Chapter 13: From Draken (Prologue End)
Written from the perspective of Daragon.
“What do you mean overwritten?” I asked Vox.
“It’s exactly like I said. Your memories aren’t the memories of the actual events.”
“How would you know what they are then?”
“Like how you don’t remember the first time we bonded, the same applies to your memories of school. I was there when they happened.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything until now?”
“Your memories were meant to be unlocked when you turned 18. It was pretty hard on you and I wanted to respect your brother’s wishes.”
“Wait, my brother did this?”
“Technically it wasn’t only him.”
“But missing memories can’t be why Brandon said I act so much differently.”
“When your memories were sealed, you created your own version of events to fill in the gaps. One from storybooks you read. But he got rid of all memories related to ∂®∑ø.”
“What? Say that again?”
“Looks like your brain is still being tampered with.”
“Can I remove it?”
“Do you want to?”
“Kind of. I want to know my entire life. I don’t want to remember a false one.”
“Reality can often be disappointing. I can’t unlock your memory. If it was done by Aether, I could have done it.”
“Aether? You mean mana? Can it do that?” I asked. Aether was another word for Mana. It was a term invented by the Greeks. But it was a term to describe magic that just wasn’t possible to produce so people tend to associate Aether with ‘real magic’.
“I’ll tell you next time. There is a way to get your memory back though. Luckily for you, they were sealed and not erased. The seal gets weaker as it reaches your 18th birthday. If it was before, you probably wouldn’t have been able to break it as easily.”
“I don’t understand. What changed now vs then?”
“Now you know that something’s wrong. It’s like trying to figure out a solution but now you know the answer. All you need to figure out is the method to reach that conclusion.”
The world started collapsing. I felt the ground, which was nothingness, shake.
“Someone’s breaking your focus. Looks like we can’t talk here for long.” Vox said
—------------
“Oi. Wake up.” Relic kept nudging me awake with the hilt of his sword.
I slowly opened my eyes. The radiance of the sun beamed into my eyes, forcing them to close for a moment. I stared at Relic while hiding my eyes from the sun’s rays.
“What?” I asked with an annoyed expression.
“Who was the girl? An ex?”
“I think so. Can’t be sure anymore.” I answered Relic truthfully. With the new information I had learnt, all I learnt was that I knew nothing.
“Well, she probably thinks I’m a kidnapper. Are you ready to go?”
“I need to ask her something.”
“What? You’re talking to an Ex? I know you’re young but that’s just playing with fire.”
“It’s not like that. I need to find out something.” I put my palm on Relic’s face and begin walking forward, looking down from the building top. “Wait, why didn’t you just drag me into the portal with you?”
“Well, unless I use my Magna, I can’t pull people in against their will.”
“Magna?” I asked curiously.
“That’s what they call it. It’s just the name of the stage after Initialis. All of them were named in Latin since that’s where the first guy that got a Seguri was from.” Relic continued. “Or at least the one that wrote a book about it.”
“You left me with more questions than answers. I don’t need a long explanation. I’m going now.” I told Relic, going to the door that led to a stairwell. I left afterwards, making my way to find Nayla.
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One long afternoon later, I found nothing. I had nothing else to go on. I sat down by a bench. There was a night bazaar going on. Here it was called ‘Pasar Malam’ or something.
“So, what now?” Relic asked me.
“I’ll find her school and wait out there.” Although I didn’t know where she lived, I did notice her school uniform. All I had to do was find a secondary school around here. Unlike other places, we followed the British education system. Primary then Secondary school.
“So you’re going to go creeping around? I could just locate her.”
“What? How?”
“I have special eyes.”
“If you don’t want to tell me then fine. Just hurry up and locate her.”
“Alright. HAAAA!” Relic shouted, bursting my eardrums. I covered my ears in response.
“Is the shouting necessary?” I asked softly.
“No, but I find it necessary. Found her. Oh!” Relic let out a loud epiphany.
“What now?”
“I remember now. She was the girl that was with Priscilla.”
“Who?”
“Let’s not wait further.” Relic took out his sword and opened a portal leading to a door.
“Can’t you portal us inside?”
“She’s changing. We don’t want you to walk in on a girl, make her punch you, call you an idiot, and then join your ragtag side cast, slowly opening up to you but deny ever liking you, now do we?” Relic said specifically. I just raised an eyebrow and ignored his rambling.
“Nayla. It’s Daragon.” I knocked on the door. The door quickly opened with Nayla in ragged clothes. Nothing like the ‘prim and proper’ ones she had on before.
“Daragon!” She exclaims, somewhat excitedly. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“I want answers.”
“About what?” Nayla says as her eyes shift up to Relic who was behind me. “Is this man your friend?”
“Yes I am.”
“Ignore him. Just answer my question.” I reinforced myself. “Why did I leave school?”
