Greyson felt someone shaking his body as he slowly opened his eyes. His vision cleared and Lucius"s face appeared in front of him. He bolted up and quickly looked around himself and realized that everyone was still pa.s.sed out."Is everyone okay?" He quickly asked.
"Yeah, I checked. Everyone is fine." Lucius whispered towards him.
"I just thought I should take this chance to discuss things with you before they woke up. I"ve had to fake being a stupid kitten for so long I thought I was really devolving into an idiot."
"Why couldn"t you just reveal that you could talk then?" Greyson finally asked what had been weighing on his mind. He couldn"t understand why Lucius hadn"t been speaking, but he took the hint and played along.
"You"re ignorant and so you don"t understand. I have to admit that I might have unfairly made fun of you when you were shocked I could speak. Honestly, not many magic beasts can speak when they are as young and weak as I am. If people could see that I was this intelligent and could speak then they would realize that I am a rare and talented magic beast. They would target you and me to capture me then either sell me or enslave me. Therefore, to keep away from those kinds of issues, I have been pretending to be a normal young magic beast with no particular extra intelligence. They would just think I am a rare, but weak, species. I guess I can tell you now but my species are known as Destiny Cats and we are super rare, talented, and, once we mature, powerful. Earlier, Harrison told you that magic beasts" magic manifests as a special feature. Well my magic manifests as a third eye which can glimpse into destiny or fate. Although I cannot completely see the future, I can make predictions and usually could lead people on a lucky path. Whether the luck is for life decisions or luck in finding treasures. After learning this, humans always want us Destiny Cats and we were hunted to near extinction because my race is really proud and would rather die than be enslaved. We will not be recognized unless our third eye is used, which is why you have never seen me use it. We also all have three elements: spatial, water, and wind. I haven"t known you very long and revealing my ident.i.ty to you may be the most stupid and riskiest thing I have ever done, but I believe that you are trustworthy. Maybe because you are so young and not yet mature enough to hide yourself deeply, plus you"re ignorant and weak so what could you really do to me. That teacher mentioned contracts, right? I will allow you to form a contract with me so just know that you have hit the jackpot and you are super blessed. An equal contract, by the way, I know how much you must wish to be my slave but I would feel bad if my friend suddenly became lower than me. It will be easier this way because people in a contract can communicate mentally, so I can talk to you without revealing myself."
Greyson was speechless at the sudden overload of new information from Lucius, but he understood the gist. He felt touched that the cat trusted him after knowing him only a few months. Still confused at the sudden offer, he blanked out a bit before nodding in a.s.sent to a contract.
"How do we do this contract?"
"It"s called a shared life contract. Pretty much, if you die then I will die. If I die, then you die. It"s a pretty serious commitment. Would you be okay with that? Think carefully." Greyson understood the severity and he started to think it through. It would be really scary to just die one day without knowing why because he wasn"t the one hurt. But, Lucius is in the same position and he doesn"t mind... thinking of Lucius, Greyson suddenly remembered something Lucius had told him.
"Wait, Lucius, isn"t your lifespan as a magic beast really long? What if I die of old age, won"t you die with me?"
"Oh? I guess you have a good memory being able to think of this. Yes, well, if I am being honest I could probably live till I"m nearly 100,000 even if I continue staying an intermediate level beast and my lifespan increases as my power does. Beasts with a powerful bloodline have an extremely low birth rate so I guess we are instead blessed with extremely long lives to have as many chances as possible to reproduce. However, you are wrong if you think you will die from old age before me because the contract gives half my lifespan to you. I get the short end while you are blessed with a much longer lifespan than normal humans. However, as I mature, more and more powerful people will be able to conclude my ident.i.ty from my normal features so even if I have a long lifespan I might not be able to live as long as a normal human. As a young kitten, I look like any other cat magic beast, but more specific features will grow as I do. You are a talented and interesting human, and I think my life will be much more fulfilling traveling alongside you then always trying to hide by myself. I"m also betting on your future, because I believe you will grow powerful enough to protect me. Anyways, if you become powerful, your lifespan will also increase so I am not losing out if you work hard."
