Voices in the dark.
"Subject 17… is a complete success, my Lord." A man wrapped in robes stated his fascination and satisfaction.
Beside the robed man stood a giant—nay—Titan. With eyes that seem to peer through everything and inhabit the glittering cosmos itself.
He who witnessed the rise and fall of men.
Larger than Life. Such a description does not even do justice to the majesty of the man.
The golden titan, wrapped in both mystique and mediocrity, neither of which contradicted each other, began to speak.
"Successful…huh…" He spoke with such indifference and coldness.
For he was jaded about the nature of Men.
"Star General Mechantarius said the same thing to me when we constructed the Legions of Iron that dominated the swirling stars of the galaxy." The golden titan spoke with such mirth. A man on the peak of being hopeless yet hopeful at the same time.
The stars were mankind's destiny to conquer.
"Then, the stars started to fall. Treachery became the norm. Man warred with his own creation."
Thousand suns were devoured. The jewel colonies of men across the galaxy were sundered.
"Hyperion, a world of floating civilizations, is a testament to mankind's scientific marvel and their specialization in commerce. Aetheria, the glowing world where humans dared to synthesize warpcraft and robotics, furthering mankind's dominance across the stars.Galaxia, the iron fortress that is guarded by thousands of Castigator Titans and where the famous Star Generals and Warrior-Scientists trained to fight the wars of the Great Federation. Helios IV, the planet where the Federation gets its minerals to built their Legions of Iron, Titans, ships, and the self-replicating Omniphages…" The golden Titan said absentmindedly.
The golden age of Men. Where Heroes and Gods wander the Galaxy.
"One story I wrote…Frankenstein, was it?...comes to my mind." The giant was speaking to the robed man.
"Heh. But the disappointing parts were not the betrayal or even the extermination of humans by the Xenos during the galactic Chaos. It was the intense depravity and vanity that mankind showed during those trying times. The Golden Age wasn't just undone because of the naiveté of a young species. It is the combination of naivety and degeneracy that ensured its downfall."
The Great Federation became disconnected. The Akashic Records were corrupted and destroyed beyond repair. Gigantic warp rifts appeared across human colonies. The Xenos began their counterattacks. Tyrants took power using their own weapons and technologies. Techno-Barbarians started to appear. Anarchy takes the place of Order. The veil of the Long Night unfurled its dark curtains to Men.
The Golden Titan touched the pommel of his Sword.
An unmatched Archeotech that puts every other blade to shame.
"Will it happen again?" The illuminated giant wandered outloud.
For the Night is dark and full of terrors.
"My Lord…" The robed man murmured quietly.
"Forgive me for my sentimentalities my friend." The golden giant suddenly said.
"…What were the qualities that you imbued to the Subject XVII?" the robed man changed the topic.
The golden Titan made a melancholic smile.
"The two things that kept me going for thousands of years."
Those moments when everything and everyone, even the women he genuinely loved, doubted him.
"Purity and Zeal."
The double-edged sword, either born of hate or love, for the survival of Man.
.
.
.
And then XVII woke up.
=][=
"Now, what will I do with you, protagonist-san?" A child's voice echoed.
Cid Kagenou was not a normal boy by any means.
In his last life, he was aware that he was not normal. After all, what normal child would dream of beating a nuclear bomb as an individual?
Such mentality can lead people to become heroes or deranged mental patients. Or probably both.
Indeed, compared to some of his peers, he is unhinged. That is why he died in the first place.
He chased magic and, in turn, was brutally hit by a locomotive. And then, there was nothingness.
And then there was the Golden Light he saw after the nothingness.
But nevertheless, he was thankful. After all, his dream can be fulfilled in this world.
To be a fighter in the shadows, unthanked and unloved.
Perhaps his dream was nonsense and remarkably strange, but nevertheless…
His conviction is genuine.
For all of his life, he admired heroes, but he yearned for something more complex.
The Knight in the Dark.
But for that to happen, he needs a genuine hero. And that is not him.
And the orange star appeared in the dark of the night, crashing in front of him.
