Well, hello and welcome to this new small project I'll be doing.
Born out of an idea that refused to leave my head this will be the second fic I'll ever write, and my first time writing anything DxD-related.
Seeing as this is the prologue I have not much to say, I do however have some thanks to give.
I'll be saying thank you to my great friend 'KingOfPowers' who helped me brainstorm a lot of the ideas behind this story, this probably wouldn't have left the corners of my mind if not for you.
Another big thanks goes to my friend 'ShadowWolf223' who helped me with the description of a few things here.
Last but not least I'd like to say thank you to 'dvdryms' who's the author of 'High School DxD: Inheritor of Malevolence' for being such an inspiration when it comes to writing the world of DxD. Thank you so much for your blessing and inspiration.
So yeah... hope you'll like the story.
DISCLAIMER: I don't know if I should do this or not but whatever, I don't own anything here apart from my OCs.
May have grammar errors
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Early February, 20XX – São Paulo, Brasil
'Bell Rings'
"Class Dismissed!"
As my teacher said that I could feel everyone around me sighing in relief, a collective wave of energy was released from their being as they finally were allowed to just tuck their things away and go home.
Not that I blamed them, a day full of tests like today is capable of doing that type of thing to anyone, me included.
My name is Lucius Branco, I had light-brown skin and short hair which, to the surprise of many who asked, was naturally of a pure white color, something that was sort of a trait of my family. I also had blue eyes, standing at 1,85M in height, and an athletic build (never skipped a morning jog) I was quite the figure… or so others told me.
All in all, I'm just your ordinary 17-year-old Brazilian high school student, well, save for a couple… unusual quirks.
"Hey man"
While I was putting my things in my backpack someone approached me from the side, a teen with a very clean buzz cut wearing a white shirt and blue pants, our school uniform I was wearing the same.
"Hey Jonas" I smiled at him "Think you did well in the test?"
"I don't know man, and honestly don't even want to think about it"
Looking at Jonas I could see he had quite the defeated look on his face, and honestly, internally I wasn't feeling all that much different, Teacher Andreia never pulled any punches when it comes to her tests and today was no exception.
"Why she had to give us a Bible-long test in the middle of the week? I just can't get it!"
"We honestly should've seen this coming, after all, this isn't the first time she dropped such a bomb on us like that"
"Still…." With a shake of his head to throw these thoughts away, Jones adorned a smile and said "Let's forget about all that, I and the boys are going to the Arcades in the center to wind down a bit. Wanna come?"
…And here it was, the question I both love and dread hearing. With an awkward smile I apologetically said:
"Sorry man, not feeling like playing games today. Next time for sure though"
Picking my backpack and turning around to leave I was able to hear Jonas muttering 'There goes the same answer again…' Wincing at the sadness hidden in his voice I hastened my steps and zipped away.
Sorry Jonas, my friend, the problem isn't with you…
Leaving the school through the main gate I jogged down the street, the wind flowing through my hair as I dashed past the other students.
Doing some turns here and there I slowly but surely felt my surroundings lose some of that human energy that'd otherwise fill the air, entering an unpaved street that led to a hill with some thick greenery I could feel very clearly the sounds of the city growing just that bit more distant.
Arriving at a secret spot that allowed for a great view of my beloved city I looked around, making sure no one had followed me I sat on a nearby rock and whistled.
Rustle
Just a couple meters in front of me a bush moved and from within it a tall dog walked out.
His face was kinda long and pointy, with huge upright ears; his long shaggy fur was orange with the fur around his legs black. Also black was his mane going down the back of his neck; he was also quite tall, with his long legs the dog approached me with a certain deer-like gait and grace.
"Hey Orelha, how's my good boy?"
"▂▂ !"
With a happy smile, I extended my hand and began petting the canine before me, the dog on his end accepted the gesture of affection with an eagerness anyone that ever interacted with a dog knew all too well.
This 'dog' however wasn't a dog, but a 'wolf'… a 'Lobo-Guará' (Maned Wolf) to be more precise.
By pure chance, I came across him once some years ago, and the marvelous creature got attached to me due to some miracle. Giving him the name 'Orelha' this tropical wolf has been my best friend for some good years now, one that I was quite happy to have.
"Finally caught that rat you have been hunting, huh?"
"▂▂ ?"
"My day? The same as always"
"▂▂ ?"
"Jonas did invite me again, yeah"
"▂▂ "
"And I did say no again…"
Thinking back to the scene that happened less than ten minutes ago I couldn't help but sigh, putting a hand on my head I mentally berated myself for what happened.
Seeing what happened back there one might wonder; why did I decline Jonas's offer? Something I did many times already? Well, the answer to that is simple… yet also not.
Though I was far from being a loner, having a decent amount of friends and daily social interactions, I had this tiny problem that has been haunting me for some time now, this problem being that I-… that I feel greatly out of place.
It's quite hard to truly put into words, this feeling that I have, but since a couple of years back I had this strange feeling of 'not fitting in' around others. When looking at other people I could feel this… energy from them that almost perfectly blended with their surroundings, like a puzzle piece that smoothly went into its place.
However, when looking at myself I wouldn't get the same vibe, when interacting with others this feeling would creep into the back of my head and keep nagging me, telling me how I wasn't the same as the others around me.
Now, this wasn't making me feel like an alien walking among humans, no. I could still feel a connection with this beloved land of mine that bore me, I could still happily interact with others and have friends like any other normal youth of my age.
However…. However sometimes even though I tried to ignore it the feeling that 'I didn't fit around here' would find a way to creep up its way into my head and make me want to distance myself a bit from others.
The reason that I refused my friend Jona's invitation, not once but many times already, is exactly because of this. Not wishing to sour the fun if my 'problem' decides to rear its ugly head I recently adopted the habit of declining his offers of going out to play.
I'm quite unsure of how this feeling started to come to me, one day I was your normal Brazilian guy and in the other, I was having bouts of a sense of 'alienation'…. Well, as much normal as someone who speaks with a wolf, which is his best friend, can be.
"Oh Lord, please give me some guidance…"
Sighing in exasperation I touched the Saint George medal I had in a chain wrapped around my neck, a very dear item I had all my life, and prayed to the Heavens for guidance regarding this little problem of mine.
"▂▂ ?"
To my side my little friend Orelha sensing my inner turmoil came forward and rested his head on my lap, putting my hand on his head I gazed at those big pure eyes looking up at me and felt all my worries melting away.
"You truly have a way with words my friend" Smiling I reached towards my backpack and pulled out some apples and other fruits I asked the aunts of the kitchen early during lunch "I believe this is enough payment for today's appointment, huh?"
"▂▂▃▃!"
"I thought so"
Giving Orelha his snack I stayed there for a time playing with him, the usual fun plays you do with your dog. However looking at the reddish tint that covered the sky to the horizon and beyond I became aware of the time, double-checking the hour on my phone I saw that indeed the time for me to go home was upon me.
"Well, time to go. See you tomorrow"
" ▃▃ !"
"Yeah, you certainly will be a good boy tomorrow too"
Bidding goodbye to my canine friend I picked up my backpack and made my way down the hill, having done that many times already it was a smooth descent and I soon found myself back on the street.
Putting my awesome cardio on display I quickly made my way through the winding streets of the area, making use of a shortcut which consisted of going through an abandoned office building I in a matter of a couple of short minutes arrived back at home.
My two-story house was in a calm and safe community of the city, situated in an elevated area even from the streets you could see far away in the distance the many buildings of the bustling São Paulo, rising from the ground towards the clouds as they scrapped the sky with their titanic heights.
"Look who just arrived"
Not even five seconds after I closed the gate and stepped into the yard I heard my Dad talking to me, looking to the side I saw him tending the garden. When seeing me entering he stopped what he was doing to look at me with a smile.
As many would say my Dad and I had quite some resemblance, our height and hairstyle were the same, same case with our eyes and skin tone.
The difference lay in that I had our family's natural white hair, while his hair was black. He also sported a mighty beard, well-trimmed it was majestic in every way, and his physique was the definition of the 'Dad bod'. A middle-aged man in his forties he was wearing some beige shorts and a light-green T-shirt, along with some nice flip-flops as a final touch.
"Hi Dad" Returning the smile I walked towards him and shook his hand in proper greeting "What're you doing?"
"Just making sure my corianders are growing well, the last batch turned out not so great so this time I'm being extra careful with them" He explained to me while pointing at the plants before us.
My Dad, Pedro, was a house painter quite well known in the region, but when at home just relaxing he'd turn into a skillful gardener for his hobby, according to him he found working with the 'blessings of nature' to be quite the enjoyable endeavor.
"Sure, don't stay out too long though! I can already smell the food Mom's making from here, take too long to go inside and I'll eat your portion too!"
"'Gasp'?! You wouldn't dare!"
"Don't be so sure of that"
"What a tragedy, betrayed by my own son!"
With a grin adorning my face I did a theatrical turn and walked away, entering my home I instantly saw my Mom in the kitchen through the balcony, similar to those American kitchens, which connected it to the living room.
