Castor watched as the brown cloaked figure strode forward, stopping at the edge of the balcony, heels clicking? Someone clearly felt confident to wear those, or had no real sense of danger, a voice clearing their throat.
"Ahem, sorry to bother you, but you wouldn't happen to be Castor Larcray would you? Your hood is kind of covering your face." Castor stayed silent, this lady sounded so, so laid back, like she wasn't just standing in the garden of the castle, it was like she was bored but having fun saying every word of her question, like she.....already knew.
"I am he, yes, what do you want?" Doing his best to try and channel that mask he pulled out of his ass with Lucifer, he answered and asked back at her. A soft laugh came from her, taking off her own hood, red wine colored hair tied up in a messy ponytail....Violet eyes? and slightly pale skin, he almost swore she looked similar to a game character he'd heard of before, attempting. Ka, Ka, Oh! Kafka, her name was Kafka, he practically spun to face her, confident she was just here to try and be some two-bit manipulator, he'd remembered he began to play Star Rail and that's all she seemed like to him. Got you. "Listen, I'm sure you had this cool plan and speech prepared, but you're trying to play yourself off similar to Kafka yeah? Well nice try, but don't think I'll be so manipulated so easily!" Her expected cutting response didn't happen. He was met with a short giggle that sounded so....amused, like a kid just told you....something obviously wrong.
"Hah, you are quite the comedian there, yes, I modeled myself pretty heavily, but I'm afraid i don't have the same spider motif and manipulation? Guess you didn't get too far did ya? She's been told the script of the story basically, many versions of that script, subtle and big changes, I have an ability, or rather a skill that lets me, get a glimpse ahead and see major events that will happen, given the current course, actions and choices changing events leading up to those events, but these events happening regardless, I call it [Oracle's Eyes] and I've been out and about helping a fair amount of people in Kadrea as an Anra Wyvern Knight for the last month or so, lo and behold I come back, my little brother is the First Red Saint and I've been been back in that period of time. Only learned that bit because a strange fella came by and told me, he swore he saw me at the ball last night. Real funny story yeah?" [Truth] .....have to confirm, have to confirm, Have. To. Confirm. He knew he was shaking, whether from rage, shock, disgust or despair, he couldn't say.
"W-What's your name?" Please, be wrong, don't take so much away from him again....please, he barely registered the fact she'd flown up to the balcony and gently embraced him, his tears stinging worse than any exhaustion, wound or emotional beating he'd dealt in the last week
"My name is Polydeuces Larcray, happy to finally meet my adorable baby brother, you, Castor." [Truth] .....Then, then who was? Something in his head couldn't click, like something was caught in a gear and stopping the hands of a clock, it didn't hurt, but it felt like, something was wrong, so, so, so, so. Wrong, until he remembered something Daedalus asked him when he took a tour of the castle with Medea.
[Flashback]
Castor walked into the library, Medea going to go grab some books when he heard someone make a noise.
"Ah, happy to see you up and about Castor, my name is Daedalus, we've met only briefly before. I had something I wanted to ask you, if you don't mind that is?" "Oh, uhhh, sure? ask away."
"Well, are you sure you only arrived the other day, a few glances I've taken at you with my skill [Eye For Details] seem to show sings of starvation, dehydration and a hint of magical tampering around your head, at first I had assumed it was due to you being a Reincarnate and your weird issue with memory you explained to me. But its a specific spell, {Mind Wipe} it doesn't get rid of all memories, but memories of the last day and can only be cast by fairly powerful School of Mind spellcasters, like myself and with careful manipulation, it couldn't even be detected by a Summoned Hero's skill unless they were actively looking for it."
"I can't say, it just felt like, I was falling down to the street and then, bam! Right into the water of that weird room and then I just felt, tired and sleepy, I didn't feel all that hungry, until I started eating again recently. I felt like I was going crazy though when i first woke up, but i figured that was just a side effect of being a Reincarnate. I also felt really safe with Polydeuces, but she's my sister so I just guessed that's normal for having a very caring sister like her yeah?" Daedalus nodded slowly and wrote something down and sent a magic message out, before shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Don't worry, its nothi- wait, what? Madness has never been a side effect of being a Reincarnate, that's just an effect of being close to Fracturing and you becoming an Aspect Avatar should've been lessened if not outright halted, but your quick attachment to Polydeuces isn't that odd, she was there to comfort you after all, hmm, I'm curious, what happened to your previous self's clothes? You don't seem to wear them at all."
"What do you mean? I was stark naked when I first got here, I only had Polydeuces' old cloak on."
"No, every Reincarnate has come with their clothes, we even keep each remaining bit of their clothes after they die from Fracture, as a sort of reminder of the dangers of Fracture, unlocking their magic is just a basic thing here, even children get it unlocked, many a Reincarnate seemed so, gung ho about not relying on magic and the few that did either died later on or became an issue, the ones who didn't want their magic unlocked were...the worst to watch, every moment they grew more powerful, they experienced a massive growth in power, in reality it was just their body becoming, bloated with latent magic. It was always during a major battle, their bodies sustaining major injuries, but they kept pushing at the behest of their friends they'd made, some even conducting magic absorption rituals while the Reincarnate slept just so they wouldn't die the next time they grew stronger, Adventurers grew, uncomfortably aware of early symptoms of Fracturing, but it was always a last pivotal battle, that the body of the Reincarnate, would just give out, large cracks forming on their body, magical light seeping from their body. Any Adventurer who knew what was going to happen, were devastated, their friend, was about to die and having spent so long together, meant so little as their friend died screaming." He paused and looked Castor dead in the eyes.
