Sier's Motives

It was a light blue colored ceiling, mottled by drawings of petals all over it. That was the first thing that Arthur saw when he opened his eyes. It took a few moments to gather his thoughts as if he just woke up from a coma. Everything felt so distant, so far away, and so surreal. The pain was too real to be called a dream, so Arthur had to accept everything, albeit with a grain of salt.

"You're awake," Melania walked into the room, placing a basin of water and new bandages next to his bed. Arthur tried to get up, but she placed her hand on his shoulder to stop him. "You have been too injured; your body needs to rest." She started removing the bandages from his body, and they were stuck to it due to all the antiseptics and pus.

"Ah," Arthur groaned as he felt a burning pain when the bandages were off. Melania started wrapping him with clean bandages before she placed her hand on his abdomen.

"Lie down," Arthur lied down as she instructed, and he felt warm energy coming from her hands, traveling through his body. His pain lessened greatly and he felt his wounds healing faster than normal.

"Thank you, is Master Ronin here?" Arthur needed answers, and he was not about to wait for them to drop at his doorsteps.

"He is. Come outside when you get ready. They're waiting for you." Melania said and pointed to a set of clean clothes on the side before heading out.

Arthur picked himself and started wearing the clothes. In a single month, his torso had two scars that were too hideous to look at. He looked at himself in the mirror, examining the changes he recently had.

His hair was a mess, as it was longer than it used to. A lot longer, in fact, and Arthur had to comb it backward until he gets a new haircut. Golden eyes stared back at him, a sign of the legacy that changed his life. An average looking face would still be an average looking no matter how many life-and-death battles you encounter, Arthur thought while laughing. The work he had to do all these years made his skin tanned, even though it wasn't white to being with.

His height was another noticeable change, estimated to be above 176 now. His growth spurt lacked the proper nutrition so he was on the shorter side, but his awakening was changing his bone structure as he got stronger.

Wearing the new clothes, Arthur felt bitter inside. This was the first time he wore proper clothes in almost a month and it gave him a sense of hollowness for some reason. All that suffering, the long nights, and the betrayals… They seemed meaningless.

Arthur gritted his teeth when he remembered Jin's actions, but he tried to calm down. He knew Jin was in love with Hazel, but he didn't realize he was the type of character to kill because of jealousy.

He would repay every debt, that was his iron rule in life. Gratitude or vengeance, he wouldn't forget either.

The door creaked when Arthur left the room, and he headed through the hallways toward the garden he first met Master Ronin at. The old man was sitting by the pond while Si was reading what looked like a file.

"You're hiding something, aren't you?" He skipped the chitchat, being sick of beating around the bush. He wanted some explanations, here and now.

"Have a seat first," Si gestured toward the seat in front of him.

"I'd rather not."

He wasn't here to drink some tea, and there was a boiling rage inside of him. He didn't know if this came from being treated like a fool or from the dream he saw at the underground hall, but he didn't feel like entertaining them.

"Okay," Si nodded in understanding, and he placed the file down. "I know you're upset, frustrated, and confused. You have the right to be. Please, ask what you want, and I'll answer as truthfully as I can."

"Was our meeting a coincidence?" Arthur arranged the questions in his mind, filtering them out before he threw the first one.

"No, it was not. I knew you'd be there. I saw it with my ability."

"Saw what?"

"The only chance I have to retain myself."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let me explain," Master Ronin stood up from his seat, walking toward Arthur. "Si is a Legacy holder if you know what that is." Arthur nodded, feeling his heart beating loudly. "It also came at the great cost of overtaking him. He was given this ability after he was abandoned," Master Ronin's eyes flickered with anger, seeming to recall the past.

"At first, we thought it was a blessing. A way to rise above the others from his family, and take back his position in it. His younger brothers and sisters, his mother, everything was taken away from when his father abandoned him."

Arthur looked at Si, studying his expression as he heard this. Unlike what he had expected, he found Si to be extremely calm. Smiling, even.

