Classes

Hermes was a great teacher and all, but Lucien didn't forget that Hermes was a Angel of Visionary Pathway, so he kept his guard up against him, always keeping his senses sharp for any probing or prying, but Hermes seemed to be only interested in teaching him—nothing more and nothing less.

To be honest, Hermes was the best teacher you could find to teach about mysticism. He literally created an extraordinary language—Ancient Hermes—back in the second epoch that is still used by all beyonders to this day; it could almost be considered the official language of the extraordinary world.

Hermes taught him the languages of the world—both extraordinary and ordinary—the fundamentals and types of rituals, the levels of the soul, the basics of divine paths, the existence of sealed artefacts, the different worlds and how they intersected, the existence of deities and secret existences—he even discovered Mr. Fool was recorded among the secret existences, well, the Twilight Hermit Order sure works fast—extraordinary organisations, and so on.

Even though Lucien was already familiar with many of the topics covered in class, learning them firsthand was clearly superior to reading about them in fiction. It provided him with a complete and comprehensive understanding and view of the world that he had previously lacked. And Hermes probably should have noticed his foreknowledge on the topics as Lucien didn't have much trust in his acting ability, but if Hermes really had noticed, he didn't bother to show it.

His classes with Hermes were only two hours long every morning—this was decided after they discovered his learning abilities were unparalleled, which he attributed to his ascension—and his teacher would leave notes for him at the end of each class in preparation for the next. Those were simple to complete, so he spent the rest of the day carefully experimenting with authorities and also going out and around the Kolain.

Just like that, it was October 14, five days since his classes with Hermes began. They were almost done with all of the subjects and topics on the fundamentals of mythicism.

Lucien and Hermes were in the study room of the villa. They were seated across from each other at a long table. The dim light of the lamp illuminated the notes spread out in front of Lucien, who was going through them all while Hermes held a novel, reading it through his half-moon glasses that glistened from time to time.

While reading the note about the secret organisations, Lucien paused abruptly, his brow furrowed at the addition of a new organisation to the list:

The members of this organisation use Tarot cards as their codenames. On October 8th, they made their debut in Backlund by killing Lanveus, the swindler who attempted to return the True Creator to the world twice.

Faith: Mr. Fool

Threat Level: To be determined.

Lucien looked at the information of the Tarot Club as he once again admired the information gathering ability of the Twilight Hermit Order, which was the organisation that Adam led to control and manipulate the Trend of Times. With little to no information, they even deduced that the Tarot Club believed in Mr. Fool.

"What caught your attention?" Hermes looked up at his student, adjusting his glasses keenly.

"The new tarot organisation." Lucien answered frankly, placing the note on the table. "They are intriguing."

"That they are." Hermes hummed in agreement, closing his novel and placing it on his lap. "At long last, someone decided to form an organisation with Tarot Card codenames."

"It is written that they believe in a new secret existence known as Mr. Fool." Lucien posed the question.

"Yes." Hermes nodded, his half-moon glass glistening visibly. "It was first mentioned as one of many speculations, but "He" confirmed it."

Adam...Lucien thought, unsurprised.

"Anyway," Hermes continued, his gaze fixed on the notes on the table. "Have you finished?"

"Almost." Lucien nodded, "but I have a few questions."

"What exactly is it?" Hermes inquired, resting his chin in his palm.

"You are the creator of Ancient Hermes," Lucien stated. "which is said to have originated in the second epoch." He looked at Hermes. "So you have been alive since then?"

"Yes." Hermes nodded, his face betraying nothing.

"If I may ask, what was it like?" Lucien inquired, leaning forward in his seat. "The dark ages."

Hermes was silent for a moment, then sighed, "How long have you been putting off that question, Lucien?"

"Was I really that obvious?" Lucien starched the back of his neck.

"You should work on your acting." Hermes shook his head.

"I know I'm terrible in that department." Lucien groaned.

Seeing his student in this state, Hermes instructed. "Conceal your emotions, and acting will become much easier for you."

Lucien nodded deeply, then hesitantly asked Hermes. "Could you teach me more about acting?"

Hermes contemplatively thrummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair. "I will." He finally spoke up. "You have potential."

"Thank you." Lucien said, breathing a sigh of relief inwardly. That was a venture, but he took it since he was once again reminded of the importance of acting by his teacher.

Hermes nodded. "I will start the acting class later today. So now, are you sure you want to know about the dark ages?" He asked with a hint of warning in his tone.