"Castor, we only know all of this now, because of each Reincarnate that's died by Fracturing, a few of which, I knew personally and considered friends until they died, our friendship tested and strained at their stubbornness to, fight the Fracturing, I kept telling them, each and every one. 'That's what my last friend like you said, before I watched them destroy their body and die by Fracturing.' Each of them never came back. So I'm very aware of Fracturing and its effects on Reincarnates. Sorry, I believe I got carried away there. I have a few, things to do today, I'll talk to you some other time." Castor watched Daedalus walk out, his movements stiff and rigid, Medea later telling him that Daedalus also told her the story of each and every one of his friends and that every day, before the sun set, he'd sit at their graveyard, crying, yelling, drinking or a mixture of two or all three, she said to just give him time, he usually gets very worked up over any misinformation potentially making its way into circulation, suggesting they leave, because soon Daedalus would comb through every book to look for the misinformation and make sure it never got into anyone's hands. Castor didn't hearing anything about Daedalus until after he'd gotten back for the ball, he'd finally gotten up and said he'd probably chat with Castor tomorrow, he just, wanted to be alone.
[Flashback End]
At first he didn't really get why his mind thought about it, until he remembered that Polydeuces had said she'd trained and taught them about many things, including Fracturing, he wasn't there, he didn't have [Lie Detector] beforehand and he'd never asked about it, since Daedalus...told him, he'd assumed everyone else had the same information as him. Goro had told him that when he did his own research he noticed the differences, but went to Daedalus as he was the one with knowledge on Fracturing, but he was already combing through books and just gave Goro a copy of his notes. He'd stopped crying at this point, he hadn't heard anything from Medea or from her classmates about her, one of her friends said she found her asking to be let out of her study, pounding on the door and saying Polydeuces had locked her in to keep her quiet and that she wanted to apologize to Castor. That was last night, when that friend told him she'd even said that the weird shift when she first met Castor, noting that beforehand, she was the most responsible one in her class, but became slightly different after a couple of private lessons from Polydeuces. He'd just nodded along and barely registered what she'd said, before heading off to bed shortly after.
"I bet you're just realizing every little thing she did yeah? Ya see, back at the day you arrived, I was about to leave, I legitimately couldn't handle, "daddy' dearest, just hurling me another responsibility, so i asked miss Hanamura to watch you as I went to go do my job, unfortunately getting caught up near an old Dwarven mine, full of anti magic ores, it wasn't until a week ago that I was found half dead with a cloak and shattered armor and no one else. Finally getting back here yesterday, all I hear is that the Princess is back finally and that a new Saintess has finally shown up after so long. I laid low, asking around, saying Polydeuces had broken the news of the new Saintess and that it was her brother Castor, who'd finally arrived after nearly a month of nothing about him. I can't lie, I was suspicious, doing a quick check as I saw you arriving and flirting with the Princess, I couldn't but notice, you'd had a few spells cast on you, a few choice spells of a very jealous mage who'd grown desperate, specializing in memory altering and charm spells, so with my absence and Ms. Hanamura already caring for her wonderful batch of kids and me just dropping you off and leaving? Then all of the sudden "Polydecues" has a change of heart and for the next few weeks, everyone subtlety forgets that Castor had arrived already and one day "Polydeuces" just so happens to have her brother appear?" So, he'd already been here for a month's time already?
"But why didn't you do anything if you could already see ahead?!" He weakly tried to escape her grasp, as if it'd get rid of all the thoughts and truths he'd learned and began to ponder on.
"Well, here's your assignment for that brain of yours, I said I could see major events that will happen, actions and choices slightly changing events leading up to the major events, but the major events happening regardless. So what do you think that means?" It clicked, see major events happen regardless, meaning she can see them happening.
"But you can't change them, can you? So either way, that shapeshifter would've altered everyone's memories and then since Ms. Hanamura likely wouldn't know what to do with me since she didn't know me beforehand and-"
"Since you were just some random Lionkin at the time, she'd obviously hand you back to me and subtly start working her magic, even affecting little Medea, casting a Manic Love spell on her the moment before she saw you and setting into motion Medea taking all your suspicion, the only reason if you don't want your spell seen, you have to know that spell in and out and be a fairly powerful School of The Mind spellcaster. You, my tragic little brother, never knew the 'real' Polydeuces this past week, this is our first real meeting, ya see, when an Aspect Avatar's Aspect hasn't been given yet, their Aspect slips, little lies become all the more believable, misinformation becomes easier to take as truth and lies become harder to see through, meaning when Honesty doesn't have its Avatar in a generation where its turn is up, a look-alike, can pretty much take an actual person's place while the real person is off doing something else and can't come back to stop lies and manipulation-"
"And mind altering magic gets all the stronger? So if i die, does Honesty-?"
