Chapter 7: Chapter 6- Origins

As in, destroying this country?”

“Not exactly, but we will be upsetting every noble in the empire,” he clarified.

“I’m here for a reason, do you hear me? The days where people look down on you will change by the end of the year.”

“R-Really?”

“Just trust me– I can have every single baron, count, marquis, and duke at your knees.”, he promised with a sinister grin.

As glorious as it seemed, I reaffirmed myself.

“I-I am not asking for that!”

He seemed to be annoyed about my answer, so I told him what I wanted.

“I… I do want more power, however. I want the ability to prove myself as a competent duke.”

I continued my rant to further specify my dream.

“I want to stop living in my sister’s shadow. I want to bring back what the name Grimm formerly instilled into people’s hearts–”

“I want the power to make people shout my name in hope, and cry out in fear.”

Astaroth kept his disappointed look and turned his back toward me, however…

I had a feeling that on the other side of that head was a satisfied face.

He turned back around and grabbed my shoulder.

“Now we’re getting somewhere, kid!”

He took his hand off my shoulder and held it out in front of me in respect.

“Now how about we make that little dream of yours come true?”

He said as he lowered his head to show me his dark and scheming eyes.

And with no hesitation, as I looked at him– at my future– to signify a new and promising relationship, I responded in kind and grabbed his hand back and shook it.

“Glad to work with you, partner!”

***

The next day, I met with Astaroth once again in secret.

We discussed how I could obtain the ability to improve myself.

“You said your sister is kind of special, right? That means we’ll have to get you something that’ll make you just as powerful, maybe even more.”.

“But I don’t have anything. No matter how much I train my body, a regular human like me will never surpass a human with mana or aura.”, I confessed.

“You don’t need to worry about that. If you don’t have any of that then we’ll have to get it for you.”

Taking his words into consideration with logic, what he said was impossible, considering mana or aura isn’t something you can improve or gain.

However, considering that the man saying these words is an all-powerful immortal demon king…

“That sounds completely impossible to me, however, I trust that someone like you will somehow make it happen.”

“Of course, I’m the king after all.”

As he said those words, he released an aura that swallowed everything in sight.

The room had turned entirely pitch dark before he began to speak:

“Before humans. Before demons. Before everything–”

“There were four beings: Omnus, Vitas, Caelia, and Nycht.”

He explained further as I steadily listened.

“Omnus, Father of All: the god who controls all six elements of nature.”, he said as he manifested a clear majestic image in which light that penetrated through the clouds shone on a white-haired man in a pearl white robe, controlling six different elements.

“Vitas, Mother of Reality: lady of life, time, and judgment.”

He then projected a different image, matching Omnus, this time showing an image of a woman in a golden robe holding an hourglass in one hand and a scale in another along with a healthy-looking tree.

“And their two children, Caelia and Nycht.”

Then an image of two people, one shrouded in darkness, and one blanketed in light, appeared below Omnus and Vitas.

“Caelia, Bringer of Light: the same goddess that this continent prays and worships, who brings purity and virtue to those who deserve it and exists everywhere there is light.”

“And the most mysterious of all, Nycht. God of Darkness, who is known to be a taboo topic, despite being very unknown, who is also said to exist everywhere.”

“Not even you– the King of Demons– knows the truth behind Nycht?”

“No. But strangely, rather than being reputed as an ‘evil god’, it is as if Nycht is shunned like an abandoned sibling, despite being as powerful as his sister.”

“In every myth surrounding the four gods, Nycht is absent from everything except for the story of the birth of the Earth and another one, wherein a conflict involving his sister between her and an army of monsters where he removes every shadow from the Earth for Caelia’s light to reach everywhere. I’m honestly quite stumped by it as well.”

Strangely, no legends exist for a god that exists as a part of daily life, but now I wonder what this has to do with me.

“I’m guessing that there are two other families, besides yours and the royal family, who hold significant positions within the country as well as powerful hereditary abilities?”, he asked as he brought in a chalkboard.

I nodded my head as he began to write on the board.

He wrote the name of each family and the royal family, somehow knowing their names, and then wrote the names of the gods.

“Many in the country theorize about this, that each of the three families’ hereditary ability is a power given to and blessed from by one of the gods.”

You are reading story Sword Song: Tales of Grimm at novel35.com

I widened my eyes in surprise. I had heard about the theory but decided that it was untrue considering that if our family was blessed by a god, then we would have never fallen in the first place.

