new teammates.
The only thing that caught his attention was Amira trying to get close to Amber, while Amber was trying not to get irritated with the Sorceress for continuously disrupting her reading.
It was clear to him that Amira was trying too hard, acting in a way that was uncharacteristic of the Armfrosts, who always acted aloof and standoffish.
But once Amber was nearing the end of her patience, Savannah interfered, calling Amira to ride beside her, which left Amber to read in peace.
Kina and Kiana seed to get along very well, though. Kina, different from her late cousin, was easygoing and polite, sothing no one would expect from soone from the Silverfang family.
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