In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
Post by Takeshi Blake on Aug 15, 2020 22:04:04 GMT -5
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“Yeah Mom I’m doing great. Everyone is really nice and Demi and Nax are doing good too, though I… don’t really talk to them.” [break][break] He spoke casually to his grimoire, where the shadow constructed face of his mother floated above the pages. Her face contorted with worry, even through his communication magic, the young Blake could tell that his mother wouldn’t let the issue rest. [break][break] “Make sure you’re eating well. And don’t do any too dangerous missions. Stay out of trouble okay?” [break][break] “Yes, Mom.” Takeshi sighed again, scratching an unknown itch on the back of his head. He wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to say to her, other than he was doing his best at the whole magic knight gig and he was actually being successful at the whole ‘staying out of trouble’ gig too. [break][break] “Okay. Okay, love you, Takkun!” [break][break] “Love you too.” Takeshi waved his mother goodbye, his shadows settling like burning embers as he closed his grimoire. There was a bit of blush on his cheeks, who wouldn’t be embarrassed about admitting such things out loud anyway? Even if he was mostly alone… He’d gone outside of the base to make the call, even if he was still getting used to the others, that didn’t mean to had to hang out with them all the time. [break][break] Blue wasn’t really his color. Azure was it? Right, Azure Deer. And what a squad it was, in fact, there were a few other mages who also happened to be part of the Blake family who were there too. He supposed that meant he had to watch for them, not he was particularly close with Naxel or Demiurge, who both belonged to other branches of the Shadow Clan. [break][break] He floated his grimoire back down to its holder and stretched out his arms behind him. He started making his way back to the base, but first, he could take a bit of the scenic route. Anything really, to avoid having to turn up and do some duties. He was a newbie anyway, so all he’d been relegated to do was grunt work. [break][break] He wondered how long he had to keep this ‘Magic Knight’ thing up.
[attr="class","textie"]Nairn...It was a crossroads like city, not in the layout, or how it was built, but simply for the fact that the city was centralized allowing people to travel quickly. It was very much a hub city, but that was what made it good for information, and trying to feel out the state of things. He was on his way to the Capital to the Golden Dawn base to check in on Zaven to see if he even still existed, but he had been traveling for a while, and wanted to take a rest. Not to mention there was a Magic Knight base here that he could potentially use as a rest stop while he went on his way. Garbed in all black clothing, that was tattered, and looked incredibly battle worn as if he had just got done fighting in a war. His Golden Dawn robe adorned him, but it was tattered as well, he truly looked in a sorry state, but there were no injuries on him.
In fact he looked perfectly fine health wise, so the mystery of his clothing would persist as he continued onward, neglecting the looks of the onlookers. They were either staring at him because he was from the Golden Dawn, or because of the state of his dress, and he didn't care of either one right now. Making sure that his long silvery hair covered his now pointed ears he didn't wish to stick out more than was necessary. The constant heat that followed him around would be felt by those who got to close to him, causing them to get uncomfortable, and get away from him quickly which was fine by him. He was making a beeline for the Azure Deer base hoping that someone there would be able to tell him more than what he had learned in Kiten.
It was then during his lapse of thought that he bumped into someone without meaning to. They were about the same height, but the boy was obviously younger than Vulkan he could tell that much from just how he looked. Though what caught his attention was the robe that the boy was wearing, and Vulkan's eyes darted to the boys face seeming to memorize his features quickly. Though this was someone that he didn't know, or recognize from before the distortion. A disappointed sigh left his lips, and he folded his arms across his chest.
"You...You are with the Azure Deer?" it was a rhetorical question considering the robe that the boy was wearing, but he still asked it out of a sense of politeness. "I was heading to your base...Would you like to show me the way?" Vulkan asked his tone measured, soft, and a little quiet, completely contrasting with his battle worn appearance. "Though if you are busy with other duties...I can find it myself..." he expounded, and waited for a response.