My Mom, like my Dad, was around her forties, she was about a head shorter than both me and him and her skin was white. Her eyes were of a light-brown tone and her hair was long and smooth, of red color it was the most beautiful set of locks in existence (Confront me if you doubt it). Her form was a bit on the chubby side, and she generally wore a beautiful yellow shirt, black pants, and a pair of sandals with an intricate flowery design.
My Mom, Beth, apart from taking care of the house and making sure both I and my Dad stayed on the line, also worked as a hairdresser in the salon of a friend of hers just five minutes down the street.
"Hello, my Queen" Still with that grin on my face I leaned over the balcony "Have I ever told you that if you opened a restaurant it'd be a huge hit with how amazing your food is? We wouldn't even need advertisement; just the intoxicating smell of this divine food drifting in the air would draw the crowd in"
"More than a thousand times already, you smooth talker" Briefly putting aside the meat she was seasoning my Mom walked to the balcony and kissed my forehead "I wonder if you go around talking to girls like that"
"What? I only speak the truth"
As I talked with my Mom the TV in the living room was showing something that caught my attention, being broadcast by the news were several cases of missing people, what most caught my attention was how almost all of them were happening around our region.
"How they hadn't caught the culprit yet?"
"Today I heard from the girls in the salon that someone that lives nearby has gone missing too"
"Serious?!"
"Very" Mom then gazed straight into my eyes with that stern look only a mother had "Be cautious from now on son. Try not to take too long to come back from school, at least for these days"
I nodded my head in return, seeing that Mom smiled in relief.
"Good. Now go up and change out of your uniform, food should be ready in a minute"
"Yes Mom"
As my Mom went back to what she was doing I turned around and went to my room on the second floor, as I walked up the stairs one particular picture on the wall inevitably entered my line of sight.
It was a very old picture still in black and white, its age had made it hard to see all its details however it was still clear enough to see that the picture was that of a handsome-looking man in a suit.
The man in the picture was my great-great-grandfather, 'Makami' also known among friends as 'Lobão'(Big Wolf), he was a Japanese man that came to Brasil amongst the first wave of immigrants that came here in the early 1900s, a curious fact as it means that technically I have Japanese blood in me.
You very likely would never guess that when looking at me, neither I nor anyone in my family has any physical features one would see in someone of Japanese descendency. Though seeing how Brasil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise to have someone in our family tree that was from the land of the rising sun.
Something interesting was that while the picture didn't show, due to its lack of colors, this Ancestor of mine was the source of my family's signature natural white hair and blue eyes.
"Hello gramps, looking sharp as always I see"
Due to its positioning on the wall, it was common for me to look at my Ancestor's picture as I went up the stairs, however, this time something strange happened.
'Some0ne Pli- He_P %E'
A wave of nausea washed over my body; my brain tingled as what appeared to be a pleading voice rumbled across my mind. The voice was quite distant, like someone across the street trying to speak through the heavy rain while the falling sky muffled the person's voice thus making it truly hard to understand.
However, like a Déjá vu abruptly as it came the feeling also quickly and abruptly went away. Leaving its unfortunate victim, me, clueless as to what the hell had just happened.
"Maybe… Maybe the case of the missing people got to me more than I thought" Shaking my head my gaze fell once again at the picture of my great-great grandfather, smiling mirthless at him I said "Sorry for the unusual display Gramps…"
After that I went forward to my room, changing out of my uniform into my normal clothes I returned downstairs and joined my Mom and Dad at the table, the sudden wave of nausea that hit me on the stairs was quickly completely forgotten by me for the rest of the day.
Little did I know that what happened that day was just the start of something that would change my life forever…
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The Next Day
"Did you guys hear? Someone from our school went missing too!"
"I heard that!"
"A friend told me it was Larissa from the 3rd C"
"That one who is always wearing that 'Hello Kitty' Beanie?"
"The very same"
"No way…"
As I walked through the school corridors all that I could hear was the people around me talking about the case of the missing people, a thing that honestly was expected seeing how even someone from our very own school had recently joined their ranks.
Early in the day, I saw some cops going around the neighborhood looking at every corner and cranny in search of any clue that could lead to the missing people, and the culprit behind all of this.
However, from what I heard no strong lead had been found yet, this culprit whoever he was could be practically said to be using some form of magic with how well the motherfucker was eluding the authorities.
'What a sly bastard…'
Though the matter regarding the missing people revolted me to my very core in the end I could do nothing about it, so to save me the stress of worrying about this I tossed the matter to the back of my head and focused again on school and the classes I had today.
Save from this strange mood that hovered above the school like a dark cloud all in all the day went about quite normally, at the end of it I went against what'd be a better judgment given the current state of things and did my usual jog some dozen blocks down the school to the hill where I go to meet my canine friend Orelha.
'Some0ne Pli- He_P %E'
Arriving at the usual spot I went forward to pet Orelha like I usually do, but just as I did that I heard the strange voice from yesterday once again inside of my mind.
"▂▃!"
At that moment however my canine friend Orelha 'barked' and with that, he helped me shake away the stupor that I was briefly in, looking at him I happily huffed his fur in appreciation for what he did.
"▂▂▃▃!"
"What's wrong boy?"
Orelha however seemed to still have something to say to me, biting the hem of my pants he attempted to pull me in a certain direction deep into the woods. What it was that he wanted? I don't know, but something inside of me told me it wasn't anything simple like a request to play.
Normal people would probably think nothing of it, especially in the current state of things, after all, going deep into the woods like this during a spree of cases of people going missing wasn't the smartest of choices.
In recent times however, I felt like I was anything but normal, furthermore, a strange feeling was in the back of my head whispering to me that I should follow the 'Lobo Guará' before me and see what he wanted to show me.
It could be my mind finally fracturing. Or even an ancient eldritch horror whispering in my mind from beyond the void? Maybe. Was I dumb enough to go forward with this anyway? Very!
Besides I believed in Orelha, so while tightly grasping my Saint George medal underneath my shirt I allowed my canine friend to guide me to whatever he wanted to show me.
Rustle
The foliage in this part of the woods was kinda thick so little light touched that area, light that wasn't that abundant to begin with due to the sun already starting to go beyond the horizon, tainting the sky with hues of orange.
I however persisted in my genius idea of seeing whatever it was that Orelha wanted to show me, less than about ten minutes of walk later I was rewarded for my wait. Before my eyes dozens of dilapidated buildings could be seen stretching across the woods, a couple of them looked complete but the majority were clearly in a half-finished state.
Any local to the region would easily be able to tell what this place was.
"This… This's the 'Nobodies hill'"
What today is called 'Nobodies Hill' some thirty years ago was a condo project that boasted that it would be a place of the future, that anyone in the city or nearby ones would want to come and live in, it also had a lot of plans that aimed to help uplift the surrounding communities.
However, as anyone with eyes could see this lofty project didn't go the intended way, a never-ending stream of legal problems and the sudden death of a major shareholder killed the idea before it fully left the ground. Following that the still half-finished building was abandoned and soon forgotten, leaving the place to be retaken by nature and become a ghost town.
No one comes here anymore, amongst other things normal people avoid this place due to it being rumored as a spot used by various gangs and criminal groups of many sorts as a base or meeting place. Criminals on their end would also avoid this place, since the rumor of this being a place where their hang became common knowledge they setting base there'd be too obvious of a flag, so, in the end, they too avoid the place like no tomorrow.
Knowing that the reason why the place is called 'Nobodies Hill' should be pretty much self-explanatory, the only question now was why exactly Orelha wanted me to come here?
"▂▃ !"
Sensing the question in my look Orelha gave a low bark and made a motion with his head saying for me to follow him, entering the place I looked at the dilapidated buildings with a wary look.
There was just something in seeing manmade buildings taken by nature that hit deep into the soul. It was like 'nature' was giving us a clear reminder that, in the end, she was the bigger power at play here and that whatever we took from her in time she would undoubtedly take it back.
All the while I was there my rational mind was mentally hitting myself for going against a better judgment and coming here, however, something much greater I never knew was inside me had my rational side in a chokehold. It had the rational side beaten in terms of volume in my head, and with that, it was free to compel me to keep moving forward with this stupid idea.
I followed Orelha into a three-story building completely taken over by a giant tree, going up a set of dirty stairs to the last floor I saw my canine friend looking straight at my eyes and then pointing with his nose at a window on the side of the floor.
You didn't need to be a genius to guess what Orelha wanted, touching my Saint George medal for strength I carefully approached the window from the side and tentatively looked through it.
The moment I did that my eyes grew large.
From my vantage point I could see a certain building at the back of the place, this one however was set apart from the others by the simple fact that it looked brand new.
Well, actually brand new might be a stretch but the fact it wasn't half-finished, dilapidated, or covered in vines and such like the others made it seem brand new when in comparison with the rest. However though very strange that wasn't what most caught my attention, neither was the clear sign of energy in the building due to the lights being on, but yes the figure of a well-dressed man wheeling some crates to inside the building.
