Pathless: Outcast

Cirrugur, 16th of Brightforge, year 305 UC

Before Emilia could respond, a small flame appeared on Lucas’s wool cloak.

He patted it out quickly, but another, larger flame erupted moments later.

Again, Lucas patted it out, his movements becoming frantic.

He laughed maniacally, unable to contain his excitement.

"A lost civilization, and something not human... they have to be connected, have to be."

He was talking to himself more than anyone else there.

Lucas glared at Emilia.

"You know, don’t you? You know, or else you would never have brought him here."

‘Of course, she knows. Don’t hide it from me, tell me I'm right. Tell me!’

Emilia took a deep breath, smoke drifting from her nostrils as if she had just extinguished a raging fire.

"Lucas, you’re treading on a dangerous path."

Lucas shook his head, his voice a frenzied stutter.

"Y-you can’t hide it from me, Emilia. I’ve wandered too far, seen too much. Nothing about Bryan resembles any of the beings I’ve encountered."

She felt that this would get out of hand fast if she didn’t act.

Also, Bryan was here and she didn’t want him to hear anything they’d say next.

The boy was already terrified by the way Lucas was talking, and hearing him say not human.

She could only imagine what was going on in his head.

"Come with me. We need to talk."

She at Edward.

An unspoken understanding passed between them.

Lucas followed Emilia down the hall, his steps quick and uneven.

They entered a secluded room at the far end, a space filled with old books and magitech from his various expeditions.

Emilia closed the door behind them and locked it with a swift turn of the key.

"Why did you return so soon?"

She asked.

Lucas reached under his cloak and brought out the book he had obtained in the ruins.

"This."

He said as he trembled with excitement.

‘My greatest discovery.’

"My group discovered some ruins, hidden deep within the deep caverns. It was well hidden, and we found it by mere luck."

The book was unlike any other that Emilia had ever seen.

Intricate patterns, almost fractal, were etched into the surface, giving the impression that the book itself was alive, pulsing with a subtle energy.

In the center of the cover, there was a large, glowing glyph.

The glyph was composed of twisting lines and symbols that seemed to shift and change when viewed from different angles, creating an optical illusion of movement.

Emilia's eyes narrowed.

"Go on."

"Down below, the monsters are still an ever-present threat. Nothing's changed. And as you know, the deeper you go, the stronger they become. My group was fighting some monsters, and one of my companions got hit, knocked into the cavern wall. He hit so hard he actually broke through the cavern wall and... died."

"I'm sorry, Lucas."

She told him, although, knowing how he was, the man wouldn’t care who died.

As long as it wasn’t him.

"The cavern wall hid a different pathway, one that hasn't been mapped. So we went exploring. We found what I believe to be the site of an ancient civilization."

Emilia shook her head.

‘An ancient civilization? That’s insane, even for him.’

She couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth.

There was a slight worry for his well-being, but it was slight.

As long as he didn’t go batshit crazy and try to cause an explosion here at the estate, then all was well.

After all, she still needed him to appear sane in some way.

At times like this, it was best to go along with him until he returned to normal.

"That's impossible. If it were, people would have sensed these 'hidden' pathways long ago."

Lucas laughed, a high-pitched, almost hysterical sound.

"That's the magic of it all. Even when we were there, we couldn't sense anything. A person on the other side of the broken wall couldn't sense us, even if they were looking right at us. As if there was some barrier separating the two."

"A barrier?"

She felt her mouth go dry at that.

Maybe he wasn’t crazy.

Because she knew of something just like that.

"Yes, a barrier. But that's beside the point."

Lucas said, waving his hand dismissively.

"This question has nothing to do with Bryan."

"It might so go on."

At this point, she was invested to find out more.

Besides, she knew he just couldn’t wait to tell her everything anyway.

"I found this book, it's made of a material I don't recognize, and it's locked with a glyph. A magical seal I've never seen before. The seal resists all my attempts to break it."

"And you think Bryan is connected to this?"

She found the idea baffling at most.

The book was clearly ancient, but Bryan was only five.

The probability of them being connected somehow was slim, but knowing Lucas he’d find a way to make a connection even if there wasn’t one.

Lucas nodded fervently.

"Yes. The way his presence is hidden, it’s similar to the barrier we encountered in the ruins. If I can understand how he’s doing it, I might be able to apply the same concept to the book. It would speed up my research drastically. So, what is he?"

Lucas asked.

‘He’s just not going to let this go, is he?’

She thought to herself.

He was bound to keep pushing her until he got an answer.

It was better to give him one than kill him.

Then she wouldn’t have a husband, and if she didn’t have one…

She didn’t even want to think about all the headaches that would eventually come her way.

“Nothing leaves this room, Lucas. And I mean, nothing.”

