Chapter 34: Chapter 33: Legacy

"Aleph! Come to check on Eric? Come on in!" Aleph stepped into the room, looking at the young man he had been treating the past couple days.

"Hello, child. Remember me?"

"Brig says you were the one that cured me. Thank you."

"I want to check on a few things. To make sure I have completely eradicated the signs of erosion in your mind. Will you allow me to do some tests on you?"

"O-of course! Please, feel free to check."

Aleph turned to Brig, who got the message and instantly left the room. He sat by the young man's side, putting a hand over his head.

"Tell me, what's the last thing you remember?"

"Ummm, well… It's been three months since I developed my mana heart and left the capital. I had joined in fending off the strange invaders under Lord Carrack's battalion, and I had just fought my first battle the other day."

Aleph nodded, silently feeling for any more signs of erosion. Fortunately, there had been no signs of Abyss mana inside his head, or anywhere else for that matter.

"How did it go?"

"Pretty well, I guess. Harbingers are scary, but they're pretty easy to deal with once you learn how they move… Say Brig, how did you say I got wounded again? I don't remember…"

"Eh? Errr, well, ya see–"

Aleph looked to Brig, who was scrambling for a story to tell. He could tell that the young man had been avoiding that topic completely, and decided to help him out.

"It has been five years since you joined the army, child. You have been afflicted with a terrible disease, one that took memories of your time as a soldier."

Eric's face fell, but Aleph was inwardly relieved. The truth could prove too much for him right now, but it was better he knew now than be slowly driven mad by the inconsistencies in his world.

"Oh… I see…"

"Brig and the rest of your squad had been with you for much of your journey, so forgive them if they sometimes show a familiarity you do not feel."

"...Okay." Eric took a deep breath and responded. He was scratching his stubble, 

"I knew it was strange, waking up with a body I hardly knew. I mean, I feel like I'm still me, but my mana heart is thrice as big as yesterday, and I've never grown as much facial hair as this."

"You still don't." Brig corrected. "That thing just grew while you were bedridden." He offered his friend a tentative smile, which Eric shyly gave back.

"I can speak to Lady Iona about discharging you from the army. She had already sent your family a letter regarding your… circumstances."

"Wait! Um, could you delay it? I mean, from my perspective, I've only just joined the army, you know? I've hardly served my time."

"You are currently part of an elite squad led by one of the most promising young mages in the country. I am sure you have more than done your part."

Brig nodded to the side, lending credence to the story. Eric just took it all in, silently nodding along.

"...But that me no longer exists. My current self is a novice, more of a burden than an elite of any sort. Five years of war… is the end in sight?"

Aleph looked at Eric, who was conflicted and confused. He felt for the young man. In his eyes, he had barely just begun to fight, and is now being driven away. So Aleph gave him the unfettered truth.

"We have reason to believe that the current threat has enveloped the entire world, that those we face have only shown us an inkling of their true power."

"Then I must fight. Running to the capital is a useless move."

Aleph nodded, seeing the resolve forming in his eyes. It seemed that in taking this young man's time, it had restored in him his valiant youth. 

"Eric, I know you just recovered, but I am currently teaching a few recruits. Would you like to join them?"

__________________________________

Rayse found himself in a line with a strange collection of people. His friends were there, but the others were what gave him pause.

Aleph addressed the group, pacing among them.

"You all must be wondering why you are here. The answer is simple: I have decided to grant each of you a portion of the vast knowledge I have accumulated."

He stopped in front of his original disciples, speaking to them first.

"Brandon, Lacey and Rayse. You have all been with me since the start and already know much of my history. Our relationship will not change. I only ask that you welcome Eric into the fold."

Rayse shared a look with his friends. He heard about Eric's recovery, but he looked different. Physically he was the same, but his demeanor was completely changed somehow. 

"He is not the Eric you knew. Erebos' curse has brought his mind back to the time he was a soldier fresh from training. He will be under our care for the time being as he reassesses his next move."

"Thank you for having me!" came Eric's enthusiastic reply. He was more of the stoic, silent type before, but Rayse much preferred this.

"Next, we have Tom, Lily, Shae, and Sheila. Oh, and little Cassie." He added, affectionately touching the head of the infant in Lily's arms.

"You will all join me in the well. I wish to show you something."

Aleph led them to the mouth of the well. He was about to open the trapdoor and reveal the glow within when a concerned voice called out to him.

"Master? Are you sure?" Brandon asked.

"We can trust them, Bran." 

"Wait!" Rayse remembered something, stopping Aleph for the second time.

"There was someone in the sanctuary the other day. It was a woman with long dark hair. She didn't seem dangerous, but she had the same air as the other two. Be careful."

That elicited a chuckle from Aleph, surprising them. That was certainly not the reaction Rayse expected. He came back out to ruffle Lacey's hair. She kept silent, but Rayse could see she was hesitant.

"Stop worrying, you three. I am effectively invincible in that realm. No danger will come to pass."

"...Okay." 

"Go continue your training. Brandon, show Eric how we do things."

"Yes sir!"

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So with that, Brandon led them all away from the well and to the back of Aleph's house. 

"Sir Eric, can you show us what you can do?" Brandon tentatively asked. For a noble's son, he fits the role of leader pretty well.

