There are many gods who could hold the title of strongest, whether it be by physical strength, their levels of ather, or their accomplishments during the war that shaped ZeO. Reading the scriptures left behind by the first Aiolians, we can deduce that the gods all believed that one god was above them in terms of what they believed he could do. That god was named Vye, the god of vows. He wasn’t a war god that did battle or a crafting god that created the weapons used by the other gods that then became the legendary treasures we use against the Night. Vye was an enigma. He was the one to claim his position as the god of vows and used his innate spiritual ather and ather of ZeO to empower spoken vows. Now, there are obviously many levels of importance a promise, contract, or vow could have. Promising your child a toy if they were well behaved is a vow Vye wouldn’t empower, and breaking that vow wouldn’t lead to any punishments from the god. From what I can gather, Vye is a lenient god who checks over every vow, promise, and contract made and is able to differentiate how strongly someone feels about the vow. But do not misinterpret my use of the word “lenient.” Breaking a vow empowered by Vye is a serious offense. Death or ruin will happen all around you. Atrocities like that have been recorded after a vow was seemingly broken. Some say the Hathaway Clan had broken a special vow made long ago, and that led to the start of their clan’s decay. But what does an empowered vow do? How can you tell you are even empowered by Vye? These are still questions we ask today, but what I do know is…That a vow spoken with passion and soul is heard by Vye. In turn, he will ignite the resolve of those that keep the vows and oath they have declared.
* “Aiolia’s History: Of Gods and Goddess Vol.1” written by Sir Artur Dounoir.
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Bartz couldn’t believe it. Not only was Cecil here, but one of the only other people in his life that he could depend on was on their way here as well. The Jaeger everyone believes is the current strongest Jaeger of the ninth generation, Marcus Illum the Wolf Bastion.
I’M SAVED. Bartz wanted to scream it out loud but was too self-conscious. Instead, he settled on speaking it in his mind. I can sit back and let the pros like Cecil, Marcus, and the house reps take care of everything!
The two boys headed out of the tent with Bartz smugly laughing to himself. It was time to do the final preparations and speak with the main vanguard that would face Harriet and the Raksha. The atmosphere of the camp felt grim. Many of the Jaegers here were ready to face this hunt. But the uncertainty of their situation and the fact that this was a cataclysmic event weighed heavy on their sub-consciousness and psyche.
Cecil looked around the camp and could feel just how dire everyone felt. He hated those kinds of feelings, especially before a grand operation like this. His blue eye caught someone he thought he knew. At that same moment, Bartz, who was beaming with joy, wanted to speak with Cecil privately. But just as he was about to get the attention of his cousin, Cecil jogged away towards a crowd of gathered Jaegers that were all staring at him.
Bartz swiped the air and almost tripped over himself. He had time to pull on the long end of his cousin’s scarf that rested on Cecil’s back, but decided against it. Don’t want any attention to be brought on to me. Here in the crowd were some Jaegers who had previously served with Cecil on hunts. They, like the Chieftain, hugged Cecil with grand respect and reverence, which Cecil did as well.
When on a group hunt, your life isn’t just in your own hands. It’s also in the hands of all the other Jaegers that accepted the job. Every decision a Jaeger makes affects the group immediately. While some Jaegers don’t care about others, Cecil has made it his mission to save everyone in his own way. To be saved by someone and to save someone else creates bonds in one day that are kept for a lifetime.
Other Jaegers who didn’t know who Cecil was gathered near the young white-haired man. This was the first time any of them had ever met a person of Hathaway descent. “White hair, but his eyes aren’t pure silver,” someone whispered loudly. How insensitive. Cecil’s ear twitched. He slowly turned his head to stare at the Jaeger who just commented about the color of his eyes.
Bartz was also staring daggers at the Jaeger, but he held on and pulled the back of Cecil’s long scarf, keeping his angry cousin in place as he tried to break through the crowd and give the Jaeger a piece of his mind…and fist. Cecil was very self-conscious of the color of his eyes. Even if others told him his eyes were unique or when children commented on how cool they looked, it didn’t matter to him.
His birth was seen as a bad omen for the other members of the Hathaway Clan. Purity of blood was important to the Hathaways and any deviation of the norm caused older members of the clan to become distraught. It didn’t help that he was born as a reject. He lived 11 years of his life with no ather and was treated as such by members of his clan and society as a whole. Cecil’s own father, the current head of the Hathaway Clan, was a reject as well. But he was a once in a lifetime abnormality.
He was as strong as Sigurd when he used ather, and no one knew how someone born with no ather could reach the heights and status of legendary Jaegers like Nimbus did. Rumors say that Nimbus Hathaway was the first Hathaway to be blessed by the angels in centuries.
