Chapter 1 - Seeker Of Fate
“How much further do we have to go? We won’t last long if this keeps on happening…” A man’s tired and slightly pain filled voice spoke.
“Roy is right Lucius, we have been here for nearly a week now and still haven’t reached the end, our rations are already running low and the mana here is getting more and more unstable.” A woman spoke with concern, looking at a man who was busy reading through a notebook.
The man looked up from the book and one could see the frustration on his face for a moment. But as soon as he sensed the gaze of the woman on his face, he calmed down and a smile appeared on his face instead.
“It shouldn’t be far. Look…” The man said as he pointed up at the roof. The woman looked up along with the five other people that were there.
“Huh? What is there? Tell me guys, you know I’m the only one who can’t see in dark here.” Spoke a short man who was wearing a vest packed with pockets.
Meanwhile, the eyes of the woman and the other three people glowed faintly as they tried to read the carvings on the roof. The woman squinted as she found herself unable to recognize the words.
“It’s in ancient Akalian, Michal can you translate it?” The woman asked another man who looked to be wearing a pair of square glasses and a utility belt.
“Of course I can! Even if Lucius here is the best researcher, I’m still the expert at ancient history.” Michal said as he adjusted his glasses.
“We know, we know, just read for us now, please.” A muscular and tall man that was wearing an armor spoke.
“O’ seeker of fate, you’ve come far and survived the trials. For this, you deserve the reward, but know this that what you seek may not be seeking you.” Michal translated with furrowed brows.
A silence descended in the dark corridor as the people tried to understand what the words meant. There was darkness everywhere and a normal person would not be able to see anything. But this was not the problem for the people here, for they were no commoners but rather the members of the Great Barrom Clan.
The Barrom Clan was one of the five great powers of the world of Revelia. But that wasn’t all, for the members of the clan were all demon worshipers and sourced their magic from hell. Channeling the demonic energies of hell, they could use demonic magic.
This made them the enemy of nearly half of the world. But they had great power, and even after thousands of years, they stood tall and unyielding. If anything, the endless wars and battles had only made their people more strong.
And these people that were here in this ruin were not common members of the clan. They were amongst the topmost candidates that were chosen as captains. Each and every one of them had their different specialties that they were experts in.
But unlike the other four people, Lucius was not a ‘true blood’, as they were called. No, rather he was of low birth, having servants as his parents. Yet against all odds and defeating hundreds of others, he had reached his current position.
‘I need to hurry up or they will figure out the truth. Thankfully, the next chamber should be the right one, but I still need to pick the sacrifices…’ Lucius thought as he secretly glanced at the four members of his team.
He couldn’t help but remember the joy that he had felt upon finding the document that pointed to the location of the artifact. Lucius also found it to be extremely ridiculous that the clues to the amulet that the Barrom clan had been searching for had been hidden right under their noses.
The true bloods of the clan were far too proud and would never lower themselves to check the libraries of the servant academy. The servant academy was where the new servants of the Barrom clan were trained and educated. Each and every adult servant of the Barrom clan was required to produce at least ten children in their lifetime.
Barrom clan had a large requirement for servants, as they were pretty much used as disposable people. From assassination to sexual pleasure, the uses for servants were endless. Lucius too had been trained in everything that had been required of a servant, and it was during his time at the academy that he had found out about the relic.
He had been planning this for about fifteen years now and finally, it was coming to fruition.
“Now that you all have seen, let’s head further, no need to waste more time,” Lucius said.
“Wait, a minute! I don’t know about you, but that thing written there sounds like a warning.” The man named Roy stated.
“So what?” Lucius asked as he grasped Roy’s shirt. “Did a true blood like you turn a coward now?”
The expression of others turned tense as they saw the conflict. “Lucius! Control yourself, we can’t afford a fight right now, we need everyone’s abilities to get back out.” The woman urged while trying to hold him back.
“Listen to Mira Lucius, I don’t want to go back empty handed either.” The muscular man added.
Lucius tightened his grip on Roy’s shirt as smoke started coming out of it. “Fine! But one more word and I’ll burn that heart of yours out. You all agreed on this beforehand, I want no more pointless words.” He said while letting go of Roy’s shirt, which now had a hole with singed edges in it.
A tactful silence was followed by everyone as they continued onward. The path in front of them was narrow and a deep chasm could be seen on both its sides. There were no railings or borders to the path, thus if anyone made a mistake they would fall to their deaths.
While walking, Mira stared at the back of Lucius with a complex expression. She bit her lips slightly before letting out a sigh.
“Hopefully, we’ll be able to marry once his rank rises…” She muttered to herself.
A gentle smile appeared on her face as she secretly rubbed her stomach. ‘I wonder how he’ll react later…’ She thought.
Meanwhile, Lucius who was completely unaware of Mira’s thoughts was focused on the wall that had appeared in front of them, making them stop.
“What now?” Michal questioned.
“Just wait and watch…” Lucius stated before walking up to the wall.
His fingers glowed in yellow light as he started writing on the wall with it. Everywhere his finger went, yellow letters were left behind. But the writing seemed to be complex, with the characters confusing the minds of others.
“No… it can’t be…” Mira muttered under her breath.