Niian walked up and down his library, hands crossed behind his back. Worry stretched the chubby features of his face. He didn’t recall ever having experienced such a situation. Never has his Corypheus been as combative as Darya—which may explain their high mortality rate—and never had one of them used an orderly as the Praxis had just done. The icing on the cake, Blatte, young and reckless, blindly obeyed the one he served. He knew so little about his new state! Niian shook his head sadly. He could only blame himself. The honest kid warned him that he couldn’t learn too much at once. The many rules—too many, certainly—hindered him, reducing him to an aid role. If, however, he agreed to stick to them. Over the centuries, Niian had to admit, the lines between the admissible and its opposite
