“Morien being said reason. You are afraid of becoming him.”
“I would be worse!” he yelled. “And combining the Wraith and Necromancer… it could make me an unstoppable force.”
“If that even became the case, there’s a giant leap between that and turning into a psychopathic megalomaniac like Morien Morgrave.”
When he still looked so very worried—actually, it was terror almost unchecked—I pushed forward, telling him something which I hoped would ground him in reality and not his warped perception of himself caused by the generational trauma his family had experienced, “The theory of external interference has been further confirmed. I met with a contact of mine as part of my research for you. Jacob Everett.”
He started. “The protégé of Ambrose Wisteryn?”
“One of them, yes.”
“Yeah, he stopped working alone as a non-negotiable rule after the massive burden put upon him during the tail end of the Hybrid Liberation War where he had to siphon the stolen black magic out of all thosePuritasmembers before the Celestial children drew out the Celestial power also stolen. He was the only one who could do such a thing. And he didn’t want to be put in that position again. Neither did a certain someone now very dear to him.”
“I see your family keeps you out of their work and the high-level politics and alliances they engage in.”
“What?”
His family had approached things that way with him for a reason, one borne of protection, no doubt. However, Winter was a part of it, whether they could allow themselves to admit to the horrific burden of that or not. With thisglitchinghe was experiencing, it was proving that more than ever.
He couldn’t remain in the dark.
Lack of knowledge never helped anything. It endangered more than protected.
But I did understand that they’d perhaps wanted to wait for theright timeto inform him. Winter had told me that Sylas was going to take him on as an apprentice. It pointed toward him revealing such things to Winter at that time—in bits and pieces throughout a staggered lesson format, I would imagine.
But this research into hisglitchingissue was forcing some of that into the immediate.
And I couldn’t in good conscience maintain the same avoidance that his family was.
He’d asked for my help, and this was it.
So, I informed him, “It was recognized by Sylas, Remnant, and Ryker, that having Ambrose be the only one who could safely perform such a feat was incredibly dangerous and concerning. If he’d perished before he’d done his part, the ramifications would have been catastrophic. The role he performed would have fallen to an artificial black magic barrier that your father’s close friend, Kai Hunter, had been in the process of creating as a last resort if Ambrose wasn’t available. Black magic drawn from unstable and corrupted black magic users combined with coercion from the Ancient, Lucian Black, to force them to perform the barrier to black magic and the siphoning. But that coercion at that level and inflicted upon corrupted beings would have only gone so far. It would haveleft excess black magic—a great deal of it—in the hands of those beings.”
He stared at me, eyes wide, making it clear he’d only known the summarized version of that, the only part that was also permitted to be taught at educational institutions. As a Basilisk and the deeper dive we did into all things, I’d been privy to a great deal more.
I went on, “So, in the last two decades, Ambrose has been training several proteges. All these proteges have endured anti-corruption rituals so they can wield black magic without losing their sanity and control. There used to be a spell created by Cornelius Martel that put magic-wielders through a horrific process to facilitate non-corruption, but it was destroyed, due to the fact that many who tried to undergo it died. Since then, Ambrose extracted a portion of your father’s essence, the part that makes him naturally immune to black magic and developed an anti-corruption ritual from that. One that can be endured much better, much more safely.”
I shifted my weight as I saw him absorbing what I’d conveyed, then I further explained, “This Ambrose Wisteryn situation also applies to Necromancy, Winter. It’s been made clear that Sylas won’t bear another child. He can’t. Your conception was a miracle, one that has been examined by some of the greatest magical minds in existence, and has been deemed an unrepeatable occurrence. While that is the case, so is that without a necromancer involved in the nightmare of the Hybrid Liberation War, an apocalyptic event would have been carried out completely unchecked. Thousands upon thousands would have perished in mere moments, with hundreds of thousands no doubt following. Necromancers must walk this plane.”
“My dad isn’t the only… I could still…I’mhere.”
“You are not, though. Not really. You identify predominantly as Wraith.”
“That’s… maybe.”
“So… Ambrose has his proteges studying Necromancy. There is a dispute transpiring currently between Sylas and Ambrose, the latter pushing for Sylas to hand over some of his necromantic energy that Ambrose believes he can infuse into his proteges to allow them to wield necromantic abilities. My people believe that Sylas’ resistance is largely about you, how if it did prove successful, and word spread, you would be targeted and taken for others to extract your necromantic energy for their own gains. Sylas Morgrave is at the height of his power. He cannot be subjugated. But you are vulnerable. You are not fully-trained, you aren’t confident in that side of your abilities and power. And now… there is also thisglitchingissue.”
“This dispute between Ambrose and my dad, that’s what you found out from Jacob?”
“Yes.AndI also discovered that Ambrose has registered an irregularity, a destabilization to the balance.”
He jolted. “What kind of irregularity? I heard my dad talking about Ambrose being off the grid and unreachable. That lines up with this. He has to go deep when trying to figure out things like this. But if there was a disruption to the balance, my dad would know about it. Father would be told too. Definitely Grandpa as Commander of The Shadowed.”
“Ambrose hasn’t told anyone. I obtained this information from Jacob because he owes me a favor.”
“Must’ve been one hell of a favor.”
“I saved his life.”
