(A/N: I decided to skip the last assimilation part since it would go the same way in the novel but with Alistair instead of Arthur.)
Alistair POV:
As we made our trip to Grandma Rinia's cottage, I couldn't help but sigh in awe at how perfect a spring morning it was—simply one of those scenes that you couldn't help but appreciate. As it was just past dawn, the morning air was still cool and crisp. On both sides of the road, bright morning dew on the moss-covered rocks sparkled from the sun's rays peeking through the old trees that towered over us.
The carriage we were riding in hardly shook from the even, marble-like paths smoothed from centuries of use. Sylvie was a ball of excitement as Arthur had to grab her by the tail a couple of times to keep her from jumping out of the carriage to catch the passing butterflies and birds.
"Arthur, I have to say that your bond continues to intrigue me." Alduin Eralith raised an amused brow as Sylvie promptly shot out and grabbed a passing bird with her jaw.
"Now now, leave the boy and his pet alone. In such a vast and mysterious land as ours, you can't be so surprised at things like this," Virion chided at his son with a wagging finger.
"I'd normally agree with you as well, Grandfather, but Arthur's bond really is unique compared to all of the other mana beasts I've seen. Even though it's an infant, its gaze twinkles with intelligence." Merial leaned in closer to Sylvie, who was still chewing on the bird she took down.
'Of course that is the case. She in an asura like me after all.'
"Don't forget that Sylvie is super cute too!" Just as Sylvie let out a satisfied belch, Tess picked her up and hugged her.
"Bahaha! I can't help but worry that my granddaughter will one day choose her precious bond, not by its strength but by its appearance!" Virion howled in laughter, making everyone but the princess snicker in agreement.
The trip was fairly long, even with a mana beast pulling the carriage. Tess soon fell asleep with her head against her mother's shoulder, as Merial slept alongside her daughter with her head leaning against Tess'.
"Arthur, Alistair, I told my son already but where we're headed, it's not a normal cottage. Rinia chose to isolate herself near the edge of the kingdom. As for why, she wouldn't tell me, but last time I chose to make an unannounced visit, I almost died from the traps and defences she had put up," Virion spoke in a hushed voice.
I raised a brow at Virion's serious tone. "For what reason does Elder Rinia need to protect herself to this extent?"
"My guess is as good as yours. I told her that we were visiting this time, so it should be safe, but I want you to watch out for any signs of intrusion. The fact that she needed to set up all of these precautions means that there are people out there to be cautious of."
My mind immediately went to her unique abilities as a deviant, however, no one but a handful of trusted people should've known about it.
"Okay." I nodded solemnly.
Soon after the conversation, Gramps and Arthur fell asleep with their arms crossed and heads bobbing, leaving only Sylvie, the driver, Tess' father and myself, awake.
Speaking of Sylvie, she had her front paws against the window of the carriage in hopes to catch more unlucky birds, her tail wagging rhythmically.
Alduin had a relaxed look on his aged face as he gazed vacantly at the moving scene outside the carriage. I knew that each of those wrinkles and creases came from the burden of being a king and now a leading figure of the continent.
"I feel like I've never had the chance to properly thank you," he said as his eyes still stayed focused outside the carriage.
"For what, sir?" I replied.
"For taking such good care of my daughter. From what she and my father tells me, Tessia made it out of some dangerous situations thanks to you." Alduin turned his head and looked at me for a brief moment before revealing a weary smile.
"It's nothing, sir. Tessia has helped me a lot of times as well."
"Oh? Like how?" He tilted his head.
I had to think to for a second before responding. "Showing me what it means to truly care about somebody."
"I somehow feel utterly confident that you will be able to protect my daughter in my and my father's stead."
My eyes narrowed in thought at the meaning of his statement, but before I could say anything, Alduin just chuckled and waved his hand dismissively.
"Just an overprotective father's thoughts running wild. Don't mind me, Alistair... but say, have you ever thought of one day marrying Tess?"
"Sir?" I said with a red face, taken aback by the question that came out of the blue.
"I mean, sure, she's a bit rough around the edges and Merial and I may have spoiled her a bit, but she's a good girl! I bet she'll be quite the looker given a few years."
"Not only that," he leaned towards me, "you are already dating her right?"
I nodded my head slightly before falling into deep though. I loved Tess, a lot. To the point I can't imagine my future life without her. However, the recent revelations kept me from answering his question carelessly.
Locking gazes with Tessia's father, I replied, "I still think of myself as being too young to worry about marriage. But I do love her, with my entire being."
