(disconnected!)The Death of Cain's Father

This is a piece late in the first arc that randomly popped into my head last night. It will probably lose those who read it because they don't know what leads to it. I'll work on explanations.

All 7 of them stood still, weapons drawn and ready. Each and every member in a phalanx of sorts, unmoving in stance. All eyes were fixed on the man in front of them, who appeared to be taking the entire situation as a joke. They all retained eye contact, almost unable to look anywhere else. Meanwhile this man, this one man kept an arrogant smirk which was about the only thing you could make out on his face. He wore a robe of some kind, which resembled the design of religious attire. This robe however didn't seem to be one that resembled a man of virtue. The color scheme was quite the opposite, being pitch black with a blood red trim. The sleeves covered his entire arm, and neither hand was visible. The only skin showing would be his face which was covered with a hood. His head was at a slight angle downward, which fortified his ominous presence. This in turn had shaded out the man's eyes, only allowing the party to make out up to the bridge of his nose. Something wasn't right about him, something that wasn't painfully obvious from his appearance... and everyone knew it.

At this moment, Cain¹ had broken the silence with question for reassurance.

“You're a member of Ragnarok² aren't you?”, He asked this with as stern of a look a man could possibly offer a person.

“Have you never laid eyes on a Disciple of Ragnarok before?”, he retorted rather caustically. “And here I thought that Cain Bartimus was a man of experience and knowledge.” The man smirked with more enthusiasm.

Cain raised an eyebrow “Oh? I had no idea that my name was so well-know amongst your kind” In saying this it was clear that Cain had intended to return sarcastic insult.

The man crossed his arms “Now, now... Insulting your guests are we? That doesn't seem like a very polite thing to do now does it?” The chime that came along in his voice seemed a little less threatening this time. Cain decided to reply a bit more formally.

“I don't usually resort to that sort of thing, however I also don't very kindly to having my intellect put in question.” His words were like knives at this point.

“I would also had introduced myself, had you not already known it. You don't seem all too familiar to me, so how is it that things aren't the same for you?” In saying this, the man dropped his arms casually to his sides.

“You could say that the Disciples have had their eye on you for some time. That is, before you went missing for a while. We of course found you once again, and I must say we are glad to see you are in good health.” This puzzled Cain to a moderate degree.

Vella³ couldn't help it at this point, and as expected she release the first witty and sarcastic remark that came to mind after hearing his last statement.

“Really now? I didn't know that murderers of men, women and children were capable of feeling joy without bloodshed”, she stated while tilting her head to side side sarcastically.

His expression suddenly changed over to a more serious take. It was clear that he had taken offence, which is exactly what Vella had looked forward to. On the inside she was smiling.

“In any case”, the man continued, ignoring her comment “We are glad to see you again.” He said

This made Cain clench the grip of his blade harder. His confusion was slowly changing into a mild anger. He turned to his left, spouting “Dad what the hell is this guy talking about?”

Ethan didn't reply. He simply sat there, almost zoning out entirely. Cain returned his attention towards the man, after realizing he was not getting a response. Vella removed her arrow from the bow string, and instead nocked a poisonous one she had crafted before the trip at hand. If needed it would at least distract him, had the poison been taken care of. The only issue was that she only had one shot.

Sol was at the ready, sensing the sudden tension. He rose his shield a little higher, and prepared for the worst. Waverly was right beside him, as expected. She was as ready as anyone else, ready to call forth the most fitting ally for the coming situation⁴. She played out scenarios in her head up to this point. Despite her arrogance, Waverly is by no means a fool.

In the background sat Xenobia and Naomi. The red-headed trickster was preparing some enhancement magic for both herself and Naomi, who simply sat there with one hand on the deep red great sword which was fastened to her back. Behind them sat Cecille, the lone healer of their party. She stood there watching with her staff, reluctant to fight in the inevitable brawl that was to break out.

“As fun as it sounds, my purpose for being here is to simply deliver a message. I didn't come here to pick a fight.”, the man said suddenly. Even still no one broke stance.

In reply, Cain instinctually said “And what would this message happen to be?” Right then, Cain was overwhelmed by a sense that he had made a terrible mistake by asking this question. He couldn't quite explain it, but it was there.

Naomi immediately unsheathed the blade on her back and charged forward. The man rose a single arm towards the group, pointed at Ethan. He mumbled a single word and then at an instant, Ethan fell to the ground. Naomi leapt into the air, raising her sword for a massive swing. When she was close enough to follow through with it, the man vanished at an instant.

During this time, Vella had been waiting for the perfect opening to let loose her one shot. She was the first to sight the man on a nearby ledge above their heads. She took aim as he said something.

“Let this be a lesson Ethan, that the Disciples of Ragnarok do not appreciate being misled.”

Vella took her shot right at that moment. As the man turned to take his leave, the arrow connected with him. It had embedded itself into the right side of his torso, straight through his back. It was a direct hit, and he fell to a single knee. To everyone's surprise however he vanished from sight shortly after, only this time he was no where to be seen. He managed to get away.

