Legacy Of Altherion

After the excitement of the Reiti-kalem and the unexpected ranking match, the rest of the day in Lanexia felt rather uneventful.

The results identifying the third property in Logan's blood would only be ready by morning, as such, the Gremzors and Logan decided to unwind for the rest of the day. They headed for the Gremzor residence, located on top of a hill near the edge of the city.

The modest appearance of their home surprised Logan, it had similar imaginative architecture like the rest of Lanexia, but it had a more subtle feel to it.

Upon reaching the third floor where he would be sleeping, Logan’s eyes were immediately drawn towards the balcony. The pink and purple hue of the setting sun felt highly irregular, but oddly alluring, at least that's what Logan thought.

He headed towards the balcony with great anticipation, fortunately his anticipation would be betrayed by a sight even more breathtaking than he could have ever imagined.

The Gremzor's balcony overlooked a vast and wondrous valley outside of the city. An expansive and winding river flowed through its centre, surrounded by numerous hills and unusual vegetation not seen on Earth.

"What do you think?" Nathan said, startling him.

"It's beautiful, the sunset and landscape is majestic.” Logan said.

Nathan laughed. "Majestic huh?"

"Yeah, yeah…Nyelekai."

Nathan sighed. "It feels strange hearing you call me that.”

Logan raised his brow. "It does?"

"Yes, you're the first non-Althe…the first Earth native to call me by my Altherian name.”

"Is that so?"

Nathan nodded. "Despite appearances, we don't allow many off-world visitors to Altherion, thus my native name has never been introduced before.”

"So what should I call you?"

Nathan shrugged "Whichever you're comfortable with.”

"I'll stick with Nathan then."

“Sure.” Nathan said. "How are you holding up?"

"Well, lineage discoveries aside, being in a foreign world is not that bad.”

Nathan grinned. "Everything is strange right?"

"Understatement for the year."

Nathan chuckled. “You will become accustomed in due time.”

“Sure, Mr Alum-Magna."

Nathan grinned. "It looks like I'll have to become accustomed to a few things myself."

Logan shrugged. "Anyway, I'm adjusting slowly, but I'm all right."

"I'm glad to hear it.”

Logan paused for a moment then turned to him.

"How is Johal doing?"

Nathan sighed. "He'll be all right, his recovery is steady."

"That's a relief, I'm glad that he's recovering, those injuries looked severe."

Nathan placed his hand on Logan's shoulder. "I'm starving, I'll go and prepare supper, you stay here and enjoy this majestic view."

Logan grinned sheepishly and continued to gaze over the valley.

Later that evening, in the middle of the night. Logan got out of bed unable to fall asleep. He walked towards the balcony to get some fresh air and was surprised to see that he was not the only one with that idea.

Mr Gremzor leaned over the rail and stared at the valley beyond the wall. The unusually large moon illuminated the landscape so vividly, one could mistake it for an artificial light source floating in the sky.

"Unable to sleep?" Mr Gremzor said still looking over the valley.

Logan paused for a moment wondering how he detected his presence, he could have sworn that his movements were silent. He then realised that it was a ridiculous thought, especially since he was questioning the ability of a highly skilled Malenta.

"Yeah." he said.

"As am I." Mr Gremzor said.

Logan walked towards the balcony and stood beside him.

"Wow!"

"It is a remarkable sight is it not?"

Logan nodded. "It's huge, probably twice the size of Earth's moon. I can see everything so clearly.”

"More or less."

"So, what seems to be troubling you?" Mr Gremzor said turning to him. "I can imagine, there must be many things on your mind."

Logan sighed. "I've been thinking about the ranking match quite a bit, I still can't believe how one sided it was. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that Nathan beat that bully, it's just…" he said then paused.

Mr Gremzor raised his brow. "Yes?"

"Alixus is powerful in his own right, yet he was no match for Nathan. Whereas in our fight, even though I wasn't in control, we exchanged blows fairly evenly...for the most part.”

Mr Gremzor smiled. "I understand, you wish to know how powerful you are compared to Alixus.”

Logan opened his mouth to protest, but then nodded.

Mr Gremzor placed his hand on Logan’s shoulder. "There are a multitude of reasons why your fight with Nathan went the way it did. What I can say for certain is that Alixus would never be able to break Nathan's seal.”

Logan furrowed his brows. "What do you mean by breaking his seal?"

"That is correct, I have not explained that to you." Mr Gremzor said. "Let me provide you with some exposition first...”

“Hundreds of Millenia ago, Altherians developed the method to travel across different realms. The concept was not developed out of necessity, but rather, the curiosity of one man, Vagus Filch. Vagus was the pioneer of many Altherian concepts and procedures that were unfathomable to his peers and predecessors.

At first, traveling off-world was purely explorative, however, it was only a matter of time before those on the expedition discovered various minerals and other resources that could be of great value in Altherion. As a result, the Supreme Order of Nava permitted many mining and harvesting expeditions going forward.

