He spoke methodically in a typical dramatic storytelling way. Even talking properly for once, "Many years ago, during the darkest night, the Shadow Beasts were making headway into our land. During a decisive battle, where only the strongest could compete. Or the desperate. All seven Vestiges were called to the front when the Tyrants left their Domain. Three Lord Beasts, leading an army of over ten thousand Shadows, marched for the kingdom. The Long Night, usually a yearly week-long occurrence, leaves many with fears, reopening old wounds, all because of that dreadful night. It was almost 40 years ago now… when the Long Night was at its peak. Every half-decade, the kingdom of Oston is cursed with a night extra-long, lasting almost two weeks. The Shadow Beasts knew it was coming, and they were waiting to launch an attack on our borders. It was a fight no one was expecting or prepared for, but the kingdom fought nonetheless. 20'000 Holders, 17'000 souls lost. It… was a big blow to the fight against the Beasts. It is still uncertain if our triumph could even be called 'victory'. On that shadowed summit, only echoes of the lost remain. Most… were never found.
In the final hour of the night, the three Tyrants battled against our Vestiges. However, one was only recently Integrated. The Vestige of Fire. Powerful, yes, but compared to his comrades… a mere body in the way. And the Tyrants could see that. As light is the Shadow's biggest threat, they targeted the weak link… proving fatal. The Fire Vestige was relentlessly attacked, spending more of his essence simply trying to keep away and stay alive. The other Vestiges did what they could to aid, but their efforts proved futile. Struck down by a Tyrant, he was dead before his body even hit the floor. To keep his soul intact and the spirit of a fallen comrade alive, the other Vestiges dragged his body far away, defending it with their life. Surrounded by allies, empowered by their essence, his body was set aflame from nothing. It came from within. Turning to ashes. From those cinders, he ROSE again! Stronger, newer, more powerful than ever! The violent flames from his reawakening drew away the surrounding Beasts and Tyrants, even vanquishing one in the process. So overwhelmed by the Fire Vestiges' new power, they retreated from our lands. And from this moment on, the Vestige of Fire is officially known as… the Phoenix Vestige, Soul Cinders."
When Asher finished the story, he concluded with a bow. There was no clapping or ovations, but my breakfast somehow ended up back in front of me and in my mouth.
"Really? That's all I get from you two? I put blood, sweat, and tears into that story. Literally!" Asher grouched.
"Wait," Leo asked, "What happened with the Beast core?"
"The core? It was given to the Kzar in the Harbingers—hold on, I tell this amazing story, and the only thing you care about is the core?"
"It was a great story, Asher. I just don't see how it helps with my problem." I waved my hand in a gesture of waving away his story.
Asher huffed intensely, resting his hands on his hips. "How about instead of askin' for answers ain't no one got, you should put yurself in a crack-splitin' situation and see what happens! Or just die! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right!? Or… I guess, what does kill you can also make you stronger…?" He scratched his temple in thought.
"How about no one dies!" Leo waved his hands in a single, direct gesture. Looking at me, he continued, "At this point, you're looking for a cap specific to your Lord Beast, right? Weeell, this family has a history with set Beast. We can check the archives in storage."
"Right, great-grandfather's notes. I forgot about those." Asher remarked.
Looking from Asher, back to Leo. "Sounds great!" I responded. "A much better option than dying!"
Heading to the Training Floor, the notes were in a storage room at the far end of the hallway. Past the Sparing Studio and the Med Room.
The Storage Room was filled with boxes and stands of old weapons and armor. Shelves were littered with unorganised books and journals.
It was quite small for a storage room intended for an entire floor dedicated to combat training. Climbing over several boxes, and… cut carpets? We reached the back of the room with all of the old Grimwald journals.
Leo and Asher spent the next few minutes digging for the right one.
"Does no one clean this room?" I asked, catching a whiff of a weird smell from behind a shelf.
"Clean it! Ha! No one even uses it! There's even an office over there, but no one needs a small office in this massive estate nowadays." Asher said, pointing to the right-hand wall.
Looking in the direction he was pointing, there was indeed a room labeled 'Office'. Holding up the sign was a small wooden door falling off its hinges.
"The estate used to be a lot smaller. It actually started as just this basement floor. It's been built upon over the years." Asher finished.
After a few more minutes of searching and not finding the journal, Asher and Leo gave up. "Where is that damn thing?" Asher groaned. Standing up, his knees cracked loudly.
