A.N. (4/18/23) - Consecutive chapter release to make up for last Friday. Check out the last chapter if you haven't read it already.
Atlas (21) - Development
As Marcus paused his story, the two listeners took a moment to gather their thoughts.
"What a cruel and incredible story," he said. "To think that something like this was happening in a place beyond our awareness… hm? Rin, is something wrong?"
But Rin was unable to hear him. Her thoughts were whirling around everything she just learned from the assassin's confession. At the center of those thoughts was a single name, one that evoked such a powerful reaction from her it was as if her soul itself was drawn to it.
Emilia, she thought to herself. That name… I know it somehow. For some reason, that name means something to me.
And yet, the exact details eluded her like sand slipping through her fingers. Despite everything she knew about the Fate series, there was always going to be details that she missed simply due to the large amount of information available regarding the different aspects of the setting. But somehow, she knew that this was something else. Rather than forgetting a crucial piece of information, it was as if her thoughts were being forced away from the subject.
Almost as if something was preventing her from reaching the truth of the matter.
The curse, Rin realized. There must be a security measure in place to safeguard certain pieces of information.
Except that enough was a clue. The fact that whoever placed the curse on her thought that this piece of news was important enough to omit from her mind told her that it was more significant than she realized. Somehow, the truth behind the identity of the person known as Emilia would reveal to her the reason she was sent to this world.
All she needed to do was remove the impedance that was the curse keeping hold of her mind.
"Salem." Rin tested the waters. "Does that word mean anything to you?"
"Hm?" Marcus gave her a blank look. "No, that doesn't ring a bell. Should it?"
If she were to simply judge by the look on his face, it would be hard to tell if Marcus was telling the truth. Not that it helped that he was still temporarily possessing a rabbit plushie. But Rin was using her mystic eye to read his emotions, so she knew for a fact that he was telling the truth.
Still, the knowledge that she was doing something without her or anyone in Ozpin's circle being aware of it was unsettling. Was this another unexpected change caused by her presence, or did Salem do something like this originally without her being aware of it?
"Never mind that," Ironwood interrupted. "We'll have to address the matter of the temple and black substance later. The fact that we learned that Callows is working behind the scenes on something is already informative enough, but we still have yet to hear how you eventually came into contact with the Crown."
For a moment, she almost forgot that was the reason behind their visit here.
"Those guys?" Marcus scoffed. "Well, it's not like they're unrelated to what I just told you. After I escaped the collapsing temple, I wandered around the desert for a while trying to find a place to rest. That fight took a lot out of me, and I didn't exactly have any way to navigate the area once Emilia was gone. Eventually, I was overcome by exhaustion and nearly on the brink of collapse. That was when I met them…"
}-{
Things were looking bad for him.
Maybe it was a bad idea for Marcus to continue searching for any more ruins instead of heading back to civilization. But he couldn't help it, the incident from a few days ago was still fresh in his mind. There was a burning desire within him that made him seek out an answer to what he just went through. That same desire fueled his stubbornness to discover the truth rather than leave.
And now, he was paying the price for that decision.
He was dehydrated and starving. His mind was whispering to him incoherently, something he passed off as delusions caused by heatstroke. Every now and then, he would recall the words of Tyrian during their battle. As if a curse was placed on his mind, a compulsion that held his heart and kept him from forgetting everything that happened.
The faunus gave him a clue on where to search next, the name of the temple being related to someone with the title of Sunderer. In Vacuo, the obvious answer to a person who was given that epithet would be Malik the Sunderer, otherwise known as the first king of Vacuo.
If the temple he was at before truly was his tomb, then maybe there were places nearby that were once part of a large town or civilization that he ruled over. Going through the notes given to him by Merlot did not give him many clues, so he was forced to search on foot if he hoped to find anything useful.
Not only that but there was a high chance that he would find Tyrian in places similar to the temple. If those kinds of places were meant to act as some kind of bait for other girls like Emilia, then maybe he could take advantage of that and find the damn bastard as well. Thoughts of revenge clouded his mind for a moment, only to wash away as another wave of exhaustion overtook him.
A loud cawing sound rang above him.
"For fuck's sake!" He forced his body to move and dodge the plunge of a large Nevermore. "I really do not need this right now."
Even if he wasn't already tired and worn out from the past few days, Marcus would find himself hard-pressed going up against a large aerial foe like a Nevermore. Fighting Grimm wasn't the same as going up against humans or faunus. He wasn't a huntsman after all, but an assassin.
His arm strength would not be enough to toss his knives far enough to reach the Grimm, and he was too tired to continue dodging forever. Eventually, either his stamina would run dry and leave him open to attack from the Nevermore or he would attract attention from even more Grimm the longer this continued.
"To arms!"