"Good answer." The king nodded thoughtfully. "You have your head in the right place despite the lack of years under your belt."
"More so than you when you were his age," a soft voice chimed from beside Alduin.
"You were awake, dear?" the king asked with an expression as if he'd been caught sneaking into the desserts cabinet.
"Just for the last bit of your little 'man talk'," she smiled.
I turned to the queen, afraid that Tess might've heard as well, but fortunately it seemed that unlike her mother, Tessia was a rather heavy sleeper.
Tessia POV:
What does he mean by he's not sure about marrying me? Oh well, at least he loves me!
I was so happy that I woke up when I did. I wasn't going to pretend to be asleep at first, but I got scared when I heard Father talking about me.
He's so cruel... how can he say that I'm rough around the edges...
...and that I'm spoiled! I'm not spoiled!
It would be embarrassing to wake up just then, so I kept my eyes closed, but who would've thought that my father would ask if Alistair would want to marry me... and that Alistair would respond like that!
"We're here, Tess. Come on, now, wake up." My father's voice saved me as he gently shook my shoulder.
"Mmm... We're here already?" I made my voice more wispy, trying to sound like I had just woken up.
I couldn't look at Alistair in the eye when he turned his gaze to me so I quickly got out of the carriage and stretched.
"Ahhh! That was a good nap!" I said a little more loudly than I needed to.
Sylvie hopped out of the carriage after me and stretched as well, opening her mouth in an audible yawn before darting her head, taking in her new surroundings.
I looked around too, but I was confused when I didn't see a cottage, or any sort of sign that a person lived here. All that surrounded us were trees and grass, with thick bushes that blocked any sort of path there might've been.
"Umm, Grandpa, are you sure we're in the right place?" I asked as I continued searching for anything remotely close to a house.
"We have to walk a bit further, but it's near here. Let's go." Grandpa took the lead with my father and Arthur following close behind, while Mother ushered me forward as well.
Sylvie scampered alongside me, her head darting back and forth in different directions, as if it sensed something, making me a bit nervous.
As we made our way deeper into the forest, the number of branches we had to manoeuver around and curtains of vines we had to push aside increased. I wanted to ask if we were really going in the right direction but the determined and serious look on everyone's faces made me swallow my complaints.
"Honey? Is something wrong? The atmosphere is a bit chilly..." Mother's voice trailed off as she hesitantly followed behind Father and Grandpa next to me.
Alistair was looking around in wonder as he stated, "The defences here are incredible."
Grandpa silently nodded his head.
He then pointed towards a curtain of vines towards our right and said, "Grandma Rinia is coming from there!"
Finally, her figure stepped out onto light, revealing an all too familiar figure.
"Grandma Rinia!" I couldn't help but exclaim in excitement.
Arthur POV:
Supposedly, Grandma Rinia's cottage wasn't too much farther from where we were. After our brief greetings and a firm hug from the aged elf that I had come to appreciate, we made our way to her dwelling place.
"You've grown into quite the handsome young lads, Arthur, Alistair. If I was just a hundred years younger, I might've snatched you two up for myself," Rinia teased.
It was disturbing to say the least to hear this from a woman who was several decades older than me, but since it came from her, I just grinned back.
"Well, I'd have to see how you looked when you were a hundred years younger."
"Hmph! Ask Virion how stunning I was! Men would swarm over me as soon as I was in their sights!" Rinia placed one hand on her hip and used her other to flip her braided hair.
"It's true. My mother would tell me how all of the girls her age would be jealous of Aunt Rinia," Tess' mother giggled.
"Bah! She was above average at best!" Virion waved off.
"Well, of course there was only one girl to have ever caught Virion's eye..." Rinia's voice trailed off and by the look on her face, she seemed to have regretted bringing it up.
I looked around, completely lost. The gloomy forest we were treading through seemed all the more dismal by the sudden change in the air. I glanced at Tess and she seemed uncomfortable, but more so confused than depressed like everyone else.
"...I'm sorry, Virion. I was a bit insensitive." Rinia placed a hand on Virion's sunken shoulder.
"It's... It's fine. I should be the one who's sorry. I know how you felt as well," he dismissed.
We continued on with only the crunching of fallen leaves and the snapping of twigs filling the silence. My gaze was focused on Sylvie, who was having a blast looking for lifeforms underneath the moss-covered rocks and logs.
As her tail wagged furiously in excitement, I couldn't help but let out a small smile in content, despite the sullen atmosphere.
