Occult Awakening: From Commoner to Archmage

"If he doesn't die, I will never feel at peace again."

Luca released her cheek and stepped back once more.

"Is that right?"

He frowned. There was one of those names again, the same kind he had heard during his Awakening. This time it was Agiel. The names were etched into his memory, not merely because of his excellent memory, but because each one carried a unique, overwhelming weight.

The last name he had stumbled upon was in the Count's journal: Astaphaios, a name tied to the planetary spirit of Mercury. He had paid attention to that one because Crowley had once called him the child born under the star of Mercury. That connection had stuck.

Now, another name surfaced: Agiel. One voice from his Awakening.

By now, Luca felt it wasn't unreasonable to assume that all the names he had heard were bound to the planets and their spirits. What unsettled him was that he didn't know what planet Agiel corresponded to, or what connection it had to Digger.

More troubling was the reaction it provoked. When Thalia, Vito, and Jonny heard it, they lost all sense of reason and began to act insanely. Even a whisper of the name nearly tore Thalia apart. And yet Luca had felt nothing.

That fact gnawed at him. Was it a choice on Digger's part, sparing him deliberately?

Luca leaned toward that explanation. He had no reason to believe himself more special than the others. His only advantages were a resilient mind and the sheer luck that had placed the Legacy in his hands.

But with all the information he had, he finally understood why she chose to attack him.

It was like a person returning from work, finding their home razed and family butchered. Later, they cross paths with a lone, defenseless soldier from the same army. Not the murderer of their kin, or even part of the company, but part of the same machine. Blind fury takes over, and they strike.

They only attack the soldier because they conflate the soldier with the entire army. And seeing as the soldier can't fight back, he's the perfect scapegoat.

That was Thalia, multiplied by the strange powers of the planetary spirit.

Luca met her gaze, his voice even.

"You've come across a planetary spirit," he said.

Her eyes widened. "T-thank you, sir Burning Man. I've been trying to do research into-"

"Cease looking into this matter. The less you know, the safer you remain. At your level, ignorance is protection. The boy is of no consequence now."

Every mage knew of planetary spirits, but their names were almost impossible to find. Luca still wondered how the Count had procured a ritual to summon Mercury's spirit in the first place.

Noctiel must have been involved. There was no other possibility.

"Yes, sir!" Thalia straightened and bowed deeply.

"Good. That matter is finished. Now tell me about your plan."

"My plan?" She blinked, caught off guard, then nodded. "Right. My plans."

She rose from her knees and hurried to the desk. Luca glanced at the chaos of parchment spread across its surface.

To him, it looked like nonsense. then she pulled something hidden from beneath: a large rolled sheet.

She spread it quickly, revealing a detailed map of the empire and its surroundings.

The Divine Solaran Empire was made up of six great territories.

The Basel Kingdom. The Kingdom of Astor. Illyria, the Holy City. The Styrian Marches. The Imperial City of Solenne. And the Principality of Anhalt.

Each was a pillar that held the empire together. Astor and the Styrian Marches lay close together, while the rest were spread far and wide.

The empire itself was not a single solid mass of land. Its territories were separated across the continent, bound not by geography but by faith in the Sun Father.

Astor and the Marches occupied the western stretch of the Hesperian continent. Farther south lay the Kingdom of Styria. The Styrian Marches themselves acted as a buffer state, a small country tasked with shielding Astor during times of unrest.

Thalia's finger touched the map, pointing south of Styria. "There. That is my goal. Liore."

"Oh?"

Liore, the city of poets and artists, was famed for its beauty and creation. It sat on the edge of the sea, its harbors open to endless waters. The location made Luca recall the potion's name and the numerous paintings in the room. It could be that they were just coincidences.

"Styria and Liore are more accepting of mages than anywhere else in the empire," Thalia said firmly. "So that is where I must go."

Luca's brow furrowed behind the mask. Accepting of mages? That was madness.

All his life, he'd lived in the Empire, and even what he knew from his parents' stories was mostly related to the Empire. Its laws were absolute, and all mages, without exception, were condemned to death. It was the natural law of the realm. Anything else sounded like a delusion.

But he kept his thoughts to himself.

"That cannot be your only reason," he said quietly.

She shook her head. "No."

"Then speak."

Thalia moved toward him, her steps slow and deliberate. She pressed herself against him, her body warm and soft, her hand slipping down toward his lower half. Her eyes locked on his mask, unblinking.

'What the hell is she doing?'

"I want to see the ocean," she whispered. "I want to be free. And… I want to be with you."

Her hand lingered. Luca caught it before his body could betray him. He was at his limit, and this was not why he had come. He pushed her gently back. But in her eyes, burning with feverish intensity, he saw no hint of restraint. She would not let go of this madness easily.

He nearly sighed aloud.

'She's insane. That's the only explanation. And it has nothing to do with the spirit's influence.'

"I cannot promise to give you everything you dream of," Luca said, his voice steady. He reached up and cupped her cheek once more. "But I can promise to set you free."

That was the truth of his purpose. Every action he had taken until now was aimed at that single, clear goal.

Her breathing quickened. "What do I have to do, sire?"

Luca leaned closer, his hand still on her face. "Then listen carefully."