"Oh, please. Eric's fine."

Eric stepped forward, and started to demonstrate.

"I haven't had much training, but I mostly do basic lightning spells. like shock, or thunderbolt."

"...Oh. Lacey, do you remember Eric's other spells?"

"There's that thing he does where he shoots out a beam of lightning… Lightning Ray?"

"The name alone doesn't help me if I don't know the image of it, you know."

The group went silent at that. Rayse started to think, though. He hasn't seen this Lightning Ray, but from Lacey's description, doesn't it sound just like one of her magic? Rayse stepped aside, trying to modify that image for a lightning attribute. It didn't take long, he had a good amount of practice from making an abyss version of all his spells before. He picked an empty direction and fired the spell.

"Lightning Ray!"

A pillar of energy shot out from his hand, shooting up directly into the air before scattering to the clouds. His friends were shocked

"W-wait, how'd you do that? Did Eric teach you the spell last time?" Lacey asked him.

Rayse was checking his mana output by reflex at this point. He turned away from the manameter, taking a mental note of the reading for later.

"I mean, it isn't the exact same. I figured it was like your Scorching Ray, remember that one? You fired it at Aleph when he was testing us. Anyway–" He turned to Eric.

"Does this help? I can try something else…"

But Eric was transfixed at his display. He was still staring at the sky, committing the sight into memory.

"I think I can do it."

That was an understatement as soon, he was shooting lightning rays like crazy.

"Whoah! Whoah whoah whoah! This is amazing! How did I get so much mana!?"

Rayse counted six strikes before he stopped. With each Lightning Ray consuming 500 units of mana, that would have depleted him completely, but Eric looked fine. He heard that he had the most mana in the squad outside of Iona, but this was overdoing it. Judging from his condition, he could probably throw out a couple more with no problems.

Rayse was lamenting his weakness when Eric came up to him, shaking his hands.

"Thank you! I didn't know you were also a lightning mage. Got any other tricks you can show me?"

Rayse just looked at him, remembering what Iona told him about attributes.

"Uhhh… Sorry, I'm not really a lightning mage, I just thought of a similar spell and adapted it, so–"

Eric teared up at this. He squeezed Rayse's hands even more, completely shattering the stoic image he had from before.

"Then you depleted all your mana just for me? How can I ever repay you?"

Rayse sighed, not bothering to explain it any longer. Eric pulled him in for a hug, ecstatic at the powerful new spell he learned. He struggled to get away from the veteran soldier, prying him away after some difficulty.

"...Did you know we could do that?" Brandon was asking Lacey from the side.

"I mean, it shouldn't be impossible… Though I noticed Lady Iona giving me envious looks when I started using more than one attribute. Also, aren't your spells also multi element?"

"I dunno, I just thought they looked cool so–"

Rayse let the conversations wash over him as he once again started to rethink how he was developing. It hadn't occurred to him that he could also just begin using his friends' magic. He dearly wanted to go off by himself again, do some testing on the abyss version of their spells, when he remembered that girl from before.

'You need a control spell.'

It seemed like such an obvious hole in his preparations that he could no longer ignore it. He sat down on the spot, thinking about all the spells he had ever seen, thinking about how he could repurpose one or more of them for keeping an opponent tied down.

Soon, the group noticed him smiling and laughing to himself

"You look a bit creepy, man. What are you thinking?"

"Oh, you know, this and that. Say, do you think the mister's gonna have us spar later? I have some stuff to try…"

__________________________________

Aleph's group was underground now, standing in front of an open portal. The adults were looking at it in confusion, while the children were in awe. 

"Lord Aleph, this is…" Tom just stared at it, mouth agape. 

"I am not from this world." Aleph confessed. He looked around at them all, gauging their reactions.

"I was born on a different planet, where the forces that we currently face tried to invade. We managed to fight them off, but I alone survived, and had been stranded there alone ever since."

Sheila came to give him a hug, which he appreciated, while Shae held his hand. It was a nice gesture, though he wondered if the children even understood, or if they just wanted to comfort him because of the face he was making. Nevertheless, it pushed him to continue his story.

"I came to this world for a new life, but when I heard Erebos had his eyes on this world too, I realized I needed to finish him once and for all. And recently, that led to a different realization."

He gestured to the portal, beckoning them inside. The group hesitated, even the children that held him did so even tighter.

"Do not be afraid. This portal leads to my previous home, one that I made in memory of my fallen brothers in arms. I aim to teach you what I learned from them, in hopes that it may help us in the fight."

The group looked around at each other, before deciding to go in together. Aleph went in with them, back into his old home. Their vision went white for a split second as the portal transported them to a different realm. 

They found themselves in a similar looking cave. The group looked around perplexed, disoriented at crossing the portal.

"Feel free to take a look around for now, I will join you shortly. I created a monument at the top, along with a place to rest. Please, make yourselves at home."

And so the group went upstairs into his sanctuary. Aleph stayed behind for a moment as he collected himself. He breathed in deep, seeing his sanctuary after a while. He could feel his divinity all over this place, just out of reach but eager to return.

A figure faded into existence beside him, but Aleph sensed him since they arrived. He turned to see the being that had set all of this into motion.

"Hello, Marduk."

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