Sitting in the interrogation room of the guard post allowed Lucan ample time to think. The girl from before was certainly not human, the guards had even referred to her as beastkin.
But it was strange.
It was clear she was carrying the same signatures as the Vormun, but she didn’t appear to be one of the Vormun herself.
Saying that, cursed children carry the same signature albeit a less pronounced one. However unlike that girl, cursed children don’t change physically because of it.
Whilst engulfed in such thoughts, the door to the interrogation room opened, a young man in the latter half of his twenties walked in. He was dressed gaudily in a white and gold robe. A perfect match for his blonde hair and blue eyes. Two guards followed closely behind.
“So it’s him?” - ???
Seeking confirmation, the young man turned his head to the guards behind.
“That’s right sir. By the time we got there, he appeared to be threatening a little girl with a scythe. He had some eerie black fog falling off his body” - Guard
“That’s enough, thank you. I’ll take it from here, you can wait outside” - ???
“But sir, this boy...” - Guard
“I said it’s fine. Or are you doubting the abilities of a mage appointed by the royal family?” - ???
“Never sir! I’ll oblige with honor” - Guard
Bowing deeply, the two guards left the room, closing the door behind them.
Grabbing a chair from under the table, the young man sat in front of Lucan, staring into his eyes.
“Shall we start with self introductions? I am an imperial mage under the command of the royal family, Fendrel Belmonte” - Fendrel
Showing an attitude fitting that of someone of high peerage, the young man introduced himself.
“Lucan. What is a mage?” - Lucan
In comparison, Lucan replied half-heartedly, disregarding the atmosphere.
“Lucan is it? Interesting. I’ll explain everything in due time, but for now. Let’s make sure no-one interrupts us” - Fendrel
Following his words, Fendrel raised his right hand into the air. A glowing white orb immediately appeared in it, then rapidly expanded, covering the entire room.
Sensing the magic, Lucan had already prepared himself to attack Fendrel, despite the fact that his hands were bound. However, upon seeing that the magic was not aimed at him, he lessened his caution somewhat.
“Sorry if I startled you. I used wind magic to prevent our voices reaching outside” - Fendrel
Lucan was not well versed in wind magic, but he had studied the sciences whilst in the military. It was entirely possible to prevent or at least lessen how far vibrations travel in the air by manipulating air particles.
“From your name, choice of weapon and appearance. I have a vague idea of who you might be. But, the person in question should be long dead by now. All that’s left are records detailing his exploits. So please verify, are you Lucan of the reapers?” - Fendrel
Fendrel was showing an excited expression after hearing Lucans name and was now leaning forward, anxiously awaiting his answer.
“Yes. Now explain. Where am I? What has happened since I’ve been gone?” - Lucan
Lucan had no need to hide his identity if it could get him what he wanted, without a moment's delay, he revealed it.
“Ah! You really are! The guards from before said you were speaking incoherently about the Vormun and such! It’s an honour to meet you!” - Fendrel
Looking like a kid who had met Santa Claus for the first time, Fendrel immediately stood up and tried to shake Lucan’s hand. However, realising his hands were bound and it was futile, he looked sorrowful.
Remembering Lucan’s question, Fendrel quickly sat back down.
“About that...how long do you think has passed since you’ve been gone?” - Fendrel
“Since I’ve been gone, perhaps around 30 years?” - Lucan
Hearing Lucan’s answer, Fendrel’s face cramped.
”.....Lucan, it’s been over 3,000 years since you defeated the Vormun Queen” - Fendrel
“I see” - Lucan
Despite his calm reply, Lucan’s mind was disorderly. He had been gone for much longer than he had thought, by now everyone he had knew would be dead.
Sensing Lucan’s mood, Fendrel continued talking.
“After the Vormun Queen was defeated, the Sage returned a lone survivor and the reapers were hailed as heroes. Oh! By the way, the Sage is a reaper named Will. He gave us many different technologies using his unique space magic. Including gates for instant movement and item bags for carrying large amounts of materials--” - Fendrel
Although shocked to hear of Will’s exploits, it brought a sense of wholeness to Lucan whom had worried about his fate after the battle.
