Chapter 26 - The Spark of Rebellion

Everyone in the crowd, including the children who had nothing to do with it, shivered in sudden terror as Rael gave the order. Tiberius, who was beside him, was clearly the one who felt it more. But he wasn't frightened in the traditional sense. He simply yanked slightly in surprise.

As was to be expected, Tiberius and Rael were the first to enter the room. Tiberius was in the room before, but he didn't pay attention to it until now. A table with a few chairs surrounding it and a hand-carved map of this world was the only object in the center. There's also a sofa in the corner, which is most likely where he sleeps.

Rael went to the opposite side of the table as soon as he walked in, placed his hands on it, and waited for the others. Tiberius, who was standing beside him, did the same.

One by one, the explorers came into the room, their faces screaming that they did not want to be here.

“Anything new?” Rael asked, turning to face Layla, who was standing beside her, as soon as they had assembled.

“Nothing interesting,” she said, putting a few newspapers on the table. “Landorn is doing the sacred day in four months, and until then, there is no festival known. And this,” she put her finger on the newspaper, “all nations are screaming your name. “Rael Dusk was the one who has been kidnapping the kids,” she imitated as if she were a TV host. “Did you have to go that far for this freak?”

“Is he really worth it that you even broke your deal with us?” Ivy mentioned, “You put kids in danger. Maria was hurt.”

“She is fine now,” Rael slowly answered.

“That does not change the fact that she was attacked.” Ivy raised her voice.

“She…” Rael paused, realizing that raising his voice would solve nothing. "She attacked Tiberius out of nowhere, and Rovshen just pushed her a little. That is all."

“I know that well. I will push him off the cliff next time I see him.”

“No killing,” Tiberius interrupted. “That was the deal, I believe.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Ivy sat down. “Your deal with him does not concern me.”

“But—”

“We won’t kill Rovshen,” Rael interrupted, “because he did not do anything wrong. It was Maria’s mistake, and nothing serious happened. I talked to both of them, and the problem was resolved. Now please focus. We need to think about our next step.”

“Next step?” Layla asked, “We find information and you take the kids. These are the only steps we need.”

“Until when?” Rael turned toward her.

“Until we die, maybe,” the man next to Tiberius, who had been sitting all along and playing with his cat, said with a happy tone, “This is what we dedicated ourselves to. Save kids as long as we are alive.”

“As long as we can,” Tyler corrected his sentence, who was reading a book that had no cover image, just a red color. He was sitting on the other side of the table, hugging his knees and talking without looking away. “We can be alive but not able to save them.”

“Whatever.”

“Where are the lovebirds?” Rael asked.

“They should arrive any moment. Carla was a bit hungry so they were picking some apples.”

“Why don’t they eat here?” Tiberius asked curiously.

“Trust me,” Ivy spoke, “you don’t want them picking apples next to kids.”

“Oh,” Tiberius smirked. Only now did he realize that they weren't just picking apples.

“Meeting without us?” Carla wore a sour expression as soon as she entered the room. Tom entered next, still fixing his shirt.

"I'm glad you could make it on time." Rael spoke. “Now, where did we leave off?”

“You said something about the next step,” Tiberius reminded.

“True. Our next steps should be different than what we have done so far, because things are getting a bit messier. You all probably have heard what happened to Tiberius and how he ended up in this world.”

Everyone looked at Tiberius, which worried him a little.

“We do.”

“Great, that means we can cut all the useless talk. Tiberius, put it on the table.” Rael said, turning toward him. Tiberius took the crystal from his pocket and placed it in the center of the table, where everyone was watching with interest.

“What is this?” Layla asked as the cat on Felix’s shoulder jumped off and started to play with the crystal.

“A year ago, we had a small conversation over a myth. The crystal that functions as a mana converter and, when combined, can grant wishes."

“You mean you found the Crystal of Fate?”

“I always had it,” he replied to Layla’s question. “I just didn’t think I needed to inform you.”

Felix immediately pulled the cat and put it on his knees, as if he wanted to protect it.

“What makes you think hiding this was a good idea?” Carla asked, “And you give it to him?”

Everyone's gaze was fixed on Tiberius as she spoke. Trying not to irritate anyone, he stared back in confusion.

"It can only be used by him."

“Only one?” Tom interfered. “Did you forget that everyone has life essence?”

“But everyone has mana; he doesn’t.” Rael explained.

“And? Why does it matter? It will give us more mana and since we are already flowing with mana, it will make us strong enough to deal with danger.”

“And potentially feed into your hunger for more power. No one can go against you so you can crash anything on your way. Is that what you wish for? To get corrupted with power?” Rael sat down. “And even if you could, you still won’t be able to use it. We have tried.”

“Tried? You gave it to kids?” Ivy raised her voice with anger.

“No, he gave it to me,” Harald entered the room. “Biologically, we can’t use it. It just doesn’t work.”

Harald walked toward Rael and sat down between him and Layla.

“You are late.” Rael turned to him.

“Being a doctor is time-consuming. Anyway, Tiberius,” Harald looked toward him, “do you feel any uneasiness in your body? A weird feeling, maybe something that shouldn’t happen.”