But Cecil would deny that. “Me and my dad just trained really hard.” He would say that with a cheeky grin and a little wink. The only people outside of his father and mother who loved him and treated him with respect were Sigurd and his tribe of children.
He was much closer to his Illum family than he was to the Hathaways to the point where many of Sigurd’s children consider him as their own brother. Lord Sigurd also likes to joke around and call Cecil his own son when he needs a favor from his nephew.
With regards to Cecil’s heritage and his skills as a Jaeger, anyone who disrespects him in general would anger all who knew the scion of Clan Hathaway. Just as Bartz was about to let go of Cecil’s scarf, a nearby Jaeger slapped the person who made the eye comment on the back of his head. “Watch your tongue.”
Another Jaeger, one from Wu-hime, looked at Cecil’s back curiously. “You’re supposed to be an angel, right? Where are your wings?” Another Jaeger jumped towards the Wu-hime Jaeger. “Are you serious? You guys are all being rude.”
Cecil laughed. He had never heard the wing comment before, and that washed away the mild annoyance he had felt for the insensitive comment. He then pulled the two long strips of the scarf that rested on his back. “Right here.” He grinned and pretended to flap them around like a bird. The crowd laughed and the tension that was once in the air started to disappear. Bartz said nothing and instead continued to watch as Cecil spoke with more Jaegers that came to hear what all the laughter was about.
Each phrase and each interaction, whether positive or negative, that Cecil made was imparting hope to the Jaegers that were gathered around him. In the back of their minds, they all knew that this place could very well be their graves. They all knew that the graviton spear would stand in their way with the army of Raksha.
They know that they could fail at stopping whatever it was that the Raksha was doing. And even if they were still left standing after all of that, they could face the wrath of a god. Yet those thoughts weren’t on Cecil’s mind, and that energy is what the Jaegers that gathered around him felt.
In Aiolia, Jaegers of hunting houses are considered adults on their 13th birthday. Their struggles and what they have to endure with training and watching the deaths of loved ones, civilians, and mentors rapidly speeds up their maturity.
Cecil was 16, yet the aura around him felt like that of a wise man in his 30s. He started to give tips and other advice to Jaegers who asked him questions. Cecil would always say he hated teaching people how to be Jaegers, yet that’s all he ever did on his downtime before hunts.
Bartz and those of his siblings that were rejects have all been with Cecil when he imparted knowledge he learned from life, like the teachings of his father and mother. Much like the Eighth Illum Sigurd, people either really liked Cecil or really hated him. There’s no in-betweens.
He would make an amazing dad in the future. Bartz thought that as he saw pieces of his father’s personality in Cecil. Sigurd was the same polarizing figure in the Jaeger community, and maybe that is why he felt his father’s similar aura around his cousin.
More people started to join the crowd. Jaegers ticked off at Cecil for stealing kills on a previous hunt. Older generation Jaegers joined in, those who just wanted to shit talk with Cecil in a battle of arguments.
By this point, Bartz had had enough of waiting around. He was ticked off. Just how many more people is Cecil going to talk to! He quickly pulled Cecil by the long length of his scarf away from the ever-growing crowd of Jaegers.
After checking two tents, Bartz finally found one that was empty and dragged Cecil inside. “You could have just told me to follow you,” Cecil said. He was currently on the ground with his feet still outside of the doorway to the tent.
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He got up and dusted himself off. “Are you ready for the hunt?” Cecil asked with a sly grin. Bartz now held a scowl on his face. “Why did you ask me to give you the information about the hunt? Uncle Higs was there. You are messing up my image!”
Cecil rolled his eyes and shrugged. “You do that every single day when you pretend to be a coward.”
“I’m not pretending! I’m scared, do you not see the fear in my face?”
“You look angry to me.” Cecil grinned as he grabbed the cheeks on Bartz’s face and pushed them down to make him look sad. “You need to work on your scared expressions more.”
Bartz swatted Cecil’s hands away. “You know I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be a Jaeger.”
“Yeah well that sucks…But you’re here anyways, you may as well help out and complete your Illum Rite. You only get one rite you know.” Cecil grinned again at Bartz. He was always annoying to speak to in arguments, always knowing what to say to keep the flow going. Illums never like to lose, even in dumb or petty arguments.
“Ahh, I remember my first Illum Rite like it was only yesterday.” Cecil looked up and away from Bartz, smiling as he started to reminisce. Why are you talking like an old man?! Bartz grabbed Cecil by his armor chest piece and began to violently shake him from his nostalgia.
“Well, do your best. You have my support cuz,” Cecil mockingly clapped in celebration at Bartz. Bartz sighed and let his anger go. “Cecil, I am scared. This is beyond me…I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be a Jaeger. I can’t even hold a sword.”
