Temporal Pearls

Strangely, Aura training after that became exceedingly hard. Why? It was just that everything felt so damn simple to the point he just didn't know what to do to see the limit.

The only limit was the duration and the cool down. After that, things were just so easy. That means his quest wasn't going to be solved soon.

In just a day, Seth has pushed his whole aura to his single finger. His body became weak due to that but he can keep it up for 2 minutes. He then tried to push it to the tip of the finger.

Like thick water, it moved and when he tried to move it further, the aura would slip back and cover his body. Seth still believed if he wasn't tired he would have pushed it to the tip. So, this wasn't a limit.

There was also something he couldn't do, and that shot his aura out and also he can't affect everything with his aura. Only things that belong to him but the tree he has been with for 2 months can't be affected.

He had asked his adorable wife to bring him a stone, but she wasn't allowed by her father. The man even came and asked what Seth wanted to do with the stone.

Seth just pretended the man wasn't there and played with his finger which was his aura that normal people couldn't see.

Another thing was, Seth couldn't see the aura of the red stream and the tree he was tethered to.

"What exactly are you playing with?" Retina asked. Seth looked at her but ignored her. She was used to that, so she asked, "you want to play with strings? I can bring you one."

"Okay!"

Retina beamed and ran outside. Seth wanted to test the ability of his aura to affect things that aren't his own.

Retina came back with a red thread that was connected to the ends and gave it to him. He took and weaved some designs, she too has another thread in which she weaves the same thing.

Seth was surprised she did it as fast as him. He concluded she was good at these games. So he made another one, and she copied it with a giggle. Another one, this time fast, even hiding his hands. But she did exactly that.

"My turn!" She said and then made a weave. Seth was able to do it because it was simple. She then giggled and made another which he failed again and again.

Seth's sense of competition popped up and he designed a new one out of his imagination and took some minutes to finish. The truth was he can't even replicate it easily even if he was asked to but Retina just did the next moment he finished.

"You are a genius. Was it the bonus of becoming a Red Eye Race?" Seth asked bewildered. For the first time, Seth saw that little girl burst into laughter and even tears to come. She was happy and he found himself enjoying that.

He even had a light smile as he watched her childish demeanour.

"You don't know? I thought you knew!" She said after calming down, seeing he was smiling, she felt happy, very much happy.

"I know what?" Seth asked.

"Actually, I'm cheating!" She said as she looked away embarrassed.

"You're cheating. How? Can you copy people's actions?" Seth sat down intrigued.

"No. My ability is Red Manipulation." She said casually.

"Red Manipulation? I know that you said it during the wedding but what is that have to do with… oho. So you can affect anything red." Seth exclaimed in understanding.

Then he looked at the red stream, her clothes and the red thread he was playing with.

"Living or nonliving?" Seth wanted deep clarification.

"Red. There are no living or dead. Red is a colour. As long as one perceives it as red, I can tap into it!"

He nodded but then his science class popped into his head, if the colour was perceived as red then it means the object took all colours but refused red. Does that mean her ability is about affecting all colours at once but red?

He shook his head to remind himself that this isn't earth physics, here that was bullshit.

"Hmm. That sounded underwhelming at first. But it was formidable and powerful!" Seth praised her as he viewed her in a new light.

"You have no idea!" She said proudly, in a soft voice.

Seth sighed as he recovered his aura. He pushed them to his finger and tried to make them interact with the red thread. Retina noticed that and focused to see if something would happen but nothing, and she felt nothing.

Seth too confirmed one thing. Any object that wasn't his will not be affected by his aura. In fact with the thread now, it was like, the aura didn't exist at all.

"Can I own it?" Seth asked.

"It's yours!"

And that moment there was a shock on her face. She can feel something trying to pass through the strings of the thread. But it was very weak and gentle.

Seth too can feel the thread but the feeling he was getting from the thread aura was thick and hard. He couldn't even budge it.

Seth activated aura sight and concentrated on the thread, what he saw scared him. He saw a thick blood-red aura that was so dense, compared to his, it was 1000× more powerful. Not only that, it was dormant on the surface just like a coating he did on his staff but it was active beneath, it was shifting and moving like moving water.

That was when he looked at his staff to understand what happened. Any time he affected it with his aura and the staff moved toward him, the red stream splashed on the staff, and instantly it will cut off his connection.

"I feel your energy. It felt different than the one you are gifting to the great tree." Retina asked, seeing he was deep in thought, she grabbed his hand and tried to touch his aura.

She was his wife and for that, he didn't resist and she felt a gentle caress of gentle force before it burst and dissipated in the air.

Seth stared at the girl on his lap who was bewildered, 'she has become bold!' He thought, but the truth was, he was scared shitless, if not he has some control over his heart, it will have been pounding like crazy.

What he felt was, she has an enormous range of aura in her body. It was abundant, thick, heavy and domineering. It was like Dragon before a mouse.

And he was the mouse!

"The red river is yours?"

"No. It was normal water. But I just changed its colour to red!" She answered. Seth has never asked her anything that she refused to answer, only that he didn't trust the answer.

"What is my name?" Seth asked her. She looked at him, but looked down and said, "you haven't told me!"

"Most I?"

"It's tradition. I know Seth but that isn't your Red Name!"

Seth felt compelled to tell her. He wanted to have her trust so that he could ask her for something that he didn't get but should have. It wasn't his freedom of course.

"Sascile Redone! That's my name!" Seth said as he eyed the shy girl.

"Sascile Redone! Sounds like your blade is flashing! Seeeeee soooon"  she said as she meaningfully looked at his staff.

[Your relationship with your wife has deepened]

Seth has never stopped to analyze that, his blade did make a sound when it extended fast but it was too fast for him to see or even hear.

"What does your name mean, Retina?" He asked.

She opened her eyes and pointed at her eyes, "Retina is retina. But I assumed it meant great sight or something!" She explained.

"What does Sascile Redone Mean?"

This was the question he wanted an answer to. If Dave, known as Fratile, was here, he should be the one that would have helped him with that but the guy might have escaped by now or with Chief.

"Red Valley is a prison to us. Our ancestors were humans taken from different kingdoms and dumped here. And we serve as a source of energy to seal something. However, the seal broke and we couldn't leave. Ghost came, and we fight, a defeating battle. Dragons came, and we became livestock.

But eventually, we achieve enlightenment and uncover the legacy of the prison. We challenged the legacy and we obtained Gifts which were abilities all related to Red. And then,"

She looked at Seth, "Those who were attacked and survived a trial received their name from the Ghosts. Using the name, they can command and utilize an Artefact. Another gift from the valley."

"My name is related to an Artefact?" Seth asked.