[6th of June 2064, Friday, 9:00 PM]

[A month passed since Lucas began his stay at The Berendin Manor. Training room E-5 is reserved for all his sessions until the end of Summer.]

LUCIDIA
This will be the last attempt for the night.

LUCAS
It’s that late already, huh? Okay. I’ll give it my best shot.

[By now, his magic is able to lift and stabilise the 100 kg weight of beanbags in groupings of four bags each, totalling to twenty-five clusters. He manages to hold on for 120 seconds before showing signs of faltering. After that, the beanbags drop onto the floor.]

LUCIDIA
Very good. Your endurance has increased.

Do you feel exhausted?

[The young man stretches his neck, thinking.]

LUCAS
Hmm, I guess I’m a little tired, but not to the point where I’d crash into bed. Why?

LUCIDIA
I believe you’re ready to begin your Red Aspect training regiment.

LUCAS
A-already? I thought I would need to get to the point where I can float those beanies individually first…

LUCIDIA
We thought it would be best for you to become more comfortable with your other Aspects first. However, despite your improvements, you’re two weeks behind my prognosis. That is a testament to the strength of your Red. Your immense uncontrollable power prevents minute adjustments to the degree of amplification, yet you have made sufficient progress despite that.

Synergising with your Red may or may not be required to ascend to the next level. That would be up to my husband to decide.

[A message buzzes her phone: an update from Cenna Caraway about the Supreme Judge’s health.]

LUCIDIA
Another fever…

LUCAS
Aunt Lucidia? Is Uncle Mezil ill again?

LUCIDIA
I’m afraid so. Summers haven’t been kind to him in recent years. He’s quite susceptible to heat, more so when he cannot dress lightly without exposing too many of his secrets. However, he still wants to talk with you in private. He’s waiting for you in the garden.

[They return to the manor’s garden, where Mezil rests on a reclining lawn chair with a fever pad stuck to his forehead. He lets out a slight groan of pain, struggling under the agony brought upon by his inflamed state of being.]

LUCIDIA
Are you alright, dear?

MEZIL
I… I’ll manage. I’ve already taken my medication, painkillers included.

LUCIDIA
Any gastrointestinal disturbances? Nausea? Irritable bowels?

MEZIL
The lemon drops prevent nausea. As for the… arduous times on the toilet… those haven’t happened, yet.

LUCIDIA
If you need anything, please message me, alright? I’ll leave you to talk with Lucas.

MEZIL
…Thank you.

[As the sun descends, the air cools rapidly. The far horizon glows in a vibrant line of red and yellow against a dark blue backdrop, growing thinner and thinner as time goes by in silent suffering. After a while, Mezil finds within himself the energy to sit up and face Lucas.]

LUCAS
Um… Are you sure you’re okay? We can postpone this if need be.

MEZIL
I’m feeling much better now, actually. The cold air helps aplenty.

How has the last month been for you?

LUCAS
Most things would be an improvement over the first few days, but… I think I’m starting to find my rhythm? It’s been much less dissonant this past week.

MEZIL
That’s good to hear.

Have you called any of your family members recently?

LUCAS
Well, Dad ain’t picking up the phone, as you know. But, I did speak with Grandpa last week. Same with Tavia a few days ago. Though uh, she’s my girlfriend rather than an immediate family member, at least for the time being. Aside from them and Granduncle Scott, I haven’t spoken with anyone else since I started training here.

MEZIL
Are they well?

LUCAS
As far as I can tell, yes. Grandpa tells me he’s been trying to meet with Dad whenever their schedules permit. Tavia, I’m convinced she can take just about anything in stride. And, ehh, Granduncle Scott was his usual self. Quote-unquote ‘lamenting the fact that Lame-o Lucas never took the old gal for a spin for a fifteen-year road trip’. That’s referring to a stolen motorcycle by the way.

MEZIL
Hmph. Let him lament. The Great Gentleman Thief Scott Moriarty is not the role model he thinks he is. At worst he’s a villain, at best he’s an expensive nuisance. Does he think that law-enforcement works for free?

LUCAS
Aha… So you’re ‘Count Killjoy’.

MEZIL
I shall embrace that title with all my heart.