The scene was jarring for one reason, the man in question who had nice combed black hair and was wearing a suit didn't fit at all with his dilapidated surroundings, let alone the fact that he was living in this forgotten place.
What the fuck was he doing here? How is this one building well preserved? It was his doing? If so then why? why restore a building here of all places? Who was he? Why dress in such a way in the middle of nowhere? What was on those crates?
I had so many questions and no answer, however, as I watched the man from afar I got the answer for one of them- The one about what he had in those crates.
While I was looking at him the man seemed to have gotten the crate stuck on a crack in the ground, the crate stumbles a bit, and with that, the lid opened so slightly and something slips out of it and falls on the ground.
It was a 'Hello Kitty' Beanie.
'Some0ne Pli- He_P %E'
The moment my gaze fell on that item I felt my entire body freeze, memories of what I overheard my schoolmates talking earlier came to my mind. Furthermore, that pleading voice once again appeared in my head, only this time with way more intensity than before.
"Argh...!"
Clutching my head I fell to the ground, my breath ragged I could only stare wide eyes at the ceiling in complete terror as the reality of the situation dawned on me.
The culprit behind the case of missing people… I had found him!
Rising again I tentatively gazed through the window once more, seeing the man picking up the fallen item and vanishing inside the building I took no chances, picking Orelha up in my arms I dashed out of the building and away from there the fastest my legs could take me.
There was no doubt in my mind in regards to whether he was truly the culprit or just someone that found the beanie somewhere, something about that man just screamed 'evil'.
As I ran through the hill and back home, still clinging to Orelha which must have been a strange scene to behold, I couldn't stop wondering one simple question…
What I do now?
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In the end after a lot of thought my decision of what to do with the info I've found out was a simple one: Go tell the police!
I mean, what else could I really do?
A question that had kept me awake for a long time, especially seeing as I hadn't told my parents what exactly I did that day. They clearly noticed something amiss, after all, I arrived all spooked at home with my eyes still very wide, I also btw was still holding my canine friend Orelha in my arms.
In reflex when fleeing I caught him in my arms, after all, I couldn't have left a friend behind, but I was so scared I didn't stop to drop him on the hill and just ended up bringing him home with me.
To say that my parents were surprised to see me coming home with a wild animal would be the understatement of the century; however, that worked my way I was able to spin that my scared state was the result of me running away with the wolf after having saved him from some people trying to sell him.
Pretty crazy tale, but not exactly that far-fetched when it comes to me so they actually bought the lie… or so I believe.
Why didn't I tell them the truth? I don't know man, at the time I was all kinds of nervous.
It's been two days since then and at the moment Orelha is safely in our yard for now as my parents try to figure out what exactly to do with him, and while they were distracted with that I went to the police and tried to tell them what I saw.
At first, the officer only looked at me with a suspicious look, luckily we were from the same neighborhood so he knew of me and thus gave me the benefit of the doubt. He told me he was going to send people to investigate the 'Nobodies hill', about two days had passed and I returned to the station to see what they found out (otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep).
What I heard from him however was far from what I expected…
"We found nothing there"
"What?!"
That's right.
According to the officer before me even though they scouted the entire place they haven't found a thing. Let alone find the suspect, according to the officer they haven't even been able to find the building I saw him in!
They went all over the abandoned condo, but no matter how many times they looked at where I told them not a single brick of that 'brand new' building the man was using as a base could be found, according to them the spot where it was supposed to be was empty as it could get.
But how could that be possible?
"I know you're a good kid, I know your Dad and all, and so I'll let this one slide. But next time you come here with false info you will get yourself in some trouble and I will tell your parents. So now go home and don't pull this shit ever again"
With that, the older man waved me off and then went back to his work. I had half a mind to try to reason with him again, but despite how absurd it all sounded if they truly didn't find anything in the place it was more than reasonable for him to be upset. In his eyes, I just made the police waste time they could have used somewhere else in a fruitless search of a 'ghost building'.
But now I was left flabbergasted, did they really not find it? That should be impossible! How could they not see an almost brand-new building in the middle of that fucking place?! Was it… was it a trick of my mind?
No!
"I'm sure I saw it!"
One more time allowing my emotions to guide me I made my way to the 'Nobodies Hill', following my steps from two days ago I went up the same building taken over by a tree and looked through the same window, and sure enough there on the other side I saw that damned building exactly on the same spot I saw it two days ago.
But now what?
As I pondered on that question the man I saw that day came out of the building, still well dressed the man gave off the same aura of 'evil' I sensed from him before. This time he wasn't wheeling any create with kidnapped people inside, what he did next however was just as much if not even more astonishing.
After the man rose to his left what I could only describe as a 'dark-green magical circle' appeared above his hand, on the ground a line of smoke appeared leading somewhere into the woods. Following this trail, the man soon vanished into the woods, back on the window I was left with my jaw hanging after what I had just seen. I even pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.
The man was a mage!
That was one hell of a discovery, one that despite how absurd it was in fact, answered some of the doubts I had regarding this case. Like how had the man not been caught yet? Or how didn't the police not find the building?
If the man was a mage, something I was only willing to believe due to having seen it with my own eyes, it'd make sense for him to not be found as he probably has some sort of barrier around his base that prevents others from seeing it.
However, that also begged the question; How was I able to see his base then?
'Some0ne Pli- He_P %E'
'Some0ne Pli- He_P %E'
'Some0ne Please- HELP ME!'
However, before I could delve deeper into that question those voices I heard before appeared once again inside my head, this time however they came back with full force and way more clarity than before.
It was now pretty clear that it was a prayer for help, and it wasn't just only one voice but in fact, many combined into a single one: Young and old, men and women, a voice composed of all of them and more roared inside of my head.
A cacophony in the form of prayer for help that rumbled inside my brain and reached deep into my very soul, reaching so deep into my being it was a feeling like no other. Mortal words would try and fail to properly convey how hearing that prayer for help felt, I myself didn't fully grasp what that feeling entailed.
But as the feeling subsided I knew one thing… The people trapped inside that building needed my help!
'No backing down now'
The Mage had gone away, probably in search of new victims, which left me with a window of opportunity. Not knowing when the man would return I stopped wasting time and moved forward, exiting the building I was in I made a beeline towards the Mage's base.
Stepping through the main entrance I was faced with a medium-sized room, it looked like a sort of garage or storage room. Crates similar to those I saw the man wheeling before could be seen piled all over the place, and as I checked them I saw that these ones were thankfully all empty.
At the back of the room, there was a ramp going downwards and after following along it I found myself before a thick metal door which was, to my surprise, wide open.
Guessing the man was just that confident on his 'barrier' I didn't dwell much on that, stepping inside I found myself inside a wide and long corridor, and on each side of this corridor were many rooms.
At first, I lamented over needing to go through every single room, which would undoubtedly waste a lot of time, however, the feeling I got when hearing those prayers still lingered in my head. It tugged me in the direction of a room at the very end of the corridor, and so I followed.
As I walked past the other rooms I took the chance to briefly look inside them, to my surprise all of them looked… pretty normal; One was a library, one was a kitchen, another was fancy fancy-looking bedroom, and another one even looked like a gaming room.
However, despite the seemly normal look the more I looked at them, the more time I spent inside that place… the more unseating it all felt.
There seemed to be a sort of 'aura' that permeated the entire building, it swirled in the air and as it brushed past my skin I could practically hear the murmurs of something that could honestly only be described as 'evil'. There was no doubt in my mind that no matter if you believed in such a thing or not, the moment you stepped inside this place and beheld its interior you would undoubtedly feel that something was off.
The contrast between how the place looked and how it felt was… quite disconcerting, to say the least.
However, my wish to help the people calling for me proved to be superior to whatever fear this place tried to impose on me, with firm steps I marched forward through the corridor all the way to the end.
The last door was a double one, and like the ones before it was also left open. Stepping inside I saw a big room that could only be described as a 'mad scientist's laboratory'.
The first thing that struck me was the smell of a pungent blend of acrid chemicals, it made the air heavy as a hint of malevolence would stick to you in every breath. Shelves that looked to be pretty modern, state-of-the-art even, lined the walls of the place.
Their masterful making allowed them to firmly withstand the weight of what could be said to be thousands of glass jars, their contents a total mystery to me, one that I wasn't so sure I wanted to uncover. Each jar had a label underneath it, however, they had been written in some cryptic symbols, all absolutely alien to me.
With my heart quickening I stepped forward through the laboratory, looking around me I saw many more similarly cryptic symbols embedded all over the place. As I ventured deeper into that mad lair I saw tables, also modern looking like the shelves, and on top of them state-of-the-art equipment bubbled with a maddening arcane glow.
Books were also there, wide open as if inviting anyone to read them. However it didn't take a genius to guess that doing so would spell doom, the overall 'aura' of the whole place was a good enough giveaway to understand that no arcane knowledge in this place was safe to be read.
However, what truly made me almost hurl to the ground in disgust and anger was what I saw next.