But Lucien, in his geek mode, was unrelenting. "Yes."

"Where do I even begin?" Hermes ruminated. "Well, you can't talk about the second epoch without mentioning "Him"."

"The Creator?" Lucien supplemented enthusiastically.

"Yes." Hermes nodded. "Though I prefer to address "Him" as the saviour. Before "His" awakening, Earth was dominated by extraordinary creatures—Giants, Phoenixes, Elves, Demonic Wolfs, Devils, Dragons and Vampires. And each of them had a God as their ruler. "They" separated the world and ruled over it together."

As Hermes spoke deeply, an image of a magnificent world ruled by mythical creatures began to form in Lucien's mind. He saw a floating city teeming with magnificent dragons. He saw a city of palaces controlled by giants that was perpetually steeped in twilight. He saw a gothic city brimming with vampires under the crimson moonlight. He saw a realm of spirits governed by phoenixes. He saw a coral palace within the seas of the world, filled with elves. He even saw a mountain immersed in darkness and inhabited by savage, demonic wolves. And they all shared the world, ruling it together.

'Is this due to Hermes' guidance or my powers of soul that created these pictures?' Lucien analysed the magnificent world filled with mythical creatures in his mind, and then he came to a conclusion. 'Both—soul and mind—are truly miraculous.'

Hermes continued. "At the time, the law of the jungle reigned supreme. Power was everything; without it, you had no control over your destiny." He paused in heavy silence, his gaze somewhere faraway, as if trying to look back in time. "That was not a dark epoch for those mythical creatures, but for humanity. We were helpless and weak without a god to lead and protect us, and so we were enslaved and treated as livestock by the mythical creatures."

The magnificent world in Lucien's mind began to unravel, revealing a different, darker side to itself. He witnessed the mythical creatures capturing humans. Mankind attempted to resist, but their efforts were ultimately futile in the face of such extraordinary power. They were enslaved as livestock, to be played with, eaten by, and preyed on by those repugnant and disgusting creatures.

"It led us to take extreme measures to gain power. You see, at that time, there were no pathway sequences or potions, so we had to make do. We tried to directly combine with the extraordinarily characteristic. Only a few succeeded, and the rest lost control and died."

Lucien pressed his lips together into a thin line as he saw humans experimenting with the extraordinary characteristics and subsequent results. "You were among them." He returned his attention to Hermes, finding it surreal that this refined and erudite gentleman seated before him had gone through all of that pain and hardship.

"And I succeeded." Hermes sighed deeply. "With power in hand, we attempted to liberate mankind, but our hopes for liberty were dashed when the Gods "Themselves" stood in our way. In the face of "Them," our abilities became meaningless. Just when we thought all hope was lost, "He," the Saviour, awoke."

Lucien saw a hazy figure raise "His" hand, which was holding a cross, and declare, "Let there be Light!" and immediately, everything was illuminated, and within it, mythical creatures began to fall one by one and melt into nothingness.

"The Creator..." Lucien whispered.

"The Creator," Hermes echoed. "illuminated our dark world with "His" light..." he continued, telling Lucien about how the Creator waged war against all the ancient gods and liberated humanity.

Lucien listened, his mind racing with images of a glorious and brutal war for liberty and freedom, his attentive face lit by the dim light of the lamp.

————

At the same time, inside the astral world—which was even more abstract than the spirit world and appeared to contain all of the authorities and symbolism of the universe—were the divine kingdoms, each embodying the authorities held by the gods. They were resting on what appeared to be a cracked barrier, attempting to support and reinforce it in order to keep it from cracking further.

Among them was a divine kingdom engulfed in endless and silent darkness, filled with moonflowers and vanilla.

It was graced by a divine woman reclining under a luminous tree, surrounded by peacefully sleeping souls. "She" was breathtaking and graceful, dressed in a layered black gown with countless sparkling specks of radiance like stars. There was a circular radiance under "Her" head resembling the moon.

"She" was the Evernight Goddess, the Lady of Crimson, the Bane of Demonic Wolves, the Empress of Misfortune and Horror, the Mother of Concealment, and ultimately, "She" was none other than Amanises.

Ever since "She" became a god, Amanises rarely had fluctuations of emotion that broke "Her" serenity, but now "Her" peaceful countenance was tarnished by a frown.

"The Reaper…." The Evernight Goddess whispered silently, "Her" dark eyes reflecting the southern continent.