( Back to the present. )
[ June 2022 ]
" WHOA! WHOA! " Jan Faustin shouts so loud when his ears hear Aidan's story.
" STOP RIGHT THERE, AIDAN! " Jan told him to stop, he looked around seeing Roy and Walt could only have their mouths open.
" Jan, I'm not finished... " Aidan tells him, telling Jan there's more to this.
" Wait, hold it there... " Jan says it.
" You're telling me, that Ragna, our 'Ungifted' friend..., is... "
" Not, just him... " Aidan replied calmly.
" What do you mean? " Roy asks, finally he could speak.
" About the name 'Ragna'... " Aidan tells him.
" Do you know, that our Ragna is not the 'only' Ragna who came from the 'Children of the Creator' Religion? " Aidan adds it, making the three more curious.
" What do you mean, there's more? " Walt asks Aidan.
" You see... "
" Since the Religion was banned, many of the 'Believers'* struggle in their lives, their access to anything is limited in the faces of the world. "
" They have two options, the first one is to 'Convert', like my Mom..., the other one is to stay and believe until the 'Prince of Heavens' returns in the form of Man as he promised. "
" Waiting for someone named 'Ragna' to come... "
" But... "
" As times passed, as the 'Ragna' they waited didn't come after they waited... "
" Many, and I mean... many... "
" Decided to take steps by rapidly naming their newborn descendants with the Revered Name, making the name mass-used by the 'Believers' children. "
" I already checked, as I researched more about this. "
" Like for example, Ragna's uncle... "
" You guys know him as the First Hunter, right? " Aidan asks as the three nod when hearing it.
" What about him? " Jan asks as Aidan takes some of the printed papers.
" Well, about that... "
" Do you know, what's actual his birth name is? " Aidan asks as he reveals what Uncle Andrew's real name is.
[ Name: Anderson 'Ragna' Dale K. ]
" What the"
" Oh, there's more... " Aidan shows them.
" This is Ragna's Dad and Grandma Rory's full name. "
[ Name: Rowan 'Ragna' Carnegie K. ]
[ Name: Rorianna Caroline 'Ragna' Reina Kent ]
" I'm confused... " Roy asks this.
" I know they all had the same 'Ragna' name, but... "
" Why Ragna's dad and uncle's family name are 'K.'..., shouldn't that be 'Kent'? " Roy asks Aidan.
" Oh, that... "
" Based on my research, the name 'Kent', comes from Grandma Rory instead of his Grandpa. "
"His Grandpa's name is simply 'Orion K.', the 'K.' is quite mysterious for me, even those whom I asked about it, those who knew him, said that the Grandpa never reveals why it's like that..., so I have no answer for now. "
" So, I already figured that you might misinterpreted it as 'Kent', which is expected but wrong. But aside from that, the only thing that I know is the name 'Orion' that Ragna had comes from his Grandpa per his family's tradition... "
" That, I knew from him... " Aidan explains as he tells more about Ragna's family to his friends.
" Yes, the family is quite a believer in this... "
" Grandma Rory especially, I guessed she is the one who mostly believed the whole thing, influencing the whole family members, thus naming all of her descendants with the 'Revered Name'. "
" Not to mention... "
" Aside from that... "
" I like to tell you another story, it will be quick this time. ".
...
...
[ April 23rd 2015 ]
[ District M ]
My family decided to visit Ragna's home in District M, I've seen it, his Grandma's home, not that large but clean.
We visit them, bringing some fruits which his Grandmother happily accepts, and let us in for me to play with Ragna in that house.
We played so much until we rested, we decided to rest in some place, I forgot which one, but I believe we rested in one of the rooms inside the house.
" Ah, the Air Conditioner here is better... " I came in first but Ragna didn't follow me.
" Ragna? " I called him, but Ragna just went silent and looked around.
" Shouldn't..., come..., here... " Ragna says, still having a hard time making a sentence at that age.
" Why are you hesitating, Ragna? " I ask him, quickly dragging him in despite me seeing him shivering for a bit.
" For...bi...dden. " Ragna says as I see the room is filled with Murals and Scrolls that look like ancient texts.
Speaking of entering that room. Why do I insist on entering, you ask?
As I said earlier when our parents were gone with Grandma Rory, we couldn't find the Conditioner Remote in each room, but only that room, which I felt at the time, had their conditioner on from the very start, and it was really cold.
The Room itself, as I remember it now..., looks more like a Mini House-Made Museum with candles placed around it.
In that room, the Murals I saw were beautiful yet unordinary. At that time, Ragna whom I asked what that was, told me.
" Religion, Promises... "
" Grandma..., told... "
" Was..., prophecy..., murals..., here. "
" Prophecy? " I look at it, seeing a picture of a person with wings. His body is drawn like it's being severed from left and right, making the body's right or left in my eyes white color while the other was colored black, including the wings attached to each.
Below the severed figure, I see a circle that contains fire. Around it, I see it was circulated with eight circulating circles, each containing an element.
Water, Wind, Thunder, Frost, Forest, Poison. Sand, and Earth...