Emilia told him in a tone he was all too familiar with.

“Yes, yes, of course.”

He said in the most casual of tones.

That was the best answer she’d get from him, so she would make it work.

She motioned for him to sit at the desk, and he did right next to her.

Tracing the scar that ended at her collarbone Emilia glanced at him.

"Do you recall when you asked me about this scar?"

Lucas nodded.

"Yes, you told me you got it from a fight."

Emilia's eyes darkened.

‘I did tell him that, didn’t I?’

‘A pity really, I could have told a lie. Damn it.’

"That's true. I did get it from a fight, and it nearly cost me everything. Six years ago, I was traveling with my sister, Rashaka, to explore a part of the deep caverns. A part that was closed."

Lucas's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean, closed?"

"Exactly that. There was a door, pitch black, taller than any mountain. My family discovered it long ago and had been searching for a way to enter it, thinking it would house a vast amount of hidden treasure. But the door never opened for anyone, and there were words written on it, similar to those on this book."

She could still remember the day as if it were yesterday.

It was the day everything went to shit.

‘We should have never went inside.’

"Unlike me, Rashaka was a genius, truly talented beyond anyone else her age. She could have become the greatest mage Milthur had ever seen. When she touched the door, it opened. Not exactly opened, but she could phase through it as if it didn't exist. Anyone connected to her by physical touch could do the same. So, like anyone else would have done, we let our curiosity get the best of us and entered."

Lucas leaned forward.

"What did you find?"

It was cute how interested he was in this story.

She could even see the glint in his eyes, like that of a child.

Emilia laughed a little, a bitter sound.

"Some secrets, some knowledge just isn't meant to be known."

Lucas frowned.

She was toying with him, he could tell.

She wasn’t taking this seriously, and it annoyed him.

"Be serious, Emilia."

"I am serious. You need to be careful, Lucas. That book you're holding... it could hold dangers you can't imagine."

He’d be able to take care of himself.

It was touching that she seemed to care for him, even a little bit.

But, he wasn’t moved by that.

So, he pressed on.

"What did you find?"

"Death itself. I'm not sure what it was, we couldn't tell. All we saw were those crimson eyes and pale white skin. It looked human enough, but we sensed it wasn't. It was far more powerful than all of us, even stronger than my father."

She paused, her fingers digging into her biceps as she clenched tight.

Thinking about the day already caused her to have nightmares.

This wasn’t a story she liked to tell, which is why she kept it to herself for all these years.

Even now, she didn’t know why she was telling him.

‘Maybe… just maybe he can help.’

"We knew, instinctively knew, that the being could kill us all with a single touch if it wanted, and it did. My entire squad was killed. I... I don't know why I managed to live. It must have kept me alive for a reason."

"And Rashaka?"

Lucas asked, assuming this was the incident where she died.

Emilia shuddered.

"That thing did something worse to her. When I woke up, she was bleeding, and the life in her eyes was extinguished. It was like she was a walking corpse. We got help and managed to make it home and heal up.”

Gritting her teeth, she still recalled that moment.

The man she looked up to. The person she sought approval from.

He didn’t care about them.

They were nothing but tools.

And that was saying something if he thought of his favorite child as disposable.

“Our father tried to send us back with more soldiers, but Rashaka was different, very different. It wasn't until months later that I finally understood why."

She looked Lucas straight in the eye.

"Rashaka was pregnant."

Lucas's jaw dropped.

"Pregnant? With..."

‘That’s just it, isn’t it.’

Emilia thought as she leaned back slightly.

‘It’s why her fate was worse than what I’ve suffered.’

"Rashaka and I were close, very close. She was engaged to Ryan Scott."

Lucas raised an eyebrow, not minding that she dodged what he was thinking.

"That's something."

‘But that’s not even half of it.’

She thought to herself.

"It is."

Emilia agreed in a bitter tone.

"But Rashaka and Ryan only met twice, and that was when they were children. She was a virgin, yet pregnant. The doctors checked her out and everything was still intact, but pregnant still. It went without saying that the engagement was broken off, our father was furious, and great shame was brought to our family. Our name was stained, and no matter how much talent Rashaka had, she could never recover what was lost—our family's honor. So our father did what he thought was best and disowned her, stripped her of our family name, and cast her out."

The man didn’t even care.

Their family's name was ruined.

That was more important to him than the implication of what happened to his daughters.

Herself she could understand. As she was his bastard child.

But Rashaka?

She was his favorite, out of all his children.

He should have treated her better.

"I didn’t fare much better. I was already a bastard child to begin with, and being with Rashaka when those events took place caused me to lose everything. Still, for whatever reason, Rashaka never got rid of the child. She kept it. She never told me why, but she did. And before she gave birth, she made me promise that I would look after the child no matter what. I agreed."

