Volume 2.5: Chapter XVIII: Trial 4508: Birthright

Being named after a crime for Arson was something he never thought would become ironic in his life. Now that he stood before a previously empty warehouse full of liquefied mana set to explode on contact with the environment, he began to wonder at the limitless power of names.

The mana glass barrels were a foggy white that showed the light blue material within, a rainbow of colors displayed flickering into the visible spectrum when Carter aggressively nudged one, sloshing the bombs explosive substance around recklessly.

“You know what this is?”

Arson nodded, and Carter smiled in a way that set Arson’s nerves to vibrating; sudden fear the man would make him drink the material, or that the man was showing Arson where he would store his dead body after he was done forcing him to do his bidding.

“Good, do you have a storage device, or a spacial ability for inventory?”

Arson again nodded, receiving another wicked smile.

“Perfect. This warehouse is for you to use, fill your device with as many of the barrels as you can, and use this map to show you where to place each bomb.”

Arson’s eyes widened at the open scroll Carter handed him. The flat material like that of a computer screen, giving him an aerial view of all of Origin. The quality like that of a zoomed-in satellite.

Arson was astonished when he realized he could pinch the face of the scroll to zoom in further, showing him a real time scene of Origin’s citizens walking the streets, entering shops, their homes, or even just casually exploring the city.

He zoomed out as far as he could to see the entire city, and for the first time saw that Origin was surrounded by a massive desert. Zooming back in he took in the sight of all the locations marked with not only large treasure map Xs, but details on precise placement for maximum exposure.

These will kill everyone not powerful enough to defend themselves…

Arson looked at how large the warehouse was, and thought about refusing to follow through with Carter’s plans outright, until the memory of the pain he’d been subjected to, simply being summoned, made bile rise in his throat.

Arson opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out as he looked toward the smiling Carter. His mind was racing, but nothing he could think to say felt like it was valuable enough to get through to the man. Carter’s eyes showed an unshakable resolve.

“Can I even know why we are doing this?”

Carter looked around, and nodded slowly.

“Where are you from, originally I mean, your watch tells me you are from a far more advanced place than Origin, maybe even the future?”

“Umm, Maelstrom, sir,” stuttered Arson nervously, worried that the man having the knowledge could be dangerous to his survival.

“Well, since you may not even survive this, telling you this may be inconsequential.”

Carter gestured for Arson to begin storing the barrels, and continued talking as if he hadn’t just stated that Arson may not survive with a casual ease.

“You and the rest of the Tested that have arrived here are misusing this pit stop, the trials of Endless are to serve to balance reality, and this city was meant to give a relaxing and temporary break from the difficulty of those trials, key word being temporary, instead many... most of all of the Tested that arrive here have given up all intentions of leaving, which is a problem for my elder sister, she created it with the intentions of easing the mind of the Tested, amongst a few key details to further help runically, that have led to this city becoming a cesspool of stolen talent from across all time and space.”

Arson nodded, remembering that Carter had stated his sister’s name was Promethia, and though the name may be common across the magnitude that was the realms, he’d only ever heard the name once his short life.

Does that mean that Momma Almarine and Promethia are related…?

“So why not just force people to leave? Why do all this?” asked Arson, gesturing toward the warehouse full of bombs.

“Because my time is valuable, and trying to reason with countless citizens, and strong willed Tested is not going to solve my problem at the root, while wiping this literal waste of space off the map will”

Anastasia: I’m downloading the runic formations off this scroll by the way, I think I can advance my cartography functions drastically if you let me keep it and use it as a magical anchor.

Arson: Noted, but I somehow doubt that he will ask for it back, he seems to be sure that we aren’t going to make it out alive….

Anastasia: Yeah… you got any bright ideas? 'Cause otherwise, I also don’t have us making it out of this either in all honesty.

Arson: No…

Anastasia: Well, it's been fun, short, but fun…

Arson: Thanks for the help, and the vote of confidence, and we’ve been together for season cycles by this point, how long would it take for you to acknowledge that I can get us out of anything regardless of how dire a situation we are in?

Anastasia: A millennia… maybe longer. Not even your mother was this unlucky, and let me tell you, she saved me from a literal exploding building. Why is that impressive you may ask? Because she blew it up while we were in it to escape, and she wasn’t even a cultivator yet…

“And I’m the problem,” mumbled Arson, speaking aloud rather than responding in his Overlay.

“What was that, child?”

Arson looked at Carter as he stored another barrel.