“What of that girl? What is she?” - Lucan
Seeing Fendrel was becoming too absorbed in speaking of Will, Lucan attempted to change the subject.
“Ah, that girl. She’s what people refer to a beastkin. Lucan, I’m assuming you’ve already noticed, so I’ll give a brief explanation. For some reason, after the defeat of the Vormun the same energy that gave birth to the reapers was released into the atmosphere causing many mutations. In particular, some animals and beasts mutated into frenzied monsters who attack anyone who gets too close. However, some of those animals and beasts mutated into humanoids, becoming a large variety of races such as that beastkin girl”- Fendrel
“But that doesn’t make any sense does it? Even if that girl is originally a mutated cat, she should have fur and different eyes right? Why does she have human skin and eyes? Also, our mutations were not physical, but magical, so why was it different this time around?” - Lucan
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“You’ve hit a sore spot right there. To put it simply, we don’t know. There’s not many records remaining of what happened back then. The common theory is forced evolution. The primitive beastkin were given very short lifespans so that they could evolve at a much faster rate. Since they were originally humanoid anyway, they evolved continuously until they started to look similar to humans” - Fendrel
“So beastkin have short lifespans?” - Lucan
“That’s the strange thing, they don’t. Either our theory is wrong, or something happened in the past to extend their lifespans. In the current age, beastkins live as long as or at least slightly longer than the average human” - Fendrel
Seeing Lucan absorbed in thinking about something, Fendrel patiently waited.
“The energy that caused such mutations, was it’s point of origin the nest?” - Lucan
“No, we believe the energy originated a large distance away from the nest” - Fendrel
Lucan had initially thought that perhaps the nest had some sort of failsafe embedded into it, should the queen disappear. However, that does not seem to be the case.
“Putting that aside, that girl was using magic, but no-one seemed bothered by it, why is that? Aren’t cursed children hated here?” - Lucan
“Cursed...? I’ve never heard that expression before. What are cursed children?” - Fendrel
Seeing Fendrel’s confused expression, Lucan explained.
“It’s the name given children born with the abilities to use magic, like the Vormun. They’re cursed because they carry the same blood as the enemy” - Lucan
“What is that!? I’ve never heard of such a thing before, the records make no reference to it!” - Fendrel
From Fendrel’s response Lucan suddenly realised.
To prevent themselves looking bad for future generations, the world government must have omitted the parts about cursed children from the records.
“I need to write this down immediately, is it ok!?” - Fendrel
“Don’t mind it, for now answer my question” - Lucan
Grabbing a pen and paper from somewhere inside his robe, Fendrel began making notes.
“Yes. I’ve heard that in the past, only the reap- cursed children possessed such abilities and they were only limited to one element. However nowadays, everybody can use magic to some extent, most can use all elements. Saying that, there’s not as many unique ability users. Especially ones who can manipulate natural laws”
“Is there a reason why most people can use all elements?” - Lucan
“Apparently, the cursed children who were too young to battle grew up and had normal lives. Their children inherited their abilities. In some cases, cursed children had babies with each other. In which case, the child inherited both parent’s elements. After 3 centuries, every human ended up possessing magic” - Fendrel
“What about unique ability users?” - Lucan
“As I said before, there’s not many. Unique abilities can not be passed down through the generations and are only useable by one person. Natural law users such as yourself are even more rare” - Fendrel
Hearing that unfamiliar term again, Lucan could not help but ask.
“What exactly are natural law users?” - Lucan
“Don’t you know? Natural laws are just as you might think, laws which occur in nature that all living beings must follow. Such as your ability, death. The sage's ability was also considered an obscure natural law, space. The users of which have the ability to freely manipulate these laws” - Fendrel
Lucan had never heard such a thing before. His ability was certainly unusual in comparison to other unique abilities, but he felt that it was still within the realms of reason. Then again, controlling death would probably sound absurd to a normal person.
Suddenly remembering something, Lucan raised his voice.