Often times, the worlds they visited were uninhabited, but conversely, there were also many worlds where intelligent life thrived. In some cases, the natives of those worlds were of similar or equal strength to that of their Altherian visitors, as such, conflict over land and precious resources ensued. More often than not, wars were waged by the natives of those worlds, and surprisingly, the same held true for natives that were powerless in comparison to the Altherians.

After countless battles and casualties on all sides, the Nava decreed off- world travel to be prohibited, they vowed to preserve Altherian lives at all cost, even if it meant losing their supply of valuable off-world resources.

The decree endured for centuries, however, one day they relented. It is unclear what triggered the Nava to lift the ban, regardless, they once again permitted off-world travel, but under one strict condition. All Altherians traveling off-world would have their abilities temporarily sealed.

The Lumus Elders developed an immensely powerful seal made up of concentrated light and dark Eleon, the highly condensed orb would be placed into the brain and insolate the central nervous system, suppressing the Altherian's abilities.

They hoped that it would prevent unnecessary bloodshed on all sides, and potentially promote peace, as future conflicts may be resolved through diplomacy instead of violence.

Naturally the Nava implemented safeguards to protect Altherian lives, the seal could only be broken under two strict conditions.

The first is through the express permission by the Supreme Order of Nava, in which case, a Lumus Elder or a highly skilled High Councilman would remove the seal. The second is through extreme physical trauma, if the Altherian is attacked by a being of equal or greater strength, the initial impact on the central nervous system would break the seal.

As you may now understand, breaking Nathan's seal, is no small feat. You are quite powerful yourself, you simply need to take control of that power." Mr Gremzor said.

Logan stared wide eyed not knowing how to respond.

Mr Gremzor smiled. “However, I would be remiss if I did not clarify one important point. Your power is unrefined thus it can only reach Nathan at his base level... for now.”

“What does that mean?”

“Remember the energy used by Malenta?”

“It’s called Primah right?”

Mr Gremzor nodded. “In your fight, as well as the ranking match, Nathan did not harness it.”

Mr Gremzor chuckled at Logan’s confused expression.

"Let us get some rest, we have an early morning ahead of us.”

Logan nodded after a brief pause.

Logan and Nathan sat in a cold white room waiting for Mr Gremzor and Dormain to arrive with Logan's test results.

"What if it says that I'm a monster?" Logan said.

Nathan grinned. "We have excellent monster tamers in Lanexia, I'm sure that we can train you to relieve yourself in the garden instead of the carpet.”

Logan narrowed his eyes.

"Relax, you'll be fine." Nathan said with a chuckle.

He tapped Logan’s chest with his fist. "We'll get through this together, regardless of what the results are."

Logan nodded.

At that moment, Mr Gremzor and Dormain entered the room. Dormain walked towards the large display screen, removed a vial filled with blue liquid from his coat pocket, and placed it on the table.

"I must say Logan, your case is a fascinating one, I have not been this intrigued in a long time." he said.

"As you may recall there were three distinct properties in the sample that I retrieved yesterday." he said, pointing to figures on the display screen.

"We established your Altherian lineage although smaller in comparison, it's presence is quite significant, the largest component of your genetic makeup indicates that you are related to an ancient and presumed extinct race known as Reapers. Aptly named they brought death and destruction wherever they went…" he rambled then cleared his throat after noticing Mr Gremzor and Nathan's stern expressions.

"The third property appears to be biological in nature, an engineered biological agent to be exact."

"In other words, it is a virus." Mr Gremzor said.

"Indeed it is.”

"It is quite fascinating, scientifically speaking of course. I cannot say when or how the virus was introduced, however, it seems that it was designed to target the rage and aggression centres in the Brain, triggering those impulses to intensify and become more frequent.” he said, glancing at Logan.

"I would need to conduct further tests to confirm, however, I suspect that eventually these impulses will take over permanently, and you would lose all control."

The colour drained from Logan’s face, the images of his fight with Nathan flashed in his mind.

"Can we stop that from happening?" he said.

"I developed a serum that I believe will help. It is highly experimental, thus it may take a few trials, but we will cure you." Dormain said, picking up the blue vial.

"Will I…be normal after these trials?"

"Well genetically speaking, your ancestors were known for their rage and aggression, that is what made them so formidable." Dormain said.

"We will teach you how to overcome and control those urges, you have Altherian blood in your veins too, do not forget that." Mr Gremzor said.

He called Dormain aside. "Have you disclosed the results to the Supreme Order yet?" he whispered.

"Not as yet, I am scheduled to report in later today.”

"Good. Listen, I need you to delay your full report for a day or two."

"What? Why would I do that? I am under strict orders to report my findings!”

"I need some time to prove his innocence, he is a good man, you know what the Order would do given those results.”

"What if he is guilty?"

"I do not believe that he is, please Dormain!"

Dormain sighed. "Fine, I will grant you one day, but no more!”

"Thank you, old friend.”

"You best make haste, I will commence the trials at once" Dormain said.