Author's Note:
Next chapter here. Thanks for reading guys. Just woke up, so forgive me for any mistakes please, lol.
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Johan maintained his distance and tried to keep his legs from visibly shaking. He observed the tall figure in front of him; the figure stood at least 7 feet tall and thick muscles showed through the dark robes. It was the first time that Johan had to look up to a person while talking since coming to the school. The air around the figure seemed to ripple, as if shaking under the pressure of his power. Johan unconsciously began to circulate the mana around his body.
The figure laughed then said, "Don't be so alert. I'm just here to talk... today, anyway. Follow me."
The figure turned without waiting to see if Johan would comply. Johan watched the back of the figure, giving serious thought to running away. However, he wasn't sure if retreating would even work on someone stronger than him, and he was curious about what the figure could offer him. He jogged up to the figure while maintaining a respectable distance.
"Our group, the Dark Brotherhood, has produced some of the top students this academy has ever seen!" the figure proclaimed proudly. "We have a secret cultivation technique that allow you to raise your cultivation levels with ease. We even have ancient texts that can help you with your scribing. You will be a king among your peers."
Johan regarded him silently before saying, "Where are we going?"
"We're going to watch one of the welcoming rites currently underway. Numerous students have accepted our offer; you'll probably see a few of them shine in the upcoming months."
Johan nodded, then said, "Go on."
"The Dark Brotherhood believes in the pursuit of pleasure. The Academy wants to shackle you: eat at this time, no sneaking into the girls dorms, no killing, no leaving the Academy grounds, and so on. We say, do whatever makes you happy," he said, spreading his hands. "We're also a family. And if someone should wrong one of our family members, like some annoying, arrogant noble, then they would be wronging all of us. People would fear you and treat you with respect, whether you are a titan or not."
"So what did I do to earn such an invitation? Why do I deserve such generosity?" Johan asked sardonically.
"Not many titans are willing to stand up for themselves. They've been treated like trash their whole lives, and they grow to welcome it. You ignored all the jeers and nearly crippled a noble today! We value people that are thick skinned and headstrong. Most of all, we value an open mind. Notice how you didn't immediately reject me, but actually followed me to see what we're about."
Johan accepted the compliments with a nod of the head and said, "And if I refuse?"
The figure flinched for a second, then said, "Most people don't understand the greatness of the Dark Brotherhood. We don't invite anyone and everyone to our group, and we don't give second chances. People who reject our offer will undoubtedly go on to regret it."
They walked on in silence until they reached what looked like a broken down wooden shack. The tattered door swung from the hinges, threatening to break off at any moment. Old furniture filled the ground inside of the shack. It was so crowded that most of the floor couldn't be seen. The figure waded through to the center of the shack, tossing furniture in all directions. He reached down and opened a cellar door, revealing a staircase that led underground.
"Let's go," the figure said.
The staircase was so dark that Johan could hardly see his hand in front of him. He followed the sound of the figure's heavy footsteps, and groped along the wall to maintain his sense of direction. His heart began to thump rapidly and his breathing quickened. He could hear a faint mewling echo throughout the staircase, making his skin crawl. Johan circulated the mana in his body and strengthened his muscles to the best of his ability, just in case he needed to make a run for it.
They reached a long, dark hallway and continued walking. There was a flickering torch placed on the walls every couple of meters, succeeding only in painting the surroundings an eerie shade of orange. The faint mewling that echoed throughout the halls graduated to shrill moans, and were accompanied by fanatical chanting in a language that Johan didn't understand. The pungent smell of sweat and sexual fluids hung heavy in the air. The color drained from his face and he began to curse the fact that he agreed to follow this man.
They exited the hallway and arrived in a poorly lit large, circular room. At the center of the room was an intricately carved ceremonial circle. Inside of that circle was a mass of people thrusting and grinding against each other. Johan's eyes focused on a beautiful human woman that was being taken by three men at the same time. She bounced up and down on a man, shouting incoherently before arching her back in ecstasy. A man took that chance to shove his member in her mouth. Johan turned away quickly, but the wet sound of body slapping against body and grunts of pleasure beat their way into Johan's mind.
