Magic Apprentice Chapter 18

But rather than finding information on the archery Tekrom used once before, Elric was greeted with the diary entries of the hero during his travels.

He was immediately captivated by the writing recorded inside. Rather than words, it felt more like the very soul of the hero was captured on the parchment. Feelings of camaraderie, adventure, and the love for life flowed freely from the pages with such masterful prose that Elric felt as though he had returned to the same time period as the hero as a companion on this ancient and dangerous journey. From the entries, Elric could clearly feel the zeal and lofty visions the hero had throughout his youth—something he also felt was inherited by the current Duke.

A majority of the entries chronicled the 'Glorious Crusade' of five hundred years ago and shared with an excited Elric the unique perspective of a legendary hero. The descriptions of the battles were so clear that it almost felt to Elric that he was speaking face-to-face with the ancient heroes. 

The entries spoke of the war with neither praise nor exaggeration. It was simply a realistic retelling of the events that transpired. Though Elric didn't know much about the other heroes, he thought the description of the wolf seemed to match up identically with how he remembered it: a gluttonous rascal. 

Flipping to the next page, Elric read with gusto about the events that led up to the decisive battle in the war: the battle with the death of the Magic Emperor. But unlike it was told of in the legends, the battle hadn't actually been an all-out war. And rather than there just being one Emperor, there were actually twelve. 

Long ago, twelve rulers sought fit to rule the world. And to achieve that goal, the twelve combined their powers into one. And the battle that had changed history forever was solely due the obsessive pursuit of the twelve on the topic of immortality. Rumors at the time spoke of how one of the twelve managed to do so, but caused civil unrest across the Empire. Eventually, two forces came to head and war broke out. The band of heroes known today was actually the result of one of the emperors, who employed them to vanquish the unifier of the twelve. 

The 'Battle That Changed History' was actually the result of a successful a.s.sa.s.sination. Right on the threshold of entering an immortal vessel, the Magic Emperor perished at the hand of the owner of this journal, but not before leaving behind a curse. Elric remembered Hughesin describing this curse before:

May thine most heartfelt words be saved for condemnation. May thou fall for forbidden grace and from favored grace. May thine name be given nevermore and mine curse forever more.

The curse was scrawled differently from the rest of the words. Before, the entries had an enthusiastic spirit to them. But the curse written here felt filled with an indescribable amount of sadness and sorrow. It was such a complete shift in mood compared to the previous entry that Elric felt completely dumbfounded by it. Slowly, he flipped through to the next few entries where, as he expected, they were bereft of the same happiness as before. The more Elric read, the more Elric realized how the curse lingered and shackled at the hearts of all those who shared the same blood as the hero. The hero himself, had fallen for someone he shouldn't have; a fellow hero of the Twelve: Lucia the Saintess.

Much like the legends depicted her, the Saintess was noted in this journal to have pledged her body, soul, and life in service to the divine and rebuffed the courtships of Tekrom the Magihunter. Elric could tell from the entries just how deep Tekrom's love for the Saintess was, and how it practically bordered the realm of fanaticism. It seemed in the end, unfortunately, that Tekrom eventually succ.u.mbed to the madness of his curse and committed an irreconcilable mistake.

The entries ended there with Elric being unsure of what that mistake was or what came to head as a result of it. All he knew was that whatever the outcome, it was not an ending one might find in a comedy. 

That was the end of Tekrom's journey, but not the journal. Flipping through several more pages, Elric began to read the entries written by his descendants and how the curse personally affected them. Tales of woe were written by each of these descendants about the great love they experienced and the terrible pain and hatred that arose from it. Were words weapons, then the entries of these descendants was a battle through the ages with scars inflicted upon them at every angle. Every single story Elric read was yet another heart wrenching tale of blood and tears. 

Elric turned the journal to its very last page where only one pa.s.sage remained:

“She will return. I just know of it. I know she will never forgive me, but her return is inevitable for she already carries my child. Shameful it is that I will never see my child. Disgraceful I am to bring a blade to myself. Let this be testimony that my death is not of a.s.sa.s.sination, but suicide. I understand suicide is a deplorable act and makes a mockery of life, but I haven chosen this fate to be forgotten. My death will help her understand that all I have to own will be hers and my child to own. I only wish the pain I have inflicted onto her will be lessened with my parting, though I know through this act, I have pa.s.sed down the curse to her and my child. May my child be spared from the clutches of this terrible torment.”

Signed, a thief of love, a ruffian who steals all fortune away from their lover, a criminal who kills for love, a miser who willingly seeks death for the sake of love, an infatuate of no conscience,

—Modler Saludy

Only after Elric closed the journal did he realize just how heavy it felt in his hands. Looking up and around himself, he realized that Hughesin was already long gone from his side. Heavy-hearted, he decided to crack open the journal again for clues, though he dared not to read about the depressing chapters regarding Tekrom's descendants. He noticed earlier that one particular term would often show up without context. 

The 'Mind's Eye'. 

One particular entry even talked about how the Mind's Eye was the quintessence of the G.o.d of Archery. 

Flipping through the entirety of the earlier entries, Elric began to look at every single reference pertaining to the term in hope of a better description on what the term meant. This was exactly the type of distraction Elric wanted. There was nothing else in this world that excited him more than the arcane mysteries of the divine.

Elric's pursuit for the truth and answer was so concentrated that he didn't even realize the day was already long gone. It was only when he thought the room was getting a little too dim to read the journal that he realized night had fallen.

He found solace in the following days. Though the etiquette lessons were as tiresome and annoying as ever, Elric felt satisfaction in being able to head to the archery range at noon. Hughesin remained at his side whenever he was there, but Elric felt happy seeing that the Duke wasn't bothering him as much anymore ever since he was given the journal. The Duke was actually acting more gentlemanly, more courteous. 

Elric wasn't quite sure how he felt about this change. But regardless of the intentions, Elric knew Hughesin was just as interested in the lost art of archery than he was. Over the several days the two spent studying Tekrom's journal, Hughesin spent plenty of time recording everything he knew about the 'Mind's Eye' and discussed the topic at length with Elric. His inferences on the topic proved to be especially valuable, given his expertise with multiple fields of weaponry and martial arts, and the two felt as though they were getting gradually closer to the lost art.

There was one thing that bothered Elric, what happened, in the end, to Tekrom and Lucia? From what he learned so far, the 'Mind's Eye' was the power borne from the Hallow given to him by Kebrilio through Myron; the Heart of Reason. 

If one had to have the Heart of Reason to gain the Mind's Eye, then Elric could only a.s.sume that the hero Tekrom must've once owned that hallow in addition to Vindrhorn. It must've been given as a keepsake from him to Lucia, though Elric feared to approach Hughesin about such a sensitive topic.

What he feared most was another possible misunderstanding. Aside from doing his best to unlocking this secret, the best Elric could really do was hope and wait for the banquet to come even faster.