At least a dozen beds-no, glass tanks lined up the back wall of the place. In each one of these tanks was a person, and hooked up to each one of them was a multitude of cables, these cables would then connect to a big machine with arcane symbols on it to the side that was doing some sort of monitoring of their body.
Dashing forward I checked over every single one of these people, their pulse told me they were alive but the pale sickly look on their faces told me they were anything but well.
"Pretty amazing don't you think?"
"?!"
Just as I was pondering on how to take these people out of here I heard a voice coming from behind. Quickly turning around I saw the man, the made mage owner of this place, standing in the middle of the room while looking at me with a Chesire smile.
"It seems the little rat took the bait"
"W-what you mean?"
Hearing my words the man looked at me as if I was a dumb little child, shaking his head like a teacher disappointed with a stupid question he looked at me and said.
"You really thought you had been sneaky, huh? Sorry to inform you but I knew of your presence all along, me going away was just bait to see if you'd come inside my humble playhouse"
"Bait? Playhouse…?" turning my head to look at the people in the tanks behind I said with anger dripping in my voice "You call this sick place a 'playhouse'?!"
"You're hurting my feelings with those words" Feigning a hurt expression he spread his arms open "My name is Antonov Vi Romanov, and this is my beautiful 'workshop', my very own castle that I've built here in this tropical land so I could proceed with my research of the 'Magical and otherwise supernatural aptitude of the people born out of the unprecedented miscegenation only seen in the New World'... A rather mouthful name, I know, but one that I'll be sticking to anyway"
Confused by what he said I was out of words, seeing the look in my eyes the man smiled again and kept on talking.
"Basically, I was seeing if your fellow Brazilians have any talent in regards to magic, or if they had any other worthwhile ability in their blood. To do that in peace I had set up a ward around my workshop, one that not even most people back in the 'Tower' in England should be able to break. But imagine my surprise two days ago when one of my safety precautions got triggered, telling me that not only someone saw but also went through my ward"
Hearing his words I felt my blood going cold, the man sensing my growing unease smirked in a condescending form.
"Though you eluded me at first and ran away I had this inkling in the back of my mind that you would come back, especially after I saw those pesky police officers going away with grumpy faces. So I waited and after feeling you nearby I 'went away' so that you would feel comfortable enough to enter my lair of your own volition"
The man clenched his fists in excitement and looked at me as if I was some type of special edition action figure "I wonder what you have inside of that body of yous that gives you the ability to find and enter my workshop; Is it some rate talent? Or maybe the bloodline traces of some fantastical creature? A sacred Gear maybe? And that wolf that brought you here? Does he have some special ability? Oh, the possibilities before me are just so-ARGH!"
The Mage's ranting was cut short as I dashed forward and drilled my right fist straight into his gut. The man was truly bonkers if he thought I was just gonna let him do a 'villainous speech' on me like that scot-free!
After my gut punch, I followed with a hook to his shoulder that sent him tumbling backward, I was about to go for a follow-up but the Mage made his counterattack.
"Peasant!"
Cursing through gritted teeth the Mage conjured up a magic circle on his left that created a green sphere of energy, he then resolutely shot the magic bullet in my direction.
Weave
The magic bullet however missed its target, with a rhythmic shuffle of my feet I cleanly dodged the attack in a sort of dance-like move.
I was far from the most talented or skilled capoeira practitioner to learn the craft in our community center, however through sheer repetition I got my 'Ginga step', the base of the style, and the few moves I knew to a pretty decent standard.
So with a rhythmic flow on my feet, I dodge his next couple of incoming magic bullets, all the while moving forward I got In the range of giving a 'benção kick'. A straightforward frontal push kick aimed at his chest, the sleazy bastard however was able to quickly step back out of it and prepare a magic bullet which he shot at me.
However, by allowing myself to fall backward I avoided the attack, positioning my hands so I could prevent my back from hitting the ground I used my low position and the still lingering force of my fall to shoot my leg up and kick the Mage in the jaw.
Falling on his back the man went skidding back, I rose and running a bit jumped in the air and aimed to drop at the Mage with a kick right at the middle of his chest.
Snap
However, I didn't get the chance to see what'd be the result of my move, right as I was about to land on him the man snapped his fingers and out of thin air a magic circle appeared before me and perfectly blocked my kick. After blocking my attack the magic circle's glow grew in intensity and then…
Bang!
An explosion happened and before I could realize my body was hitting the ceiling with such a force that I could swear I heard the ceiling cracking behind me, after that gravity did its thing and brought me face flat to the ground.
Then the pain came, oh so acute and profound pain!
I felt like my entire being was on fire and my mind briefly shut down, when I regained my consciousness and looked up I was able to see that damned mage walking toward me.
"You got me by surprise there, I'll give you that. But remember… this is still my workshop, my castle!"
Snap
After he snapped his fingers again half a dozen magic circles appeared in the air all around me, right after they appeared chains started shooting out of them at me. Two wrapped around my arms and hoisted me in the air, and two others appeared beneath me and wrapped around both my ankles, the last ones wrapping around my chest and neck respectively.
Struggling against them I with great effort lowered my head to look at the Mage, the man in question looked at me with a mad grin.
Bang!
"ARGH!"
Raising his hand he shot one of those green magic bullets at me, this time it hit me square on the shoulder.
The moment that thing hit me I realized that getting blasted to the roof and then falling dead on your face wasn't actually that painful, but getting hit by whatever the green bullet was?
Now that… that was true pain!
"Pretty good spell huh? It's my variation of 'magic bullet' that I came up with after studying the many venomous animals that inhabit this land, after thoroughly understanding the concept behind their lethal weapon I was able to replicate some of their effects on my 'magic bullet'" The man looked up at me with that Chesire smile of his "What you think hero? What do you think of my spell?"
'Some0ne Please- Help ME!'
The pain was beyond reason making it hard to speak, however, the wishes of the people in the tanks behind me still flowed to me and thus somehow, someway, I regained enough strength to say these next words;
"Worthl-less… as the man… who created it" Pushing the pain aside I smirked at him "But what-… did I exp-ected… from a pi-piece of trash LIKE YOU?!"
At that moment all the feelings I had pent up inside of me came bursting out, and my voice became almost inhuman as it rumbled across the room with an intensity and power not even I in my wildest dreams would think of having.
"…"
At first moment the Mage stopped, stunned by the power behind my voice. But then…
"ARGH!"
"At first I was thinking of just putting you in a coma using a 'Hipnos sleeping spell' like I did with the others"
"ARGH!"
"But after the little stunt you pulled…"
"ARGH!"
"I changed my mind a bit!"
"ARGH!"
"I'll not kill you; I still got uses for you. But a little 'lesson' should be in order!"
A scream barely human left my mouth as the pain that transcended the confines of what a simple word like 'pain' could describe shot through my whole being, so intense that feeling was that it was near maddening!
Soul crushing!
My vision began to darken, sounds became distant and even my body stopped feeling anything. Darkness greeted me…
…
…
…
…
…
…
"Lucius…"
There I was in the great fields of my homeland; the mountains with their peaks covered in the most ancient of ice filled the horizon from one point to another. The azure sky, oh so pure and clean azure sky, was above them stretching from horizon to horizon and even beyond.
"Lucius…"
As I ran through these oh-so-vast fields I could sense the wind blowing past my fur, many of my companions were there with me. Running freely we blazed through the land even faster than a soaring falcon, however, I was faster than my companions and soon I left them all behind.
"Lucius…"
So much have I ran so that I arrived at a settlement of those humans, I was on a hill, and from there I could clearly see their houses and farming fields. However, things didn't seem to be peaceful around here, not long after I arrived screams came from the distance and right after it, a group of humans approached me with terror clear on their faces.
"Please, Oh Lord Makami!" said an elderly man as he bowed towards me "Please save our village, save us from the wave of evil youkai attacking us. We beg you!"
"Please, Oh Lord Makami!"
The moment they made that request to me their voices; both young and old, of men and women, combined themselves in a prayer for help that was oh-so familiar to me.
'Some0ne Please- Help ME!'
Then it dawned on me, all the memories of the last few days came rushing back. The missing people, the prayers for help, the mad mage, my foolish plan, my… death?
No, this last part gotta be wrong. I couldn't possibly be dead!
"But if that's true… then would this place be the afterlife?" walking towards a puddle in the ground I looked at my reflection "And why I'm a wolf?"
"Lucius…"
It was right at that moment that I heard my name being called, voices that came from everywhere; from every rock, every blade of glass, every mountain, and every cloud. The world, the very land I stood on had turned its attention to me and spoken with a voice that reached the soul.
"Do you regret it?"
"…What?"
"Do you regret going out to save those people? Going out in an emotion-filled endeavor to face immense danger so you could save people you never knew, strangers?"
"..."
"I don't know what this place is, or who you are, but if you're making this question you truly must no know about Lucius Branco. I regret helping someone in need? As if such a stupid thing would ever happen! I don't see myself as a paladin in shining armor, but it is still impossible for me to ever turn my back on someone in need that I can help" Arriving here I smirked "If there's anything I regret is not stomping that damned mage's face until it carved in, a scum like that deserves no less! But alas, I'm just a normal human trying to go up against a mage"
"Whoever said you're a normal human?"