But after he delivered him to his safezone (more like a ruined shack) on the outskirts of his family's estate, he did not know what to do.
He has not created a script for this! Maybe he could—
The boy he carried and placed on the ground of the ruined shack started to shake, showing signs of waking up.
'Ah shit! Please let this work." Cid thought frantically.
Cid immediately grabbed an empty box beside the wall of the ruined shack. Big enough for a child to sit on.
He placed the box a little distance away from the unconscious little boy.
Then he sits on it with his back facing the unconscious being.
'Please work this time. I hope those hours spent observing and analyzing the mob characters, expository NPCs and historical books that I've read weren't for nothing.' Cid thought rather desperately. After all, it is a meeting with the protagonist of the story for him.
Then, the bald little boy started to twitch. To be honest, he was rather small, like a little less than an inch shorter than him.
"Mmm….gah!" The little boy groaned and clutched his head with his small left hand.
'Okay, let's do this!' Cid finalized it in his head and readied himself.
"You have finally woken up." Cid said stoically, as if it were expected in the first place.
=][=
'My head hurts..." "XVII" said with a groan while clutching his head.
He was about to rise up until he heard a voice—
"You've finally woken up." The dark-haired child—no—Cid Kagenou, if he remembers it right, started speaking.
"…" The little bald child stared but did not speak.
"…I guess you are confused. I would be too if I were in your position." Cid Kaganou nodded with understanding.
"Do you know why you crashed in this specific place?" Cid asked.
"I..ah..I don't know." The child answered rather pitifully, like a wild animal out of his depth.
"Is that so…" The dark-haired boy, after hearing his answer, replied.
Cid Kagenou was…strange. He is a young child, certainly not past the adolescent stage, if what his head tells him is right. He seemed to know something by the way he talked and postured himself.
"You were sent here for a reason." The older boy, Kagenou, spoke with such certainty that it put the hardest of steel to shame.
'What?' The golden child thought with absolute incredulity and astonishment.
Cid, upon seeing the bewilderment of the child, simply continued.
"This world is complacent. It does not know the machinations of those in the dark. The predator in the blackest recesses of this realm." The older, dark-haired boy stated with such intensity.
Such intensity sets fire to the coldest reaches.
"These machinations, fueled by dark desires and twisted emotions and ambitions, insidiously prey on the innocent, the honorable, and the vulnerable." Cid continued, uninterrupted.
The little golden child listened attentively. Although confusion is still ever present in his eyes.
"These men, who worshipped ruthlessness, vanity, mindless progress, and debauched change were a great bastion of fuel for the dark deities within the soul of man."
The horror from the dark.
"Countless heroes fought against the dark. Arthur Pendragon, Gilgamesh of Uruk, Herakles, and that certain Sage Carpenter who danced with the Dark Serpent in the desert." Cid Kagenou continued his intense narrative.
"But even those illustrious noble heroes weren't enough, as the darkness is entrenched within the hearts of men. For evil cannot be purged externally. As long as Man exists, evil will not be killed." The dark-haired boy spoke with such lamentation.
For the hearts of men are utterly corrupt and muddied.
The bald child was attentive and listened to the words of the older child in front of him. His mind understands. Even though a child like him, fresh from the pod, has neither the right nor the capability to comprehend such things.
"And now, moving forward to the present, the people paid the price for their ignorance of this evil. Knights grew weak, kings became impotent, princesses worshipped debauchery, and the nobility became obsessed with decadence. And the world became worse as a result." The Kagenou child is now nearing the climax of his own narrative.
The golden fledgling listened, nodding his head in understanding but never speaking or interrupting.
"Blood of the heroes are now so scarce. In fact, for the last hundreds of years, not a single hero has risen to prominence. The bloodlines of the noble heroes from thousands of years ago have seemingly just completely disappeared!" Cid's tone has taken on a much more sinister tone.
"The blood of the Dragon-slaying King, the Giant-Killer Mercenary, and the Swiftblade Bloodline which of familial members distinguished themselves for their authentic and pragmatic sword style, and many more bloodlines disappeared like ghosts!" Cid's voice was laced with outright disbelief, as if the stated notion were impossible and an insult to reality itself.
