The next year followed the same routine: each day, Zafikel handed him a new book to read in the library, always promising that teaching would begin after he finished, but that promise never came to fruition. Afterward, he would join Luna for training, where she drilled the fundamentals of swordsmanship into him through rigorous practice.
Their mock duels often left Ratella in a state of agony—covered in his own blood and bile.
After Luna determined his proficiency with Exacublir was suitable, she introduced another weapon. Together, they practiced with both weapons during their daily training sessions.
The year of training had allowed Ratella to move Exacublir in fluid and controlled motions, cleaving through the air. His other weapon of choice is a lance, although it does not speak to him the way Exacublir did. It was suitable for the boy; his proficiency with his nameless lance had yet to reach the level it was with Exacublir, but he was ever hopeful that he would one day surpass Luna.
The first set of books he received from Zafikel was vastly bigger than what he'd expected, taking him a while to actually get through their contents, often having to track down Zafikel to ask what a word meant, stripping the boy of his precious reading time.
The book about Edicts piqued the boy's interest, and he was excited about whatever he would gain once he reached fifteen. There are eleven edicts in total, each having its darker counterpart.
These eleven consist of Plasma, Time, Memory, Stars, Moon, Sun, Nature, Control, Creation, Light, and Space. Their listed powers and various effects on a targeted person align with their names.
The next book Ratella tackled was about Devils and Fallen kind. Everything he needed to know was embedded in its pages; although riddled with mysteries, he eventually conquered the book despite his many trips to Zafikel for help.
Faravos, home to all Devils and Fallen angels. A mixture between a barren wasteland and a desert, devoid of any forest or plantlife.
Faravos, like Kathoros, is composed of many floating islands overlooking the surface world, with the two biomes evenly split across the country.
Faravos is divided into four, much like Kathoros' Dominions, but these divided areas are called Realms.
There are four realms, each having its own monarch; these are forbidden from interfering with each other, but the fight for territory has been ever-present between the realms. Although in recent years they have joined as one with the goal of destroying Kathoros.
Faravos is a strict meritocracy valuing strength and power above all else. Full-blooded Devil or Fallen, it matters not to the Horsemen or the Ruling Bodies that make up their ranks.
Devil physiology and anatomy mirror those of the angels, but with key differences. Devils will have horns attached somewhere on their faces and pitch-black wings. Fallen are similar to Devils, but not identical to them. As their motives and personalities twist and darken due to tragedy or a loss of belief, their wings will grow increasingly dark, turning pitch black and gaining a newfound power, often causing their darkness to engulf all goodness left in their hearts.
Primordial Darkness is the complete embodiment of sin and malice, passing down a sliver of his power to those he deems wicked enough.
At the head of Faravos' military are the four horsemen of the apocalypse, embodying Death, Famine, War, and Pestilence.
All harbingers of future calamities.
Below the horsemen are the seven deadly sins, each commanding a legion of high and lower sphere devils and fallen. Their might is a perfect match to each of the virtues calling Kathoros their home.
That about summed up everything that Ratella found interesting about the two books; its other pages detailing the long history between the two warring collections of islands, but he found its contents rather boring.
As he read the history of Devilkind, his mind would twist with confusion and a latent anger boiling under the surface of his brain. For some reason unknown to the boy, he was able to distinguish the lies from the truth written upon its many pages.
Its contents were riddled with lies and plastered with all sorts of slander regarding the Devils.
He had once mentioned it to Zafikel, but got no clear answer.
"Zafikel, the books you gave me on Devilkind history are riddled with lies."
"How would you even know that?"
"I don't know, I can just sense that most things written upon it are a pure and unbridled fabrication, twisting the truth. It causes a deep-held anger to swell in my mind."
"Mhm, maybe it's your Edict rearing its head slightly, but you aren't at the age to receive one. Perhaps this is just that said power showing itself, although shackled, it still has an effect," said Zafikel, holding his chin in deep thought, his wings keeping busy behind performing miscellaneous tasks.
"You aren't exactly wrong about books being full of lies. How else would the choir control the masses into focusing their hatred on a single point, but you can't tell anyone your suspicions? Much like the Devils, the Choir has also stained their hands with anyone who would threaten their authority. Remember this always.
"But the choir is supposed to embody purity and everlasting kindness."
"Don't think too much about it, you'll be alright, you are a Seraphim after all," said Zafikel, his face twisting into a somber expression, looking truly remorseful about the choir's state, turning his face away and avoiding eye contact with Ratella.
"Compared to the Devils, the Choir are saints. Please don't let my own beliefs ruin your own," stated Zafikel, but his words rang out hollow.
Ratella nodded, doing as Zafikel said and pushing the thought to the back of his mind, forever looming in his subconscious.
"Go read that book I gave you on the Choir."
As Ratella was walking back towards his nestled corner, he heard a book drop, slowing his pace to investigate.
"Dammit, why can't I just shut my mouth for once?" whispered Zafkiel just loud enough for Ratella to pick up some parts of his sentence.
His slack jaw and expansive knowledge were his downfall.
Ratella quickly hurried back to his corner, not wanting to be discovered and further problems to arise from his eavesdropping.
The said book held the mysteries he had been wondering about the Choir.
Seraphim are the overarching rulers of the Kathoros and the mightiest of all angels born on its lands.
Dominions control all the lands of Kathoros and are responsible for its citizens with the express purpose of allowing the angels to prosper.
Virtues are commanders of Kathoros' angelic military responsible for defense and leading assaults into Faravos.
Powers make up the main army of Kathoros; every soldier is categorized into a single attribute and assigned to a four-man team, with each attribute filling its ranks.
These categorized attributes are: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom.
He also discovered the nicknames given by the public to the Seraphim.
Luna was designated as the Radiances' Blade.
Zafkiel was the Aurelic Sage, and Michael, Tyrant of the Boundless Light.
"Tyrant of the Boundless Light," repeated Ratella, letting the name roll off his tongue.
In his opinion, it was an awesome nickname, but it brought questions into his mind on whether the Imperator's personality was as cruel as his nickname suggested.