Now that… that truly caught me off guard, gazing upwards I saw the sky splitting apart as a set of stars taking the form of a wolf constellation shined down on me with power beyond human comprehension.
"Your resolve in helping others, in being a guardian, is very commendable… Very well, you're worthy of taking up the mantle of your Ancestor. Embrace this power, embrace this divinity… and then come back here, come back to your land, darkness is coming and is threatening to engulf it"
My body began to rise up from the ground, breaching through the atmosphere it rose to the wolf constellation shining on me. When it saw me get close it turned and rushed in my direction, engulfing me whole it fused itself with every fiber of my being.
"The One Who Howls"
"Guardian Deity"
"God of Wolves"
"Okuchi-no-Makami"
"Lucius Branco… RETURN TO US!"
…
…
…
…
…
…
It was a day normal like any other and to normal people, it'll be remembered as such. Still, for those in touch with the supernatural, with mysteries… with the divine, that day would be forever be remembered as the day when changes began.
Those who had a close tie with the nature of the world felt the shifting; the laws of reality itself seemed to be changing to accommodate a new player. The feeling was as if something old... something ancient, had finally made its way out from the depths of time back into present reality.
All those of divine nature turned their head up and gazed upon the stars, there they saw a constellation taking the form of a wolf with the 'Sirius Star' at its center. The image of the celestial wolf turned to gaze down at Earth, after it he then reeled his head back and let out one profound sound.
Howl!
Coming from the depths of the stars the howl washed up all over Earth, and in that moment there was not a single being of divine nature, or with a strong attunement to the laws of nature, that didn't hear this majestic sound!
The one who rules the north and forever seeks knowledge, the mighty ruler of the highest mountain, to the one who holds the sun on his head, and even that who delivers true destruction… the howling that announces the coming of another one of them was heard by all.
However, none had been more impacted by this howl than those presiding over the land of the rising sun.
"Is this truly happening?"
In a world beneath the ancient city of Kyoto, a beautiful woman with golden blond hair and fox ears was walking with hurried steps through a Shinto-looking temple, behind her an entourage of strange-looking people followed on her steps.
They soon arrived before the statue of a celestial Wolf, the statue was glowing in a divine light of a sapphire hue that made the air grow cold as if the artic itself had descended upon the place.
Seeing the state of the statue the woman's eyes grew large, her heart skipped a beat and in the depths of her eyes, a light of hope shined through.
"We must act quickly before people from the other pantheons catch wind of this!" She turned to the people behind her and said with a voice full of the authority and dignity of a ruler "Go to Brasil, the source of this phenomenon, and bring the new Lord Makami back immediately!"
"Yes, Lady Yasaka!"
…
…
…
"Wh-what is this?"
Back on the other side of the world the mad mage, Antonov Vi Romanov, was in complete bewilderment as he took in what was happening before his eyes.
Let's go back a bit.
Early during the process of giving his new test subject a 'lesson' he saw the same going limp, at first Antonov thought he might've gone overboard and actually killed the subject.
While he guessed if his calculations had been wrong something changed with the young man, something on his chest began glowing in a holy golden light, after looking closer he saw that it was a Saint George medal.
At first, he thought it was a relic of protection from the church, something that maybe could explain the strange things the boy did, but a second look told him that it wasn't the case. The object was more of a sealing relic that was being used to keep something inside the boy at bay, but by the looks of it, the relic's power was just about to fade away.
From the top of the young man's head, two wolf ears sprouted out, and from his lower back a wolf tail, furthermore, his whole aura changed to one that Antonov knew, the aura of the supernatural beings that hailed from the extreme east.
"A Youkai, huh? That explains some things"
Antonov thought he had solved the mystery behind this young man, reality however soon showed him that he was sorely mistaken. All of sudden a feeling of extreme danger hit him, and before he could guess what was that, the space behind the young man was torn apart.
It wasn't like a clean cut he saw many times in spatial spells, but a ruthless action akin to a ravenous animal biting off a piece of its fallen prey, and inside the torn space a constellation in the shape of a celestial wolf could be seen.
Howl!
Then young man jolted, raising his head he gave out a majestic howl, his action mimicked to perfection by the constellation behind him. So much so that it felt like seeing two versions of the same being, the young man was the constellation and the constellation was the young man.
That's when we return to the present, to the moment 'they' appeared.
Out of nowhere, the young man's body was engulfed in icy-blue flames, however, they broke any common law of nature as they didn't emanate heat of any kind … but frost, a so profound energy of frost and ice that it transcended mortal comprehension.
The moment these flames appeared the chains connected to the young man, Lucius, got frozen solid in an instant. Then with the slightest of movements, they got broken into millions of pieces, becoming nothing but a crystal-like powder that got scattered in the wind.
"Punish the Wicked"
Pronounced the young man in a voice that could only be described as 'divine', floating in the air his whole body was covered by these 'frostflames', all that could be seen of him was his two eyes that glowed with immense power.
The flames exploded forward and in the blink of an eye completely engulfed the entire building, with only the area around the kidnapped people being spared from the flames' cold touch.
Antonov too was engulfed by these blue flames, but he was surprisingly calm about the whole ordeal however.
To him the very space and time surrounding the building being frozen solid was of little consequence, at that moment all that mattered was the marvelous glimpse of the true nature of the world he was getting at that moment.
As he beheld the impossibility that was those flames, the power of frost manifest in the form of its opposite, he became transfixed with their beauty and completely ignored what was happening to him.
As someone who perused the mysteries of reality, there wasn't anything more beautiful to him than seeing the laws of nature being showcased like that. It was like standing on the precipice of the mystical and divine, to experience the very essence of nature's primordial forces
So transfixed he was with that glimpse of the divine that he didn't even notice what happened next to him…
"I see… an endless sky frozen by a majestic sapphire hue…."
Those were the last thoughts of Antonov Vi Romanov, in an instant his entire being was turned into a frozen statue which then exploded in a fine ice crystal powder.
In the place where he was however a glowing ball of light, his soul, still lingered. In the next moment Lucius appeared beside the lingering soul, grasping it with his right he engulfed the thing in his "Frostflames'. When he opened his hand the soul was shown to be now encased in an ice crystal, it then flashed blue and vanished from sight.
After doing all that Lucius who was floating touched the ground again, and the flames around his body went away.
…
...
...
"What-… what just happened?"
Gazing around the room Lucius had a very confused look on his face as he took in the state of the place. In one moment he was about to get murdered and the next, in a blink of an eye, he was standing in a room completely covered in ice.
"Where is that damn mage? Is he dead? Why my body feels weird…?"
Examining himself Lucius quickly noticed that there was something different about his own body, he felt none of the pain from his injuries or any form of weakness as a result of them. In fact, he felt stronger than ever! His muscles felt stronger, his vision clearer, his sense of smell sharper, and his hearing more precise.
Speaking of hearing…
"Are these wolf ears?" Feeling something strange on his head Lucius raised his hands to feel it, and when doing so he realized that a pair of wolf ears had grown out his head "Whata-I have a tail now too?!"
It was at that moment that memories came rushing back to him, the memories of his dream where he was a wolf and the very world itself speaking to him. Looking around the room Lucius slowly came to a realization, he finally figured out what had happened.
"I did all of this… didn't I?" turning around the now changed Lucius saw the missing people still in a state of coma in the tanks, looking at them his confused expression vanished in exchange for a more resolute one "Let me take you guys to somewhere safe first, I worry with whatever happened to me later"
To Lucius, who's done all that to rescue those people, any other problem regarding himself took a back seat.
Going over to them Lucius saw that although none of them got injured by whatever ice power happened earlier the cables connected to them, on the other hand, got all destroyed by the frost power.
Sighing in relief Lucius proceeded to pick up one of the people from the tanks, in the process indeed confirming his early assumption that his muscles indeed have gotten stronger.
With his new strength in mind Lucius decided to change his plan a bit, he hoisted two people on each of his arms and then dashed out of the building. Quickly arriving outside he saw that it was already dark, his wolf ears twitched, and found the nearest direction that led to civilization.
Dashing forward he blazed his way through the 'Nobodies Hill' and quickly arrived in the city proper where he left the missing people at the entrance of a nearby small health clinic, and before the confused people working there could realize what was happening he dashed away and vanished from sight.
Blazing his way back to the Mage's base he repeated that process two more times, by the end of it Lucius was completely and utterly enamored with the power his body now had.
After that Lucius used his newfound speed and deftly borrowed a phone from one of the people working at the clinic, doing an anonymous call to the police he told them the location of the missing people.
Putting the phone back Lucius then waited for the police to come, which they did rather quickly, most likely due to the workers at the clinic calling to tell how a dozen people appeared out of nowhere at their door.
All the while Lucius was surprisingly unnoticed by all.
'Well, now it's time to figure out what happened to me'
With that resolved Lucius made his way back to his house, arriving there through a shortcut he entered his home like a sudden gust of wind and then quickly slammed the door shut.