"No, the concept and aspect of reality doesn't die, but it certainly becomes a little easier for the truth itself to become buried under mountains of lies, in the coming weeks, maybe even months, a whole lotta liars are gonna be found out and unless they were damn good liars or their lies were pretty small, they're not gonna get away unscathed. So let's start with a pretty big liar eh kiddo?" He almost wanted to say no, to not have to see the actual face, if she even had one, of the person who held him for hours, told him she cared and loved him so many times. His sniffles became a little more audible and sobs started to slip out of his clenched teeth and asked
"A-Are we gonna-"
"Even if it was some random person off the street, we'd have to kiddo, we're Honesty and Vengeance, if we don't, who will? I don't say this to be mean, its a truth you're gonna have to learn, but that doesn't mean you have to like it. I think that's why you are the way you are, you're heart's on your sleeve, while mine's locked away, you are gonna keep me Honest and I'll teach you how to be Vengeful, but don't worry, I'll make sure that heart of yours is always on your sleeve, now let's go give that liar a rude awakening, alright kiddo?" He simply nodded his head, following, Polydeuces into the castle, being lead by his hand as he silently cried, having the last week of knowing someone you considered decently close to you, being told they weren't the person that you thought they were and meeting the person they replaced. Hurt, it just hurt, the walk to the room was longer than he remembered, but it felt so agonizingly short. He turned to Polydeuces
"I'll go in first, I think I just need to hear it from, her first." About to leave he felt Polydeuces hand him some things, a small shovel and a pair of knuckle dusters. These knuckle dusters fit....uncomfortably perfectly in his fingers, not loose, but not too tight, the one that confused him was the small shovel.
"You'll know what to do, but before that, [Vengeance's Call] there we go, now head on in kiddo, I'll be in after the first few you get in on her." Almost wanting to say something about that, he couldn't, even before that skill, he'd already made up his mind about wanting to give whoever this really was a good punch in the mouth, it wouldn't give him back the month he lost, the friendship she ruined for Medea and her classmates, all the lies and made him wonder if every hug and comforting word was all lies too. Opening the door and walking to bed, she was sleeping so soundly, peacefully even, a small part of him felt so, insulted that she did all of this and seemingly had little if any remorse about it. It was infuriating! Before he even understood all the anger he felt bubbling beneath the surface, he'd already grabbed her arm and threw her onto floor, giving her a very rude awakening. She quickly got up, clearly baffled at what happened, before seeing his eyes and trying to comfort and ask what happened, stop, don't make this harder than you need to.
"Castor, what happened? Why did you throw me out of bed? Your eyes, have you been crying? Why aren't you sayin-" Those were her last words that registered to him as he smacked her across the face with the shovel, sending her back onto the floor, before she could even begin to realize what was happening he was already on her, tears in his eyes and throwing the first punch. Hitting her nose and the calm, sisterly facade breaking as she attempted to stop every emotionally charged punched that Castor threw, before they both heard the door open, looking over as Castor said.
"Okay, I threw a few, she's your problem now, now I'm gonna just be....anywhere but here, but before that, you, was every hug, every comforting word, every 'loving' action and....every 'I love you' was all a lie too?" He saw the look of horror and then a look of resignation and simply answered.
"No, I meant every single one." [Truth] how ironic.
"I guess you finally told me the truth huh? Farewell." With that last word, Castor left, ignoring anything else he might've heard as he left to be....anywhere else but here.
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Polydeuces watched her brother leave, before turning to her jealous, former friend. She couldn't help but let a drawn out, sarcastic and breathy laugh as she lazily, agonizingly slowly strode forward to Millie Terra, her first friend in this wild world who finally showed herself and stopped using her face, going back to her peach colored skin, blonde, almost gold long and straight hair with wonderfully clashing burgundy with hints of red tips, her sparkling dull emerald green eyes and her outfit changing to her personal wear, a cheap imitation of Kafka, of her, Millie always had a flair for adding nice little details of her copy self.
"Millie, baby, you're breaking my heart here, first you call in sick like we're in school, then I find you wearing a barely good imitation of my face? Then you and your jealous little ass come in here and try to steal my life? Its almost impressive how boldly you tried to take over someone's life, mine especially. I've seen this scene play out a few different ways, sadly they all end the same way, your death is either scheduled or you die right here. Either way, you're dead Millie and all because you wanted something you could never have." Seeing Millie struggle to get up after getting her just deserts was, oddly satisfying, oh if looks could kill, she swore she'd be dead and buried the minute Millie's gaze was on her.
"S-So is that it? After everything we went through, every struggle, every failure, every success, every breakthrough and all our years together. You're just going to kill me?" If she hadn't seen every way this conversation went, that question might've been enough to get her to pause, but she didn't even hesitate with her answer and next action.
