The Paths

In the world that came to be, after the advent of magic. Kingdoms rose and fell by the whims of powerful men and women. The very essence of the High god, his knowledge, had been distilled into the cosmos in the form of spell cards. These genuine manifestations of divinity to harnessing the magic that now prevails all reality has caused the destruction of countless histories and sagas. Blood in the millions, if not billions, spilled to possess the one thing that would lead them all into true immortality…. Godhood. 

It was chaos, and then out of that chaos, order was born. The Celestials brought that order, gathering what was left of The High God's pilfering creations, projecting themselves as saviors and the forefathers of modern civilization.

The covenants were created, a gathering of like-minded people to study and advance whatever path of magic they choose to walk. And the celestials watched, their true intentions hidden as they created a three-way balance of power. But there is no tampering the hunger of man for the gift of immortality and magic, for the strength to bend the knees and backs of millions. Death and bloodshed, pain and destruction would always be a constant.

And so, the Arenas were created, every fight, a fight to the death. You walk in, and you compete, spill blood legally and without remorse. Take your glory, take your power, take your source. Put your life on the line to take the life of another for a chance at immortality. Structure in a world of chaos, this way, those who would rather live a simple life than chase power would have the chance to do so. And so, murder became legal just as magic became reality, and the world... flourished.

Emilia winced as her mother pulled the needle out of Azrael's arm. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem as she's stuck blades in the throats of her opponents before. Watching her brother getting his blood drawn for a test was far different than she would have thought, especially given his current gaunt frame.

With everything that had happened with his awakening, she had been left with no other choice but to call her mother. And while the lady never seemed to have gotten along with Azrael, there was no better time for family to come together than right now. Emilia knew better than anyone else…her mother still loved her father. No matter how much she tried to push the man away or forget him, Thomas of the Dragon Flame had left a mark so deep in her heart it could never be forgotten.

"Would you stop pacing Emilia? " You are making it difficult for me to concentrate. " The diagnosis should not take too long. " Now is there anything you would like to tell us before I start explaining exactly what happened to you?" Azrael looked up at Emilia's mother. The question had obviously been directed at him, and while he knew what she meant, he was not exactly sure if telling her or Emilia the full truth of his history was the right thing to do. He didn't know why, but he felt…scared? Or maybe that was not the right word. Azrael had never been afraid a day in his life…not until Thomas. He sighed, he was just as confused as he was worried. He wanted revenge, but there was no way he would be able to get it if there was something wrong with his body, so he had to trust them. There was no other way….he had no one else.

"I'm not exactly sure what you've found out. " But why don't you tell me, then I'll fill in the gaps wherever I can. " I promise, I will tell you everything…. " I have no one else." Emilia's mother wanted to argue, but at the end of his words she couldn't say anything. She sighed, it was hard not to feel sorry for him, and even though she had always seen him as a problem, she could never deny that Azrael was not just Thomas's son…he was Emilia's brother too, and that made the young man, family. And nothing was more important than family. It was the one thing she and Thomas could actually agree on.

She got up, and raised a tablet. This was her own grimoire. Emilia had inherited the Tech affinity from her mother. But while Emilia had the Network aspect, her mother had the <Diagnostic> aspect. She had taken that a step further and focused her growth on healthcare. She was part of a team of pathwalkers that fought in the arena. Team fights were safer and guaranteed to take you higher than individual fights. She was a mortal stage three pathwalker, which meant over two hundred souls had fallen to her hands. She was no stranger to killing or death and had the power to back it up. But after a rather disastrous fight, funny enough against Thomas and team of his own, she had retired from the Arena and somehow ended up in her enemy's bed the next night.

But that was a long time ago. She and Thomas had a child, and she built a career as a doctor. With health-oriented spell cards, she became one of the most important pediatricians in Chae city. But her expertise stretched past just kids. It lay in the fact that she could accurately, 99% of the time. Tell you what is wrong with a person's body and have in-depth knowledge of the anatomy of not just the pure human race, but also the hybrid Infernal Born and Celestial-born humans. If there was anything wrong with Azrael, she could find it.

She looked through her tablet, very reminiscent of a doctor's note pad. Her eyes glowed a soft green as she looked through information only she could understand. Azrael and Emilia watched her expression with almost religious fervor, though Azrael also had to multitask. There was a colossal platter of food and greens in front of him. His awakening had drained his body of fat, nutrients and even bodily fluids. Eating was the immediate solution Emilia's mother had given when she had been called, three hours ago. Azrael had been eating for the last two, and he still wasn't stopping, and he still looked gaunt. Like he had been starving for months on end.