"Hope Mom and Dad hadn't heard tha-""Too late"
Turning his head to the source of the voice Lucius saw both his parents in the living room, sitting on the couch they both looked straight into his eyes.
"I see that what I've sensed was right, you've indeed awakened your blood" said his Dad as patted the spot on his right "Come, sit beside me. There's a lot of explaining we need to do"
Still a bit stunned Lucius did what he was told, walking to the sofa he sat beside his Dad.
"Seeing how calm you both are I'll assume you know why I have two wolf ears growing out of my head?"
"We know" said his Mom with a sigh, his Dad then held both her hand and Lucius's before saying "You know of Youkais?"
"You mean those creatures from Japan I see in anime and games?"
"Yeah, those" Pedro nodded his head "You know your great-great-grandfather right? Well, being straightforward with you the man wasn't a human, but actually a Youkai. His blood runs strong in you, that's why these changes happened"
"What-?!"
Though Lucius already had some pretty good guesses regarding what was behind his sudden change, hearing the truth from the mouth of his Dad was still pretty impactful.
"Do you… do you also have these things Dad?" asked Lucius while pointing at his wolf ears "You have his blood too after all"
His Dad shook his head "Too thin nowadays the effect that his blood has on our family mostly stays on the white hair and blue eyes, something I don't even have. At max one or two members of our family may get a bigger affinity with magic, like your uncle Raimundo, who works abroad as a mage"
"And here I thinking Uncle was abroad working as an architect…" arriving here Lucius turned to his parents with confusion clear in his eyes "If things are like that, then why do I have wolf ears?"
"It's a mutation" explained his Mom "It's similar to 'atavism', at birth the Youkai blood in you overtook your human blood. You should've even less Youkai blood than your father, but due to that mutation the inverse happened and you actually became fully a Youkai"
"That's… that's something else. Why I haven't seen this wolf's ears and tail before then?"
"The Saint George medal" said his Dad while pointing at the chain around his neck "It's a relic I got from a friend who's an exorcist of the church, he gave it to me right after your birth when we saw that your Youkai blood was the prevalent one. It suppresses the blood of our Ancestor in you, like that allowing you to have a normal life. But whatever you did today must've stimulated the blood too much, the seal wasn't able to hold it anymore and your Youkai side came out….You are a Youkai now my son"
"…"
Holding onto the medal on his neck Lucius looked at it with an intense look, raising up he went forward and enveloped both his parents in a big bear- or in his case, wolf hug.
"I knew you always did the best for me, always protected me… Thank you"
Another might've had some trouble with knowing his parents kept such a secret from him, Lucius however wasn't that naïve.
It didn't take a genius to guess that a lot of people probably wouldn't have taken too kindly for a Youkai like him to be walking around in human society, the very fact normal people don't know of the supernatural tells as much, so his parents' action of hiding his Youkai side was totally cool with him.
If anything the fact both managed to keep this secret tucked away all this time for his sake made him realize once again the boundless immensity of the love his parents had for him, the look on their eyes when explaining this secret already told him everything he needed to know.
"You rascal, you made my heart stop when you stood up"
"Oh Son…"
Hearing his words both Pedro and Beth sighed in relief, their postures relaxed as the weight of that secret was finally lifted off their shoulders.
"What happens now?" asked Lucius as he looked at his Dad "The medal doesn't seem to be working anymore"
"Don't worry about that, I'll be contacting your uncle and some friends of mine to see if they can help"
"That's right" His mom brushed her hand through his sweaty forehead and then showed him the filth in it "For the time being you go straight to the bathroom, NOW!"
"Yes Mom"
Smiling Lucius did as he was told, while walking away he couldn't help but look back at his parents and feel extremely blessed for having such an awesome family.
"After you're done you will be coming down to explain to us what exactly you went out to do"
"Oh no…."
…
…
…
…
A Day Later – Lucius's Bedroom
It has been a bit more than one day after the events that changed Lucius's life forever, the awakening of his Youkai blood, and apart from him not having gone to school due to the furry features now growing out of his body things pretty much went about normally.
On the TV news of the missing people getting found aired on basically every channel, footage of security cameras got pulled up to try and see if they could find the source of the sudden appearance but until now nothing came out of it, even when playing the video in ultraslow.
According to his Dad, he must've unknowingly used some kind of power other than the super speed at that moment, hence why nothing appeared on the camera and no one saw him. He was happy to see the people that he saved slowly one by one getting out of their coma-like state, something that made his heart beat more at ease.
That event also allowed many doubts the young man had about himself to be finally solved, the strange feeling of 'not fitting' he felt when around others could be finally explained. It's all most certainly just a side effect of his Youkai blood acting up, he having such affinity with Orelha could probably also be explained by his Youkai blood.
However, Lucius still had many doubts and questions, like who exactly was his great-great-grandfather? Why did he come to Brasil? What are exactly his powers? How do they work?
Thankfully for him his Dad soon came to him with something that could answer some of his questions.
"Hey pup" said his Dad popping his head through the door "Taking good care of yourself? Don't want to see you getting fleas after all"
"Who'll get fleas?!"
Smiling Lucius playfully tossed his pillow at his Dad, the older man dodged and then walked towards his son with a small box in his hand. It had a very intricate flowery design, clearly of Japanese making, it had a red ribbon tied around it to keep the lid shut.
"This's something our Ancestor left behind, something intended to be given to anyone in our family that had awakened too much of his blood" Pedro gave his son the box "Knowing that you had been born a Youkai my mother gave me this, now that we arrived at this point is only right for you to have it"
"Grandma…"
The image of his already deceased grandmother flashed in Lucius's mind, a petite figure of snow-white hair with the kindest of smiles on her face. She died when Lucius was still a kid, so he didn't have the chance to spend that much time with her, but the little he did was enough to forever carve her image in the depths of his soul as one of the people he most loved in this life.
Wishing to give his son some privacy Pedro went away and closed the door, back in the room Lucius untied the ribbon and opened the box. Inside the box he saw a small ice crystal, sapphire in color it was very beautiful and it looked no different from a precious stone.
Flash
"What -?!"
When Lucius touched the crystal however something unexpected happened, the thing started to glow, and before Lucius realized he was engulfed by its light.
…
…
…
When the glow went away and Lucius opened his eyes he saw himself standing in a strange place.
Looking around the place looked like a frozen lake that had no end in sight. Its surface was clean and mirror-like, it perfectly reflected the azure sky above making it feel like the entire thing stretched infinitely beyond the horizon.
"This place is very beautiful…"
"I'm glad you liked"
"?!"
All of sudden a voice came from behind him, spooked Lucius jumped in the air, and after landing he turned around to look at who was the one talking to him.
It was a man, a very handsome man.
The man had light skin and his long hair was of a pure white color, with his eyes being blue like two icy crystals. He was also tall, the same height as Lucius, and he wore a nice-looking black suit with a white jacket. The suit however wasn't able to hide his well-defined physique, though most attention grabbing would be the two wolf ears the man had sprouting from the top of his head, the same ones Lucius himself had on his.
It took little thinking for Lucius to figure out who was this man, he would see this man's picture almost every time he went up the stairs of his home after all.
"Gramps Makami!"
"It's good to finally meet one of my descendants"
Smiling Lucius greeted the man who was the origin of his family, who also smiling walked forward and gave him a good look from head to toe. Makami had the look of a middle-aged man, however the smile he gave Lucius was no different from the one you'd see any grandfather giving their grandkids.
"You're quite handsome my great-great-grandson, almost as handsome as me" Lucius laughed at that joke "Well, seeing as you're here I guess you have a couple of questions to ask me"
"If that wouldn't be a bother"
"Not at all, go on and make yourself comfortable"
After Makami said that two chairs made of ice rose up behind them from the lake, a bit surprised at first Lucius followed his Ancestor's words and sat down, his Ancestor doing the same just after.
"Let's go from the beginning"
"Yes, please"
Coughing a bit on his hand to clear his voice the Ancestor straightened himself on the chair and then said:
"Throughout my long life, I had many names, however, the main one is 'Okuchi-no-Makami' or just 'Makami' as I prefer. I was a Youkai born more than a thousand years ago in the land you know as Japan, member of one the few wolf species there I lived a pretty standard life not much different from the one humans had. However, as you might guess not all was rainbows and sunshine, many youkais of not-so-kind nature would go around the land bringing destruction and pain everywhere they went, and as one of the strongest Youkais of my time I would constantly be called by others to help deal with these malevolent members of our kind"
The memory of what Lucius saw in that dream flashed in his mind, the image of an entire settlement of people bowing to him and asking for his help.
"Let me guess… humans later too began calling you for help?"
"Exactly, so much I helped them and so much they had been grateful for what I did that soon they began worshiping me…." Here the Makami gained a so slightly sheepish look "The number of people that did that grew in numbers fast, and before I could realize my state of being got elevated and I became, well, a god"
"…what now?"
