Wilhelm opened his eyes and looked around, sitting up to see the small room he was in. As he sat up, he felt a wave of pain from his back on the right side, as well as discomfort in numerous other spots on him. He tried to raise his right arm, and instead felt a mind numbing level of pain. Gasping as he clutched the arm with his left he felt even more pain, letting go of his arm immediately. The teen looked at his right arm and saw that the entire limb was wrapped with bandages. Despite what most people would do and leave it alone, Wilhelm grabbed at the bandages on his forearm and took them off, pulling to look at the flesh below.
For a second he just looked, seeing paled skin that had numerous scars and bruises along the arm. Taking off more of the bandages he began to see that his entire arm was like this, from his shoulder to each of his fingers. His arm was scarred completely and just looking at the messed up limb made him aware of the pain it had even more than a moment earlier. Trying to flex his fingers the teen winced again as pain coursed through him.
Breathing hard he decided to ignore the pain, and tried to put the bandages on his arm how they were prior to his messing with them. It was poorly done but he didn't really worry about it. Looking ay the rest of himself he saw more bandages covering half his body, and could feel more on his face and neck. Wilhelm ignored checking on himself further to focus on the location of this place that he didn't recognize, and tried to remember how he got there.
Memories of his mission in Crete came to mind, and although hazy, he began to recall what happened after James had attacked Nero. That mana he had somehow gained and made him feel so powerful, his rage and violence against that Minotaur. Remembering how he felt while using that mana made him remember what happened as he fought James after he got it.
"Die like Filth!"
Those words echoed in Wilhelm's head. The level of excitement and yearning to kill that he remembered going through him when saying that and killing James made him develop a horrible taste in his mouth. His laughter after leaving that guy's head in pieces beginning to haunt him. He really became the savage animal that James claimed Wilhelm to be.
After that he remembered how Sol reacted to seeing him, how much he had scared her, and then Puli. His memory was more hazy by the time of the Blue Roses showing up, but he assumed they had similar reactions to him, of fear.
He remembered every injury, being thrown around like a ragdoll by James and the Minotaur on too many occasions to not consider himself lucky he wasn't in worse condition. Even then, he knew it wasn't luck that left him not as injured, and even still alive at this point. It was that mana he gained. That twisted, powerful feeling mana that he knew all too well messed with his head. He tried to think about how he gained that power, and couldn't think if a real reason, all except for remembering how demented it made him
For a while Wilhelm stayed like this, sitting there and going through a repetitive and negative cycle of thought.
After what could've been anywhere from five minutes after he woke up, to an hour, the door to the room he was in made a sound. The door was unlocked and opened, and the same Doctor who had healed Wilhelm during his first day in the capital walked in. The man was not paying attention to Wilhelm at first, as he walked in with a book he had open in one hand. Once he had walked to the foot of the bed he finally looked up and saw Wilhelm, awake and sitting there looking at him.
The man reacted in shock, jumping back and accidentally throwing his book behind him at a wall. "Gah!" Once his shock had quickly left the man cleared his throat. "Wilhelm?! You're awake!"
"How long was I unconscious?" Wilhelm noticed how badly he needed water, but didn't say anything about it.
"This would be the sixth day. I honestly didn't expect you to wake up for a long time given the stress your body went through. It's... Honestly you are lucky to be alive right now let alone awake."
"What happened?" Wilhelm knew what he remembered happened, but he also wanted an explanation from someone else in case that mana had messed up his memory like it did his emotional state.
The man pointed to the nightstand by Wilhelm's bed. "You can use your left arm - please don't use your right arm - and grab that water." He was pointing at a cup of water, to which Wilhelm nodded and grabbed the cup to drink. Once the doctor saw Wilhelm drink some of the water, he answered the teen's earlier question. "What had happened was after the defeat of that beast in Crete, you collapsed. I heard that you had gained mana that has kept making you stronger and able to endure more damage up until the fight was over. You were rushed to several medical mages until you were brought here where I had to work on keeping you alive during a twelve hour operation." He wasn't trying to scold the kid, but having heard that the kid had caused half of the damage to himself through sheer recklessness did make him want to turn this into a lecture about self preservation.
Wilhelm took a second to respond, sitting there thinking about the mana again. When he did speak, he thought to tell the man something about the mana that was definitely of note. "I can't feel the mana anymore."
The doctor gave an exhale of breath. "Nobody can. As far as reports from eyewitnesses go, it was either all burned through, or you threw it all at the beast with that sword of yours." He looked at Wilhelm's arm and saw the bandages had been messed with. "Let me fix those, please don't mess with them again."
"My arm felt uncomfortable. I wanted to see its condition."
"I believe your arm should be injured for a while, it was one of the toughest injuries to handle. All the bones and muscles were completely smashed apart and in plain terms just a complete mess. I had an easier time fixing up that Blue Rose girl who made part of her torso be erased."
Wilhelm whipped his head to look at the man. "Which Blue Rose?"
The man didn't give any real response to the teen's reaction, focusing on the bandages on his arm, but did answer. "I believe her name was Gina Celeste."
"Is she okay?"
"She is up and about, but still not allowed to return to duty yet." The man opened his grimoire and began to activate a spell to check Wilhelm's condition since the kid was awake. "Your status regarding that is unknown until after the meeting."
"What meeting?"
"Once you were awake I was to notify Lord Julius and the captains, so a discussion could take place. I'll let them know in a moment but for now I have to make sure your condition is good enough to handle anything at the moment. At this rate I feel like your body has the structural integrity of paper-mache." He spoke as he continued to use his diagnostic spell. For the next moment he was quiet, as was Wilhelm since the teen saw no point in talking anymore.