"Yes." Before Millie could even begin to do anything, a quick casting of [Executioner's Hand] and a lazy swing of her hand and Millie lost her head. Cleaning up the mess that was Millie's corpse felt laughably easily, magic really did wonders here didn't it? Looking at her room, she at least could say Millie kept her room basically the same. Looking down and seeing the small shovel Castor had dropped before he left and then she heard Millie speak.
"He's special you know, I was so close to actually figuring out what and then you showed up, but my findings gave me a wonderful hint, wanna hear it? While he'll never have the same plethora of skills as The Hero, he'll more than certainly have more potent skills, after all. 'The Hero is the Jack of All Trades, Ace Of None. The Saintess is an Ace Of One, Jack Of Few Trades.' Soon as he fully awakens of course."
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"He's special you know, I was so close to actually figuring out what and then you showed up, but my findings gave me a wonderful hint, wanna hear it? While he'll never have the same plethora of skills as The Hero, he'll more than certainly have more potent skills, after all. 'The Hero is the Jack Of All Trades, Ace Of None. The Saintess is an Ace Of One, Jack Of Few Trades.' Soon as he fully awakens of course~" Soon after, she'd finally died and finishing up cleaning her body and the little bits of blood. Closing the door behind her, she strode out, to find her brother and to, share some laments. Finding him as he sat on the balcony faced away from the door hugging his knees as the wind blew his hair gently to the right, she sat behind him, her back against his, her left arm lazily hanging off of her left knee as she stared up at the sky.
"She have parents, any siblings?" Clearing her throat, she answered.
"A little sister, their 'parents' abandoned both of them during a major war in Ashenholme, 6 years ago, to the day, her little sister is only a little younger than you, a few years at least." She heard a low growl rumble out from him and then a sigh as she felt the hints of movement from his back.
"Okay, I have a plan, we're holding a funeral for her, then I'll tell her I killed her sister." She stood up and looked at him, his back still turned away from her and the door, she wanted to tell him that he didn't kill Millie, she....did. Unless he genuinely believes he was the cause of her death, he's technically right and it'd be technically....the truth. Clever bastard, she thought- "Thought I was honest to a fault eh? Guess you heard the wrong script sister. My life story, my rules, keep it small and tasteful, only a few people will know the truth, everyone else will be told my truth, the one I'm fully set in, if you have a problem with it Polydeuces then please, you tell that little girl how you killed the only family she had left." She didn't say anything, she just nodded and walked off, she a funeral to prepare and some explaining to do, great. Just when she thought just coming back and getting rid of an imposter would be easy enough.
----------------------------------------
Castor sighed as he knelt down to eye level with the platinum blonde haired girl, soft sparkling light pink eyes, big and doe like, a simple red fuzzy jacket closed with a big dark red button in the middle, she was sightly pale, bandages wrapped around her left forearm to her hand, a small bandage near the middle of her forehead, a small pale white dress with a skirt, white leggings and a pair of dirty red boots with little fluff balls at the end of her laces. she looked nervous, just in general, she looked so unsure of herself, why she was here and who he was. Letting out a small breath he began to explain.
"Alice Terra, your older sister was found out to be impersonating my older sister, Polydeuces and....for a time I thought she was, in short, she messed my head a lot and did a lot of really bad things, I ended up getting really angry about it and....I lost control and, killed her, you're to be given compensation by my hand and-and-" He was too choked up and immediately entered the one form of bowing he knew from Japanese culture, on his knees, hands on the floor and practically slamming his forehead onto the floor as he felt his tears stinging his eyes he accidently raised his voice a little. "I'm sorry I'm the reason you won't see your sister anymore! I'm sorry its my fault you lost the last family member I was made aware of that cared for you! I'm sorry all i can do here is bow my head to floor as a failure of the title of Saintess! I am supposed to bring joy and protection, not leave others behind and leave children with no family! I am supposed to make sure any family is loved and cherished and the people of this land protected! Alice Terra, even if, even if I can never bring your sister back, I promise, I promise on my sainthood, I promise on my life, however long it may be! That I will spend every moment you, Alice Terra deem fit and fair for me to try and make up for robbing you of the love of family! From the love of your sister! And from the love that any child deserves to have and never lose. No matter how many years it takes, even if you never forgive me, I will always be at the beck and call of Alice Terra and all of her descendants!" He'd already began weeping, he'd genuinely felt like this was his fault, he led Polydeuces to Millie, He'd left the room, he could've stopped her, he should've! Raising his head about to continue his apologies, a pair of small arms wrapped around his neck, small sniffles breaking the dead silent room as she was crying.
"M-Mister, p-please stop crying, y-you felt hurt. I-I know m-Millie did some really bad things, b-but you don't h-have t-to."