“Being a Jaeger is more than just hunting the Night and dying. It’s about protecting those that can’t protect themselves, or at the very least protecting the ones you love and setting the foundation for the future.” he replied, “There’s other things you can do.”
“I don’t have that same desire to hunt the Night that you or the others do, or do anything related to the Night at all…or be a part of House Illum.”
Bartz pulled the rim of his cap down. When he spoke this way to others of his family, he would be scolded. He would be told that it didn’t matter what he thought. He had the blood of the First running through his veins.
He was obligated to give his life to the vow the First made. He didn’t have a plan or a dream that he wanted to accomplish, so he didn’t know what he would do if he were able to leave the family and the responsibilities of being a Jaeger behind.
Instead, he would hide, run away, and do his best to slack off from the little training he was forced to do in hopes that he would be seen as a loser, as a coward, and be left alone. Yet his father, Cecil, granny Nan, and his Uncle Blaive all saw through the facade he built over the years.
He waited for Cecil to be angry with him, like the elders and Jaegers from his family and the other houses. “Is that why you aren’t wearing our family’s bracelet?” Cecil finally spoke.
The beaded feather bracelet of House Illum is only given to those that had ather and went on their Illum Rite. The members of House Illum who were rejects would still have a piece of their soul added into the ceremonial beads, but they would not be acknowledged as Jaegers. They will not be able to proudly wear the bracelet that told the world that they are from the strongest hunting house.
“You know how important our bracelet is, Bartz. Kai and everyone else yearns to have their own, to be Jaegers. You are even denying our house with this talk of not wanting to be a member of our family.”
Kai is the older half-brother in green with the goggles. As Cecil’s best friend and cousin, they trained together every day to try and make Kai’s dream of being a Jaeger for House Illum come true. They wanted him to face the Night that made Kai’s soul cry out in pain, the evil he knew he hated, yet he wasn’t allowed to face.
“I KNOW THAT! You have no idea how much it eats me up inside.” That it did, it wrecked Bartz completely. “If I could give up my ather and pass it on to Kai, Joane, or Meri, I would gladly do it!” He grabbed the strap of the satchel tightly. “I want Damian to be a bastion! I want to heal the ather disease Judas has! I want all of that more than anything, but it’s not possible.”
Tears slowly rolled down Bartz’s face while the brim of his cap still obscured his eyes. “I don’t have the same desires you all do. So if I have to be a coward, run away, and ruin my reputation, if I have to act like I’m something else, then so be it. After all, you do the same, so why should I listen to the words of a hypocrite?” Bartz ended his words in contempt and anger.
He looked up and saw that Cecil had his eyes closed while nodding his head slowly in agreement. He was taking in everything Bartz was saying and formulating his own response. As he did, Bartz slowly began to regret the last thing he said.
Cecil was born as a reject and was chastised by society just like the other rejects in House Illum and in Clan Hathaway. He trained with his father and pushed his body to the peak of athleticism…and has been training just as hard to bypass that peak.
His father would take him out on hunts secretly. After all, he was technically a reject himself. But he was special, so the rules didn’t apply to him. He was able to still be a Jaeger. Nimbus hated those rules. And in typical Illum fashion, he rebelled against that rule and pushed Cecil to be what he wanted to be: a Jaeger who wanted to eradicate the Night.
During Cecil’s 11th year on this earth, his ather awakened seemingly out of the blue. His parents celebrated, his clan also celebrated as well. But they were still a bit weary of the lad. Nevertheless, the scion of the clan was going to be a Jaeger. Cecil was overjoyed as well, until he realized that the other rejects he knew, his cousins, were still going to be treated the same way he once had.
They all had the same desire, they all had the same dreams, and they all wanted to die to fulfill the duty and responsibility the First had left for his children. But the world was never going to give them that. They all sunk into depression and into complacency, a feeling that Cecil knew and felt himself at times.
Living a life with no purpose or direction is something Cecil couldn’t stand. He made a vow, a vow to fight the Night with no ather for as long as he could. That was how he rebelled against the older generation. He already was used to fighting without ather anyway.
The youths of Lumencia all knew what Cecil was doing but have always never talked about it. They didn’t want Cecil to be chastised, his ranks and titles be stripped away. In the world of Jaegers, you had to be an idiot to face the Night without ather behind your attacks.
Yet Cecil was no idiot. He made it work and would use his ather in the gravest of situations. He would complain about it after, but it didn’t matter that he was sacrificing his body. It didn’t matter that statistically, he would die faster than ather-powered Jaegers on hunts. It didn’t matter how many times he was called a fool.