“Nothing, sir, just talking to myself, wishing there was something I could do to save this place. I know what you said, but it doesn’t seem that bad... in my opinion.”

“You would say that, but I bet even you being here has already had an effect on your loved ones. Endless doesn’t let those unworthy to change the fates of others through its trials, so imagine how much more potential has been stripped from places that need their world’s best and brightest to inspire growth, through the influence of power, intelligence, culture and even as the catalyst for revolutions?”

Arson thought about the man’s words. He himself often struggled with the belief that the teaching of history often created a rebirth of problems of the past, but still noted many of his own ideas being manifested by things he learned from those that came before him.

He wasn’t a believer of history’s promise to guide the masses away from cataclysms, but didn’t know if that was his own ignorance, or youthful hope.

“You are powerful though, so why not use that power to change the aspects of this place that have limited those you want to return to the realms?”

“Ha, you're a romantic, aren’t you. I used to want to become a hero, a character of legend, and some would say that I even succeeded, only to learn that my name was iconic to some, but infamous to many more. Now I live in the grey, of my wants in the moment, rather than my belief that the needs of the many supersede my own happiness…”

Arson stayed silent, unknowing how the words spoken to him in that moment would forever change his life and the fate of those he loved. He internally made the decision to fight against what he was being forced to do, in any way possible, not understanding the inevitability of what was to come.

After a while of storing the barrels, Arson began to realize that the number of barrels stored was far more than he believed his inventory should be capable of taking in. After looking around to see that Carter had already left, he lifted his watch, staring at Anastasia with a raised eye brow.

“What?”

“Why hasn’t my spatial storage been filled already?”

“Because… it's not full, what kind of question is that?”

“The room size spatial inventory that I have isn’t full, how, I’ve crammed like a thousand bombs in it already?”

“Child… that inventory hasn’t been that small for season cycles, it grows by eating your mana, and your mana pool has grown drastically since you learned that breathing technique from Promethia.”

“If my mana pool is growing, why do I always feel like I’m on the verge of running out?”

Geez… okay so that breathing technique does drastically expand your mana pool by, first, constantly condensing the mana and your cores, on top of refining the quality of everything that is drawn into your body; secondly, using the majority of your available mana to expand the boundaries of the cores shells; and lastly forcing you to use any and all of your abilities and skills with little to no mana. And since you're an absolute fool, you believed the woman when she told you that you should never stop using the technique to the point that you even breathe that way when you are asleep, which only happens when you pass out… anything else?”

Arson couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He’d fully accepted the breathing technique as something that would eventually raise his mana pool after centuries of work, not that it already had. Which made him further wonder how much mana his body was actually capable of storing.

“Wait, so I’m not at full mana even as we speak?”

“No… you're probably just so used to being constantly close to empty that your body has become used to running on almost empty at all times.”

“Woah, so how big is my inventory then?”

“A few times bigger than this warehouse, why?”

“So if I wanted to put like a whole garden in that thing I could, without it causing everything to die, I mean?”

“What kind of odd question is that? I mean yeah you could, it's like a stasis chamber, but what makes you want to plant a sparking garden all of a sudden, genocide make you want to take on a peaceful hobby or something?”

“Yeah, you could say something like that.”

Arson eventually finished storing all of the bombs, and began the work given to him by Carter. His training with Breaker made the task far easier than ever before. His subtlety now as soft a presence as a feather on a motionless pond.

He found himself in places he’d never seen before in Origin. The basements and roofs of homes and shops tucked in nearly untravelled corners. Alleyways only known to the buildings that blocked them off to public entry. Even bathhouses and kitchens abandoned to time.

The more Anastasia scanned the map given to her by Arson that he’d received from Carter the more information the AI shared with him about the runic systems that held Origin together. And though he didn’t want to agree, Arson began to see how dangerous the city was to him and anyone else who entered.

“So not only is the city using all of our life forces to power the systems, it grows larger with how many Tested are here?”

“Yes, it draws you toward the needs of the city, which is why you were more than likely drawn to all the masters you’ve met, and why there are so many empty dwellings and shops throughout the city, as they were most likely used to train previous Tested that arrived here. Without the previous occupants passing on the structures, they were left behind to also draw on the life-force of the city’s occupants. Hold on, what in the bloody embers is this…?”

Arson stopped running along the rooftop he was using to get to his next destination, waiting for Anastasia to share what else she’d found.

“What, what did you find?” asked Arson, lifting his wrist to look at Anastasia.

“Ummm, some sort of cage, that is also powering most of the city, while also keeping the structure of this entire dimension contained…”

“What, where?”