Leo let out a small huff of disappointment before exclaiming loudly, slapping Asher hard on the arm, "That's right! After grandad died, father moved all the important documents to the Training Studio storage!"
"Damn, brat. What was that for?" Asher whined.
"Don't you remember?!" Leo said.
"Yeah, yeah. I remember now."
Climbing back over the boxes, Asher urged me to hurry. Stuck moving at my pace, following right behind me.
As soon as we exited the Storage Room, into the considerably larger hallway, Asher and Leo swiftly rounded me, dashing down the hall.
Not understanding what they were so excited about, I blissfully followed behind.
Walking back into the Training Studio, Asher slammed a button on the far end of the training dummy's wall. Making sure I was there to witness it.
As I walked up, the dummies slid off to the side, leaving a large empty space. We stared in silence as the wall propped open and slid off to the side as well. Revealing a large glass case atop a wooden stand. The stand slowly slid forward until it was fully protruding.
Inside the stand was a clean, intricate metal armor in the house's colours. Lined with black-scale plates from a Beast I didn't recognise. The only thing missing was a helmet. Emanating from the stand was a torrential wave of essence. The armor was a powerful artifact.
To the right of the armor was a long, spear-like weapon. A glaive. The torrent of essence from the armor was vast and overbearing, but it was nowhere near the Aura of dread I felt when looking at the weapon. Even after getting used to being cold now, I still shuddered when my body temperature dropped just from witnessing the glaive.
It was a pristine weapon, fashioned from strong and durable materials. Its handle was made of a dense, white material. It looked too tough to be wood, but it didn't shine with the tinge of metal. It didn't reflect at all. Instead, it was lined with the same metal and colour as the armor. Two long sheets extended over the shaft, providing grip and more durability for the white center material. The shaft wasn't straight, however, instead curving inward towards the bladed side.
The blade had a long, vertical, crescent moon design. The body of the blade was made with the same white material as the handle, but the edge was coated and reinforced with the supporting metal.
Filling in the crescent moon, on the spine of the blade, was an intricate design of the house's staple frost. And in the center was a small, light blue coloured sphere.
Asher caught me looking. Stepping closer, he answered the questions in my head. "Nice ass glaive, right? Brings me chills just lookin' at it. The handle is made from the bones of a Lord Kieriki, along with the blade." I slowly nodded in affirmation. Following my eyes to the spine of the weapon, he continued, "It's a Kieriki's core. While its Will is long gone, the potent essence inside remains, empowering the weapon. As if still connected to its Domain, the core refuses to wither, continuously gathering more essence. It's one of the first artifacts. Made by my great-grandfather, along with a partner. One hell of a job they did."
Lost in thought, likely for different reasons, Asher and I stood there, admiring the weapon in silence.
In the meantime, Leo kicked open a drawer at the bottom of the stand and went fishing for the journal.
After a few seconds of rummaging around. "Found it!" He called out. Loud enough to grab Ashers and my attention.
As we walked over, Leo sifted through the pages. Barely glancing at the words on each page as if he's memorized it inside and out.
Coming to a stop halfway through, he began listing off each of the known abilities of the Kieriki as soon as Asher and I reached him.
"The following abilities apply to any Holder with the Will." Leo listed them off. "Aura suppression, capable of concealing one's Aura better than other Lord Holders; increased speed, senses, and strength; increased healing and pain tolerance; Empathy, they can detect feelings of love, or admiration, in people; disease immunity; and Transfiguration, they can create a husk of frost or change their appearance into the form of another, to near perfection. Likeness and resemblance rely on the proficiency of the Holder and familiarity of the form they are resembling."
…All of those abilities seem to be a unique extension to caps. The strength of the Will seems to increase their strength or potency, allowing these feats to be done. Unfortunately, in my case, I don't sense the effects of any of these extra abilities. The passive ones would probably unseal themselves with higher Tiers, while the one active one, Transfiguration, is related to Contain.
Either way, any of these abilities are far out of my reach, at the moment.
"Riiight. So, unless Rin can become the world's greatest parlor trick, he's screwed." Asher remarked.
"Not necessarily…" Leo paused. "We could ask Lavinia, she's been obsessed with this stuff since she was a kid. She even knows things that aren't written in these notes."
"Of course! My star pupil would never fail me!" Asher yelled out in triumph.