Chapter 8: Ka: The Essence Beyond Flesh
A few months passed in a blur of routine and strange normalcy. Life as a baby—again—was, frankly, humiliating. Velren spent his days enduring the indignities of infancy, though it wasn't all bad. Sköll and Fenrir took care of most of his needs. Sköll, in particular, seemed oddly adept at things like feeding and bathing him—though Velren suspected the white wolf enjoyed swaddling him a little too much. Fenrir, on the other hand, was more of the "if he's not crying, he's fine" type of guardian. It worked... mostly.
And then there was him.
The old man—Velren's so-called "grandmaster." The title might've inspired awe if the guy didn't spend most of his waking hours clutching a bottle like it was a lifeline. It seemed that booze was the man's first and truest love. Mornings began with the clinking of glass, afternoons with the scent of fermented grapes or grains, and evenings... well, evenings often ended with snoring and empty bottles rolling across the floor.
Yet, despite the drunken antics, something about the old man intrigued Velren. There were times—usually in the dead of night—when curiosity got the better of him. He'd crawl out of his tiny bed, inching across the wooden floor, careful not to make a sound. He'd peek into what he'd come to know as the library—a grand name for a room packed with dusty shelves, scrolls, and tomes that reeked of old paper and aged liquor.
That's where he'd find him: the old man sitting cross-legged with his spine straight, despite his usual slouch. His robe—which was stained and creased—draped over him as a faint glow illuminated his figure. Strange energy, like wisps of smoke and light intertwined, rotated around him in slow, deliberate spirals. It was mesmerizing. Almost... calming.
And every single time, just as Velren's curiosity reached its peak—
"Gotcha."
Sköll would appear, seemingly out of thin air, clamping his teeth gently onto the edge of Velren's shirt, and drag him back to bed. Like clockwork. Every night. Without fail.
It was getting infuriating.
***
Tonight, though... tonight was different.