The paths, our means to wrest control of the primal forces of the universe and bring them to heel. Sometimes I'd like for people to call it exactly what it is… three distinctive ways we've found to kill ourselves in the climb for the power of a god we have no proof of ever existing.
But bloodshed and carnage has always been humanity's way. Our appetite for destruction is unmatched by any animal, beast or monster. Nevertheless, let's talk about these paths. They exist for a reason, each unique in its aspects but sharing similarities that drive everyone down the path for the same goal. Three ways to achieve the same effect. Be that as it may, the paths are a powerful tool with extreme limitations.
The Pure Humans are incapable of casting magic for the life of them. An entirely unremarkable race by the standards of the Infernal and Celestials, but ultimately one they have proven their right to share power by their level of ingeniousness. They can't cast spells, so they built the tools that could do so. And so the Grimoire path was born. Gathering materials to make a focus for your magic and etching spell cards into them to create your spells.
The next on that list would be the path of the demons. Yet they cannot exist on the material plane and can only do so by means of possession. But it's not just the demons that are privy to this path of extreme agony and brute force. The Infernal Born, tried descendants of the demons, walk the Body Path. But unlike the celestial born and the pure humans, the infernal born or demon possessed are incapable of projecting magic outside their body. Instead, their bodies are their mediums to cast spells.
You won't see an Infernal Born flinging fireballs at your head. But you can rest assured you will get a fist covered with flames that hits with the same equivalent of a monster truck. They are faster, stronger, and more resilient than any other and can perform extreme feats of physical marvels. I've once seen an Infernal-Born jump two hundred feet in the air and land with enough force to level a city block. Just like with grimoires, their bodies are improved by the infusing of materials and primers to give their bodies attributes. This in turn shapes the spells that they infuse into themselves to give them the fearsome abilities they are known for.
My most fervent advice when faced with an Infernal Born is to keep your distance and pray with all your heart, that they're not fast enough to catch up to you…the consequences tend to be…. Extremely painful.
Recording Of Professor Hamish Xenon Saunders First Re-education Stream. (Viewers: 19)
Azrael tried to ignore the shocked looks being thrown his way. But there was no other way to say this, or tell them about his origins. It was what it was, and there was no going back now that the cat was out of the bag. Which is why this was so surprising for him. He had nothing in his ancestry to say he was related to demons or the Infernal-Born. But here he was, having awakened a body path, along with his source, giving him the ability to use grimoires of his own. But then again, this was a conundrum. He hoped Emilia's mother had an answer for him.
"You're lying aren't you?" She asked, disbelief all over her face, as Emilia cut her mother off, her voice had an edge to it as she said. "Azrael does not lie." He smiled, and it was totally and completely unplanned. For a moment he felt a certain sort of warmth that forced his face to shift into the small grin on his face. His veil rippled, and soon enough the warm feeling vanished as Azrael frowned and turned to look at Emilia's mother. She had shifted her attention back to the tablet in her hands, but she had still noticed the sudden flip of emotion. No matter how long she had known Azrael, his sudden change in mood was something that she would never be able to get used to.
"Well I guess congratulations are in order, Thomas told me a bit about what your life was like. He did not give me many details, but he had said your father treated you no better than a lab rat. Based on these readings, and the fact you just awakened the body Path, I take it, he was being literal." Azrael nodded, as Emilia gasped in shock.
Neither she nor her mother were strangers to death and suffering. This was Grim-Earth. Death was the norm here. But still, the very idea of a father experimenting on his own child was a terrifying thought to have. Perhaps for the first time since she met Azrael, she developed a deeper understanding of his character….or rather his lack of it. Her mother cleared her throat as she raised her head from the tablet to look at Azrael and then back at it.
"H-how is this possible? Are my readings wrong? But that's impossible, you don't look like a corpse to me." Emilia frowned at her mother, but Azrael raised an eyebrow in understanding. He nodded his head, choosing to spare the woman a lot of confusion and possibly what could be a little bit of an existential crisis.
"I've always had that affinity…in fact, it was how Thomas found me in the first place." Emilia turned, suddenly interested in the conversation and the story Azrael had to tell. She never knew how Thomas and Azrael met, even with how close she was to her brother. There were still too many secrets that were shared between him and Thomas, that she was never a part of. How they met was one such secret.
"Thomas is a trained spy for a courier covenant. He never told me the name because they're supposed to be super secret, but… they came across information that a child had been born with the death affinity.
"Nothing weird or strange about that, many people are born with the death affinity…they just never survive it. After all, the death affinity only manifests in a person at the time of their death, for it to show up at birth only means you're not long for this world."
Azrael took a shuddering breath, he was going back to a place and time in his life that he'd much rather forget. But here he was awakening old demons…or perhaps…old angels.
