Throne of Steam

Garett stood in his living room while feeling very insecure. Someone had entered his home and ransacked the place! But now, it seemed as if it never happened in the first place.

I don't know what kind of ability allows the user to erase clues so perfectly! Is it some kind of power that helped him clean up the place? No, that's unlikely. Then maybe it is a power related to the domain of time!? Something like that is even possible? That's one scary possibility… Garett continued mumbling to himself while he scanned the apartment. Everything was exactly how he had left, and not a single trace of the ransacked was left.

"Captain Dante is still upstairs, he wanted me to look for clues here but didn't give me the mystery lens. Maybe because the lens would only make me feel dizzy and would not help at all…" Garett developed recently the habit of talking to himself while thinking, a whole bunch of conjectures crowding his thoughts constantly.

I don't know much about artifacts yet, not that I know much about Marked powers either, but I don't think there's a power so weird as to allow someone to clean so thoroughly a crime scene. Then maybe the answer is an artifact! I wouldn't find it strange to find an artifact with this kind of power… Garett nodded to himself, he planned on telling the captain his speculations, even if the captain had already thought of it.

"He's trying to train me after all, so he should be refraining from talking as to allow me to make my own conclusions." Garett was rather pleased with his recent reasoning abilities, he felt that it wouldn't be a bad idea to become a detective if he ever left the hunters.

No, I've never heard of a rich detective… He soon shook the idea out of his mind. He planned on using his advantages to become rich! What was the point of using them only to remain a poor bun? That was unscientific!

Time passed while he scoured through the place, looking for something and waiting for Alice's return. The captain was still upstairs with that body, and Garett was starting to feel helpless.

"Huh? What is this?" Garett found a sealed envelope while searching the gaps in between the shelves, its exterior yellowed and stained as if it was subjected to a large amount of moisture.

Was this thing left behind by the scholar? No, it seems older than that, as if it was hidden here for more than a week… Garett inspected the finding, wondering if he should open it or not.

"To hell with it." Failing to resist the temptation, Garett quickly grabbed a knife and used it to delicately open the envelope, his hands trembled as everything that happened in the last few days had endangered him in some way.

Opening the seal, he rapidly took the piece of paper inside and inspected it. The contents were written with messy calligraphy, and drops of ink and different stains only aggravated the difficulty in reading the scrambled letters.

"To my forgetful self, " The first line already sent chills running through his body! Every single cell in him for some reason screamed in despair, begging him to destroy the paper even before reading it!

"Knowing myself, it's impossible for you to find this without having the reason to search every single corner of the place, and if this is the truth, I have to tell you a few things."

That's true, without the ransacker incident I would never search my own house so extensively… Garett nodded, even if he could barely recognize the calligraphy as his, something told him that this was written during his week-long period of amnesia.

"The College is not what it seems, and the world is not what it seems either. Even your eyes are to be doubted. After our joyous reunion with the Professor, we were accepted into his research team, and everything seemed fine. I was privileged with the joyous task of analyzing and decoding medical books of the old era, hoping to uncover lost methods of treatment that were lost to the ages."

That is indeed a privilege, in the academic community being responsible for the revival of effective medical methods is comparable to a musician being bestowed the honor to play directly to the royal family, it would confer extreme fame and allow one to directly enter the upper echelons between academics… Garett could almost picture himself as a renowned scholar and authority on the field of medical treatment! The riches would flood in and his life would be one of leisure and debauchery.

Of course, the credits would mostly be attributed to Professor Mirth, but he would also achieve tremendous benefits!

"It was like a dream come true, and I felt my life was finally on track to my objectives. That was until the fourth day, on which the research data vanished. And as a new addition to the research group, I was obviously suspected.

"I was put on scrutiny and discovered the dark side of the academic institution, they employed methods akin to dark magic in order to interrogate me. And only after much suffering did they believe I wasn't involved in the theft, but I had already become a Marked by then.

"The researchers didn't want to accept the responsibility for caring about another Marked, one that possibly harbored hatred for the College. So they decided on borrowing my weak body to assist on their research, channeling the spirit of some old entity from the Age of Carnage as to recoup the losses from stolen data.

