Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, Liam's mind went to two days prior-

- -

"A magus from the Far East feels the need to hunt you down." The Lord had said as they returned to their apartment, minutes after uncovering the corpse puppet's true origins.

Liam stumbled into the main room, almost falling onto sofa, propping his body up with his arms before settling down into the cushions. The world was spinning for him, yet he still managed to make out the mans words.

"That seems a tad extreme." He spoke without looking at El-Melloi, instead pushing his head back into the cushion and closing his eyes. The student who was previously healing him, Claude, if he remembered correctly, lifted his right hand up and placed it on his device. "Especially considering there's no reason to."

"Is there?" El-Melloi replied. Liam noticed the slight hostility in the voice, his face contorting in confusion.

"No, there isn't."

"Well there must be."

His head turned towards the man, eyes now open and glaring into the tired eyes which sat at the table next to the window. El-Melloi bowed his head in an apologetic manner, reaching into his coat and pulling out his cigar case. Gray stood in the corner beside him quietly, her eyes perpetually pointed towards the ground.

"You're completely positive there are no magi in your bloodline, correct?" The man asked, carefully choosing a cigar and slicing it with an odd contraption.

Liam turned his head back to the ceiling as he dug through his memory bank. He was practically positive that his father was no magus. He had never acted oddly, nor gave any hint of having a double life for Liam's entire existence. If anything, his character didn't fit a magus at all, being far too laidback.

His mother was slightly harder to analyze, but he was just as positive about her. She stayed at home to take care of Liam-and even when he was older, she only got a small, menial job to add a little more to their money. While he didn't know much about her life before his birth mother died, he was sure-

"Oh crap." Liam cursed as he squeezed his eyes shut. He had never thought about that.

"Sounds like you've made a breakthrough." The Lord hummed as he lit the cigar, taking a long drag before allowing the smoke to billow out of his nose.

"When the Tower investigated my bloodline, do you remember which maternal family they looked into?" The boy asked, finally craning his head up to properly face El-Melloi.

"Ah." The man immediately understood his meaning. Gray looked to the teacher with a puzzled look, so he continued. "That woman was your stepmother, correct?"

Liam nodded with a sigh, digging through his sliced pockets to retrieve his phone.

"My biological mom died when I was a kid. Maybe when I was three or four." He explained as he navigated through his phone and opened up a chat with his father. "I barely know anything about her."

El-Melloi nodded as he stood up, holding his cigar in his mouth while he removed his red coat. He sauntered over the couch and dropped it on the edge of the cushion.

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"There's your lead." He said, walking to the door which lead to his library. "Unfortunately, I don't have the time nor the resources myself to pursue this. I will grant you my aid and knowledge when you need it, but that's as far as I can go."

"Right. I'm sorry for pushing this on you." Liam replied, his heart sinking a little. He had never truly wanted to rely on Lord El-Melloi, and the thought that he had been dragged his mood even lower. Before entering the library, the Lord paused in his doorway.

"I would advise that you always travel with someone for a while. Preferably someone with high combative abilities." He explained before turning to Gray.

- -

His mind returned back to the present as he pulled out his phone and answered it, already knowing who the caller was.

"Hello?"

"Hey, how's college life?"

His dad's voice sounded almost foreign to him-as if he was speaking in an alien language. In a sense he was. The language from the normal, human world. Liam shook when he noticed how well he already assimilated with the abnormal, magus world.

'Seamlessness. Flawless integration between separate bodies.'

The knowledge of his Origin rang through his mind, pointing it to all different instances in his memories, forcing him to see where it interfered. Liam stopped his thoughts there, bringing it back to the present time again.

"It's going great. Failing all my classes, but so is everyone else." He made sure to choose his words carefully. The Mage's Association required for his parents to have their memories altered-although it didn't take much. In truth he was going to a college in London with a full ride. Only variable missing from the equation was the whole magic ordeal.

"Hah, well I hope you're just joking." His dad chuckled, bringing back enough memories that Liam could almost see his dad laughing on the phone.

"But uh... about your text, why do you ask about Eliza?"

Liam had messaged his dad about his mom that day. It was a generic question, something along the lines of "where was she from?" and "what was her family like?" Thankfully, he had already formulated a cover story for his sudden interest.

"Well, one of my friends here actually did one of those family tree things, where they see where their ancestors came from and uh... I was just wondering about her."

There was a long silence after he spoke, although his father tried to fill the vacuum with several filler words in an attempt to avoid the topic. Liam stayed completely silent, instead focusing on walking back to the library in the college town. His dad eventually gave in through the forced silence.

"She was born in America, but most of her family actually came from China." He explained slowly, struggling to bring forth the words. "She went back often in the first few years we were dating. When we had you, though, she almost completely cut off her family. It was... quite a rough situation."

Liam nodded, still silent as he listened. The fact her family traced back to China already sent his heart down into a pit, considering how the corpse puppet that pursued him was created with Chinese magecraft. He pushed a bit more,

"Do you happen to know where in China they were from?"

"No, but... Liam, if you really want to know..." His dad hesitated. Liam felt he could see the inside of his heart, how his emotions pushed and pulled at his father until he gave into one side. "I could try and contact them, her family. Maybe get them to talk to you."

The boy smiled as he reached the library. While the nature of the conversation was rather a solemn scenario, Liam couldn't help but feel joy as he made further progress in the investigation.

"That would be amazing." He replied, his voice painted with a more lively shade. "Thank you so much, dad."

"Yeah, yeah. You owe me." His dad replied with a snort. The two exchanged more words about their day to day life, or in Liam's case his fake day to day life, before eventually ending the call. He plopped the stack of books he was now carrying upon an empty desk, carefully taking his phone out from in between his ear and shoulder.

Magi feverishly pursued the Spiral of the Root. The Origin of everything, the Akashic Records, whatever label you wish to place upon it. They gather Mysteries and solidify them for future generations in their pursuit, slowly accruing more and more power. Liam himself inherited no Mystery, no magecraft from a thriving magical bloodline. In essence, he started two, no, ten steps behind most other magi of his time.

Paired with the new pressure of being hunted by far more experienced magi, Liam knew he had no time to waste. He would have to work till death to even reach the starting line.

Keeping this thought in mind, he opened his first book and began his descent.