Hadrian's consciousness descended into Baruch.

On a long trestle table, they dined on boar, lemon cake, wine and bread.

The sun shone on them. They were on a balcony, on one of the towers of the Baron's keep.

"Baruch,"

Startled, Baruch looked to the right end of the table where the young man sat.

"It's been a while since your last bite." The young man said, "Boar meat isn't to your liking?"

Baruch shook his head with a nervous chuckle. "No, it's good…. Sir."

"I told you to call me by my name." The young man corrected him.

With his right hand now reaching for a piece of meat, Baruch nodded, "Yes, the boar is quite good…. Jasmine."

A rather feminine name, he'd thought when he'd heard it.

On other seats of the table were the identical twins together with Shey, Ja, and six other mages of the three paths.

"Eat," Jasmine said, "If you prove yourself, a great responsibility will be on your shoulders."

"When are we leaving?" Emil asked as she cut a piece of the lemon cake.

Having been with Jasmine longer, they were more comfortable with him than the others.

A rank five mage.

In his seat in the dull white space, Hadrian thought.

A rank five object had caused all that trouble, I can't imagine what a mage would be capable of.

He'd also learnt the paths of the two girls, Emil soul, and Aelia mind. The others too.

All in one place, and I can't do anything.

"After I make sure no one's left behind." Jasmine said, answering Emil. "The sorcerer and her little friends should be done soon."

Taking a sip of his red wine, he licked his lips and glanced at Baruch.

"You're still afraid." He said in a soothing voice. "Repeating the ritual? Or that thing?"

Eh!

Hadrian protested.

When recounting about Hadrian, Baruch had told them what had happened during his oath swearing ritual, and he was scheduled to take it again. He could only remember the pain.

Was he afraid? Yes, he would say. That existence had gone completely silent since he'd last taken control of Baruch, and somehow this filled his heart with more worry than relief.

After that chaos during the ceremony, and when he was freed from that existence's control, he'd thought it best to admit everything.

Now, looking back, he wasn't quite sure.

I acted out of emotion.

No, it should be expected!

Covering his chewing mouth, Baruch turned to Jasmine.

"No," he said.

"Oh," Jasmine placed his now empty cup back on the table with a definitive thud. "In any case, you should start preparing yourselves, even before we leave."

Straightening his shirt, Jasmine tapped his belly, "Well, I'm full. Thank you for the company." Saying this, he flickered and vanished from his seat.

Another space path mage.

Seeing Jasmine disappear, Hadrian let out a sigh.

He wasn't surprised, in the books he'd stolen, the common paths of magic around these parts were the Space, force and elemental.

Preparations….

Hadrian's eyebrows rose.

There had been talks about it from what he could see in Baruch's memories, something about being contenders for the sake of humanity.

Dramatic words, but it doesn't matter. I intend to turn them into my vessels first.

Concerning this, other than wanting to do it because of the uniqueness of the three paths, it was something his heart was yearning to do.

Hehe, perhaps Jasmine is right, perhaps I am a "thing"

Why fight the urge though? To have the ability to simultaneously use the abilities of the three paths, was an opportunity not to be missed.

Clearly, if I didn't need to, I wouldn't.

Why turn all of them instead of one from each path? Hadrian imagined because they were unique, if they died, he would lose their cores and respective abilities.

"Your father's the Viscount?" Shey asked the girls who looked to be as old as her.

"Yes," Emil said, still focused on the lemon cake, which the others seemed to ignore, her knife clicking on the table.

"And he let you "participate" in this?" Ja asked.

"It's a great opportunity." Aelia cut in, not looking at the rest.

"You know something?" Shey asked.

Aelia shrugged her left shoulder. "A little, perhaps. But Jasmine advised against sharing yet."

"You've been with him long, is he always like this?"

Emil blew her right cheek and her eyes looked up in thought. "Yeah," she said with a carefree shrug.

Ja shook his head. "A month ago, my only encounter with mages was hearing how arrogant they were. Now, here I am, dining and eating cake with a rank five mage, that doesn't quite seem like a rank five."

With the conversation dissolving into chatter about where they had been and some of their experiences, Baruch stood up from his seat.

Being the oldest there, and not having any pleasant stories to tell such kids, he left.

Walking in the hallways, Baruch was deep in thought, his eyes on the floor most of the way.

Entering the small chamber provided for him, he took off the armor he'd worn, until he was left with only a sand coloured shirt and trousers.

He threw himself on the bed with a heavy sigh and closed his eyes.

Please…. Forgive me.

He prayed in the silence of his heart.

Hehe.

On his seat in the dull white space, Hadrian couldn't help but chuckle.

Tapping his finger on the round table, his eyes narrowed.

With a thought, the incomplete hall and round table deformed into mist, and he sunk out of the space.

I don't have too much time.

Back in the forest, Hadrian thought.

On a large branch of one of the enormous trees, rock layers vanished as Hadrian "carried" them away.

If only I could use the box.

He could only be as fast as these parts allowed. Some of the inhabitants were rank three and four, he needed to be careful.

With the nature of his authority, though, he wasn't particularly afraid of them.

Still sitting with his legs crossed on the large branch, he heard loud flapping noises.

A large flying creature he'd tracked till he located its nest.

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