Everyone immediately rushed to where Ethan collapsed. Cain was of course the first to reach him.

“Dad!?”, he shouted as he slid to his side.

The look in Ethan's eyes showed that he was slipping away into the hands of death itself. It took almost everything that he had but he managed to speak. “Damn it.... I had so much I needed to say to you... things that I needed to set clear, for the experiences I have put you through.... you must find me a terrible father.”, he said in a low-toned voice.

“Shut up dad, don't talk that way, you're making it sound like you're going to die. That couldn't have been that bad of an attack, there's no way!” For what felt like the first time, Vella saw something in Cain. Not in his expression, but in his very heart. For the first time she could actually see him expressing his distress. This made Vella uneasy, and she couldn't bear the sight of it.

Cain turned over to Cecille, “Do something! Isn't it your job to fix things like this?!” The frantic spur in his voice was apparent at this point. He was in panic.

“Cain I can't heal this, it's not possible”, she said in response. Her cheeks flushed with a bit of color, which prompted her to place her sleeved hands in front of her face to hide that she was nervous.

“What the hell do you mean you can't-” He was cut off by Naomi grabbing his left shoulder.

“Cain it's not his body that was damaged. That man cast a spell that rended your father's very spirit from his body.”, she stated without hesitation or emotion. “He's going to die Cain.”

This made his eyes widen, and as he turned to face his father you could see water in his eyes. He found it difficult to compose himself, given the situation.

“Damn it.... you can't die, not yet. Not like this....” He placed head on Ethan's chest and continued, “I feel like I'm just meeting you right now... you can't go, not yet.” At this point Cain was in tears.

“I suppose I'm to blame for that one... I think it's time I explain myself here Cain. It's about time” He took a brief break between sentences and then continued.

“Your mother and I had to leave you at that orphanage... we needed to keep you safe.” Cain's head perked up and he faced his father, looking him in the eyes.

“I'm not sure what your guardian told you about us.... but I'm sure that you must have hated use growing up, and I don't blame you... However, we were part of the sanctuary ourselves a long time ago.... Your mother and I had fallen in love and had you, our only child....” Ethan stopped for a moment and swallowed. The words he spoke became harder to speak with each passing moment. Time was wearing thin.

“Your mother and I had completed a mission shortly after.... it pissed off someone within Ragnarok.... what we didn't realize was that it made you a target as well...” Cain listened intently at this point, and the flow of tears was at a sudden halt.

“What... happened to mom?”, Cain asked. He was almost hesitant.

“After we gave you over to the orphanage, we left immediately.... we went as far as our legs could take us.... As you can imagine, we were caught up to eventually..... and they killed her.” Ethan's stopped in thought, then continued. “We had never realized that somewhere along the line they realized your compatibility with magic energy.... they wanted it..... but we couldn't allow this... after the ambush, I refused to tell them where you were.... to think I had only just realized now the reason they let me live all these years.. was to get to you.”

Cain's eyed began watering once again, more intensely than before.

“Damn it! They baited us this whole time...” With his outburst he thrusted his fist into the ground. Cain sat silently in thought for a moment, until he had a sudden realization. “I got you killed didn't I?”

“Of course not Cain.... don't say such a thing...” With that statement, Ethan no longer had the energy to sit up anymore. He slid his elbows to lay on his back. “I suppose this is it then....”

This sentence had enough emotional impact on Cain to where it felt no different than a knife stab to the chest. He sat up and said: “Damn it, no that can't be! Why the the hell does it have to end like this?!”

“All my life I had considered every night.... if what I had done truly was for the best..... I realize now, that I was right.... I hope you can forgive us for that Cain... I don't want to die with regrets..”, Ethan said, almost not even making a sound at this point. He forced a smile onto his face with the last bit of energy he had. It was weak but apparent, a light-hearted smile which almost had succeeded in removing the dread of the situation but only for a moment.

Cain had offically fallen apart at the seams now. Dropping his head on his father's chest one last time, he said: “Of course I do....” Ethan's shirt was now overflowing with the sheer flooding of Cain's tear ducts.

Ethan blinked slowly, and replied “That's.... great to hear....” Ethan closed his eyes. Right then you could feel the air filling with despair. Everyone was unable to speak and could only drop their heads.

Time had completely stopped moving that night. The weight of the situation had embedded itself heavily on the minds of everyone, leaving behind a wave of confusion. The only thing that could be done was wait. The ever burning question in everyone's mind was a simple, yet difficult one. What's going to happen next?

1. Cain is the leader of the main character set. You could pick this up from the information given in the chapter, but I will say it now.

2. Ragnarok is the name of organization that is the main enemy of the plot.

3. Vella is the main character's witty and sarcastic partner. She is know to have something snappy to say about anything.

4. In this story, Waverly is a summoner. She summons the aid of various magical entities.

Author's Note

This is a scenario that popped into my head suddenly. I am aware of the bewilderment that comes with opening up the first book chapter as the assumed climax. I do however wish to post this anyway while it is fresh in my mind. I'll built to it later and add some story information that introduces the story concept.