"Exactly as you heard" the man looked at his descendant with a proud smile "Your gramps is the God of Wolves, Guardian Deity of Japan. Pretty awesome am I right?"
If this was a cartoon Lucius' jaw would've fallen to the ground by now, stupefied and almost incredulous he looked at his Ancestor and said "Dad didn't tell me anything about us descending from a Youkai god"
"Well, technically you aren't"
"… Please explain"
"During the Meiji era the wolf population in Japan, Youkai and mundane, began to go extinct due to hunting, and with it, almost all the worship and awe people had towards me. Being slowly forgotten I felt like I didn't have a place there anymore so I left Japan, it was the early 1900s and the immigration to Brasil had started, I saw that as a good enough opportunity and jumped on the first ship I saw and came here" here the Makami gained a soft smile "It was here that I met your great-great-grandmother, Maria…. Oh Maria, the love of my life every second with her was like a divine blessing. Life was amazing, no doubt there… there was one problem though"
Having seen similar stories before Lucius easily came up with a guess as to what his Ancestor meant by 'problem', so he tentatively said:
"While you were a god she was human, a mortal… you'd eventually outlive her, right?"
"No questions there" the man sighed "I had a couple methods to elevate her lifespan, keep her with me a little longer. However she didn't wish to prolong her life, or become something else, she wanted to die a normal human and go to heaven the same way all of her family did…. So in respect of her wishes I instead did a ritual and threw away my divinity, becoming mortal I finally got to start a family with her and eventually follow her when she died"
"So that's what you meant 'technically not', at the time you fostered our family you aren't a god anymore…." Lucius looked at his Ancestor in confusion "Also, can one truly give up being a god?"
"It involves a very convoluted ritual, one that only the most determined of gods would be able to do. Really, really damn hard to execute…" He then shook his head "Anyway, feeling like something could happen down the line with my children I left the ice crystal so I could talk to them in case something did happen"
"Yeah that reminds me of one thing" said Lucius with a curious look in his eyes "You said you followed Grandma to heaven right? So, how we're talking right now? This doesn't feel like a recorded message"
"Simple, I used the lingering authority I still had at the time to 'freeze' a reflection of my consciousness inside the ice crystal. The Makami you're seeing now is only a reflection, a shadow of the man that was your Ancestor. As you've said the 'real' Makami had left this plane of existence long ago" explained the older Youkai.
"The crystal was set up so that anyone with enough of my blood awakened would get their mind taken here, I'd get a glimpse of their memories to get myself a par of what is happening and then have a heart-to-heart talk with them. However, looking through your memories it seems like… "An awkward smile appeared on his face "It seems like things are more complicated than I thought"
"Oh no…" Lucius reeled back in his chair "That doesn't sound good"
"Depends on how you see it. I mean, do you have anything against becoming a god?"
"HUH?!"
It was at this moment that Lucius's mind froze; completely bewildered Lucius looked at his Ancestor with the face of someone who barely believed what he had just heard.
"What you mean… 'Becoming a god'?"
"Exactly what you heard" said Makami in matter-of-fact tone "Those 'Frostflames' you released back on that mage's base? That is no normal Youkai power, that's a manifestation of my 'Domain' as a god. I don't know how exactly it happened but somehow, someway, you received the divinity I threw away in the past and became a god, the new Okuchi-no-Makami"
"Hold the phone!"
Jumping off his chair Lucius paced around the place while looking at his Ancestor dead in the eye.
"You're telling me that I, Lucius Branco… became a god?"
"Exactly what you heard"
"But that's…"
For a moment Lucius felt like the world was spinning, he felt his equilibrium going away and he only didn't have a face-to-face encounter with the ground due to his Ancestor appearing beside him and holding him up.
"I know this may be hard for you to accept" saying that Makami glanced at the Saint George medal on Lucius's chest "But that is the hard truth and you're gonna have to live with it"
"A god…?" Lucius looked at his Ancestor with uncertain in his eyes "Even accepting this I still have many misgivings in regards to me being up to this task"
"To me, the very fact you're not jumping out of joy due to that already tells me a lot about your character, you also did what you did to save those people" Looking at his descendant the man smiled "Don't worry my child, I'm 100% sure you'll be one amazing god!"
"Will you… will you help me with that? I mean, you have a lot of experience"
"About that… " here the man's expression became downcast "I'd love to… but I can't. Talking to you seemed to have taken a bigger strain on the crystal than I'd thought, the divine power I used to freeze a reflection of my consciousness is already vanishing, I will not be here for long"
"What?! But-?!"
"LUCIUS!"
Having revealed the truth Makami grabbed his descendant by the shoulder and looked at him straight in the eye, his voice serious and heavy with an aura of dignity and authority no mortal would ever have.
"Every being of divine nature felt your awakening, they know of you, and that… that can be dangerous. However, fear not, I can sense those from Kyoto approaching. They're friends, no doubt there. They will come to bring you back with them, accept their offer and go as that's the surest way of you being safe"
"What about Mom and Dad?"
"I'm sure they will get protection, furthermore as long anyone with bad intentions doesn't get rid of you harming your parents will only earn them the ire of a future god-class being, the god of wolves. Believe me, few would want that"
The endless lake trembled, and the azure sky above began to fall, the world around them was starting to crack and vanish away. Unbothered by what was happening around them Makami looked at his descendant and smiled.
Lucius looked at the smiling face of his Ancestor with wide eyes, seeing that he didn't have much time he went forward and hugged the man that gave birth to his family as that would be the last chance, he'd ever get of doing that.
"You're really very similar to me… Those old fossils are in for a good time Hahaha..."
After that Lucius's mind went blank.
…
…
…
…
After my mind returned from the crystal I took some moments to reorganize my feelings which were in turmoil due to the many revelations I just heard.
Talking with your dead great-great-grandfather is one hell of an impactful experience.
Going downstairs I went to tell my parents about what our Ancestor told me, and to tell them about these 'Youkais from Kyoto' that'd be coming soon. However, when I arrived at the living room I saw my Mom and Dad chatting with two men I had never seen; One was a lean but strong handsome man with raven black hair tied into a ponytail. The other was a tall burly mean-looking man with short spiky hair that was also black. Both had light skin, dark eyes, and clear Japanese features, and both wore a pristine black business suit.
"You must be Young Master Lucius, right? It's a great honor to meet you" said the lean man to me in a respectful manner "I'm Kurogami and the big guy is Kurohashira, we're both envoys sent here by Lady Yasaka from the Kyoto Youkai Faction"
It seemed that I had been chatting with my gramps for way more time than I thought, the two envoys from Kyoto my Ancestor told me had already arrived!
It turned out that my Dad had entered into contact with them before, one of the friends he said he was gonna call was from this Kyoto group. They then explained to me some of the reasons why they came here.
My Ancestor was a Youkai god, and his image is still very strong there, the debts of gratitude they all had with him can't be correctly stated. Their ties with him were so strong that when the second Okuchi-no-Makami, me, awoke they were the first ones to notice.
Knowing how my situation could turn sour fast their leader sent people to quickly bring me back, inside their territory I'd be protected from the actions of other factions and pantheons (Almost all pantheons from myth are real, pretty crazy huh?) while also having access to ways of learning how to properly understand the powers and divine authorities that now dwelled inside of me.
"I'll be very frank with Young Master" said Kurogami while looking at me "We also severely need your help, maybe much more than you need ours"
His forthcoming in admitting that painted me an excellent image, they not hiding the 'selfish' side of the reason why they came to my help made me trust them more. I'll probably still trust them anyway due to what my Ancestor said, sure, but this greatly helped with that.
Apart from finding me a safe Heaven and wishing to help them in whatever their problem is, the other reason I accepted their offer was due to what happened in that dream sequence I had.
My Ancestor hadn't brought it up in our talk, but I clearly remembered the World telling me 'Come back to your land, darkness is coming and is threatening to engulf it'. Well, I don't know what the voice exactly meant with that but it sure did seem quite dire, and seeing as it was apparently it that gave this divinity to me is probably for the best that I do as it said.
Furthermore going back to the land of my Ancestor will be a great chance to learn more about myself; to see the same fields he ran through, the same forests he protected, and the same mountains he lived in. All the while having people like me, other youkais, by my side.
"Besides, who wouldn't want to learn how to have superpowers?"
That all happened yesterday, at the current moment I was in my room finishing packing my things, after doing that I took a step back and walked towards the mirror to get another look at myself.
My clothes consisted of a navy-blue V-neck cardigan as an underlayer, over it was a type of waistcoat of a purple tone that matched the blue of the underlayer, and on top of all that a long and stylish jacket.
Beige leather with some grey accents lining the shoulder, edges, cuffs, and underside of the lapels I wore the jacket with its sleeves raised to my elbows. With some inside pockets another interesting feature of this thing was the white fur collar it had, which looking now with hindsight makes me wonder if this played any role in making Mom choose this thing for me.
I was also wearing some denim pants, at least that's what my Mom told me they're called, with a grey belt and a bronze buckle. On my feet a pair of black military-style combat boots, something I bought just that morning in light of what I'll be doing in the future.
