51. The Letter

The box was artisanal in design. It had an intricate weaving of flowerlike petals and roots all over the box. The metal was a greyish silver and after wiping down the box it shone like polished metal. Opening up the small box Castus took in the contents. On the inside of the box were only two things. A letter and a small gem attached to a necklace. Castus took out the gem first inspecting it for a while. It shimmered in the light of the campfire. It was a deep hue of purple and whenever the light would shimmer just right, it looked to have something inside of it. Handing the gem over to Shi, Castus unfolded the note in the box. He started reading.

'Castus or as I should call you, Caster,

If you are reading this what I feared has come to fruition. I've always known you're a transplant. I never shared this with anyone besides myself and my own diaries. When you were born I was conflicted about what to do. At first I wanted to send you away, but afterwards I discovered another solution as I thought back to my homeland. As I'm sure you suspected I am not human, but I cannot say anything further on the subject as disclosing that information would leak one of the greatest secrets I have, and I plan to take that with me to the grave.

On to the more pressing matters though. Firstly, when I took you to the church, I had hoped to leverage your unknown blessing to help financially and politically support our house to allow me better influence in the political landscape. I was greedy though. I did not understand the level of fear and greed the church still hold towards transplants. I have reasonable suspicion that they made a move on you, and they are the reason for our house's downfall. I will not know your situation following whatever plan they have; I can only hope that this will make it to you.

Secondly, I have noticed you are quite attached to your sisters, and I wanted to give you some reassurance that while the church may be after us, I still have allies in the political game, and they have express instructions to protect your siblings and to seek you out should they be able to. In the event that you have gone missing or have returned after being taken away, visit your mother's family. On the surface we never had close ties to them, but that was a political facade. They can help you further. In the meantime, since I cannot grantee your safety, I have gone and made Aria the next in line to receive the title. I wish to respect your autonomy as a transplant, but should you wish to take the title I am sure Aria would step down and give it over.

Thirdly, the gem that is included in the box. This is a very important artifact from my home. My original home. I had hoped to give it to you and teach you our ways when you were older, but if you are reading this there was not enough time. I can only say this. Break the gem and consume the contents when you are twelve. You will understand once you have done this. After that seek out those who have hidden. Again, I apologize for the vague details, but I cannot risk exposure.

Fourth, I have included my monocle as a gift for you. It is a rare artifact from the transplants long ago. It has an incredibly complex enchantment on it called 'true sight'. It has been invaluable to me and has since served as a proof of my identity. Take it and use it. The enchantment allows you to dispel and peer through the obscure and hidden of this world.

P.S. I know you were not truly my son, but I did enjoy our little game of song and dance. I hope that I can survive what is to come and we can meet again. If Veronica survives, tell her I'm sorry.

P.S.S. If you are not Castus reading this and you attempt to consume the gem, you will die. That is all.'

Castus read through the letter a few times. His secret that he tried so hard when he was young to hide, had been known the second his father met him. He didn't know if it was the monocle or the marking on him, but Tyrus had known what he was for a long time. Castus thumbed the monocle and the box, contemplating the words. The gem and whatever secret his father had hidden away awaited him in four years. Well, a little less than that now, but still the anticipation was killing him. Castus looked over at Shi and held the monocle up to his eye and put mana into it. What he saw dumbfounded him. He saw Shi, but a different version, what Castus could only assume Shi looked like when she was on earth. A beautiful blonde woman with amber eyes and a gorgeous smile, not to mention the assets. As he looked at the distracted Shi he noticed something else. A long cut ran down the Shi's hidden form, from the chest to the hip. The was like part of that ethereal form had been forcibly ripped from her. Castus put down the monocle. 'Maybe that is what caused her to drop in levels and have difficulty with her transformation abilities?'

Shi finally stopped looking at the gem and sheepishly handed it back over to Castus, embarrassed by how long she had been toying with it. Castus took it and put it around his neck. He then burned the letter.

"Wait, I didn't get to read it Castus!" Shi exclaimed.

"It's something very personal, I would rather not talk about it." Castus responded, surprised by how nosey Shi was.

Shi huffed and crossed her arms, but didn't push any further. "So what is that gem then Castus?" Shi asked.

"Castus took a look at the gem and quickly decided to hide the truth. "It's a family heirloom from my father." Castus brushed past the point that he knew next to nothing about the gem. This seemed to be enough for Shi though. He quickly tried to move on to the monocle, explaining what it did and what he saw when he used it. Shi was thrilled to hear that Castus had found the source of her injury, but Shi was more interested in looking at what Castus used to look like.

Shi held the monocle up and looked at Castus while talking. "Oh, you don't look like what I expected!" Shi excitedly exclaimed. "And don't worry about what the umbral did to me. I'm sure it will heal." Shi brushed off the injury that Castus had just discovered, but he decided to let it go for the time being. Just because he knew Shi was injured didn't mean he could just fix her.

"Well what do I look like?" Shi put the monocle down and handed it back to Castus. "You were decently tall, a little overweight, and you had blonde hair and brown eyes. Is that you from earth?" Shi spoke. Castus nodded in agreement. He hadn't thought about how he looked on earth in a while, but that lined up with the image he had of himself. He used to play sports, but after he went to collage he quickly settled into a day-to-day life of desk jockey, earning him that bit of pudge he had before he died.

Shi and Castus continued to chat through the night before going to sleep and continuing their journey the day after. They needed to make it to his sisters and soon to try and help them. Castus had formed a plan of action for when they arrived. They would first try to meet with his sisters, then move on to his mother's family for help and support. Once he had the full picture, he would figure out what to do.

Far away from Castus and Shi

Cerone, Alyssa and the crutching Rys had been making slow progress towards the port. Rys was terribly slow, especially on unpaved roads and muddy trails. They were still quite far from the port. Not only was Rys slow, but they also ran into constant threats on the road. Monsters attacked frequently, resulting in Cerone or Alyssa almost getting injured or at least tiring them out. They had to stop often throughout the day and while the monsters they killed supplied meat for them to eat, mentally the group was fatigued beyond belief.

Cerone worked to gather firewood while Alyssa helped Rys get to a seated position under a rocky cropping. It was pouring rain outside and they had peeled off to the side of the road to take a break. It took some time, but Cerone managed to get a decent fire going and began roasting meat on wooden skewers. "Cerone, this is taking forever. We need to find a better way to travel for sure." Alyssa sarcastically joked. Cerone rolled her eyes at the comment and pointed at the rain.

"I don't think a carriage would be much help in this rain." Cerone chuckled. Rys weakly laughed at the comment as well. Of the three he had the weakest physique and missing a leg made even walking an exercise. As the three of them chuckled, figures began to emerge from the wilderness around the outcropping. Four figures approached the outcropping. Cerone and Alyssa stood in defensive positions around the seated Rys as they approached.

As they emerged from the rain the figures proportions started to get larger and larger. Stepping into the cave, three men and a woman emerged into the light of the flames. They wore dark cloaks and carried heavy packs on their backs. The man who first emerged from the rain spoke. "Children, out here? The fuck Rau, you said we were tracking goblins." The man snapped at another to the right of him.