Chapter 55: Roots
Right after Gray rushed home, he took a quick shower, preparing himself to visit Mnemosyne's Antiques.
'I can't be all sweaty there…'
Gray thought, grabbing a pair of casual clothes from his broken wardrobe.
'I wonder if we'll ever fix this.'
He took his phone from his pocket and checked the time.
4:30 p.m.
'Me and Casanova spent a great deal of time in talking…but I'm still on time. Even if I arrive a bit late, I'm sure Franz won't mind…'
Thinking so, he calmly made his way towards Mnemosyne's Antiques, his mind replaying the contents of Casanova's words.
'I need to be careful about which topics I can ask to Franz. Since Casanova has never employed the Miasma with such an output, it means I have to be careful about what I'm talking about…'
'…But thinking about it, Casanova has also said that Mnemosyne's Antiques houses information about the Nephilim and their past.'
'Hence, Franz should've employed some kind of leak-preventing technique too…'
'I have to ask to be sure, though.'
…
Gray, standing in front of Mnemosyne's Antiques' door, scratched his head.
The hanging sign said the store was closed.
'…Is it really fine for me to enter?'
Since Franz had told him to visit the store, he reluctantly opened the door, inwardly hoping to not have an experience in any way similar to the one he had with Selene.
Gray's jaw widened.
The store was…mostly destroyed.
'They didn't use any kind of Nephilim ability to fix everything up?!'
His theory had been incorrect!
Seeing the crescent-shaped holes, laser-like burns, and glass-shards filled floors, he replayed the fight in his mind.
He sighed.
'I feel bad for Franz—me and Selene smashed almost half of Mnemosyne's Antique's articles… But since he's not using any kind of ability to fix everything up, then how will he—'
As if on cue with Gray's thoughts, a horde of children—ranging between the ages of 6-10—stormed from the insides of Mnemosyne's Antiques, holding brooms, cloths, mops, vacuum cleaners and such.
Gray's lips twitched.
'It can't be.'
The children began to sweep, dust and mop Mnemosyne's Antiques thoroughly, not heeding any attention to him.
The view was exhilarating.
'Are child labor laws non-existent in the Nephilim World?' Gray mused.
One child then turned towards him. Then a different one did! Then another one, until everyone was staring right at him!
"Uh…" Gray subconsciously stepped back.
They seemed to hold a strange kind of animosity towards him!
'Why does everyone suddenly hate me whenever I step inside Mnemosyne's Antiques…?!'
Suddenly, they all burst into tears.
Gray stood dumbfounded.
"Y-You hurt Big Sister…!" they echoed.
'…Could that be…?'
Selene!
"E-Eh?"
Right before the children attacked Gray with their brooms and cleaning tools, Franz appeared behind the counter.
"…Kids, I explained what happened. Leave him alone, he's not the one to blame."
"B-but Uncle Franz…" the youngest said, tears still streaming down his chubby face. "she got hurt…"
Franz sighed.
"To attack Gray and use her powers like she had never done before was Selene's choice."
Franz walked towards him and knelt down. He produced a tissue from his pocket and wiped the child's tears.
'Why is Franz revealing the matter of Selene's powers…?'
'…Could this mean?'
His jaw dropped.
'These children, they're all Nephilim…?!'
Franz manually wiped the tears of every child, reassuring them that Selene would be fine.
…Although,
He himself wasn't fully convinced, seeing of what had happened to her Altar.
While the Altar itself wasn't a byproduct of her natural Mercurial Fragment, instead being something Sin Himself had linked to her, it still had gradually morphed her Fragment itself.
An example of this is of how the Spire of her Fragment depicted events of the Epoch when the Moon was still inhabited.
Because of this 'link,' damaging the Altar—now connected to her Mercurial Fragment—could possibly bring issues towards Selene.
Meaning, Selene had to be thoroughly examined.
Franz couldn't help but look at Gray with the slightest hint of suspicion. Opposite to his suspicions, was his friendly smile, however.
"Sorry for their behavior, Gray."
"N-No, don't worry."
