“Sidastir?” he murmured and pushed himself away from Sidastir. The fire around them began to die out and Sidastir wondered if it was the creature that had evoked the white fire as it vanished along with the creature.

“Where? What happened? My body aches,” Akana said with trembling voice. Sidastir grabbed hold of Akana and squeezed him against his chest to grant him comfort.

“Everything is fine now. I'm here,” Sidastir murmured and stroked the hair of Akana.

“Sidastir, something is wrong. I have difficulty breathing. My heart is beating so fast and I want to run away. I want to hide but I cannot move my body. I can't think,” Akana gasped and grabbed Sidastir’s tunic.

“You're panic-stricken. Take deep breaths. You don't need to be afraid,” Sidastir said gently.

“Sidastir, I'm afraid,” Akana said, staring into his eyes.

Sidastir could not help but to worship the coal, black eyes. “I know.”

“No! Sidastir, I'm afraid!” Akana shook his head as if he denied everything. Sidastir frowned and was about to repeat what he said before he stopped.

“Scared, terrified? As in what an auon cannot feel.”

Sidastir stood there with his gaping mouth. When did Akana have such feelings? Only now did Sidastir realized what Akana really was afraid of. Sidastir heard how someone moved behind him. He got up on his feet and dragged Akana along. He embraced Akana in a protective way and inspected the newcomer. It was Magnus who stared at Akana with a look that Sidastir had never seen him use before. Suspicion. Sidastir did not like it.

“Sidastir, you should not be too close to that thing?” Magnus said while not releasing Akana with his gaze. Sidastir pulled Akana out of sight.

“I may be as close as I want with Akana. It comes with the contract after we married,” Sidastir snorted and Magnus' head turned to him. He opened his mouth and before closing it. As if he was trying to work out what he should answer.

“The others ... They live-” he began but was interrupted by Sidastir who snarled that they won't live for long. “But something is wrong. We have a Medicus who treats them right now but he says that there is no remains of mana inside the three boys.”

“Akana devoured their mana to defend himself,” Sidastir remarked casually but avoided mentioning the creature who had taken over Akana’s body at the time. Magnus had no knowledge of magic and would only jump to hasty conclusions.

“Defend himself? He doesn't have a wound on him!” Magnus snarled and pointed towards Akana whose hands immediately went up in his face and over his arms. It was obvious that he was speechless.

“Why do you think he took their mana? You can only use other people's mana to heal yourself or others and by judging how much he took, he was near death,” Sidastir replied callously.

“Zhan would have killed me. I heard one of the others tell him to stop because he was close to killing me,” Akana said with a trembling voice that made Sidastir feel both pity for him and wrathful against his assailants.

“They should be thankful for Akana’s intervention. Without it, they would have been convicted for murder,” Sidastir said but thought he would kill them later on.

“Thank him? Sidastir, they have no mana left? Not even a little bit. Medicus says that they will never be able to use magic again,” Magnus roared out the last words and Sidastir glared incredulously at Magnus.

“That is impossible! There is no magic that is strong enough to permanently plunder someone's mana. I have never heard of any such magic. Not even the demons with his black fire could do it,” Sidastir said but was not convinced of his own words as he wasn’t a master in all sorts of magic.

The Auons had no magic but Akana had obviously magical abilities. Have they lied about their powers? It is not impausible as people would see them as a huge threat if they found out that auons has the ability to steal people's mana permanently. After all, everyone in the nine kingdoms has mana even if it is only a few that could use it for magic. The only ones that couldn’t use magic, because of lack of mana, is pure-blooded humans and they were a minority. The majority were of mixed lineage and had a bit blood from a magical race among their human one.

“Your knowledge is obviously lacking as there are three boys out there who right now is magically castrated,” Magnus snapped and tried to seize Akana.

He had drawn his sword. Sidastir responded without hesitation. With a hand gesture and some ancient words from Sidastir, Magnus flew through the air and fell down onto the ground. Magnus gasped and pulled himself up onto his feet. It was obvious that he was furious.

“He must be held accountable for what he has done,” Magnus snarled.

“Sure, if the three boys are held accountable for what they have done or are it just we barbarians who should be held responsible. This is a matter of magic and only Mayin has the right to judge a mage. Not a runaway Consul,” Sidastir said and raised threateningly his arm. He was ready to defend Akana.

Magnus glared at Sidastir for a while before he turned around and stormed out of the alley. Sidastir sighed in relief over being spared having to battle his friend.

He heard voices who started to gather outside the alley. He must get Akana away from this place before an angry crowd of people decided to demand the so-called justice on the foreigner. Akana was still terrified and could barely stand up.

