Legacy of the Dark Sage

Seeing Stella's hesitation, Kyran did not pursue the subject. He might be interested in learning more about the War of the Sovereigns but it was not his priority at that moment.

"What else?"

Stella looked at Kyran in surprise. She was not expecting him not to dwell on the subject.

"You—," she began to say but stopped at once. "No... nevermind."

She paused for a moment before responding to his question. With a slight shake of her head, she replied "That's all I know."

Kyran studied her expression for a few seconds and said, "Alright, I'll believe you."

"I told you, I have no plans on keeping what I know."

Kyran did not react to her words and instead turned to leave.

"Wait," Stella was surprised at his sudden decision to leave. "You returned here for a reason. Why are you already leaving without addressing it?"

Kyran paused at the exit and without looking back, replied, "I do want to say something, but since you already said Stella peeked into the future. I'm sure she already knows what I want to say."

Stella immediately shook her head, "You're wrong. As I said, we never affected your decisions. You made them yourself. To be honest, I am convinced that most of the things we have not anticipated happened because of you."

Kyran turned around to look at her but did not say anything.

Now that he thought of it, it was indeed the case.

Meeting Cyneah, how he used the Sigil on humans, his own understanding of both his innate magic— Draconic and Void, and the Sovereigns being keen on recruiting them.

As far as Kyran was concerned, they all happened because of the things he did and the decisions he made.

If this was the case, then what Stella meant about no longer affecting how events would turn out starting at this point in time because of him was reasonable.

Thinking about this made Kyran wonder what Stella's real purpose was in telling him about the past and what her successor had done.

Before Kyran could even ask Stella about it she admitted, "I wanted to come clean with you about what we've done because I'm afraid Haylee will find the truth and use it to influence your decisions."

'I see,' Kyran thought, feeling somewhat disappointed.

Ultimately, Stella was afraid Kyran would end up being manipulated by Haylee if he discovered what she along with Caelan and Zane had done.

Just as this thought crossed Kyran's mind, his magic cores stirred. He then realized it was both his Draconic and Void cores. It actually felt as if they did not agree with his musings.

This confused Kyran.

But he did not voice his doubts and only said, "In the end, you only cared about achieving your goal."

"Kyran—."

"Don't worry. I don't know why you hated Layla or her successor so much—," he suddenly stop, thinking that it was not that he did not know but that he did not want to know. "No. Actually, I do have an idea why you hated her—."

"You're wrong. I don't hate her—."

"— And I don't really care," Kyran ignored Stella's protest, even when she pursed her lips in displeasure. He continued, "But never assume that I will lower my guard against Haylee just because Neah's important to me."

Stella showed a pained expression at Kyran's admittance regarding his feelings for Cyneah.

"As for how I will handle Haylee and the one guiding her, that's my problem. Tell Stella not to interfere."

"'The one guiding her...?'" Stella repeated in confusion.

Kyran only replied with raised brows. Did she really think Haylee was acting by herself?

There was definitely someone guiding her from behind the scenes. It was different from being manipulated though.

As far as Kyran was concerned, Haylee's actions were done completely on her own accord, which makes dealing with her troublesome. Also, the one guiding her was definitely not from the Boyd Family.

From what Kyran had seen, The Boyd Family were dispensable pawns to Haylee.

But Kyran had little intel on Haylee so he did not know who was guiding her. Even Euan failed to notice what she was doing. One thing was sure though, Haylee changed after entering the Winfrey Ancestral Lands.

Kyran pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind. Just as he said, all of these were not his priority.

"I'm surprised you did not realize that there is someone guiding her. So much for peeking into the future. Why didn't you try looking into hers?"

"It is impossible," Stella replied with a shake of her head. "My successor did try but failed. To be more accurate, she tried to gather more intel on Haylee but was met with obstructions."

"I see. Then, just watch how things unfold from now on," Kyran told her and turned again.

"Kyran, wait—."

"More Sovereigns are coming and I will prepare for their arrival. As to what the Conclave will do about it, I'll leave it up to you or if Stella returns."

"Can't you tell me what you want to do?"

"And risk having you go back in time and interfere again?"

Stella was rendered speechless. She did not have such thoughts, but the fact that she could do it if things did not go as planned, remains.

Kyran did not wait for Stella to respond and left the tent.

After talking with Stella and how she confirmed that Cyneah was Haylee's other half, Kyran felt somewhat restless. He could not shake the feeling that there was something off about it even though he did agree as well. Savagery did mention that Haylee was looking for Cyneah so she could be 'complete.'

The reason Kyran felt somewhat restless was the fact that Cyneah did not possess a Soul core. Why did Haylee need Cyneah in order to 'complete' herself?

Though it was true that even without a Soul core, Cyneah could still use Soul magic albeit only one nature of it, which was to 'heal,' Haylee could also use her magic the same way.

Kyran pushed all these thoughts to the back of his mind and telepathically called for Light.

'Tell me who are the Sovereigns that arrived outside.'

The moment Light heard Kyran's voice in her head, she could not help but frown. But she did not tell him off for fear of annoying him and using the mark he placed on her to mete out punishment.

'Are you planning to meet your people with me around?'

'I'm not stupid to let you listen in on our strategy.'

'Humph,' Light could not help but harrumph in displeasure. 'And you expect me to sell out my faction mates?'

'Choose. Either that or I use the mark.'

'You!'

Kyran ignored Light's protest and said, 'Tell me everything you know.'

'Fine,' Light replied in exasperation. 'Where do you want me to start?'

Kyran suddenly recalled something and said, 'Earlier you said that they have not made a move yet and are only observing because Ruin is there. Why?'

'You really had no idea who Ruin is, are you?'

Kyran did not respond and only waited for Light to answer his question.

With a sigh of resignation, Light said, 'Ruin is known as a rogue mage.'

'I already know that.'

'Yet you don't understand why we do not want to cross paths with him.'

'I remember, you, Deception, and that Toad guy had no qualms in facing him in battle.'

Light scowled, 'That was an exception. We have to enter the Human plane no matter what and make contact with the Soul Emperor. Even if we do not want to cross paths with Ruin, we have to do it. Besides, he's working with a lowly human. We believe we can exploit that.'

'I don't care about that. Let's not get sidetracked.'

'Humph, fine.'

Light then told Kyran about some of Ruin's exploits and how he managed to keep several planes under his rule all by himself when most Sovereigns would ally with others.

'I see. You guys are afraid of Ruin's strength,' Kyran summarized it.

'You...!' Light started but failed to follow through. After all, he was actually correct.

'How many Sovereigns are even there? Three? Four?'

'Seven in total, including Deception and Toad.'

Kyran frowned. He could still understand why they would not make a move with Ruin around if there were four Sovereigns. But there were actually seven Sovereigns and they were still afraid to face Ruin?

Not to mention, by this time, Ruin was likely exhausted. It would not be hard to take advantage of his condition and deal with him.

'I know what you're thinking,' Light said, guessing Kyran's doubts. 'But exhaustion is not in Ruin's dictionary.'

When Kyran did not respond and appeared to be waiting for her to elaborate, she could not help but sigh in exasperation. In the end, she explained, 'We all believe that Ruin has unlimited magic energy and doesn't know how to feel tired.'

Kyran did not react. He already knew this about Ruin.

'Is that so? Alright. Then let's talk about what your faction mates are good at.'