Chapter 82: Confessions at Dusk
In the lavish surroundings of the Foxhole Inn, the room decked out in red velvet, Crelos felt a mix of emotions. "I never knew what happened after I lost consciousness. I'm sorry about your parents."
Darius, reclining in a deep, plush chair, fiddled with his signet ring. "You don't need to apologize; none of it was your fault. But it always puzzled me, you took a big risk helping me back then, why?"
A hint of red colored Crelos's cheeks as he touched his pouch, materializing a hefty tome. "Warwick Valdene. It's a bit embarrassing, really, but your family—well, you represent what true knights and mages ought to be."
"Warwick? That still doesn't make sense," squinting slightly, "unless your crazy."
Setting the book aside, Crelos continued, "I still remember seeing you at the test. Out of all the kids, you seemed the strongest, like nothing could freighten you."
Darius felt a flush of embarrassment recalling his overconfidence that day, "Shame my results didn't really match my attitude, huh?"
Crelos met Darius's gaze, his voice taking a serious tone, "On the day of that test, I never would have thought it'd be a mage who'd save me from the streets. Honestly, I hated it."
"Hated it?"
Pausing for a moment, "a mage killed my mother. After she was raped by him, and his attending knight."
Sighing, Darius's brow furrowed, "how—"
"Then why do you sit and laugh with them?!" Haku suddenly barked from the bed, pushing off the blankets and standing abruptly, fur bristling. "Are you ungrateful—"
"Haku! Enough."
Haku's eyes narrowed, his feet shifting restlessly as he glared at Crelos.
"I'm sorry, he too inexperienced to understand. He has no choice, Haku," Darius explained, his voice calm yet firm. "You need strength to act, even if it means sitting at the same table as your enemies to acheive it." Haku frowned, considering this, then snorted and retreated back under the blankets.
Crelos clenched the arms of his chair, his aura flaring with a mixture of emotions. "I wanted revenge, even while I was on the streets begging for scraps, I never sought their help. But that day, Brundy caught me observing a spontaneous surge of fire mana. He noticed my unique affinity, and I was too terrified to resist when he dragged me off to the assessments."
"So that's how you saw Haku; you have a pure affinity with the fire element," Darius observed, glancing at Crelos's aura. "It's almost obvious, the fire mana around you seems joyful. Normally, mana shrinks away from mages."
Crelos perked, his eyes lighting up. "You're the only other person I've heard mention mana having emotions. I thought I was alone in that observation. No established studies recognize mana as sentient..." His face flushed with a mix of excitement and embarrassment as he leaned back, "Sorry, I sometimes get carried away talking about my research."
Pausing for a moment, he gathering his thoughts before continuing, "After I was taken to Crowley's tower, I vowed to become as powerful as possible, as quickly as I could. That's when I found this book." He patted the large tome beside him.
"Reading about Warwick, he became my hero, and your lineage, the founding principles of the Penitent Knights Union... It was all so inspiring," Crelos's fiery aura rose, his voice filling with enthusiasm. "There was a family, a beacon of what all knights should aspire to be, embodying true honor and determination to uphold what's right."
Crelos's voice quickened as his eyes lit up with fervor, "I absorbed everything about the Valdenes, even your parents. I dreamed of emulating Warwick, ascending through ranks by righteous action, not brute force—championing justice."
Darius shifted uncomfortably, breaking the intensifying reverence with a light cough, "Well, you're certainly on track, becoming an inceptor mage at sixteen is no small feat."
Smiling faintly, Crelos sighed, "You wouldn't believe how tough it is to study among those you despise. It's a sort of motivation, really, pushing me to excel faster."
"But you're no slouch yourself; I see you've grown even stronger. I've always wanted to ask, how do you wield all five elements? And your spells, they're unlike any magic I've seen before. Your physique, too, it's like that of a knight's."
Pausing as he noted Darius's reluctance, Crelos added quickly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry. A person's research is private."
Darius gave a small smile and touched his pouch, conjuring two saucers and a bottle of Fleet wine. "Care for a drink?"
"I'm not much for alcohol, I'll pass."
Darius stood, approaching a pot of flowers. He removed them and began to heat the water inside with his fire mana. Once warm, he placed the bottle of Fleet wine into the vase. "I was surprised to see you in the city. Are you here for the wedding with your master?"
Not getting a response, something seemed off, prompting Darius to glance back. He immediately noticed a change in the young mage, "are you feeling alright?"
Growing pale and sweating slightly, Crelos replied, "Actually, maybe I will have that drink."
As the wine warmed, Crelos began to unravel the reason for his presence in the city. He spoke of Ranslif's dark orders to Brundy—on the wedding day, Akleman's bride was to be poisoned under the guise of a fertility blessing. The plot twisted around Crelos like a noose; he was bound to participate. Helpless against the tide of commands from those above him, he was ensnared in a scheme that sickened him to his core. The weight of his role, complicit in an act so vile, left him grasping for any sliver of redemption he might find in confessing this grim secret to Darius.
Perched at the edge of the bed, Haku leapt down, his fangs bared in agitation. "All mages need to be killed, right, big brother? Once we're strong enough, we're going to wipe them all out, starting with Ranslif Crowley."
"Not all, Haku. But yes, when we're stronger, we will seek vengeance," Darius replied as he poured some warmed wine. His voice steady, he turned to Crelos, his expression unreadable, "something I would advise you to consider, in a realm ruled by individual power, true justice doesn't exists. What one sees as just, another will view as evil. It's time you outgrew such naive thoughts."
Crelos's cheeks flushed with heat, his aura flickering as he stood abruptly. "I didn't share all this just to be ridiculed!"