Patting the youngest child's head, Franz then asked to the group of kids,
"…Why are you little ones even here? I asked Felix to clean, not you guys and girls. Don't forget, you have to do your homework."
"Big Brother Felix said he didn't feel like it." one said.
"…"
"He also promised to give us candy!" a different kid yelled excitedly.
"…"
"Fine then." Franz said in resignation. "…Just don't forget your homework."
He reluctantly told Gray to follow.
Franz led the young Nephilim towards many of Mnemosyne's Antiques rooms, explaining the purposes behind them, and the type of work he would perform in the future.
"For the main booth and most booths, the most important thing to do is dusting the articles, really."
"For the armory, you'll have to shine the weapons and armors once every two weeks. Your new colleague Felix will also teach you the specific chemicals to use."
Franz then avoided to open a room.
"…For the display cases, you'll have to handle restocking the articles once the old ones are bought, and their packaging."
"For the checkout, you'll have to learn how to handle sales from Felix."
"For the libraries—"
'Libraries?' Gray jolted. 'I didn't see them last time I came…'
Gray sighed.
'…Might've been because Selene attacked me so abruptly.'
Franz continued,
"…You're going to have to read books and note carefully the details that may be speaking about our World. Also don't worry about reading information that isn't meant to be seen—we have a way to scan which book contains dangerous information and which doesn't, but still possesses a slight truths about the Nephilim as a whole."
"Since its precision is rather limited, we need someone who can transcribe the less-dangerous contents."
Gray felt overjoyed.
This could allow him to pry into the secrets the Nephilim have!
"…But," Franz then muttered. "Being someone who has awakened rather soon, your knowledge about us is really lacking. Thus, even if you had some knowledge in front of your eyes, you still may not recognize it…"
"I'm granting you this opportunity. Would you like to explore our private library, one containing safe information about us?"
"Yes!"
Franz led Gray deeper inside Mnemosyne's Antiques.
On various rooms, he could see many talismans attached to their doors.
They made the air feel slightly eerie.
Catching the occasion, he asked Franz about the talismans more specifically.
Franz said there were a special kind of Nephilim that could master Quintessence to produce many kind of effects through the aid of both special materials and special kind of symbols.
These specific talismans were both a kind of leak-preventing device like the miasma, and something meant to protect everyone from what was inside.
Gray shivered.
"You're a believer of the Right-Hand Path too, right?"
Franz smiled.
"You could most certainly say so. Casanova explained about our foundations not too long ago, right?"
"Yeah…and speaking of Casanova, he also mentioned things like Roots and Mercurial Fragments…Is a Mercurial Fragment something different from the Fragment I know?"
Franz chuckled before speaking.
"A Mercurial Fragment is just a formal version to address the Fragment every Nephilim has."
"An ancient tale recounts of how the greatest Patron Bearer had asked her Patron for more insight about the Fragments. It's said that her Patron unveiled Himself, revealing His identity as Mercurius, a True Divinity, the Bridge between the Upper and Lower Worlds."
"After being granted the true knowledge belonging to the Fragments, she bellowed at the World, overwriting reality, changing the mystical name of every Fragment in His honor. For just like Him, the Mercurial Fragments could become portals reaching for the Upper Worlds."
"…"
As he had just heard the story belonging Casanova's past, of how he had been fooled the Manifestation of Sin, Gray couldn't help but frown lightly.
Divinities…what were they…?
If a Dead One like Sin was tremendously powerful, how would Living Ones be?
Gray felt an an almost inaudible thought whisper close to his ears.
…What if that Patron Bearer had been fooled too?
From Gray's experiences, 'names' were something of an extreme, hidden importance, mainly from those who were hailed as 'Divinities.'
First the unspeakable Monolith, bringer of the End of the Universe, then the unheard name of Sin…
Since ancient curses could be awakened just from the uttering of One's name…
If one gave the name of a Divinity to every Fragment…could every Fragment change accordingly…?
Could every Fragment, now known as a Mercurial Fragment, have been tampered in some sort of way…?
Gray felt a wave of cosmic dread wash over him.
He started to sweat profusely.
