Lance watched the Seraph devour the meal he prepared and was amazed at the man's appetite. Though he knew he hadn't eaten for days, seeing him eat more than he usually did felt somewhat off. The others had chosen to retire for the night and only three of them were left awake, him, Gil, and Abel. The latter joined the two of them in the kitchen for a cup of coffee. No words had been said yet, they were being nice enough to allow the man who just recovered to finish his meal. By the time he was done, he had a satisfied look on his face and a warm smile of gratitude.<br/><br/>"Didn't think you'd even eat that stuff Gil. Do you want to know what it is that you just ate?" Lance joked.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"Doesn't bother me. It was a good meal."</span>Guilford responded, wiping his mouth clean right after.<br/><br/>"Right..." Lance trailed, chancing a bewildered glance at Abel. The older knight simply shrugged his shoulders. Lance then turned to face his friend once again. "So Gil, are you really okay? Did you hit your head hard? Or did Cora miss some injuries?" he asked warily.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"I'm fine really. She didn't miss anything. I've never felt better in years actually."</span>Guilford casually responded and sipped his own coffee.<br/><br/>"Oookay...? Then aren't you being a little too easy on this? I mean, you know you're supposed to be dead right? Shouldn't you be more worried about what that means and what it could cause?" Lance followed up, staring at Guilford with questioning eyes. The man on the otherhand simply grasped his coffee cup with both hands.<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"Were you expecting me to throw a tantrum about it?"</span><br/><br/>Lance rolled his eyes. "No man, I was expecting you to react in a way a Seraph would react. Don't tell me getting beaten once had you deciding to quit."<br/><br/>Guilford frowned, the memory of him getting beaten to a pulp playing back in his mind. It took a moment of silence before he spoke anything.<span style="color: #0080FF">"I'm worried. More so than I would like any of you to see. But what can I do? You're right, I was beaten once, but that single instance told me that I'm not ready for what is to come. Going back out there now would be pointless. That much I already know."</span>he said and turned to Abel.<span style="color: #0080FF">"You faked my death for a purpose, tell me about it."</span><br/><br/>Abel straigtened his back in his seat, relieved that Gil was willing to play along yet worried if he was actually ready. "Before I do, tell me Gil, are you certain of this? To me it doesn't seem like you're the same man I once knew."<br/><br/>The old knight was right. All this time he had shown them the image he had of his best friend. The person who owned the shoes he tried so hard to fill. The Guilford these people came to know was a fake persona of himself immitating Ricaud. No more lies, time to stop playing pretend, it was time he broke out of his own shell.<span style="color: #0080FF">"You're right. The Guilford you're all looking for isn't here anymore. I've decided to stop lying to myself."</span>His words heralded the descent of confusion between Lance and Abel. What did he mean exactly?<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"All this time I thought I was my own self, all this time I thought the dreams I was chasing was my own. It was when I started having conflicting ideals that I came to realize that I wasn't being me..."</span>he trailed, eyeing the black liquid that filled half his cup.<span style="color: #0080FF">"I once had a best friend, he was a young pristine knight. He died saving me from my foolishness. The Guilford you all came to know, was the image I had of him."</span><br/><br/>The two didn't say anything but instead, allowed the man to continue. He was pouring his heart out to them, there wasn't any merit in stopping him now.<span style="color: #0080FF">"To atone for my weakness and my guilt, I joined the knights in his stead, took it upon myself to see his dreams through. For his sake I tried my hardest to be the best knight I possibly could."</span>he paused, a trace of sadness lining his purple eyes.<span style="color: #0080FF">"I locked myself up in a cage, dragged the guilt with me for as long as I can remember, all so that I could one day meet him and all the others who have died in my stead in the afterlife, just to know that they would forgive me."</span><br/><br/>"Are you saying that the dreams of a Sin free world you're aiming for wasn't yours? That you've been fighting all this time without a goal of your own?" Lance asked, eyes falling over the now slumping form of his friend.<span style="color: #0080FF">"No. I believed in his dreams of a Sin free world and shared the ideal, it's just that the way he wanted to see it through, doesn't exactly fall in line with mine. At least not in these times."</span>he paused, recalling the afternoon he and Ricaud talked about it years ago when they were young.<span style="color: #0080FF">"Back then, I thought it was possible, possible to rid the world of Sin from its very roots. People were united and they actually turned to the Light of their own accord, and the forces of Sin had to try their hardest just to sway the people..."