Intermission: A family’s love.

When Santiago went through the portal he found himself by his bed, collapsed on it, and promptly fell asleep. His father heard him arrive, from his footsteps mainly. See, I haven’t really spoken much about Santiago’s family, aside from the Kyrioi thing, but they have been there. It’s just that until now I wanted to go through the beginning stages of this tale so in the next part the adventure may begin.

But family is important, particularly for Santiago, so allow me a little aside. Santiago’s family was a mostly normal middle class family, normal for Spain that is. For the Americans out there I recommend not making preconceptions based on their culture, Europe is vastly different from the U. S. There is one main difference though, ignoring the Kyrioi, and that is that mages tend to move a lot of money. Not to be rich, but to earn much and spend even more. Allow me to explain.

While magic, daemons and the Fayd haven’t interfered much with history, due to the laws that mages must withhold to use the Bulwark, there are a few differences. They can be divided in a few areas. Crime, criminal mages aren’t much of a problem since Bulwark mages are at least an order of magnitude above them, but there have been a few exceptions. The Daemonic Wars, there have been a few, six or so, times where daemons attacked the World Basin en masse, causing several wars to happen. Third, less strict social classes, since mages have arisen from many backgrounds. Fourth, less racism among mages due to the globalism of the Bulwark. Unfortunately this didn’t avert many tragedies, due to the distance between mages and citizens.

The two big differences though are in healthcare and technology. From the 19th Century onwards the development of medicine sped up, and while previously magic couldn’t heal illness easily due to lack of knowledge, afterwards most Great plagues could be averted. So AIDS, Ebola, cholera, etc, weren’t much of an issue. Previously magical healing was extremely difficult since mages didn’t know how to heal illnesses, making their visualisation weak and the SINQUM cost ridiculously high. Only emergency cases were healed through magic, and when plagues happened… it wasn’t pretty. There were Objects of Power that heal but they were likewise rare, but far more common in Europe as Saint’s Relics. Yes, that is an actual designation, there are that many of those.

The second big change is in technology since Earth Ψ had ready access to an infinite source of energy, Ether. Ether is made when SINQUM encounters the Gates of Death’s universal barrier. It is a sort of particle that can freely change between matter and energy. Thus it can be easily stored and used to acquire electricity. Furthermore Ether tends to travel between the Gates and the Fayd, so energy created from it slowly vanishes, impeding pesky issues such as messing with Earth’s energy balance.

There are a few caveats. The first caveat, normally such Ether exploitation would attract daemons to Earth, but that is a moot point for three reasons. First, the Gates have only four planets in which life can develop and only three have sapient life, they were always going to be a target. Two, the Gates of Death are called that for a reason, billions of daemons die there daily already. Finally, humans have the best planetary defence ever, the Steel Bulwark. Without any of those humanity… well, many of you are familiar with such situations. The second issue is that Ether can’t be contained by universal materials, it requires daemons to do so. Due to this mages that bring materials to make containers, or make them, are essential for modern technology and suitably paid. The trouble is that a mage requires a lot of equipment and that is even more expensive than the materials, obviously. The final problem would be if Earth Ψ ever lost its access to the Fayd, but that is impossible.

All of this actually makes it so Earth Ψ lacks most of the environmental issues that most Earths have, though not all.

All of this was to say that while the Alonso family earned a lot of money they also spent it, leaving a balance where they had a very decent net income. Santiago’s parents were both daemonsmiths, as I recounted earlier. His father was a Smith of the Kyrioi but his mother was just as good. She just had too thin Kyrioi blood to be allowed to be a Smith. Their specialty was guns, but they made a bit of everything.

As such when Gonzalo entered his sleeping son’s room and saw he actually did have a Guardian, he knew what to do. First he used his finely honed instincts (read: analytic power), to determine what powers and abilities his son had.

“What the?”

Was his reaction to the absolute bizarreness he saw. But soon he shrugged, and called an emergency family meeting. All of Santiago’s near family was there, except for Mario who was too young to understand the discussion and was left playing with his toys.