The man ended his spell and leaned back in a seat he had taken to sitting in, exhaling as he did. "Well... as wrecked as your body was, I don't see too many injuries leaving behind problems. Your right arm however, it will still take a few days to be able to recover to being usable. And you are gonna have a few noticeable scars from this. That spot in your stomach where I believe someone said that beast got you with its horn is probably the worst scar. Those burns around your chest, left wrist and right calf were more prominent, so I believe those will have scars as well." He looked at Wilhelm who didn't respond, and exhaled again. "You surviving in this condition was a miracle. Had that fight gone on any longer, and you weren't taken to medics when you were, not as many of your wounds could've been fixed as well. I know it's part of the job for a Magic Knight but try to be careful next time."
Wilhelm didn't respond again, his mind back on Crete and how he knew it wasn't a miracle that kept him alive. It was that mana, that sinister mana that turned him into a violent, rageful... animal. There was no other way to describe that mindset Wilhelm had entered then what James had kept calling him that night, an animal.
The doctor stood up. "I will let Lord Julius know you are awake." With that, the man was gone and Wilhelm was alone again. The teen stayed there in the bed, not planning on doing anything at all, except for drinking water from the cup.
For the next ten minutes, Wilhelm stayed there waiting for something to happen, and at the end of that time the door reopened with three people coming in. the first was the doctor, second was Julius himself, and the last person was someone Wilhelm hadn't seen before.
The person Wilhelm didn't recognize was a young man, about mid twenties, with sky blue hair in a bowl cut hairstyle, and had narrow eyes with long lashes and a serious expression on his face. He wore a dark, long sleeved formal jacket under a light, furred mantle with an attached robe that reached nearly to his ankles.
"Hello Wilhelm." The Magic Emperor greeted the teen with a light tone as he entered the room. "I'm surprised you awake this soon, but then again Owen has been working on healing you a good amount the last week."
"Week? I was out for a week?"
"Your wounds were quite severe." The Mage doctor now known as Owen responded.
"The Diamond mages and that Minotaur did a number on you, which is actually something of the reason I am here." Julius sat down at a chair near Wilhelm's bed. "I wanted to ask about your mana, everyone does actually because this is new territory for us as a kind of situation."
The teen knew his somehow using mana was going to be questioned, and didn't enjoy that he had nothing to give Julius. "I don't actually know how I was able to use that. One minute I didn't have any mana and the next minute I did."
The Magic Emperor nodded. "I see, so you don't even know either? That does make this more of a mystery but that's why Marx is here."
The blue haired mage took a step forward and Wilhelm assumed he was Marx.
"Marx can use Memory Magic, it's neat and allows him to view and project people's memories for others to see." Julius explained. "Some people question circumstances around you so Marx is here to not only show the details of your unusual gaining of mana, but to take away suspicion of your trustworthiness." The man explained everything in the idea that Wilhelm would further prove his being trustworthy by accepting everything.
The boy processed the information of Memory Magic, and then why Marx was here, before realizing something; that his secret would be out. He hadn't thought recently on how to, or if he should, reveal his belief of this being a reincarnation that brought him to the Clover Kingdom. Instead of wanting to try to hide it, he realized it was downright impossible to avoid any sort of discussion on the topic at this point. No doubt they would also question his arrival to the kingdom and not just the incident in Crete, and Wilhelm didn't want to cause a new level of issues with more secrecy. With that decided he spoke. "Can I ask a question first?"
"What do you want to ask?" The Magic Emperor asked.
"Is there a kind of magic that's about reincarnation?"
"Reincarnation?" Owen almost did a double take as he repeated the word.
"Reincarnation magic? That's not really a traveled topic…" Julius made a humming sound. "One of my predecessors, the twenty-first Magic Emperor, wanted to research it more but it's a pretty unknown field. Plus it's believed to need taboo efforts and resources to work, part of why it's not researched as much actually. Why do you ask?"
"I think that's how I got here." Wilhelm answered. "I think I was reincarnated and ended up in the Clover Kingdom for some reason."
"That's quite a theory." Julius replied with mild surprise. "I believe you said your home kingdom doesn't have mana though, correct?"
"It's something that was thought to be fake where I'm from. No one actually had mana to use."
"Without mana I doubt something as complicated as the theory of reincarnation magic is possible to achieve." Marx commented.
"That does make it seem off, but then again Wilhelm himself is an oddity so I think we should hear more out."
"What about looking into the source of his mana that was used during Crete?" Marx tried to steer the conversation.
"I may be developing a theory, but yes, let's get to viewing memories." The Magic Emperor turned back to Wilhelm. "No more questions before Marx uses his magic?"
The teen shook his head, and Marx took a step forward. Once the man stood next to Wilhelm his grimoire floated up from a pouch on his side and opened to a page, all while gaining a sky blue glow. "My Memory Magic allows me to be able to go through people's memories with one-hundred percent accuracy and project them for others to see." He repeated the explanation with extra information.
Marx held up a hand towards Wilhelm's head, keeping it just a foot away from the teen, and the same glow of light from his grimoire appeared around the man's hand. The magic of his spell appeared around Wilhelm's head as well, flowing above it in a straight line with bursts of magic along it. The bursts were flat like screens and showed Wilhelm's memories of events. Since he had just started the spell, most of the memories were of that day, and those consisted of Wilhelm sitting on the bed and the few conversations he was a part of. Marx moved his hands to make the memories change, and the screens of magic began morphing and changing along the lines as the memories went back to the events in Crete.
"According to several reports and the gathered timeline of events, you experienced this mana during an encounter with one of the Diamond kingdom's mages, right?" Marx asked as he continued going through events at Crete.
The teen nodded. "It happened after he hurt Nero." Wilhelm then took a second to think. "Wait where's Nero?!" He had forgotten about the bird for a moment and finally noticed Nero's absence.
