God Rising: Battle Of Atela 80 Part Ii

"You tried your best," His eyes moved to Ludovic, and a grin appeared on his face "I lost. I guess I've missed my chances of finding out the truth." 

His recollections of the night before were hazy. All he remembered was that Ludovic stabbed the ground and not him. A few seconds later, he pa.s.sed out, and now he's back in a room with swathes around his abdomen. 

Ludovic rubbed the back of his head, "I'll still tell you the secret though. There's no need for me to keep it only to myself. Follow me" The wolfman walked out of the room, and Darren made a couple of flimsy strides as he moved along the foyer prompting Ludovic's room. 

The older wolfman moved a shelf aside, then lifted the seal of an underground tunnel. He gestured for Darren to do likewise, and the wolfman didn't spare a moment, neither did he inquire why Ludovic chose to give him despite his defeat. He couldn't afford to aid Ludovic's change of mind. He decided to take full advantage of the situation and learn a thing or two from it.

The two climbed down the ladder until they reached the ground. The light from above wasn't bright enough, and it left them in the pitch black until Ludovic lit the torches around with a snap of his fingers 

Darren gawked at the different codes carved to the walls of the tunnel. There were strange, foreign symbols around, encircling an eye stone around some diamond-shaped objects in the center. The jewel around Darren's neck lighted up the marks in strange ways, shining eerily as he moved. 

He placed a hand on the radiating carvings to feel the maker's emotions, but it couldn't get through him. 

"As I thought. You've discovered one of the hidden gems in the world." Ludovic said as he kept walking. Darren's eyes continued to investigate the old marks and noticed some sharp edged letters didn't pick up the light of the gem and could barely be seen. 

The two halted in front of something that looked like a large mirror, but the difference was that their reflection didn't show. The mirror was framed with golden leaves from a weeping willow. At the top of the mirror, also in gold, was a star. He guessed it was meant to represent their G.o.d. 

"Don't worry, it's just a door," Ludovic said, then walked through it to prove his claim. Darren gulped, then closed his eyes before he did the same. 

"Open your eyes Darren" The younger wolf opened an eye after another then his jaw dropped. 

"What is this place?" He was disgusted and terrified at the same time. A rotten human head dangled from a string, mounds of soot, layers of dust, and ropes of cobwebs covered every surface of the room in a sticky veil. Shriveled brown flowers droop from dismal vases and all is dark and dank. 

His eyes eyes turned to look at the racks of elixirs and rotted ingredients including rodents, brains, eyes, and hearts in gla.s.s containers. It nearly made him vomit.

"This is what my father devoted his life to. This is what the legion spent every second of their life researching. The power of good and evil." He pulled out a book from a shelf and opened it.

"I'll give you a brief history, something the senates disguised as teachers couldn't dare to tell. Many years ago when I was still a child, my parents moved here along with my brother and i. The reason was unknown. He'd leave home regularly and return months later to do something secret in this place. None of us knew about the hidden tunnel, and even now my brother still doesn't know about it. I discovered it by accident when I wanted to give my father a piece of my mind because of the financial burden he placed on my mother that almost forced her to sleep casually with other beastmen to feed us. 

I quietly followed him here and launched my very first surprise attack. My presence stunned him and he could barely react. Since I found out, there was nothing he could do. I was his son, and he didn't want to kill me. He sat me down on that old seat…"

 He pointed his finger at the dusty stool at a corner then continued to speak "He gave me a lecture for hours, and while listening to it my heart raced because of fear and excitement. The powers of the gems he was researching sounded so cool to someone my age. Everything here was used as an experiment in the period of his study. The head hanging from the ceiling hasn't decayed completely because of one of his potions of longer life and prosperity, but it failed repeatedly because he didn't have the gems to get his perfect formula. The reason he always traveled was because he was searching for the gems."

"My grandfather was also part of the research group, wasn't he?"

"I'm surprised you know that, but he was with those who wished to practice the dark arts and use it for power and control, for abuse and for the pleasure he'd feel in causing pain and death. My father along with others split along with the various notes they'd discovered and went into hiding. I am not certain, but everything we use now was a result of that secret group. Alchemy started off as a form of literature, but your Grandfather's team got those who'd started it killed after placing a bounty on their heads. My father included." 

"Why don't you hate me? I mean my…" Darren bit his lip. He was saying things he tried his best to avoid. Ludovic remained calm. He showed no resentment, and he looked relaxed for someone who ought to be the type to seek vengeance for his father. 

"My father was a walking piece of s.h.i.t. He valued his research more than his family." Darren didn't really have anything proper to say. It seemed like those who studied the gems for good ended up losing the love of their family, just like Reme's did. 'What about the dark arts supporters? Did they lose anything?' Darren wondered.

"I brought you here today to show you this" Ludovic showed the prince his father's blood writing of the magic lock.

Darren squinted his eyes as he tried to make out the words written "Magic lock...seal...unable to use powers...experiment...a forbidden breed...Livingstons...monsters...truth...child...war…"

"From what I can tell from this. He must've been in a rush while composing this, and possibly he came clean with me about this entire situation since he believed that I'll show this to the right person. The first few words could mean the magic seal stops a beastman from using their powers. With respect to the rest, I'm not sl sure, but I think it means they carried out an experiment on a child of a forbidden breed."

"Taboo?" 

"Most likely."

"Your household was mentioned, do you know anything about it?" 

Darren shook his head, "I have no idea." 

"Oh well, that's all" Ludovic closed the book and put it back on the shelf beside him.

"Do you think my powers have been sealed?" 

"I don't know. If your powers were sealed, what was the reason?" 

Darren couldn't wrap a finger about the truth of his household. Monsters were mentioned...A forbidden breed also. Were they all a taboo race? Was that why his sister died? 

"Well… It could just be that you really were born without powers."

"That's what my parents told me, but I'm starting to think it's all a lie."  

"So what now?" 

"I will confront my father about it whenever I reach home. I have to know the truth about the legion and know if it's connected to me."

"I wish you nothing but luck, Darren. Seems like you'll need it."

Preview :- 

Part III

"MOVE ALL YE STUPID SLAVES!" the moment he heard the unexpected booming voice that resounded in the woods, he swallowed the buns at one go. 

He cleared his path through the bushes, following the direction the sound came from and the footsteps of the small squirrels that scurried away from the humans and few beastmen on the other side. 

His eyes darted to each slave, and he gasped at his discovery, Artemis was part of them. After so long he'd finally seen her again, but he didn't expect she'd be in a bad state. She claimed to be smarter than him and all that sort, but she still ended up in the hands of a slave master. He scoffed as he turned away, "That'll teach her a lesson." Before he could cross the river again, he sighed "I'll help her. Just this last time." 

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