“Hession, blessed by Vitas, born with either time, life, or judgment-based abilities. However, one can only be born with one of them, never all. There should be currently three people in that family, each with one of those abilities."

He noted those things on the board, connecting Hession to Vitas, then continued to talk.

“Then there’s Kaiver, blessed by Omnus, where they’re able to control every element unlike everyone else who can only control at most four. However, only one person can receive this power each generation, as well as it is a very rare power to receive. Although, I can tell right now that there is currently someone with the power.”

He then wrote down these words and connected Kaiver and Omnus.

“Then there’s the royal family, who should still be blessed by Caelia. When a child is born within the family there will always be a girl with the powers of light that would mark them as the saintess of the empire, so I assume there is currently a princess who should be fulfilling that role as we speak.”

He now connected the royal family to Caelia.

I was surprised to see how knowledgeable he was about the major families despite never going out of the mansion.

“I assume it was like this during your time?”, I asked with an educated guess.

“Yes. But now let’s talk about the Grimms.”

As he shifted over to my family I sat up and listened with intent.

“You may think that the Grimms were also blessed by the fact that they were such a powerful family as well– however, that isn’t the case.”

“One enigma that has constantly plagued the other families is the reason behind the Grimm’s success. A success that countless other families pined for, as well as one that gained respect while at the same time being taken as an existing sign of disrespect toward the other four families who were born with their talents.”

“Many theorized that Nycht blessed them, however, there were never any traces of a power that would show signs of them being blessed by him, so the theory fell flat. So, then people decided that it was purely due to hard work and resilience, which garnered the envy of others.”

“This is what I assume brought the downfall of your family.”

Now it all made sense. A family containing abilities that are only hereditary, as much as people would take it as unfair, they cannot be jealous because it isn’t a power you could just take– however, a family where success is won solely through hard work? Even if the theory wasn’t true, others would find it strange and unfair considering the amount of work they do as well.

And so, those people wrought on my family’s downfall with envy and greed, with no remorse. 

It was a revelation that sickened me to my core.

“So what do we do now?”, I asked in frustration.

“Well… the Grimms came quite far without being blessed– so how much farther do you think they could go if they were?”

I stared at Astaroth, understanding what he was trying to say.

“You want me to get blessed… by a god? By... Nycht?”

“Precisely!”, he answered with a smile.

“But how? If we weren’t blessed in the first place, how could we get it now? And in the first place, how would we find a god that’s been missing for ages?”

“We already have a lead, or Arsene did.”, he returned.

“Wait, the journal?”

“Indeed. There’s no other man that has researched the gods possibly more than Arsene and his son. All we need is your ability to read them and the other two journals and we’ll most likely find what we’re looking for.”.

He finished with a conniving grin.

I pondered the situation when I got the feeling that the road ahead will be rough, but as long as I follow what Astaroth says, could I surpass my sister?

After that discussion, I decided to keep the topic away from my mind for the rest of the day.

***

“I’ll meet you again tomorrow, alright?”

Duke Grimm called out to Astaroth.

“Whatever. Don’t keep me waiting down here.”

Ashford left the library behind and shut the passage.

The agreement was that he would be taught under Astaroth until they find a way to fulfill Ashford’s goal.

Astaroth entered an idle state of mind as he delved deep into another plane of existence.

There he was met with a familiar setting of a large cozy cabin that sat next to a big lake.

Astaroth found himself standing on the edge of a dock pointing toward the lake’s center, and with a person sitting to his right.

It was an old man who was holding a fishing rod, waiting patiently for something to come.

“I assume everything is following the plan?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. The kid’s doing pretty nicely. He takes in information fast and finds a solution quickly. Nothing short of what will be a Grimm that will surpass the likes of you. I’ll make sure of it.”

The man seemed fragile while at the same time nostalgic for Astaroth. Nonetheless, his feelings were the same.

“Hehe. Aren’t you stubborn? Reminds me of back then.”, the old man retaliated.

“...Yeah.”, Astaroth paused before admitting it.

“It must run in the family.”

Astaroth concluded as he walked away from the old man. 

It was true the young duke reminded Astaroth of him, which honestly made him annoyed.

“...”

“Tch. Those two… I swear they’re one and the same.”, the King of Demons smirked.

You can find story with these keywords: Sword Song: Tales of Grimm, Read Sword Song: Tales of Grimm, Sword Song: Tales of Grimm novel, Sword Song: Tales of Grimm book, Sword Song: Tales of Grimm story, Sword Song: Tales of Grimm full, Sword Song: Tales of Grimm Latest Chapter