Chapter 17 - Shards of sin (2)

As he listened to his mother's words, Hati started thinking, 'Declaring dominance, huh? Yeah, that fits with the first meeting I had with Luna.' Still, he wanted more information and asked, "What do you mean, mother?"

In response, Sif continued her explanation, "Well, the information on this was even sparser than the rest of it, but the speculation is this. 

In order for two people, each with one half of a shard, to curb the negative consequences of that shard, one of the two needs to take both shards into their soul. By combining the two shards and making them whole again, the negative consequences of the shards will be heavily reduced or even completely negated. At the same time, the person that loses their half will still retain the connection to their shard and, through it, the positive influences. 

The catch, however, is that the person who loses their half will then be bound to the other person and feel great reverence towards them, like that person is destined to be followed and obeyed. They are called the primary, while the person who lost their shard is the secondary. It's not exactly mind control, though. 

Technically, the urge to follow the primary can be resisted, and by simply staying away from them, you could enjoy the benefits of a sin shard without consequences. The question is, of course, whether the primary would let the secondary walk away since sin shards get stronger when the connected people are in close proximity. 

Even if a secondary can resist the urge to follow, it would still be tough to actually fight the primary or cause them harm in any other way."

When Hati heard this, he got a little anxious. After all, this suddenly put into question why Luna stayed with him all those years on Earth. At this point, he was reasonably sure that both Luna and he shared halves of a sin shard, probably pride. But then, did Luna stay with him, despite her inability to dominate him, because she actually loved him, or because the shard forced feelings on her that she mistook for love? 

They had known that their connection had removed Luna's desire to dominate him, but Sif's explanation of the situation seemed more extensive. He knew she was strong-willed, so he was more inclined to think she wouldn't be influenced so easily, but he still had doubts.

Forcing those thoughts to the side, he decided there was no point in anguishing about it now. He would simply find out the truth after he found Luna. Priorities are important. Anyway, he still had some doubts about the process, and although he already knew his father was his mother's other half, he wasn't supposed to know, so he asked, 

"So, since you seem to be fine now, Mother, did you manage to find your other half? Also, can you tell me more about how the whole, declaring dominance and getting the other shard half works?"

Sif couldn't help but smile fondly as she thought of Hati's father and continued her story, "I did indeed find my other half. After we realised that I would slowly be getting worse over the next few years, your uncle and I argued over the next best course to take. Leif wanted me to stay and wait for him to get strong enough to suppress the shard, while I wanted to go out into the world to try and find my other half. 

When it became clear that we weren't going to agree, I decided to sneak out. I couldn't let my brother's caution stand in the way of my future, and I figured, since fate wants me to find the other half, it shouldn't be too hard, right? Well, it turns out it wasn't that easy. It's not like a big light shone on the horizon with a sign that said, 'I'm right here!'. 

But after ten years of misadventures, close calls, and ever-worsening lethargy, I eventually stumbled into him through complete coincidence. I won't bore you with the details of what happened next, but suffice it to say, I ended up with his half of the shard, and we fell in love." 

After getting this far, she looked lovingly at Hati before continuing, "And then you happened. As for how one ends up with the shard of the other, it depends on the involved sin. For example, your father and I had to fight in the dream world I told you about earlier, but I don't know what the other sins requirements are."

Hati nodded at the new information, but there was one last thing that Hati wanted to know about, so he said, "I see. Thank you for telling me all this, mother, even though it hurts you to remember the fate of my grandparents. I have one last question, though: Is it possible for someone to possess multiple sin shards?" After all, at this point, Hati was convinced he had three sin shards inside of him, representing lust, wrath and pride.

Sif smiled at his words, hugged him and said, "It's alright, little Hati. The story may involve the death of my parents, but it also involves me meeting your father, so it's not all bad. Besides, it kind of felt good telling you all this." 

After saying all this, she got a conflicted look on her face and said, "Although I was planning on telling you all this a bit later, you're still only nine years old, after all. But you're growing up so fast! And you're so smart for your age! It sometimes feels as if you're much older. 

Anyway, in answer to your last question, I have no idea. None of the information we found pointed to this possibility, but I do know one thing, someone with multiple sin shards is royally fucked until they find their other halves."

Smiling wryly at this last sentence, Hati thought, 'I couldn't agree more. Or at least, I would have in my previous life, but it's been alright so far in this one. It seems my sin shards are currently suppressed in much the same way my mothers' was in the past. However, I really need to discover how this happened and how long it will last. At least I haven't noticed any weakening of the suppression in the last nine years, so it should last a while yet.'

They stayed in their hugging position for a little while longer before they separated, and Sif dispelled her barrier, believing they were done talking about sin shards. Astrid noticed they were done but quickly went back to gathering energy. If her master wanted to tell her about these so-called sin shards, he would do so later, and if not, that was fine, too.

After this interlude, they went back to their regular routine. Hati went back to spitting through the library, searching for information on his reincarnation while also learning more about the world he found himself in. Sif returned to reading and cultivating, and Astrid returned to cultivating and tending to her master.

Time started passing fast again, and soon enough, Hati's tenth birthday rolled around. It was time to begin his Einherjar path by awakening his heart focal and physical element. Right now, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor inside a large room while surrounded by Sif, Leif, Astrid, great-grandfather Erik and someone that Hati had only seen once before, as she was there during his birth, a woman whom Sif called 'Aunty Lisa'. 

She was introduced to him as 'Lisa Bönd,' and she was apparently a healer, here to aid Hati if anything went wrong. They seemed to treat her with a lot of respect, which surprised him because she didn't have the Fenrir last name, meaning she wasn't a part of the clan. But he didn't ask about this, as he had different things on his mind.

Erik was giving Hati some last-minute tips, "Remember, boy. Turning ten means your heart can technically take the strain of opening the heart focal and awakening your physical element, but that doesn't mean it is entirely safe. You need to be careful and stop if anything feels wrong. However, there will be some pain, so don't call it quits too easily either."

Hati inwardly rolled his eyes at this, thinking this old man might as well have said nothing, but he realised that his great-grandfather was simply worried, so outwardly, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, old man. I promise to be careful." 

Although Hati had somewhat forgiven his great-grandfather for being one of the elders, he still called him by a relatively disrespectful term. Erik never minded this, though, as he was quite indulgent towards his great-grandson. Great-grandfather was a mouthful anyway.

Noticing it was time to start, Hati followed the instructions written down in the technique Erik had given him. It was called the Sanguine Wolf Arts, and apparently, it was the primary Einherjar technique for the Fenrir clan, useful mainly for people with blood as their physical element, which Hati's most likely was. It was going well so far. 

He could feel warm currents flowing from his pores, into his veins and onto his heart, filling up the heart focal. But when he got to the point of awakening his physical element, he suddenly felt a great pain in his chest as he started getting dizzy. "Pfft." He then spat out a litre of blood before he fainted. The last thing he saw was his family rushing towards him.