Darius sighed, his smile tempered by understanding. "Don't take offense at my words. Your reluctance to trample others for power is commendable, especially given your past. Yet, your current mindset could bring you more pain than justice. True justice—and the right to claim it—comes from a readiness and strength to do whatever is necessary, moral or not. Until you reach that point, any talk of justice is just an idealistic path that leads nowhere, often followed by those too weak to face reality."
Crelos's breathing turned ragged as he clutched at the air, a mix of despair and resolve etching his features. "There's no other choice. You can't just take on the towers or the union head-on. Even if I become an Archmagus, I still wouldn't be strong enough. The only way is to become a beacon, someone others can rally behind. If Warwick had been alive, my mother... she wouldn't have suffered like that."
Staring intently at Crelos, Darius set down his empty cup and leaned forward. "So, to achieve what you call justice, you're willing to poison an innocent woman."
A heavy silence fell. Crelos fumbled for words, his complexion reddening, eyes darting in distress. He clenched his teeth, the internal turmoil evident. "I... I have no choice."
Darius's voice was steady, almost cold. "There's always a choice. You could warn her, or Akleman. You could flee. Or you continue as you are, crafting a personal notion of justice, while perpetrating evil upon another." His gaze was unwavering, capturing the full weight of his words as he watched the young mage grapple with the reality laid bare.
Crelos's voice trembled, muffled by his hands covering his face. "You're right. I'll tell Akleman tomorrow."
Darius's expression hardened with frustration, a flicker of obligation crossing his mind, "If you do that, you'll die."
Crelos lifted his head, resignation etched across his features. "I know. Even if Akleman wanted to protect me, he couldn't do it for long."
Darius chuckled dryly, his tone laced with dark humor. "The only way you live is to take another's life. Yet, to save that same person's life, you must risk your own. It's almost poetic."
Crelos's eyes narrowed as he glared at Darius, "I'm glad you find this amusing. At least someone can scrape some enjoyment from my death."
Rolling his eyes, Darius dismissed the gloom with a wave of his hand, "You're not going to die."
Crelos looked up, a spark of confusion flickering in his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I'm going to help you with your little problem."
Shaking his head, Crelos almost laughed, his voice tinged with disbelief. "What can you possibly do to help? And why would you? It's not like you're involved in this."
"When I was facing Ramman, you risked your life to protect me, I can't just overlook that." He stood, closing the distance between them until he was directly in front of Crelos. "Tell me, do you genuinely want to save this woman? If so, I'm willing to help. But if your resolve is wavering, better to follow through with your orders and strengthen your position within the towers."
Rising to meet his gaze, Crelos didn't hesitate, "I want to save her."
"Good! Now, tell me what you know. About Solomon, about Akleman, his home, the wedding. Everything."
Looking to the window, Crelos imagined his master, the rage he must be spewing internally from his absence brought a smile to his face, "Solomon is a 4th tier, he specializes in potions..."
Crelos's detailed account extended into the early hours, with Darius probing every aspect, sometimes with questions that seemed insignificant but were crucial for him. Finally, after gathering sufficient information, he instructed Crelos to return to the Brundy estate and await further instructions.
Standing by the window, Darius watched as Crelos's figure receded towards the estate, a plan forming in his mind. "Guess I'll be attending the wedding," a wide smile crossing his face. Turning to Haku, his excitement was palpable, "Looks like we'll get to spar sooner than we thought, little brother."
----
At the same time as Darius watched Crelos head to the estate, deep under a mountain within the Subterranea Glade that he and Haku had recently explored, signs of a recent battle marred the usually serene landscape.
The cavern, lit by a myriad of glowing stones set high in the rocky ceiling, cast a dim, unearthly light over the aftermath. Burn marks scarred the lush undergrowth, and broken branches littered the damp soil.
The heavy scent of singed foliage filled the air, and the usual buzz of wildlife was notably subdued, as if the creatures themselves were still recoiling from the disturbance.
In the midst of the devastation, a vast crater marked the landscape, dark tendrils of smoke clinging to its edges, unwilling to dissipate. From deep within, horrendous sounds spilled out—wet crunching and tearing noises that repelled any curious wildlife, maintaining a fearsome, unnerving silence around the pit.
At the bottom of the crater, the corpse of a spider-like mana-beast lay overturned, it's eight legs splayed out twitching. The creature's black and green carapace bore a gaping hole. Slowly, a pale, bald head with double pointed ears emerged from within the beasts innards, dripping with green ichor. Clenched in his oversized jaws was a large beast crystal, his bare chest gradually becoming visible as he climbed out.
With a loud crunch, half of the crystal fell into his mouth, and the other half into his blood-soaked hand. Each chew carried the sound of breaking glass, his black eyes glowing brighter with each swallow.
Wiping his mouth, he inhaled deeply through his skeletal nose and murmured, "You were here recently, this one will find you soon."
His form then dissolved into the shadows of the crater, a dark mass sliding seamlessly across the ground and disappearing into the shadows.
----
Inside the Beast-Farm, the hatchery waters laid still. Ursie, swimming lazily, halted suddenly as her cloudy eyes began to emit a soft blue glow.
The water's surface rumbled, raging and swirling into a whirlpool, it's center shining with water mana. Even the farm's flowing creek stilled, its bubbling silenced.
Amid this quietude, a massive roar cleaved the air. A towering pillar of water, tinged with dark green fog, burst from the hatchery, its force vibrating through the Beast-Farm.
Enveloped in this swirling column, Ursie ascended, her scales glowing increasingly brighter with each revolution. After weeks of consuming bones from third-stage mana-beasts, Ursie, a first-stage swamp-roach, was evolving.