Volume 1 Chapter 15 Therio’s Gift and Cardinal Joseph’s plan

The winter wind was a slight discomfort that Jack had been craving for.

From Therio’s words, he had been in the cabin’s basement for around a year.

Although Jack fully believed Therio, he felt like a lot more time had passed. Some strands of his brown hair had turned white and his mind was deeply wounded.

Slowly coming out of the grotto that served as their base, Jack could see the endless sea of trees and soon enough he could see Valte walking back toward their hideout.

When Therio arrived to their temporary place, he sealed the entrance before talking to his young friend.

“I checked a few times and it seems like no one has yet to notice your escape, it’s not surprising as they would stock up on rations before the winter to be able to spend all their time torturing you and the other saints.” Therio said.

Jack asked: “So when will we be moving, we have been in this cave for a long time?”

Therio answered: “Probably tomorrow, we were taking a risk by not changing position every few days.”

Jack nodded.

The next morning, the duo started moving east and a week later they had reached their destination; The city of Glor, it was not that big but it was a turning point for the economy of the entire Dynasty.

As they walked through the eastern city gate, all Jack could see was cleanness and nobles wearing suits.

The windows of every shop were as clean as the water that poured out of the fountains.

Jack’s first impression of Glor was that of a city that gave extra care to cleaning their streets and that of happy and rich residents.

Very quickly, what he could see was nothing but the desolation of the poor, after a few turns in the streets of Glor, the Ashes that couldn’t make a living and the limbless were the only ones that Lynch could see.

No more the suits and the shiny boots, only homelessness and the pleasant smell of Sfaser flowers.

The ones that had consumed Sfaser were in the middle of a short lasting euphoria, while Jack couldn’t understand why they would waste money on drugs, he understood that maybe it was their only escape to reality.

Therio explained: “Sfaser flowers are a very potent but addictive exhilaration; it’s a very big problem in the majority of the Dynasty’s large cities.”

Jack in response asked: “Who would be dumb enough to produce such dangerous product?”

Therio looked at him with a funny look: “I’m not sure if you are joking or not?”

Seeing his little friend looking at him with a puzzled look Therio answered: “Those behind the production of Sfaser flowers are nothing but dumb. Frostblight is probably the strongest crime syndicate on the continent.”

Jack, still puzzled, asked: “Crime sindy- what?”

“The Mafia” answered Therio.

While seeing so many lost souls gathered in one place was unpleasant, the rest of the trip in the intricate corridor of Glor was uneventful. No such things as assault from thieves or demoiselle en détresse.

Soon they arrived in front of a small bakery named “The Slow Flour”. Upon entering Therio told a secret code to the owner, Therio’s code had been right and the shop owner led them to the back room.

The man told Therio that they could start whenever they wanted before leaving the room to the two of them.

Valte started pouring his Chus in an orb in the middle of the room. After a few ripples of energy coming out of the artefact, the face of Cardinal Joseph slowly appeared in the sphere.

The cardinal started: “Jack, I see you got out almost unscathed, great job Therio.”

Jack nodded but stayed silent as he had not gotten out of that place unscathed.

Therio asked: “How should we proceed now that Jack is out?”

The religious answered: “Jack needs more combat experience and to go up in levels.”

Cardinal Joseph shifted his attention to Jack: “You will need to learn how to fight, but are you willing to?”

At that moment Jack's mind went back to the dark basement, his cell. Every day, every single day, the pain was unbearable. He hadn’t told Therio not to make him worry but Jack knew.

He knew that deep down something inside of him was broken.

Never again.

With an unprecedented determination he said: “Yes, please allow me to rise beyond my limits.”

Satisfied, the cardinal answered: “Then you will take an alias and you will enter the Sin Clearing Brigade of Glor. There you will learn skills that will be useful to you in the future.”

Therio was about to say something but before he could say anything the Cardinal once again shifted his attention to him.

He said: “I know you are worried and I know that Jack’s current understanding of the Light Path isn’t good for fighting that is why you are allowed to give him an offensive artefact. But only one as heavily relying on artifacts causes problems for one’s progress”

As he was closing the communication link the Cardinal said: “Go talk to the owner of the shop he should have received the information for Jack’s new identity.”

Therio looked at his younger brother and after a little time of thinking he knew which artefact he would give to Jack.

He asked the shop owner for Jack's documents and gave it to the young boy.

Before leaving he asked Jack to learn by heart his new name and identity.

The baker gave a lamp and a pillow to Jack before going back to work.

By eleven in the night, Therio came back to the bakery, Jack almost knew his new self by heart.

Therio asked him to take a look at what he had brought, the twelve years old boy quickly obliged.

It was a small dagger, seemingly made out of bronze, the handle was used but still in good shape.

An almost unnoticeable aura was spouting out of the weapon, but when Jack focused his attention to the blade a calming wave would go through in mind.

Therio explained: “This is the Bright Bronze Oath, well a fragment of the dagger. Myths say that when the original weapon broke exactly a thousand fragments were scattered around Emiprusixen.”

He continued: “As you may have realised there’s a soothing feeling that comes out of the blade, it is because this is the fusion of twelve fragments of the original blade.”

“The weapon will get stronger if you allow it to fuse back with more portions of its whole. I am giving this to you to be able to fight strong foes that you aren’t able to fight by yourself currently. If you want you can think that this is a portion of me keeping an eye on you at all times.” He finished.

A happy Jack gave him a warm hug before going to bed. In the night Therio left for the city of Solarim.

Author’s notes:

The story has finished its prologue, time to enter the first arc.

Welcome to the city of Glor.

See you soon :] (little PSA: don’t take drugs!!!)