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“Are you sure? Your brother told me not to speak of it since you were undergoing therapy to forget it.” Nayla looks down, playing with her fingers. I stare directly into her eyes. “I’ll tell you.”
“Alright then. Go on.”
“Before that, how about you come in? It’s not the nicest place but I clean up everyday. I don’t know how you’ll respond to this news.” Nayla opened her door wider.
The place was clean but it was not in the best condition. The empty floor boards were patched with tape. The window was half broken and only half the lights worked. She urged me to sit on the good side of the couch while she got some cups. She gave me the better looking one and poured a glass of water.
“Nayla. Why are you being so nice to me?”
“What?” She blushed. “I’m just trying to be a nice host.
“You’ve given me all the nice stuff. Relic over here is sitting on the floor so it’s clearly not being a good host.”
“Amen.” Relic said while sitting on the floor.
“Do I really need to say it?”
“Yes. You do.” I told her. “I lost my memory and a lot of it got replaced. So tell me everything you know.”
“Your memory? I thought the therapy was just to forget the bad part.”
“Again, what was the bad part?”
“You saved me. By killing someone.”
Memories flood through my mind of blood on my hands. I started groaning in pain as I thought of it. They were slowly resurfacing.
—-------
6 Years Ago
“Run!” A man shouted. “He killed him!”
“No… No. I didn’t do this!” I tried denying it. However, blood was on my hands. And I saw Vox in his Sabre form in my hands.
“Daragon!” I heard Draken’s voice as I saw him reaching out to me.
My memory blanked after that.
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“I killed someone?” I paused. However, I didn’t see the big deal. “So?”
Relic kept silent.
“It was a big deal to you. You took another person’s life. For my sake. Even if you regret it.”
“Wait, I killed someone for you? Now I’m starting to regret it.”
“Why are you saying that?” Nayla asked worriedly. I got a bit mad.
“Because you lured me there and made me kill someone.” I wanted to confirm what part of my memories were overwritten.
“But I-”
“So it’s true? You did make me kill someone.”
“Daragon I- I didn’t want to-” She stuttered. Her face grew more and more anxious.
“Well whatever. Come on Relic. Lets go. I got what I wanted.” I told Relic and left. Relic followed. Nayla sat there. I felt bad now, but at the time, I had no regrets. She manipulated me.
“Daragon. Can we talk?” Relic asked. It was strange for him to initiate a conversation. We went over to a rooftop to talk.
“Silent Room.” Relic chanted while crossing his fingers.
“A spell?”
“What was that?”
“What was what?” I asked back.
“Okay. Clearly you’re mad but there was a better way to handle that.”
“Who asked you?”
“Alright, fine. But are you going to brush off killing someone like that?”
“Why should I care? As long as it isn’t someone I know, it’s fine.”
“Is it really? How old were you? 11? 12?”
“10.”
“Jesus.” He responded. “You know taking a life isn’t easy right?”
“Aren’t you an assassin?”
“Was. I was. And weren’t you scolding me before for almost killing someone?”
“Scolding? I didn’t scold you at all. Nor did I try to stop you. I was just asking what you were doing. You had a face of anguish. Honestly, that guy was part of the Worm cult. They’re known for being mass murderers, so why not kill them?”
“You don’t know their full story. You can’t just kill someone without knowing anything about them. That guy has never killed a single person his entire life. I know it.”
“He beat the crud out of me like he was going to kill me.” I retorted. “Assassins take lives don’t they?”
“I was. an assassin.” Relic emphasised.
“So you still were one. Which means you took plenty of people’s lives. Are you regretting it now that you’re older?”
“I’m telling you, it’s not easy-”
“Then why did you take those lives in the first place? Money? No wonder your son left you-”
Relic slapped me across my face.
“Go find your way back home yourself. And this is yours.” Relic dropped a note. It read ‘To Daragon’. “I went to my fortune teller friend to find the note of what Draken wrote since I lost it. That’s why I took so long.”
He soon opened a portal and left. I was alone on the rooftop as it started raining. Just on cue. Of course it rains. Just like the last time I had a fight with Tom. ‘Who needs him anyway?’
I left to find shelter and took the note with me. I went downstairs and found the place connected to a bar. I sat down and closed my eyes.
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“Vox?” I asked.
“You want to know the details of what happened, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I saw you in my memory.”
“Well, in order to protect Nayla, you used me.”
“Again, why would I do that?”
“Ask yourself.” Vox said as he looked over my shoulder. I turned to see a child version of myself with bits and pieces missing.
https://i.imgur.com/fJwovB0.png
“Are you me?” I asked the impostor.
“œ∆¨˙∑ˆ"
“What?”
“Looks like he can’t talk either. He’s a manifestation of your other self.”
