30. The Rift (IX) - Linus the Protagonist

Linus stuck his bloodied thumb onto the [Ghoul]’s forehead. “In Saintess Eglantine’s name, be at peace.”

Invoking the [Saintess]’s name quieted the [Ghoul]’s chaotic spirit mana. The command afterwards channeled Linus’s power through his [Minor Clarity] Spell Card, and the spirit shivered unpleasantly, dissipating. A cold rush passed over Linus. He saw flashes of things, but they were too jumbled to make sense of. Then the feeling was gone.

Spirits, after all, were just the manifestations of the unresolved.

A bit of clarity was enough to soothe the weaker ones.

A dozen other [Ghouls] stalked the protection circle, knowing now not to get too close. Linus was safe behind the red runes.

He’d killed a number of spirits but it was nowhere near enough. Raziel and the Ravenbone Ancestor should’ve returned by now. Linus wouldn’t have started attacking the [Ghouls] as relentlessly as he had if he didn’t think his backup was on their way. Linus couldn’t leave the protective circle now - not for anything. The [Ghouls] didn’t think very highly of him anymore. Now they were just hungry.

Linus looked up at Bramblebog.

What if the worst happened? The wraith wasn’t the most powerful being in the Spirit World.

Raziel…

A child. Precocious, in some ways. Children with the ability to awaken their souls tended to be.

A [Hunter].

But a child, nonetheless.

Linus had always needed the Ravenbone Ancestor’s help to deal with the spirits. He hadn’t been planning to use Raziel as bait, but…

But slow wasn’t in Raziel’s vocabulary. The boy got the combat class so soon.

Linus had taken this as a sign from the Great Immortal. He’d explained the danger to Raziel, but the boy didn’t care. In the end, all of these little push backs had been superficial. Linus needed the Ravenbone Ancestor’s help. And that damned wraith only cared about Raziel.

Linus gazed around the darkened woods. Shadows skittered behind trees.

If they were both dead, then what was Linus supposed to do?

How could he save Bramblebog alone?

He didn’t have the power to fight hundreds of [Ghouls]. He couldn’t defeat Last Wish.

Could he advance to Level 1?

Linus clenched his fists. As if that were so simple. Getting the last two points of Insight would be harder than the previous eight combined. What else could he do? Closing his eyes, Linus thought. He breathed out slowly.

An alchemist’s heart was one free of devils.

Young souls were full of Heart Devils. As a person matured and had realizations about themselves and the world, their Heart Devils naturally resolved, increasing the individual’s power over time. However, if a person was troubled, their Heart Devil might actually grow stronger instead. In the worst case scenario, a Heart Devil took over a person, causing them to become deathly ill or go insane.

In these dire cases, Linus exorcized the Heart Devil out the afflicted. The drawback was that all the power that had been absorbed by the Heart Devil was lost forever.

A person resolved their Heart Devils through introspection.

Only truly insane and desperate people tried to go into their own souls and personally combat their Heart Devils. The risks were too great. But Linus’s back was against the wall and he didn't have many options.

If he was going to try and fight Last Wish, then he needed any power gain available. Advancing to Level 1 was too ambitious, but he could at least make a few improvements to his current foundation.

Linus cycled his mana and fell into a meditative trance. His soul was a pure white crystal, radiance racing across it. The picture-perfect soul of a [Priest]. He entered it, and his consciousness took on a more physical form. The inside of his soul was a radiant pool of white mana and a giant lotus floated at the center.

A shade greeted him like an old friend, except his eyes were radiant instead of burning red.

Linus only had two shades, but they were both well-fed.

“It’s time for you to go,” said Linus to the Ravenbone Ancestor.

“Good. I don’t even know why I’m here,” the man muttered. He looked like he had before his death - a man that was more beautiful than handsome, lofty arrogance oozing from every pore. Dangerous like a cat licking its claws. He looked the way Linus had always imagined alchemists to be - halfway divine, and gazing down his nose at the rest of humanity.