"Is Nero the name of your Anti-bird?" Julius asked and received a nod. "I can't give you a one hundred percent confirmation but I want to believe someone in the Blue Rose squad may be looking after it."
Wilhelm sighed in some relief, choosing to take that as pure confirmation that the bird was definitely with someone and okay.
After searching for a bit longer, Marx found the memory of the moment Wilhelm saw Nero get hurt. He let the memory play out and everyone heard James speak again.
"No one else!" James shouted. "Nothing else can save you from dying here. No more having your ass saved by everyone around you!"
Wilhelm looked down at his bed and gained a scowl, hating the sound of that man's voice. Hearing that statement again made him feel part of the rage that has grown back in Crete when he heard it the first time.
The others watched the memory, and as the boy looked at his bird in it and moments later shook the ground with the mana he had gained suddenly. They saw from his perspective how he gained blackened skin on his arms and turned his sword with the mana into a dark blade. The memory continued as Wilhelm stood up, and faced James again.
James took a step back as he looked at the teen, put off by the bloodlust that was coming from him. "What are you?"
"Filth." The corrupted teen replied, his twisted smile never leaving his face. "Nothing but a filthy animal."
Wilhelm winced at hearing himself say those words, the sting of the insults he was often called being used by himself to casually mock the man bothered him.
Julius made a humming sound before turning to Wilhelm, as he did, Marx paused the memory.
"One moment without it, and the next you had it. I have a theory but would like to ask if you know what caused it."
"I… Did it have to do with my sword?" The teen guessed.
"You affected the sword with it, and warped its design and metal. What brought that mana into your being I am not sure of, it may have to do with your theory or reincarnation but I do know what triggered it to get stronger." Julius paused to gather his thoughts. "I assume at the attack against your Anti-bird, Nero, that you were angry right?"
"I was mad, but I was also mad at how weak I was."
"Your anger affected this mana and made it mana is a type that feeds on negativity." He turned to the other two people in the room. "I had hoped it wasn't the case but I order complete silence on this matter outside this room and possibly the captains."
"What's wrong?" Wilhelm felt a bit panicked at the man asking for people's silence.
"Wilhelm, I assume you know about how mana works right? Energy of the world that flows through all life and nature?" The Magic Emperor gave a basic rundown and Wilhelm nodded. "What you used wasn't exactly natural. Honestly it feels closer to negative mana from the descriptions I have gotten but it could just be a different kind I have never seen."
"Are you sure?" Owen asked.
"I am sure of multiple answers being suitable explanations but unsure which is the truth." Julius responded.
"What's negative mana?" Wilhelm knew it had to be bad the way they spoke, and the name itself, but he didn't know how bad it was exactly.
"Negative mana comes from the underworld, or is believed to be from there. It's the opposite of mana and is a taboo energy that curses those who use it." The man looked at Wilhelm's head. "Normally wegs are present on those who commune with such forces but you show no sign of them. One of the reasons I want to say it isn't negative mana, especially since you need something that connects you to the underworld to tap into that forbidden mana."
"How did I even gain that mana? I didn't interact with anything that was like that."
"What about those stones of yours?" The doctor of a Mage asked. "Those are artifacts."
"If a gem like those possessed connections to the underworld I think the Vermillion family would've realized that before keeping it as an heirloom." Marx stated.
"It was believed to be a regular jewel until Wilhelm's interaction with it however." Julius pointed out. "Until it was near the boy it did nothing to distinguish itself as unique. However it did also release plain mana, even if in a large amount."
"Not to say it isn't negative mana, but he doesn't show any kind of known wegs and wasn't interacting with anything but his emotions." Owen spoke. "What if he truly has mana but it is just an odd kind? Yami is a foreigner too and his magic is Dark Magic, which is extremely rare in all of history in this kingdom to see."
"It is possible." Julius nodded. "If Wilhelm could utilize it again I could possibly gauge it myself and see what kind of magic it is."
"And if it is something like negative mana" Marx asked.
The Magic Emperor was silent for a minute as he turned to Wilhelm. "Depending on the source of your connection to negative mana, it may affect your standing in Clover."
Wilhelm gained a worried look, but nodded all the same. "Because negative mana is a taboo right?"
"It is classified as Forbidden Magic, just like Reincarnation Magic." Marx stated.
"I didn't try to reincarnate myself." The teen defended himself.
"We haven't actually confirmed your own assumption that it is reincarnation that brought you here." Julius laughed. "I believe you if it means anything Wilhelm."
"We can probe his memories to see when he was sent here. Either he just floated here on a current or he really was reincarnated." Owen offered.
"I very clearly remember drowning in a river, and waking up here." Wilhelm stated. "I know it happened…"
"I can find the memory to confirm it." Marx commented as he looked at his leader.
"Actually… hmm…" Julius stopped to think again. "Nevermind what I was thinking. I was considering waiting till I can gather the captains for a meeting, seems appropriate for a subject like this. However those of us that are here now can confirm information and pass it on. Go ahead with it if Wilhelm is alright with showing it."
The teen nodded. "I want to understand how I got here."
The Memory Magic Mage nodded and waved his hand to push his magic farther back into Wilhelm's life. The teen's memories of the last month flew by, until Marx got to that day a month prior when Wilhelm washed up on the beach. Once Marx tried to go beyond the events of the beach, the memories stopped appearing. Marx's brows narrowed and he made a humming sound as he moved his hands again, only for nothing to change.
"Something wrong Marx?" Julius raised an eyebrow.
"Just a hiccup." He attempted the same motion again, and this time it showed results. Everyone watched as the memory revealing spell showed the last day of Wilhelm's original life. From just seconds before he was struck by that car, to his and the car going off the side of the bridge and into the river below, to his being pinned under the car and drowning. As the memory played with strikingly perfect clarity from Wilhelm's perspective of the event, the teen himself stared at the table in front of him. Hearing the sounds of his useless attempts at trying to not drown shook something inside the child and it made him uncomfortable to say the least.