Sneaking a quick peek at Gramps, my mind started itching with questions that I knew I shouldn't ask. Rinia, who apparently saw this, gently placed her hand on my shoulder and gave me a strained smile.
As we stepped into a small clearing, the roaring sound of running water filled our ears. It was as if the trees surrounding this area had acted as a barrier, blocking off all the sound. In view, we could now see a wide waterfall cascading down a marble white cliff into a small pool of water about six meters in diameter.
"Wow, I didn't know a place like this existed," Tess gaped in awe.
"Father, wasn't this the place you used to take me to when I was a child?" Alduin asked while he looked around.
"I see you still remember. Yes, you used to love coming to this place." Virion let out a small smile as he reminisced.
"It's beautiful..." Merial breathed.
It was beautiful, indeed.
There wasn't much sunlight that was able to reach this small clearing, making the area seem more surreal. The thin rays of light that were able to peek through the thick tree tops created spotlights that made the moss, grass, and all of the plant life glimmer. The waterfall streamed down the white cliff without any intrusion, making it a clear curtain of water.
"We're here." Rinia stated as she stepped up.
Wordlessly, we all followed her as I half-expected her to conjure a cottage from the ground.
It wasn't as fancy as that, though. Instead Rinia let out a few inaudible chants with her hands raised, lifting roots from underneath the pond into a makeshift bridge leading into the waterfall.
Carefully stepping onto the grimy roots, Rinia took the lead with us following close behind. With a wave of her arm, she swept the waterfall to the side. However, before doing anything else, she looked around, as if to make sure no one was spying on us.
After letting out a sharp breath, Rinia placed her hand on the cliff behind the waterfall, which now started to glow with unrecognisable runes.
Alistair's eyes widened in shock as he put his hand over his mouth, his eyes scanning the runes. He had never reacted like this, even when he saw the runes on the portals
Just like that, the white marble cliff opened up like a sliding door to reveal a passage deeper inside.
"Don't conjure up any light. We'll make our way through the dark," instructed Rinia, as if directly referring to me.
I lost track of how many turns we made, relying only on Rinia's voice and Alistair as our guide.
"Left."
"Right."
"Right."
"Left."
Finally we could see a flickering light at the end of the umpteenth leg of the tunnel.
"Welcome to my little cottage."
With the sparse amount of light, I could barely make out the faint smile Rinia had.
By this time, I had no idea where we were, but the homey little hut that couldn't be any bigger than a single room in the Eralith Family's castle was welcoming to my eyes.
"Whew." Tessia squatted down as she was able to finally release her tension.
"This...this is quite the place, Aunt Rinia." Alduin slid his hand against the wall of the cave the hut was in.
"Where are we?" I couldn't help but ask as I inspected our surroundings as well.
"Somewhere in the elf kingdom," was all she said as she made her way into her hut.
Lighted by a few dim shining orbs in the corners of the cave, the place Rinia called home reminded me of some sort of dungeon used to hold the worst criminals, not a place where a close friend of the royal family would reside.
"I'm sure you have your reasons, Aunt Rinia, but was it really necessary to shut yourself in a place like this?" Merial frowned as her eyes focused on the hut Rinia just went inside.
"Just an old lady being overly cautious. Don't mind me! It's actually quite cozy once you get used to it." Rinia's head popped out of the hut's sheet door.
"Can I see inside too?" Tess had Sylvie wrapped in her arms as she curiously eyed the interior of the hut.
"Of course! Everyone, come inside." Rinia waved us in.
We all looked at each other in doubt, but Virion just herded us all in while saying, "Come now, the place isn't going to eat you up. It's quite roomy inside, despite its appearance. Let's get something to drink! I'm quite famished."
Once we settled down into the minimally designed disaster shelter that was Rinia's new home, I sunk into the couch. Leaning my head on my hand, I must've nodded off because when I woke up, everyone was also asleep.
Rubbing my eyes, I got up to see that Rinia was the only one still awake, sipping on something that smelled like an herb tonic.
"They won't be awake for a while, Arthur. Let's have a talk," Rinia said simply without even looking at me. She gestured for me to sit in the chair across from her as she continued sipping on her tea.
"Well, from how you probably drugged everyone but me, I'm guessing this is something that only I can know?" My eyes narrowed, but I trusted Rinia. Besides, if she wanted to kill us, I was sure that with her powers of foresight, she already could've done so.
Wordlessly, I sat down and leaned back, waiting for the aged elf to speak.
"Despite the unforeseen circumstances, you're quite composed, Arthur." Rinia's tone seemed to say she expected this.