It seemed that he still had some luck left in this place, he just hoped that it wouldn't run out anytime soon.
Post by Takeshi Blake on Aug 16, 2020 12:52:16 GMT -5
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Stranger things had happened before. Well, the type of people he’d bump into would usually fall in on the lines of either drunk or otherwise inebriated. Though, while the guy certainly looked the part of a down on his luck probably homeless drifter, he spoke with a level of clarity that did signify he was actually sober. [break][break] "You...You are with the Azure Deer?" [break][break] Takeshi nodded, not saying much else and perhaps a bit slower than he needed to. The guy should’ve figured as much with the robe that adorned the Blake’s shoulders. Light blue eyes attempted to avert further eye contact, he mostly wasn’t in the mood to go about helping bums off the street. [break][break] Weird was one word for it. [break][break] The guy was looking for the base. And well, because Magic Knights were so easy to spot in a crowd, it seemed it was Takeshi’s lucky day to do a good deed. He sighed, internally. No, it wasn’t that he didn’t mind helping people, but he much rather preferred when he didn’t have to play good samaritan and simply let others fill that goody two shoes role. It really just wasn’t his thing. [break][break] “Uh, it’s no problem, Sir. I’m just headed back there myself.” Takeshi said, speaking a simple truth. The man seemed older than him, so it was just proper to refer to him formally, and plus, one could never really get too uncomfortable with people they bumped into on the street. [break][break] Takeshi normally wasn’t the type of guy to keep up appearances, but the tattered and vagabond style wasn’t really his idea of a good one? Maybe the guy was down on his luck, it wasn’t his place to judge. [break][break] “Yeah, I can go ahead and walk yah back if yah want.” Takeshi offered to show the man the way since they just happened to be going in the same direction. And once they were there back at the giant treehouse, the Azure Deer was already thinking about he could conveniently step away from the stranger and leave him to whatever business he so desired to have. [break][break] He only really needed to do one good deed a day.
[attr="class","textie"]It appeared his luck had not run out as the young man agreed to take him back to the base that he wanted to go to. Though he had to admit being called 'Sir' was unusual, did he look that old? As they walked back to the base he took a few moments to check his appearance in the windows as they passed. Despite his silvery hair Vulkan didn't look much older than he had been, given the amount of time had passed he still retained his youthful look, though his features were sharper due to whatever caused the elven traits in his body to awaken. So he was perplexed as to how he could look like a sir, maybe the young man was just being polite to him. Silence fell over him as he contemplated this for several long moments, trying to figure out this relatively unimportant mystery. Well unimportant to some, it was very important to the silent mage.
Though after several moments of contemplating he decided it wasn't worth the effort, and just gave up.
"How long have you been a Magic Knight for?" he asked the boy curiously as he continued on. From what he could sense the kid was still relatively weak when it came to power, so he assumed he was still new to the ranks, but he had been wrong before. Besides if the boy had been a knight for a while maybe he could get some extra information from him. "And if it is not to much trouble...Can you tell me about the battle that took place with the Daemon..." he asked the boy as they continued onward. "The one that caused the distortion..." he said in a dispassionate tone. In fact the way that he spoke made it seem like he didn't care one way or the other.
If this boy could give him some measure of knowledge, then he wouldn't need to go all the way to the base, and could continue on his merry way to the capital. It was then that Vulkan realized he hadn't introduced himself properly, and he just sighed at himself a bit disappointed.
"Ah...I have forgotten my manners it appears...I am Vulkan..." was all he stated to the boy, short, quiet, and to the point were how the words flowed from his lips.
It was as if all joy had been drained from him somehow with the almost mechanical way that he spoke, despite how soft his voice was, there was no warmth in it. Vulkan however didn't notice this, and just continued on as this was his new normal. Each step he took was steady, and brought him closer to more answers about this new world. When he had gathered as much information as he possibly could he would make his way onward, he wasn't going to return to the Golden Dawn without any knowledge that much was certain. Besides he had only managed to get pieces of the story from the girl in Kiten. He needed more...
