In the city of Backlund.
An old man, the corners of his blue eyes lined with wrinkles, was walking through the streets of Cherwood Borough in a heavy woolen coat and a black half top hat. He had a cane in his hand.
As he walked, intense coughs left his mouth.
In the distance, he could see the Yosifov Clinic as the morning fog was dissipating.
After Botis and the other students the Abraham family nurtured betrayed them and almost wiped out their upper ranks, all of Lawrence's children and his brother Richard died in the disaster. Lawrence suffered serious injuries but survived.
He wished things had gone differently. After the disaster, emotions like negativity, dejection, and hopelessness shrouded his heart along with all of the surviving Abraham family's members. At first, the thought of revenge came to his mind, but he pushed it away. He was an old man already nearly eighty-years-old.
What would they gain from spending the Abraham family's small resources for revenge? For now, they should focus on recuperating.
But the dark grasp of revenge in his heart would not let go. That was why he did something foolish. He prayed to a secret existence, one so powerful that even Ancestor Abraham feared it. He asked that great existence to save the Abraham family in exchange for their faith.
It was foolish for him to hope for anything. Gods are not benevolent, and secret existences even less so. But the negative emotions in his heart demanded something.
To his surprise and much more horror, the secret existence replied. He was summoned to a place he would describe as divine, a place where endless currents of gray fog flowed like rivers in every direction.
His attention was brought to a figure shrouded in gray fog. The only thing noticeable was the crystal monocle that hung over the figure's right eye.
He asked the secret existence to save the Abraham family.
The secret existence chuckled and told him to bring a silver bracelet with dark green stones that was in his brother Laubero's possession.
Despite his desperation, he noticed that the great existence had not agreed to his request. But what could he do? If he did not go to Backlund and bring the bracelet, the existence might get offended and smite the Abraham family.
Through astrology divination he performed by reciting the honorific name of the secret existence, he learned that he would find his answers in Backlund, at the Yosifov Clinic. That was why he came here, looking for Laubero and Sam. It had been years since he last got letters from his younger brothers, who had split off into a smaller branch of the Abraham family and settled elsewhere.
He looked at the entrance of the clinic and went inside... After a while he came out even more dejected. He got news that he was the only one remaining from his father's line. At least he got some leads to where to look for answers.
…
Cherwood Borough, in an apartment building.
A lady wearing a common Loen-styled dress, with slightly curly brown hair and pale blue eyes, sat cross-legged on a sofa in the living room, chewing on a new type of bread that had meat and vegetables in it. She had let down her hair as she thought over the plot of her next novel.
When her apartment bell rang out, her first thought was that Xio had returned, but if it was Xio, then she wouldn't have rung the bell. She had the key, so she would have just entered.
With difficulty she put down the bread and went to open the door. When she peeped through the peephole, an old man was standing in front of the door.
The old man rang the bell again. She frowned and hurriedly fixed her hair, then opened the door, "Yes?"
"Hello, Miss Fors Wall, I presume. Are you the person who looked after Aulisa?" the old man asked as he took off his black half top hat and held it to his chest.
"Umm… Yes, but who are you?" Fors replied, a little awkwardly.
"I am the elder brother of Laubero, and I've been living in Midseashire all this time. As I haven't received any letters from them for a long time, I decided to come and pay them a visit. But I found out that all of my family members are dead, and you are the last person they were close with," the old man said, then started coughing violantly. He coughed until his legs buckled and fell to the ground. It seemed as if he would die at any moment from suffocation.
As a doctor who had graduated from an accredited school, Fors didn't hesitate to crouch down and begin performing first aid.
After a while, Lawrence's condition finally stabilized. He wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and smiled at Fors. "Don't worry, I will be fine. Can you tell me what happened to them in the past few years?"
'Mrs. Aulisa's husband's elder brother… could he be a descendant of the family she spoke of? Is he a Beyonder as well?' Fors suddenly snapped to her senses and replied with a smile, "No problem."
She helped the old man stand up and gestured for him to come in.
He entered the house and sat down on the sofa.
Fors sat opposite him. Looking at his slightly pale face, she could tell the man didn't have much time left. That tugged at her heart a little, but as a pragmatic person, she still thought about what she could and couldn't say. "I was a doctor at the nearby Yosifov Clinic, and Mrs. Aulisa came to see me often. That was when her husband, Mr. Laubero, had already passed away…"
"...Sometimes I would accompany her by chatting with her and helping her do things like…"
A sad sigh left his mouth as he listened to her retelling of their life.
Taking a small opportunity, she probed his intention for arriving here and said, "She didn't mention your name. She was vaguely dissatisfied with Mr. Laubero's family."
"I know… it's…" The old man went silent as he stared at her bracelet. Her eyes also went to it, and a little panic formed in them. 'Shit! I forgot to hide this.'
"Aulisa must have really trusted you if she gave you that…" The old man's eyes suddenly became soft and caring, as if he were looking at her like a granddaughter. His eyes then turned resolute as he opened his mouth and started to explain his situation.
"We are from the Abraham family… an ancient family from the Fourth Epoch… but we are in dire straits at the moment. There is a curse… a curse that only affects our family's bloodline…" Lawrence continued to explain the situation of the Abraham family to Fors, who listened silently.
