Surviving the Death Hunt-Chapter 79: Chosen
From the beginning, Scar’s awakening of his Emotional State had been off. The procedure prior to it had been bizarre, departing from everything considered normal in ways that were hard to ignore.
And what followed was stranger still. No runic mark. No sigils. None of the usual markers confirmed what had happened.
Even more bizarrely, the knowledge Scar had pulled from his confrontation with Kendrick, his first predecessor, carried something beneath it that he hadn’t fully processed until now.
A quiet implication, subtle but clear once he looked at it directly. The ability to decay didn’t belong to him.
The pieces clicked into place. The reason his body decayed whenever he used the flames of decay... that had always been a troubling inconsistency, and now it made sense.
But solving one mystery had a way of surfacing another, and the one now sitting at the front of his mind was the larger of the two. What was he, exactly?
His flame was white, as unique as those of every predecessor who had come before him. That uniqueness wasn’t random. It meant something. What was the white flame?
Emma might have given him something, even if she couldn’t answer outright, she had a way of circling the truth until you could find his own way to it. That option was gone now, thanks to Joel.
She was bedridden, and he was standing here with nothing, and the more that reality settled, the heavier it sat. The more it all traced back to Joel. The more he wanted to kill him.
Even so, the day had one more thing left in it.
A summons to his uncle’s office arrived before Scar could even think about rest. It was well-timed, at least, he had been meaning to find Arthur since the Supreme Council meeting a few hours ago.
"You never stop making me proud, do you, Scar? You’ve gotten stronger. I like that."
Scar stood at ease in front of Arthur and listened, though part of his mind kept drifting to the same thing it always drifted to when he looked at his uncle these days. Arthur was growing younger.
It had been happening long enough to be undeniable, and strangely, no one in any room had ever seen fit to comment on it.
Scar couldn’t decide if that made it more or less concerning. Was it something that came with Arthur’s level of strength? Was aging backwards simply what happened when you reached that point?
Arthur smirked.
"What’s weighing on that mind of yours? You look dazed. Don’t burden yourself, you’re a Rover now. You’ll never stand alone."
A quiet exhale, aimed mostly at himself. He had almost completely lost track of why he was standing here.
"You’re right, Uncle. I was about to tell you I was ready to rejoin the Rover family, but it looks like you already handled that without telling me."
The childlike version of Arthur resurfaced right on cue. His hand found the back of his head, shyness written all over him.
"Ha! About that... I was worried something worse might happen once Lotus learned who you were, so I took matters into my own hands while you were unconscious. You’ll forgive me, won’t you, my dear nephew?"
Scar smiled back and shrugged it off. A doting Arthur was nothing new. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
"Don’t worry about it, Uncle. As long as Isaac gets his revenge, I have no complaints."
The words left Scar, and the room changed with them. Arthur’s hands found the desk, and whatever warmth had been sitting in him a moment ago disappeared completely.
"You are a Rover now. Though your rich golden eyes carry the mark of our bloodline, that alone is not enough. Blood runs thick, and no one was prouder to be a Rover than your father. Yet there is still much you must learn about your family."
Scar gulped, feeling the tension.
"As Rovers, curiosity defines us. Our crest itself bears a wandering eye. Hold onto that spirit, and when the day comes for you to stand before the heads of the family, they will be proud to receive you once more."
Scar flinched, just briefly. He had heard those words before from his father, enough times that they had settled permanently, even if the memories around them had grown hazy.
He couldn’t recall them fully, but he was certain of what they held. The Rover family had been started by an adventurer.
Before the Red Day, the world had the texture of something celestial. It was vast and luminous in ways that had since been lost.
Through it, the first Rover had walked with a deep sense of obligation, compelled to see every corner of it and to take in the histories it offered freely to those willing to go looking. He had fathered children along the way, here and there, with those he encountered on his path.
His genes were so strong that every child carried his golden eyes, and more than that, carried his spirit. Each of them grew up to be an adventurer in their own right, pulled toward the same endless horizon that had called their father before them.
Their spread across the world was precisely what had allowed the Rovers to survive the Red Day. They were scattered enough that no single catastrophe could take them all.