…But… I don’t want to be unapproachable to you. If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask. I will attempt to answer what I can to the best of my abilities. Confidentiality permitting.

[Lucas pauses for a moment, running both of his hands through his hair, pondering where to begin.]

LUCAS
…Grandpa was up there with you in that helicopter. When you left everything behind to join The Magi, how did he manage to stick so close to you?

MEZIL
The continued business contact played a huge factor. He has helped The Association since the days of my predecessor, thus gaining our undying trust. I’m not at liberty to disclose the depth of his involvement without your grandfather’s permission. That is for him to decide. But, one could say that he’s akin to an honorary Magus. He would have joined the ranks of the Crimson Keepers had he chosen differently back then.

LUCAS
I suppose it’s been on my mind a lot, ever since I started my own training. Our family has always wondered why he went out of his way to seal off his own magic, then pulled a complete 180 to work directly with The Supreme Judge.

MEZIL
…I had the same questions as you did. Just being adjacent to me brings danger, as you have seen. It is for that reason that the Association pays a hefty compensation to civilian contractors for the risk they put themselves in.

But, I know it’s never about the money with Edmund. Perhaps it’s more about a sense of responsibility. Even partial knowledge of the Red Aspect instils unease within a heart.

[Upon saying that, The Supreme Judge raises his hand with a slight tremor, weakened from his condition. Despite this, he summons a small red butterfly. It flutters for a while before it rests on his fingers.]

MEZIL
Willpower. Authority. Determination. What comes to mind when you hear those words?

LUCAS
I guess it makes me think of people who are natural born leaders… people who get things done regardless of the stakes. The ones who seem to easily make their opposition fall like dominos, for better or worse. Though those are also the kind of people who refuse to crumble against all odds.

MEZIL
A fair assessment. What you just described are two sides of the same coin.

That said, let me tell you about the Determinator your grandfather and I tangled with in recent months.

It all started with a series of mysterious deaths, afflicted by sudden lethal embolisms. Many of which involved perfectly healthy people with no severe medical history. Although hospitals wrote each of them off as natural causes, one of the victims’ surviving family members contacted your grandfather. They admitted to being a part of the criminal underworld, and didn’t want law enforcement on the case.

They spoke about how their elders dropped dead, only a few days after a failed business deal. The timing was too suspicious, and so they suspected foul play. Perhaps an undetectable poison was invented in the underbelly. Your grandfather took the job expecting this terrible outcome.

What he discovered was far, far worse. One investigation led to another. The list of names grew ever greater. Once unconnected incidents started linking together. And before long, he had narrowed them down to a single person.

That was when he called me. Lucidia confirmed Edmund’s hypothesis, which led me to push the case to the highest priority.

The culprit was a young man of the Red Aspect like yourself. Barely an adult, he awakened to The Mark of the Wind. This granted him the authority over all things related to his symbol: from the smallest bubble to the largest storm.

He would have been a great asset to society had he used his power for good. Imagine, for example, a perpetual wind turbine spinning on his Mark’s command. Even if it’s just one generator, he could provide a lifetime of free energy wherever it is needed most.

…Alas, such lofty ideas were far from his mind. The wheels of justice moved too slowly for his liking. Instead of peaceful altruism, he thus chose to pursue violent vigilante justice.

With his willpower, he would slip a bubble into the bloodstream of his victims. They would then perish days later, far away from his presence, thus muddying any ties to his involvement.

Since he had control over the air itself, it was far too dangerous to send out any Magi enforcers. He could suffocate a whole squad by denying them of oxygen. Therefore, I took Caraway with me for a covert operation. It soon became… complicated. Edmund was in the crosshairs that day. And I was forced to intervene.

[Lucas nods to himself, taking in Mezil’s words.]

LUCAS
…That explains the helicopter, and everything that happened after.

That guy who controlled the wind, I’d heard a few things about him on the news. How he was the son of some insanely high-level policeman. How it looked like he had his life set with college scholarships and employment guarantees. That’s a lot to be throwing away for the sake of… I don’t know. Power tripping?

…Is that what Determination does to people?

MEZIL
To put it plainly: Yes.