Hearing his words, Greyson had quickly made up his mind. Although it was risky, sharing his life with Lucius is not necessarily a bad thing. He would gain a long lifespan without doing anything and having this risk will continue to push him to improve his power. He can"t get lazy if there is always a chance of losing his life along with Lucius due to his special ident.i.ty.
"Alright, let"s do this!" Greyson nodded.
Lucius grinned and nodded back, "Okay! I knew I didn"t pick the wrong person. Repeat what I say, only replace my name with yours. p.r.i.c.k your hand so that blood will flow out from the palm and then I will place my own paw over your hand." Greyson nodded and quickly followed the directions. They sat across each other with the paw and hand together while their blood flowed freely.
Lucius spoke out first, "I, Lucius, agree to form a pact with Greyson. His life will be mine and my life will be his. We shall share life and death from now until our pa.s.sing." Their blood began to glow and formed patterns around their body.
"I, Greyson, agree to form a pact with Lucius. His life will be mine and my life will be his. We shall share life and death from now until our pa.s.sing." After he finished his oath, Greyson felt his wrist burn until a red rope tattoo was branded into his skin. It looked like a bracelet and the same sign could be seen around Lucius"s front leg.
"This is the sign of our pact, it also can show the state of the other person. If your red rope starts to fade, it means I am wounded. The more faded it becomes, the closer to death I am." Lucius"s voice suddenly rang out inside Greyson"s head.
"Ohhhh so this is how we can talk? If I want to talk to you my thoughts will get transferred over?" Greyson looked over at Lucius.
The cat rolled his eyes, "Yes, this is how it"s done. Now if you"re done overreacting, why don"t you wake up your friends."
...
Claude and Harrison were soon woken up. Once they opened their eyes, the both shot up looking around ready to burst into action. Seeing they were safely on the ground, they suddenly looked over to the calm child and cat.
"We"re okay?" Claude suddenly asked in confusion.
Harrison nodded while also asking, "who saved us?"
Greyson scratched his head shyly while shooting a look at Lucius, "should I tell them about my 7 elements?"
"Yeah, go ahead. It is a little dangerous if people know about your talent, however, as long as you are cautious, there is nothing wrong with letting people know that they should treasure you. There are always sinister people who like to kill people who are more talented than them from jealousy or fear, and the best way to protect yourself is to also allow other powerful people to protect you. Kingdoms always need new talent to help protect their rule. It"s better to have the best resources given to you. Why take the hard route of always hiding yourself?"
Greyson nodded inwardly before looking at them, "actually I was the one who saved you."
Harrison and Claude both looked to him in shock, "you did? How did you protect us from falling?"
"Actually, I haven"t told either of you, but I am a multi-element magician. I can use 7 and wind is one of them. I saved us by having the wind cus.h.i.+on our fall."
"Wind, huh. Wait... SEVEN?!" Claude nodded before he suddenly realized the key word in Greyson"s confession. Harrison also looked at him in disbelief.
Greyson nodded, "I can"t really prove it because I don"t know how to control all of them, though."
Harrison waved his hand, "it can easily be proven when we get to the academy. They have a element tester that allows for hidden talent to be revealed. Sometimes children don"t know they can use another element in the beginning, so they are tested to see what elements they have affinity towards. If you are telling the truth, this is amazing news! Greyson, even the princ.i.p.al himself might decide to teach you! What an honor! You would definitely be able to improve leaps and bounds with a powerful teacher."
"Wow, you"re so awesome, Greyson! But, hey... your eyes... weren"t they blue? I just realized now that they are green."
"Hm? My eyes? They aren"t blue?" Greyson looked confused as he didn"t understand. His eyes had always been blue since birth.
"Oh, you"re right, Claude. Greyson, your eyes are like an emerald green now. How strange... Could it be since you used wind magic? The first magic you used was water whose element is blue and you just used wind magic whose element is green. I"ve never heard of multi-element people having their eyes change colors, but maybe it"s because you have so many. It could just be a special case, I guess." Harrison a.n.a.lyzed. Claude and Greyson agreed with his thoughts and also did not think more about it since his eyes changing color does not cause any harm.
"Well, no matter, thanks for saving us Greyson. We should all take this moment to meditate and rest before heading on our way again to the academy. We are about a 2 days ride away now."
Greyson and Claude complied with his advice and sat down to meditate, while waiting for Harrison to recover so he could summon out Argus.