The adventuring had quieted since then, but the curiosity hadn’t.
It ran through the family the way the gold eyes did. Which was why the Rover family had earned the name that followed them everywhere. The family Where Journeys Begin.
Scar smirked.
"Don’t sweat it, Unc. My father said that to me more times than I can count."
He held no grudges about it, not really. But comprehension was still something he couldn’t quite reach.
A family as free-hearted as the Rovers, and yet they had tried to stop their own from marrying a slave. In that sense, the slogan felt hollow. Where Journeys Begin hadn’t extended to his father when it mattered most.
Arthur laughed awkwardly.
"What did I expect? Bryan was always more of a Rover than any of us."
What followed was lighter. They talked about mundane things, mostly Bryan, Scar’s father, and the laughter that came was the kind that only the dead could inspire. All at his expense, naturally.
But Scar came back to himself before long. The laughter faded into a realization. He didn’t necessarily need Emma to unravel the mysteries of his Inheritance. Arthur knew things. Plenty of things. The answers might be closer than he had thought.
"Um... Unc, there’s something I need to ask you."
Hurriedly, Arthur gave him the go-ahead.
"I activated my Emotional State in the fight with Adisa, but it felt... odd. Julien also awakened both his Emotional and Protector States that day, though his bore no resemblance to mine."
Scar gave his words a beat.
"Julien awakened purely through his will and his determination to survive, but I had to face one of my predecessors. Actually, from what I’ve learned, I’ll have to face all of them. Why is that? And, it seems, my power of decay isn’t even my own."
Arthur looked at him with an expression that said everything without saying anything. He probably knew exactly what was happening with Scar’s Inheritance. But the laws of this world didn’t bend for that kind of knowledge. Until Scar discovered it himself, Arthur’s hands were tied.
"Wait... Julien awakened two states in one fight? That’s amazing! I’d heard it could happen, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen it. Make sure he comes to me afterward, I have a little gift for him."
Scar nodded in understanding. He had been genuinely shocked when Julien told him about his achievements, and if he was being honest, a part of him might have felt a little jealous knowing Julien was now stronger than him. But that wasn’t what came through. What came through was pride.
EHEM.
"Let’s talk about Inheritances. Its stages and ranks are structured like a tower... you cannot leap from the first floor to the fiftieth. Each stage is designed to help you grasp your abilities. The higher you ascend, the deeper your understanding becomes. This is why every new Inheritance has its prominent knowledge sealed until the user reaches the appropriate level."
Arthur took a deep breath.
"It’s the same with your Inheritance. I can’t guarantee that defeating each predecessor will instantly put you at Tier-1 or Tier-0, but the more you overcome, the clearer everything will become. Still, I’m certain that something big awaits you once you defeat them all.
"Still, since you command the Flames of the Unknown, you will need guidance beyond yourself to comprehend how your Inheritance was formed."
Scar nodded.
It wasn’t news to him. The predecessors existed to be defeated, that was the nature of it. Kendrick had proven that.
The moment Scar overcame him, Kendrick stopped opposing and started supporting. The remaining five would be no different.
Until each one was conquered, their knowledge would keep clashing with his, and the truth of what it meant to be a white flame would remain incomplete.
Arthur frowned.
"Understand that bearing that Inheritance means a lifelong struggle against history. Don’t let it overwhelm you. I believe you can succeed, and that is exactly why the Inheritance chosen you."
Scar gulped bile. Fighting against history. He turned the phrase over and didn’t like what came back. Did that mean his enemies extended beyond Dain? That others were waiting somewhere in the shape of the past, just as determined to see him dead?
The room sat in its gloom for a moment, heavy and quiet, before Arthur moved to cut through the fog of it.
"And what do you know... I talked to the family, and it seems they’re throwing you a banquet to welcome you back to the Rovers... don’t look down on it. When the time comes, you will understand why it’s necessary."
The cheerful smile left his face, and disappointment took its place.
"Though, it looks like you’ll have to handle getting the 10 gold on your own."
Huh?
Scar couldn’t help but freeze. Were they really going to leave the task of gathering ten gold in two months to a child like him?