"The food is not running away Azrael, slow down, or you'll choke yourself." Emilia admonished as her brother promptly ignored her and emptied an entire pitcher of orange juice. She narrowed her eyes, but said nothing as her mother cleared her throat.

"Okay, there is something seriously wrong or right with your body." She spoke up, locking her blue-gray eyes on Azrael with such intensity he paused with a spoon full of rice halfway into his mouth. He swallowed, audibly, before placing the spoon down.

"Uhh…okay?"

"You don't look surprised?" Emilia's mother said, to which Azrael shrugged.

"I have secrets that you might be finding out soon enough. I'm sure they tie in to that, and as such there's no need to be surprised about something I've always known. " Please…what did you find out about my body?" He asked, as he gave her all of his attention, matching the intensity of her stare with the dull look of his emotionless gaze.

"You are human, that much is obvious. From what I can tell, you just experienced a double awakening… which should not have been possible. Your source is now active, so you should be able to use grimoires now and cast spells. But you've also awakened the body path of spell casting."

"What? " That's impossible! " You can't have two Paths!" Emilia interrupted with a shocked look on her face that was promptly washed off by the glare her mother sent her.

"You feel you can do my job better than me?" she asked with an annoyed edge to her tone. Emilia shook her head quickly.

"No ma'am!"

"Good, now sit down, shut up and let me finish."

Emilia obediently took her seat. Azrael gave her a smile. She understood him well enough to know that he was making fun of her. He might not be able to feel emotions, but he could pretend and understand social queues well enough to know when, he could be an annoying little punk and tease his sister. Emilia's mother whacked him on the side of the head.

"Ow?"

"High God help me, you don't even know if Ow is what you should say." She berated him as Azrael shrugged and responded.

"It hurt." With absolutely no change to his facial expression. The older woman just shook her head and continued with her explanation.

"As you know, there are three paths to cast or utilize magic. The paths are racially locked, so not just anyone can awaken them. For humans, we have source, but can't cast spells without special tools. So we created grimoires. On the other side of that equation are demons. They can't exist on our plane of existence unless through possessions, so for a long time their path was a mystery, same as the Angels. Are their more official names, the Infernal and Celestials. Are you following so far?"

Azrael nodded. He did not understand what the history lesson was for, he already knew all of this. What did it have to do with his awakening?

"Possessed humans started procreating. Both the angels and demons wanted to get their groove on, I suppose. And so the hybrids came to be. Of course, we do not call them hybrids…not unless you want a knife stuck in your back. The Celestial-Born and Infernal-Born. Three human races, three paths. The grimoire for pure humans, the body path for the Infernal-Born or demons. And the domain path for the Celestial-Born or angels.

"You did not just awaken your source and grimoire paths, but you've awakened a Body path too. So I'm guessing either your father or mother…were Infernal-Born, or both? It's just unprecedented that you would have awakened a Body path. " So is there anything you have to say about that?" She asked Azrael, who looked extremely confused.

"Are you sure?" he asked, as he showed the first emotion Emilia's mother had seen since she got here. It was strange seeing him so confused that she did not reply on time. He continued speaking.

"You should check again. My mother was not an Infernal-Born, she was a pure human. " She died at childbirth…or at least that's what I've been led to believe." Then he paused. It was obvious to Emilia and her mother that talking about his father was a sore spot for him, not with the way he was clenching his fists. But they all needed answers, not with a mystery like this in front of them. Whatever trauma he was dealing with, he had to move past it and explain things to them.

"What about your father?" Emilia asked, her voice soft and encouraging. This couldn't have been easy for him, and she just wanted to be there for him. Her mother rolled her eyes. If she didn't know that Emilia had a secret boyfriend that works at the station with her, she would have suspected the relationship between these two went beyond just being brother and sister. But Azrael would probably never be able to care for her in that way. The girl really wanted to just protect him… she had a heart…just like her father.

"My father… my father is not infernal born either…. Neither is he human nor Celestial born."

"Huh? " What do you mean?" Emilia's mother asked, as she moved her eyes back to her tablet. Did she miss something, or was it that Azrael wasn't really sure? It had been a few years since he came to them, so perhaps he had forgotten a few things.

"My father…was…. He is a Celestial…. The Archon Of Knowledge and one of the Grand Leaders of The Salvatio Covenant… Demadiel… my Father's an Angel."