Judge was with his mother, she recently started to teach him about spirits. But there was one condition for her to start teaching him, and it was that he could not attempt any spirit summoning until she told him he was ready.
No, it was not one of those things where your master says in a cryptic tone that he was not yet ready, but she had a clear reason for that.
Spirit summoning, or in his mother's words "Evocatio Entitatis Sigillatae", which even she did not know the meaning of, was an art of summoning entities sealed in the world beyond ours by allowing them to use our own body as a gateway through the seal.
She said even the gods could descend if they found a suitable mortal body that could hold their immense power at the moment they made their descent.
Judge being the weak child in her eyes (This is entirely Judge's side of the picture), she said that his body could not serve as a gateway through the seal, so even summoning a spirit that was as powerless as a newborn was not in his reach.
Judge was not liking this one bit, but what choice did he have... Wait! I do have a choice.
He looked at his mother, who was explaining about the history of powerful spirits and their recorded tales. He just had a plan on how to politely tell his mother that he may not like spirits after all.
"Mom, politely speaking, maybe I don't like spirit summoning after all." He had no plan, he just had to be honest. In his eyes, his mother— no, his whole family was some unpredictable bunch of cold and calculating schemers, who decided to live together and start a family.
Eleyn went dead silent, her cold gaze locked into his eyes, "You have two choices," her voice screamed danger.
"What?" Judge suddenly regretted ever opening his mouth. That answer was, as expected, an unexpected one. Shit I should have stayed quiet.
"One, study spirits, or the next choice," Her voice was calm but chilling, and that calmness was the most scary part. "You better believe me when I say I can turn YOU into a spirit."
Judge could only gulp and nod, he had no other choice, he had gone deep into the trap he had set on his own. Again, why?!
Seeing her son's dissatisfactory nod, Eleyn could only sigh. "Listen here Judge, you are at the age where you should start studying ethercraft, Liam is studying material shift from your grandfather, Amber studied creation from your father.
"And you, Judge, are going to study a more complicated matter. Believe it or not, with enough preparations beforehand, I am more powerful than your father and grandfather combined."
Judge was in a daze when she was explaining, but her being more powerful than both his dad and grandpa combined was enough to drag his attention. even though it felt like too much of a scam, he knew his mother would never lie to her family.
"Well, if you are talking about preparations, believe it or not, I am really good at it."
"So am I, let's just put the boring session on hold and learn to summon spirits shall we?" Eleyn smiled, the same smile that she gave when she was plotting something behind his back, but Judge could not put his finger on what.
"Whatever you say, Mom." he decided to follow through with his mother's plan for once. (Spoiler, it was a bad idea)
Amber watched at the paper figurine her father was holding. The white surface had been dyed red with blood. She immediately thought of many things, but she could not put her thoughts on any of them properly, it was like a giant wheel full of ideas but it never stopped spinning to show an idea.
"What is that, Dad?" She finally decided to ask her father directly without guessing more. Not only was it unnecessary, but also mentally exhausting, which was something she did not want to experience after the scene in the morning.
"This is your connection with your body double inside the palace in Wistmere, and it all bloody means that it had been killed." Alex held the figure forward for his daughter to see it more clearly.
Amber studied it before answering, "So, I was stabbed?" Despite the news of there being a possible killer out there who could kill her at any given time, she was calm and collected. "I was stabbed, inside my own house, in my room, and while I was sleeping? Possibly a stab to the chest?"
"Yes correct, and there are a few good things that came with this."
"And what are those Good things." She crossed her arms.
"Firstly, your body double was allowed to be killed, it has been placed there since your birth, and it was about time to remove it because you are coming. So when we got news that there had been an assassin, and our sources said that there was a commission to kill you inside an assassin gathering, we instructed our people to just stay calm and act like they never saw him, but not make it obvious."
"Why would someone want me dead? And you still have not answered my question."
"I am getting to it sweetheart, and about who wants you dead, we are still looking through it. So, if the commissioner gets the news of your death, and it spreads among their circle of 'let's take care of Amber'. Then, there would not be any more kill requests aimed at you, and if we were to catch that man who tried to assassinate you, catching the commissioner would have been harder."
Amber was walking to and fro, she did not completely understand what her father told her, but she did not care as her curiosity had vanished, and her eyes slowly drifted toward the paper figure. "What are you going to do with that?"
"Burn it, of course." Her father answered quite enthusiastically, and as she watched, the figure was quickly caught in small but extremely intense flames that burned it to a crisp.