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Chapter 6
Chapter 6
The rest of the CSS soldiers arrived at Henrik's position. "Senior, we still need to go to Vontur to help in the defense." A soldier said. Henrik didn't look at him, but only stared at the lifeless body on the cliff down below. He walked back, before grabbing one of the VA-Crossbows on the bodies of the fallen soldiers. "Pass me a syrette." Henrik said to a ranger. The ranger then tossed him a healing potion which was contained in a serum. Henrik then grabbed it and jabbed it into his bicep, closing his eyes and looking down. His wounds immediately healed as glowing red veins appeared in his body. He felt more relieved as he felt his body heal from the shot. When the entire bottle of red liquid became empty, he then opened his eyes.
"We're going to Vontur."
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The calm afternoon skies of The Kingdom of Karthus was contrasted by the dark chambers that Ms. Vivian E. Osiris was walking in. It was a under The Sovereign University of Vendeaux. She had always been curious why Kindred has had so many nightmares lately, and rumor has it that there was a secret chamber here . Perhaps maybe it was because she had never met a man who was at war before. She was living in The Kingdom of Karthus anyways. Knights usually did not interest her - they were usually dumb, and always full of themselves. Well -- Kindred was also like that in a way. To her, he could be an idiot sometimes. Memories of his mistakes made her smile, and made her giggle in the darkness of the corridors of the hidden chamber. She suddenly realized her silliness and immediately looked around to see if there were people around. To her luck, there was no one there.
She stumbled upon a small room with a protected metal door. It was embedded with glowing crystals - orange mana nullifiers capable of stopping any mage from using any sort of magic throughout the whole chamber. Vivian marveled at this and decided to feel the crystals one by one. When she looked at the door however, there was a keyhole. She gasped - well, she hasn't been this far before. Maybe she could come back at another time-
"I suppose you were looking for this?" Lady Dawn Sitia said, showing her a glowing key made out of a mana nullifier with riveted steel plates to act as the key's teeth and notches. Vivian froze as she gripped her hands when looking at her boss. "You're lucky your husband didn't find you here." She said, before putting the key down.
"W-what do you mean?" Vivian asked.
Dawn sighed, before walking towards the door. She then placed the key on the door's keyhole, making it rumble as it slowly opened. "Curiosity is something every sentient life has. It is innate to ourselves. It's what separates us from less intelligent creatures." She said, while walking through the dark inside of the room they were facing. The inside was pitch black, and Dawn disappeared into the shadows in front of Vivian. When she returned she was holding a different key. This time, it was made of Dwarven Steel with diamonds on its handle.
"Although an advice, Ms. Osiris..." She said, before handing her this other key. "Whatever you find there, be smart about the knowledge you gain. Not everything that is written is the truth, and is needed to be said."
Vivian was still speechless about everything that was going on. She took the key, making Dawn walk back upstairs."I already called The White Knights to escort you to the archives."
"But the archives are only for Head Researchers and Head Teachers."
"Well then." Dawn said with a smile on her face. "Take a guess on who's getting a promotion."
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Vivian entered the Karthusian Grand Library. It was filled with people in the middle of the day. Everyone was studying, and all seemed to have their eyes on their books, all except for Vivian and the White Knights that followed her - they were looking for more than just shallow information.
Two librarians were sitting near a small brown door. When Vivian approached the door, she was blocked by these librarians. They wore brown garments with some kind of dark gray hood. Vivian showed her SUV Seal and stated herself as the new Head Researcher of the esteemed university. However, they still blocked her. Sir Ruben then stepped in, along with the knights of the White Regiment.
"She's approved by the lady herself." He said.
The hooded men then slowly backed away after seeing the knights. When Vivian entered the door, the knights then guarded it from the outside, leading the woman all by herself in a maze of corridors. Luckily, Dawn told her where to go. If she didn't, then she'd be overwhelmed by how complex the structure was.
She arrived at a dark part of the library. It was covered in stone floors and walls, with torches acting as lightways for the walls. Although to be completely fair, it was still dark for her. She looked for the Historical section and found the archives for The Great Orc War - Which was the conflict that he knew where Kindred was heavily involved in.
"Geralt Magrin...." She whispered. However, she didn't know any Geralt Magrin in the Red Blood Regiment. She decided to look for more.
"Kindred Hassan Osiris. Former General of The Black Valkyrie- ....wait." She said, before suddenly finding herself taking the scroll and putting them near a bigger source of light. When she saw that Kindred was a former general of the Black Valkyrie Regiment, she found herself falling into the rabbit hole regarding The Black Valkyrie Regiment.
"The 3rd Directive Decree...... The Shifter Genocide?"