Julius looked back to the mana-less teen as that memory ended, and took note of the reaction to his own past that Wilhelm was showing. The other people were silent as they also processed the new information.
To break the silence, Wilhelm spoke. "The next thing I knew… I was here in Clover. It was like I went to sleep and woke up."
Julius pat the teen's shoulder. "Something like that shouldn't be experienced by a child, you show a good level of strength of character to stay standing after that."
Wilhelm's sad look broke up a bit and he gained a slight smile.
"What caused Marx to have issues getting to that memory?" Owen asked.
"Was that an alteration to his memories caused by magic?" Julius looked at the Memory Magic mage.
"No sir, I did not detect any sort of magic affecting his memories at all." The mage replied. "The only oddity was that gap between the river and the beach, and even that had no level of magic involved."
"If it isn't magic that affected his mind, then that is without a doubt his real memory." The Magic Emperor spoke. "And the gap falls into the possible space between his apparent death and reincarnation, which would be possible as an explanation of why it is a gap." He paused to think again before speaking. "So we have to go with the belief that Wilhelm here had indeed died and was reborn here."
"But he showed up at the same age of his death, shouldn't reincarnation magic work as a being reborn as an infant sort of situation?" Owen asked.
"With reincarnation magic being an unknown subject it really becomes difficult to know what any spells do past the basic idea of reincarnation." Julius began to mumble to himself.
"I don't know how this happened." Wilhelm stated.
"I may need time to think about this situation." Julius responded. "Too many questions and I'd like to sort them out." He stood up and turned to Marx. "I think that a Captain's meeting should be called now. I'll reveal this information to them and then alone, they've been around this land in more ways than me with their combined experience so they may have seen something to shed more light on this subject."
"What do we do with the boy until then?" Marx looked at Wilhelm who just sat there.
"Wilhelm has done nothing wrong except get himself a tad too injured. Owen, can you continue to work with Wilhelm until the meeting? I'd like for him to be present at it."
A knock at the door made everyone turn in confusion, and Owen being the closest to it opened the door.
A royal knight stood there, and looked right at Julius. "The king requests your presence."
"I'll be there as soon as I can." Julius replied before turning to Marx. "Alert the captains for me please. Don't make them drop everything they're working on but request they get here at their earliest convenience."
"Understood sir." Marx was seemingly the only one annoyed by the arrival of a royal knight, although he hid it well.
With that, the two left the room leaving just Owen and Wilhelm.
The recovery mage turned to his patient and gave a smile. "I'll work on you as best I can Wilhelm. The only thing I ask in return is a conversation."
"About what?"
"Your home kingdom. That thing that collided with you looked similar and different to carriages from here." Owen answered as he opened his grimoire again.
"Oh." Wilhelm responded as he thought about the car, and had mixed emotions over remembering things from that life. He wanted to not answer but something told him he should at least hold the conversation with the man who kept him from dying. "That was a car. It's like a carriage that was made to move without a horse."
"And without magic right? So your people must really work on different kinds of technology."
The teen skipped past the comment where those people were referred to as the same group as him, something he disliked. "I know that radios were made that work like your magic communication tools."
"That's kinda neat. Makes you wonder how much of technology is based on things magic can do, or how magic evolves in those spots for us. It's always interesting to see different cultures if you ask me."
"I wasn't really involved in their culture. Clover's culture seems better though."
Owen gave a chuckle. "I'll have to take your word on that.
A short while later, about half an hour, Marx opened the door to the room and walked in.
"The captains are gathered and Julius is on his way to them, I'll take you to them as well." The man spoke and waited by the door for Wilhelm to follow.
"Well you're fine for now Wilhelm." Owen commented. "Muscles may be a bit sore overall but good all the same, except for that arm. I recommend putting no pressure on your right arm for a while, keep it in the sling."
"I'll try." Wilhelm moved to swing his feet off the bed, and ended up seeing simple shoes near it that were for him, after a second he began to put them on.
"I suppose trying is the best reply I could get from you." Owen let out a breath.
"Thank you for making me not die." Wilhelm said to the man as he began to follow Marx out of the room.
The two walked silently through the hallways, and Wilhelm began to look at furniture and decorations in an attempt to figure out where they were. After a few minutes they approached a set of doors and Marx led the two into the room.
Inside the room Wilhelm saw a few recognizable faces, and some new ones, all sitting at a long table placed in the center of the room. A set of windows opposite the long side of the table from Wilhelm, and on the left side of the room from his position, showed a view of what Wilhelm recognized as the capital city, from the position of the castle.
"So this runt is the cause of all this business?" A man asked as everyone turned to see the kid and Marx enter the room.
"Hello again Wilhelm, have a seat." Julius waved to the seat opposite of his own at the table, which opposite the door Wilhelm entered from.
"So what now? We question him on his motives and whatnot?" Asked a large man with a purple mask that Wilhelm thought was honestly dumb looking.
"I want to spread the information among you on what I learned from Wilhelm earlier. And possibly understand his situation more from knowledge some of you may have." Julius explained.
"On what? Some of the captains are seeing Wilhelm for the first time here." William pointed out.
"It is believed by Wilhelm, and seen by Marx, Owen and me, that he had passed away, and was revived here after that event."
"Wait, he believes he died?" Nozel asked.
"He showed up here as a teen though, not an infant." Jack spoke.
"I saw the memory myself, and Marx guarantees his magic is absolutely showing the true memories of Wilhelm." Julius replied.
"I drowned. I know I died." Wilhelm spoke up. "There's no way I could've gotten out of that river."
"How close was this river to the ocean though? You could've just floated here." The purple masked guy responded.