The younger child seems to agree with the incredulity.
'Hundred of years? No heroes present? Great Noble Houses of Heroes simply disappeared? Such theoretical seems impossible. It doesn't make any sense.
Heretical and smells of malicious schemes.
"You get the gist, right? You are normal. You can understand such complications." The dark-haired child said rhetorically.
"…" The golden fledgling seems to shake a little.
'How does he know so much?' He simply nodded, neither an affirmation or a decline to the question.
"In the present, this vibrant world is merely an illusion about the realities. That the all-consuming darkness are winning without appearing in the public eye. The desires of men, their lust, greed, envy, and ambitions, are further cultivated by the darkness, the dark gods, themselves." Cid continued.
"In fact, one such organization exists. An organization that works for the dark, lives for the dark, and wallows in the dark. The organization that seeks to replace the Holy Order of things into Dark Chaos." Cid Kagenou stops. The climax is here.
"The Cult of Diabolos." The dark-haired boy grimly stated.
Those who dived into the dark and were swallowed by the dark.
"The name of the cult wasn't in any books, but they influenced the history of this world. The assassination of Argus Basterreich, the heroic mercenary King of the now defunct land of Austerlan, the miserable death of Cassius Swiftblade, the Vampire Bane, and the death of the late Phoenix King, Claude Midgar, almost a century ago due to ""sickness""…" The boy continued to list admirable heroes who seemingly died of both ignoble and miserable deaths.
"…The Cult…" The bald little child stated the obvious.
The Machinations in the Dark.
"The Diabolos Cult… I don't know what kind of God they serve, but surely, it's the god of scheming isn't it? Or probably not just that, Ehehe!" Cid stated rather humorously, as if to lighten the situation.
"…: The golden boy simply blinked his eyes.
"The Cult of Diabolos. It is MY DUTY to fight them. The one burden I'm willing to take. I know the name of their organization, but I do not know their ultimate goal. But nevertheless, it is my burden to fight them in the dark." The dark-haired boy's words were stone cold and steel hard.
"…Duty…" The child-who-glowed murmured under his breath, respect and acknowledgment apparent in his eyes.
Whether the dark-haired boy speaking to him heard it or not, he did not make it apparent.
"And now, as the world is being plunged to the darkest depths, an orange star appeared. YOU appeared!" Cid abruptly stands up, faces him in the eye, and pointed at him with such intensity.
"…Me?" The bald child finally spoke.
"Indeed! I thought I would face this struggle alone. That with this darkness, no one would stand with me." The Kagenou child spoke with such sincerity.
"But you crashed here. In this eve of the coming darkness. To perhaps, deliver hope."
His eyes, though young, contains a flicker of hope
"…h-ho-hope?" The golden fledgling's very being shook hard.
I am not a mistake of fate.
"Perhaps you have a role, just like I have my own burdens. You have your own cross to bear." The dark-haired child said with a reassuring smile.
"…Role?" The little bald child thought with wonder in his eyes.
"Indeed. My duty is to fight in the dark. To use darkness itself to destroy dark machinations. To purge the servants of the dark in hidden places. But fighting the servants of the dark wasn't going to change anything." The boy spoke with such desperation.
"The dark evil that is ever present within the corrupted hearts and souls of man. Such darkness cannot be purged by swords and rational mind alone." And then the dark haired boy looked and stared at the golden child.
He stared with such hopefulness, just like how that man from the Ancient Galilea hoped for a Savior.
"Then there is you! The moment I saw you within those ruins, it's like fate itself offered salvation from the evil, the dark, the heathens, and the heretics. It was the moment that I knew, YOU are capable of doing that mission." He spoke with such desperation, like a man who found an oasis in the midst of a scorching desert.
"...Mission?" Now, the golden fletching was utterly taken in to his words.
"Indeed. You can PURIFY the darkness within the hearts of men. To purge the same darkness out of their hearts! To be the Light in the mote of darkness!"
Purify.
The word itself is the one that made the Golden Child widen his eyes completely.
