Moon Cult
Fifty years ago, a white-haired man, so thin that his bones could be counted, suddenly descended from the sky and blessed the people, telling them to wait for his second coming. After the Prophet's arrival, talismans began to appear on random people in an irregular pattern and they began to have powers according to the talisman. These powers were to create and control something according to the talisman. To prevent chaos in the world caused by talismans, the most powerful users of each Alchemy came together and formed the Order of the Moon. Each of them was of the highest rank of Prophet. Only a fire alchemist could be in the Moon Order. Only a water alchemist could be in the Moon Order. And they were all the most specialized, the most powerful users on Earth.
After a long walk of several hours, Rose and Xavier arrived at a secret underground tunnel. It was so skillfully hidden among the foliage that Xavier never even noticed it. Rose wasted no time in opening the tunnel and they were greeted by a long, dark staircase.
"This way, Xavier. My grandfather lives here." Rose said, taking the first step to guide Xavier.
Rose and Xavier started down the long dark stairs. It seemed like an endless staircase for Xavier, but at the end, they came to a door, and Xavier sighed deeply in preparation for what was about to happen before the door opened. When they opened the door, Xavier was shocked by what he saw. He was greeted by a lush, dazzling, enormous garden. In the center lay a pond, and above the pond floated a rock. When he lifted his eyes to the rock, he saw the person, and when he saw the person, his knees went weak and he swallowed for once. His eyes widened, the thoughts in his mind disappeared for a moment and the words started to come out of his mouth.
"Mr. D-Deixtre?" was all he could stammer out.
Sitting cross-legged on the rock with his eyes closed, the old man turned his head towards the source of the voice that had reached his ears. He slowly opened his eyes and looked deeply at Xavier. Deixtre was an imposing figure, with snow-white hair down to the middle of his back and a mass of muscle. His beard, also white and flowing, fell across his chest in a sea of soft curls. In addition to these features, his eyes were striking, and dark in contrast to his whiteness. But who was this Deixtre?
Deixtre was an 82-year-old retired Alchemist who had seen it all. Deixtre was a member of the Moon Order at exactly 40 years old. For a long time, he was known as the most powerful earth alchemist in the world. Deixtre's influence was felt not only by individuals but also by countries. He single-handedly stopped many crises and wars between countries. But this prestige, influence, and power slowly began to fade with old age. By the age of 65, he was no longer the most powerful earth alchemist in the world, he was surpassed. As he turned into an ineffectual human being, the Moon Cult expelled Deixtre without a second thought, and Deixtre began to spend the rest of his life in this underground cellar.
Deixtre and Xavier sat cross-legged by the pond. At first Xavier and Deixtre's gaze was fixed on the pond, staring at their reflections. Rose brought them each a cup of tea. As they sipped their tea calmly, Deixtre finally broke the silence and spoke in a gentle tone.
"You saved the life of my only granddaughter, young man. The most precious thing in this world to me. I think I can do you a small favor."
Xavier felt a surge of excitement at what he had just heard, it seemed strange that he hadn't felt any excitement in a while. But the reason for the excitement was the fact that it would give him great power in his quest for revenge. Xavier couldn't contain himself and shifted excitedly. He turned his body towards Deixtre and took a soldier's stance, exclaiming "REALLY?!" for once. Not yet realizing what he had done, he bowed his upper body once in thanks and shouted "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" at the top of his voice. Finally, realizing the absurdity of his actions, he straightened himself up and sat back down to offer a sincere apology.
"I'm sorry, sir, I got too excited." he said sheepishly, head bowed.
Deixtre tolerated this with a slight chuckle. "No problem, young man. Whenever you feel ready, you can knock on my room." Deixtre said.
Deixtre sipped the last drops of his tea and stood up slowly, taking one last look at Xavier before leaving, and then, with the support of the wand, began to walk towards his room. Xavier could only stare after him, pleased and heartened by Deixtre's behavior. He was hopeful of what Deixtre could provide for him. One ordinary day, Rose completed her journey up the stairs and entered the tunnel. Again, Rose encountered the same, ordinary sight. By the pond, Deixtre and Xavier were again in training. Diextre was trying as hard as he could to train Xavier. Xavier was covered in bruises and scars, and as far as Rose could see, he was drenched in sweat and blood, indicating that they had been going at it for a long time. Xavier, on the other hand, was not complaining at all, on the contrary, he seemed to be enjoying it, his eyes said it all, even if there was nothing in his expression to back it up. Xavier was fully focused on the lesson. He avoided the moves coming his way as much as he could, trying to "touch" Deixtre just once. He had learned a lot about the nature of alchemy from Deixtre.
