The portal that yawned in front of her made Lucretia hesitate a bit; she’d turn to face the librarian and he’d bow slowly. There was respect in him and she had a moment before she’d ask the question that had been at the back of her mind. He seemed surprised and then would sigh a bit; the number that answered her made her sigh and she’d nod her head. She’d return the bow with respect before stepping through the portal. The last words the librarian would speak to her echoing on her mind.

It has been hundreds of years since the last one tried. Good luck Lucretia.

Not once had she spoken her name but the both of them knew that wasn’t needed. As the portal closed she found herself in a mana heavy region that drew from her. Her body wasn’t used to it and every step was an impossible task. She’d let her breathing do it’s work and slowly would she move forward.

Every step was a flash of memories; every moment was bringing back times of better. Times of worse. The violence in her being rolled into the mana and the place started to agitate a bit. She could tell that her presence upset something but just as quickly as it was upset something else made itself known. Every fight she had ever taken. Every fight that she had ever fought against the darkness. Her selfless actions put into pause the agitation; the surprise was palatable around her.

She’d continue stepping forward; the weight increased and the mana wanted to know more. It pulled from her, tore from her and she’d shudder. She had so much story to tell and so much more that it wanted to know. She could feel it inspecting every aspect of her essence. She found her foot crushing a skull underneath. She’d stare down at it and knew that she was walking where someone had fallen but the mana continued to draw at her.

Her first kill.

Her first person that she saved.

The first werewolf she had slain on her own.

Her father, her mother, her brothers, her sisters, her uncles and aunts. Her cousins. Her family numbered in the thousands but had collapsed in on itself. Her family had become the hunters and the veil tore at her; it wanted to know why she did this to herself. Each and every scar on her body was scrutinized; the pain that lay dormant within each. She felt it as though it was brand new; the day that she had found her body torn apart.

It went on and on, it made her relive her pain, her suffering, her failures, so many of them that threatened to overwhelm her. She’d stumble, placing her hands down on the ground. The mana pressed against her; she was nothing but a failure! Nothing to the world that she was trying to protect, the people-

The veil paused; the veil drew back; it flinched. The veil didn’t know what to do with this next intense zealous passion. Something so intense, so fierce, so uncompromising. So utterly devoted to everything that the world held. It was so overwhelming that there wasn’t a shred of questioning in her body.

Lucretia Von Wolfenstein, of the ancient bloodline, an extinct bloodline and only that in title. She had never once given up, never once taken a step back in her quest. Never would consider defeat in any shape or form. She would fight and she would continue fighting even after her body had long stopped listening.

She would give her all and everything till the very second she died. Such an intense passion pushed her from the ground, such an intense desire reminded her of every single person that she had sworn to to protect. To cradle and shield them from the world. For upon her back lay hundreds of scars none would ever see. Upon her body lay cuts of thousands, cuts of time and the shedding of blood that surpassed the oceans themselves.

She had given everything to the people of the world, but rather than let herself be dried out. Rather than give up, give in, she pushed forward. Refilled her body, refilled her cup. The mana of the veil stopped moving, stopped pushing. Stopped trying to pull from her. It sat there inert and at a loss.

Lucretia von wolfenstein would never give up and would never stop moving forward. The mana slowly started to follow her as she stood up. It reached out with a hand as she walked towards the light that she could see. It needed to know more; where this impossible drive came from. Where her passion stemmed from. It needed to know everything about this being that refused to let the world consume her.

Her first cries in the world? Her first bloody nose? What was it? Her first love lost? Her father decaying into a werewolf? Her mother turning into a villain? Her loss against Eternal nightmare? WHAT WAS IT?

It clawed at her; clawed at her being. It needed to know; it had to know. It… Must know. It pushed into her recent experiences. Her battles against Jikan, her fight with Sho, her fight with Seika. Fights with Kon. The softer moments of her with Mimi; where she didn’t fight but simply spent time with someone that represented everything she wished to accomplish in the world.

The staggering answer had the veil stare at the lone werewolf amdmist it. The battles she fought were for the good of earthland, the good of every being in there. Her stride strengthened. Everything she did was for the people she cared deeply for. The people that she never met; the suffering sons, the distant fathers, the weeping mothers. The scared sisters. Every single person that drew breath. She had sworn to protect. Her oath was not simply to just Fiore.

It was to all of Earthland that she fought for. The very darkness that threatened to enclose around it she had sworn upon her first breath till her last. She had given everything to the world and would continue to give it. The veil reached out again; brushing against Lucretia to learn more about her. Learning every skill, learning every little thing about her. From her fears to her motivations. From her hellish past to her hopeful future. The breath was snatched away from the veil.

Lucretia stood tall at what was the exit of the veil and looked back; her eyes softening a bit as she could see the people that had been lost in her years of life. They’d soften further and she’d open her arms up to the veil. A single instance of warmth was given and the veil would take it. It had taken so much but here was someone that was willing to give what was needed…

Love. Unconditional Love.

The hug was warm and something that wasn’t always needed but Lucretia found herself standing out of the veil and she’d turn her hands over. She could feel the mana from the veil still and the warmth of that last moment. There were some tears rolling down her face and she’d brush them aside…

[1207/1200]