Post by Takeshi Blake on Aug 19, 2020 22:28:21 GMT -5
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"How long have you been a Magic Knight for?"
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He would have been completed fine with not talking. Not talking was kind of thing with strangers he really didn’t know that well. He wasn’t socially awkward, he just preferred to keep to himself when he didn’t have to be directly involved in anything.
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Some called it lazy, and well, maybe it was. He really didn’t care.
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“Dunno. Few weeks.” He shrugged, not exactly sure of the date since his Aunt more or less, forced him into the Order. Really, it hadn’t mattered what squad, but since a few of his second cousins were already in the Deer, it had been rather convenient.
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The next question was a curious one. Even as they walked, Takeshi lifted his head slightly as he glanced at the stranger. The guy didn’t know anything about the battle with the daemon? Or even, the Shattering that occurred afterward? Not that Takeshi knew about it, in all honesty. Wasn’t his business to really. Of course, the Shatter affected people all in different ways. "Probably don't know any more than you do."
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It just hadn’t affected him.
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“What can I say? It was a big badass fight with big badass knights, even the Wizard King showed up.” Shrugging once more, Takeshi let his eyes wander for another moment. “Asmodeus was our big bad guy Daemon threatening the world ‘cause I dunno, he felt like it I guess? Some big names kicked the bucket, day was saved. But-” He raised a hand, dramatic effect. He put two fingers together, and snap.
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“The Shatter happened. And not everything was the same.”
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Wind picked up, as if on cue. There were making their way to the edges of town, further into a wooded pathway that almost seemed like no path at all. The Deer did like to keep themselves hidden from view after all. “Some people got dusted entirely. Others lost a bit of something up here.” He pointed to his head, eyebrows raised, as if he was hinting that he knew there was something not quite right about the stranger he was talking to. His fingers trailed the hair, toying with the idea of the supernatural.
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“But y’know, Magic Knights always win and all that. Heh.”
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Sarcasm was left somewhere in those words. But regardless, his half-smile signaled something more.
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Of course, he’d know that Golden Robe anywhere, even in the tattered condition it was in. His own Cousin was the Vice-Captain of the Dawn after all. Pride of the Blakes, scion of Rolin, and descendent of Caldur, Zaven Blake was a name every shadowed member of the family knew. Takeshi was not dumb, but liked to play the part, sometimes.
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“I am Vulkan…”
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Takeshi nodded his head, short of a bow but enough acknowledgment on its own. “Tak.” He said simply, leaving out a mentioning of a title or of a family he belonged to. The stranger gave no such hints by himself, so there was no need to say anything else. He didn’t enjoy getting familiar with people if he could help it.
[attr="class","textie"]Even as they walked, as he seemed to not be paying attention to what the boy was saying he was clinging to every bit of information that he could snatch up about the world. The Daemon he had learned about in Kiten had a name apparently, it was Asmodeus, and there had been some huge fight with powerful combatants if this boys brief retelling was anything to go off of. Still listening to the boys words as he explained that when the Shattering happened, some people lost things precious to them, whether material, or mental. At the boys last few words of Magic Knights always winning he thought back to his time as a Knight before he decided to seclude himself, and train. At that time back before he had lost those that were precious he would have believed what the boy said, that Magic Knights always won. Vulkan himself had thought that at one point.
"You are wrong Tak..." he said to the boy speaking in his dispassionate manner. "Magic Knights do not always win..." whether he picked up on the boys sarcasm or not would be a mystery to all but Vulkan, but his voice never changed when he said those words.