Since then, Linus had the displeasure of meeting a few alchemists, and they always fell short.

“You formed the day your descendant, Raziel, was born,” said Linus simply. He didn’t know how to resolve this Heart Devil yet. It was better to learn as much information as possible before making a move.

“Raziel,” the man rolled the name in his mouth, as if tasting it. “A traditional name.”

“Is it? I’ve never heard it before.”

“You wouldn’t have.”

Linus nodded.

“Actually, I do think I know why I’m here,” said the Ravenbone Ancestor, mockingly contemplative. “To you, I represent the worst of humanity. You can’t defeat me, because you don’t believe the depths that your own kind can sink to.”

The image of his brother Benedict and the other villagers chanting around a bonfire appeared in his mind. The weight of the Four Fallen Kings’ regard. Linus smiled thinly. “I have a good idea.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

The man crossed his arms behind his head. “Oh?”

Linus steeled his heart because he could feel it in the air - the man was about to shock him. Hurt him. The words would be something that Linus already believed deep down but refused to admit. If Linus had the wrong reaction, the shade would drink up his power, and grow stronger.

This was the test he’d been dreading. He feared the things lurking in his own mind.

A sinister smile broke out across the man’s face. There was more than just a man in that smile. “When you were young, you came to me, begging. Remember that? You told me children in the village were going missing. You wanted me to help you. Don’t you think I knew the truth? Your brother was rounding up all the little ones who would never be able to awaken their souls and telling them to run out into the woods, to not return unless they found this ‘White Pillar’. That’s one of the contracts, is it not? Bramblebog gives the spirits their duds.”

Linus breathed out slowly. “I don’t know all the contracts. I disinherited myself too early.”

But he suspected, didn’t he?

In recent years, every student in True Leaf Terrace had the ability to awaken their soul. How could a 100% awakening rate be possible? It used to be around 40%. Women in their village had a lot of stillbirths now. A lot of youngsters had terrible accidents - drowning in the marshes, mishandling their father’s rifle, falling off a roof. Running off into the Dark Forest. Something was wrong.

The year Linus had asked the wraith for help had also been his brother’s first year as [Mayor]. Benedict would’ve been overwhelmed. Too new at coaxing down the spirits. He would’ve been messy - messy enough for the whole village to start panicking. But Benedict was nothing if not intelligent and cunning.

Benedict would’ve gotten better at it. More subtle.

Why hadn’t his brother asked him for help? Why had he shouldered all of this alone?

“I could’ve helped you,” said the Ravenbone Ancestor in a voice like silk. Linus jerked his head up. “My contract with your family said I had to obey them, but it had so many little holes I could’ve slipped through. I could’ve gone down into the Spirit World and killed every single spirit there. I could’ve placed a superior barrier around Bramblebog. In the past, I’ve done a few minor favors for the villagers out of the goodness of my heart. Do you know the real reason why I didn’t help you?”

“Why?” Linus’s voice was faint.

This wasn’t the real Ravenbone Ancestor - what he said wasn’t necessarily the truth. It was just what Linus believed in the deepest part of his mind. ‘So whatever he says, don’t let it affect you,’ he told himself.

“I knew the heir I’d been waiting for was soon to be born,” he said quietly. “I have an inheritance for him. Gifts beyond your imagination. But he would’ve been young, and I would’ve been dead. And even back then you had been so close to becoming an alchemist.”

“You thought I would’ve snatched your descendant’s birthright?”

“Thought? I knew.” The man laughed lightly. “You want power. Even worse, you have a good reason for wanting it.”

“I don’t understand your logic. You let those children die because I might’ve become an alchemist?”

“Troubled men possessed by grief and guilt don’t become alchemists. Why would I resolve your issues for you?”

Linus stared at him. “You - “

“Honestly, you should be flattered that I considered you a threat. I’ve said before that in a different life you would’ve had decent potential.”

“Why didn’t you just kill me?” said Linus stiffly. “Or damage my meridians?”

