Missing Father

Within the foremost pages of the Mysticism Studies, the first words written read out, "There were several, distinct paths of mysticism, which stemmed from the singular power of the esoteric knowledge of magic."

"You can be a silent pursuer or watcher, you can be extremely absurd, you can be the one who puts strings on others, or you can be very fortunate. There are exactly nine different paths of mysticism to be taken currently, and this is what is called, the Nine-Fold Mystic Pathways."

"First, to obtain the power of mysticism, you must first perform a rite of miracles. You must first recite the words of the mystic pathway you want to obtain, and then repeat it endlessly until your jaw aches."

And so, that was what Silver did, repeating the words endlessly, to obtain the Mystic Pathway of the Fatespinner, "A Lucky Fool". Such beings wielded the power of divination and "fate spinning", the ability to manipulate their luck, and the fortunes of others easily. Of course, the reason why he did this was because he had taken the advice of that voice from his dream to mind.

The more he recited the words, "May the Four Tri-Lords bless me with endless fortune and strength." The more he began to see things that he wasn't able to see before, like the strange energy hidden within the shining slices of moonlight.

But, Silver was too deep in perilous territory to stop now. His thoughts were in a vortex, and nothing could stop it now. After finding out that something else had happened to his father, rather than just falling into a pathetic, always-drunken state after losing his wife, Silver was determined to engulf whatever it was that threatened to destroy the threads that kept his already grieving father attached to him and his sister. 

His father never became a husk of his former self, his father never became so weak in the mind that he had even been possessed by a weak Manifestation, but instead, he seemed to have fallen for the scheme of some dastardly individual, who may be related to the Count in some inconceivable way.

He would step into a realm that could end up killing him, just so that he could bring back his father, and hopefully help him amid his grief.

And, what was instilled in his mind at the moment, was the moment when he and Ariadne were very young, and he had heard from his father, his mother's story. About how his mother once worked as a harlot, who had to unfortunately enter that line of work just to survive, and how she often had to starve herself.

Yet, she remained kind and loyal to anybody and everybody. If given the chance, she would have never entered that business in the first place, but she had to, and for a very long time, all until the day she was saved by him. Because of that fact, Silver was determined to bring out the same determination that his late mother once had, to escape the horrible life that she once lived. But, as a young lad, his determination and tenacity weren't enough.

Silver's eyes closed gently, still reciting those words, as the moonlight gradually began to glimmer before him. The power of mysticism could make even your heart stop beating without you knowing. In the Loom of Fate, it seemed like he was destined to die while trying desperately to pull at the thread that connected his father to this world.

But, before his eyes closed fully, he heard a faint voice, and everything turned to black.

***

Suddenly, a few hours later, Silver had finally woken up, rising in an instant from his bed. He panted and looked around, before seeing Ariadne, softly sobbing while sitting on his desk seat.

"…Ariadne? What's wrong??"

Ariadne looked up at him and sniffed. "Finally… you're… you're awake! Waaaaah!!" She bawled.

"I thought you had died since I checked, and your heart had stopped beating for a second, and our father had disappeared as well, so I would be the only one living left in this house! I would've been sent to the orphanage, or worse, I would have starved to death on my own!"

"…Father… had disappeared?" Silver asked, walking towards Ariadne. "What do you mean?"

"I… I don't know what happened either! But, when I woke up, he just wasn't there!"

As Ariadne began to sob uncontrollably again, Silver remembered what had happened during the night. He saw his father attempting to kill Ariadne, and then enter some sort of portal, and then… The rage he felt at that moment had somewhat dissipated, but he still felt a great hint of fury and dismay, for the current circumstances surrounding their father were strange and unfathomable, yet it could be easily understood to be due to the schemes of the Count, all the same.

"…Ariadne… I don't think that there's an easy way to say this, but… I think our father's going to be gone for a while. If not, forever."

"What?! Why?!"

"…I'm…"

"…I'm not sure. But… when I woke up, I saw him disappear… into smoke!" Silver mentally concluded that he shouldn't tell Ariadne everything at this very moment. Even he could tell what had happened in the hazy fog that was his memories… The last thing he could remember was him doing a ritual, but he could not remember what the outcome of that was.

"Into smoke?" Ariadne asked.

"Yeah… so now, since our father's gone, we can only rely on ourselves now. We must, absolutely must, enter that Mercenary Troupe now, to earn just the littlest bit of money to survive. So, now, let's go and meet Rasher."

Ariadne nodded her head and puffed out a bit of air. She wondered what exactly was going on, why their father disappeared, and why exactly she remembered the faint visage of a sword, with its pointed edge aimed at her chest.

"This is just… crazy… Father's disappeared into thin air. However, what makes this far more dismal is the fact that there is almost no difference whether he is here or not…"

"I almost can't bring myself to feel sad… but… even though it seems we will have to rely on ourselves until he magically reappears according to my brother's words, at least I know I won't be alone."

They both got to work, dressing themselves up to meet with Rasher once again, and while Silver suited himself in a white shirt, his father's undersized black trench coat, black trousers that seemed slightly long for him, and a pair of worn-out shoes. But, even with this to distract his thoughts, Silver felt deep in his chest that this was the first time Silver had felt so… confuddled.

Why was it his father alone that had to disappear? What was so special about him, compared to the others? Even though he was a knight, from how he acted since their mother's death, Silver half couldn't believe that he was even as strong as a regular knight. This was also because he still remembered all the times his father had beaten him in a drunken rage.

"…I pray that the Gods can give me an answer eventually. And, I also pray that our father finds his way back to normalcy."

At that moment, Ariadne entered his room, also dressed up, and they got ready to go. Since their father was not there, they remembered to lock the door and check if it was locked afterwards. And then, they went on, marching to Cat's Cradle Street.

***

"…Was it me, or were there way more policemen marching around than usual?" Ariadne asked, looking around. "There were also way fewer people on the streets, especially at this time of day."

Silver agreed. It seemed like there was something else going on today. But, they had no time to worry about that for now and instead knocked on the door of the beefy, muscular man with white streaks in his heart, who also seemed to have the countenance of a bandit.

That man, Rasher, opened the door and grumbled. "What are two doing back here?"

"Ha, wait—don't tell me, you're looking for your first mission already?"