</span>Guilford trailed, recalling many scenes from his stay in Palaugrim.<span style="color: #0080FF">"But now I don't think that's even possible. There are many who have strayed from the Light and lost faith in it, a lot are just content with what they have, caring not which side actually touches their lives, then there are others who have embraced Sin with open arms..."</span><br/><br/>"Times change my friend. People change. I would be surprised if the First War against Sin didn't have that much of an impact to the people." Lance mumbled on, arms folding on top of his chest.<span style="color: #0080FF">"By the time I realized that I was clashing with my--with Ricaud's ideals, was also the time I realized I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything with a conflicted state of mind. A part of me that upheld the current teachings, was the part of me that held my best friend in the highest regard. While the side of me that is starting to reject parts of current teachings was actually the real me."</span><br/><br/>"I'm no fan of the current teachings simply because it's too strict but I'm not bold enough to reject it out in the open, I still think it does the people good to some extent, to the point of not converting them to Sinners. Yet for you to feel that way about it, what is it that<span style="text-decoration: underline">you</span>really want Gil? What are you striving for?"<br/><br/>The question still weighed heavily in his mind. What he wanted was a world without fighting, a world where people acknowledges Sin's existence and does their best to avoid it, a world naturally inclined to the Light where people are not forced to follow strict teachings because they fear Sin, a world where people can actually learn from their own mistakes and not because they were simply told it was wrong. He wanted the people to accept Sin's existence, find it in their own hearts to fight it with their own power, through the knowledge that the Light is there to guide them and protect them. Ridding the world of Sin doesn't have to start with the pristine knights, it can also start with the people themselves. Was it too good to be true? Was it only meant to be a farfetched dream? Still, if he was going to shoot for the stars, he might as well make sure he doesn't land on the moon. This is what he wanted after all. Before Guilford realized it, he had spouted his inner desires for the world to the two men who simply fell in silence.<br/><br/>Abel emptied his coffee cup and looked at the Seraph. "If you really feel that way, then you have to make sure that you have what it takes to see your ideals through. It's not going to be pretty Gil, I can assure you that. If anything, it's going to be chaotic." he paused and shot a look at Lance. The other immediately recognized what the look meant. Lance stood from his seat and walked out of the kitchen. Moments later, he came back with a well-preserved metallic box that looked ancient just by the scratches and fade in its color. It emanated a very strong magic that protected it, akin to the Divine Magic that a few had command over.<br/><br/>"Inside this box, lies the hidden truths long forgotten..." Abel began. Stern eyes fell on Guilford followed by a hand falling on top of the box. "For generations, the d'Arques, the Rosenwulfs, and several other families closely safeguarded this oldest scripture of the Pure. Should you decide to open this and read the scripture within, know that there is no turning back." he warned the man then placed the key of the box on the table. "I know you should still be resting but I trust you understand that we don't have much time left." he said and stood up, calling for Lance to follow him and leave the Seraph to his own thoughts.<br/><br/>It took a while for Guilford to actually make a decision. Hours passed by before he actually took the key and opened the box.<br/><br/><div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px"><div class="quotetitle"><input class="button2 btnlite" onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = '';      this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Hide'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Show'; }" style="text-align:center;width:100px;margin:0px;padding:0px;" type="button" value="Show"/></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">The Divine Light shaped the world. It formed the mountains, paved way for rivers, gave birth to trees and animals, breathed life into the once barren world. In these glorious times, the Divine Light felt that something was missing from its creations. All these beauty, all these lives, they needed a guardian. And so the Divine Light created them, and they were called the Pure, the Divine Light's greatest creation among the other marvels it shaped. For years the Divine Light watched over its creations, observing them, eager for their own progress. Years turned to decades, decades into centuries, and centuries to a millennia, yet nothing changed. The Divine Light's greatest creation was at a stand-still, neither progressing nor regressing. It was saddening just watching its greatest creation wandering aimlessly, and so the Divine Light granted the Pure a little knowledge...