He wanted to give hope to everyone and give them their purpose back. He wanted to change the structure of his house and clan, for them to at least have their own Illum bracelet so that everyone felt truly part of the family.
Like Bartz, Cecil had his own facade going on. While it was true that Cecil would face the Night with no ather, for everyone else it was only a rumor. Cecil was still alive. He faced many hunts and job requests and completed all of them. Other Jaegers who have joined Cecil in hunts all comment the same thing. It looked like his attacks and abilities were powered by his ather.
Even though his half-sibling told Bartz about Cecil’s ather usage, he didn’t really believe that Cecil faced the Night with no ather because he needed to see it with his own eyes. No one could be that dumb or self-sacrificial, not even Cecil.
Yet Bartz was upset and in his anger, blurted his emotions out to him. Cecil has always been kind to him and the other children of Sigurd. Like all of Sigurd’s children, Bartz saw Cecil like a brother, one who had always been in his corner. Even now, Cecil still was.
Cecil opened his eyes and smiled at Bartz. “You have the will of the First in your soul, we all do. But you aren’t ready to accept that and that’s okay. But the thing is…I just believe in you Bartz.” Those words stung Bartz’s heart. He felt the aura of his father radiating through Cecil again, in Cecil’s belief in him. A single tear fell down his face, which Cecil wiped away in a brotherly manner. “I’m sorry, I know how dangerous this hunt is. If you don’t want to go, then you don’t have to. I’ll carry your weight in this battle.”
At that moment, Cecil was what Bartz needed since the start of this whole ordeal. It wasn’t about being lazy. It wasn’t about running away from duty. Bartz just didn’t want to do this, but was being told and forced by the world that he had to regardless.
The world didn’t understand or try to understand how he felt, that he wasn’t the right person to stand here, that he wasn’t the right fit to be in this family. The world didn’t understand that he couldn’t handle that pressure any longer and didn’t want to disappoint his father, his teacher, and the rest of the family he loved.
And Cecil was the only one to give him the optionhecraved.Heshowed reassurance,dependability, understanding, and love. That was why Bartz and the other children of Sigurd loved their cousin so much.
Bartz cried and let everything he had bottled up inside explode. “I’m the worst choice for this. I can’t do this. I don’t even want to do this. This is torture, Cecil! To feel like this and want to throw away what Kai and everyone else are envious of is torture. I feel disgusted with myself. I failed my brother and sisters…I failed father.” He tightened the grip on the strap of his satchel again. “And I’m feeling all of this here at the end of the world, when everyone in Lumencia and Aiolia is depending on me! I’m…worthless in this world.”
The pressure was just too much to bear for the young wolf. Cecil embraced his cousin and held him tightly while just listening, just having his presence there for Bartz. “The wrong person was born with ather.” Bartz was hysterically crying as if years of these intrinsic thoughts that were locked away and never spoken out loud or told to anyone finally had enough and forced their way out. “The wrong person was sent here…and I’m not right for this family.”
Cecil didn’t move, he just continued to hold Bartz.
“I will protect you,” he finally said. Those words were filled with love and a strong tone of voice. Words he believed wholeheartedly. What he said was the truth, a tone telling him not to worry and just trust in Cecil. A tone Bartz had only ever truly heard from his father.
So Bartz did trust in Cecil.
“Your oldest brother will be here soon and he will protect you. So, stay here if you must.” He let go of Bartz, who still wanted Cecil to keep holding on to him. “But I know you have a brave heart, I want to face this evil together with you and Marcus. If you feel it, if you feel that brave heart, then come and face the Night with me. Take the first step, Bartz. I will be waiting for you. But until then, know that I will do everything I can to protect you. I will protect Uncle Higs and everyone else in this camp.”
Bartz wiped his tears and then looked at Cecil’s face that was holding a pure expression of hatred and anger. He could only guess Cecil was thinking about the creatures of the Night. Of the Raksha that terrorized the common folk and stole children for their sick reasons, the Self-made One who they worshiped. Cecil still didn’t truly believe that someone as amazing as Harriet had betrayed all of Aiolia.
These creatures have brought sickness and pain to the lands for many centuries, and now they have threatened the lives of everyone in Aiolia simultaneously, a cataclysmic event. All of this combined made Cecil’s heart and soul rage within, but it wasn’t the main reason it did.
No, standing here, those monsters had caused the greatest sin one can do to Cecil. They hurt his family, hurt one of the brothers he loved, and caused him to doubt himself. Here at the end of the world, Bartz broke under the pressure and passed his breaking point.
The Night did that. The Night made Bartz feel worthless. And Cecil will make them pay dearly for that.
“I vow it.”
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