"I-I want to, I, I know what its like to be young and feel, so, so alone! I don't want anyone to feel like that, even if you think I don't have to I, I want to make it up to you, Alice Terra or my name isn't Castor Garella!" His shout seeming to deafen the room as the only thing heard were the sniffle and quiet sobs of the two younger siblings, one a child being told their older sibling was gone, the other feeling like a child, crying so much as the two, whether bound by fate or chance, were both the younger siblings of Millie Terra, The False Polydeuces Larcray at one point, a tragic connection now binding the two, for better or for worse. All felt the strange magic around the two as they wept, seemingly crying for someone who'd never come home, who they'd never see again and who they both wanted to appear and hug them, comfort them, tell the, last day was just a bad dream and then they'd wake up and have a joyful breakfast and make new memories with each other, tell them that she loved them and to tell them she was and always will be proud of them, both of them as the two weeping siblings of Millie Terra felt a pair of arms lightly wrap around them as they began to cry louder almost knowing who came to say goodbye. One knowing the feeling by heart and the other feeling it through a strange connection, whether by love or magic, though love could be considered its on strange form of magic as a voice, ever so quiet, but almost the loudest in the room, shush and hum as her siblings held each other tighter, a soft melody carrying through the room as a voice sang a song both knew for different reasons.
"Leaves from the trees
Falling so slow
Like fragile tiny shells
Drifting in the foam
My little adventurer
Come dancing home
My brave adventurer
Comes singing home."
Soon the magic left as the two just sat there, holding onto the other, their sniffles and fading sobs as they seemed to take comfort in their strange sense connection through their shared sister, bittersweet smiles as they laughed through their remaining sobs as they seemed to finally calm down, now simply hugging each other, two children marred by tragedy, now finally found the solace they'd sought, simply crying with another who felt similar to you, someone who could understand you and someone who wasn't there to comfort you, but cry with you. The last remaining remnants of tears now gone as a pair of hearts began to mend. Castor scooping up Alice as he carried her to Millie's casket, them both placing their hands on the lid, a silent goodbye, shared between them and their departed sister. Polydeuces walking up uttering a quiet, but shakily said farewell, the funeral went on, small but tasteful, as per Castor's demand. It ended sooner than the two realized, but lasted longer than they expected, Castor realized he was still holding Alice. Setting her down, he awkwardly looked away and chuckled, before clearing his throat.
"Well, like I said, anytime you want or need anything, I'll do everything I can to help, I suppose it'll be up to you though when and what you need or want me to do." He scratched the back of his head as Alice seemed to be deep in thought, clearly mulling something over and she walked over to another brown haired older man, wait, who was that? Castor remembered seeing him around the castle once or twice, he seemed to tell something to Alice earlier too, the man seemed to play along with Alice, kneeling down as she whispered in his ear as he nodded along and seemingly gave what he heard a thought and nodded as he stood up and walked over to him.
"Castor?"
"Y-Yes sir?"
"You agreed to do whatever in your power for Alice whatever it was and whenever she wanted it, yes?"
" I did and I will, without fail, until my body gives out, I die or my crime has been forgiven." Castor answered with no hesitation and put force behind every word. The strange man seemed to nod and gave a small smile as he looked down to Alice as Castor followed his gaze, Alice having a determined look on her face, her body language showing she was still a bit nervous.
"W-Well, if you'll do whatever I want and whenever I want, I, I want to see the world! I want you to guide me, You're suppose to make people smile r-right?! You're duty is to protect the land? Then we'll protect it, together. B-Before Millie d-died, she said she'd teach me magic, so you'll do that too! I-In fact..." She paused before swallowing, balling up her little hands into fists, her right foot stomped forward, her hand pointed at him and her gaze more determined than he'd seen on her before. "You-You're my big brother now! You aren't Castor Larcray or Garella anymore, you're name n-now and until your c-crime is forgiven, is Castor Terra, you g-g-got that?" Castor walked forward and knelt before his new little sister, bowing his head and placing right hand over his heart and smiled.
"From now on and until my crime is forgiven by either Alice Terra or any of her descendants, I will be her older brother, her guardian and her teacher. I will be, Castor Terra, may I make a small but important request little sister?" She blinked before shaking her head and regaining her composure.
"Y-You may, what is it?" He saw that his friends were here, Eustace showed up and they all looked, confused to intrigued to shocked or a mix of all three.
"That man with the brown hair offered to teach me magic, I would like to stay here for about 2 weeks to both build up some skill with my magic and get an Adventurer's guild card so that I may make some funds to help pay for your tour of our world, is this an acceptable request to you?' She took a moment, before nodding her head and holding up three fingers.
"Three weeks, I, I would like some time to mourn." He nodded and placed a hand on her head and gave a smile.
"Take as long as you wish, when you want to go see the world, I will be your guide, your teacher and guardian. For now and as long you want, I'm your big brother, that sound good?" She giggled and grabbed onto his hand with her left and pointed to the door.
"Well then, off to home for now big brother!" Watching her march forward he stopped and looked at his friends and Polydeuces.
"One more selfish request, can I say goodbye for now to my friends and grab my things and, the most utterly selfish part of this, I'd like to spend my last day here before we head home, little sister. I understand if you deny my request, I'm asking for quite a lot almost right out the gate." She seemed to hum playfully, ah, she was having fun with this now wasn't she? He couldn't complain, nor did he want to.
