Juin had a complicated expression on his face as he stared down at his hands that were trembling slightly. He could remember the party, and he could remember seeing Ashton in front of him… and Director Wu as well. But what happened in between… He had no recollection of it.
"What's wrong with me…" Juin mumbled as he slapped his forehead a couple of times, taking both Lucifer and Director Wu aback. "Why can't I remember any of it? What's wrong with my brain?!"
Director Wu was shocked when she saw Juin hitting himself, and she immediately asked, "What's wrong? Do you have a headache?"
"I don't remember what you told me…" Juin explained as he slowly lowered his hand.
Hearing his explanation, Director Wu immediately sighed in relief. She then added patiently, "You were five… And you were scared back then, so it's probably not a memory that you want to remember…"
"Still…" Juin clenched his fists. "So many memories that I lost…"
"Maybe not lost…" a voice suddenly said cryptically from behind him.
Juin knew that it was Lucifer, so he merely gave him a glance, as if to say, "What do you mean…"
Lucifer floated to the table and sat in front of Juin as he said, "Maybe this is like your power… Parts of your memories have been locked away, and I have a strong feeling that the person who locked your memories away was Ashton. With what that woman is telling you, I can already deduced the identity of Ashton..."
He glanced down at Ashton's file and looked at the last photo that Ashton took when he was 12. In that photo, Ashton looked just like any 12-year-old boy, just maybe slightly more beautiful than an average 12-year-old boy.
"Your best friend, Ashton, is a mage… And an extremely powerful one at that."
...
After about another hour of talk, Juin bade farewell to Director Wu as well as Mr. Otto before walking out of the orphanage. He was holding a file in his right hand; a file that he clutched tightly. With a heavy heart, he stood in front of the orphanage and looked at it for a long time before walking away.
"He has been lying to me the whole time…" Juin said bitterly as he walked. He kept thumping his left thigh with his fist as he walked, wondering if any of his memories were real now.
Lucifer ignored his emotional outburst as he floated in midair in a reclining position and his hands behind his head.
He was more curious about Ashton.
"A mage who has the ability to use his powers without any training… He appeared at the orphanage when he was still a baby. And the moment he appeared, you stopped crying like a crazy kid..."
He glanced at Juin who was walking beside him and said, "I don't think that it was a simple mistake that you got lost at 5."
"What? Ashton sent me there?" Juin asked sarcastically. He felt like the best friend, whom he had known his whole life, was actually a stranger to him; a stranger who had been manipulating his life at his will.
"I don't think he sent you here… You did hear something back then, and like what that woman said, there are actually spirits who are strong enough to hide humans away in plain view. And Ashton knew it. He probably got rid of that spirit, and that was why you suddenly appeared in her view."
"He's powerful. So?" Juin asked dryly before kicking a stone on the gray pavement away.
"If I'm not wrong, your best friend might be what we called an 'Aristocratic Mage' back in Alercane."
"'Aristocratic Mage'?"
Before he explained further, Lucifer asked, "How does aristocracy work in your world?"
Juin thought for a moment before replying, "Erm, typically aristocrats inherit their titles through bloodline...?"
Lucifer nodded. "And the reason why we refer to people like Ashton as 'Aristocratic Mage' is because mages like Ashton inherit their powers from their very first existence."
"What?" Juin frowned, not understanding it at all.
"It means that the Ashton now is also the Ashton from whatever hundreds and thousands of years ago…"
When Juin looked at Lucifer with a blank expression, Lucifer could tell that he had failed in his explanation.
With a sigh, Lucifer then said, "Let me simplify it. He was the reincarnation of the first, second, third Ashtons, etc, and not only that, as an 'Aristocratic Mage', it meant that he retained memories from all his previous reincarnations, maybe not all the memories, but still. That could explain why he was such a calm person even when he was young, and why from the moment he appeared at the orphanage, your mysterious bruises and cuts were gone."
"I…"
Lucifer did not wait for Juin to finish his sentence, and he quickly added, "His existence by your side has protected you. I don't think that he cast any spells on you. Even if he's really an Aristocratic Mage, he wouldn't have the power to cast any spells as a baby. Rather, I think he is the amulet itself."
Lucifer thought for a moment before continuing, "Someone who was born to be an Aristocratic Mage was born with an extremely strong aura, even if they themself wasn't strong enough to deal with their powers, and any supernatural beings who came into contact with such a person would know not to mess around with this person. Same with Ashton. You were plagued by ghosts and spirits when you were a baby, but the moment Ashton appeared, they left you alone. And when he was gone, they returned to bother you again until Warlock placed a protective ward on you."
Juin's pace slowed down as he thought about it, but something bothered him. "Warlock said that there was a protection on me when he found me…If Ashton—"
Lucifer nodded. "He must have placed a protective ward on you… And the reason why it broke so fast… I would say that he must have done it in a hurry and that he did not complete the full spell. Actually," Lucifer looked at Juin as they walked and said, "I don't believe he's dead."
Juin stopped at his track and looked at Lucifer with a complicated expression. If his best friend did not die back then, and after finding out so much about himself and about Ashton, Juin felt that Lucifer might actually be right.
"Then… where is he?"
"A powerful mage like him couldn't have possibly died from falling off a cliff just like that… Not unless he was badly injured beforehand." Lucifer deduced. "But as for where he's at, I don't know. I'm not even sure if he's still on Earth."
Juin stared at him for a few seconds before sighing. He then cursed out loud, "F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!"
Suddenly, without any warning, he burst out running at full speed while cursing the whole time. He did not know how long he ran. With all the training that Lucifer forced onto him, his stamina had increased exponentially. He only stopped and lay down on the pavement when he felt his lungs were about to collapse.
When Lucifer floated over and looked down at him, he said calmly, "To know the full truth, we really need to go back to that cliff and trace back what happened that day."
Juin's chest was rising and falling rapidly as he listened to Lucifer, and this time, instead of being wimpy coward, Juin stared back at him with both anger and frustration in his eyes as he snapped, "Yes!"