Magical Scripture

A whistling sound of the cold wind blew the entire place, giving the night an inexplicable chill that seeped into the bones. Masked in polite words, what Fedele said was clearly nothing more than a warning and also a threat.

Cyrus can feel the changes in the wind, and for a moment Fedele's body shone in his eyes.

Not only he but the others standing beside and behind him can feel a hidden power in those words, the cold wind pushing against their skin indicates that very clearly. It puts a shiver down their spines.

But the woman quickly sneered and raised her chin, "A yapping of a dead man, how unsightly..."

Disregarding the insulting remarks from the woman, Fedele looks down at the ground with a saddened look. "God's judgment will not fail to befall them, but my regret is letting the two of you experience something like this. I'm sorry for leaving like this, I hope the both of you can find it in your heart to forgive this old man..." He mutters to himself softly.

Even though it was light, the wind carries those words and delivers them to the destination.

Looking at Fedele that doesn't have any will to fight the inevitable doom in front of him, Cyrus with a darkened expression raises his hand skyward, "As per the holy decree from the Divine Sanctum of Divinity, Fedele Lex Molantar would be executed. May hell never cleanse your sins for eternity..." he declared.

Upon hearing this, the woman beside Cyrus chuckled at the barbarity of the holy decree.

"You light mages are out of your mind, that holy decree is too much don't you think?" The woman said before she started laughing, seemingly amused by the treatment that Fedele received even though he has spent his entire life devoted to the Divine Sanctum of Divinity.

But her laughter was cut short, "Don't laugh..." Cyrus intervenes with a serious look,

"Our job here is not finished yet. It was not only a dead man's last words, he was talking about his sons that managed to escape. I don't know how he knows his sons are alive, but we'll need to find them after this and stop at nothing" he added, knowing the threat underneath Fedele's last words.

It was clear to him that the darkness Fedele was talking about are his sons that survived this.

No matter how hard it will be to find the sons of Fedele, they need to get rid of them or else they would be sparing two wolf cubs that would bite them in the future. Only when they killed the sons can they feel at ease.

Upon hearing this, the woman scoffed, "We'll find them, how far can they even go?"

Following that the woman then pointed her index finger forward with a fierce glint, Cyrus also did the same intending to end Fedele's life so they can move on to the next. Concentrated mana can be seen gathering at the tip of their index fingers which keeps on growing.

Eventually, the two shot a beam of light and dark straight at Fedele.

Despite the incoming beams of light and dark elements, Fedele embraces those incoming projectiles with a smile on his face. Fearless even in front of death as he knows that he has never strayed from God's path.

Swish!

Both projectiles hit Fedele's shoulders and severed his arms from his body.

Not a trace of pain can be seen on his face as his severed arms fell to the ground beside him. Cyrus then gripped the scimitar in his hand before he imbued it with more light mana, it radiated with power brightly as he lower his stance and charges the scimitar.

At the peak of concentration, he swung in a horizontal motion, "Gleaming Cut of Light..."

Swish!

A horizontal energy slash shot towards Fedele aiming for his neck, this spell would end him by severing his head from his body. But as the energy slash neared, Fedele's smile grew wider as he glanced to the forest and make eye contact with Samael who is being carried away by Norman to leave the place.

Samael finds himself unable to look away from the broken state of his father.

'Forgive me...' those are the words that Fedele uttered before his death.

It was only when the energy slash sliced through his father's neck and severed his head was his eyes widened to the utmost limit, he saw his father's soul was taken away by the angel of death itself. A beautiful arc was created by the blood drawn from his father's neck that never leaves his eyes.

Even though he was already devastated from seeing his mother's corpse, the test hasn't ended yet.

Now he witnessed his own father's head decapitated despite still having a smile on his face, and the emotions that he can't comprehend earlier finally hits. "F-FATHER!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, his tears pouring down his face without stopping.

He let out a painful cry, saturated with a myriad of emotions. And it echoed throughout the area.

~

"FATHER!!"

Samael's eyes jolted awake as he reaches out his hand to the ceiling in anguish.

For a moment there he was panting heavily with his body drenched in sweat, his eyes then slowly widened before he grabs his face in a sitting position. He realized that it was nothing but a nightmare, a nightmare that is engraved deep inside his mind.

"Father..." Samael uttered while clenching the bed sheet with his other hand in sheer frustration.

It has been two years since the tragedy that befalls his home city and his parents.

Every time he closes his eyes, he never finds peace. The death of his parents has never left his mind, it keeps on repeating over and over again. Whenever he wakes up, he feels fatigued and tired as if the nightmare takes a portion of his soul.

Many say that time would heal any physical or mental wounds, but that doesn't apply to him.

As time passes by his condition becomes worst and worst, and his mind started dwindling in the direction of insanity. If it weren't for his mother's last words and also the hope that God gives him this misery to guide him to be better, he would've probably killed himself.