An unknown voice echoed from behind him, and Marcus blinked in surprise as several people moved past him to confront the Grimm. They were a rag-tagged group, and colorful enough that he doubted they were a regular patrol group of a wandering tribe. No, it was more likely that they were some type of huntsmen team instead.
His guess was verified once they began displaying the skills expected of the occupation, easily handling the Nevermore with ease as the combatants engaged it. Within minutes, the large bird gave out its final cry as it crashed to the ground with numerous wounds, its body dissipating into the sand beneath it.
"Are you okay?" It was a young man. He was a small thin figure with black hair pulled back into a ponytail. "We noticed that someone was being attacked, and I had my friends move ahead to assist you the second we did. You're lucky that we were around to save you. It's rare to find any travelers in these parts of the desert."
Marcus relaxed his body, despite maintaining his caution. "I suppose I am. Thanks for helping me out then."
"No problem." The young man smiled and held out a hand. "My name is Jax Asturias. It's nice to meet you."
"Marcus Black."
He accepted the handshake, and for a moment, it felt as if something was supposed to happen. Again, the whispers from before echoed in his head, but Marcus dismissed them. Jax frowned but quickly smiled once again and spoke cheerfully to him.
"Well, I'm curious as to why exactly there's someone else around these parts. Judging by your clothing, you don't seem to be a native of Vacuo."
"I'm looking for something," Marcus replied. "Places of historic significance to King Malik around here. My boss is interested in ruins, so he hired me to investigate on his behalf."
"Malik, you say?" Jax blinked. "Well, that's a mighty coincidence then. My friends and I are here to look into him as well."
That came as a surprise to him. What were the chances that he would run into a group that was also interested in investigating the same person he was? For a moment, he suspected that they were someone related to Tyrian, but he dismissed the thought. While the possibility was there, it seemed that the group before him was composed of people around the age of recent graduates from a huntsmen academy if their appearance was any indication. It was hard to imagine Tyrian working with a group like this, but Marcus figured that it wouldn't hurt to keep his guard up either way.
"If you're interested, how about joining us on our search? Truthfully, we're here to investigate a place that supposedly holds some of the treasures that King Malik held in life. While I was able to gather a group of close-minded friends, we didn't exactly have enough resources to hire more huntsmen to join us."
The offer was suspicious, but Marcus saw no reason to not accept. "I'll be glad to join you."
"Great!" Jax beamed at him. "Then I'll introduce you to the rest of my team. First off, you should talk with the other leader of our group, Gillian Asturias."
"Any relation to you?"
"My twin sister," he confirmed. "She's pretty much in charge along with me, and her Semblance is a real help to our team. It's pretty much the entire reason we feel confident enough to travel here to investigate."
Marcus forced himself to cool his expression from allowing his irritation to show. Even when he was young, he always thought that those who relied heavily on powerful Semblances to carry through all their problems were annoying to deal with. In most cases, those people were often overconfident to the point of arrogance, and their personalities became affected by such traits.
Of course, that wasn't always the case. Meeting Gillian, he realized that she was most likely one of those cases who still carried a trace of caution and intelligence with every move she made.
"Next time, it would be better to run decisions like this past me." She sighed. "Well, it's not like I disagree with my brother's decision. We'll be glad to have you join us, Mister Black."
"Just Marcus is fine. I hear that you're the other person in charge of everyone."
"Jax and I take on different duties. I handle more of the managerial side of things, although the reality is that our responsibilities often overlap when trouble arises."
"Are you all from Shade Academy?"
"You guessed it. Everyone here has huntsmen training, but it's only recently that we got involved in ruin diving and archaeology. Having someone with experience in that area would be a real help to us."
"Oh." Apparently, they have mistaken him for a seasoned archaeologist or something similar. "Well, I'll be glad to provide guidance on anything that might need it. Although, I believe that you already have a destination in mind. Would you mind giving me more information on where it is that you're headed?"
"Not at all. We're interested in finding something that belonged to Malik himself. According to the legends, it's supposedly a treasured tool of his that embodied how he ruled as King when he was still alive. We believe that it is located somewhere within this area, but we're having trouble pinpointing exactly where it might be."
As she spoke, Gillian unfurled a map and showed it to him, revealing several lines and scribbles that revealed which parts of the desert they already explored. The map itself was not one based on the current landscape but was modeled after what the land would have looked like a thousand years ago when Malik was still alive. Marcus took a moment to take in all the information, but something in his mind clicked the longer he looked at it.
"Everything flows," he muttered. "Traces of civilization would be located in power spots that hold meaning to the people of the past. Even if the past is no longer the same as the present, some places remain in areas that resist the passage of time."
"What do you mean?"
It was a level of inspiration that he never experienced before, and it was as if there was a voice in his mind whispering to him the answers he needed.
