[What?] Zayn sounded sharper now, uneasy. [What did you see?]
Xane hesitated, then just said it. "I saw Viyron."
[Viyron? As in—the Viyron Zenaris?]
"Yeah." Xane ran a hand through his hair. "And trust me, whatever that guy was doing before we showed up? It was bad."
[Define 'bad.']
Xane sighed. "He was drawing a ritual circle."
[Okay…?]
"With his blood."
Silence. Then,
[…What!]
"I mean it. I saw him slice his palm open and start painting symbols on the ground with his blood."
[You're serious?]
"Dead serious."
[Okay, no. No way. That makes no sense.]
Xane frowned. "You sure? Because I saw it happen. It was like some cursed ritual you were talking about."
[No, dude, that's not possible. You can't use curse arts before forming a contract, and curse arts are more like magic, not some creepy ritual that requires your blood.]
"Then why the hell did I see it?"
[I—]Zayn paused as if trying to make sense of it himself. [… Tell me the rest.]
Xane leaned forward. "Alright. After drawing the symbols, he—" Xane grimaced at the memory. "He bit a chunk off his own arm."
[HE DID WHAT!?]
"You heard me."
[No-no-no, hold up. He just straight up BIT HIS ARM?!]
"Like it was a damn snack." Xane shuddered. "I saw him chewing on it and then spitting it back in the center of that ritual circle."
[I—]Zayn's voice died out for a second like his brain had short-circuited. Then he finally said, [Okay, yeah, this is bad. Like, really bad.]
"You think?"
[And you're sure this was Viyron? I mean, did you see his face? Was there anything unusual about him?]
From afar, Xane glanced at the mirror, remembering Viyron's expression, cold, determined, like what he was doing was normal. "Positive. He looked the same as in that family portrait."
[Shit.]
Xane sighed. "It gets worse."
[Oh, because of course it does.]
"The moment he finished the ritual, a portal opened up. And inside it… I saw something."
[Something?]
Xane's jaw tightened. "A picture of a guy. A 21-year-old dude."
[Oh, no.]
Xane narrowed his eyes. "Yeah?"
[Xane, if Viyron was summoning someone… and he pulled in a 21-year-old…] Zayn's voice dropped. [That was probably me.]
Xane nodded in confirmation. With Zayn's words, the pieces clicked in his mind.
Viyron wasn't just performing some random ritual; he had been summoning someone. But somewhere in the process, he messed up… and that led to his own death.
[Xane? Are you still here?]
Xane gritted his teeth, his fists clenching. "Yeah. Zayn, I feel like Viyron summoned us for his experiment, but he ended up dead himself."
[But that contradicts a lot of what I read. Did you see what happened after this?]
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Before this whole summoning, Viyron also fought with the monsters and formed a contract with that big hand statue."
[So he was there to make a contract… But why would he choose such a powerful entity?]
"Another thing, he used this card while making the contract."
[Wait, don't tell me he used 'The Chaos Key'... Shit… shit, so it was like this.]
"Chaos Key? Was this some metallic silver card?"
[Yeah, but if what you saw was real, then we're in a more terrible situation, man.]
"Oh? How so?"
[Well, something's not adding up. First, what you saw should be the last scene of the trial.]
"What kind of trial?"
[Basically, ten percent of the population is born with these curse marks on their bodies that indicate which of the ten cursed lands they belong to.]
"Hold on, the ten cursed lands are they like some areas in that world of Vareth?"
[Yeah, I don't know the entire lore since I only read half of the first volume. But in simple terms, these ten cursed lands were ancient battlefields, each filled with different Nythra energy.]
Xane remembered the status and asked, "Oh, that abyss-whatever… is one of these cursed lands?"
[The Abyss of Pandemonium—it's the cursed land of chaos, filled with chaos-type Nythra.]
"Is that some kind of elemental thing?"
[Yeah. Each of the ten cursed lands centers on one main Nythra type, plus some basic and advanced variations. The one we're part of has chaos as its key element.]