“Why has everything de-evolved so? In the past most towns had at least one or two factories. But here, there doesn’t seem to be any advanced technology anywhere?” - Lucan
“The answer to that question is supposed to be secret......but I guess you’ll figure it out eventually. The ancient records state that after the Vormun had been eradicated and other children began displaying magical talent, the world’s government converged on the capital for a secret meeting. There, they drafted plans to reform the entire world. Since many towns and cities had already been reduced to rubble, changes could be implemented whilst rebuilding. The new towns and cities would focus more on magic than technology. The reason being that if the Vormun ever attacked again, magic should have advanced leaps and bounds enough to more easily deal with them, than when the world focused more on technology” - Fendrel
“So why did the girl look confused when I mentioned the Vormun?” - Lucan
“That’s because....” - Fendrel
Hesitating for a moment, Fendrel steeled himself and continued.
”.....during the meeting I stated previously, it was decided to hide the existence of the Vormun from future generations. This was for numerous reasons. Firstly, the new races that had sprung up carried the same signatures as the Vormun, it could cause severe discrimination later on. Then, if the Vormun ever did attack again, they may decline helping human settlements. The second reason is due to the sage...The sage was able to create a portal to the Vormun’s home world, if another natural law or unique ability user had the same or similar ability, they may try and do the same” - Fendrel
“I see” - Lucan
Lucan could understand the reasons, it was quite logical. One reason was to gather allies for if the Vormun ever attacked again and the other was to prevent it from happening in the first place.
“Going back to the previous conversation, couldn’t you still use technology, but focus on magic?” - Lucan
“The records state it was considered. However, magic is more efficient than technology by a large amount. Furthermore, in order to use both technology and magic you’d have to split the number of specialists in two. Ones who focus on magic tools and ones who focus on technological tools. In the end, magic would not advance fast enough, technology would hold it back. Nowadays, things considered modern technology in your time are considered ancient relics here. There's currently no-one who knows how to repair them, so there’s rarely any unbroken items. The complete ones seem to be coveted by high ranking nobles” - Fendrel
“One last question. Where exactly am I?” - Lucan
Hearing Lucan’s question, Fendrel could not help but chuckle. To ask such a thing this late of a time.
“Why the imperial capital of course” - Fendrel
Smirking a little, Fendrel replied as such.
After getting his fill of answers, Lucan began to process the information he had been given. His current situation could be summed up as follows. He was now 3,000 years into the future, magic is prevalent here and there exists multiple new races that coexist with humans.
Seeing Lucan in deep thought, Fendrel spoke up.
“I know it’s a lot to take in, so we’ll should end the questioning here” - Fendrel
Although he had further questions, they were not urgent and he could probably find time to ask them at some point in the future.
“We have prepared a room for you in the castle, the king will want to speak with you in the morning” - Fendrel
Snapping his fingers, Fendrel dispersed the magic surrounding the room. After walking to the door and whispering something to the guards. He sat back down.
“Your scythe and bag will be returned to you. Do try and avoid using your weapon in town unless you have absolutely no choice” - Fendrel
“Understood” - Lucan
As Lucan responded, a guard walked in holding a scythe and bag. After receiving them Lucan fashioned a makeshift back sheath out of spare rope in his bag and slotted his scythe into it. He had never needed to put his weapon away before.
“Ah, before we go Lucan. I’ve been desperate to know, where exactly have you been these past 3 millennia?” - Fendrel
In an instant, the atmosphere around Lucan became strange.
Fendrel’s words had caused an abnormal change in Lucan. His face had turned completely pale and he began to tremble uncontrollably.
“Where......where have I....why can’t I.....” - Lucan
Lucan’s mind was in disarray. His head felt both hot and cold as terror swept his body.
“Lucan...Oi...are you ok?” - Fendrel
It appeared as if Fendrel was saying something, however Lucan could no longer hear him.
An image suddenly flashed before his eyes, a vile monster was towering over Lucan’s body, it’s appearance was madness inducing, so vile it could not be described. Looking down, Lucan noticed his internal organs were hanging out of his body, as numerous spikes penetrated his torso.
“Why....why.....why....” - Lucan
Whilst repeating the same words over and over like a mad man, Lucan promptly lost consciousness.