“Are you sure you are ready to drink them?”

I stared at the potions; my stomach too busy doing backflips.

“Whether I’m ready or not, I don’t have enough time.” There was a long pause, the silence stretching. My next question came out reluctantly; dubious, even. “Do you think my body is ready?”

Emrys looked at me from head to toe at least twice, frowning.

My heartbeat raced.

“Just barely. It will be extremely painful for you. You know how these potions work, right?”

I nodded, letting out a shaken breath. I was trying to put at least two years of physical training in one month. Of course it was going to be painful.

Yet what choice did I have?

There was a total of seven potions in the leather case. They all shared the same dark, earthy color—likely crafted with plants from the Arcanae family. I was only half-convinced they weren’t some kind of poison.

“You can take a maximum of two per week, at least two days apart from each other. Never take them before bed; always consume them on a full stomach. And this goes without saying, but never consume them with alcohol.”

I snorted, taking one of the bottles in my hands. Where would I even find alcohol in this place?

“You should also wait at least ten minutes before doing any kind of exercise. And pain is fine, yet if you start bleeding from any orifice notify me immediately.”

I laughed, the sound anxious and quaky as I opened the potion’s lid.

“Anything else, coach?”

Emrys’ gaze was covered by shadows, a somber glow reflecting the morning light.

“Just…don’t die. It would be inconvenient if you did.”

I had to blink a few times to truly believe what I was seeing.

It wasn’t so bad a sight—a worrying Emrys.

After a deep breath, I simply threw the potion down my throat, not sparing one second to taste its flavor or let it linger in my mouth.

Two seconds later I was on my knees, gasping for air.

The potion’s vial became a broken mess in the ground, the glass everywhere, and yet I couldn’t feel if I was cutting myself in the shards or not.

It was as if all the blood in my body was being replaced by liquid fire. A poisonous acid. I could feel my veins popping, my muscles bulging, a scream stuck at my throat, choking me. I couldn’t breathe. Not even blink.

“Your body is absorbing the potion right now. Don’t try to fight it, otherwise it will be more painful.”

Emrys' voice somehow reached me, the sound distant and weak. There were no words I could use to describe the excruciating pain, to explain its intensity, or how hot my body was. I had lost all control of my limbs, my arms and legs spasming one second and stiffing the other.

If I had enough strength to speak, I would’ve asked Emrys to kill me.

The first minute was unbearable. The second, atrocious. 

By the fourth minute, my tears were brave enough to fall from my eyes and by the sixth, my body was cool enough to not evaporate them before they reached my chin.

After ten minutes, I was lying on the grass, shaking. Every fiber, every nerve ached and burned, yet my body was too exhausted to move.

It took five more minutes for me to be able to move my fingers—to regain my motor skills. My mind was slow, cloudy, and tired due to the pain.

When I was finally able to sit down after nineteen minutes, my vision blurred and my clothes drenching with sweat, there was a hand in front of me.

“The potion’s effects last between 16-18 hours. You can’t waste time if you want to feel less pain the next time you take it.”

Still trying to catch my breath, I stared at that hand for long seconds before holding on to it, letting Emrys help me get up.

“I will run a couple of laps, to warm up. Let me know which exercises I should do once I get back.”

I must have slipped at least five times, my legs still shaking and lacking strength. Yet by the fifth time I stood up, I could feel my muscles getting stronger. Firmer.

As I ran, my body was still burning from the inside out. Yet it was the kind of burn that made me feel more alert. Energetic. As if the only thing I could do to make all that fire and burning go away was move my body.

Whenever I was, I felt his gaze. Those violet, glowing eyes following me. Styx was always in the same pot, the same tree branch covered in shadows, watching the grounds like a warden—or a predator. His long tail would swing to the sides at a slow pace, and though his entire stance appeared calm and centered, the glow in his gaze would send shivers down my spine.

Somehow, I managed to run the two full laps. By the end I stopped, not only was my breathing more stable but I also felt my muscles stronger.

The moment Emrys’ eyes landed on me, he started to walk closer while carrying something in his hands. He had to stop right in front of me so I could see what it actually was.

A bouquet.

“Here. Eat this.”

I must have stared at the painfully colorful plants for at least ten five seconds before the words left my mouth.

“Excuse me?”

“These. Eat them.”

I knew Emrys was not one to make jokes. Which made the situation even less funny.

“What do you think I am, a goat? I’m not eating grass.”

“Are you blind? These are flowers.”

“Same thing! Not putting those things in my mouth.”

Emrys sighed, rolling his eyes. “These are medicinal flowers.”

“So? I’m not sick.”

