In the last past year, the Rohde Household had become tenser for each month that passed by. The King of the Iron Kingdom had long stepped out of the line by unofficially excommunicating the family. This meant that if anyone from the kingdom contacted or aided the family, they would be charged with no less than a felony.
This made the family reach out to other factions other than the Iron Kingdom, detaching them from their home city. This enraged Duke Rholes, especially upon hearing what Eid encountered when they attempted to assassinate the Third Prince.
The duke and the duchess were relieved to find minor injuries in Eid and Toko even though they encountered a hollowcore. They know how damned those creatures are. Even Duke Rohles would have trouble with one hollowcore yet Eid and Toko defended themselves from one!
And, they haven't even received their Inaugural Gift yet.
Duke Rholes would've been jumping with pride and joy, knowing that he housed two of the most talented people he had ever seen- and he had seen many talents!
Well, he would've been jumping with joy if not for the King's next moves. Not only that but people from the Iron Kingdom kept coming into their duchy. Aren't they excommunicated?
These are most probably spies. Duke Rholes no longer saw these as exaggeration though. He had long realized how dangerous his adopted son is. For some reason, the King had noticed that a much longer time ago.
To top it all, what makes the family tense was the lack of news from Eid that he had unlocked the connection from Allknow.
There's not even a week until the Nobility Mark fades. If not for Eid's continuous joyful and carefree attitude, the atmosphere would've been darker and heavier within the dinner hall.
"I'm happy for you, Greg!" Eid congratulated one of his friends from the duchy. Greg was tall and a bit handsome- though he couldn't be compared to the Third Prince- he was muscular and had a bright smile on his face.
Greg is usually quiet but now, he was one of the loudest. Today is his special day, his sixteenth birthday and he just received his Inaugural Gift!
Because of the closeness of the Rohde Household with their people, Greg was able to get his blessing in one of the venues within the Rohde Household. Of course, his ceremony was less grand than Eid's.
Greg patted Eid on the shoulder.
"Let's compare our skills once you received yours, Eid!" he was aware of the situation and tried to lighten Eid's mood.
Seeing Eid full of smiles, Greg felt he worried for nothing.
With shiny eyes, imitated by his younger sister, Ner, Eid pushed Greg to show his new gift to the rest.
Gifts are categorized into three main groups: Physical, Elemental, and Systematic. These categories are due to the three Deities: The Judge, the Founder, and the Order respectively. As for the fourth Deity: Fate, its Gifts are too rare and mysterious to have their own category.
The Gifts from the Judge mainly enhance the physicality. This is because the physical body is the main basis of strength in Deiterra. To impose judgment, one needs strength--- that's the gist of it.
The Iron Kingdom mainly worships the Judge; thus, most citizens are Fighters. Fighters are people who received their Gifts from the blessing of the Judge. Tier 1 Fighters have one Gift; Tier 2 Fighters have two; Tier 3 have three; and so on.
There are also minorities who either choose the Founder or the Order as their main subject of worship making them a Mage or a Crafter respectively.
Instituted by the Great Sanctuary, one can worship one or more True Gods- this is under one of the Human Rights- the Right to Worship. However, worshipping no Deity is frowned upon- a taboo- but not punishable. Blasphemy or worse, heresy, on the other hand, is punishable. The weight of the punishment depends on its severity.
The Demigods ensured that there is balance and no discrimination between the True Gods, so worshipping one while not worshipping the other is fine.
Back to Gifts, there is also an unofficial classification depending on the strength of one Gift. Even if both are Inaugural Gifts, one can still be stronger than the other. The reason for it being unofficial is the difficulty in determining the strength of one's Gift. A Gift can be powerful but if the receiver is a total idiot, it may appear weak due to its unused potential.
However, for the purpose of focusing the resources on talented people and avoiding wasting resources on untalented people, factions created a simple division between Gifts of the same Tier:
Low-Grade, Mid-Grade, and High-Grade. Not much complicated.
Thus, Greg who is a follower of the Judge and had just received his Inaugural Gift is considered a Tier 1 Fighter. Once he receives his second gift, he'll be a Tier 2 Fighter.
When cornered by the Rohde siblings to reveal his Gift, Greg surrendered. He closed his eyes, asked Allknow about his Gift, and then performed it.
"From what the fairy says..." Greg crouched down and got into position to run, "... certain muscles, stamina, and sense of balance are all enhanced for traveling purposes."
Then he ran.