The man looked at him like he was a bug. “You’re a mortal. Do you think I would stoop that low?”

“You stooped lower.”

“I didn’t do anything, priest. That’s your whole problem with me.” The man looked around Linus’s soul. “Funny how I’m here but your brother isn’t.”

Linus breathed out. “If Raziel is alive, I’m still much stronger than him. I could just steal his inheritance right now.”

“You’re a mortal. He’s a mortal. The playing field is fair enough. If Raziel loses the inheritance to you, it’s just bad luck.”

“I promise you, I won’t ever go after his inheritance,” vowed Linus. “But I need to become an alchemist right now for the sake of Bramblebog.”

“Then you’ll have to go through me.” The man smirked. “And considering that you can’t even conceive a world in which you beat me in any possible way, I think that’s extremely unlikely.”

Linus had been right - the Ravenbone Ancestor was no easy foe. Couldn’t the shade be a little more logical? If Bramblebog was in ruins, then how would Raziel get to the inheritance? Linus paused. This wasn’t about Raziel at all. This wasn’t about the Ravenbone Ancestor. His Heart Devils were ultimately all about himself.

He looked off to the side. “The reason why you’re here and my brother isn’t is simple. It’s because the worst sin is inaction. There will always be monsters - but to see wrongness and stand by? That’s the worst of humanity.”

His stomach churned. How many times had he stood by, letting his brother damn himself and the rest of the village? There had always been justifications. It was the way his father had acted, and all his forefathers before him. Contracts must be honored, no matter how vile. From an early age, Linus had been taught that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

But he’d known it wasn’t right. That was the whole reason he’d become a [Priest] in the first place.

The Ravenbone Ancestor’s radiant eyes shone. “So guilty. I'm shocked you aren’t hiding behind those sunglasses of yours.”

“Those - “

Linus stopped himself. He couldn’t afford to lose even the slightest bit of power.

It was true - the brightness of the Ravenbone Ancestor’s eyes was causing a ball of pain to form in his temples. The purity and whiteness of his own soul hurt him. When did these migraines start forming?

“Holy magic is never supposed to hurt a [Priest],” said the Ravenbone Ancestor. “Isn’t that what it means to be [Blessed]?” He chuckled and it was all blinding white teeth. “You know, classes have a bit of life of their own. Maybe yours is rejecting you! Wouldn’t that be comical?”

Linus woke from his trance and stood up, shivering. His eyes were full of steel determination. He felt himself wavering back there. About to give something up to the Heart Devil. Linus wasn’t strong enough to combat it yet. But at least now he had a direction.

That was more than he’d had in years.

He opened his palms, analyzing the deep lines creasing them in forking patterns. What future did they describe? Did they portend that he’d become strong enough to defeat Last Wish and save his village… or would he be the reason why everyone perished.

Was the fall of his village in these hands?

Or would these hands save it?

Linus set his arms back at his side. Could he really accept that he was the worst humanity had to offer? That he was everything wrong with the world? That truth grated against his very essence. He was a [Priest]. He helped the villagers every day.

Linus had started down the path to divinity, willing to sacrifice his own mortality to be the protector of the feeble.

Yet he stood by as his own brother picked off the weak.

He clenched his jaw and took out his sunglasses. Linus threw them to the ground and crushed them with his heel, glass shards flying in all directions. If his holy magic wanted to hurt them, then so be it. He was going to face reality with his own eyes. Even if he hated the sight of it.

This was the heart of an alchemist. Someone who never backed down. No matter what.

> +1 Insight

Linus breathed heavily, disheveled, staring at the notification. Inside of his body, he felt his soul strengthen, become more pure. So radiant that nausea stirred in his gut. Linus leaned over and vomited. Black bile spilled out of his mouth, steaming on the ground. Groggy, but also feeling better than he had in his entire life, he quickly noticed that the constant, simmering pain in his temples had lessened. He felt renewed. Reborn.

“So, this is what it feels like to be righteous,” he said to himself in quiet admiration. “No wonder the clergy is full of zealots.”