"Wellll, if its only for a day, okay! I'll stay nearby though, got it?" Simply nodding and turning as he felt himself grabbed by multiple pairs of hands and pulled away as he heard a growing increasingly far away "Hey!" As he was taken into the same lounging room and sat on the couch again, a mess of punches slaps and flailing made him realize the twins and Rika were on him, the twins their weird selves and Rika being Rika. Yumi and Yuma were blubbering about how
"Y-You're not a murderer, right?!"
"You wouldn't do that!" Placing a hand on their heads, he looked at the group, which had Takuya, Goro, Shinji, Takao, Haruka, Makima, Ayumi, Polydeuces, Penelope and...Medea. He awkwardly looked away for a second, before sighing and began to explain what had happened this morning and telling Alice to come in, he began to explain his version of events, which was basically the truth, but downplaying Polydeuces' involvement, not out of kindness, but for treating this as a game, he didn't want her to suffer, but he felt no real attachments to her right now and when he said he wanted be anywhere but here right now? He meant it s in the castle itself, much as he loved his friends, he just wanted to be somewhere else for now. Finishing up his explanation, they all, seemed to nod at the same time, Penelope and Polydeuces included, weird. Meanwhile, Alice was trying to fight the twins for a spot to hug him, looking back up he finished.
"Now we're here, I'm sorry, I can't change the past but I'll help make a better future, for the people I'm supposed to protect and for her." Placing his left hand on Alice's head. "I hope you all can forgive me, even after I did something like this." Takuya was the first to speak, clearly taking notice of Alice.
"You found out you'd been lied to, I probably wouldn't have gone as far as you did, but I can kinda get the feeling, given we're technically in a similar boat to ya Castor." Takao looked at Shinji, who simply nodded, taking a quick breath, he spoke up, clearly for himself and his brother.
"I wouldn't have acted in the same way either and I can't speak for Shinji on that, but me and him agree, while you definitely shouldn't have gone so far, we won't blame you. You're trying to make amends yes?" He nodded. "Then, its no real issue for us, we just hope you visit as often as you can when the rest of us aren't out trying deal with dungeons." The twins and Rika let go and stood by the group, the twins looking at Rika, who let them take a step forward.
"W-While its a little disappointing you let yourself lose control l-like that, just like Takuya and Takao said, we're in the same boat. So there's little I can say to f-forgive you, that'll be up to Alice."
"Right! You've got no hard feelings from me or Yumi!" Ayumi and Makima walked forward next, with Makima speaking first.
"its definitely a little hard to easily just forgive you, even if we're in the same boat, if you tried harder to not want Alice to forgive you, I don't think I could've even wanted to forgive you. But seeing you already listening to her. I think it won't be hard to forgive you."
"E-Er yeah! Not that hard at all to forgive ya!' He gave a simple nod as Haruka walked up next, the others who'd spoken, had left or were leaving, reading the room of, best to just leave the rest of them be for now.
"Its no real problem for me, just hope to see you around sometime." Simply put and then she left, Rika and Goro approached.
"Its gonna be weird, not seeing you around fully, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do right?" Rika gave a quick hug and soon left.
"I'll assume you know what you're doing and just say, I'll see you you around, Castor." Medea approached and like him earlier, practically slammed her forehead into the floor.
"I-I'm sorry for casting a spell on you when you slept and for being overly clingy, I'd originally had my suspicions about Polydeuces and I'm assuming she used her magic to throw me off her trail, I-I understand if you can't forgive me-" He cut her off with a hug.
"Nothing to forgive, though, I do still need a magic teacher, if you wouldn't mind...?" She laughed through the tears that had built up and nodded, before quickly heading out, Polydeuces walking over to Alice.
"Could I talk to you outside really quick Alice, I have something I want to say, to you specifically." It wasn't a malicious sounding you but a clear need to tell her, Alice slowly followed her out as he turned to Penelope, now awkwardly standing off to the side, before walking over, sitting next to him and speaking in a softer voice after a weird gesture with her hand.
"I, I know you're lying, call it woman's intuition, call it a lucky guess, whatever. If you were doing it to save your ass or someone else's, I'd slap you and tell you to go the hell away, but you aren't are you? You genuinely believed and still do believe that you killed her, I won't tell you how long it'll take for Alice to feel like you've done the time for the crime. Even when you're lying or basically telling the truth, you're still so, so hilariously honest in being you huh? Suppose that's why its easier to say this now, I'm going with you, before you say anything, its my choice and, my brother just happened to finally get a nice little letter back from a Lady's daughter he said he took a fancy to. So I might have a bit of free time sooner rather than later. My little gimmick skill by the by is called [Two Headed Coin Flip] you, my dear friend Castor are looking at luckiest person in the world. Only applies to me though, sorry~" He chuckled shaking his head, before feeling a pair of lips on his right cheek. He looked wide eyed at Penelope. "I suppose another reason i wanna go is cause I like you and that winning honesty of yours. Soooo, guess you're stuck with me huh?" Deciding it'd be harder to get rid of her because of her luck, he sighed and fell back onto the couch and stared at the ceiling as he felt her cozy herself on his right side. Hearing the door open, he saw Polydeuces and Alice walk in, both with a sort of sense of satisfaction about them, Alice looking like she'd just had a particularly smart idea feeling and looking very proud and Polydeuces, like she just convinced....oh god damn it, what now you wine haired witch?