“Santiago has a Guardian now, which finally confirms that he did meet the Founder. He is the only one capable of doing such a thing.” Gonzalo opened the conversation.

“Geez, because suddenly being able to open portals isn’t enough proof.” Elena was a teenager, which meant she had a bit of an attitude. Thankfully for her family it wasn’t much.

“Don’t sass your father Elena. You know full well it could have been a Daemon God faking it.” Said Sara.

“So that confirms that Marta is alive, huh?”

After María’s comment a silence fell upon the room. Even Elena, who was six at the time, missed Marta. She had been the joy of the family, the one that asked to play with everyone in the family and was cute while doing so. But worse was that she was the extrovert to her twin’s introvert and a great part of his life. They were always together, the stereotypical twins even if they were not identical. And like the stereotype her supposed death had hit Santiago hard. He had withdrawn, became distrustful and angry. They soon sent him to therapy, but even then it took him a long time to recover. Only over the last year had he managed to regain a semblance of a normal life, ignoring his being a sword genius, and for that Akihito would always be welcomed in the Alonso-Caballero household.

For Santiago’s parents the hit had been double, lost a child and saw the other one have his life destroyed. Santiago is the person for whom they’d cried the most in their lives. For María she had always felt as if she had failed her duties as the elder sister, aside from the inherent tragedy of the situation. Elena had nearly forgotten Marta, but she’d never forget the desolation when she heard she would never see Marta again. And Mario… he was too young to remember anything, but he hurt whenever he saw his brother cry.

As such hearing that she was alive caused conflicting feelings in them. Relief, worry about her situation, fear about the same, incertitude, happiness, worry about how Santiago was taking it all… no words can properly convey the cocktail of emotions they were under. But primarily they felt one thing.

“How are we getting her back?” Asked Elena.

“The Founder told Santiago that he was training him to get her back, among other things.” Said Sara. “He is an old friend of the clan, I wonder if not being able to rescue her ate at him? Or maybe he always knew what to do and was just waiting for the right time?”

“Knowing him? Probably the second.” Gonzalo snorted. “I met him once. Though he showed itself to me as a woman then.”

“Really?”

“Yes Elena, really. I told this to María before, but I have reason to suspect that he is a renowned mythological figure. Being who I think he is would explain much about him.”

“Who is he?”

María was the one to answer. And I will censor her answer, since they were right. I’m not exactly subtle, wink wink.

“Are you fucking with me?!”

“Language.” Sara remarked offhandedly. “And no, that is our best guess. But I think it won’t do us a disservice to trust his design.”

“Indeed.” Gonzalo sighed and reclined forward, joining his hands under his nose, elbows on his legs. “Which means that we must support Santiago as best as we can if we wish to get her back.”

“How?” Asked María, eager to make reparations for her tragic error.

“From what I've seen about Santiago’s Guardians and powers we can offer him two things. Proper equipment and training.”

“What are his powers? Is my boy good?”

Gonzalo chuckled, before telling them. The laugher was uniform and loud.

“Satan?! Our little zealot, with a power called Satan?!” Elena managed to get this phrase out between breaths.

“You brother, hng, isn’t a zealot Elena.”

“Indeed mom. He just is, heheh, enthusiastic in his faith.”

“He calls Protestantism heresy María.”

“By the strict definition of the Catholic Church it actually is heresy. Even if no one says it out loud. Except Santi, of course.”

“It’s less that he is a zealot, and more that he disagrees with all other religions.” Commented Gonzalo.

“Really?”

“He doesn’t tell you, because he thinks you’re too bratty right now-“

“Hey!” Elena interrupted Sara.

“He doesn’t tell everything, but he has told us in no uncertain terms that he rejects Buddhism since he believes in an objective, supreme, unchanging Truth. As this is in opposition to Buddhism’s anātman he doesn’t believe in it. On principle he hates doctrines that preach that the material world is evil and humans must separate from it, since he thinks that is an insult towards God that created it. As such things like Gnosticism are foolish in his eyes.”

“And there is the zealotry.”