<br/><br/>Speech was born, a way for his greatest creation to communicate with each other. The Pure rejoiced at the gift, making the most out of it. Emotions were born and bonds were made, and the Pure bore children, the birth of man, but it was still not enough. The Pure knew so little that their progress could only go so far. Thus the Divine Light imparted a little more knowledge. This time, ideals were born, the bonds that existed were forged, dreams were made, and the greatest creation once again took a step forward.<br/><br/>Through their forward stride, mistakes were also born, a mishap the Divine Light did not foresee. Ideals clashed with each other, hatred was born between the sons and daughters of the Pure, dreams were crushed with fists, the birth of fighting. Just as the Divine Light sought to correct the grave oversight, something unexpected happened. With the knowledge the Pure imparted with their children, these mistakes served to be their stepping stone to further progress. With each mistake their children committed, they learned from it, they were empowered by it. The Divine Light decided to put faith in the children and did nothing, thinking it was for the best that the sons and daughters of the Pure experience these trials and tribulations. Soon, science came to existence, then the communities flourished, clever inventions were made, government was established and the communities became civilizations, walking ever forward to progress. All was good indeed and the Divine Light was satisfied.<br/><br/>However, the satisfaction only lasted until one of the Pure sought out what empowered their children. He later learned that it was the mistakes that granted them what they had now... power. That lone Pure, sought to walk a different path, blinded by the path to power. He envisioned a different form of progress, one where his children could freely harness the power of their mistakes, he called it Sin...<br/><br/>Realizing that this could lead its greatest creation to ruin, the Divine Light intervened. It imparted a select few with more knowledge to fight the menace that threatened them, and thus came the birth of faith and religion...</div></div></div><br/><br/>He didn't even need to finish the whole scripture. Gil's thoughts scrambled to find some form of comfort in the teachings that he knew. There was nothing that could have prepared him for what he just learned. Sin was one of the foundations that molded this world?! How could that be?! How could the Divine Light allow such a thing to exist and to even allow it to shape mankind? All this time they were taught that it was the Divine Light that spun this world to its liking, that it was the one that guided the people to where they are now. This couldn't be real... they were fighting all this time because the one thing they believed in made a mistake of letting Sin empower the sons and daughters of the Pure? And now that Sin has gotten out of hand, it was up to them, the children, to correct the past? And what's worse, it was a Pure who pursued Sin and plunged the world into chaos! Gil's mind went blank, unable to find the comfort in the beliefs he tried hard to find.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">____________________________________________________________________________________</div><br/><br/>"Has he said anything yet?" Abel asked Lance who was watching a meditating Guilford in the nearby spring. The orange-head only replied with a mellow head shake. "It's been one day and he hasn't left that spring or talked to anybody for that matter." he added. Lance motioned for Abel to switch places with him. He had been watching Gil all day long and he was dying for a break. The other obliged and sat in the distance, eyes falling over a half-submerged Seraph who was deep in meditation. Hours ticked by and before Abel knew it, he had dozed off involuntarily.<br/><br/>The sound of crunching twigs beneath footsteps walking his way woke the old knight up. His eyes first noted the now orange laden backdrop which indicated that the sun was just about to set. Old eyes fell to the dripping form of Guilford headed towards him. The man stopped upon reaching speaking distance and only looked at the old knight with resolute purple eyes. Abel knew what the look meant, but in this case, he had to be sure.<br/><br/>"Have you made up your mind Gil?"<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"I have. I will pursue my ideals. The only thing I learned from that scripture was that the Divine Light chose to place its faith on us. I find no reason why I should misplace that faith."</span><br/><br/>The man's tone was calm, steady, and unshaken. For those whose beliefs were shattered, many would have lost the will to continue on and just decide to call it a day, live the rest of their lives in peace and let fate run its course. Truthfully, for a moment he had thought that Gil would decide to do the same. He was relieved to have known that he was mistaken. "And this is why you were one of the chosen by the Divine Light. You share the same faith it placed upon man and refuse to give up on it." he said with a faint smile and slowly picked his old bones up. "Now come, we don't have much time left. You need to learn how to properly harness the power granted by the Divine Light to its champions."<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"You mean Light's Wrath?"</span><br/><br/>Abel chuckled, as always Gil was quick on the uptake. "I'm sure you already had a taste of it but what you know is just the tip of the iceberg."