chapter2

Nate slowly opened his eyes. His mind blank and still passive, he looked to the side and saw Percy

and some elders. They were talking but he couldn't make out a single word from all the sounds that clustered together in the air.

His eyes closed up again and opened after another minute.

"Nate…Nate, can you hear me you little pip-squeak" Percy spoke and his words slowly began to make sense to Nate.

"Don't be so vulgar all the time" Elizabeth knocked on Percy's head.

"Oww.. mum, your hand hurts" Percy complained.

"Hmm…. Percy? Mum?. Why's everyone here?" He spoke as his sight steadily became normal again. Nate suddenly recollected what had happened to him in the woods. He blinked a few more times as he completely regained consciousness, his head hurt like it was being shaken violently by a giant. He tried sitting up but his body didn't respond.

"Aww my little Nate" Elizabeth cupped his face slowly, letting him get the full view of the worry that dominated her expression.

"I'm a grown-ass man mum… don't treat me like some soft persimmon" Nate whined.

"Shut it you lil dumb ass… I'd hit you if not for your current condition" Percy showed his clenched fist to Nate.

Elizabeth pacified them both to stop quarreling.

"Ahem!" The sound of Miller clearing his throat from behind pulled the whole room into sudden silence. Miller walked up to Nate's side as Percy got out of the way with his swift movements.

Nate wasn't sure what his father was up to. Miller had never been someone predictable, judge him by yesterday and you would just be shooting yourself in the leg or try predicting him by his facial

expressions and you would get fooled.

"Little man, I already got the gist of what happened. What Percy saw while you were messing with

those shady inscriptions and it's still unclear. Elder Park has tried to check your condition but your

body is in a weird state at the moment"

"Messing with inscriptions? I didn't, I was just studying it"

"But according to your brother here, you went awol after a while and acted strangely before the

whole array manifestation thing" Miller stated.

"Yeah… I.. I remember now. I was suddenly overwhelmed by something and my blood. It made me spill some blood from my thumb on the inscription and.. and…" Nate's body suddenly hurt so much that all he could do was scream.

Miller's eyes shone at the scene before him, watching his son scream in pain without being able to move his own body.

Nate could feel that something was changing within his body but he couldn't tell what it was. The elders tried examining his body unrelentlessly but they couldn't make out any useful information from it.

"I think his body constitution is changing.. also there's an array inside him," Elder Park said to the Patriarch.

Percy looked frightened as he glanced towards Nate. So this brat was undergoing something so severe. According to what Elder Park had just said, it's the same as calling it body reconstruction. An extremely painful process that even a family head might shed tears or die from.

Miller's face looked grim. Elizabeth could be said to be a living expression of worry at that moment. Something like body

reconstruction had different methods and types, nobody from the Walkers has had such an

experience before.

"Will he be fine?" Miller asked eagerly without making any gestures or movements.

"This kind of thing is unprecedented. I can't be sure, he doesn't seem to be in life-threatening danger at least but no one knows what is going on with his body. Even the several methods recorded in ancient texts and documents are nothing like this, I mean it's similar but this isn't just body reconstruction. It looks more like a refinement process, his life force is surging even though he's

going through such a deadly thing" The Elder carefully explained.

Percy felt guilt and responsibility crawling over him if he hadn't invited him without the elders

Knowledge then things might have turned out better. In his heart, he blamed himself for his brother's suffering.

"It's okay, he'll be fine" Miller comforted Elizabeth.

"But look" she pointed at his twitching body.

"His body might be this energetic but he has passed out already. He can't feel whatever is going on right now" Elder Park stated.

"So weird," Percy said. To him, it was like a lifeless body that was capable of movement on its own.

The Elder had everyone leave the room to give him proper space to continue examining Nate's body.

In fact, with Elder Park's eyesight and research, he knew that Nate was changing but it was still too early to let out such a news. He hoped that Nate wasn't undergoing the kind of change that he was suspecting.

Park hoped that such part of the ancient knowledge he had was just a legend if not, it was either he survived the body refinement and became stronger or failed to handle the pain and perished.