Having been granted a Mercurial Fragment too, this meant that…
If his theory was correct…
If every Nephilim had already been cursed by the words of the Patron Bearer…
He was too.
"Is everything alright?" Franz asked, his gaze lingering on Gray for a few moments.
"…Yeah."
"You were also unsure about Roots, weren't you?" Franz smiled, quickly changing subject.
"…Yes."
"Perfect then. A 'Root' is the trajectory where your ability gets categorized by…In other words, if we want to use video-game terms, it's a kind of Class."
"Whereas in video games there are the archetypes of Wizards, Paladins and things of that sort, our Nephilim abilities can be categorized by certain aspects."
"Those who divine the future through dreams belong to the 'Root of Dreams' and they're known as Onironauts. Those who gain prophecies from their personal Patron belong to the 'Root of Wisdom' and they're known as Patron Bearers. Those who enhance parts of their body belong to the 'Root of Virtue' and are known as Virtuous Ones; and many more."
'…So Casanova and Franz belong to this 'Root of Virtue.' Gray thought, hoping to forget the matter of the mysterious Patron. 'I figured that Casanova's ability would be related to improving his body's faculties, as seen from his innate hearing and his powerful shouts…But I wasn't expecting it to be a whole category…'
Gray then wondered:
Which Root did his Secondary Fragment belong to?
The enhancement of Genesis closely resembled the Root of Virtue…but what about 'Replication?'
Could it be an enhancement of his memory?
Gray wasn't sure at all.
And so, he asked.
"…Franz. Do you know what Root my Secondary Fragment belong to?"
The older Nephilim twitched, as if almost traumatized by the thought of his Pitch-Black Fragment.
He lowered his head.
"Truthfully…"
"I don't. Some Aspects it contains are similar to the Root of Virtue, but it doesn't seem to belong to any category I'm aware of."
"…I see."
Franz continued his speech, leaving the subject behind.
"…Since our Mercurial Fragments are naturally Fragmented, a certain kind of unfavorable effect may appear in many Nephilim."
"That is, the cracks on a Nephilim's Root, otherwise known as Impurities."
"When a Root is impure, a Nephilim may struggle with activating their Mercurial Fragment. To defeat this unfavorable physique, they need special kinds of rituals or special objects for their abilities to work properly."
"These degrees of Impurities can be categorized in six different forms."
"The complete lack of Impurities inside a Mercurial Fragment makes it a Flawless Root; 1% to 20% of Impurities inside a Mercurial Fragment makes a Heavenly Root; 21 to 40% makes an Illuminated Root; 41-60 makes it an Earthly Root; 61-80% makes a Cracked Root; 81-100% makes it a Shadowed Root."
"There's also variability between Impurities. For example, in the lower states of Impurities, one may only need small rituals like hand signs or the chanting of their ability's name. The more Impurities scale up, the more they will need using bigger rituals and more materials to access their ability."
Hearing this, Gray thought this could be the reason of why Genesis wasn't able to activate initially. But after realizing that the activation issue was only related with the normal inability of an Onironaut's Mercurial Fragment to function inside the real world, he corrected himself.
"Strangely, those who belong to the Root of Dreams are the only category of Nephilim who are exempted from any Impurities. In other words, every single Mercurial Fragment belonging to the Onironauts is Flawless."
"Might be because the Onironaut's abilities are already situational, though." Franz said, chuckling.
"One more fun fact."
"While Roots dictate a Nephilim's particular trajectory of power, it doesn't mean that two belonging to the same Root will have the same ability. To make a quick example, a Virtuous One may only be capable of enhancing their legs while a different one may only enhance their fists."
"The only ones exempt from this rule are…As you might've figured out, the Onironauts. Every Onironaut has the same ability as the oth—"
Franz coughed.
"Well…considering your innate ability of bringing your revelations inside the real world, you're on a whole different level."
As Gray was thinking, Franz slowly caressed his bandages.
"I know Casanova has already said this…"
"But…be careful."
"The Onironauts are already targeted—and they don't have what you 'possess.' If the information of Genesis' and your Secondary Mercurial Fragment got leaked…"
Franz did not continue.
Both knew what would happen.