The wind immediately brushed against his face. Greg is not the scholar type. He considers himself an athlete that trains his body since he was young. He is not new to sprinting. However, his new speed shocked him. Greg felt he was flying!
The venue was by no means small. However, in just a matter of a few seconds, Greg had already reached the other side.
Other people were amazed at this and exploded into awe. His speed is close to superhuman!
"I'd say that's a High-Grade Gift!" a friend shouted in excitement.
Greg ran back with a huge smile on his face. When he heard that, he was flattered and lowered his head.
"Haha, you're exaggerating!"
A female friend lightly punched the friend who said High-Grade and said, "He probably is. But, honestly speaking, yours might be around Mid-Grade. That's already great!"
"Don't get too ahead of yourselves, lads!" an old man suddenly came and interrupted them. He was Eid's grandpa, Frodo, "From what I see, with the addition that your Gift has a short description, that's probably Low-Grade."
"Oh..."
Hearing the appraisal turn from High-Grade to Low-Grade, Greg was inevitably disappointed. Out of all the appraisals, he trusted this old man the most. After all, this old man was once a legend in the Iron Kingdom.
"Oh, don't get me wrong, ninety percent of people get Low-Grade, nine get Mid-Grade, and while the remaining one, or even lower, get High-Grade. However, that's just my initial appraisal. Also, it's just the common conception that the longer the Gift's description is, the stronger it is. This is not always true. What you can do is make the Low-Grade into Mid-Grade. If you can, maybe even High-Grade!"
The youth were shocked by what Grandpa Frodo stated. You can make it into High-Grade?
"Hahaha, those reactions are normal. What you should keep in your young minds is that these sorts of appraisals are subjective. For now, you can only run faster and longer. However, there is still hidden potential under each Gift. The first thing you should do is explore. Use your imagination and maybe, you'll find other uses for your Gift! Allknow said all the enhancements are for traveling purposes. What if the muscles in your shoulders are stronger too to carry bags? Carrying bags are a part of traveling, are they not?"
Hearing Grandpa Frodo's explanation, the youth were enlightened. That is true!
There are many ways to interpret Allknow's description of the Gift. Although not all interpretations might be true, certainly some of them are!
Greg's eyes burned in excitement and eagerly nodded. Allknow said that certain muscles of his body are enhanced. Maybe it's not just the legs!
What's important to know is that even if not traveling, these enhancements are still in effect. Thus, if he joins a circus, he can perform by balancing himself on a ball. His sense of balance is heightened, after all.
In other words, in a world full of conflict like Deiterra, if Greg could explore his Gift more and apply it in combat, then his Gift might be appraised as Mid-Grade, or even, High-Grade!
This made Greg very excited- more so than before.
Frodo continued his explanation shortly after. Once he noticed Greg's newfound determination, the old man no longer felt like talking and ended the discussion.
"Well, speaking more will just confuse you and my throat hurts."
"Oh, let me get you a drink, Lord Frodo!"
"Wait, I'll get Lord Frodo a drink!"
"No, me!"
"Che, I'll get myself a drink! I'm not that old, I'm just 77 years old!" Grandpa Frodo lightly laughed at them then turned around, "Youngsters these days are so carefree." he muttered.
"Wow, that was rare," Ner commented while resting her chin on Eid's head. She was sitting over his shoulders again, "Grandpa rarely shares wisdom."
"That just shows how much he cares. He probably thought Greg would slack off if his ego got inflated."
Ner nodded then asked, "What does ego mean?"
"..."
Soon, the ceremony was over, and everyone went home before the night came.
In the past year, many of Eid's friends from the neighborhood had unlocked their connection and made their Mark from the Great Sanctuary permanent. He was being left behind.
Behind his carefree expression, Eid was extremely anxious. He needed that Gift; he needed the Nobility Mark to be permanent! If he couldn't, he and his family would be in a precarious position. Nobody understood this better than he is.
This is not only about him and his desires. The Rohde Family that took care of and provided for him would be placed in jeopardy because they have a family member with neither a noble bloodline nor a Nobility Mark.
So many things are at risk!
When alone, Eid would break out in a cold sweat at the overbearing thought of the said consequences.
But what could he do?
As a rat from the outskirts originally, he didn't have records, he didn't know his birthday so they took the risk and went on with the ceremony.
Still, that is assuming he will unlock the connection in the first place!
His mind was filled with these anxious thoughts that he thought he would get sick. The pressure was too much even for him...