An... orgy?
Johan steadied himself and then glanced sideways at the figure. He noticed that the figure was pitching a tent and panting heavily. Johan flinched, stepping away from the man.
"What is this?" Johan said, struggling to keep his voice level.
"We're welcoming our new recruits, of course. Some of the most beautiful women on campus are here, ripe for the taking," he said, licking his lips.
Johan's stomach did backflips. Johan managed to croak out, "What's the cost? What do people give up to get all of this?"
The figure waved his hand dismissively, "Nothing much. Our family is built on trust, so we ask for your True Name and a sacrifice before letting you join."
Johan flinched, "Sacrifice?"
"Though we value pleasure, we also value loyalty. Sacrificing the thing most dear to you is the best way to throw away your old life, and become a member of our family. It's a minor thing, considering that you'll be able to grow in ways you never thought possible."
Johan stood there silently, trying to ignore the screams of passion ringing throughout the room and the heavy stench of sex in the air. The figure waited patiently before asking, "So what'll it be? Join us."
He glanced at the orgy and almost puked. He wiped the saliva from his mouth and shot the figure a disgusted glare.
"You know that giving another person your True Name is just asking to become a slave, right?" Johan said levelly.
"That—"
"The sacrifice is one thing, but giving you guys the power to rule my life? Don't see how that's a smart thing to do at all."
"There are very few people in this world capable of using the True Name for malicious intentions like that. Every True Name has a specific pronunciation. To make use of it, one would not only need to have a stronger spark, but they would need to be able to perfectly repeat the True Name with the exact same intonation."
"That sounds difficult to you?"
"You—"
"Sorry, but I'll pass."
"Not everyone is lucky enough to get an invitation, you know. How ungrateful." the figure said slowly. "I'll let you go for now, but should you try to tell anyone about our ceremony or our ceremony location, I'll kill you."
A murderous aura radiated from the figure, slowly reaching for Johan like the tentacles of an octopus. Johan flinched back and began to walk backwards into the hall. The figure stood there silently, watching Johan go. After walking away a few meters, Johan spun around and began sprinting for the exit, glancing over his shoulder every few feet, only to find the figure standing as still as a statue.
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He left the broken down shack and immediately fell to his knees. He was gasping for breath at this point, clutching his chest. The crisp, clean air of the outside world was like a sip of water after days of dehydration. His heart thumped ferociously, threatening to break free from his chest. Images of the orgy crept into his head causing him to vomit.
History Class was starting soon, but Johan was in no mood to sit in a classroom. He went to the meditation room and sat there for an hour, slowly gaining control over his rampant emotions. Then he spent the next hour after that cultivating his spark, trying to take his mind off of things.
After cultivation, it was time for scribing class; one class that Johan didn't' dare skip. Scribing is one of the staple abilities of any practicing arcanist. He entered the classroom a little late and swept his gaze through the students. There weren't any familiar faces, so he randomly picked one of the numerous tables and sat down. Wolfe Zachary stood in front of the room, his arms crossed and looking down at all of the students.
"Okay, okay. So as you all know, or should know, scribing is the use of ancient runic alphabet to produce magical effects," he said tiredly with half lidded eyes. "There are 128 known letters to the runic alphabet, and certain combinations of these letters will produce certain effects. Questions?"
Johan raised his hand and asked, "What's the relationship between Scribing and Naming?"
Wolfe quirked an eyebrow and said, "Why do you ask?"
"Naming is the Divine Speech. Maybe Scribing is like... Divine Writing? They could be one in the same."
"True, that is one theory out there. This is still a fairly new discovery, so I can't really give you a definite answer. We're still trying to understand the grammar and syntax of it all... good question though."
A few students shot Johan a look. Johan just sighed. These people get pissy over anything...
"Scribing has it's benefits when compared with Naming. Scribed Artifacts can grant you control over magic that you normally wouldn't be capable of handling. For example, the most common scribing enhancement is 'Force Multiplier', which obviously does what it implies. A Namer would have to first divine the name of Force, then gain enough mastery over said name for it to be of any use. Us scribers just have to pick up the artifact and supply it with our mana; it's that simple."