"The plan was simple, let my body be possessed, make a deal with the entity to erase a portion of my soul and have me forget the things that took place, and finally they would create an artificial body to the entity in return of knowledge pertaining the old era."

That is sick! But it appears that the scholars refrain from killing even in those circumstances, so why to change it now and kill that poor bastard upstairs? Unless it was not done by the scholars at all… Garett started to feel puzzled about the recent happenings, some of his conjectures proved wrong while others were proved right.

"But the entity they summoned became friendly towards me, saying it could feel great destiny and a lot of other nonsense.

"Nonetheless, it would help me in return for repayment in the future. After a time of conversion with me, it said it could feel the calling of his forefather from the abyss beneath the Professor's house, and that it was my destiny to answer this calling.

"Another lot of nonsense about destiny and fate.

"Eventually, we managed to trick the scholars and convince them to allow him to keep my body, saying that it was very compatible and they couldn't create anything better.

"After staying with him inside my body for a couple of days, I'm starting to see the spiritual world.

"I can see fate."

Garett felt chills and an inexplicable sense of fear started to flood his entire being, every fiber of his seemed to remember the inexplicable feeling, every hair on his body stood on end!

There was then a large gulf in the paragraphs, as if one started to rewrite the letter after a long time.

"But it wasn't supposed to be. We saw that our interference in the mortal realm was detected by the gods, and they would never allow it. We were too weak.

"So we decided on following the threads of fate. We would erase a part of our soul, and leave it to you the task of completing the ritual to our forefather. As heavenly punishment would never kill those with strong fate.

"We left this letter to warn you, congratulate you, and leave a final warning.

"Do not trust the gods."

What-What the f**k?... Garett cursed.

…

Garett's mind was a mess, this was the first time that he had come into contact with anything related to his week-long amnesia, and to think it would be so crazy!

Towards end of the letter, he- or I. F**k! He started to refer to himself as 'we' as if he wasn't me anymore, but a fusion of two beings! I don't want to become like that! Sure, I probably held the ritual and answered the calling of his 'forefather', but I'm no slave to fate… Garett continued to complain inwardly, his emotions a complete mess!

"And that doesn't help me at all! It just says what the scholars did on the past and also serves as a proof of my insanity!" Garett couldn't help but lampoon, how could he become mad like that?

That also proves my guess that the College also has its own collection of marked powers, and it's a pretty powerful organization at that… Garett thought after managing to stop his complaining self.

"But it's contradictory for them not to kill meant that time but suddenly kill another man while monitoring me…" He concluded, and at that time, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps, enunciating Alice's pompous return.

She was dragging a big case on her back, the shape resembling a guitar, but Garett knew that inside of it rested her enormous gauntlets.

"Hey, Garett! Where's the captain? I've already reported to Father Charles, and he should be preparing the manpower to put together an extensive search on the vicinity! Do not worry, we'll catch those bastards in no time." She still seemed very sorry about what happened, and so did her best to console him.

Before Garett could answer, Dante's heavy voice came from upstairs, his steps heavy and tired.

"Yes, I've managed to uncover some things about the suspect. So we should be able to ascertain your safety soon enough." He said while descending the stairs, his eyes looking at Garett with some indescribable sense of duty."It took some time, but using the powers of the mists I managed to obtain a description of the criminal's appearance."

"That's awesome, captain! I don't think someone who erased his tracks so clearly would worry about changing his appearance too." Alice said merrily, at least something good happened!

"Yes, thank you both…" Garett felt very secure with the arrival of the two hunters, the letter's contents fading in obscurity.

Why should I follow your goddamn fate? I was always the kind of man who forges his own fate! And maybe I shouldn't trust the gods, but I surely can trust these people… Garett thought to himself, vowing to never succumb to fate! He would never become some monstrosity like the fusion with an ancient entity! Even if he was manipulated into completing the ritual, his fate was now completely into his hands, and so he could focus on the most important thing!

My only fate is to become rich!...