"I was in the middle of a city, in the middle of the country, nowhere near an ocean."
"He was also pinned under the water." Julius added. "His death was guaranteed, as tragic as that is. However he is also still alive and now in a different land where magic exists and he believes that he was reincarnated."
"That's not even a topic that is practiced, or researched properly." Fuegoleon commented. "It's forbidden magic for a reason, the price of it is damnation."
"Maybe that's why the runt became all angry and gained mana out of nowhere." The possibly largest man Wilhelm has seen spoke. The guy was the only person he saw in Clover with any actual muscle and he had so much of it. "Kid got damned by being reincarnated."
"So he's cursed?" Fuegoleon asked.
Two different captains showed an expression at hearing the question, but neither spoke, only looking at Wilhelm slightly differently.
"Are we sure he is even actually reincarnated?" The purple masked guy asked, showing disbelief still.
"It honestly makes sense." Fuegoleon responded. "His location of where he died, the sudden appearance of him in this land, those visions he sees with the gems, they all feel like they explain it in some way."
"According to Fuegoleon and Charlotte, he did see visions both times he touched a gem." Nozel stated. "If it is reincarnation, that could be a past life."
"I don't think that's my life." Wilhelm replied. "I don't actually feel like I belong in those memories, it's like I am there seeing it."
"So someone else's life?" Julius asked.
"It has to be." Marx spoke at that point. "When going through his memories of the last month to find his last memory of before he came here, I wasn't able to see those memories from the gems."
"So your magic isn't absolute then." The purple masked captain stated.
"Yes. It is." Marx gave the man a hard look. "I can peer into the memories of a person's soul. If I can't see those, they don't belong to the kid."
"Not doubting ya Mushroom Hair," The muscular man spoke. "But shouldn't you be able to see them because the kid saw them? Isn't seeing the memories a memory of his at this point?"
Marx completely ignored the nickname. "I thought that too, but I can't see those at all."
"OH!" A sleeping captain woke up to raise her hand. "I can possibly reveal them!"
"How so?" Marx asked.
"My Glamour World. I can create things from people's thoughts to perfection!"
"So if we need to see those memories we can thanks to Dorothy, provided Wilhelm has a decent recollection of them." Fuegoleon looked at the child.
Wilhelm nodded when everyone looked at him. "I remember them."
"Do we need to see them though?" The purple masked man asked.
"It could answer a few questions about his reincarnation." William pointed out.
"And the mana he gained during the events in Crete?" Nozel asked.
At that point Charlotte spoke for the first time during the meeting. "At this point we have to believe the reincarnation, the visions and that mana all have a connection."
"So we see these memories and see what information is gathered then?" Fuegoleon said like he was ready to get to that part of the meeting, instead of this back and forth questioning.
"It could explain how he gained a grimoire, despite having no magic and the fact that he is from a different land, and somehow gained mana back in Crete even if that mana is gone now." Julius spoke and then he turned to Dorothy. "If you're ready to do it now then we can do so."
"I'll need a sec." The woman responded. "Used a huge amount of mana earlier before this meeting was called. I can do it now if only a few of us go though."
"We don't necessarily need everyone to see it immediately, just enough to verify and bring the information back to the others." Julius offered.
"At that point I think Mushroom Hair really should be able to show the memories of anyone who goes to Lala-land to see this." The muscular captain commented, leaning back in his chair a bit. "So just him, Miss Nap-time and the runt should be good enough."
"The foreigner makes a valid point." Nozel commented.
"Then we do what Yami said, with the addition of me because my curiosity is honestly high on this subject." The Magic Emperor admitted.
Wilhelm began to tune the discussion out at the point that Nozel called the muscular man, who he did hear Julius call Yami, a foreigner. He looked at the man and realized the fact that this guy was the only other foreigner in the country, and a powerful member of the kingdom at that. He began forming an idea to ask the man for advice on how to get stronger.
"That's fine." Dorothy responded to Julius. "Are you okay with it, Wilhelm?" She looked at the kid who was still in his own thought process. She had stood up, as did Julius.
The teen heard his name and looked at the captain who spoke in confusion. "What?"
"Is it okay with you if I probe your thoughts?" Dorothy repeated the question, not annoyed at all but actually amused.
"I mean… that guy already did." Wilhelm pointed at Marx. "I can't really have more secrets to hide than my own death."
The room was quiet for a second, the adults surprised Wilhelm was so casual about his death to make what sounded almost like a joke. The teen wasn't making a joke but a captain, Yami to be exact, did laugh all the same.
"Haha! This kid's hilarious!" The man clapped his hand against the table.
"Anyways…" Dorothy and Julius both moved around the table to Wilhelm, her grimoire emerging from a pouch on her side with a pink glow. "See you guys in a bit! Dream Magic: Glamour World!"
Wilhelm didn't even get to blink before they were gone in a flash of light.
The second the flash of light was over, Wilhelm saw that he, Julius, Dorothy and Marx were nowhere near the meeting room. Instead they were all standing on a massive table, which they appeared to be the size of silverware compared to, floating in a world of pink skies and random floating objects. All of the items consisted of what Wilhelm recognized to be children's toys or things that could be furniture in a basic house.
As the kid looked around in complete astonishment, Dorothy saw it and let out a light laugh.
"This is my Glamour World!" She announced and waved her arms. "In here my Dream Magic reigns supreme and gives me control over almost everything, and I can conjure up anything my imagination lets me! I also can read the thoughts and minds of people in my world of dreams!"
"It's always neat seeing this." Julius said with an equally as mesmerized look as Wilhelm, despite the man seeing this spell a number of times before.
Wilhelm turned to the dream-using mage. "What do I do to help?"