Even though he already doubts the second Divine Axiom, he still wants to believe in something.

"Killing myself?" Samael chuckled, "So this is what Lucius felt back then" he muttered with a broken smile. Grabbing a necklace around his neck with a silver pendant shaped like a star, tears started overflowing his eyes as he started sobbing profusely remembering yet another new scar that happened not too long ago.

It was a new scar that causes his belief in the second Divine Axiom to wobble to doubt.

Ever since the incident that befalls his parents, the Divine Sanctum of Divinity has been chasing him. Cyrus and the dark mage woman, Vivian relentlessly chased after him and Lucius even though they even tried to leave the kingdom for another.

With the help of Norman and a few of his father's friends, he managed to survive until now.

Only God knows how they were able to survive for this long, they can be considered very lucky as the Divine Sanctum of Divinity's influence spreads far and wide. But at one point, Cyrus and Vivian are able to catch up to them which resulted in an unavoidable fight.

Lucius was wounded during the escape, his magic core was scarred and he lost his mage powers.

Asking the healers along the way they find out that the scar should be treatable, but their life of running won't allow them to stay in one place for the period of the treatment. Eventually, Lucius lost his mage powers for good.

For their current situation, it was very devastating. Lucius was clearly struck hard by the news.

Not too long after that, Samael finds Lucius hanged himself. He gave up on life.

Samael finds his beliefs were tested once more. If the second Divine Axiom was absolute then why would God guide his brother to his own death? It's unacceptable, Lucius is a religious man just like him if not more. He deserves to be guided to a better state and place.

In the end, he decided to believe that maybe Lucius' death is necessary for guiding him.

Even though it was a twisted belief that was a product of his mind, he desperately need this or he would also go insane and never recover. Clinging on life, Samael decided to keep on living and eventually stumbled across something that might be the endpoint of God's guidance.

Samael wiped his tears and looks around the room, he was inside an inn in Zlille City's suburbs.

Parchments containing different knowledge and writings can be seen scattered around the room, they make the room appear messy and chaotic. About a year ago, after his brother's death, Samael stumbled across a local story saying there exists a hidden scripture that contains immense magical power that can change the entire world.

Nobody believed this as it's a story from a homeless bard, but many people know of this story.

Due to his frustration and mind that is leaning close to insanity, he wanted to know anything that might possibly make him stronger. Samael has been rigorously training his light element, but there was no fruition to his hard work. He has an affinity for light elements but no talent for magic.

Nothing seems to be working, and he was at a desperate end to become stronger.

For him, hiding forever under the protection of Norman and the others would be selfish. It was not an option, he refused to become a burden and make use of their loyalty to his father to live in this world.

It's why he has been seeking medicines, spells, or anything that can make him stronger.

Meeting failure after failure in trying to fix the wrongs in his body regarding his inability to do spells, he now was desperate enough to believe a local story from a homeless bard. But who would've thought that he actually find the scripture that is exactly as described in the local story? It was definitely the helping hand of God.

Samael managed to find it through a weird tingle, it's like the scripture is reacting to his element.

But even though he got the scripture, it was written in a language nobody understands.

Grasping the only chance he has to turn his entire life around, Samael dedicated himself to reading countless books about ancient languages and symbols, spending unimaginable sleepless nights trying to decipher the content of the scripture.

Norman and the other friends of his father thought he went crazy, but Samael ignored them.

Almost a year later, Samael was on the brink of giving up, but he was surprised when he accidentally activated the scripture. It turns out he only needs to imbue his light elements to the scripture to activate it.

Like pieces of puzzles, the weird writing formed into something he can understand.

In that moment, he finds that the scripture contains a map that leads to a place called the Canyon of Virtue.

Following the lead on the map, Samael and the others arrived at Zlile City. Based on the map, the Canyon of Virtue is located somewhere in the Mountain of Angliga beside the city. "Just a little bit more before I can get my hands on this 'System'..." he muttered to himself, clenching his hands tightly.

It's written on the map that the treasure inside the Canyon of Virtue is something called System.

A power of good that can triumph over any evil in this world, this treasure will give immense power of good to the wielder and change the entire world. Samael doesn't know exactly what this System is, but he wants to get his hand on it.

Knowing that justice for his family is nearing, he gets up from the bed and heads to the desk.

Samael's eyes are glittering with newfound conviction, only a few more steps before he can repay those who slaughtered his parents. Looking at the desk, he finds a white map that is shining with brilliance and gives off an ancestral feeling.

It was the map that would lead him to this power called System.

Gazing at the map with determination, Samael grabs ahold of it and assures himself, "When I get this power, I'll bring God's judgment to those people that slaughter the city and my family. Just a little bit more before justice will be restored once more..."