Chapter 356: So Be It

The patches of holes glittering like stars overhead them which tells Ned that it was early in the morning on his third day inside the hollow of a tree.

I slept for three days, Ned thought. The longest sleep I had so far.

Ned sat on a cool and dry ground with the Silk Road just finished transforming in a black jacket and black pants while Tiathe retracted her hand off midair after conjuring her clothes made of leaves and some vines. She then sat across Ned.

They started to regain their strength along with silence lingering in the air for a full minute. Ned grabbed the black boots Tiathe recently finished cleaning of mud. It may not look as what Ned expected to be so clean, but at least his boots were still intact with all the fighting.

"The ring," Tiathe started, staring at the ring Ned have on his finger-ring. Ned instinctively rubbed the ring from Tiathe's comment. He frowned but immediately pulled his sight off the ring. "I tried taking it off, but it seemed something important to you, so I did otherwise. I… I felt nothing off that ring."

"What do you mean?"

"No meaning…. Just… I felt nothing off of it. Whether a ring was made of wood, or metal, or even with a magic concealing spell. They always give off an aura. It was an aura given by whoever crafted it. But yours…. There's nothing into it. Like it never existed."

[She is right Ned.]

[The ring Kamma gave you was not of this place. That must be why she cannot feel any pulses.]

What is the ring made of? Ned ignored Tiathe for the moment, being curious about the ring.

[It was an alloy of oron shard and platinum.]

Ned sighed, oron was a shard in a planet Kamma once visited with her Jumper. Whatever it was, it must be something not of great value since Kamma rather had items with no magic essences attached to it.

"... about that perhaps I can take a look?"

"Sorry," Ned hid the ring as he crossed his finger between his chest. "It was something I'd rather not talk about."

Tiathe sighed and pulled the strands of her hair off her face, showing everything she has to Ned. The scars on her ears were made vibrantly visible to Ned.

"They should not have done that." Ned sighed.

"What's done in the past has been done. I may hate humans… but not you… especially after we—"

"Especially me since I have the Mark."

"Y-yes… especially after you have one of the 14 Marks."

It must just a coincidence that she knew about the Mark. But she didn't falter nor even blink when saying that she knew about the Marks and Ned wondered why?

"How do you know about the Mark? Especially the Mark of the Knight."

Tiathe took a deep breath and looked at Ned with determining eyes, as though gauging him if he was worth the story she was about to share. Her eyes ended on Ned's left hand, under his wrist.

Ned focused his remaining Mana and shows off the light the came from the Mark of the Knight.

"You are worthy ended." Tiathe said it with a sigh of defeat and she began.

According to her, every elf knew about the Marks as it was being thought to them by their Elders. No elves became mature without learning their past, and the Marks was one of them.

With the Gates appearing every 300 years in the world of Earflgard, the Elders decided to teach the humans magic. And teach did they even the history of the Marks. Upon learning the powers of the Marks, the humans managed to trick the elves and stole the Marks. Thus, igniting the first war between elves and humans which was later known to humans as The First Great Race War, and elves considered being the traitors, hence, turning them into slaves.

Tiathe emphasized that there were 10 original Marks, created by the Makers Isashil and Moraki themselves. Two of the Makers shared two of their original Mark to the elves which resulted in the creations of more Marks. The Mark of Isashil, which was the Mark of Life was the base of the 7 lesser Marks: Mark of Elves, Mark of Healing, Mark of Sight, Mark of Wisdom, Mark of the Link, Mark of Soul, and the Mark of Light.

Then there was the Mark of War, created by Mobos, the Maker of War, which he gifted to the elves. This Mark of War gave birth to three more lesser Marks: Mark of the Warrior, Mark of the Mages, and the Mark of Rouges.

Then there was the countless Mark of Moraki, Maker of Death; Maker of Chaos. His Mark was shared with both the elves and humans. At that time, both humans and elves were the superior races in the lower continent, followed by the Weres in the upper continent.

"If only Moraki listened to his brothers and sisters, none of this would happen," Tiathe said, caressing the flat of her ears with the end of her long fingers. "None of us would become slaves."

Tiathe continued. After sharing the Marks with the humans, the humans become greedy and wanted more by stealing the rest of the Marks from the elves. Moraki's Mark was called the Mark of Chaos and there were countless of the lesser Marks which even Tiathe wasn't able to learn all.

"What you have, Ned." Tiathe crawled closer to Ned. She was struggling to even move closer and sat beside him. But once she did, she held Ned's left hand and rubbed them of her fingers. "Is one of the lesser Mark of Chaos. The Mark of the Knight. I don't know much about your Mark, but I believe, like any other Marks, it can extend your life, give you immense power, and make your mana purer."

Ned frowned from the revelation, his mana was already pure, and the Mark of the Knight, according to ICE's decoding was able to negate any fatal damage, saving him a new life. But Ned was confused, for a Mark to do all these, it was something that cannot be made by magic alone. The Makers must have extensive knowledge for them to create this kind of item.

Can you create a Mark? Ned thought to ICE.

[Given the resources I can create a lesser version of the Mark of the Knight.]

Now, Ned was more suspecting of these Makers. It was as though he knew these Makers that were acting Gods in the world of Earflgard. Ned brushed off the thought. It was now the time for him to ask a question that might put Tiathe in an even bigger surprise.

"Tell me," Ned spoke calmly. "How do you remove a Mark?"

She was surprised indeed after she threw Ned's hand and covered her mouth. Now Ned was sure that she wasn't lying to him as she always covered her mouth every time she can't control her emotions. She grabbed Ned by the shoulder, and Ned twitched a little by her immense strength, and that was her having dark circles around her eyes and sweating.

"Are you out of your mind?" she said with her voice crying inside the hollow tree. She instantly regretted what she did as she covered her mouth with both of her hands.

Of course, Ned thought. She wasn't supposed to run away as a slave. So they must keep their voices down.

"You want to remove the Mark within you? Even though it's one of the lesser Mark, it is still powerful that greedy people of your world are willing to wage war just to have one of it. And you? Do you want to remove it? Why?!" The last part of her word seemed a little bit carried away with her voice getting louder.

Ned explained everything, why he wanted to remove it, about his Master. About his goal. His goal to live in freedom and Ned already guessed that the Mark won't give him any of that.

"So it's only worth it that I remove it."

Now, Tiathe was back with herself. Her thin brows were furrowed, her eyes filled with pity, and Ned hoped it wasn't about him. She pulled her hand off Ned's and played with them for a moment before crossing them over her chest.

"It's possible," Tiathe said, thinking things even Ned wasn't sure of. "It is possible that if you give the Mark of the Knight to the lady trapped in a cube, she might be given another chance of life. So it's possible. But… Ned? It's a Mark. It's THE Mark, are you sure about that?"

"I'm pretty sure about that," Ned said, determination clad in his voice.

Tiathe only sighed in defeat. "I don't know…" She said, "I don't know how to remove it.." She said once again. "But… I know some who can."

Ned almost jumped in surprise. At first, when she said that she don't anyone to extract the Mark he was feeling down. But now that he found someone who knew about it. He was more than happy, he was glad that finally, his travels were about to pay off. All he needed to know was who and where to extract the Mark?

Looking at Ned who was curious and overjoyed at the same time, Tiathe can't help herself but to put on a smile. But not for too long. She closed her eyes.

"Are you sure, Ned? Because it won't be easy going there."

Ned nodded and it was more than enough to tell her that whatever the hurdle would be, he would always venture onward.

"So be it," she said, opening her eyes. "We're going to the Dark Continent then. And by we—you will have to bring me with you."