"Do you have any idea how far you might have gotten in the army if your name was Verhen?" Almost everyone he knew had said such a thing to Trion more than once.
Trion would have liked to object that he wanted to rely solely on his talent, but that would make him a hypocrite. He and his colleagues whined on a daily basis about how easier it was for noble kids to become officials and wished they came from better families.
Thanks to Lith's achievements, Trion's family was now one of the most respected and influential among the new magical bloodlines, yet he had renounced all the power that the Verhen name bore just because of blind pride.
'I should change my name into Moron Dumbstar.' Trion thought. 'Only when I heard about Mom and Dad being besieged by the undead, after waiting hours to know if they were alright, did I realize how stupid I have been.
'The army refused to disclose any information to me because I'm not part of the family. I had to wait until the news came out on the army's interlink to know what had happened.
'I never picked Mom's contact rune, so even now that I've got my own communication amulet, I can't talk to her. What could I tell her anyway? Saying sorry now that Lith has become an Archmage and his family is under Royal protection would seem opportunistic at best.
'My new brother and my niece don't know me because I never bothered being part of their life. Heck, I don't even know if after two years I've got a new sibling or-'
"Do you mind if I sit here?" A nice-looking woman said.
There were plenty of empty seats that late in the bar so picking the spot right next to him had to be a pick-up line. Trion nodded as an adrenaline rush cleared his head and allowed him to take a good look at the stranger.
She was about 1.61 meters (5'3") tall, with shoulder-length light brown hair and eyes. Judging by her long pencil skirt and white shirt with a few small ink stains on its cuffs, she had to work in an office.
"Long day at work?" He asked while casually touching his breast pocket and activating a device that would buzz in the presence of undead.
The woman was very cute, but a bit too pale and with huge bags under her eyes. Trion suspected her of being a thrall fishing for information so he took care of not letting her touch him.
"You have no idea." She yawned, stretching her slender limbs and making her breasts push against the soft fabric of the shirt in a way that dried Trion's throat despite his paranoia.
"I'm just done with overtime and it's the third time this week that I have to stay up late. I'm sorry if I bothered you, but I need a drink and I'm afraid of being alone. Gods, reading reports about undead all the day plays tricks on your mind." She emptied her glass in one gulp, ordering a refill and something to eat.
Hearing her story put Trion at ease. Those days, many people sat beside him because the uniform he wore made them feel safe and after looking around the bar, he had to admit that in the woman's shoes he would have done the same.
Only drunkards and thug-looking men were left at that hour, making even a respectable bar like the Golden Unicorn a dangerous place for a woman.
"Proudstar?" The woman giggled so hard reading the tag on his breast pocket that she spilled part of her drink. "Let me guess, you picked it up yourself after one drink too many."
"Guilty as charged. My name is Trion, nice to meet you." He gave her a small bow, regretting how easy it was to guess the shameful origin of his family name.
"It takes a drinker to recognize another. Gerla Silvermoon, at your service." She blushed while saying her family name whose cringiness rivaled Trion's.
"And you dared to laugh at mine? This is a textbook case of the pot calling the kettle black." Trion smiled while pretending to check his amulet's notifications and requesting a background check on her.
"Guilty as charged." She giggled echoing his words. "The worst spent money ever. I promised myself countless times to have it changed, but it costs too much and money is always short."
"Same here." The similarities between them were too many to just be a coincidence, but the background check came back negative.
According to the army intel, Gerla worked as a clerk in a mid-sized merchant guild. She earned more than him and even had access to better intel thanks to her position in the administrative department.
Whatever she wanted, it wasn't money nor information.
They started talking about their daily life between a drink and a steak sandwich because Gerla was starving. She never asked him anything about his work, they only did small talk about their respective birthplaces and where they lived.
"Did you hear that, Master? He's not a Verhen he and doesn't live in Lutia." Gerla said once they were alone to one of her pockets, triggering a Blink that brought them on top of a tall nearby building.
"Which means that he's not protected by my mother's oath." The Black Night came out of the pocket in her crystal form, using all of her mystical senses on Trion to determine if his blood shared the same power as Lith's.
Trion tried to call for help, but an air sealing array blocked the communications.
"Don't be afraid, I've no intentions of hurting you." The Horseman said. "Otherwise, before learning that you cut all ties with your family, I couldn't have even come close to you. Do you know who I am?"
"Baba Yaga's mad dog. The Horseman of chaos." Trion said while leaping down the building.
The enchanted uniform would save his life and with the air sealing array, Night couldn't Warp nor fly. Unfortunately for him, she could still use Spirit Magic, rescuing him with but a thought.
"I wish the second nickname was true." Night sighed, now regretting as much as Dusk did their inability to use Chaos magic. "I need a host and a powerful one at that. I can make you into one of the most powerful mages the Griffon Kingdom has ever seen.
"I can give you all the power, the money, and the respect you've always wanted. The only thing I need from you is to know what do you think about your family."
"They are wonderful people and I've let them down too many times to buy your pitch." Trion pressed the alarm button non-stop, yet nothing happened.
"One final question. If I told you that your brother is actually a hybrid and that I can unlock the power lying dormant in your blood, what would you say?" Night asked.
"That Baba Yaga made you out of shit rather than a mana crystal because you're full of it. My mother would never cheat on my father. Never!" Slandering Elina had been the final straw.
Trion pulled a wand out of his belt and several Fire Seeds, alchemical tools each one of which could produce a fireball with the same power of a tier three spell cast by a Great Mage.