The annoyance in his voice was palpable. “They will slow down the metabolism. Which means the potion’s effects will last longer.”

I raised my brows, not expecting Emrys to suggest something like that at all.

“But alchemists forbid the mix of potion and herbs like that.”

Plants from the Arcanae family were the best, if not the only, option for crafting good potions. However, they were extremely prone to aggressive reactions when mixed or consumed with other substances—which is why it was so hard for alchemists to craft decent potions. 

There was a faint blush that crossed his cheeks as he averted his gaze.

“Because most people have no idea what they are doing and end up dead. It also depends on the quality of the potions…”

“And…do you know what you are doing…?” It was impossible to hide the concern in my voice as I eyed the flowers. They were starting to look less cute and more poisonous by the second.

Emrys got even redder, his voice lower and meeker.

“Before becoming a rider…I…”

He mumbled the last words, his voice inaudible.

“Before becoming a rider, you what?

He pushed the flowers against my chest, his face as red as one of the flowers.

“I was studying alchemy! That’s all!” He took a few steps back, not daring to meet my eyes. “These flowers have a toxin that reacts with this potion’s composition, slowing your metabolism for a couple of hours. Chew five petals now, and five more in the Evening.”

The boy began to walk away, leaving me with a bouquet of colored and funny-looking flowers in my hands.

Thankfully he couldn’t see me grinning. “What about my training for today?”

“Just keep doing the same exercises but increase the sets. I’m almost done preparing the weights you will be using.”

A sudden cold embraced my insides.

Weights?

“Also, start with planks now. When you are confident about them, start doing variations too. Like side planks, reverse, or with shoulder taps.”

As Emrys walked away, his voice trailing off as he spoke practically to himself, I kept staring at the void. I had no idea what he was talking about. And was too scared to ask. 

My mind was still stuck at “weights”.

Reluctantly, I took five petals and put them in my mouth. As I chewed, a bitter and sweetened flavor spread in my mouth, numbing my tongue. I shuddered when I swallowed, my stomach revolting for a second. I kept staring at the direction Emrys had gone, the storage cabin where the previous owner kept all the gear.

I kept trying to remember if Jackal had been such a good ringleader to Emrys to deserve that kind of effort from him.

The boy was born and raised in the slums, like most of the underground. Yet one day I found him in an abandoned building in one of my Blocks, with Blue. One thing I was always proud of was my keen senses, and the moment I laid eyes on the duo I knew they could not only go the distance but surpass it.

The boy soon became Emrys, Jackal’s greatest ace. I never asked what kind of life he led in the slums, nor did Emrys share. Being from the slums too, I had a pretty good understanding of what it had been like.

As Jackal, I treated all my riders the same. If they did well by me, I did well by them. The more profit they earned me, the more I could provide them.

I lived as ringleader Jackal for almost ten years—almost half of my life. In those ten years, I had never acquired a rider as talented as Emrys. As his ringleader, I always provided him with the very best. Also paid him well.

Yet our interactions never went beyond a professional level. We each understood our roles and responsibilities, which may be why I always found it so easy to communicate with Emrys.

I knew why I had sought out Emrys and revealed my identity to him, even with the risks. I had to learn from the best I knew.

But why had Emrys agreed to help me? He had used some of his own money to get me those potions and even went all the way to search for those strange flowers.

What was he expecting of me? Certainly, his help wouldn’t be free. In the long run, he would ask for payback. And I would have no option but to ask “how much”.

I shook my head, shifting my focus back to my training. My arms were screaming for a timeout as I continued doing the push-ups.

A few minutes later I collapsed in the grass, staring at the clear blue sky.

Blocking the sun with my hand, I stared at my arm. My veins were bulging, making me wonder if they wouldn’t simply explode when I wasn’t looking.

When Emrys came back, he was pulling a tray—a tray loaded with heavy sacks and metal weights.

“Why is the great Jackal, who was so obsessive with time, laying in the grass as if we are having a picnic?”

I stood up, my body cursing me endlessly.

“I told you, stop calling me Jackal. I need to live as Vex now.”

Emrys stopped the tray right in front of me. His gaze was merciless.

“Then I hope ‘Vex’ is ready for the next weeks. By the end of this month, you will either be dead or be begging me to stop.”

I laughed, clenching my fists.

As Vex, I had nothing more to lose. And to make sure Alantra Harris would be acquainted with this feeling, I would gladly take one month of hellish training.

Even in death, I would make her regret it. Not only for humiliating me, making me lose my entire fortune, and utterly destroying ten years of hard work, but for negating my way of life. For that—

Alantra Harris would pay dearly.