"Life or death is completely up to you young man.. what will it be?" He stood beside Nate, looking out the window.

Park continued to study Nate throughout the whole day without rest. The night had fallen upon the world and Park decided to retreat to his Chambers for the night when

He looked back and saw the unconscious Nate floating in mid-air.

"Fly…flying? Shit, that's an array… Sire!!" Elder Park yelled not because he couldn't try to contain the situation but because having the cooperation of the family head would make things less of a hassle.

Miller entered the room almost immediately as if he had always been behind the door waiting to be called in. He saw Nate in the air floating and he seemed to be moving through an array mechanism.

"Did you do this?" Miller asked sternly.

"My lord! How could I have such attainment in the art of arrays, it's a mysterious force

initiating all of this" Park said.

"So can you stop it?" He asked…

Percy and Elizabeth were already in the room watching and observing soberly.

"I think it's best to leave it be. With such a mysterious method, Nate would be dead already if it was intended" Percy spoke.

"How could you speak such cruel words?" Elizabeth reprimanded.

"Percy's not wrong… this could be related to his special condition, I mean even this array of light is silver" the Elder added.

"Hmmm," Miller folded his arms and watched with an unpredictable expression.

Nate's body began to move away while still floating through the window. The Elder immediately followed the body like a scientist whose specimen had been hijacked.

"Stay behind you two, we shouldn't all leave the clan at once" Miller ordered and disappeared into the night.

Elder Park kept a steady pace with Nate's moving body.

Miller soon caught up with him.

"You think he's going there?" Miller asked.

"Most likely Sire, most likely" he replied and straightened his long coat while on the run.

Nate's body continued to float forward undeterred. The destination had already become obvious. Once his body reached the ridge, more silver light emanated from within his body and it was so bright that the two wolves had to shield their eyes from such intensity.

Elder Park couldn't believe his eyes; A cave had appeared right in front of the ridge with inscriptions. After the silver light had dimmed to a bearable extent to accommodate proper vision, Nate's body was already out of their sight.

Elder Park hesitated but that wasn't the case for Miller. He already moved swiftly but he was repelled by a field of light.

"Wait, Sire! Your strength is great but Nate is in there, if you move rashly and break in by force then

We can't predict what will happen to the cave. It could disappear along with your son if we act rashly" Park tried quelling the Patriarch's impatience.

Miller considered Park's advice and it was reasonable.

"But we still have no idea what might be happening to him"

"It could be good… originally, I thought the chances were slim to ensure such a level of body

refinement but now it seems it wasn't a coincidence. This is his fate, if he can endure it then...."

Elder Park stated.

"You mean?.." he asked the elder with eyes full of curiosity.

"Yes." The elder nodded in affirmation, smiling.

Miller moved closer to the cave's entrance again.

"You brat, you must hold on!" Miller clenched his fist tightly.

They both sat and waited patiently at the cave's entrance for two whole days before the light barrier dimmed to nothingness.

Miller waited not a single second and dashed into the cave, searching every nook and cranny with adept eyes and wolf senses. He moved swiftly deeper into the cave till he reached an ending with elevated rock surfaces everywhere.

Nate was lying on a flat and wide rock surface with steady breaths and a calm pulse, his facial hair had turned completely silver. Miller looked around, he found the rock platforms suspicious but he couldn't care any less. He gently carried Nate up and left the cave whilst looking around suspiciously.

Elder Park had decided to wait outside as he found the cave suspicious. He studied the inscription and the array pattern by the cave's entrance till Miller was out. He exchanged eye gestures with the patriarch and then began to walk back.

Elder Park looked back again after they had walked farther away but the cave had disappeared like it never existed. He looked forward and hastened his footsteps wondering what sort of existence the ancient researcher who owned the cave was like.

The cave was fated to Nate but how? He pondered in further confusion.

"Eh?" He looked around after getting out of his immersive thoughts. The patriarch had left him in the dust Haha, he must have gotten impatient and ran. Sire is vigorous" he started to run after him.

.....