He could not walk so Sidastir lifted him up and began to make their way to the Cathurn. He hoped that Magnus would not encounter them again as he had no patience to take on the whole faction of Furies right now. Especially with a frightened Akana in his arms.

*****

Year 782 of Octavus,42th day on the sixth-month Dailainus

Akana sat in front of a tall, unshaven man with an apathetic facial expression. The man had Sandy blond, shoulder-length hair, with mesmerizing blue eyes. Otherwise, he looked as if they had found him wasted on the street and just dusted him off before put on finer clothes on him. Akana found it difficult to see that this was Vis Corle. The teacher of Elementalism.

Vis scratched his stubble and scrutinized Akana who writhed in discomfort. He found the whole procedure pretty unpleasant. Sidastir strode back and forth behind him and he felt more nervous for every step Sidastir took.

Akana felt all the emotions which still welled up in him. They had slowly started to vanish, but there were things that Akana still felt. A feeling that became increasingly stronger by the day and that burned and clawed to get to the surface. Hunger. Akana felt a need. The need to devour more mana. It became increasingly difficult to resist for each day.

He had not told this to anyone. Not even Sidastir although Akana is pretty sure that Sidastir already knew. His eyes never left Akana’s body and there was something deeper behind them. A greater wisdom. Sidastir had contacted his teacher Vis Corle for advice and he had done tests on Akana.

“Well, what do you say?” Sidastir asked impatiently.

“What do you want me to say? From what I can determine, he can’t use magic. The only mana I can detect is the remains of the mana he stole,” Vis said and shrugged.

“You can't steal someone's mana without magic, your drunkard! But that's not what I'm talking about. The white fire. Is the Elementalism?” Sidastir asked.

“Elementalism is the ability to create and control the elements. Fire is an element so it is clear that he used Elementalism if it was fire. How in gods dawn did you get the title Magus if you don't know this,” Vis snorted but Sidastir ignored him.

“If it was fire. That's what I'm wondering about. It looked like fire and burned like fire but it was white,” Sidastir said and sat down in the chair next to Akana.

“If it looks like fire and burned like fire. Then it is fire,” said Vis and grabbed hold of a cup and drank a red drink which Akana was sure was something with alcohol in.

“But it was white. I have never heard of white fire,” Sidastir sighed.

Akana raised his hand and both looked at him like he was deranged. Akana, who felt the heat rise from his cheeks, lowered his hand but opened his mouth.

“I have heard of white fire. Every Auon have heard of the white fire,” He murmured and jerked in discomfort when they continued to stare at him.

“His words are true,” a voice said behind them. Akana turned and stared in astonishment at the sight.

An Auon. The man had black skin, broad face with high cheekbones, dark eyes, and shoulder-length white hair that curled around his face. He was skinny and had a sharp and young figure. Older than Akana but no older than thirty. He had a tattoo on his face which took its shape from the center of his forehead and went down to the sides of his eyes onto his cheeks.

To outsiders, it would have looked like two snakes facing each other, hissing, at the center of the forehead. Their bodies slithering down to his cheeks, but Akana knew better. The head which was significantly larger than the body, instead of two poisonous fangs its entire mouth was filled with sharp razor teeth, and the sails on its back which is used to navigate the sand. This was a Sanddragon which also was the symbol of one of the five families of the Merchant Princes. The Family of Amal.

“My name is Saefir Amal. The second son of the Merchant Prince of Echir, Tera Amal.”

The man lightly bowed his head. It was Sidastir who broke the silence.

“How can all of Auone know white fire when the rest of the world knows nothing about it?”

Saefir turned to Sidastir, who frowned. Akana had no idea what he was thinking but he hoped Sidastir would like his compatriot.

“White fire belongs to Rafabik,” he said, Sidastir responded by asking who Rafabik is.

Akana writhed a bit in embarrassment. He should have taught his husband about his culture, but he had not seen any reason to do it. Saefir didn't seem surprised and continued.

“Rafabik was a Firedragon who attacked Gaza, Auone’s capital, for around five hundred years ago. We defeated the dragon who we had named Rafabik, which means white fire, and therefore is Auone’s banner decorated with a hand and a dragon in the middle of the hand. A symbol of how we stopped the dragon.”

“Now as you say it, I have read somewhere that the ancient Firedragons had a strangely colored fire. They mention no specific color, but I guess white fire would be classed as peculiar. The ancient breed of dragons has been extinct for a long time and only rumors exist about Dragonfire so I guess it could fit the description of Akana’s ability,” Vis said and refilled his drink.

“Dragonfire ... Not Demonfire,” Sidastir said who seemed relieved to hear this although Akana not really understood why. Sidastir frowned suddenly.

“Akana, are you a dragon? How can you have Dragonfire?”