As their father’s retirement banquet even began to wind down, the Erebus children were scrabbling through the night trying their best to make preparation for the beginning of their Rite of Crusade. Tundra was practically furious, ranting to her fellow soldiers, all night drinking shots of fine wine to ease her rattled nerves. Helena was confident using her friendship with the Archduke and his entourage some preemptive preparations. Vera was nervous but excited at the same time to explore new options without her family's influence, but also nervous of where to go from her.

Anthony did not know what to make of this, since he hadn’t felt part of this family for some time. Still, for the first time in his life he would have to make his own way, his own name, his own journey if he wanted to earn his birthright. The biggest question of all, did he even want it?

“Fear not Lady Helena, I’d consider this turn of development a minor setback at best.” Archduke Melia tried to boost her confidence, assuming she was shaken like her other siblings by this news.

“I’m well aware of Lord Melia.” She smiled. “I suppose now this will give me time to work on those new theories I proposed for you. If you’re still willing to invest in their practice, perhaps we can discuss this matter further.”

“I would be more than delighted that your intellect will contribute to the wealth of our empire.”

“Yes...for the empire.” Her eyes met the Archduke as they toasted together.

She knew from the way they had been talking, that like her old Master Orion, it was more for their own self interest. She considered even the Archduke much like her former master when she surpassed him in skill and insight. Like all people who were willing to exploit her talents, they were merely a means to an end for a greater honor and her own personal ambition.

“I can’t believe he would look past his eldest, and after all I’ve...” Tundra swigged back a large gulp of her liquor. “He wants new magic, I’ll get it if I have to drag it from the depths of the mainland itself.”

“If you want, I could arrange that.” A voice called from behind her shoulder of a familiar face of Admiral Crimson Nyx standing behind. “I understand you’re wishing to deploy for the mainlands.”

Since Marines were heavily contracted with the navy for overseas operations, and knowing her father and him were good friends, Thundra saw an opportunity. With a little convincing and motivation, not to mention a little sobering up, she might convince him of finally authorizing an operation in the mainland. She held down her drink, picked up water instead and began a lengthy discussion with him.

“Are you going to be alright, Anti.” Vera walked over to Anthony, noticing his stoic face watching the others. “I’m certain father will make certain considerations given your awakening has not yet occurred.”

“I’m more concerned about that, Vivi.” He broke out of his stupor. “Without our family’s support, how will we afford your remaining tuition?”

“I believe I’ll do well considering my master status. Perhaps, my instructors will allow me to join as an assistant or I can get a job teaching in the Duchy, but that’s not important.” She shrugged off the subject with relative ease. “I’m worried about you brother, without our family’s support you could lose your position in the archives, you don’t even have a place to live but this home. The rite of crusade states you find your own way in the world, and you’ve never worked outside the Empire.”

“Perhaps this is an opportunity to learn how.” He simply stated.

“I’m serious Anti, the world is a lot more complicated than what you’ve been reading about in books. You can get seriously hurt, perhaps killed for the boots on your feet.”

“I see...” He said with a stern and cold demeanor that reminded Vera of her father. “All this time dear sister, I thought you were supportive of my academic endeavors, but really been humoring me this whole time.”

“What, Anti, no, that’s not what I mean...” He interrupted her abruptly.

“...I may not have been born with the gift of magic, but I’ve learned to use what I’ve been given to the best of my abilities.” He said in a manner that Vera had never expected. “I’ve learned to listen and learn, and help myself and others despite my lack of magic craft, my own father and mother have treated me as less than who I am. As an Erebus, we come from a long line of warriors and scholars who were once thought weaklings even in the times of the Second Era. If the Sacred Flames feel inclined to bestow upon me a gift or any kind, I will use it, and if they don’t I will continue as I always have. I may not be a fire mage, but the fire of my soul burns as brightly as you or my other sisters. If this crusade is an opportunity to find out what it is, then I shall do it as I see fit.”

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“You don’t have to do this alone Anthony.” She said as she tried to grab his hand, but she moved away.

