"Step out of the circle." Murph said, he gestured his hand as if inviting Heimfher to stand infront of him.
"Okay.." Heimfher obliged, he approached Murph with excitement after he told him that he had become an awakened.
Duskiell also followed along, he watched Heimfher from behind and observing every movements, he seems intrigued with Heimfher's capability to gain Ignis's favor.
"Can you summon a fireball?" Murph asked.
"Hmm, i'll see." Heimfher then raised his hand and began chanting.
'After i went back from that divine realm, a new memories suddenly appeared in my head, its an instruction of how to use my power.. Haha, it's like a tutorial tips, did Ignis gave it to me?' He thought.
"O' Ignis, Heed my call.."
Whirrr..
A fireball formed ontop of Heimfher's palm, it was hot, and looked intimidating, similar to the fireball that Cadriel summoned a few days ago.
"W- woaahh.." Heimfher was baffled at the fireball on his hand, it was the first time he used magic, and the feeling of his mana being sucked out to conjure such spells was an interesting experience.
Murph stared at the fireball for a few seconds until he ordered Heimfher to put it out, he clenched his fist and soon enough, the fireball dissipated into smokes.
"Mhm.. There seems to be no problem, you'll do just fine with a little training." Murph said, he looks relieved and also excited with Heimfher's future as a member of the Monetre Protection Bureau.
"Your mana, can you feel it depleting?"
"Ah, yeah.. But it doesn't seem to be using much of my mana, based on what i felt.. I think i can summon 40 or 50 more." Heimfher replied, showing the abundant mana inside of his body.
"50!??.." Duskiell's jaw fell after he heard Heimfher's words. "You're kidding.. I can summon around 80, and i ate 2 hearts.."
"Are you jealous of a kid right now?" Murph said, he wanted to tease Duskiell.
"Jealous?! Hah! He might have a vast mana veins, but i have more experience." Duskiell said, he looks proud of his own advantage over the young Heimfher.
"You're almost 30 and you're comparing yourself to a 17 years old kid.." Murph stared at Duskiell with a blank expression, he already expected him to act like that since he was always been a prideful guy.
"Heimfher, let's celebrate your awakening, i'll also take you to meet with the other members, there's roughly more than 10 of us, but our main force or combatants consists only of 6 people, though it'll be 7 soon."
"S- sure.." Heimfher said, that was the moment where he would be the official member of the Protection bureau.
'2 Hearts? what does he mean by that..'
He, Murph, and Duskiell soon left the room after cleaning up for a few minutes and walked towards the central hall of the basement, where everyone usually gathered.
'So that's what it took to become an awakened..' Heimfher said to himself, reminiscing his time in the divine realm with Ignis, it was a painful memory, but one that he would never forget.
'And— That was also the first time, i met a God with my own eyes.. I wonder if he was the one who reincarnated me.. Or maybe its one of the Church Gods.. The most likely candidates of Gods that could've reincarnated me would be Vitassia, the Goddess of Life—
'I mean, if she's the Goddess of Life, then wouldn't that mean she governed all living beings? But can she control dead souls though?.. I feel like the God of Death would be more fitting for that position..'
As Heimfher walked through the hallways along with Murph and Duskiell, he accidentally came across a door that was opened, Heimfher decided to take a peek at the inside, and what he found was a middle-aged woman who seems to be deeply focused with a potion in her hand, multiple contraption and strange devices were present inside of the room, and various herbs and materials were also placed on the huge table, it sparks a new curiosity for Heimfher as he passed by the room and continued on.
.
.
In one of the corner of Monetre, inside of a small wooden house surrounded by cobblestone walls and dark alleyway—
"Ahaha... ahahhaa..." A voice that seems to be coming from a man was heard, amidst the darkness of the room inside of the small hut, a candle was lit up to reveal a desk and a grotesque face.
The face belongs to an old man, approximately in his 60's, half of his hair turned gray whole the other half was painted black, stretching all the way to his shoulder.
The old man was wearing a white buttoned shirt and a tie, his pants was tight and dyed black, as he was sitting on the chair and stared at the desk infront of him, he suddenly raised both of his hands, a dark book was being held and he placed it on the desk before brushing off the dusts that had been collected on the book cover.
"Haha.. haaha.. This is it.. The book from that man, after everything that i've done.. I finally got my hands on this piece." He said with his gruff voice, as if he was suffering from asthma.
"Aahhh.. My lord– Why won't you accept my love.. What else do i need to receive your blessings—
"Your magnificent name, your beautiful appearance.. Your endless blessing.. Please let me adore all of it.. There is no greater honor than to serve you.. My almighty god."
Creakk!
As the old man was praying, obsessing and praising a being that seems to be his God, a creaking sound from an old wooden door was heard, the door opened behind the old man and from the other side, a figure covered with thick cloak walked towards the old man.
"Father, the materials for the ritual is almost, we can start in the next full moon phase."
The old man soon turned around, his head was titled slightly to the side, as if it was stuck. He smiled upon knowing the preparation had been completed, his eyes widened and his lips almost touched the corner of his eye sockets.
"Good job.. Gooood job.. Today the sun is still cursing us all.. But when the night comes and the full moons glowed. We will praise 'him' and sing our lullaby to his loyal deities!—
"This city shall be bathed in red, and he shall cleanse this world into purity!—
"When the day comes, the rotting knights will arise, vengeful spirits shall be reborn, and their hatred shall fuel the birth of a deity! And its all thanks to ME!"
The old man laughed maniacally, his coarse voice sounded like a devil's shout, the outside world can't hear him, but the man in thick cloak can, and his response to the old man's madness was none other than praise and respect.
"Father.. You're always so energetic, how i envy you."
"Thank you, my children.. You can leave now." The old man said, letting the cloaked figure leave and closed the creaky door.
"As you wish, then should i tell the others to began with the fermentation?" The cloaked figure asked for one last time, which was replied by the old man almost immediately.
"the traps and the black sheeps have been placed right? Then let us begin, the full moon is close, we won't have another opportunity until the next phase."
Nodding at the sentence, the cloaked figure soon left the room, and the old man was now alone once again, together only with his own madness.
After confirming that the cloaked children had left, he then opened the book that was sitting on the desk, he glanced at the first page, nothing. Then flipped it to the second page, illustrations appeared.
Then the third, the fourth, fifth, and so on. The old man read through the book at a rapid speed, his eyes moving left and right repeatedly in a constant motion, his reading comprehension was unnatural as he flipped pages between 5 to 6 seconds.
After he managed to read half of the book, the old man suddenly grabbed his own head with one of his hand.
"So that's what i need.." He said before he plucked out a few strands of his gray hairs.
Pluck!
"And this.."
After placing his hair strands on the desk, the old man continued to search for the next material, this time it was his shirt. He torn a part of his shirt, taking a long line of it as he placed it beside the hair strands.
"...The next one.."
Suddenly, the old man gazed at his own fingers, there was a ring in one of his finger, a ring with a jewelry. He gave it a few seconds to think, as if remembering something, then, his face turned grim, his brows furrowed and his lips frowned, the smile that filled his face earlier disappeared as his heart was covered with hatred.
The old man forcefully pulled the ring out of his finger, his skin bruised, blood dripped as the ring which was once worn when he was young and had gotten stuck in his finger now stripped his skin apart.
"...Tch, bad memories."