Vulkan knew better than most that it was false. He had tasted failure bitterly when he lost one of his brothers. Sylvester had been found dead because he had been ambushed by twenty enemies, unceremoniously killed by things he didn't know. Sylvester was a Magic Knight, he was the strongest defense mage that Vulkan ever knew, but he hadn't won. He had died, and in doing so Vulkan had failed his brother, failed to protect him, and therefore he had lost. Zaven was much the same way as Vulkan in that regard in that the sting of regret, and guilt plagued them. A pang shot through his heart at the memory of his brother lifeless. Besides his mother they were the only family he had...
"If we always won...Then my brother would still be alive..." he said almost mechanically barely a hint of emotion in his words as he kept on forward never looking back. "So do better than those that came before you...Make your words a reality..." he spoke in that soft tone.
Maybe the boy would take his words to heart, maybe he would just disregard them, Vulkan didn't know, but he did know that he didn't want someone to believe the way he had once. He wanted them to be better than he had been, to improve, and perhaps after a while, Magic Knight's would always win. They could put an end to the suffering of the world, drive back the Daemon, and restore the things that had been lost to so many. Or maybe this was just the shallow musing of a lost Knight trying to find his way in a world that no longer made sense to him. Whatever the case Vulkan knew only one truth...One should never be afraid of the inevitable...
Post by Takeshi Blake on Aug 25, 2020 20:37:45 GMT -5
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"You are wrong Tak..." [break][break] Takeshi stopped, he turned his head, a hand raised to cover his yawning mouth. There was something about the guy that almost seemed to rub his wrong, what with the whole ominous aura that he overly radiated. He supposed that he really shouldn’t care, if people just saw everything as another way to bring doom and gloom then that really wasn’t his problem. [break][break] Oh, so that was it. [break][break] Dead family rubbed everyone wrong. [break][break] Takeshi took a breath in and then out, slowly. “Sorry to hear about your bro, people like me probably just sound like assholes after all.” He looked up at the trees, sunlight bled through the canopy of leaves and branches. “Never lost anyone close to me yet, so can’t say I understand.” He was blunt with his words because really, it didn’t sound like the guy needed someone to pity him any further. [break][break] “But I know death alright.” [break][break] He shrugged. At least, he knew the concept of it. Of members of his own family sent off to war only never to return, with stone slabs in the Blake’s private mausoleum have their names engraved forever. And since he was a Magic Knight too, that was how he was supposed to go out. With honor and all that. [break][break] The latest lost noble loss in his family came in the form of Vanilla, a name lost to the world when the Shatter fractured all reality. He hadn't been close to her. He wasn’t sure anyone was, except her father. And now, old man Vincent passed off the leadership of the Shadow Clan to Zaven, Rolin’s kid, while he disappeared into the Forsaken realm with his own son, Vaile. Takeshi didn’t like politics, and the inner workings of Blake family politics left a bad taste in his mouth. [break][break] “Look, Mister Vulkan, Sir.” Takeshi continued on the path, waving for the man to follow him. “No offense, but I ain’t the guy you should be tellin’ that too.” Then gesturing to all of himself, not that all of himself wasn’t impressive or anything like that, but in truth, Takeshi simply knew his place. [break][break] “You ain’t dumb. I ain’t stupid. You’re a helluva a lot more than you let on. And I’m nothing much to add up to.” What point as he trying to make? A simple one really. He wasn’t a Magic Knight because he wanted to be one. Why didn’t this guy just take his speech and tell it to someone that it could have mattered? Because it sure would have been inspiring to someone who wanted to listen. Or maybe, just as depressing. [break][break] “Almost there.” He breathed, better to pass this guy off than to keep entertaining him.
[attr="class","textie"]He just listened to the boy speak, and Vulkan wondered if he had ever thought like that. That he wasn't strong enough to make a difference, or perhaps it was laziness. Teal eyes looked over his shoulder at the young boy, and he thought for a moment. The boy seemed to think that he wouldn't ever amount to much, and that just made him inwardly smile a bit. No one would ever see it, on the outside he instead sighed. Trying to think about how best to approach this situation, after all he didn't want anyone to believe that they weren't "much to add up to". That was a rather depressing thought to have about oneself in his opinion.
