Age 1991
"What are you saying!" Maudite questioned with wide eyes. "The Corruption? What is that? You aren't making any sense?"
Father Darvin let out a growl as he suddenly whipped around and backhanded the girl sending her falling to the floor! "It doesn't make any sense!" He shouted! "That's what made this bloodline cursed! Every one of us is doomed to make a foolish mistake that will result in the death of themselves and those around us! Your father was an idiot, your grandfather was an idiot, and your great grandfather was an idiot!"
Maudite whimpered as she inched away from the man as he yelled. "How? How do you know this!"
"Because I've seen it! And I experienced it! I saw what Yusei did..."
"Who's Yusei?" She asked with a quiver in her voice.
Father Darvin took a deep breath as he suddenly fell to his knees. "Your father... The damn monster that is behind those doors..."
"My dad's name was Yusei..." Maudite said in shock.
Father Darvin rubbed the hand he had used to slap the girl as he nodded his head. "Yes... Yusei..." Father Darvin said slowly. "My son..."
"What!" Father Darvin's eyes stared, at his granddaughter. "But... But you said I was an outcast?" She said with a whimper.
"You are..." Father Darvin said electing another growl. "I don't consider Yusei my son anymore... Not after everything he did..."
"I don't understand..."
"I told you... Your bloodline, or should I say the Darvin bloodline is cursed..." The elderly man looked up to the roof of the cave as he let out a sigh. "We all make one mistake... One massive mistake that results in pain, and misery. My Father's mistake was leaving the village to me... My mistake was marrying a woman, and creating Yusei... And your father..." Father Darvin let out a chuckle. "Hell. He was nothing but mistakes..."
"So... Even after knowing who I am... You continued to let the village treat me horribly... You couldn't stop treating me like I was scum... Even... Even after knowing I was your granddaughter-"
"You aren't my granddaughter..." Father Darvin hissed getting a dangerous look in his eyes. "You're an abomination... Created through unspeakable means..."
"What..."
"During the Age of 1106, there was a new experiment that was going around... Project Seraphin... A new experiment that could result in a person being gifted multiple Attributes, through another Attribute known as the Monsterfication. The project was dropped fairly quick as it was too risky, and resulted in several deaths... Plus, even when it did succeed those who had the powers, were deemed too dangerous, and carried a few... Let's say side effects..." Father Darvin said simply. "However... Like most Scientists, the man who created the project wasn't satisfied and so he looked for something... Something more. He found this in the form of a plant... It is unknown what exactly was done to create the virus, however, it involved, a plant, the Monsterfication, and God's blood... When those three things were mixed together it created something new. A chemical that any person could take, and they had a 100% possibility of surviving. This chemical when exposed to the body would instantly work on improving it, somehow? It was to fast for anything normal, within mere moments the host would evolve. This chemical didn't gift the host with any new Attributes, rather it gifted them in other ways. It would power up the host's Attribute to the maximum possible level, this would in turn usually result in the host dying due to their body not being able to handle it, but the chemical fixed that problem by changing the host's body, to something no longer human. The host would be improved by almost ten times what they were originally... They say that the Monsterfication, can turn a person into a human monster... Well then by that logic this chemical can turn a person into a Demon... While it does result in a massive powerup the host will find themselves slowly going insane... Soon they would be nothing more than a mindless beast that will only kill..."
Maudite stated at the man with a look of shock. "I had no idea such a thing existed..."
"Neither did I until your father brought it here..." Father Darvin said letting out a heavy sigh as he stared at the ground. "He was thirty when he died... He was twenty when he left..."
"When he left?"
"Yes..." Father Darvin growled. "Age... 1968... Our village was attacked by some Bestia Macht, just like it is being today... However, unlike today the Enforcers actually did their job and wiped it out... The only problem was we could barely afford it... You see things were a lot worse back then. We didn't have anyway of growing the vegetables, and we barely had any huts... Honestly if not for my father leading the village we would have certainly died." He muttered out as he slumped to the ground slowly. "However. Even after the Enforcers saved us from the Bestia Macht, a problem soon occurred... Yusei became transfixed on one of the Enforcers... A young woman his age... They ended up leaving together in the middle of the night... I didn't see him for ten years... Until... One day..."