"Nothing but be here, except possibly think more about those memories. For the most part all that's needed is I gotta do now is read your thoughts and use them to conjure up the memory as something we can see and move around in." Dorothy explained and Wilhelm nodded. She hopped off a floating chair she had been sitting in and stood near the rest of the group.
Before she could actually do anything, Dorothy stopped and looked at Wilhelm in shock, making all three men get confused and the mages gain concern.
Wilhelm opened his mouth to speak, and stopped before a single word was uttered, as he saw a shadow and felt something appear over him. He ducked forward and spun to look at what it was, only to see a small, but thick and black cloud in the spot his head had been.
"Dorothy?" Julius asked as he looked at the cloud.
"I'm sorry!" Dorothy squeaked. "I didn't mean to scare anyone but I read a thought and thought about it being a dark cloud over him and it just made the cloud appear!"
"You scared us with a turn of phrase…" Marx let out a breath as he lowered his guard, relieved it was only that.
The teen among them turned to Dorothy. "What memory did that?" He thought of a few memories that he figured would have other people freak out and wasn't sure which it could be.
Dorothy, still reading his mind, saw all those memories too and quickly moved to Wilhelm and pulled him into a hug. "I'm so sorry that happened to you!"
Both men seeing this just gained more confusion, and the teen was the only one to verbally react. "You're hurting my arm." The teen lied, just wanting to not be hugged out of pity.
Dorothy let go of him, despite knowing full well that he was lying, and gave him a sad look. "You've been through a lot… If you need anything your big sis here will be there to help."
"I don't have a sister." Wilhelm didn't realize she meant herself at first.
Dorothy's expression softened. "I meant me, you dork."
"Oh. Okay."
Julius made a coughing sound. "Not to interrupt but the king wants my attention on an issue later today so I'd like to hop to the memories to help get as much info as we can out of everything."
Dorothy nodded. "Right! Gotta help Wilhelm! Let's focus our thoughts on that so no more clouds pop up!"
Wilhelm also nodded and put his mind to remembering the first memory, gained from when he came into contact with Fuegoleon's gem. After a moment Dorothy snapped her fingers and the memory appeared around everyone.
The four stood among the carnage of the first memory, able to smell the flames, and bodies of it due to them being very much real in the sense of this world they were in.
Julius had a hard expression as everyone looked around. "This was a horrible memory indeed. Many deaths I feel were far too unnecessary."
"I saw it from there. From his perspective." Wilhelm pointed at a still figure, not moving yet as if Dorothy paused the memory.
Marx, the closest to the person, leaned over to see the kneeling person's face. "Sir, his face is the boy's."
"It is?" Julius asked in confusion as he moved closer to check.
"That may not necessarily be true actually." Dorothy commented. "It's not like I know for sure that it was or it wasn't Wilhelm. I could only picture it as he thought or recalled it."
"And naturally his face would appear where he thought he was." The Magic Emperor nodded. "His clothes though are seemingly ancient, doesn't look close to fashion styles of today."
Wilhelm looked around the scene and pointed towards a gazebo that was halfway broken down. "I, or him, moved towards someone over there."
"Let me unfreeze the memory." Dorothy gave a wave of her hand to signal the memory moving.
Everyone watched as the man with Wilhelm's face began to stumble towards where the real Wilhelm had pointed. As he got closer, he yelled something that none of them were able to hear properly, and the memory began to fade out before Dorothy stopped it again.
"You don't remember what was said?" Julius asked Wilhelm as he moved to where the person they were watching had moved.
The teen shook his head, and pointed at a body in-between their person and the gazebo. "It was their name. I feel like it belongs to them."
The Magic Emperor nodded and moved towards the person. Upon getting close he stepped around to look at their face. "Their face is a blur, but given the body proportions and hairstyle that's visible I assume this is a woman."
"Perhaps the woman he loves?" Dorothy asked as she looked around. "He is really injured and ig oring all of the others to get to her."
"Their clothes, while old fashioned, seem like it was for a ceremony." Marx remarked as he studied the apparel.
"Did you feel his emotions as the memory first happened?" Julius looked to Wilhelm.
"I… He felt scared, really scared. And betrayed." The mana-less teen recalled the emotions.
"If those emotions are true, this was definitely a deliberate attack, and I assume by someone who knew this man personally if he felt betrayed." That Magic Emperor looked at the gazebo. "I think we can come back to this memory later if need be. Dorothy, Wilhelm, can you two bring up the second memory?"
"Yep!" Dorothy nodded and Wilhelm began to make his thoughts be only about the memory he got from Selena's gem.
The scene was recreated with every detail that Wilhelm could recall, frozen at the beginning of the memory so the mages could look at it.
"The gazebo is intact." Julius noticed that first. "So this is possibly before the other memory."
"Their clothes look similar, so it could also be the exact same day too." Marx added as he looked at the crowd of people.
"This looks like a wedding…" The Magic Emperor commented as he went to the gazebo and stood next to two people. "These two."
"The guy Wilhelm sees from the perspective of," Dorothy poked the figure who shared Wilhelm's face. "And this looks like the lady that he was going to in the other memory."
"Correct me if I am wrong, but she looks familiar doesn't she?" Julius looked at the bride. "I can't place it exactly but I believe I've seen her before."
"Perhaps the captains may know." Marx, who didn't recognize her either, offered.
Wilhelm stared at the woman and tried to figure out why she looked familiar, and not just because this was a memory he had gained recently but because he swore he had seen her before. After a moment he made a gasping sound. "That's Mimosa!"
"Mimosa?" Dorothy looked to the teen and read his thoughts, conjuring up a copy of the girl he named.
The fake version of Mimosa looked at everyone before seeing Wilhelm. "Wilhelm you hurt yourself again! You promised not to!"
"Ah, that's sweet." Dorothy commented on the interaction from Fake Mimosa.
