2 Grief

Damian did not respond to Leon's remarks. He instead stared at the window, blankly and in pain. The boy thought about the fact that he would never see his family again.

His long black hair kept falling to his face, as he quickly brushed them off while he wept more and more.

Leon went to bed, thinking about the black magic wand right there on the ground back at their home. Drenched in blood.

He fell into a deep slumber before being awakened by a nightmare about Lunaseekers lurking in the shadows. Leon jolted quickly from his bed, sweating heavily.

His eyes darted around the room to look for Damian, but he was long gone. "Huh? Where could he be?" Leon asked himself.

The steps he took to find his friend quickly lead him to the upstairs portion of the house, there, he saw Damian standing at the porch, ready to jump.

Leon wanted to intervene and stop his friend from doing so, but he noticed that Kanon was right in front of Damian as well.

Before he could run towards them, he heard Kanon start to open his mouth and speak.

"Are you going to jump?" He asked Damian.

"Is this the memory you wish to be your last before seeing your parents again? Do you want to tell them that you gave up after their deaths? If so, I will not stop you." He added.

Leon's eyes widened at what he had heard. "W-What the hell is he doing?!" the boy thought to himself.

Damian continued to sniffle and rub his eyes off as he kept his mouth shut, it was as if Kanon was not even there in the first place at all.

"I assure you, jumping off would do nothing. I felt the same despair as you did long ago too. The same exact thing happened to me, Damian. If you really wish to follow through with it, then be my guest." Kanon Sokolov's words were enough to make Leon show himself to them.

"Why are you saying that to him?!" Leon exclaimed.

"But! If you find it in your heart to want to extract revenge on these lurkers of the night, then I will train you two with everything I've got. All the grimoires I have learned to use, all the magic wands I know how to handle, even the swordplay I have mastered over the years, when the time comes, I shall teach everything to you." Kanon shouted back, he was unfazed by Leon's sudden arrival.

"Come down, Damian!" Leon begged his friend to not jump from the balcony.

Kanon walked towards Damian, his strides sent shockwaves each step he took. The sheer magical aura that this man was exuding was just out of this world, even as children, they felt that.

"What's wrong? Why are you not jumping?" Kanon asked him.

"D-Do you really mean to teach us?" Damian cracked his voice as he responded with a question himself.

Kanon nodded. "Channel your emotions through hatred and sheer vitriol at the Lunaseekers, Damian. That is the least you can do for your family now. Vengeance is not a pretty thing, but so is the loss of our loved ones."

His calming words now made Damian fully acknowledge that jumping off would do nobody any good at all.

"S-Sorry, mister Kanon. Leon." Damian hugged Leon after apologizing for what he was just about to do.

Morning came soon after and the three ate breakfast together. "Where do these Lunaseekers come from, mister Kanon?" Damian asked him.

Kanon placed the glass he was still drinking on the table and sighed. "It is not known for certain where and when they actually came from, but they have been constantly vanishing for years. One time, they attack full scale and disappear the very next day. This has gone on for years now. Also, you must never let a Lunaseeker cast a blood art spell and have it stab your neck for more than ten seconds. Any longer than that and there would be no going back anymore." A grim expression enveloped Kanon's face.

Leon and Damian inched closer to him on the table. "W-Why, what would happen?"

"Easy. You turn into one." Kanon said as he ate the last bite of his steak.

He grinned. "But be assured, as long as the Umbra Knights are here, humanity will always have the arcane arts and our steel as its sword."

"Are you guys really as strong as you make yourselves out to be?" Leon arrogantly asked Kanon.

Kanon looked up while keeping his right hand on his chin. "Well…we have been on hiatus for five years as there were no more Lunaseeker sightings, but we are back to work starting today, I believe. And with the blood sorcery that comes with becoming a Lunaseeker, we are the ones who can match them in combat."

"You have to have the affinity for magic before you can become an Umbra Knight, is that correct? I've read it in some old book somewhere." Damian added.

As Kanon stood up, he clapped his palms once. "Precisely, Damian. Fighting Lunaseekers who are adept at using sorcery without having magic yourself is basically a death wish."

"So, what about those who want to join the Umbra Knights but do not have the so-called talent for magic, Kanon?" Leon was the one who asked that.

Kanon's eyebrows furrowed at his question. "You do not need to have magic to make a difference or to lend a helping hand, kid. But when it comes to actually fighting them, that's a different story. Remember, the arcane arts move in the most peculiar of ways."

The Umbra Knights Commander left the house and went to report back to the Emperor and engage in meetings regarding the resurgence of Lunaseekers

Meanwhile the two kids were left at the house. Damian read the books that were displayed on the living room, while Leon picked up a wand which he pilfered off of Kanon's room.

When Leon tried waving it around, the wand glowed red hot and burnt Leon's hand slightly. The boy whimpered in pain as he let go of the wand.

"A-Are you okay, Leon?" Damian checked up on him, Leon nodded. "Yeah, it just turned red hot for a split second there…"

Damian stared at the wand, he felt like he was drawn to it. His hands moved without him even noticing it, and now he was waving it around himself. Sparkles of light began to materialize in thin air, small ones which were far from harmful.

"H-How are you doing that without getting your hands burnt?!" Leon was both surprised and jealous at the same time.