“I’m afraid I must, according to the rite of crusades, we must not have help from blood-kin.” He recited this passage from his research on the subject of former crusaders before him. “If that means I must make my own alliances, to achieve new enlightenment then, so be it.”

He walked away from his sister and the whole party and retreated to the only place he always felt comfortable, his room. Although he could still hear the sounds of the party below, he locked his door and closed his curtains to stay alone with his thoughts. As he sat on his bed and contemplated his next move, tears began to run down his cheek as he thought back to the last time he retreated away in this manner.

It was the night his father had given up on his mage training, and his mother became his new instructor. That night he remembered his mother sobbing by the fireplace, the same as him, he tried to imagine if these feelings he had were the same as what she felt that night and before the following morning. Did she also feel this complicated emotion of anger, fear, and uncertainty as he did? Regardless of what happened that night, she was adamant in the decision she had made by the next morning, and so must he be in his.

When his tears had dried and the party was finally dying down, he wiped his face and then made a decision to move forward in what needed to be done. He grabbed an old leather filing bag he had saved from the archives for no specific reason other than to save it from disposal. Once it was used to hold papers from decaying manuscripts, but now it would be used to carry the most important papers of his own.

That night, Anthony began re-reading every volume of the books he wrote and began to carefully and cautiously select the best pages he could find. They were practically worthless to the average reader, but with these pages, he could easily recall and rewrite his research with these 167 pages in tow. Slowly and carefully he collected and cut each page from the journals, arranging them in specific order. When he was finished he bound them together by the leather belt that was old and tattered, but still strong enough to hold these pages until he could get it properly bound. As the night grew into day, he spent his time in solitary to prepare himself for the journey ahead.

Over the course of his two weeks preparations, Anthony and his sisters made their arrangements for their journeys. Tundra made an arrangement with Admiral Nyx to enlist in a special Royal Marine operation in the mainland as soon as she received her inheritance. Vera began discussion with her professors to secure financial aid and secured a new work study job as assistant instructor. Helena had made arrangements with the Archduke Melia’s people to continue her studies at Pyro-Kinetic Institute, with the promise of sharing her new research with the administrators as a lucrative coalition.

Anthony had the hardest task of all checking and double checking all his arrangements to be well prepared. He formally resigned from his post at the National Archives, emptied his accounts and savings, with the national bank down the last imperial copper sovereign, then made his preparation. Although his mother would have loved to have helped her son even a little to help any of her children would be grounds for disownment from the family. So she watched her son closely as he went through each step to make way for his journey.

Since the carriage he had arranged could only carry so many belongings he decided to pack only the bare essentials that he could gather and scavenge from the house. Some food and provisions, an assortment of maps of the continent, and personal artifacts he collected since childhood. He packed tools for crafting and cooking, flints to start fires, and various objects that had been discarded from the National Archive. While many of them were doomed for disposal, he thought that since they were placed in the National Archive long ago, they should still have some value, even if nobody currently knew what it was. This includes memos, papers of writ, long complete maps that were out of date, and even a few tools that had long been thought obsolete by conventional standards.

In time, two weeks passed by and everything was set. The Erebus children had gathered on the lawn, three by carriage and one awaiting his ride from the arranged service. Although they would only be here briefly, in honor of their future departure, Leon and Orsa called the maids to set up a grand banquet lunch. The food was imported for all corners of the Empire, meats and delicacies prepared from dawn until the noon sun for a feast that might be their last in these hallowed halls. Strangely nobody seemed to be enjoying the feast, all the Erebus in this house sat there quietly and enjoyed their meals. While Tundra and Helena exchanged sharp glances throughout the meal, Vera watched her brother quietly nibble his food as if mind was lost in deep thought. Looking at her father quietly doing the same, she couldn’t help but notice an almost mirror image between them.

When they were done eating, they returned to the front yard, the final carriage awaiting their departure. Leon called his four maids, Eau, Chloe, Briar, and Delia to grab four chests of their belongings he had set up by the door. Leon readied to distribute his final inheritance that he collected in his lifetime. The maids laid the boxes beside their feet as the children lined up with one maid. The father stood at the center, his eyes focused on each child, pondering what reaction would come from the gifts he would bestow...one by one.