Within the little child, something RESONATED. From the deepest of his being, that word did something to him. Like a lock that has found its key, something was made complete. Down to his last bit of gene, that word quaked everything.
Purification laced with fire and conviction.
There are no more explanation needed. It was enough. Heart laid bare is already enough.
"Can I ask your name again?" the golden fledgling asked again, with respect in his eyes and tone.
"Cid Kagenou." The dark-haired child replied.
The golden child nodded respectfully.
"How about you? What is your name? Is it true that you had no name? That's what you said to me earlier." the dark-haired boy asked.
"Indeed. I-I don't have one..." The little child with a shiny head replied.
"Hmm...did you think of one?" Cid asked.
"I-I don't think that is proper. Shouldn't your name be given to you by someone? Why don't you give me a name?" the golden child suggested.
Cid simply shook his head.
"It would be disrespectful to the lines of destiny itself were I to give you a name. Your fate is what you create. To give yourself a name is a symbol of purity itself." Cid spoke with such fire in his voice.
"I-Is that so? Th-then I choose my name to be umm..." The golden being hesitated. He does not know what to name. Until his mystically forged mind and soul did something. The names of many people flow into his head.
The names of Mystical Men famed for their purity of conviction.
Names of men who never backed down against the world.
Names of men, that, when forged in a single being by mystical or material means, would produce the personification of purity itself.
For Reason is not enough.
But one name stood out against the rest.
The man who fought against the world, not by words but by ideas and belief itself.
"I name myself—
For that man, even in the midst of decadent priests, greedy politicians, and heretical debauched minds, never once wavered in his conviction. In what he believes is right and true.
—Athanasius." And so the golden being named himself.
Cid widened his eyes a bit. Like he remembered something a long time ago. "Hmmm. A fine name indeed. But it seems incomplete.
What is your last name?" He asked the golden chi—nay—Athanasius.
"L-last name? I-I don't know..." Athanasius reluctantly replied. Cid scratched his head and then sighed.
"Fine, though I'm stepping out of my boundary. Then I will just give it to you myself. Since you are glowing, I will give you the name "Aurus" which means—"
"A Latin world for Gold." Athanasius replied unconsciously.
"H-huh!? How did you know that?" Cid asked surprisingly.
"I-I don't know! It just came naturally." Athanasius responded hurriedly, confused at the moment.
Cid coughed twice.
"Ehem. Never mind. But Athanasius Aurus, I will ask something of you." Cid stated
"...What is it?" Athanasius replied.
"I will be the shadow to your light. Though I am in no position to ask but..." Cid raised his right hand to reach out to the golden child... and opened his palms.
The breaking of the dawn was made a thousand times more beautiful by the simple acts of two men.
"Will you help me out?"
Athanasius Aurus looked at the hand reaching out to him.
He did not take it immediately. But he said words that sent chills down the back of the dark-haired child.
"I will purify this world of its evilness within. I will blot out the darkness of the night with millions of burning stakes. So that no evil will dare to make their machinations."
His eyes contained madness...and righteous anger.
Cid seemed to nod, a bit disoriented, but he said the words all the same without flinching.
"For the night is dark—
He was cut off by Athanasius, who began to glow.
—And full of terrors."
Echoing the same notion within his dream before waking up. The two little boys took each other's hands, smiling.
In the midst of a ruined shack and lush green field—a place where madness and righteousness intertwined.
A brotherhood was formed.
The darkness of the night was being sundered.
Athanasius glowed harder.
And the light cuts through the dark skies, symbolizing a new tomorrow.
=][=
Note: Athanasius is a famous Roman Catholic Saint that defended the Orthodox Christian faith against the Arians and the Gnostics during the 4th Century in Rome. He was famously known as "Athanasius Contra Mudum" or Athanasius Against the World. He got this title because he was persecuted endlessly and exiled at every place by the Arian heretics who is using the power of politicians and the gnostics who were too arrogant to share their knowledge and faith. He fought the Arians with unrelenting zeal and debates.
Also, Now the Second Chapter is finished! Also, Cid was bullshitting along the way. He think that it's a frakking roleplay that the Primarch just jumped on to not offend Cid.