Wilhelm was about to reply to the girl before he put his mind to realizing this wasn't actually Mimosa, so he didn't need to explain breaking his promise to her.
Julius saw the fake royal and clapped his hands. "Right! The Vermillion girl! They share a shocking resemblance don't they?"
"The only differences I see are a difference of age, and that the memory woman is apparently pregnant." Marx commented.
"So is this actually the future?" Julius made a humming noise. "Mmmmmmm… This definitely raises questions."
"I don't know why I didn't realize that she looked like Mimosa earlier." Wilhelm looked at both of the ladies and thought he was an idiot for not realizing the obvious resemblance.
"What do they say in this memory or vision?" Julius asked Dorothy.
"I'll let it play out." The Dream Mage waved her hand to unfreeze the memory.
And so the four watched the vision take place, people talking to the people who looked like Wilhelm and Mimosa, and wishing the two happiness. It confirmed Julius' theory of this being part of a wedding ceremony. The memory ending with the show of light magic attacking the crowd, Wilhelm's person being the first to be struck and falling over.
Dorothy froze the memory again and the four were silent for a second.
"This second memory leads into the first one." The Magic Emperor stated. "A happy memory that turns tragic in an instant." He had a sad look as he looked at everything around him. "On a better note we have some names to go by, Fana and Raia. Dorothy can you back the vision up to where everyone was okay?"
"Yep." The mage responded as she rewound the events.
Julius stepped in the middle of the group of people who spoke. "Most of the faces seem blurry, so I assume the memory is hazy here except for these people." The leading mage spoke as he motioned to the smaller group closest to the gazebo. "We have a few clues or notes that can potentially lead us to answers, or the whole truth, I think."
"Light magic is a rare attribute to have." Dorothy commented as she spun the scenario forward to show the spell again. "It wasn't small, and came from above them. Almost like the caster knew the people were here and had prepared it."
"What about that thing?" Marx pointed to a hill on the other side of the spell from them, where a blurry mass was floating in the air.
"That had to be where the attack came from." Julius assumed. "A vantage spot to make sure your attack wouldn't have any survivors." He spoke with a sour tone. "I think we have enough to return to the others." He moved towards Dorothy with Marx, and the three noticed Wilhelm hadn't moved from his spot several meters away. "Wilhelm?"
The teen had paused ever since the memory started, feeling a sort of happiness to see these people he never recognized, speaking to a person who has his face with kindness and familiarity. But once the attack happened and he saw these people get hurt, he felt anger, a deep rage at the damage done to them. He didn't know who did this attack, but he knew that he hated them, and had a desire to hurt them for this. He didn't notice it, but his pupils began to take a noticeable oval shape and a tingle of yellow appeared in his irises.
Dorothy gained a worried look. "Hey Wilhelm, we're going back to the castle now."
The teen snapped from his thoughts, and turned to the other three, his eyes completely normal by the time he faced them. "Sorry, I was just thinking."
"That's fine, this is some heavy subject matter." Julius worried that they may be making the child see too much death and dark matters in a short time. "If you'd like to take a break once we return, that's okay. I advise it really."
Wilhelm got next to them and shook his head. "I'm fine."
The man made an expression like he doubted the truth of that, but went along with it. "Okay."
"Back to the castle!" Dorothy announced and clapped her hands. As soon as her hands connected, a bright flash of light engulfed the group and they were gone
A flash of light appeared in the meeting room and the four reappeared close to the spots they had left from.
"We're back, and have gotten a good amount of information we think may explain this situation." Julius announced. "However before I disclose it, I am issuing an order that none of this leaves the room. That and I think Wilhelm should get some rest, all this heavy subject matter can't be good for a child." He pulled out his communication tool.
Before Julius could use the tool, Wilhelm spoke. "I'm fine though."
"Wilhelm you shouldn't rush back into things." Fuegoleon stated. "Your body is still recovering from Crete and I assume your mentality is as well."
The teen decided against arguing with everyone, and let Julius call for one of the guards of the castle who could guide him back to the room he had woken up in.
Once the duo was gone, Julius clasped his hands together on the table and spoke in a serious tone. "I repeat once again, for Wilhelm's safety, that nothing of this will spread outside this room."
"You have our word." Half the captains spoke and ended up leaning forward to listen more, taking the change in demeanor of their leader as a sign to take this absolutely to heart.
"While in Dorothy's Glamour World we did uncover multiple clues and things of interest, but most importantly was something at the end of our time there. One of the two memories was a scene of a tragic massacre, and while we investigated it Wilhelm just looked at the scene. I felt a spark of mana sour up in the child."
"I felt it too, and could feel his emotions and I think they caused that." Dorothy added. "He felt so angry."
"Did that have anything to do with the cloud you pictured around him?" The Magic Emperor asked as he recalled the moment.
"That was… I think Wilhelm is cursed."
"What did you see?" Nozel asked.
"With my Glamour World spell I am able to connect myself mentally to others and their thoughts, and basically look into their soul." The Dream Mage explained. "I looked at his and saw darkness. I saw what looked like an empty soul with something sinister behind it."
"So a dark cloud on his soul." Julius made a 'hmmm' sound. "Wilhelm was cursed for sure, and the curse has caused him to be plagued with negative mana. I felt that magic energy before and couldn't miss it."
"So the foreigner has practiced taboo acts to gain mana." Gueldre stated.
"No no no." Dorothy made an X with her arms. "Wilhelm absolutely did not consciously do anything like that!"
The Magic Emperor thought for a second. "He wasn't aware of it from what I observed."
"He's just a poor child who was abused and then cursed somehow." Dorothy defended the kid.
"Why are you so defensive of this kid all of a sudden?" Gueldre asked.
"Why are you so against the kid?" Yami asked before Dorothy could respond. "Most everyone who has actually held a conversation with the runt seem to trust him, including two people who read his mind."