"Alchemy is all about how connected you are to the talisman you have. The more you absorb and focus on the talisman, the more successful you will be. The most powerful alchemists are those who do not hesitate to use their talisman to the fullest."
His words never left his mind for a moment. Xavier did his training without ever seeing the light of day, without ever going outside. He meditated to increase his weak focus, ran for speed, lifted weights for physical strength, and fought duels for experience. Although Xavier was visibly improving day by day, he never believed in his progress because he could do nothing against his opponent, Deixtre, and because he was constantly beaten and lost to him. But this did not affect Xavier negatively, on the contrary, it energized him and made him strive even harder for the path of revenge because of his desire for power. Xavier was going to avenge his father. His blood would not stay on the ground. Deixtre and Xavier had been together for a long time, during their training he had come to see Deixtre as one of his own family and the feeling was mutual. Deixtre saw, loved, and cared for Xavier like a grandson. Of course, the arrival of another grandson was no problem for Rose, on the contrary, she enjoyed the closeness between Xavier and her grandfather.
One day, again during training, Xavier made a change and used electrical alchemy to speed up his kick and Deixtre dodged the attack at the last moment, Deixtre's slow movement was due to his surprise. Deixtre's eyes widened in shock as Xavier used electrical alchemy. It was not because of his speed, but because he was using another alchemy. Deixtre immediately ended the duel after Xavier's action, stepping towards Xavier and silently removing Xavier's gloves with a snap. As he examined his hands, he was horrified by what he saw, and Diextre was overcome with astonishment at what he saw. Xavier had three alchemical talismans. Xavier had never used any alchemy other than Earth alchemy during his training with Diextre.
"How is this possible?" Deixtre said, his surprise reflected in his voice.
Xavier's eyes widened as he told Deixtre what had happened, he seemed to know something. He quickly put the gloves back on Xavier's bride and placed his hands, wrinkled and soft with age, on Xavier's shoulders.
"Don't tell this to anyone and don't speak of it. Keep the gloves forever, and don't even think of using alchemy other than earth alchemy."
Xavier couldn't make sense of Deixtre's behavior, after all, having 3 talismans was an ordinary situation for him. Curiosity got the better of him and when he opened his lips to ask why, he was met with a loud, angry voice. Deixtre raised his voice to Xavier for the first time.
"I SAID DON'T USE IT! NO ONE MUST KNOW ABOUT IT! DOES ANYONE KNOW?!"
Xavier felt it was pointless to oppose Deixtre, so he told him that the state was aware of his alchemy of fire and electricity. Deixtre swallowed once at what he had just heard, took his hands off Xavier's shoulders, sighed deeply, turned his back on Xavier, and said,
"That's enough for today, rest." in his old friendly, polite voice, and retired to his room.
No words came out of Xavier's mouth, he just stared after her with meaningless eyes. It was the first time Xavier had ever seen Deixtre angry. What had happened?
The day after this Deixtre continued training as if nothing had happened. So much so that Xavier eventually became as strong as a Chem rank Alchemist. In one of his training sessions with Deixtre, when all the hardship had finally yielded its seeds, he managed to put an earthen stitch in Deixtre's ear. This made Xavier so happy that he put a broad smile on his face and exhaled deeply with the relief of accomplishment.
Deixtre spoke with a smile. "You are ready now."
At the end of the training, when it was time for Xavier to leave, Xavier, at Deixtre's command, put on a bear mask. The bear showed the fire of hatred and revenge. But that was not the real reason. Deixtre was adamant that Xavier's face should not be visible, even though Deixtre insisted that I not tell him why, and he told Xavier so bluntly. Xavier listened to Deixtre without dwelling on the reason. He didn't forget his gloves, of course. Xavier turned his body toward Deixtre and Rose when they were in front of the door leading to the stairs. Rose and Deixtre gathered together at the front of the pond to see Xavier off. Rose was uncomfortable, she didn't seem to want Xavier to leave. Her hands were clasped together in front of her stomach, she had a worried look and her hands were not relaxed. Deixtre, on the other hand, was supported by the staff in front of him, looking at Xavier with squinted eyes and a simple smile on his face. Xavier looked at the two of them for a moment, then raised his right hand at head level waved it, and called out.
"Thank you for everything, sir! I promise I'll be back safe and sound."
Deixtre waved back at Xavier with his free hand with a smile. Rose couldn't help herself, she spread her hands apart, untied her legs, ran to Xavier, and hugged him tightly.
"Please... Come back again." she said, her voice shaky and worried.
Xavier smiled politely from under the mask and returned the hug, saying goodbye. Then he left the cellar.