🔹 Kaer Morhen – One Week After the Trials
The wind had lost its teeth.
Or maybe Cain had grown too sharp to feel it.
His breath fogged the morning air as he stood across from Callum in the courtyard. Snow crunched underfoot. The others—the boys who hadn't survived—were ghosts now. Echoes in stone. But he and Callum remained.
And today, they trained like it.
Callum was first to move, blade flashing in a tight arc. Cain sidestepped effortlessly, his mutated reflexes firing faster than thought.
Too fast, Cain realized. My body's reacting before I command it.
He flowed around the strike, ducked under Callum's next swing, and tapped his friend's side with the flat of his sword.
"Too open," Cain muttered.
Callum grinned, unfazed. "You're faster than before. Not fair."
"Then adapt."
They clashed again.
🔹 Training and Testing Their Mutations
Their new abilities made training dangerous—but exhilarating.
Cain's senses were sharpened beyond reason. He could hear the heartbeat skip in Callum's chest before each attack.
Callum's strength had exploded. His strikes struck like a hammer now, his balance flawless, his footwork nearly silent.
Their eyes glowed—gold and green, both cat-slit and luminous in the shadows.
Watching them were Geralt and Lambert, standing at the edge of the yard, arms crossed.
"He's surgical," Geralt muttered, nodding at Cain. "Never wastes a move."
Lambert snorted. "Sure. But Callum? That kid's got the heart. Reminds me of Eskel when he wasn't boring as a fence post."
Geralt smirked faintly. "He's good."
"They both are," Lambert said. "We might actually have something special on our hands."
🔹 That Evening – The Heart-to-Heart
They sat atop the wall just outside Kaer Morhen, feet dangling into the cold dusk air. The stars were just beginning to peek through the clouds. Cain's silver-white hair shimmered in the pale light, caught between shadow and fire.
Callum broke the silence.
"So… you were a half-elf before the Trials?"
Cain didn't react right away. His golden cat-eyes scanned the horizon.
"Yeah," he said simply.
"Your hair was already white," Callum added. "And your eyes… golden. Not like now. But still strange."
Cain turned toward him, unreadable. Calm. Always calm.
"I don't remember anything before waking up in the snow. Just my name. Cain. That's all I had."
Callum studied him for a moment, then asked the question carefully.
"Do you think you were from the Continent? Or… maybe from somewhere else? Your skin's darker than most around here."
Cain raised a brow. "You got a problem with that?"
Callum blinked. "No! I mean—not at all. It's just… you're different."
"Is that an issue?"
Callum shook his head. "Cain… you and I just survived the worst pain imaginable. We've fought side by side. Bled. Nearly died. I don't care where you're from. What you are. All I care about is who you are."
Cain was quiet for a beat. Then he smirked.
"Thanks," he said softly. "You're alright for a noble bastard."
Callum nudged him. "You're alright for an elf freak."
They both laughed, letting the wind carry their voices across the mountain.
🔹 Late That Night – System Sync
Cain sat alone in the quiet of his chamber, lit only by a single flickering candle.
He exhaled. Focused. And called on the System.
[Status Window – Updated Post-Trials]
Name: Cain
Race: Half-Elf (Mutated)
Class: Witcher – School of the Wolf
Bloodline: Elder Blood – Stage One Activated
Age: 9
Title(s): The White Flame's Ember, Twin Blade
Reputation: Kaer Morhen – Favored
System Sync: 32%
🔹 AttributesStatValueNotes
Strength 7: Enhanced muscle development
Dexterity 10: Preternatural reflexes
Constitution 9: Pain endurance + resistance to toxins
Intelligence 10: Retained knowledge + magical theory
Wisdom 9: Calm judgment, growing mystical awareness
Charisma 6: Understated but focused
Luck (Divine)? Variable – Divine Trait active
Unspent Stat Points: 2
(From Trial + Quest Completion)
🔹 Abilities and Traits
Reflex Trigger (Passive): Instinctive dodge chance vs. ambush: +5%
Cold-Blooded (Passive – Intermediate): Increased clarity under pain, trauma, and fear magic
Observer's Instinct: Spot enemy weaknesses faster in live combat (+3% exploitation rate)
Brothers on the Path (Passive – Rare): Bonus training stats with Callum nearby
Dreamwalker (Passive – Locked): Tied to Elder Blood; grants access to ancestral memory
Divine Luck (Passive – Unknown): Fate bends slightly in your favor
Mutation Sync (System-Bound): Mutation efficiency + resistance to side effects: +12% bonus
🔹 Inventory
Hunter's Edge (Dagger – Rare)
Backstab damage
Silent kill
Returns when thrown
Potion of Minor Vitality (x1)
Rotfiend Mutagen (Unbound)
Alchemical Core: Toxic – Stable
Worn Witcher Training Tunic(fitted to new body)
Codex:
Monster Biology: Intermediate
Necrophage Knowledge Expanded
Rare Chest – Unopened
Cain hovered his hand over the unopened Rare Chest, then paused.
Not yet. Save it.
He leaned back against the wall, eyes closed, feeling every inch of his new body. The aches were still there, but they felt earned. Controlled.
Cain was no longer the boy who had woken naked and afraid in a snowy alley.
He was something else now.
Not just a Witcher. Not just a half-elf.
Something older stirred in his blood. Something that had spoken to him in dreams.
And it hadn't said goodbye.