<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">____________________________________________________________________________________</div><br/><br/>The next few days were spent doing mostly physical and mental training. For one to be able to properly handle Divine Magic or Light's Wrath, one must first have the strength of mind to control it, and the strength of body to contain the power. It would have been a walk in the park had it not been for Abel's regimen which is not for the faint of heart. His methods were old fashioned, a lot more harsher than the standard pristine knight regimen and would definitely make any new cadets quit on day one. It felt like he was back in Squad Seven again, where Abel would use this hellish regimen as a disciplinary action should anyone fall out of line. He remembered a memory of him and Lethe having to endure this ordeal one time for their rashness. Who could blame them? They were young and eager. A smile curled up on his lips while doing inverse curl-ups above a burning bonfire. If there's one thing Gil was thankful for, it was that the council had always been deploying him everywhere; it kept him well in shape.<br/><br/>Now he was doing push-ups with his arms half submerged in a tar pit, with a lot of extra load strapped to his back. The extra weight wasn't the problem, it was his hair that was the real concern. Seriously, did Abel ever think about how difficult it was to remove tar from hair? And where did he even get so much of this stuff? He could hear his friends snickering as they watched his disgruntled expression slowly turning for the worse. Next was a long calisthenics session. Abel was pounding him with the basics and though he wanted to complain, Gil knew what was at stake. Had this old knight decided to try his career at being an instructor, Gil wondered what kind of knights he would produce. Would they all be Seraph quality knights? Or would this man be able to produce any knights at all with this training meant to kill someone?<br/><br/>Finally a break from the hellish physical training. If one could call getting hammered by wooden swords from all sides while you're blindfolded a break, then Gil was taking his sweet time. His senses weren't dull, at least under normal circumstances. He would have been able to predict strikes with ease even with his eyes closed had Abel not used that mind numbing concoction Cora brewed for him. Of course, this was training, he was a Seraph, the difficulty should at least surpass his level of ability if it were to serve any purpose at all. Still, the hits he was receiving was getting annoying and he was already brought down to one knee. He would have to pay back his friends for this for helping Abel beat him up like this someday.<br/><br/>More days of the same in a rinse repeat cycle. It didn't take long for the fruits of their training to start showing in just a week's time. Truly he was still one of those geniuses who joined the PKA. He was doing much more inverse curl-ups while keeping an intense rhythm, run for longer hours on uneven terrain, increased weight during his push-ups, advanced calisthenics routines with added intensity, and even going toe to toe against his friends plus Abel. His body was ready, and so was his mind. Even under the influence of Cora's concoction, Guilford was able to calmly predict the strikes blindfolded, he was able to maintain his magic, even draw runes randomly dictated under time pressure. He was focused, and Abel knew that Gil was ready.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">____________________________________________________________________________________</div><br/><br/>Out in the open space where nobody could disturb them, Guilford sat meditating with eyes closed. Abel was circling around him giving instructions...<br/><br/>"The power of the Divine Realm is impossible to master. No human was ever meant to have access to that power. But during our darkest times, the Divine Light chosen a few from the Pure to impart the knowledge of how to tap into that power. People like us who were chosen by the Light, are given the right to tap into that power, yet even with that right, it is still not an easy feat to accomplish for not everyone gets to see The Gate. Gil, do you remember the time you learned your Providence?"<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"Yes. In my mind I saw a sealed gate leaking with power. I willed a portion of the leak under my command and was able to get it to do my heart's desire at that time, to protect Squad Seven."</span><br/><br/>"Do you remember what happened to you after that?"<br/><br/><span style="color: #0080FF">"I passed out and was rendered out of action for six days."</span><br/><br/>"That was because you willed far more than your body could handle at the time. Light's Wrath is a double-edged sword. It tears the user's body apart in exchange for incredible magic. Your training in the last week was to prepare your mind and body and reduce the damage you will sustain should you call upon the power of Light's Wrath. What I will impart to you now, is the key to that gate." Abel paused and began to draw runic symbols around Guilford with his own magic. When he was done, he activated the runes and Guilford was engulfed in his magic. "Now then, let us begin..."