“Silence dear. And by reading catholic dogma and writings he has felt a deep resonance in values, so he has chosen the Catholic Church as his faith.

But at the same time he has told me that every single religion, philosophy or way of thinking has its merits, and hold wisdom that comes from God. As such one should not discriminate nor hate others for their beliefs, even further, he believes that such hatred is a sin and foolish, for much can be learnt about them. Imagine his joy when he found a letter about Christian meditation saying much the same, in the context of using eastern meditation techniques.

So no, your brother isn’t a zealot. He is a very devout man and one of the most tolerant people I’ve met. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say that he hated anyone.”

“Really? I thought…”

“Not even Marta’s murderers. In his words, ‘I believe that people change, and once they change it is difficult to become the person they once were. An evil person may become good as when he was a child, but they’ll never been the same. That said I don’t think there are many purely evil people. However the fate I wish on Marta’s murdered is complete obliteration, for their very memory and legacy to vanish. And the only way I can see for this to happen is if they change so much, they are no longer the same person. Preferably for good. This would make it so that Marta’s murderer would no longer exist, instead a repentant murderer and productive member of society would be born. So no, I don’t hate them fully, I just hate who they were when they killed her.’”

Elena’s eyes had become akin to saucers, and her mouth fell like lead.

“Why does he never tell me these things?!”

Her three elders looked at her, amused.

“Last time he tried you told him that he spoke like an old man.” Said Gonzalo.

“And he does.” Elena then looked away with guilt and mumbled. “Not that what he says isn’t interesting, but still.”

Elena blushed under her family’s warm looks. She then blushed more when she understood that they were still doing it. Finally María took pity on her.

“I think we’ve diverged too much from the purpose of this gathering. I think that Dad is right, he needs good equipment.

A good sword because he is a swordsman, obviously a good gun. I don’t know the specifics of the curse and miasma, but something with which to apply them is needed.”

“But it can’t be too good.” Objected Sara. “Enough to keep him safe, but not so good he would rely on it too much. That would stunt his growth.”

“I doubt that would happen Sara. He is seventeen years old and a provost, I have no doubt that if he lives a long and famous life he will pass down in the annals of history as one of the greatest.”

“Maybe. But while he knows how to fight, does he know how to take a hit? Need I remind you that blocking homing grenades is not on the RAAM’s curriculum?”

“Fair enough.” Gonzalo relented. “So once we know what he’s going against we get him a decent armour for that level. A good sword, but not enough to make him ignore his other abilities in favour of his swordsmanship. A likewise decent gun.

Anything else?”

María thought for a moment,

“The clan seriously needs a Vehicle branch. We are lagging behind in matters of transportation.”

“Felipe is good enough for that. And the Herrero-Guerrero’s have navigation covered. What about healing?” Asked Elena.

“Ramon’s good.” María thought for a moment. “Unless Santiago needs a new organ or limb, but in that case he is failing hard and we have better resources.”

“And training?”

“I’d suggest Nuria, but she’s kendo.” Gonzalo considered his resources. “We may be able to get Dolores Arima, she was apparently impressed with Santiago. And we are Madrid’s sole Kyrioi apo Metallon providers, so we’ve got clout. Do they need good swords?”

“Yes.” Answered Sara. “The heir doesn’t have a good sword.”

“Really? All of the Executioner, Muramasa and Carrera series are in use?” Elena whistled. “The last few generations have been good for the Arima’s.”

“Two Heaven’s Executioner, Tokugawa Executioner, Yamato Executioner, the Seven Muramasa blades, and the three Carrera swords.” Gonzalo reminisced about his ancestor’s glory for a second. “Thirteen swords, all in use. Truly a good century for the Arima.”

“Not a lot of love for Japan there, huh?”

“After the Shimabara Rebellion? Little.” The two sisters smiled at each other.

“More like for Tokugawa Shogunate Japan. They remember fondly the times before Nobunaga and have decent relations with the current Japan.”

They continued discussing the specifics for a while longer, and eventually decided to wait until they knew what Santiago would be doing before trying to get him a trainer. They did begin to forge his equipment, having decided they would foot the bill.