"...Our family was nearly wiped out that day… That's why I contacted a powerful being… who asked for a silver bracelet in my brother Laubero's possession…" He finished talking and looked at her with a soft, elderly smile. He continued, "I… wouldn't take it freely. Since you are already a Sequence 9 Apprentice, I would give you the potion formula of the Sequence 8 Trickmaster potion for it."
Hearing this, Fors could think of one thing: that's a hack of a story if she wrote it in her novel… But that's later. What's more important is the offer the old man mentioned. The old man easily guessed she was a Beyonder upon seeing the bracelet on her hand. She knew the bracelet was a Beyonder item; Mrs. Aulisa had informed her of that, but she didn't know it was so important that a secret existence would be looking for it. And her getting a Sequence potion formula for this could be considered a steal. But still…
"Please… give this old man a little hope," he said as he noticed her hesitation and bowed in her direction.
It didn't take much for her to change her mind. Seeing the sincerity of the old man in front of her, she understood where he was coming from, and if she could use his story as inspiration for a novel, that was good enough payment for safekeeping it for a while. Most importantly, she didn't want to be seen as a greedy person in front of a family member of Mrs. Aulisa. "It's the Abraham family's to begin with… think of it as I was only safekeeping it for a while."
"You really are a good and kind-hearted lady," the man sighed.
"No, this is not goodness, nor is it kindness. Mrs. Aulisa once gave me, a person who had lost her mother, an unforgettable period of warmth," Fors said sincerely.
Lawrence, who only had wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, brought out a pen and paper and wrote the sequence formulas for Sequence 8 of the Apprentice pathway and handed it to her. "Think of it as a thank you."
The old man stood up with his cane and bowed toward Fors. "I will take my leave and visit Laubero and Aulisa's grave to say my last goodbye."
***
In the space Above the Gray Fog.
Amon was lying on a sofa with a monocle on his right eye and… interestingly, he wasn't wearing his usual magician attire. Instead, he was dressed in modern, normal clothes.
He absentmindedly flipped a massive dragon skull in the air, catching it and tossing it up again in a playful rhythm.
In his other hand, he held a silver bracelet with three dark green stones, twirling it on his index finger.
He turned his head and looked at Medici, who was holding a controller, focused on playing a shooting game on a historical Projection of a TV.
"You learned quick."
"Heh… if it's connected to war, no one is better than me," Medici said boastfully.
"Is this why you got killed by Alista? You're too good at war and nothing else."
Hearing this, a vein popped on Medici's forehead as he gritted his teeth. "It's because I trusted you both not to betray me…"
"Well… betrayal is a strong word…"
"At least you both should've told me that you were planning to merge me with both of those shits. I would've gone along with it."
"I don't know why Adam didn't tell you. It must have been in Father's plan… I'm just following it."
Medici clenched his controller so hard, half of it turned to dust in his hand. "You have a way of getting under my skin."
"Thank you… I try to follow your teaching."
"I should've never given the duty of taking care of you."
"Hmmm… you're right, but maybe, me turning out this way must have also been in Father's plan."
Medici sighed. "You're having too much fun with this."
His eyes then turned toward the mind dragon skull Amon was juggling. "Where did you get that?"
Amon stopped juggling and held the mind dragon skull by its nose bone. "Hehe… I stole it from Adam's Divine Kingdom."
Medici's mouth curled up hearing this. "Heh… good job."
"Thank you… thank you… your praise means the world to me, dear Teacher."
Medici then gritted his teeth as he remembered who he was complimenting.
"Anyways, what happened to Saroun and Einhorn? They've been quiet ever since you re‑ascended to Sequence 1?" Amon changed the subject, since the joke of Medici getting worked up at everything was starting to get stale.
"Both of them are busy controlling puppet soldiers and contacting their surviving families," Medici answered. He set the half‑broken controller down and turned fully toward the lazing Amon.
"You still haven't answered what you need my help with specifically. We've just been lazing around."
"Huh? Didn't I tell you? We're going to stop an Outer God invasion."
"Yeah… you didn't tell me why and how we're going to do it."
"You really want to know? Okay then…"
…
"What do you get from saving Abraham?" Medici asked, a little puzzled. He remembered both Adam and Amon manipulating Antigonus in the Fourth Epoch so Amon could replace him during his Apotheosis Ritual.
"You're supposed to be the War General. Tell me, in a fight between Outer Gods… who would have the upper hand?"
"The god who counters the other's authority."
Amon nodded. "How do we know which authority of the Outer Gods we counter?"
Medici's eyes widened. "You're saving Bethel because he possibly has extensive information on the Outer Gods' authority. Bethel has traveled the cosmos a lot. With the Sefirah Castle's protection, he can share a lot of information about the Outer Gods without drawing their attention here."
"Huh… you're not as stupid as you look," Amon said nonchalantly.
Medici's brows twitched with annoyance. "I'll say it again. You have talent in being a provoker."
While spinning the silver bracelet on his finger, Amon replied, "Heh… if I were a provoker, I would've become a Red Priest long ago."
"Heh, you wish…" Medici said with a smirk, then tilted his head and asked, "So, what are we waiting for then?"
"We are waiting for the fish to eat the bait," Amon answered with a smirk that anyone who knew him before his transformation would have been concerned to see.