"The problem with the information they got, that made it so peculiar was that it was ten years old. Somehow, this particular information had been so tightly hidden, that it raised flags with the covenant he was a part of. So they sent him on that trail, and he had to leave, because this job would take him away from Chae city for the next five years. Away from the love of his life, and his daughter."
Emilia's mother tightened her fist, understanding dawning in her face as she finally understood how and why she had lost her husband all those years ago. Those long months away without a word, the manic obsession with which he spoke about what he was chasing after. Too many times she had begged him to come back, and each time he'd tell her he had to do this, someone needed help somewhere. He did not know who, but he knew they were waiting. And every time, without fail, he'd say he was close, that he could feel it.
This facility was empty, but he'll definitely catch up at the next one, and the next one, and the next one. Until all the excuses just blended together, and she couldn't take it anymore. She ended things, she couldn't keep waiting for a man who could not be bothered to be there for her and their child. And now it seems, after all these years, the reason for his absence has finally been exposed, but she honestly had no idea how to react. It was a just cause that had taken him away, but there was no washing the bitterness out of her mouth, or the weight on her chest…not when he was dead.
"I'm sorry for what I have cost you…at least I think I am. But there was no other way. He did not give up, until he found me. I remember that first day, my father wanted to run some tests on how fast my ability to heal would stand up against grimoire-based damage.
"I had a total of 365 spells cast at me that day, enough damage that my flesh was stripped down to my bones, and even my eyes hung out of my eye sockets. I remember that day not because of the pain, but because it was the day I met Thomas. He was a new guard, probably a guide he had used to infiltrate." Azrael paused, took a shuddering breath.
"The first kind word anyone ever said to me. Yet he had said those words with so much anger and hate it shocked me. Thinking back on it, I realize that was a rather weird thing to say to a child when you're meeting them for the first time. But I can't ever forget it. 'Kid, I don't care who you are or what these people say you are. But I'm going to get you out of here, and most after that… I'm going to fucking kill your father!"
Emilia smiled, a strangled cry came out of her lips that was halfway between a sob and a laugh. And then she started crying. That sounded very much like Thomas. In a world that's built and driven by death and bloodshed. He was a man that had staunch beliefs, there was good in this world, and Thomas was the perfect example of it. All he wanted was to do good, to put smiles on the faces of everyone, but now he was gone. And without a doubt…there would be no good coming out of his loss, only anger, pain and revenge.
"Okay, I should get going. I just have a couple of things I need to tell you in regard to your tests. It still doesn't make sense to me how your father is a celestial, but I was able to find enough differences in your gene sequence to realize that you're telling the truth." Azrael shifted his eyes to Emilia's mother, the woman had a hard edge to her gaze, but unlike previous times, he could see warmth in those eyes too.
"You have the death affinity, which is all kinds of wrong for a start, but it seems to have already been active. Like I said, it's strange. You had an active affinity, but your source was un-awakened. But I need to clarify. You, having an active affinity for an un-awakened source is not strange, what's strange is the affinity you have. Just having the death affinity is unnatural. You're alive, not a corpse or some reanimated puppet. Yet you have an affinity that's only ever seen or recorded during a person's time of death.
"But moving on, your second awakening is a body path awakening. Based on my readings, you have awakened a Darkness affinity, along with an aspect… Shadow." She paused, looking at Azrael as she let the information sink in.
"I'm not surprised, shadows have always acted weirdly around him ever since we were kids. Every time he has his hoody up, it almost seemed as if the darkness within was swallowing him up." Emilia quipped as she cleaned her eyes, but given how red they were, there would be no hiding that she had been crying. Her mother nodded, aware of that aspect of Azrael's childhood. Now they had an answer why it was always so easy for him to slip away in the dark.
"Since this is a body Path, you will have to think really hard about what your first spell card will be. But much more than that, you need to see a specialist. The body path is different from the other paths. It also requires materials to strengthen and give your body certain properties. But unless you join a covenant of Infernal-Born, you have no idea of the set legacies that you can follow. These would have the right set of cards and primers needed to advance your body.
"You know without the proper primers, the spell card won't take, and you might end up causing damage to your body if it rejects the materials you used. A lot of study is needed, so there should be no rush to advance your body path until you can figure some things out. As for your death affinity… I will ask around for any sort of death affinity materials. There should be some, and they'd be very expensive, but we should be able to find some. We need-"
*Crash!*
Azrael paused, his eyes taking on a serious edge as he got up from his seat. Everyone had fallen silent at the sudden sound that they had heard. Even from where he was standing, he could tell no. He could feel that they were not alone. He looked at Emilia, his sister already getting to her feet and getting her grimoire ready, one sentence to drive the severity of the situation they were in.
"There's someone in the house!"