Xane rubbed his forehead. "Oh man, that's a lot to take in. So basically, Viyron is one of those kids born with a curse mark, and he got summoned to this Abyss-cursed land, right?"
[Yup. The trial happens between the ages of 16 and 18, and everyone from the same species faces the trial on the same day.]
"Okay, that explains the gathering of hundreds of people. By the way, what is this Nythra you were talking about?"
[The living world is built around Essence. Every living thing here has an essences in it. On the other hand, the cursed lands are built from the obsession of those who died in the war; this obsession formed Nythra energy.]
"Oh… so what are we?"
[Hexborn. These are the people who gave up their essence and formed a contract with an object containing pure Nythra. By the way, pure Nythra is poison for normal creatures.]
Xane raised his eyes. Now he understood why Viyron had been screaming after forming that contract. "But what do you mean by giving up essence? Did we lose this essence?"
[Nah, it's just that once Nythra enters inside you, it combines with your Soul Essence to form a unique Ethereal Hexis Core. The amount of Essence you're born with and the power of the Nythra entity you form a contract with determine the potential of your Hexis Core.]
Xane waved his hand. "Wait a minute, Viyron already had that card. It looked different, but I saw it go through some transformation."
[Yeah, it looked like Viyron used an external object for Hexis formation. It's the same, just that you transform a cursed object into your Hexis Core.]
"Oh, so Viyron must have gained that card and transformed it into his Hexis Core."
[If only it were that simple. This is where things started to make no sense.]
"Oh? Why?"
[There are two prerequisites when using an external item. First, you have to have at least gold-level essence potential. Anything below that, and you'll die.]
Xane remembered the beating he had just received from those people.
Now that he had observed the room properly, even though the room was big, there was just the bare minimum of stuff inside.
Also, his physical condition was no better than malnourished. Even in his vision, Viyron had been malnourished, so it wasn't because of this trial.
It hit him that there was more going on with Viyron. He asked, "So this Viyron has or used to have low potential?"
[I wouldn't say low, but yeah, average potential. Though he did have one of the worst Chaos-type Hexis energy.]
There was so much in that line that his head hurt just thinking about all the possibilities. Not expecting much, but still curious, he asked, "So how the hell did Viyron use that card?"
After a few seconds of silence, Zayn said, [The worst part is how he got that card. The cursed item belongs to someone important in the novel. Given Viyron's situation, how could he have gotten this card?]
Silence!
Xane didn't have to second-guess that for someone in Viyron's position, it would be impossible. From his own experience, he knew that those who would starve you would definitely monitor you 24/7.
At this, Xane stood up.
Zayn asked, [What happened?]
Xane started moving things around and said, "Nothing, just continue explaining Hexis Cores to me."
Zayn saw Xane tearing apart the pillow. [What the hell are you looking for?]
Xane threw the tattered mattress down and started tapping on the wooden frame. "Given this mess, some clue related to these anomalies must be hidden in this room. Just keep explaining more about Hexis Cores."
Hearing that, even Zayn started looking around, trying to find something hidden. He didn't stop Xane from making a mess since they weren't going to stay here for long.
[Well, Hexis Core is the foundation of Hexborns. These are the curse masters who can travel to the Cursed Land through the rifts present around Zerathia.]
Xane didn't find anything on the bed, so he moved to the only cabinet in the room and asked, "So, what about Hexis Energy?"
[It's the special energy that forms through the combination of Essence and Nythra. Hexis Cores are the sole source of this energy. Also, each Hexis Core has unique Hexis abilities that grow alongside the user.]
At that moment, Xane smiled. "Found it." He moved a small wooden square from a hidden compartment at the back of the cabinet.
After feeling around, he pulled out a sheet of paper from the compartment.
Zayn shouted, [Open it!]
Xane was about to unfold the paper when they heard a loud banging sound on the door.
Bang bang!
The door shuddered like it might explode.
Xane turned, tensing. "Not again."