"Hmmm...I do not believe that...I think you just lack motivation for whatever reason...The only reason one doesn't add up to much is because they choose to..." he stated to the boy in that plain tone, and he stopped walking for a moment. "But I also know...Everyone has reasons for why they choose to be who they are..." he says nodding to the boy, even though he wasn't looking at him.
"I was taught...We are free to do, and be whatever he choose, as long as we are willing to live with the consequences of those actions." He explains, realizing just how much like Alphonse he sounded like right now, and he just shook his head. The entire time he hadn't even bothered to look at the person he was addressing. "Eitherway...Thank you for answering my questions, and escorting me...I'll make sure to inform your Captain of your help to me...But for now I think it best that I leave." he said in that mechanical tone of his, and began to exit.
He knew more than likely that his words wouldn't reach the boy, that they were in the end just words. Sometimes it required action to spur ones heart onward. Perhaps Vulkan would be an inspiration to someone one day the same way that Alphonse was his inspiration. Even to this day he had never beaten his butler in combat, no matter how hard he tried the old man always defeated him with some clever use of his blasted Lightning Magic. Sighing a little he made his way towards the large gates of the city. More information is what he had been after, and the boy had provided him with that, no matter how sparse it was, it was useful. But he had an appointment to keep, there was someone he was suppose to meet at the capital in a few days. While he didn't want to cut this short, he would see that boy again of that he was sure.
Perhaps the next time he saw him, he would be stronger, or perhaps he would just be the same. Everyone had a reason he knew that much, but he wondered what that boys reason was. Next time he would have a proper talk with him.
"He probably thinks I am rude..." came the soft words from his lips as he wandered off in the distance. [Exit]
Post by Takeshi Blake on Sept 15, 2020 15:45:48 GMT -5
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“The only reason one doesn't add up to much is because they choose to..."
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“Well bingo! We have a winner!” Takeshi gave the man a sarcastic clap, honestly, should have taken him that long to figure out that Takeshi really wasn’t in for this whole magic knight gig? Inspiration didn’t exactly find its way to helpfulness, especially when it was falling onto deaf ears. Could Takeshi blame him? Guy seemed all for the whole do-gooding thing, so that was good for him. The young Blake on the other hand, was perfectly fine with not following in those grand footsteps of the Magic Knights before him. It just wasn’t his thing.
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“Yeah, yeah. So you can do your thing, and I can do mine.” The casual shrugging, in turn, was all he could offer the stranger, Golden Dawn Knight who for some reason or another sounded like he was some Shakespearean drama rather than talking a kid who was barely listening.
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Did Takeshi really care? In short, no. But he didn’t really like the idea of some world-ending demon or other entity destroying the reality because he lived in that same reality too. He simply was being practical. There were others far stronger than him, case in point, the man so standing next to him, who fought battles because it was their job and they liked putting their lives on the line. Takeshi very much appreciated their sacrifice, because it allowed a slacker like him to live a relatively peaceful life.
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Inspiration, ambition, those weren’t really his things because he simply didn’t find any reason to be inspired. Responsibility was an even more less than inviting mantle to wear. And the Mantle of a Magic Knight was already as uncomfortable as it could get, not really that stylish either. Maybe he was being unnecessarily picky, but he did wear it all the time so maybe he could complain a little if he wanted to. It was all besides the point anyway.
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Was curious enough to go asking his cousin about this Vulkan guy? Not really, he didn’t even think they would be seeing each other again anytime soon and he was completely fine with that endeavor as well. [break][break]
Well, it would be so that their conversation would come to an end and so would their time together. Takeshi gave the man a wave with a proper “Uh, yeah, see ya ‘round.” as he walked away.
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Hm, he was hungry. Maybe he should’ve thought about getting something to eat. It was a much easier task than the philosophical debate that the man somehow had etched into his mind.