All eight circulate the Element of Fire, followed by I believe symbols of creatures on top of each circulating circle and a black-shaded figure of humans below each circle, contradicting the top creatures.
Not to mention, each element had a weapon symbol within them. From what I've seen, I see a Shield symbol in the Water element, an Arrow symbol in the Wind Element, a Spear symbol in the Thunder, and a Sword symbol in the Fire Element.
" 'Prince of Heavens'..., Manifestations... "
" Monkey... stone..., Big Man... Fire, ...Eight headed..., snake. "
" 'Prince of Heavens'..., Creations... "
" Leviathan..., Ziz..., Beh- " Ragna says while seeing it, he suddenly goes silent and becomes a statue.
" An eye...? " I ask myself, witnessing one of the black pictures, the first one I see, the black half with wings, I see it has some kind of a blue eye and when I see it more closely, the eye has the shape of a clock within its pupils.
" Jeez, what is this all... " I said to myself while looking at the silent Ragna.
" It seems your Grandma really into antics, hey Ragna? " I asked him but he just went silent, until...
" Drawing..., Mine... " he suddenly told me, which made me surprised.
" Oh, these Murals are your drawings... "
" Wait, you can draw? " I asked him.
" Wait a minute, how can a kid like you draw things like this? Not just one, look!? " I point Ragna to the other murals such as the one I just saw, the other Murals' pictures are like this.
In one of the pictures, I see it has a black circling creature with white wings and white eyes, shown flying above I could a picture that looked like Gates with huge black hands coming out of it, picking people that I saw had some 'horns', in their head...
The other picture I saw, looked like a black armored, and white-haired figure with a golden glow alongside some huge wings, surrounded by entities, each riding a horse circulating it. These entities that were drawn, is drawn with Grey, Black, White, and Red.
The other picture I also managed to see, is about a battle, with light from the skies and fires from below, and colorful circles with creature-like drawings coming out from it, which I assume resembles a Gate Outbreak or something. And in the center of it, I see a man having his body hanged in a plus symbol-like hanging, his hands are nailed with such a big nail, above him stands a tall bright winged figure, as if it defeated him or..., I don't know.
" I..., Draw..., All... " Ragna says while looking at another Mural whose picture is about a little boy crying, hanged like the last picture I mentioned, his limbs are nailed while below I see, a severed black dog. Above it, I saw a picture of a large woman with long vulpine ears, with nine tails and thunder in the background. In the large woman's hands, one holds a severed woman, the other holds a crisped man with glasses.
As I saw that last picture, I was horrified at how scary it was, I don't know why, but as I saw it, I began to panic and asked Ragna what is he thinking when he made this.
" Don't..., know... "
" I..., don't..., remember. "
" Grandma, told..., Me... draw..., But, Me..., forgot. " Ragna suddenly shivers, while I see him shivering, I see the candles around us burn even more.
"( Wait, why the candle flames are rising, that wasn't me? )" I wondered about it as Ragna suddenly muttered something out of a sudden.
* Ragna mysteriously mutters as Aidan sees him looking at the picture of the giant vulpine woman. *
* The candles' fire is rising even more. *
" Ragna! " I shout at him, but he won't stop, I don't know what possessed him, but at that very moment, I immediately drag him out of the room, which was so convenient, since...
" Aidan!? " I see my parents and Grandma Rory already returned home, seeing me dragging Ragna away from that room.
...
( Back to the present. )
" That's how the story ends... "
" After that, my family moved from District M to District B, where our Junior High School is placed. "
" I entered it from the Elementary School, Accelerated it a bit, and met you all. "
" Jan, Roy, and Walt, also... "
" Ragna, once more. "
" Thus, our Junior High started. " Aidan says while holding some photos of the pictures he mentioned above.
"( Thank goodness, I remembered that Old House of is and bought it so I could use it for my research... )"
"( Damn, the price for 'District M' Houses is quite expensive, even for me. )"
" So... " Jan breaks the silence.
" What now? " he asks Aidan as he tidies up the papers and pictures he presents.
" Now... "
" I had a request..., for the three of you. " Aidan says it.
" Since this is June 4th, so there are two days left before the 'God Hunter Tournament' comes. "
" The thing is... "
" Since I'm going to do my job as a Healer Hunter for a moment, I decided to loosen my research a bit. "
" But still, my curiosity still stands, thus I need others I can trust and may also related to this research of mine... "
" To cover me while I'm gone... " Aidan tells the three which made them go silent.
" Hmm..., I don't know... " Walt says.
" Do we get paid? " Walt asks.
" Is your bank account number still the same? " Aidan asks as he uses his phone.
" Check it, Walt. " Aidan orders Walt as he sees his Banking App, immediately shocked at how much Aidan gave in the face.
" Aidan, you- "
" Don't worry, all of you will be paid. "
" Since you're going to do the work, I'll also assure my father to help me finance you if it's not enough... " Aidan says as he leans forward.
" So, my old friends... "
" Can you cover me up...? " Aidan asks as the meeting ends.
________
Extra:
These are some Opening Chapters, for now, mass-released just for the readers who patiently wait for the Hiatus.