"So what do we do about his curse?" Fuegoleon decided to skip past any bickering to get to solutions.
"I believe the answer to how to counter it, and eventually remove it, lies in those gems and the memories he gets from them." The Magic Emperor started. "I have theories around this situation, and reincarnation seems likely as something that happened and caused this hold on his soul. So he may actually have natural mana for all we know, but due to the use of reincarnation magic it's buried under the negative effects of this spell on him. For now I don't want Wilhelm to leave this castle. His mental state during the use of the mana in Crete and his actions imply that he loses reason and control of himself. I want one or two of you to find a way to get him to trigger it, and either help him learn to control it, find a way to suppress, or deem if it is not possible for him to control."
"So beat the snot out of a kid and make him toughen up?" Yami asked, before exhaling a chuckle. "Sounds fun."
Dorothy turned to Nozel and gave him a look, which the man noticed and knew what she was silently telling him. The man gave a sigh and raised his hand up slightly. "I can assist the foreigner in deeming if the other foreigner is an issue or just a nuisance."
"Excellent, you two work on that when Wilhelm is given more time to recover. I'll put this down as a mission for the both of you." Julius informed them.
"Now I'm getting paid to do this? Even better." Yami grinned.
"What about the rest of us?" Fuegoleon asked.
"The business we discussed in the last meeting still applies. However, due to a surprise bit of information from Wilhelm's gem memory, I would like you to check on your cousin Fuegoleon. Mimosa I mean."
"Mimosa? What does she have to do with this?" The elder Vermillion showed confusion.
Julius waved an arm to Marx who used his magic to project his own memory for them to all see, and showed them when Wilhelm's memories were investigated in Dorothy's Dream Magic. The conversation following the events of the group recognizing the girl in the vision as similar to, or actually, Mimosa. Some members of the meeting showed different reactions to seeing the person who looked like the young Vermillion.
"So is that the future or past?" Fuegoleon asked. "I initially believed Wilhelm was possibly seeing a past life but with her there… this creates a bit of confusion."
"It could possibly be an ancestor of hers, or perhaps Wilhelm is experiencing visions of the future. We do know however that there are four people in the event that we have information to go by; Wilhelm himself, who we can get answers from by finding these stones, Mimosa, and two others. Those last two are known as Fana and Raia." Julius said the names and Marx changed his projected memory to one where he was looking at the named people's faces. "I admit never seeing these people by even chance before, but their names were said and that gives us something to go on. I'd like for everyone to discreetly look into investigating people with these names to figure out their origins. If this is a terrible future I would like to prevent it. If it is somehow a past event I would like to understand how it connects Wilhelm to this kingdom, or how a member of the royal family connects to it as well. With what appears to be a sinister attack, and a curse on Wilhelm's soul, it is something that has to be treated with the utmost care."
"Understood." All the captains nodded.
"Also, could one of you give Wilhelm his bird back." Julius turned to Nozel and Yami.
"His what now?" The foreign captain asked.
"What importance does an anti-bird have?" Nozel asked.
"The anti-bird, its name is Nero, was injured in Crete and what pushed Wilhelm over the edge to gain that cursed mana." Julius explained.
"It's with one of my squad members." Charlotte answered, having remembered seeing Sol with it the other day. "I can get it back to him by the end of the day."
"That's all I have for now. I'll write out finer details over this matter and send them to you all later, make sure to not let the information leak at all. This should be kept silent for his own safety while we understand the situation."
All the captains nodded. "Understood."
Wilhelm sat in the room he had previously woken up from his coma in, and stared at what he held in his hands. He hadn't noticed it before when he was in that room but his grimoire had been on the nightstand. Out of curiosity he had grabbed the book to check his stats and stopped when he saw something wrong. Previously the cover of his book had been a plain dark green, plain and only showing a light gray three leafed clover on the front. The clover had blackened halfway, and parts of the green cover had blackened like it was either burned or aged. It was minor changes, barely noticeable, but Wilhelm looked at the cover and knew something wasn't right. A feeling told him that something went wrong, because of events in Crete.
The teen brushed off his negativity and opened the cover to read the first page again, and saw something was indeed wrong. All the text and writing on the page was no longer readable to the teen. He swiped to the next page, and the text was the same indecipherable mess. Every page, every line, he tried to read was all the same. The book had become as useless to him as any other person's grimoire.
All his negativity came back and the teen threw his grimoire at the wall in frustration. Cursing, the teen moved to grab his grimoire, and slid down against the wall to sit next to the book. Picking it up, he looked at it again and wondered why something like this happened again.
Once again fate decided to screw with him and take away another chance for him to be stronger or matter in any way than just being the outsider. He had to be cursed somehow, a being just set up to have terrible experiences because there wasn't any other reasonable explanation for everything that keeps happening to him. He looked at the ruined grimoire and asked himself a question out loud, a question he knew wouldn't be answered but needed to be.
"What am I?"
Part II: Who I am
A/N: Let's go! Finally returned for Part 2 of the story! This is exciting for me because part two is what I think will be the best part of the story, even with the stuff that happens after it in mind. Excited to get working on this and will try to deliver some great material.
It's been a while since I was here, so I won't really respond to reviews as much this time but welcome people to communicate in the future because I'll definitely respond. PM me if you guys got any questions.
I laugh as once again I completely left Rill out of the captains meeting and someone pointed that out the first time. Did it again almost as a joke and also I just didn't know what lines or stance to give him in it so I just opted to act like he either wasn't there or just there for the attendance award.
As I say at the bottom of every chapter, I have a discord server with the link in my Bio. We can discuss things there more smoothly than on this site because I admittedly on chronically on Discord making dumb jokes with people, or arguing manga stuff with a group.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the coming part, let me know how it was and have a good day!