Two of the strangers he recognized from before; now there was an old grandma with them. The granny... was scary. Her eyes were pale white without any pupils. The fingernails on her hands, the eyelashes, and the ends of her hair were made of bright green fire.
Most of her body was covered by a strange grey dress that looked like a robe with belts, metallic chains, and bright green vines wrapped around her body. There were hints of tattoos on her exposed neck and ankle. Were his eyes playing tricks on him, or were they moving?
Her right arm was dark bluish in color as if it belonged to a corpse, not a living being. Her left hand was holding a long staff. It looked normal enough, excluding all the weird patterns drawn on it.
The two men and his parents gave the old lady with grey hair some space; they stood behind her, paying her full respect.
"Hmm.. Unbelievable.." She murmured.
’Clack’
’Clack’
With the help of her staff, the old woman took a few steps towards him. Faust had stood up from his lavish chair and was just studying the features of the odd stranger. The moment the scary grandma entered a five-meter radius around him, all her fancy fires were snuffed out like they never existed.
The lady froze. Her hair turned ordinary grey, her tattoos disappeared, and even her eyes turned to normal blue with wide irises. The strangest part, however, was that her vines turned to dust-like particles, then rushed towards Faust in a blink of an eye, and disappeared somewhere within his flesh.
Even her bluish arm regained a little healthy color. Faust only noticed it because the grandma was staring at her own arm in astonishment. She did simple movements with her arm, and a strange, sly smile appeared on her face.
"Pride take me... How is this possible?" The lady murmured.
Then she looked straight towards him and took a step back. All her special features returned immediately, except for the magical vines.
Then she opened her mouth and said something terrifying. Not the words; the words were only gibberish to his ears. But the voice, it was overwhelming, powerful. As if the stone floor under him, the very air around him, had suddenly turned to sharp needles assaulting all his senses at once.
An uncontrollable urge to get on his knees clouded his mind. But all of it lasted only a fraction of a second; then the pain disappeared like an illusion. Faust was scared shitless, though. His knees were slightly bent; he was about to kneel before her if the weird feeling had remained just a bit longer.
Faust looked up sharply. His eyes were watery, but the anger on his young face was smoldering.
The granny was taken aback. For the first time since she arrived, the confident look on her face was a little shaken. Just then, Faust noticed the other four people present in the room were struggling to stay upright. A woman and his father were washed in a bright yellow and blue glow. His mother and the last guy were holding the walls or furniture around them as several pieces of their accessories glowed bright blue.
’What the fuck is going on?’
"This defies logic." The old lady said while sitting down on his bed.
"My Lady," His father called, "Did you see? Is it profane?"
"No, not profane."
His parents’ shoulders relaxed, relieved to hear her words.
The old woman then added, "But it’s not divine either."
Now everyone in the room looked confused and a little lost.
"Spirits are only of two kinds, either divine or profane." The bearded man standing beside his stepmother said.
"A new spirit has not appeared for 400 years now. High Archon, do you really not recognize it?" The same bearded man asked.
The old lady known as High Archon did not reply. But her silence was an answer enough.
"Will someone spare a second to tell me what is going on?" Faust tried to behave, but he could not keep the spite he felt toward the Archon out of his voice; he glared at her.
"And why the hell did you order me to kneel?"
But just like everything about him, even this outburst was shocking for the five individuals.
"Kneel?" The bearded man asked in surprise.
"The Command was to kneel?" The woman with a sword tied to her waist spoke for the first time.
His parents were too shocked to even speak. Now this whole thing was freaking Faust out.
"Boy... You understood what I said?" The Archon asked with an almost ashen face.
He was still angry, but seeing such a weird reaction, Faust decided to be honest. He had read about the Command. Primal Voice, the language of gods. It was something only a handful of truly powerful people could do. If this Archon was among those, he had to show some respect.
"No. But I felt the sudden urge to kneel."
The Archon relaxed and nodded slightly.
"It is strange enough that you are immune to commands; if you suddenly started speaking them, I would have no choice but to brand you an abomination."
His mother gasped and suddenly took a few steps forward, coming between the Archon and himself. His father was only a step behind.
"My lady..." His father faced the Archon. "I only wished for you to see his nature. If he is not profane..."
The Archon raised a hand, and his father stopped speaking.
"Enough, I have nothing against your precious son, Duke. However strange he may be. As for revealing his runes. His strange boon of rejecting all essence will make it difficult, but maybe it’s possible if I make a big enough circle."
His mother looked worried, "Something like that... we can only do once..."
"Yes," The Archon nodded, "He will have to survive without seeing his runes in the future. Troublesome but not unheard of."
Now, this part of the conversation Faust understood perfectly. According to the books he read, rune-revealing magic circles and devices were among the simplest things to make. Even children could do it.
Runes revealed what kind of power an individual possessed. Something akin to status in video games.