Dice
The will to resist completely left him as he recalled what had happened and he looked up at me with pure and dead eyes. Like he had resigned himself to death and was simply waiting for it to arrive.
Seeing such a look on such a young child was so unfitting that I almost subconsciously lowered the pressure I had put over him and let him get to his feet, hoping that now he understood where he was and more importantly why he was here.
Sora dusted himself off and then bowed again, this time with much less vigor than previously but with just as much sincerity. His eyes were dull even as he cleared his throat and announced in a dead voice,
“I, Sora sincerely give you my thanks.”
“ It is good that you are finally aware of your situation. I thought I’d have to beat you to sense if you didn't.”
At the threat, a flame seemed to burn in his eyes and the tips of his hair began to smolder, A trait unique to the royalty of the Rekka but it quickly stopped and he lowered his head once again.
For a Rekka royalty to calm down so quickly meant that he was used to lowering his head and suppressing his emotions. In such a case it was no wonder he hadn’t been able to cultivate his flames to a level he would have been valued by the wretched emperor.
For the Rekka one had to be completely at the mercy of their emotions and be willing to be impulsive and reckless. To give in to even the slightest whims. If he had never had the opportunity to do so then it made sense why his flame was so weak despite having used it not so long ago.
A naturally even temper and a rational mind was a terrible flaw for a Rekka... But an unbelievable advantage for an Eira.
I turned around and began to walk, knowing he would follow me.
We walked out into the cold and walked through the snow packed ground in nothing but relatively thin clothing and silk shoes.
I expected him to begin complaining, after all the region of the Rekka was notoriously hot and sunny but he stayed quiet and followed my steps as closely as he could.
Sora continued to follow me silently until we finally reached our destination. A small waterfall that had small chunks of ice flowing through.
“ Dice.”
He said my name quietly and stopped by the shore with a sad but resigned expression on his face that gave me the uncharacteristic urge to hit him.
“ Because my life now belongs to you I suppose it is your right to take it away”
I considered just pushing him in without explaining properly but the shock might have caused some negative repercussions so I resisted the urge.
“ As tragic as your previous life was it doesn't change the fact that you’ve been born and raised as a Rekka. If you start training in the way of the Eira the way you are now, you'll die. The first step is to acclimatize to the cold.”
The wind blew especially strongly at that moment and he wavered with it, showing how delicate he already was. Another thing going against him as a Rekka was his naturally willowy figure, a sharp contrast to the large and muscular physiques found in both the male and female of the Rekka.
Under my instructions, he shed his robes until he was only clad in the thin leggings and sat underneath the harsh pressure of the waterfall.
He winced and gritted his teeth under the frigid cold impact but said nothing and continued to meditate, seemingly determined to get through it through willpower alone.
However his upbringing showed through at this moment and he unconsciously began to use his fire to combat the cold, resulting in the clashing of two strong and opposing forces.
Having sensed this I quickly dived into the river and dragged him out of it and onto the banks of the river. I quickly removed the little water and wind attributes he had managed to gather, leaving only the fire and earth ones he had saved from before.
The little idiot had actually started to gather the attributes before confirming that the old ones were gone. For a rookie like him, even just having one attribute inside the energy bank was a struggle, how could he try to hold four at once?
have fractured and he would have died.
“ Stop trying to fight it! What's the point of trying to wash out your fire if you keep re-kindling it? And are you so confident in yourself that you would try to host all four types of elements? What's wrong with you?”
He sheepishly looked at me and began to apologize, however, his eyes finally glittered with emotion and he looked at me with the soft and adoring eyes of a victim to his savior.
“ Thank you dice”
He was really making me unwilling to keep subjecting him to such training however, there was no other choice. I hardened my heart and pointed back to the waterfall once he was fully awakened.
“ Do not lose consciousness and try again. We’re going to stay here until you achieve your first breakthrough.”
Hopefully, under the barrage of the ice and water pressure, he would soon lose the stink and influence of fire and be ready to begin learning the ways of the Eira. but I would have to be careful.
Such an over-ambitious child would only harm themselves if they were not watched carefully.