Johan frowned at his seat. Seems like naming isn't as special as people make it out to be...
"However," Wolfe continued. "A Namer that gains mastery over a name will be able to use it much more efficiently than a scriber can. One discipline isn't better than the other, but scribing is definitely the more popular option."
Wolfe reached into his bag and unfolded a large poster. He pasted it to the blackboard at the front of the room and said, "These are all of the runic letters known to the public. I expect you all to memorize every character within the month. Shouldn't be hard; it only took me about two weeks to memorize it," he said smugly.
The class ended fairly quickly, and Johan left to the scribing room in his dorm. He felt a presence behind him as he walked, but every time he glanced over his shoulder he couldn't find anyone. A cold chill ran through his body that had nothing to do with the weather, and he quickened his pace.
He entered the scribing room and found that it wasn't empty; a small elven male sat at one of the tables reading a book. Daggers, carving tools, and shavings were scattered on the surface of the table. He looked up at the sound of the door opening and saw Johan enter.
"Hey there," the elf said.
"...Hello, I'm Johan."
"I'm Takumi. Well come on, sit over here."
Johan slowly approached the table, a little put off by the friendliness in his voice. He sat down at the opposite side of the table, staring at all of the materials in front of him.
Takumi laughed and said, "I'm messing around with effect stacking right now. The power you can get out of these runes is amazing."
"Effect... stacking?"
"Yeah. Write the same runic pattern over and over on the same object," Takumi said while picking up a rusty looking knife from the table. "This knife has five force multiplier enchants carved into it. If one has sufficient mana, they could activate all five at once which would multiply the force of your strike 100,000 times over!"
"Hmm, can I give it a shot?"
"Sure," Takumi said while handing over the knife. "But it requires a lot of energy to use. I can only activate two of the enchantments at once, and I've reformed my spark 5 times."
Johan grabbed the rusty knife and observed the hilt. Though the knife was in poor condition, the carvings on the handle gave it an antique look. Johan channeled his mana throughout his body and sent it into the knife. He felt his mana rapidly draining. Two of the enchantments began to glow. Johan whipped his arm out, slashing into the air. His arm was a blur, the only thing that could be heard was the raging of the wind caused by his abrupt motion.
"Impressive. What rebirth are you on? Your fourth? Fifth?"
"Um. Yeah."
"That's how it is. I'm guessing it'd take a person with more than 25 rebirths to activate all five at once," Takumi said with a shrug.
"So a saint is capable of something like that, huh." Johan said.
Johan grabbed a chisel and tried carving one of the knives that were laying around. However, his hands were shaking too violently to do anything worth while.
Takumi laughed then said, "What's wrong? Nervous?"
Johan shook his head and said, "I saw something a little weird today. It kinda threw me off my game."
"You've met them? The Dark—"
There was a knock on the door that cut him off. Takumi and Johan looked at the door and saw a tall figure in dark robes with a large hood covering his face. He stuck out his thumb and ran it across his throat, then turned around and left. Johan and Takumi sat there in silence for a moment.
"It's those people again," Takumi said after a sigh.
"They approached you?"
"Yeah, they tried to recruit me to their screwed up little cult. Wasn't pretty."
"The orgy was a little weird..."
"They showed you an orgy?" Takumi said after a nervous laugh. "They showed me a group of guys raping a girl they kidnapped from the Academy."
Johan flinched hard and then asked, "What did you do?"
"What can I do? I'm not a super hero. There were at least 6 people there, all of them probably stronger than I am. They threatened to kill me if I reported it, and I think they're crazy enough to do it."
Johan shuddered in his seat. "Why isn't the Brotherhood doing anything about it? Or the faculty?"
"There have been a few scuffles between The Dark Brotherhood and The Brotherhood. But The Dark Brotherhood always comes back; they're never beaten down badly enough to actually have to go into hiding. There are always students that will be tempted by power and women; which means it's easy for them to recruit new members to make up for their losses," Takumi said with a shrug.
"So... are we going to ignore the fact that that guy definitely just threatened one or both of us?"