Rivers of the Night-Chapter 261: A Lion’s Mane

The gap between Manaborn and Runebound was even larger than Imbued and Manaborn, and that latter process quite literally required an etching into one's Core. Plus, how could an evolution of a bloodline occur without the replacing of one's marrow?

Pain of the body and of the soul was overwhelming during a process like that, so how could it also contend against the Mandate of the Heavens? It had been completely reckless and would have died ten out of ten times if not for Theron.

That was why it had made such a choice.

It recognized that in this situation… it was no longer the alpha.

Theron pulled out another pair of robes from his spatial ring, the one thing on him that he had managed to protect. Thankfully, so much of the lightning had been directed by his flesh that he was able to do exactly that.

He reached a hand to his head, feeling the smoothness and shaking his head. He was about to leave it be, but…

~

"Why don't you let me cut my hair, mother? Long hair is so inconvenient. I have to carry around a hair tie everywhere I go, and it gets in the way of my reading…"

Little Theron didn't seem very angry when he was saying these things, just laying out a logical argument like he always did. It just felt silly to him, especially when many other boys had short hair.

He wasn't sure why that was either. Women could be just as beautiful with short hair too, so why bother?

A familiar, beautiful woman smiled down at him, bending down and pinching his cheeks.

"Have you ever seen a lion shave his mane?"

Theron blinked. "… No, but they also have to lounge around in the summer months looking for shade because of the inconvenience. If they could, I'm sure they would at some point."

Theron's mother laughed a gorgeous, bell-like laughter.

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"Do you think so? That mane is their symbol of status, of power. It attracts their mates and displays their might. They stand tall with it on regardless of its inconvenience because it displays how strong they are without lifting a single finger."

Theron tilted his head to the side. "You want me to keep my long hair for status? We aren't very rich or powerful, mother. I also don't know if I care about such things."

Her smile didn't fade, but her eyes became more gentle.

"When I met your father, he had very long hair. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen—until you."

Leaning forward, she gave Theron a kiss on the forehead.

Theron looked at his mother for a long time, feeling as though there was something deep and profound in her words that he couldn't quite understand.

It was either that or she was already trying to marry him off at six years old. He couldn't really tell.

But if it just made her happy, then he would keep it.

~

Theron stood in silence, rubbing his bald head and recalling the memory.

He was older now. His mother's words were probably still deeper than he could understand, but he could understand them somewhat.

By his own logic, he would have shaved himself entirely bald. Why keep short hair at all? Long hair might be more inconvenient, but short hair could be inconvenient too.

How far would he go for the sake of convenience—for chasing logic and pragmatism over feeling?

However, there was another side to the coin, another meaning that his mother was getting at.

"A lion's mane…"

Theron looked up, his healing spells churning as the growth of his hair follicles was being quickly stimulated.

"What lion was mother referring to? What kingdom did he rule?"

Theron took a step and landed on the Alpha's back. By that point, his hair was already long and flowing, his eyes sharp.

He had felt it within him—a pride stirring from a place long since chained and suppressed in the depths of his body.

Why did his bloodline hate the Mandate of the Heavens so much?