"I'm sure if you wanted the worse to happen, it would've happened already," I shrugged.
"Mm."
"..."
"A logical assumption," nodded Rinia. "Now, where do I begin?" she sighed. "Well, let's begin with a small lesson on my powers as a Diviner."
My ears perked up at this. Learning about a rare deviant form of magic didn't come often, as textbooks only held a limited amount of information about them.
Noticing the interest on my face, Rinia continued. "As you may know, unlike regular mages who draw forth power from the mana particles in the atmosphere, deviants have to find their own source of power to fuel their magic."
I nodded in agreement.
"For example, your mother, an Emitter, has the ability to heal herself and others in a way elemental recovery spells can't compare to."
I nodded to this as well. There were various recovery spells that could be learned by water, wind, and plant attribute mages. Unfortunately, fire and earth didn't have any innate healing attributes, so it was impossible to create a recovery spell out of them. All in all, though, the recovery spells were still weak and couldn't compare to the healing that Emitters were capable of.
"Emitters have mana cores that naturally accumulate a special type of mana that is used to power their spells. Throughout my life, I've met quite a few deviants, each with unique properties in their magic. They all have one thing in common though, different from an elemental deviant such as yourself. Each of the deviants have their own pool of mana that they use to power their deviant magic." She looked a little absent-minded as she said this.
"It must be an inconvenience for them since they can't draw in mana from the atmosphere," I added.
"It sure is. After interviewing many deviants, they would all tell me how difficult it was to learn even basic elemental spells since they did not have mana cores that could harness the mana particles in the atmosphere. However, with their deviant powers, it made up for this handicap."
There was a moment of silence where I could only hear the soft snoring of Sylvie in Tess' arms before Rinia spoke again.
"As for Diviners, it's quite different. First of all, our powers can awaken at any point in our lives, which is quite different from conventional mages and other deviants. Our powers mostly come in erratic bursts where, quite often, blurred images and clips of the future simply flash through my mind. Sometimes they'd be useful, but most of the time, they were too vague and minute to make anything out of. These little flashes of the future don't expend any mana at all, actually."
I stayed silent, an eerie feeling creeping up on me.
"If you were to sense my mana core, I actually have quite a normal mana core, capable of harnessing and refining the mana particles in the atmosphere, which is why I'm quite adept at water attribute magic myself," Rinia exclaimed mockingly. "Doesn't seem like a very useful power if I can't control it, now does it?" she continued.
"Then what about the the spell that you used to allow me to locate my parents and even speak to them when I was little?" I questioned.
"Ah, that's a nifty little spell I made that involves my unique powers as a Diviner, but not really. You see, Arthur, true divination is reading the future—knowing when and where something is going to happen."
I was getting lost. "Then if that is your true power as a Diviner and you said your mana core doesn't power that magic, how do you—"
"With my own lifespan," she cursed.
"We Diviners shorten our own lifespans each time we choose to consciously look into the future. That is the true power of a Diviner. Everything else are just useful little spells that can't be considered anything more than hat tricks."
I sat there, wide-eyed, not knowing how to respond.
"What we talked about earlier, Virion's only love and wife, was another rare Diviner that was much more powerful than I was. Her unconscious divinations and prophecies would be much longer, much more detailed than mine, and much more frequent at that." Rinia's reminiscent smile faded as she continued speaking.
"Coupled with her physical beauty and graceful temperament, she was the envy of every female elf of our generation. She was the pride of our kingdom and an idol to the citizens.
"Things were looking perfect as she fell in love with Virion and the two got married in a beautiful ceremony. However, Fate wasn't as kind to her as everyone thought."
I couldn't help but grimace at the tone of this tragedy-in-happening.
"At this time, the war between the Kingdom of Sapin and Elenoir had begun to die down, with the talk of a treaty in the air. However, the King of Sapin at the time made a last ditch effort to do as much damage to our kingdom as possible before the signing of the treaty. He carried out a plan to extinguish the future heir to the throne."
"You mean..."
"Yes, Virion was the sole target of an assassination mission carried out by the King himself," Rinia spoke in almost a whisper.
"..."
"Mockingly, his wife was repeatedly tormented by visions of Virion's death. Her unconscious prophecies told her little of how Virion would die and every time she did something to try and change the future, the outcome only led to a different cause of death. Virion knew the toll of his wife using her powers, but she did so anyway behind his back, out of desperation to keep him from his inevitable death."
"Every time I use my powers to look into the future, I can feel the days, weeks, sometimes even months being drained out of my body. I could only imagine how terrible it must've been for her to repeatedly use this cursed power for the one she loved."