“Guess… and you only get one try…”

Arson thought a moment, placing his bet on a place he would never guess normally.

“The woods bordering Acu’s manor?”

“No, good guess. There is a different type of sparker going on there. No, it's under the sparking bank…”

“Let me guess again, that's our last stop?”

“”No… actually it's the forest that Acu’s manor borders. Man, you're bad at this game.”

“Whatever, let’s just hurry this up.”

…

Acu had been alarmed when his student flew off. So much in fact that he followed the young man to see him take part in what seemed to be the preparation for an act of terrorism larger than any he’d ever borne witness to.

While following his disciple, Acu noticed Arson place one of the many barrels, he’d seen while watching him speak with the strange hooded figure, in the center of an open warehouse. He suspected the barrel to be explosive, but wanted to know for sure, deciding to shoot at the barrel from a nearby rooftop through one of the warehouses many rooftops.

“By the blood of the maiden!”

An explosion did occur once his arrow pierced the barrel. Yet it was unlike anything Acu had ever borne witness to in his entire life.

A ripple of energy expanded outward in a silent wave, incinerating the entire warehouse in a blink. The only evidence that the warehouse had ever existed, a pile of ash and a circle of singed grass perfectly cut into the land.

“What type of treachery have you become a part of, boy…?”

He decided to try and stop his disciple, but admittedly his student had grown rather elusive. Trying to keep up with Arson was nearly impossible, and he lost a bit of time at first trying to pick up the bombs that the young man was laying all over different sections of Origin, only for his spatial storage to fill after the first few stops.

Then things became even more odd, and Acu felt forced to step in. Arson had stood behind a woman, looming behind her as she stood cooking in her kitchen, singing a merry tune as she worked, whipping eggs with a soothing and rhythmic sound coming from her bowl and whisk.

“Don’t you dare, child…” said Acu, lifting his bow and aiming at his student. He prayed to the maiden that the young man didn’t bring harm to the innocent woman, his eyes narrowing as the young man lifted a finger to seemingly tap the woman on her shoulder and grab her attention. Acu drew back the arrow further on his bow string.

Then Arson tapped the woman and she vanished. Not even the bow and whisk she held left behind.

Acu couldn’t help but freeze, completely confused by what had just occurred. He lowered his bow, watching Arson run through the house undetected, tapping the members of the home like an unseen wraith. All before he placed a bomb in the center of the living room and dashed through an open window, continuing the process in every home, shop, guard post, guild and more, leaving Acu even more confused than ever before.

“What in the Maiden's light is he doing…?”

Acu was shocked as Arson kicked in the door of a man’s bathroom, interrupting what should have been a exercise in relieving oneself peacefully. When the panicked man slowly lowered his hand and began throwing his relief from the toilet to stop Arson from rushing him, Acu once again froze in shock at the sight. It wasn’t until Arson jumped out the window of the now waste filled bathroom that Acu was shaken from his bewilderment, once more dashing toward the empty home after Arson.

Where are the bodies…?

Acu had bonded with Arson in such a short time that he didn’t truly want to attack him, but had to admit that he didn’t truly know his character, only what Arson had shown to him while they’d trained together. He seemed like a light hearted youngster, and beside scaring many people to death, Acu was truly unsure if his disciple was bringing harm to those he encountered during his mad dash throughout the entirety of Origin.

The barrel he’d shot earlier that left nothing behind but ash shot to the forefront of his mind and dismissed any thoughts that Arson wasn’t mixed up with something that could result in the deaths of many, if not all who lived in Origin.

Then Arson got to the Genocide dojo and Acu started to realize the depths to which Arson was willing to go for whatever plan he was a part of.

His first few targets disappeared without alarm, however after just under a dozen people were made to vanish into thin air, the combatants within the vast dojo started to notice something was wrong.

Arson’s skills had risen to levels that made the single touch necessary to perform whatever ability he was using to erase those he fought against, to look as easy as catching fish with nets in rapidly rushing rivers.

Opponents he’d lost to less than a quarter fortnight previously were made to look like simple minded fools or children without skills of any kind. Arson’s actions as smooth and fluid as any on the verge of becoming a master themselves, making Acu wonder how much his own student held back his true potential previously.

Before long, even the healers were… gone, and the entire dojo was silent. Dozens of barrels placed in the interior of the space, leaving only a rising sense of anxiety to build in Acu’s chest, as Arson dashed off, heading toward Osiris’s workshop.

“You leave me no choice, child…”