"Since the year Emperor Rudolf created Felir Empire over three thousand years ago, our family has always been record keepers for the empire, and that duty will one day be passed to you my son." a middle-aged man with quite unremarkable features apart from a pair of mystical red eyes spoke.
"But father, what about our history before the Empire? Before Emperor Rudolf? Before the Felir Empire?" a young toddler who looked as if he barely turned five yet had eyes that glowed with an even more iridescent shade of crimson red asked.
"Before the Empire you say? Well then, follow me you curious crustacean, let Daddy show you something special." The boy clearly sulked a little after being called another weird name but still quietly followed the man with a truly terrible sense of humour into a room guarded by a majestic silver gate that seemed to once glow with an aura of splendour, yet was dulled by the visages of time.
"This room, my dear Aelyn, is the very reason that we the Aletheia family, were able to be bestowed with the title of 'History keepers of Felir, for vitae'. The boy looked around with abject curiosity, clearly hoping to see something miraculous, yet was soon disappointed when all he saw were pedestals with random objects lying on top of them.
Looking from the side, Aelyn's dad was clearly quite amused by his son's rapid change in facial expression and was taking great glee in messing with his son. After all, when was the last time his son ever showed any excitement on his face? Thinking back, Orson was genuinely struggling to think of such a time. His enigma of a son always seemed to be lost in his own world, detached from desires that would be typical of a child his age, and instead preferring to make friends with the books in the library, rather than children of other nobles. He had lost count of the number of times the maids had come running to him on the brink of tears, saying how the young master had just disappeared and since they couldn't access the library, they needed him to check the library.
After realising that his cute son was giving him a death glare while puffing those chubby little cheeks of his, Orson Aletheia finally relented and put his hands up in an act of surrender.
"Hey, hey, no need to look like I just stole your books son. I'm really not messing with you. This room is actually the core room of the entire castle of ours. In fact, this room has survived from before the cataclysm."
"Lies!" the boy snapped back. After all, who didn't know that when the cataclysm happened, nothing, and I mean NOTHING survived. In fact, every child is taught about the cataclysm before they are even taught their own name and they all know this fact.
"I swear I speak the truth," Orson said as he still kept his hands us while clearly remembering back to the time when he had the same reaction when he was told the truth by his father. "The reason why we were, and will always be the history keepers is because our history seems to go back before the cataclysm. We do not know what this history is, but what we do know is that this room is the only confirmed thing to have survived, and only those with Alitheia blood can access this room. It is through this room that we have been able to become the most powerful Dutchy in the entire Empire and through this room, you will become worthy of inheriting all of these lands."
To say Aelyn was shocked would be an understatement. No written record from before the cataclysm exists, so finding that an entire room, enchanted so that only a particular clan can access it was quite an eye-opener. Before Aelyn could formulate another coherent thought, Orson continued speaking.
"The central most pedestal you see, that is where the recipe for our Recorder pathway is kept. That is our clan's key to success. Our key to glory. Our key to enter the path of... a Seeker."
A Seeker. Those two words were words that Aelyn would never forget. The two words that set apart this world from his last. A world where one can gain powers beyond that of humans and approach what seems like Godhood.
The existence of Seekers seemed to be an open secret in this world. Most people were ignorant of the true workings of this world but the nobles and members of the Churches were all Seekers. The Church of Wisdom had a monopoly over the Wisdom and Craftsman pathways. The Church of Storms with the Captain and Merchant pathways. The Royal family with the Warrior King pathway while most nobles had the fitting, Noble pathway, offered to them by the Empire.
"Out of the 28 known sacred pathways, ours is the one with the least number of users, after all only the Alitheia family has access to the Recorder pathway and currently only you and me are left. Also, don't look down on these ancient artefacts for one of them shall be yours today."
After calming down a little from the huge boulder his jokester of a father had dropped on him, he looked around and asked, "Is one of them really going to be mine?"
"Of course son. Every Alitheia child chooses an artefact as his life artefact to accompany him on his journey as a Seeker when they turn five. In fact, you also will get another lifelong partner during this initiation ritual. A partner who would be your other half, willing to do anything for you, even if it has to sacrifice its life." By the time Orson finished his speech, his voice had become but a murmur as a saddened look shadowed his face.
After being lost in thought for several minutes, he looked up only to realise that Aelyn was patiently waiting for him, without an ounce of frustration. Quickly putting on a smirk, he said, "Off you go, chose an artefact. Make sure it's good and not boring, after all I don't know how many boring things I can deal with in this house." Again, Aelyn gave his father a death stare, understanding that he had just been called boring by his OWN father. At this point, he shook his head and scurried off to examine the weird-looking artefacts on the pedestals. There were countless of them. He saw fancy pens, funny-shaped mirrors and long parchments of painting, yet only a few caught his attention. One of the artefacts was a pack of playing cards? Another was a deck of tarot cards? Was that a pack of Lenormand cards? Also, why were there rune stones? Seeing these, Aelyn joked to himself "Recorder pathways? Might as well rebrand to the Seer Pathway as clearly all these are divination gimmicks."
It was only after scouring the entire room thoroughly and admiring the different objects like a curious kid in a flea market that Aeyln found something he liked, but the moment he touched it, the only thing he could think was-
"F***!"