Days went by like this.
On the last day until the Nobility Mark fades away, all facades are dropped. During the day, the Duke and the Duchess planned to go to the local church.
The local church was situated near the duchy's square. It was visited by everyone in the territory in their free time. Sometimes, an elder, which acts as a church's priest but has no official standing, would preach.
Preaching would contain words from Holy to Divine Beings. Holy Beings are beings that are out of this realm- above the Ten Apostles- which include Saints and Angels. It is still debatable if Fairies are considered as Holy Beings since they commonly reside in the mortal realm, in Deiterra. Divine Beings, meanwhile, are mainly composed of Demigods.
There are times that Saints and Angels would manifest themselves onto the mortal world and share words and blessings they've received from the above which many call Heaven. Although rare, these Saints and Angels would reveal themselves more frequently than the Demigods.
As of now, no such preaching was occurring. The Rohde Family was there to pray, nonetheless. Their prayer consisted of sitting on their seats and closing their eyes, sometimes, with their hands clasped.
Although it was proven time and time again that simply praying doesn't improve the chance of unlocking the connection to Allknow, that was all that the family could do.
While the Duke, the Duchess, and Ner prayed, Eid did not.
Although he doesn't like the idea, Eid is not fully honest with his family. He has another secret and this one, he could never tell.
This is his most guilty secret- he doesn't worship any of the Deities. No, he scorns them!
Although he can reason that these Deities are all-powerful and are worthy of praise because of it, that's the end of it.
Where was the justice in his original family starving in the outskirts? Where was the justice in his father selling him and his mother to slavery? Where was the justice in his kind, compassionate, protective, and loving- oh, very loving- mother dying in front of him?
Played and tortured?
Starving and ignored?
Stepped on until she was rotten?
Thrown away only when her body decomposes?
Where was the justice in all of that?
The slavers did die and were slaughtered at the hands of Duke Rholes and the members of Guill. However, how can the death of his loving mother amount to even the death of a thousand sinners?
There was no justice in that.
So, how could Eid make himself worship the Deity they call Judge? The Deity that governs the balance and justice in the universe? He could never worship a fraud.
Not only this but...
Whenever Eid sees the symbol of the Judge, that would be the only time he would see the darkness of evil emanating from an inanimate object...
...
After returning to the mansion, Duke Rholes patted Eid on the shoulder. He is aware of how much pressure Eid was burdening himself with. He wanted to tell his son that don't worry, he, the Duke, can handle the problem. But the Duke knew that would do nothing. Thus, he could only say goodnight.
The Duchess felt the same but other than a simple goodnight, she hugged Eid tightly. Maybe, this is for her sake too. For some reason, Toko didn't intrude this time.
As the night was about to arrive, Eid stayed in his room, looking at the Nobility Mark that had lost its initial gleam.
Is there a chance? He asked himself.
Tomorrow, it will be his birthday again. Well, supposed birthday. But that doesn't matter. The Nobility Mark will fade away as the last dusk of the year settled.
Tomorrow, it will either be his happiest or saddest birthday.
Thus, he waited. If stares could burn, his arm would've been ash since long ago.
Through his window, the sunlight of the golden hour pierced through. It's already sunset. There's only half an hour or so.
'Allknow, talk to me! Talk to me!'
Eid gritted his teeth as he sat on the windowsill. Part of him had given hope, reducing the anxiety he had before. Now, though, hopelessness permeates his heart.
Then...
The sunlight disappeared along with the Nobility Mark.
Eid's eyes went blank.
"... it disappeared..." with a low voice, he muttered.
That was when a voice entered his head.
[Eidol with no surname, thou hast been blessed by the Deities. Withal this benison is a gift. Thou hast received a gift that-] then the voice abruptly stopped as fast as it disappeared, making Eid confused.
Just as Eid's eyes widened with his jaw slightly dropped, he cursed.
"What the fuck!?"
His voice exploded. He waited for the voice in his head to continue but nothing came.
"What!? What? What??? Have I gone crazy!?"
Maybe he did!
His intense desire must've created a delusion that made Allknow's voice appear in his head. After all, what are the chances that he would unlock the connection right after his Nobility Mark disappeared?
If that really was the case, then who is playing this kind of sick prank on him!? Eid would personally do them a favor by separating their head from their body!
However, while Eid was in a state of confusion, the voice returned. But this voice... it's different.
[Intervention complete.
The Fairy of Gift had been successfully invaded.]