I mean, seeing what I now am I'll probably be running around and kicking others' butt, better be prepared am I right?
And to finish it around my neck and underneath the underlayer is my Saint George medal, after all, old habits and faith aren't something you can just throw away like that.
My belief in 'Deus Trinity' is an integral part of my human side, so even though I'm not the fiercest of believers expecting me to forget that is impossible. I know that may sound very strange, especially seeing as now I'm a god of the Shinto pantheon, but that's the choice I've made and I'll not be changing it.
Anyway, back to look at my reflection.
"Mom has a way with clothes" I said to my reflection while doing a Giorno pose "Man I look good!"
Knock! Knock!
"Young Master, may I come in?"
"Hashira? Come in man"
Opening the door, the burly man Kurohashira, who allowed me to call him only 'Hashira' as it's easier, entered my room.
"I came to help you with the luggage and to show you how to hide those" He said while pointing at my wolf ears and tail, which to be honest I was getting so used to that I kinda even forgot they were there.
"It's a very simple and standard Youjutsu spell which most Youkai who wish to walk around amongst humans need to know"
The man then did a hand sign where his thumb and index finger are held together, forming a circle while the others are extended straight out. He then quickly changed to another hand sign, he joined the tip of his index and middle finger while keeping the others straight.
After he did that black wings sprouted from his back and his head became that of a crow, seeing my surprise the man allowed a good-natured laugh to escape his lips (beak?).
"-Otherwise a type of 'Tengu' like me would probably attract a lot of attention when talking to others"
Looking at the burly crow man before me I couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of it all "You look so awesome Man"
"Well, thanks Young Master" Performing those hand signs again he returned to his human form "Just try to copy what I did with my hand, and while doing so try to 'feel' the energy that flows inside of your body. Also, during the process don't forget to keep a mental image of you without the ears and tail"
"Ok"
Following his instructions I performed the hand signs he showed, with my eyes closed I tried to focus on the energy within me, the yoki. Something a bit hard at first, however, due to my new state of being I had a lot of 'yoki' running inside of my body, a thing that made it easier to feel it.
In the end, it took me less than ten minutes to get the hang of that and successfully perform the spell. I felt my Youkai features getting 'tucked away', when I opened my eyes I was in my normal pre-awakening look.
"You've learned faster than I expected" said Kurohashira in a surprised tone "Your hand signs had been executed pretty well, have you been training all this time?"
"Well, let's say I'm a fan of the art of ninjutsu…" scratching my head I gave the poster of a blond ninja on my wall a sheepish look before looking at Hashira again "By the way, can I change into something else?"
"Of course, as the Makami your true form is that of a big white wolf, if you focus enough changing into that should come naturally" Taking a look at his wristlock the man then picked up my luggage with extreme ease and said "Anyway, for now let's leave that for later. Something interesting about this spell is that with a bit more practice you'll not need the hand signs to change between your normal, disguise, and true form"
"Neat"
Going downstairs and leaving the house we both arrived at the sidewalk where both my parents and Kurogami waited for us before a nice-looking car, a black Mazda Cx-5. Looking at the car I whistled and said "Nice ride"
"Glad you liked it Young Master" Kurogami turned to me with a smile "This will be the carriage that'll take us to the airport, seeing as this will be the first time you're going to Japan is best that we go through the 'standard way'. We also have the protective blessing of Susanoo-sama, so the plane that will be going through the skies should be safe for us to take"
Something that Kurogami would tell me later was they wished for me to enjoy the wonders of human life while I could, seeing who I now was in the future the chances I'd get of doing normal things like traveling via plane would be somehow greatly lowered.
"We also already have sent your wolf follower, the Orelha, to Kyoto through a special spell"
"Thanks for that"
Turning to look at my parents I could already feel my eyes growing hot, trying to hide the emotion in my voice I said "Well, I guess is time. Still almost can't believe I'll be going to the other side of the globe, the school year barely started and I'm already dropping out"
Goes without saying that I couldn't go to my school anymore, with my next home for the foreseeable future being Kyoto the papers to officialize my leaving the school had already been dealt with by my parents.
"People did say that kids will leave the nest sooner than we expect" Coming forward my Mom enveloped me in a tight hug filled with all the boundless love only a mother could have "Be sure to behave there, this 'Lady Yasaka' only needs one call telling me you're behaving poorly for me to take a plane there to whoop you into shape"
I returned the hug while smiling "Don't worry about that Mom"
From the side my old man approached me, we hugged too and he then put his hand on my shoulder and stared at my eyes for a solid minute. No words were exchanged between us during this, but that's because they weren't needed, what we both told one another through our eyes not even a thousand words would be able to convey.
"I love you my son"
"I love you too Dad"
After that things kinda moved normally.
I and my tengu bodyguards took the car to the 'Guarulhos Airport', where we went through the process of getting checked up so we could enter the plane.
At first, I honestly thought that having two bodyguards like that following me around would draw some eyes, but it seems I underestimated a bit how rushed airports can become. With people rushing to go to their planes, very few still had the mind to spare a glance to look at us.
Well, I guess it's for the better.
Sitting down on my chair, one in the middle of both my tengu bodyguards, I waited with great anticipation for the moment we'd take off. Then it came, the feeling of moving without moving followed by a sense of weightlessness.
Flying…. Ah, how amazing it felt.
Well, I wished I could say more about the travel, however, there wasn't anything to say about it.
We stayed comfortable in our seats while the plane calmly sailed through the heavens, an action that once was thought as something exclusive of the gods was now a thing completely mastered by humans. The ability to be able to turn my head and behold the clouds that covered the sky from so up close was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the greatest achievements of humanity.
And now knowing the supernatural is real I do not doubt that humanity's achievement should really feel like sting those who would see us as lower life forms, and as someone who still sees himself as part of humanity the image of those being boiling in anger when seeing humans flying over their heads gives me no small amount of joy.
All was good and well… until something unexpected happened.
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…
…
…
We had been near the end of our flight, but then when reaching the sky above Japan something strange yet familiar happened to me.
A howl went out inside of my mind as I suddenly felt like gaining a deep connection with the land below, something profound and divine the connection a god feels with their overseen realm was hard to put into words.
"Oh Lord Makami, please…. Please help us in this moment of need"
Then it came, the call for help that I now was getting oh so familiar. Reaching deep into my soul it was something quite hard to ignore... not that I'd ignore a call for help.
"Oh Lord Makami, please…. Please help us in this moment of need"
The voice was of an old man… An honest to God hard-working old man, his voice laced with sadness and a certain desperateness of someone that required help I couldn't possibly ignore.
So I reached out with my hand and answered him.
"Young Master-?"
Flash
Doing something by instinct I answered the prayer for help, following an oh-so-mysterious connection between me and this old man my body twerted the laws of physics known to man and crossed space in a matter of an instant.
Leaving my seat on the plane behind I appeared at an old-looking, but quite well-maintained Shinto shrine. Lowering my head I saw a small, kinda bald, Japanese old man. Wearing farming clothes, he was on the ground looking up at my figure with wide eyes while pointing a trembling finger at me.
'Oh bugger…'
…
Back on the plane the two tengu, Kurogami and Kurohashira, looked at the now empty seat where their Young Master was just a second ago with bewilderment clear on their faces.
"Hey, Hashira?"
"Yeah…?"
"Did we… did we just lose the Young Master?"
"Yes, and Inside a plane no less"
"…"
"…"
"…we're so boned"
…
"Yo-you- you're really him? You just appeared from the shrine..."
Seeing the situation I was in I thought it was best for me to go with the flow, undoing the spell Hashira taught me I allowed my disguise to fade away.
"I'm Makami, the Guardian of this Land…" With a gentle smile, I raised the old man from the ground and then looked deeply into his eyes "-and your prayer has been heard loud and clear!"
And that… that was the true start of my new life. The life as the second Okuchi-no-Makami, the one and only;
God of Wolves!
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…
…
And yeah, this is the story.
I'm still quite unsure how often I'll write for this, I still have my One Piece fic, but I felt like getting this idea down on the paper so I went on and did it.
The basic premise of the story is that we'll be following the MC Lucius Branco, who is the descendant of the youkai god Okuchi-no-Makami. Who due to some still not completely understood reason gained the divinity of his deceased Ancestor and jumped the stages to become a god.
He isn't god class yet, but the divinity and domain authority are already here so he is fundamentally a true god through and through. We will be following his journey through this new reality, how he will tackle the new responsibilities, and of course how he will interact with the many characters of DxD.
Let be know that this will NOT be the same DxD world we see in canon, its my version of this world made by using some of my crazy ideas while also taking some inspiration from dvdryms' 'High School DxD: Inheritor of Malevolence', and some from FGO and Fate in general.
Ps: Currently the timeline is about one year before canon, more or less.
So... yeah, this is the story.
Hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you all next time I decide to write for this (Be known that future chapters will not be as long as this one was)
Another huge 'Thank you' to the people that helped this project come to life.
Constructive critics are always welcomed.
Fiquem Bem!
