Prince of Gluttony: Born from Betrayal

'Teacher?!'

Cain's heart skipped a beat as he heard his teachers voice again. He had thought that after he devoured the spirit that, he was gone and not coming back.

'Ask about what happened to Vulcanus after the final battle.'

However Gaius was too fixated on a possibility of finding one of his targets. Cain was hesistant to ask but a promise was a promise and he refused to fail the one who had literally saved his life.

"So...Miss–"

"Don't call me Miss anything. The name's Mira. Mira Vulcan. Current Head of the Vulcan Blacksmith."

She had a look of pride on her face but with the rare exception, the shop was full of garbage and was by no means any reason for there to be any pride.

"Alright...Mira. Can you tell me what happened to your Ancestor after the Final battle? A lot of history books state that the surviving heroes disappeared soon afterwards. Most of them, their real names weren't ever known. Just their titles."

Mira leaned back slightly, squinting at Cain like he'd just asked her if metal could bleed. Her cigarette had long since burned down to the filter, but she didn't notice. Instead, she slowly pulled her gloves off, one finger at a time, as if weighing whether or not to take the question seriously.

"The Final Battle," she said, voice low. "Yeah. That's how most stories end, don't they? With a big damn fight and a whole lot of questions afterward."

She tossed the cigarette into the tray and lit another, the flame from her lighter dancing across her eyes.

"Truth is, no one really knows what happened to him. Vulcanus Prima was our family's founder, yeah, but we've only got fragments. Some say he vanished into the mountains to work on a final creation. Others say he was betrayed by one of the other heroes. My grandfather thought he ascended, became something greater than mortal. Me?" She shrugged. "I think he finished his war and figured this world wasn't worth sticking around for."

Cain clenched his jaw, fingers curling around the necklace, but Mira wasn't finished.

She took a long drag from her cigarette and exhaled through her nose like a steam vent. "I've got something of his," she said, more guarded now. "A notebook. Last one he ever wrote in. It's not a blueprint. Just... thoughts. Drawings. Notes scribbled in the margins. Some of it's barely legible, and most of it doesn't make sense anymore. But it's real. It's his. Passed down through the Vulcan line ever since he disappeared."

Cain's eyes sharpened. "You're sure it's authentic?"

She gave him a flat look. "I'm the current Head of Vulcan Blacksmith, not some wannabe collector. It's written in his old cipher. My great grandfather taught me how to read it before he passed. That book's our family's last real tie to Vulcanus Prima. Though what was written on the cover makes no sense to me."

Cain took a step forward. "What does it say?"

Mira blew out another plume of smoke, her gaze turning distant. "It's scrawled in the old tongue, but my great grandfather translated it once for me. Word for word."

She paused, then recited it slowly.

"To the Master of the Dream, The foolish spark was blind. He was bound in an illusion forged by kin. I dare not ask for forgiveness, only mercy for those who remain oblivious."

Cain's breath caught.

The words dug under his skin, cold and unfamiliar, but not without weight. They sounded like a confession of a man burdened with guilt.

He didn't respond. He couldn't.

But Gaius did.

'No... That wasn't written for them to figure out.'

Cain stiffened. The voice in his mind wasn't angry. It was quiet. Wounded.

'That was for me.'

Cain blinked.

Gaius continued, barely above a whisper now, the words heavy with sorrow.

'That fool was triced by them too I see. Despite it being his blades that cut my flesh. He was not one of the ones who betrayed me it seems. It's just like that foolish spark to try and take the burden alone. He really was afraid I would kill his family for what happened.

'Would you?'

The silence that ensued spoke volumes.

Cain stood there, heart pounding, unsure if Gaius was gone again or simply didn't know how to answer.

Finally, Gaius spoke, slower this time. Resigned.

'I don't know.'

Cain's grip tightened around the necklace, the metal warm against his skin. Mira was still watching him, waiting for a response, but her expression had softened. Maybe she thought he was just stunned by the history of it all.

She wasn't wrong.

But she had no idea what was really going on.

Inside his mind, Gaius lingered like a storm on the horizon.

"I don't know if I would have stopped,' Gaius said.

'Not back then. Not when the wounds were still fresh. I hated them. I hated what they did to me. What they took. I would have hunted them to the ends of the earth.'

Cain said nothing. He didn't trust himself to speak.

'And for those that took pleasure in their betrayal, I still will.'

Soon after, a sigh reached Cain's ear. Soft. Almost bitter.

'I will swear it,' Gaius said. 'No harm will come to the children of my old student. Not by my hand.'

Cain felt a knot loosen in his chest. He didn't know if Gaius could make that kind of promise and keep it, not with how deep his scars went. But the words were enough. For now.

The moment held a stillness in Cain's chest.

Then Gaius spoke again, his tone suddenly brighter. Teasing.

'Having said all that. Why don't you just take that girl to be your woman? Her name was Mira right?'

Cain choked.

He coughed once, violently, and nearly knocked over the ashtray on the table.

Mira raised an eyebrow, flicking her half-burnt cigarette. "You alright, kid?"

Jayden gave him a sideways glance. Her arms were crossed. Her brows arched slightly in suspicion.

Cain's face flushed.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" he hissed under his breath.

'What?' Gaius replied, feigning innocence. 'She's hot, she's got a good bloodline, a business, killer hips and a chest that men would be willing to die to lay their head in them. You could offer her protection, she could help you feed that gluttony thing of yours, and she's not bad to look at. Seems like a win-win-win to me.'

Cain buried his face in his palm.

'You're out of your mind!'

'No shit Sherlock. I am in yours obviously!'

Cain could feel his blood pressure rising as one of Gaius' many epithats came to Cain's mind in that moment: The Perverted Sage.