Age 1978
Mr. Darvin let out a pained groan as he brought the pickaxe down onto the rock. It cracked, and began to break apart. The fifty-year-old man bent down and detached through the rocks slowly, but let out a groan when he found nothing.
"Nothing in that one either?" One of the villagers asked.
"Nope..." Mr. Darvin said shaking his head. "Damn, this darkness..." He muttered out.
Currently, the two men were mining away at a bunch of rocks down in a cave. Next to them, they had a small bag filled with tiny blue gems in it.
"Geez, we have bad luck..." The villager muttered. "We've barely even got a few pounds of Mana..."
"I don't think it's luck." Darvin sighed out. "I think this cave just ran out of mana finally. We finally dug up all that there was to find."
"I hope you're wrong." The villager muttered out as he slammed his pickaxe down onto a rock. Like every human he looked like a frog man, unlike Mr. Darvin who looked like how a human should look. "Selling Mana is the only way we stay alive! We don't got any of them fancy superhuman to help kill the Bestia Macht. And it is so cold out here we can't even grow vegetables, or fruit!" He stated slamming his axe down again. "We use the Mana we find to sell for food, and water to the cities that need it, so without it we are totally screwed..."
Mr. Darvin let out a heavy sigh. "I hear you. As it stands now, I shouldn't even be here, at my age. Unfortunately, we are running out of time, and need a way to start getting food fast. Practically everyone is sick, or dead now..."
The two men continued to swing away at the rocks for almost another hour.
"It is getting pretty late." The villager said letting out a heavy sigh as he ran a hand at his face. "You wanna start heading back now?" He asked.
"Not yet..." Mr. Darvin muttered out as he shook his head. "I wanna check deeper into the cave-"
"You know we aren't supposed to!" The villager said reaching out and grabbing the man's shoulder. "Not unless we have a proper team..."
"We don't have a choice..." Darvin hissed. "Unless we can get some more Mana we are all going to starve to death..."
"Serotobi, come on..." The villager said slowly. "It's dangerous."
"I don't care."
The villager let out a sigh. "Alright well, just how far are you planning on going down?"
"As far as I can..."
"Serotobi... Please knock it off."
"No."
The villager let out another heavy sigh as he rolled his eyes. "Fine but I'm coming with you..." He said shrugging.
"No. It's too dangerous-"
"You think?"
Mr. Darvin let out a chuckle as he smiled. "Okay fine... You can come with me. But listen, if I get into trouble, and you think it'll put you in danger if you save me, don't hesitate to abandon me..."
"Whatever you say, Father..."
"Hey knock that off. I won't inherit the title of Father for at least a few more years."
"That reminds me? How is Father Darvin?"
"He's doing well I think," Mr. Darvin said. "He was sick but he's recovering."
"That's good..."
The two men quietly walked through the cave as they marched down a sloping hill. They soon entered a fairly large room filled with pillars.
"This is as far as the village has explored right?" Mr. Darvin questioned.
"Yeah... Back in the day, they banned anyone from coming this far. The original Father, your many great-grandpa, claimed that it was cursed and should never be explored. So you know... Let's not."
"That's good..."
"It being cursed is good?"
"Yeah... It means that if there is Mana left over it wouldn't have been disturbed for a long time." The man said walking up to a wall. "But... I do feel like something is off. Come mere..."
"What?"
"Feel this wall?"
The villager slowly lifted his hand up to the wall and raised an eyebrow. "It feels... Hollow?"
"Stand back... I'm going to use my Attribute to blast this thing down." Darvin stated.
"Whoa! Wait a minute. It's forbidden to use our Attributes!"
"No one will know," Darvin said shaking his head. "Besides. My Attribute is an On type. It can't be turned off. So technically I'm breaking that rule all the time." He said shrugging, as a blue aura covered his body. He slammed hid hand forward-firing out a shock wave that instantly caused the wall to come crashing down.
"Another tunnel?" The villager said shocked when he saw a long winding tunnel.
"The stone is smooth there as well..." Darvin muttered. "Someone has been here. This tunnel is man-made."
"What do you think we'll find?"
"I dunno... But I have the feeling this is going to change everything..."
Age 1991
"Little did I know, just how right I was..."