"Oh big brother~ guess what? I had a great idea and Miss Polydeuces helped me think of it, but it was mostly me. Ahem, since you have your own room here and Polydeuces said that the rooms for Aspect Avatars are decently big, I've changed my mind. I'll stay here with you instead, however, you will help bring my things to the castle and to our new room later, after you've finished your magic lessons for today, alright?" He nodded at her as he stared back at the ceiling, a smile and chuckle growing across his face as he closed his eyes for a second and then slowly got up and said
"well, I suppose I have a man to go and see about magic, would you wanna come with Alice?" She nodded and hopped off the couch grabbing onto Castor's left hand with her right as the two walked into the castle.
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Walking back, the two new siblings idlily chatted about seeing the world, explaining things about themselves and overall beginning to bond as a pair of eyes watched them walk away, her smile, bittersweet, but feeling more sweet now.
Polydeuces began to walk back to her room, she'd have 4 weeks to try and really connect with Castor, she managed to talk Alice into another week with that staying here at the castle chat. As her walk continued, she passed by a stained glass window, one she was particularly proud of, a window that she's happy to have made it before being given her eyes, a moment of strange inspiration, the meaning now being more clear by the day, a few tears coming out of her eyes. A large black scaled Wyvern with Violet eyes its wings outstretched, almost seeming to wrap and guard a Lion colored like the sun, a myriad of orange, yellow and red with red eyes and the Lion seeming to cover and guard a small Hare, its fur white and eyes pink a it stared up, seemingly curious at the Lion and the Wyvern while they stared forward. She made the Wyvern look deliberately dangerous and threatening, the Lion was made to look majestic and proud, yet imposing and the Hare was made to look curious. She'd heard no small amount of endless debate after debate of the focus of her favorite window, many posited that they were all symbolic, the Wyvern was a Monster, the Lion was a Protector(the Lion was the one that stumped them all, seeming to go back and forth and if the Lion was a person or type of person.) The Hare was the Innocent, the Dreamers and Hope.
Her mother and father was the closest, mainly because they knew her so well. She'd said that the Wyvern was Polydeuces, her father guessed the Lion was him and her mother as one and the Hare made them think of Alice, but they never fully decided on an answer. Like she said, her mother and father were the closest, she was the Wyvern, a dangerous flying creature, the Lion was Castor, one day, he'll shine as bright as the sun and the Hare was indeed Alice, she wasn't staring at them, she stared beyond, she stared at the stars above them all, the world so vast under the giants she stood protected under as she was allowed the chance to dream now.
"Heh, I think he's already rubbing off on me already, I never felt this sentimental before, not even about my old life. Hopefully I'll be able to use these 4 weeks to be like that Wyvern and guard you both before you two set out for that adventure of yours." Turning, as she felt tears slowly trickle down her cheeks, she began to hum. "Leaves from the vine. Falling so slow....."
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Castor walked through the castle, going to find Eustace and Medea, passing by a lot of castle staff as they began to work and begin the day fully. Finding Eustace standing outside a room, no armor on his hands and chest, but bandages on his hands as he noticed Castor and his new little sister approach. A warm smile across his face.
"Good to see you in better spirits my young Castor and I assume this is your charge, young miss Alice Terra, yes?" Castor nodded as Eustace opened the door and gestured for them to come in, two chairs sat at a table with a blank white board that seemed to faintly glow as Alice took the seat next to him, a charcoal "pencil" sat next to a decently sized stack of parchment, pulling one down for himself and Alice, he looked back up at Eustace as Medea stood next to the blank board. Eustace cleared his throat softly and pushed up his glasses.
"So, we'll begin with the basics and i will see what type of learners you are and how best to teach you. To begin, there are four types of spellcaster in our world, we have the first. School Of The Mind, a common school and way how others gain magic, it can even be considered a sort of, available secondary should you wish for more magical might, they consist almost entirely of Mages, Wizards, Archwizards, Spell swords and Elemental Mages. Now, any questions?" Castor looked at Alice, who was looking at him, she gave a "so-so" gesture and Castor raised his hand. Eustace nodded and gestured for him to speak.
"What's the difference from Wizard to Mage and Elemental Mage?" Short and to the point. Eustace nodded and quickly drew up three staffs, a staff that looked like it was at one point a tree branch, under the title "Wizard", the next had a small orb poking from the top of a very smooth looking staff with small lines dawn near the bottom under the title "Mage." The third staff had a small bolt of electricity with a few other little elemental heads that sat atop similar staffs, all looking like a strange fusion of the other two staffs, Castor carefully, but quickly writing down notes of Eustace explaining School Of The Mind and now the differences and potential similarities of the three classes.