‘Why did I agree to that stupid request?’

‘I should have left, or better yet forced her to get rid of it.’

‘Then… maybe then…’

That was the one part she hated about her sister.

Rashaka could do no wrong.

Getting rid of her unborn child, she would never do that.

‘They did nothing wrong. They didn’t ask to be born, so who am I to murder them before they get to enjoy life?’

Even now, she could still hear Rashaka tell her those words.

"And then?"

Lucas’s question brought her back to reality.

She was telling him her story, wasn’t she?

Her shoulders slumped.

"I didn't know having the child would kill Rashaka. At first, everything seemed normal, but as the days went on, she got weaker and weaker, as if her life force itself was being drained. Until she could go on no longer."

Emilia paused, her eyes were distant.

Those final days with Rashaka were some of the best and worst.

So much Emilia could get off her chest, so much she could finally understand.

She thought she hated her sister, for always being the one in the spotlight.

Always the one to take their father's attention.

But, she didn’t hate her.

She envied her.

"The child was abnormal. It resembled the being we saw in the deep caverns, but I knew it wasn't the same. Still, it frightened me. With the death of my sister, I did what I thought was best. I dropped the child off at an orphanage. The child with white hair, deathly pale skin, and red eyes."

Lucas looked down at the book in his hands, then back at Emilia.

"The child... Bryan. It's him, isn't it?"

Emilia nodded slowly.

"Yes. I thought leaving him at the orphanage would keep him safe, keep him away from the dangers that took his mother. But honestly, I was scared of him, of if that thing would come for him. Yet, the guilt of leaving him there and the promise I made drove me insane, I had to keep it. It was the last thing she asked of me, I had to do it. I just wish I got the courage to a little faster."

Lucas grabbed Emilia's shoulders.

"Take me there, Emilia. I need to see it for myself."

Emilia removed his hands.

"Are you insane? I just told you what happened, and you want to go there anyway?"

She couldn’t believe him.

All of this, and he was only thinking about himself?

How could he… how could she…

‘Ugh!’

She never wanted to punch someone more than right now.

"The essence of power lies in the mastery of knowledge, for it illuminates the path of infinite possibilities."

Lucas said, with a stupid grin plastered on his face.

"What's behind that door, what it holds, might be what I'm searching for. And better yet, what you saw could have been the very existence that created those ruins."

Emilia shook her head, frustration etched on her face.

"You're insane. You're trying to get yourself killed."

"I have to go there, Emilia."

Lucas insisted.

"I need answers. You can't tell me this story and not expect me to react this way."

Yup, what did she expect?

For a moment, for a mere second, she thought he might understand.

But nope.

Still the same old Lucas.

The same crazy self-centered madman.

"I can't, even if I wanted to."

Emilia told him.

He frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"The passage we took... I can't find it."

Emilia admitted.

"I thought I did once when I went looking for it again, but it was blocked by piles of rock. Even with magic, I couldn't break through them, and I can't ask my family if it's the right location."

"Then what about the boy, Bryan?"

Lucas asked.

"What do you mean?"

Emilia asked, her eyes narrowing.

"How did he awaken?"

Lucas asked.

The question was one she kept asking herself.

Even Rashaka for all her talent only managed to awaken at the age of twelve.

So Bryan had it in him to awaken early on, just… she didn’t expect him to do so this soon.

"I'm not sure, but he did, and it almost killed him in the process."

Emilia replied.

The scene was pure chaos.

She arrived after everything had already taken place, but what she saw was impressive.

For a child to be able to cause so much destruction upon awakening was unheard of.

She was almost caught up in the moment too, but knew she had to move before someone else did.

"Explain."

Lucas demanded.

"It was because of Ether poisoning, pure Ether is highly potent, and you know this."

She explained.

Lucas nodded in understanding.

"If he managed to truly absorb the stuff and use it to fuel his spell, then he should have died. Especially for someone so young, his body would have deteriorated from the inside out."

"But he didn't."

Emilia said.

"What's his magical attribute?"

Lucas asked.

"I don't know, but I figure it's water or air. Rashaka was able to use water, and I believe Bryan inherited that from her."

Children normally take on the attribute of one of their parents.

Families even sought out people with specific attributes in hopes of having a child that was more special.

There were chances of a mutation occurring, but in most cases, the child always had one of the parent's attributes.

Which is why she assumed Bryan was able to use water.

It was raining that day, so his awakening could have been empowered somehow.

"Why haven't you tested him?"

Lucas asked, his impatience growing.

"His awakening almost killed him, Lucas."

Emilia reminded him.

Already seeing that Lucas was caring more for his own interest than Bryan’s well-being.

"Aren't you curious? To find out what he can do?"

Lucas asked.