Vivian read through a couple of the pages in the books and saw Kindred's name being mentioned multiple times. She saw the part where Kindred led the Black Valkyrie Regiment to conduct the shifter genocide. She was shocked. There was no such thing as a genocide on the shifters. The shifters were fine anyways. They attacked the Magrins and burned Karthus. There was no way that Kindred would be that person...right?
Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming from the corridors. She immediately put the books back to the shelf before the Black Valkyrie Regiment arrived on the library. She then smiled at them before leaving.
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Vivian walked through the town with a blank face. She was thinking about the entire thing that she saw. Countless conflicts and countless wars - what has Kindred been doing after all these years? She assumed that he was a normal academy graduate who volunteered for the Ravenian Military, but not like this.
She then bumped into someone. "Oh! I'm really sorry!" Vivian said as she tried to see who it was.
"It's alright." The woman said. She had vastayan body of a cervidian vastayan - which was evident on her antlers anyways. Vivian saw her green coat and armor, as well as her battle armor, which made her assume that she was someone who was not from here.
"May I ask where you are headed then?" Vivian asked with a smile. The lady in question hesitated to answer, but then said, "I wanted to go to the Northeastern Wall."
"The Northeastern Wall? But I remember that it was closed today since it was destroyed recently by bandits."
When Vivian said those words, the realization hit her. She was not from here, and she was wearing a sort of gear for warfare. This was not just some random citizen. She was someone else...
A group of White Knights suddenly arrived with their horses. The woman in front of Vivian walked back a bit, staring at the knights. Vivian observed her for some time, before seeing why she was afraid of the knights. Suddenly, she took some clothes from her backpack and put it on the woman.
"Trust me." Vivian said.
The White Knights looked at the woman with a squint on their eyes under their helmets. But, when they saw Vivian beside the girl, they suddenly dropped their suspicions.
"Let's check the southern gate. Most of the Clan Members are there." General Tharius said, making the White Knight Regiment move to their destination.
When the knights left, Vivian slowly went to the lady and tidied her new garment. She looked a bit more formal now at least, or in her eyes, 'a bit more Karthusian'.
"You're one of them are you?" Vivian asked.
"One of what?"
"Them. The Clan of Aeryth."
Minthe immediately started to dash off, before Vivian said "Wait! I'm not here to tell on them!"
Minthe stopped, a bit frozen in her place.
"I just need to ask questions..... to clarify something......."
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"You're stupid! You're never gonna beat me in a duel!" A child said, who was significantly bigger than Hinokami. The son of Kindred was on the ground, trying to stand up, but looking down in embarrassment from the other kids that saw him fall down. He wanted to fight back. Deep down, he knew he can. Recently he did something.... magical. Maybe he could use it on this person. He tried to stand up, but the children weren't there anymore. Some were still there staring at something behind him. Hinokami sighed, he knew who it was.
"Son! Come on now we still need to head back to your mother." Kindred said with a smile as he looked at his son trying to stand up with his clothes all dirty. Hino looked upset. He just looked down and did not even try to speak up. Kindred was there however to talk to him.
"It's Gerson again, I reckon?" Kindred said.
Hinokami only nodded his head. Kindred sighed. He wanted to give him some knowledge regarding how to fight, but he knew that his son was not just a normal child. If they ever find out that this person was the son of Takeshina - The one who killed the hero of Karthus, then he would have more problems to have.
"I wanna kill him." Hinokami said, with his teeth gritted and and fists clenched. his veins on his hand started to glow white.
Aeromancy.... so my son has been practicing that for some time I guess..., Kindred thought to himself. He sighed, then knelt to the ground.
"I understand. I know what it feels like whenever someone big is putting you down, and you want to fight back. That's good. It means that you want liberty, and you are not afraid of power. However, violence will never solve it. Connections will." Kindred said, with Hinokami just staring at him, trying to understand what his father has said. Soon, he found a couple of kids wanting to pick flowers. Hinokami then got the idea and said, "Father! I could get a couple of flowers for mom! We can add more flowers to her horn!"
Kindred chuckled and smiled at him, while Hinokami went to the flowers and started picking his favored colors. When the kids saw him, they said, "Oh you're picking flowers too? Let's help you out!" and they got to help Hinokami find more flowers.
Soon, the bully returned. "What's this?" The bully said, with his big stature. "Aren't u supposed to be a man? Why are you grabbing those flowers huh?"
Hinokami looked at him, before suddenly remembering what Kindred told him. He then looked at the group of flower picker kids and nodded at him. Hinokami then looked at the bully straight into the eyes, giving a small glint of intimidation from the kid.
"You seem obsessed with me. That's not a manly thing to do either." Hinokami said.
The bully grunted and walked forward, but his path was blocked by the group of flower pickers. "Back off." The leader of the group said. Seeing that the bully was outnumbered and alone, he had no choice but to retreat. Kindred stood from afar, smiling at the whole incident. His son developed his first alliance. It would help him more in the future.
