Back in his own room, it seemed to Senzajin, Luca firstly changed his clothes, then stood in front of the mirror, staring his reflection into the eyes.
"What in the world was that...?", he murmured, wiping the last drops of blood away.

"Apparently an ability called berserk, as this book says.", Melina's voice sounded, scaring Luca. "It does not say if it is a curse or a gene, but the magisters seem pretty sure about it being a curse."
"What does this...berserk even do?" Luca turned around and sat down on the floor next to Melina who was carrying a heavy book.
"Really? You almost went full berserk while keeping your barrier up and you wanna tell me, you can't think of anything?"
"Seemingly."

Melina sighed deeply.

"The book says, it gives you incredibly strong abilities, also some that make you more a war machine than a living being." The girl bit her lower lip. "Not that anyone would try to use it since war machines that strong can easily get lost control over. They'd rather kill people with berserk than keeping them for just the case."

Senzajin froze at this comment.
First, he seemed to have two children with his berserk gene, then there was a book about him and his abilities?
How could they even find out?
And what curse could the magisters possibly speak of?

"So you think they'll kill us right where we stand if we tell them or they ever find out?" Luca shivered at his sister's weak nod. "Mom would never want to see us dead, I'm sure we can t-"
"No one!", Melina harshly interrupted, fear written in her big red eyes. "Luca, I wanna live freely from this all but I'll be able to leave Quel'Thalas in at least hundred years! Do you think we can keep it secret at least till I'm gone?"
Luca hesitated a rather long while before he gave into a barely visible nod.
Melina's eyes turned back to green. "Thank you..."
Her brother shrugged and continued staring at the book. "So how do you intend to hide it for a hundred years? It's a long time, and without your help today they'd already found out."
"Easy. We, or especially you, need to train ourselves in forcing it down and maybe letting it out in the evenings...but not every evening. It might get them suspicious."

The twins gulped and Senzajin wished he could hug them, give them the comfort they needed and lead them away from this whole nobility and elven crap.
Obviously, they'd be better off anywhere else than this broken kingdom of mana-addicted elves.
They would grow up without fear, confident and disciplined enough to keep control of their berserk abilities.
They would have a funny and relaxing life in the wilderness than this stiff and strict one in nobility.

A few tears slipped free when he lost himself in these imaginations.
How he wished for it to work.
How he had wished to live like that with a family that loved him.
How he wished it could be true.
How uselessly he wished...

"Are you okay...?" The female voice of the girl sounded worried.
Senzajin snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Luca, but he and his twin sister both looked at him with deep red eyes.
"You..." He wiped away the tears with the back of his right hand. "You can see me...?"
Melina nodded.
"Who are you?" Luca's hand slowly grabbed a knife. "Are you a rogue?"
"No no, not that." Senzajin shook his head with a faint smile. "I appear to be a ghost of some sort."
"A ghost...?" Melina lifted a hand and carefully touched him. "I thought you can't touch ghosts?"
"Maybe because of berserk?", he threw the idea at her.
"You know about berserk?" The twin's eyes lit up as he nodded.
"I'll teach you, but for that you will need to find an excuse for leaving the city without any bodyguards." Maybe he could even talk them into running away and have that life with more or less him that he wanted them to have...
"Well, they'll send at least Rin with us..." Luca shrugged.
"Do you really think we can trust her?"
"She wouldn't be our bodyguard if we couldn't trust her. It's her job to keep us safe!", he argumented against Melina's doubts.
"Well, I doubt she'd refuse the order to tell your father about why we are leaving for Eversong Woods everyday."
"Seems you will have to sneak outside then.", Senzajin intended to end the arguement.

It worked.

The twins agreed with a simple nod and started planning already while the red in their eyes started fading.
Senzajin sighed a little.
Of course he would teach them how to use berserk...but it was better to not show himself for now.
His presence seemed to awaken berserk in his children and that was dangerous.
He should stay away from them, or at least keep a proper distance, be "like a rogue" as his Amani father Zelzulavo used to say.

And that was exactly what he was gonna do.

With teary eyes at the memory of his now dead father, Senzajin took a few steps back, trying to pressure down the upwelling memories and negative emotions.
The two children didn't notice his leave, and if they did, they could not see him anymore.
The wall of the room was between them and him.
In future it should stay that way...
He could not bear being the reason for their discovery, their execution, their nameless graves.
Could not bear being the reason for that humiliation.
Could not bear the pain...

A tear slipped free and fell down on one of the papers beneath him.
The paper became wet and the ink ran down, mixing words together.
A life alone with his children and a wife...

Oh, how he wished that could have happened...