CAIUS: Crown of Threads and Shadows

The strange beast core rested on a flat stone beside the fire. Sereth had spent most of the afternoon studying it.

Even after being removed from the creature, the core continued to pulse with a dark violet light. Each pulse sent a faint pressure through the air around it. The energy was dense, but there was something else mixed within it that Sereth could not ignore.

It felt poisonous: not a physical poison, but something within the mana itself, a foreign quality that seemed to cling to everything around it.

Sereth held the core between two fingers and turned it slowly beneath the firelight. He had seen countless beast cores during his years as a scout and knew that every core carried traces of its former owner. Most could be absorbed after proper preparation, but powerful beasts often left behind stronger residual impressions.

This core was different. The creature had lived deep within the Abyss, in a place where even the orcs rarely ventured, and Sereth could feel something unnatural within the energy.

He lowered the core, his eyes shifting toward Caius.

The boy was sitting beside the fire, preparing their evening meal. The ram meat had been cut into strips and hung above the smoke to preserve it, while several pieces were slowly grilling over the flames.

Caius had become quieter since Castle Precipice. He still trained without complaint, followed Sereth’s instructions, and asked questions when something was unclear, but the grief had not left him. Neither had the anger.

Sereth knew what drove the boy: revenge. The warlord who had killed Cullum was still alive, and the kingdom that had abandoned Castle Precipice had never answered for its failure. Yet Caius was far too weak to confront either of them.

Sereth looked down at the beast core again. There was a cultivation technique he knew, a dangerous and strictly guarded method locked away within the deepest archives of House Vel’drin.

Locked inside the clan’s secret vault, the technique was still considered experimental. It remained incomplete, a technique not yet perfected by the grandmasters who devised it, though the elders of the clan had readily recognized its terrifying potential. If brought to completion, it could elevate a warrior’s foundation beyond natural limits. If it failed, it tore the practitioner apart from the inside out.

Sereth had never intended to teach it to Caius at such a young age. Circumstances, however, had changed. Cullum was dead, and Caius was all that remained of the Macrae line.

Sereth had promised to keep him alive until his sixteenth name day and teach him how to survive. Keeping that promise meant more than simply protecting him; it meant making him strong enough to survive after the promise ended.

Closing his fingers around the core, Sereth made his decision.

Caius looked over. ”Is something wrong?”

”No,” Sereth said, placing the core back onto the stone. ”Finish preparing the meat.”

Caius nodded and continued cooking.

Sereth remained silent until the meal was ready, and they ate beside the fire in silence. The meat was tough, but warm and filling, and the two sat quietly while the flames burned down around them.

When they finished, Caius began gathering the remaining meat, but Sereth stopped him. ”Leave it.”

Caius looked at him. ”What is it?”

Stolen novel; please report.

”I want to teach you something tonight.”

”What?”

Sereth reached for the strange violet core. ”This.”

Caius’s eyes settled on the object. ”The beast core?”

”Yes.”

”You said it was dangerous.”

”It is,” Sereth said, placing the core between them. ”That is why you need to understand what you are dealing with before you attempt anything. A beast core contains more than pure mana. It carries traces of the creature that created it: its instincts, its elemental nature, and remnants of its mana signature.”

Sereth tapped the dark surface. ”If you absorb a beast’s energy without refining it, those impurities enter your own pathways. They can damage your mana channels, destabilize your core, or even cause your own energy to reject itself.”

Caius frowned. ”Then why would anyone absorb one?”

”Because the energy inside can make you stronger,” Sereth said, his expression serious. ”Power always comes with a price.”

”What technique can remove the impurities?” Caius asked.

”The Calamity Forge.”

Caius repeated the name quietly. ”The Calamity Forge.”

”It is an experimental cultivation technique locked within the secret vault of my clan,” Sereth explained. ”It is not yet perfect. The high masters of House Vel’drin saw its vast potential, but because of its lethal volatile nature, it remains incomplete and forbidden to all but those who choose to risk their lives for power.”

”How does an incomplete technique work?”

”Instead of allowing the beast’s energy to mix directly with your own, you force the two energies into violent circulation and create intense friction between them,” Sereth said. ”Your personal mana is circulated at extreme speed. The friction creates what the masters call the Calamity Flame.”

Caius looked uncertain. ”And that burns away the impurities?”

”Yes,” Sereth said, pointing toward Caius’s chest. ”The beast’s residual will and foreign elemental traces are forcibly burned away, separated from the usable mana. What your body rejects is expelled as waste.”

”And what remains?”

”The purified mana can then be incorporated into your core. It reinforces the structure of the core, increases its density, and expands its capacity. The purified energy becomes part of your foundation rather than simply increasing the amount of mana you have.”

Caius considered the explanation carefully. ”And the flaw? Why is it still experimental?”

Sereth did not soften his answer. ”Because the flame is difficult to control. If you fail to maintain the precise speed of the circulation, the foreign mana will breach the containment. It can overwhelm your pathways in an instant.”

”And then?”

”You could shatter your core, or lose control of your mana completely.”

Caius’s expression hardened. ”Could I die?”

”Yes. Many before you have.”

The fire crackled between them as Caius stared at the violet core. Sereth watched him closely.

”I would not suggest an unrefined technique from the vault if I believed there was no reason to take the risk,” Sereth added.

Caius looked up. ”Why now?”

”Because you need strength,” Sereth said calmly. ”You have already formed your first mana core, but you have very little experience and your core is still young. We are heading toward the frozen wastes, where the beasts are stronger and the environment itself can kill you.”

Caius lowered his eyes. ”And you think this flawed technique will help?”

”If it does not kill you, it will transform you,” Sereth replied without hesitation. ”It could strengthen your foundation far beyond what standard training allows.”

”And if I fail?”

”You die.” The answer was blunt.

Caius fell silent, and Sereth continued. ”I will teach you the formula recorded in the vault, but I cannot guarantee the outcome. The masters could not stabilize it, and whether your body accepts the energy or succumbs to the flame is something neither of us can completely control. At that point, it will be between your will and the fates.”

Caius stared into the fire. In the embers, he saw the castle, the broken gate, and the bodies of the men who had fought beside his father. He remembered his father’s final stand beneath the warlord’s axe, and his hand slowly tightened into a fist.

”If I remain weak, I will never kill him,” Caius said.

Sereth knew exactly who he meant. ”The warlord.”

”And I will never get the answers I want from the kingdom,” Caius added quietly. ”My father deserved better.”

Sereth said nothing.

”I know the risk,” Caius said, turning his gaze back to Sereth. ”But I cannot remain the same.”

Sereth studied him for several seconds, then gave a slow nod. ”Then decide carefully.”

Caius reached toward the violet core but stopped before touching it, his hand remaining suspended above the strange dark energy. He closed his eyes, seeing his father’s face for a brief moment before recalling the promise he had made to himself: he would become stronger, he would survive, and one day, he would face the warlord who had taken his father from him.

Opening his eyes, Caius said, ”I will do it.”

Sereth’s expression remained stoic. ”Then, we begin.”

Caius looked down at the dark violet core resting between them. The Calamity Forge awaited him.