I squatted down to the child version of myself.
“How do I talk to you?”
My child self took out a piece of paper and wrote the words “To Daragon.”
Before I could grab it, the world started falling apart again.
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“Hey kid. If you aren’t going to order, leave.” The bartender told me.
“He might not have money. Relax man.” A man answered.
“I do have money. I’ll have your most expensive wine.” I asked as I took out the money I brought with me. It equaled about 3000 pounds.
“That’s 2500 pounds.”
“On second thought I’ll just have some watermelon juice.”
“We don’t serve that. I do have orange juice though.” The bartender informed me. I just nodded and paid him in the smallest denomination I had, which was 100.
“So, what brings you here?” The man asked. He looked young though. He had black hair and red eyes like me. But he looked like a better version of me.
https://i.imgur.com/lo4QTDN.png
“I just ended up here.” I answered. “Also why are you talking to me? I’m nobody special.”
“Well, you aren’t nobody. You’re a Seguri user.” He said.
“What? How do you know?”
“Because I’m one too. It’s always fun meeting other users.” He sipped his drink. “How about we go outside and we show each other what we got?”
I nodded. I was curious about his powers anyway. We went outside after the rain had subsided.
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“Alright. Come out Vox.” I commanded. Nothing happened so I got a little mad. “Don’t do this right now. Please.”
My necklace lit up as it turned into a white dagger with a blue crystal in my hand.
“What does it do?” He asked.
“Let me try something.” I held up my dagger and slashed the ground. Lightning emerged from my dagger and shot up before crashing down.
“Lightning. Are you by chance related to the famous Knight, Sir Eccel?”
“I’m his son actually.” I said proudly. My face beaming with pride.
“Damn.”
“So, what’s your Seguri?” I asked. He unveiled a bracelet with a keychain that said the words ‘Justice’. “Is that it?”
“Hold on.” He gently hushed. He held his keychain. “Corvus.”
His keychain let out a huge gust of wind. Even though I couldn’t use Mana, I could sense its enormous power. It was terrifying and reeked of death.
“So what does it do?” I tried to stand up.
“Nothing special. My Initialis ability is to move through shadows.” He said as he sunk inside his shadow. He vanished from sight.
“What the-” I muttered as he snuck up behind me.
“It’s a pretty simple ability. I can also do more but that’s all I’ll show for now.”
“Wait. You have other stages? How do you do that?”
“It’s different from person to person. But to unlock the Magna Stage, one needs to not be burdened by the past and look only towards the future.”
“Huh. How strong are you anyways?” I queried. He turned to a tree bark with ants crawling on it. He took his rapier and stabbed the tree bark in quick succession. I was amazed, however my amazement became disappointment when all the ants were still standing. “You missed.”
“True strength doesn’t come from killing. But from keeping others alive.” He said as he stabbed the bark again, this time bringing a single ant on his Rapier. “Oh. I have to get going.”
“What, why?” I inquired but he slowly submerged into the shadow. “At least tell me your name!”
“My next appointment is soon. I’m Encil. See you next time, Eccel.”
“Encil?” I wondered. I swear there was someone with that name. That’s when it hit me. Relic’s son. But it was too late. And Relic left me so there’s no point.
I sat on the voiddeck of the bar, remembering what my child self showed me. The note. I opened the note Relic dropped.
‘To: Daragon
Hey lil bro. It’s me, Draken from the past ;) Anyways, I just wanted to say happy birthday. I remembered we always wrote cards on our birthday. Congrats on turning 16! Anyways, I just wanted to say that you're a young adult now. Be nice to Tom and Aisha.
From: Draken.’
I shed a bit when I read it but it didn’t help me.
“It’s encoded” Vox’s voice rang through my mind.
‘How do I encode it?’ I tried to communicate with Vox.
“Place me on the note. I’ll do it for you.” I took my dagger and then lightly hovered over the note.
‘To: Daragon
If you’re reading this part, it means you’ve already unlocked your Seguri or your memory. And I’m dead. Your Anima probably told you about your sealed memories. I didn’t mean to seal them, but I thought it was best if you don’t remember them. I might have also put in some other suggestions like for you to be unable to swear unless you’re really emotional or to eat your veggies haha… well. If you want to unlock your memories, just say this phrase 3 times. ‘Draken is the best brother.’ I hope you don’t come to hate me for doing this to you.
From: Draken’
‘Man. Must I really?’
‘Looks like you gotta.’
“Draken is the best brother, Draken is the best brother, Draken is the best brother.”
End of Prologue
A/N: Thanks for reading so far. Now the progression fantasy will start. Sorry for making you wait so long. I realise that anything that isn’t LitRPG doesn’t do well on here but I’ll still keep posting anyway because I want to. Give me some criticism if you want to. I’m open for any and all!