"No talent, he said." Si's voice was filled with mockery. "Now, it seems I have too much talent that it's threatening to overtake me. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Then it started, the owner of his legacy was trying to overtake his body. Replace him and reincarnate into this world, that was its plan." Master Ronin clenched his fists hard.

"What does that have to do with me?" Arthur asked, not willing to empathize with the whole drama. Even if he felt it was a bit tragic, it still had nothing to do with him.

"My ability, Prophecy, is similar to Si's ability. It can look a bit into the future, but that was all. Si can see everything if he had enough mana, but that isn't the case." Master Ronin sat down as he poured himself a cup of tea to quench his thirst. "We used our abilities to look for a way to save him and to reclaim what is his. His body and his family, both. We started recruiting people this way, people who needed help, in return for helping us back."

"Everything?" Arthur began to link the dots at this, he felt his heart race. Si looked at him and nodded, opening the file he had. It had his father's picture, along with a full report of him.

"I can help you, Arthur." Si stood up from his seat. "Just help me back, let's work together to fend against what this shitty world has thrown at us."

"You can find my father?" Arthur tried to sound calm, but he failed. He didn't want to trust anyone that easily anymore, but he just couldn't remain calm at the notion of his family reuniting.

"Right now, my ability is too limited to do so. But I'll grow, and so will you. We can grow together and help each other when the time comes. For now, take this and read it." Si gave him the file, and Arthur took it with shaking hands. If his guess was right, then these papers held answers for questions he buried deep for years.

"You can read that later, but we need to talk about something else." Master Ronin added, and Arthur looked at him with puzzlement. "Can you tell us what happened in the trial?"

"Don't you already know? I thought its events were common knowledge." Arthur's guard was up, not revealing anything at this suspicious question. "Furthermore, if he can see anything, then he should already know what I'm thinking."

"How would you trust me if I did that?" Si laughed a bit, but Arthur's face remained stone-cold. He didn't buy this bullshit one bit. Si was awkward and coughed in embarrassment.

"My ability doesn't work on you for some reason." He confessed with reddened cheeks that Arthur could barely see on his light-brown skin. "I tried it the first time we met, but nothing worked."

"Doesn't that mean you can't trust me?"

"It's the opposite," Si shook his head, "If my ability doesn't work on you, that means you're the only person who could help me find a way to get rid of it."

"That should be easy, from what I know about Legacies. You can just abandon the legacy, and you would be free."

"And I would be weak, just like before." Arthur felt Si's anger for the first time. "I'm sorry," Si apologized as he sighed. "It's just that I don't want to be weak again," Arthur nodded at those words.

"Why would the Legacy owner give you this power if you're not following its will?" From what Arthur knew, a person needed to follow the Legacy's owner's will to receive power from them.

"That's true, but what if Legacy gave me abilities even if I don't do anything?"

"Is that even possible?"

"It is, and it's the method this person is trying to take over my body. He gives me his abilities, and I would lose my being the more I use them. In the end, it would be him, not me, that is living in this body."

Arthur felt a chill run down his spine as he questioned his legacy. However, he was still the same even though he was sometimes influenced by Jizo's emotions. He didn't lose his sense of self yet, but it didn't hurt to keep an open eye for such changes.

"I don't know what happened in the trial. Before I passed, I was sent here suddenly." Arthur lied, and the two nodded.

"It's the same as everyone from your trial ground. They have all been sent away before they finished the trial, and all of them received an insignia. It's the first time something like this happened." Master Ronin brooded over the subject, stroking his beard.

"This is bad," Si said, and Arthur didn't understand why.

"Why? Didn't most of us survive because of this?"

"That's true, but the power balance between the families is being threatened. A lot of people passed the trial and that means a lot of artifacts are coming back during the next trials.

"Furthermore," Si added. "For some reason, the situation in the seven families is chaotic, as if they were looking for something or someone."