Reality can be frustrating: either from unfulfilled dreams, lack of freedom, or unfavourable circumstances. Meanwhile, others seem to live free of consequences. These factors can compel a person to take their own shortcuts. Justification becomes vindication. And from there, they embrace increasingly grave sins.

In the end, that young man’s heart became stone cold to the deaths and suffering he had caused. That danger is always very real, no matter who you are, but more so for us Reds.

Tell me, how did you feel upon your first activation?

LUCAS
I… Well, in the heat of the moment, I felt…

[Lucas’ thoughts trail off, his eyes drawn to the glowing butterfly on Mezil’s fingers.]

LUCAS
…God-like, in a way. I felt like I could do just about anything. That doing whatever I wanted was worth the risk. One moment, I was as screwed as anyone with a bunch of thugs dragging him off. The next? I found myself tossing both them and half the store around just by imagining it hard enough.

…It was like a whole new realm revealed itself to me. I thought I might have been dreaming. The high kept me going even after all of the flying objects started battering me around too

I didn't snap back to reality until I heard one of the bad guys shouting in concern for his friend. That one, ah… he got half-buried under a toppled aisle. Just, the way his voice broke as he kept screaming the guy’s name. It… it somehow got through to me.

Makes me grateful that the whole mess didn’t last for longer than it did… As serious as the damage was, it could have been much, much worse.

MEZIL
If your reaction to Art’s foolishness is anything to go by, you have a propensity to resort to violence to get your way. That inner darkness does concern me, both as your uncle and as The Supreme Judge.

However, your testimony brings some relief. The rightful horror over your newfound powers proves to me that you still retain your humanity. You’re closer to a normal person in the grand scheme of things.

The same can’t be said for me.

[Mezil sighs, looking up towards the growing twilight.]

MEZIL
2045. On the year of your birth. I was 25 years old, in college, and working as a part-time bartender. While I was finishing my shift, I heard the sounds of struggle from the back alley. Such incidents are not uncommon, but we’re obligated to report them to the authorities to avoid liability.

That was how I ended up seeing what I shouldn’t. It was not a normal scuffle. Not drunken brawl, a robbery, or harassment against a helpless civilian. No, it was an assassination attempt against your aunt, Lucidia of House Berendin. The Magus Association had fallen to internal corruption. Your grandfather, whose office sat right next to the bar, was supposed to help her leave the country in one piece.

My own powers awakened in the battle for survival, just like yours did. But that’s where the similarities end. Upon a single touch, I drained the life out of my attacker. His corpse fell on top of me. I pushed the dead weight aside, not even realising that I had absorbed their lifeforce.

A normal person would have been terrified. Confused. Neither happened to me. Instead, I was focused on my sole objective: to save the life of this woman. Somehow, someway, I killed the rest of the invaders. After which, we fled from the scene together.

Despite all of that… I didn’t feel anything: no panic from the chaos, no elation of victory, no remorse for the bloodshed, no memory of the cold faces of the dead. Nothing. It was as though they were merely obstacles in my path. I was more troubled by the realisation of my numbness than the carnage itself.

Looking back, the rumours are not unfounded. I was steeped in darkness before I knew the dark side existed, further exacerbated by the vampiric nature of my Mark.

If the circumstances at the Magus Association weren’t so dire at the time, I don’t think I would have been elected as Supreme Judge. I hold this position only because I survived that mess of a conflict and gained House Berendin’s favour.

Lucas… I hope that you can be a good leader in the future. If not in the Magus Association, then in the field of your choosing.

LUCAS
I hope so too… Well, once I get magic under control, we’ll see where life takes me.

For whatever it’s worth, I hear the best leaders in history are the ones who rose up in times of complete chaos. They wouldn’t have been in that position had things been any different, yet they were there when the world needed them most.

I mean, without you and Aunt Lucidia, there wouldn’t be a Magus Association today. No one else has filled your shoes since then. That has to count for more than just a little, right?

MEZIL
Hmmm, I wonder about that. If not me… Who else would be The Supreme Judge?

[Mezil lets the butterfly fly. It dissipates into fragments of red, blending in with the cold evening air.]

MEZIL
Tomorrow, health permitting, we will start your lessons on Red Magic. Have a good rest.

LUCAS
You too, Uncle. Get well soon.

[END TRANSCRIPT]