Tiberius shook his head. "I don't believe I have any issues. I should be completely recovered. I appreciate you asking.

"Well, I suppose we can give it a try then." Rael asked.

“Yeah, it should be safe. Tiberius, pick up the crystal.”

Hearing this, Tiberius confusedly picked up the crystal, keeping it in his hand.

“Ivy, how do your muscles work? How do you activate it? Can you explain it to Tiberius, please?”

Unable to understand why he asked, Ivy cast a questioning glance at Real. "Basically, you have to visualize your muscles getting tighter while allowing the mana to flow to them. That is what I do.”

“That is definitely not a good explanation,” Harald mentioned."After years of doing something, it becomes second nature and you lose track of the specifics. To me, it is like explaining to someone how to talk. I know, but how am I supposed to explain the process?" Ivy replied.

“That should be enough for the first try.” Rael stopped her. “Tiberius, could you try the thing she explained? Just imagine your muscles getting tighter.”

Tiberius nodded with tons of questions in his mind. But seeing no harm in it, he tried.

He first gathered mana across his entire arm, and then it slowly faded. But not in the usual manner. His arm absorbed it all.

His arm muscles became more visible over time, despite the fact that he wasn't clenching them.

Everyone was shocked as they watched him do it, because no one expected him to have that magic ability, let alone succeed on his first try.

“That is impossible,” Ivy interrupted, distracting Tiberius, causing his muscles to go back to normal form. “That is my ability. How did he end up with it?”

“Simple. We injected him with Luke’s blood.” Harald answered. “He possessed the same ability as you, so his blood actually transferred that ability to this gentleman.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Felix confidently said. “You cannot transfer a rare blood type to someone. It would kill anyone.”

"It may be true for you and your cat," Harald said, pointing to the animal on Felix's head. "But Tiberius is different. He didn’t have anything, so his body did not resist it. He doesn’t have any elemental magic or ability magic. So his body accepted it as it is. And with mana, he is able to use it—”

“Wait,” Tiberius interrupted, “You guys did an experiment on me?” He raised his voice. “And I could die?”

“Well, it was a bet. If we did not do it, you would die anyway.” Harald explained. “You had lost a lot of blood, and since you are the only human here, we had no choice but to inject you with daha blood.”

“And,” Rael interrupted, “Harald thought it would be a good idea to inject you with one that has the ability to test it. He already had a guess that I would give you the crystal, so he made a bet. And I am glad he did,” he smiled.

“But I thought you told him to not do any research on me?”

“That was after I injected the blood,” Harald giggled.

“Anything else you did while I was asleep?” Tiberius said with a sarcastic tone.

“Well, nothing in particular. Your blood is similar to ours, so don’t worry about bleeding out.” Harald said jokingly, to which Tiberius shook his head.

“Now, what do you want us to do?” Layla asked, interrupting their small chat.

“I want you guys to stay here for the next few months and help Tiberius with his training. You all have something to teach him, I believe.”

“Why would we?” Ivy asked annoyedly. She was irritated that Tiberius could benefit from her ability, which she most likely had to teach him.

“To end everything.” Rael answered.

“We are doing what we are supposed to do. We gather intel and you save kids. That is more than enough.” Layla reminded.

“It is not. I don't want to save anymore children. I do not want them to be away from their parents. I don't want to see them tortured and thrown in a pit. I want to put an end to all of this. And with Tiberius on our side, I believe we can make a difference."

"What is your plan then, genius?" Carla inquired.

"I don't have a specific attack plan, but I believe it is best to take control of nations one at a time. If we can accomplish this, we will be able to put an end to the 'Sacred Day' in various countries. If we can do it in all countries, so-called gods will have to descend and reveal themselves. And that is when we will deal with them. Rael explained.

“Rael, it doesn’t matter how strong you are; you can’t beat gods, you know that.” Layla added.

“Maybe I can’t, but together we might have a chance. But the problem is, I don’t have any idea where we should start.”

“I do,” Tiberius joined the conversation.

“I’m all ears.”

"Since the day I arrived here, one thing has always bothered me."

"What is that?"

"The actions of King Tharos. He was smirking behind gods when you made a deal with them. He then took me to his castle and asked me to demonstrate my power. And also…” He pulled a chair to sit. “...the day Yareth attacked me, he said something about me ending up here. Rovshen didn’t seem to know anything but Charles did. Probably the king had something to do with it.”

“What do you suggest then? We kill him?” Felix asked.

"No," Tiberius said, "but I want to ask him some questions."

“And you can distract him, and we can take over the castle,” Layla joined, “But the issue is, even with that, we can’t gather any information on the castle and its structure. It probably has hundreds of guards and the king is probably somewhere safe inside. Not to mention his strength. Without years of training, you can’t kill him.”

“I am not planning to kill him and I do expect him to use force when he faces the questioning. But what if I don’t go alone?”

“You wanna take one of us?” Tom asked.

“Not one of you. We need someone who can fight, who holds a grudge against the king and someone who knows the castle inside out.”

“Like who?” Rael questioned.

“Like Prince Yareth,” Tiberius answered with a smile on his face.