Kindred headed to the house first. He knew that Hinokami would follow along anyways. As he entered the home, he realized something was off. Candles were still lit, gently glowing to illuminate the room. Was Vivian awake? Walking up the stairs, he encountered the long awaited sight of his wife. However, Kindred noticed grief in her eyes and scattered pages on the floor.
“Vivi?” He called out cautiously. “What happened? You look so pale. Are you ill?” Kindred walked in, picking up the papers. On the rouge sheets of paper, there were… prayers? It was in Vivian’s handwriting- neat but the ink was inconsistent. What were these prayers even for? Who were they for?
Vivian looked at the window, refusing to make eye contact with him. “You knew.” She started. For once in her life, Vivian felt a heavyweight of resentment. “The lives you took, the wars you fought, the people you made suffer, you knew what you were doing.” Vivian clutched a handful of her dress in her fist. Once she finally looked at him, he knew he was in deep trouble.
“What are you on about, Love? Did something happen?” Kindred attempted to switch the questions around. He gently knelt down in front of her, laying his hands on her fists, while she sat angrily on the bed.
“Don’t call me that!” Vivian jerked away in fear. “The Third Directive, the massacre… it was a real event. It wasn't a famine. You killed them. You killed almost every single one.” Vivian confessed her knowledge. She flinched and moved her hands away from his.
“How… how did you find out?” Kindred’s gaze reflected the pure horror he felt.
"So what!? So you can hunt those witnesses down like how The Black Valkyrie Regiment hunted down innocent men women and children just for knowing the truth!!??" She shouted, now building up the tears in her eyes.
"That's... not what I meant. Vivian Please I-." Kindred spoke, trying to move gently and a bit closer to her, but she did not want to be with him.
"Stop." Vivian said, putting her palm in front of Kindred, while holding pages of prayers on her chest with her other hand. "The Clan of Aeryth told me everything. I don't need more of your lies for this." Vivian stood up and walked away, holding her written prayers to her chest. “The grief they must have felt… these prayers are for the ones who you murdered. I thought maybe the gods above could redeem your sins… but, no. You committed a massacre with others without batting a single lash.”
Kindred looked at her in silence. She was never going to change this. He should have told her sooner. However, he was already too late. He could not utter a word to try to calm her down anymore.
“You were willing to kill the innocent to save your head from the chopping block? Were you even thinking?" Vivian said, her rage blooming through the room, throwing the prayers at him. “How DARE you hide this from history, from the world… from me. How could you?!”
Kindred caught the papers being chucked at him. “I was too young to understand what was happening back then! We were taught that the shifters were cruel monsters! I was 15 when it happened for goodness sake!” He argued calmly. Walking towards his enraged wife, but his words were like the wind. Always moving, but never moving a person. "Wait where are you going?" He said.
Vivian did not speak. She only slipped her shoes on and prepared to leave. "If your world is full of lies, then I will not be a part of it."
"Vivian but..."
"I'm leaving. I don't even know you anymore." She said.
Kindred upon hearing this, looked at her in despair. He wanted to say something, but he felt his entire body weaken. The door slammed shut, and it meant that Vivian was out. A couple of minutes passed, and Hinokami opened the door with a bag full of flowers.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home! I brought flowers for mothe-." He said, before seeing Kindred laying down in a bed full of papers and documents. Kindred stared at the ceiling, not wanting to move. "Dad?"
Kindred almost did not look at him. It was as if he was invisible. However, he only held his hand. Hinokami sensed that his father was sad, so he showed him flowers to remind him of Vivian - who always made him happy. But he did not know what happened. Kindred closed his eyes, and a tear rolled down his cheek. Hinokami then felt a stronger grip from his father holding his hand. Kindred took a deep breath, before saying...
"Brothers."
Suddenly, 5 hooded men in black gracefully entered the room. Hinokami felt his hair stand up when they saw them, but they saluted Kindred instead of doing anything.
"Aye sir?" One of them said.
Kindred took some deep breaths. He slowly stood up. He then walked towards the living room, and slowly looked at them.
"It's time."
"But are you sure sir? But she's-"
"I said. It is time."
The group of Black Valkyrie Assassins gulped saliva in their mouths and felt their body turn pale. Some even looked at each other in disbelief. However, orders were orders.
"Aye sir." The group said, before saluting Kindred.
Kindred then walked towards the chest on the room. He opened it to get a key. Then, he took the key to a hole in the room. It revealed itself to be a secret door. Hinokami watched as his father displayed a uniform in black in a secret shelf. Kindred looked at him with a blank face.
"I guess it's time I stop hiding." Kindred said.
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