"A major difference among these three are ironically, three key differences that are major differences of two of the other schools of magic, compared to School Of The Mind, the fourth school being a fairly recent one and being somewhat strange which we will discuss later. Wizards are unparalleled when it comes to spellcasting in quantity, but unironically, have little, if any control of the spell itself, they have the one of most options in terms of spells known and learnable, but fall behind in spell work defense against an enemy spellcaster. Mages are 2nd to Wizards in quantity, but have the best in terms of control with the spell itself, their control only second to Sorcerers, they may have less options than Wizards, but their spell work defense is more solid than a Wizard. Elemental Mages have the least in terms of quantity compared to the Wizard and Mage, are average in control, average in options, but by far have the 2nd best known or even possible spell work defense." Alice raised her hand and Eustace nodded for her to speak.
"Mr. Eustace, that was four differences between the three, quantity, control, options and spell work defense. Is one of those differences less important than the others?" Eustace seemed to think for a moment, a soft hum of thought coming from him.
"Out of the four, I suppose that would be options which is where I suppose I can talk of the fourth school, if you both would like to hear it?" Castor saw Alice nod as he answered.
"If you don't mind Eustace." Eustace smiled as he snapped his fingers and the board cleared as Medea brought out some fairly nice looking books, with oddly colorful paper, Eustace picking up one and moving the other two in front of Castor and Alice. Castor opening his and feeling the paper, it reminded him of, construction paper? He looked over at Eustace as he lightly tapped the side of the board with a small ruler.
"Now these are books made by and for Papermancers, Tome and Grimoire Users, under the newest school, School Of Book And Paper. This school is for those who can make or simply enchant paper, all can learn from this school, but like Elemental Wizards, there are few options in terms of spells. However, those who use them, seem to not fall under the restrictions of Tomes and Grimoires, where after a single use, the book must regain its magic over a period of time, that period is shortened drastically and they can seemingly fuse Grimoires and Tomes together. Papermancers are a, strange bunch, they use talismans, little origami creations to fight and pick up Tomes and Grimoires as well, Papermancers have little if any in terms of options without using Tomes and Grimoires." Castor had grabbed a new sheet of parchment as he began to write notes down about the School Of Book And Paper, hearing a tiny whoosh as Eustace was about to ask if he or Alice had questions. "Yes, Alice?"
"Uhm, is it possible to combine these books for more paper or to refill the pages? You said that Papermancers can also pick up and use Tomes and Grimoires and since they can fuse those books, could it be possible to combine these books to refill another?" Think she found the one she wants to learn.
"I suppose its possible, after all, we may know so much about magic and how to use it safely, we honestly don't know if magic is something inherent in living beings or if its a force of the universe, we are unsure if there are genuine rules to magic. Would you like to become a Papermanver as well as use Grimoires and Tomes as well Alice?"
"Yes, yes I would." Castor smiled as moved his book over to her and she took it with glee.
"Well then, I suppose I'll share what knowledge I have on the school's practices so you can start using them, as for Grimoires and Tomes? Unfortunately, or rather fortunately for you, Grimoires and Tomes are scattered across the Great Dungeon and some of the ruins of Old Kadrea, perhaps to be found by some plucky little Adventurers. Now back to the point of why we started taking about the fourth school, with Grimoires and Tomes along with Papermancy, a spellcaster will have solid control, decent quantity, solid spell work defense and a truly unfathomable amount of options, as Grimoire and tomes can have as many a Tomes can has a few as two spells, to as many as six spells as well as the potential to customize the spells it holds with effort, research and practice. For example, a [Bolt] spell can usually only cause a minor amount of damage and has a semi short range, no more than the length of this board, but in the hands of a well researched Grimoire and Tome User, they've been known to allow a simple [Bolt] spell to leave up to three small lines of electricity up to the length of its range as a small trap that can alert the caster, leave minor static shocks on doorknobs, absorption of other [Bolt] spells cast by inexperienced spellcasters and monsters, coating a small weapon or their hands and by pouring more magic into the book and spell specifically, you can increase the effects and uses, the lines now have an increased length, there can now be four and can grasp and pull small objects, the shocks can now cause minor damage, the absorption now take even experienced spellcasters [Bolt] spells and restore a fraction of magic from the absorbed spell, their coating can now effect larger weapons and ammunition. In short, an experienced Grimoire and Tome User, is a very dangerous opponent and a very valuable ally. I believe that's solid enough lesson on the first and fourth school of spellcasting, come back tomorrow in the afternoon again if you two are able, class dismissed." Eustace began to walk out, before stopping, writing a few things down and walking over to Castor and handing him a couple of pages with instructions for basic papermancy and minor origami creations. Castor nodded and smiled at him.
"Thank you." Eustace smiled and simply nodded, then headed off and out the door. Castor turning to Alice as he heard a soft thud as he looked and saw the third book for papermancy Eustace grabbed now sitting in front of him as the door opened and closed again in quick succession, looking around and then at Alice, who shrugged as she got out of her chair, happily holding her book of enchanted construction paper as he grabbed the other two books, his notes, her notes, which had a small doodle or two, but were basically word for word with what Eustace said a few words changed, but nothing major. Neatly stuffing the still decently sized stack of parchment into his bag as he followed Alice out. "Would you like to go and start moving your things to the room now?" Alice turned around and nodded, before running off into town, Castor lightly jogging behind her, smile on his face as life and the sky just seemed a hair bit brighter now....