I didn't know what to say, and even if I did, it would have been insensitive to say, coming from someone who didn't know what it felt like.
Rinia's eyes glistened from the tears that she had been holding back.
"In the end, she was able to keep Virion alive long enough for the peace treaty to be signed, but having burned up so much of her lifespan to protect the man she loved, she died a few months after in his arms with her youthful, beautiful appearance replaced with an aged, sickly elder."
"Do you know who that Diviner was, Arthur?" She looked up with a stream of tears rolling down her right cheek.
"She was my sister."
Her words rang out in my ear like a giant gong that was rung at the beginning of every year. They say the people with the widest smiles hide the most pain in their hearts. I shifted my gaze over to the sleeping Virion and remembered the times that he joked around with his cheeky grin.
I had no idea the pain that he had gone through...
I felt like some pubescent teenager that thought the world hated him. I was ignorant of the fact that there were others who might've suffered from deeper pains than I had.
No words left my mouth after what Rinia said, only focusing on the ever so slight tremble of my fingers.
"The reason I bring this up isn't to elicit pity or sorrow from you. I tell you this so that you'll realise the gravity of what I'm about to inform you of next." There was a stern conviction in her voice that made me look back up.
Elder Rinia paused, as if readying her heart before she spoke. "I used my powers to intentionally look into your future, Arthur."
After all she told me, what she just said weighed on me all the more. "What? Wh-why?" was all I could stammer out before Sylvie sleepily walked towards me and hopped onto my lap, falling asleep again, leaving the both of us with a brow raised.
"Seems like your bond is immune to the herbs I gave her," she chuckled.
"Yeah, she probably just fell asleep naturally," I replied with a half grin.
"Well, continuing on, even before the day I first met you when you were a child, I had been getting glimpses of your future; never enough to make sense of it, but it was odd to have so many visions of a specific person. It has never happened before. " Rinia shifted in her seat.
"As you may already be aware, Arthur, things are changing on this continent. Dicathen is going through a new era. The birth of the geniuses such as you and Alistair, the beginning of it with the unity of the three Kingdoms and the unveiling of the Six Lances, but that's just the beginning. Through all of these changes that are going to happen, you always seem to be in the center of them somehow, Arthur." The elderly Diviner locked eyes with mine.
"Then moving to this remote hideout..." I started to say.
She just gave me a slight nod. " With the knowledge I gained from looking into the future... your future, it seems like I've made some enemies."
"What exactly is it that you learned from looking into my future?" I asked.
"Here's the tricky part. Telling you too much of what I saw can affect even the outcomes you want. On the other hand, telling you too little defeats the point of me looking into the future in order to find a better outcome," she sighed.
"How do you feel though, Rinia? You just gave up some of your life in order to see my future... are you okay?" I couldn't help but frown.
"I'll be fine. I've lived long enough, anyway. I might as well use some of it to help the future." Rinia waved her hand dismissively.
"I hate sounding like some old fortune teller warning the hero to be careful and other sorts of generic advice that he can pick up from anyone, but it pains me to say that I can only do that much." I could tell she was trying to make light of the situation to ease my guilt.
"Arthur..." Rinia's tone became serious, almost foreboding, "You will face many hardships. Whichever future you decide, that will remain constant. You will have enemies and you will have obstructions in your path, but through all of that, what I can leave you with is that you need to have an anchor, an end goal. What is it you want to accomplish in your life? That will be what determines your path."
This sounded more like a motivational speech than a prophecy, but as if she had read my mind, Rinia continued.
"Be grounded, Arthur, and I'll leave you with these three things. One: people do bad things for good reasons, so don't just take them for what they do on the surface and keep your mind sharp. Two: oftentimes, the scariest enemy isn't the one on the throne, leading the forces, but the abandoned soldier that has nothing to lose; for that, stay wary and don't be overconfident. Three: while I did say that the one on the throne isn't the scariest, if the one on the throne manages to control his arrogance, then they will be the most terrifying opponent you'll ever meet." Rinia's voice became a soft whisper as she warned me, leaving an uncomfortable silence in the room.
"I'm sorry I can't say anything more, but all I can say is to follow and trust your instincts. You are a particularly sharp fellow and I know you'll make the right choices, but sometimes, the right choice isn't always the best choice."
"I just have one question," I opened my mouth to ask, "Why didn't you look into the future of the other geniuses?"
She let out a soft smile, "I couldn't. Something.... someone was blocking my vision. You were the only one whose future I could see."