"How about this place?" He pointed at a spot on the map. "I think I went past this place earlier. It's a natural cave system that spans quite a distance, but I didn't want to risk entering it since I was running out of supplies. Traveling through it might take a few days, but you don't seem to have explored that area yet."
"Hm, I suppose that's as good a place as any. Very well, we'll leave for this place once we finish preparations."
Again, he heard voices in his mind whispering to him to listen.
"If you say so."
Over the next few days, the group eventually began warming up to him as they realized that Marcus was contributing a lot more than they expected. Somehow without even him realizing it, he transformed into a capable specialist that could navigate to their destination and figure out clues and traps with ease.
What's going on? Marcus asked himself. Since when did I learn how to do all of this?
It was suspicious as hell, but whatever the reason behind these newfound skills of his was not something that he could figure out on his own.
The only person who remained cautious of him the entire time he stayed with their group was Jax himself. He tried to hide it, but Marcus did not miss the suspicious looks he received from the younger man when he thought he was being subtle. For whatever reason, Jax maintained this wary outlook of Marcus even as he kept that fake pleasant smile on his face whenever the two of them interacted.
Eventually, they found the entrance to the cave system that Marcus went past before and went into its depths.
Any Grimm that they encountered were swiftly taken down by members of their team, and he later learned that the reason they were so capable was that Gillian was using her Semblance to boost their Aura. It was an ability that Marcus found useful, although he wondered exactly why everyone seemed to defer to Jax almost equally to his sister despite not revealing any similarly useful abilities.
The days passed until they finally reached their destination. A stone vault of some kind at the end of a maze that had similar architectural designs to the temple that Marcus explored with Emilia before.
"Head and heart," he realized. "The vault door has indentations that are located at the top and center of the wall. We likely need keys of some kind to open this vault."
"I suppose that is where we come in."
Stepping forward, Gillian suddenly revealed two objects that were previously wrapped in white cloth. It was hard to make out in the dim light, but Marcus realized that they were some kind of stone fragments in the shape of the indentations in the vault door.
She placed them in the door, and the moment she did so the place shook.
"It's working!"
The vault slowly opened to reveal its contents, and Gillian took the lead as she shone her torch around to see inside the room.
"Well, it seems that everyone here won't be pressed for money anytime soon."
Inside the vault, the place was filled to the brim with numerous valuables and objects. Every one of the treasures here would net anyone a high sum of cash, and that was ignoring the potential historical significance that would increase the price if sold to a collector.
"Well, that's something." Jax walked ahead. "But I'm looking for the real prize here."
Marcus was distracted by all the treasures around him, so he didn't see exactly what Jax picked up. But once he looked back, he bore witness to the wide smile on the young man's face as he held something in his hand.
"It's real," Jax breathed. "It's actually real. The proof of his existence and the power of his legacy!" He turned around. "Gather the rest of the treasures, we've found what we're looking for."
Curious as to what he meant by that, he was pulled aside by Gillian before he could ask Jax to clarify.
"I can't tell you enough how grateful we are for all that you've done to help us these past few days," Gillian began. "And it seems that your skills are something we desperately need. I hope that it's not presumptuous of me to request that we work together in the near future. While cases like today won't be as common, there are other services that we might hire you for if you're interested."
"I'll talk to my boss about it," Marcus replied. "But sure, I don't mind working with your group again if it means that I encounter benefits like this."
"Speaking of which…" She placed a hand on his arm, and he realized a moment later what she was about to do. Within seconds, he could feel his Aura increasing in magnitudes as she used her Semblance on him. "This is merely another gift for everything that you've done. It won't last forever, but consider this another incentive for working with us in the future."
He opened and closed his hand, feeling the newfound power coursing through his body.
"Well," he said. "I can get used to this."
It was a shame that he did not run into Tyrian again, but Jax and Gillian seemed to know a lot about places related to Malik. If he worked alongside them more, then he could continue to use them as a treasure trove of information to continue looking for more temples. Not only that, but maybe he could ask Merlot to look into what exactly that black mud was about and see how it related to Emilia.
Again, the same voices from before whispered into his ear. Without realizing it, his eyes moved to an object on the ground nearby.
Gillian noticed. "Did something catch your fancy?"
"I think so." He moved over to pick up a small bracelet. The moment that he did so, the voices in his head finally grew silent. "You don't mind if I take claim to this, do you?"
"Not at all."
Again, this chapter is to make up for the one I missed last week. It's basically wrapping up a couple of loose ends and explaining how Marcus encountered the Crown as well as his motives for why he would want to work with them. Some elements in this chapter might return in future chapters since I'm a sucker for foreshadowing. But anyway, this marks the end of the Marcus flashback chapters.
