Way of the Knights

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"...he's not really that hard to handle. I think you should've brought him to the sea as soon as possible."

"What do you mean Young Lord?"

"What I'm trying to say is that, Elias has some kind of a split personality syndrome. Most like a side-effect of you Clan's Bloodline conflicting within him." Raven explained as he took a sip of his tea. 

"You see, Elias holds an immense potential. One that is actually higher than yours, including at least 90% of the people here in the sect. While he was fighting I scanned his body and noticed that he is born with a special physique that your clan ancestors probably awakened back then." 

"And this special physique is?" 

"The 'Vast Sea Heart'." Raven revealed, causing Lorenzo to gasp from his seat. 

Raven and Elias just returned to Atlantis and the latter was currently resting at his room while Raven discussed some important matters with Lorenzo. The current Poseidon was mostly interested on hoe their trip went and Raven didn't conceal anything from him. 

Hearing how Elias did, made Lorenzo thought if Raven was talking about the same person. Yes, even though Lorenzo felt how Elias used one of the techniques he taught to him all the way here, he was shocked to hear that Elias didn't complain nor folded from the challenge, which was completely out of Lorenzo's expectations. 

Hearing from Raven's lips that Elias have the 'Vast Sea Heart' physique was what truly shocked him the most. Lorenzo have heard about this term before. Their parents used to tell him stories about their extremely powerful ancestor who enabled their entire clan to make a name for themselves. 

Simply put, the 'Vast Sea Heart' physique allows someone to possess the absolute highest affinity towards Water Laws. Anything that has something to do with Water, the possessor of this physique, will instantly learn about it. In fact, Water Laws comes as natural as breathing for them. They only needed to lift a finger and they'll master the law and it's branches in practically no time. 

In addition to this, the physique grants someone a second chance. Should someone with this physique dies early, if their corpse was taken to the a vast body of water, there will be a chance for them to be revived. The physique adjusts its next state depending on what kind of water was used to revive them so the higher the quality is, the better their resurrection will be.

"Are you certain that my Little Brother has the 'Vast Sea Heart' physique?" Lorenzo asked, just to be sure. 

"Actually no, not really." Raven replied honestly. "And the only reason why I say so is because like I said, his body is in constant conflict. I am certain that he is born with a unique physique but due to some reasons, his talents are being suppressed." 

"Do you know what's causing this conflict?" Lorenzo asked. 

Of course he's going to ask, he's even hoping that Raven could help since if Elias can awaken to his true potential, then it would be immensely beneficial to not only Elias himself but for the Sect in general as well. 

"Fear." Raven stated. "Fear that's either induced by Trauma of the past or something that he was born with. Well, I leaning towards the former since when he stepped out to the sea, he's like a changed man."

"You see, Fear can be a strong motivator. I for one is afraid of losing the ones I love, which is why I am doing my best to carve a safe space for them and become strong so that I can protect them." Raven paused for a bit then said: "However at the same time, Fear can also be suppressive. It can paralyze and cripple someone from doing what they want to do. Prevent them from being confident and taking risk which will allow them to grow as a human being."

Raven ended his explanation when he saw Lorenzo's face. Even without explicitly telling him, Lorenzo's expression already gave away the answer. A sad smile crept up to Lorenzo's face as he got up and looked at the window to gaze at the endless blue sea.

"The past must've really weighed down on him. I guess, I really can't expect him to move-on that easily. Although he's past 300 years of age, he's still considered relatively young."

"..." Raven didn't say anything. He didn't want to since he doesn't want to look like he wants to pry. It was none of his business to begin with but at the same time, he can keep secrets and can offer help if they truly needed it. 

"Elias saw personally how our family was tortured and eventually killed. Well, those sick fuckers 'made' him watch. They forced him to watch as they mercilessly flayed our parents piece by piece. They even forced him to eat their flesh..."

"...there goes my appetite I guess." Raven rolled his eyes when he heard that. He really didn't need to hear but too late now, really. He already heard it and he already imagine it unconsciously. He really wanted to smack Lorenzo's face for not giving him any subtle warnings about that but he can't blame the guy. 

Well, now that he heard about it, he could at least more or less understand as to Elias is a bit unstable. It's not like he's at fault for that, maybe this is his automatic defense mechanism. 

'That's pretty fucked up, not going to lie.' Raven thought to himself. 

"He's a child when this happened. About 17 or 18 give or take, and it haunted him ever since then." Lorenzo continued, "I didn't want to bring up the past to him but I have no way of understanding what he truly feels if I don't ask him anything."

"Whenever I tried asking him if he's okay, he'll say yes. I get this impression that he should be able to understand what I'm trying to tell him whenever I asked him this question and that I don't want him to re-live that awful scenario. But I also think that just by asking him this would remind him of everything, which completely defeats the purpose."

"In the end, I get so confused and clueless as to what to do. That's why I'll just try a different approach. I'll try pampering him, he'll get a little too trigger happy. I'll try being hard on him, he gives-up. I tried ignoring him but that too felt bad since I'm the only one he has left. It feels like I am in the constant state of not knowing what to do and just like that, years passed."

"It feels like I'm doing something but it also feels like I'm not doing nearly enough." Lorenzo's pain, regret and uncertainty was obvious on his tone. 

Raven could tell that Lorenzo has been bottling up this up for a very long time as well. He could tell that Lorenzo loves his little brother to pieces but he just have no clue on how to express that message properly. 

"Elder Lorenzo...maybe you're taking a look at this in a completely different angle which causes you to completely miss the obvious answer." Raven said after a period of silence. 

Lorenzo froze, he mechanically looked back at Raven and asked: "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'd preface that I am in no position to really comment on this since I, myself, did not do anything for my siblings at all. My opinions are based on what I, think is the problem here. So take it with a grain of salt." 

Raven placed down his tea cup and said: "You see. I believe that whenever you try to ask Elias about what he feels in your own unique way, Elias can understand what you're trying to tell him."

"I'll make my point clear. Whenever you ask him if he's okay, you're asking if he's still having nightmares about his traumatic past - which, as you said, completely defeats the purpose of your actual intentions. You're trying to avoid making him remember about the trauma by asking about it in a roundabout way...I'm sorry but that sounds retarded. If you don't want him to remember his traumatic past, then don't ask him about it, period."

"You see, frequently asking him if he's 'okay', not only reminds him of that but also gives him another message saying that: 'My little brother is so delicate and weak that I have to constantly be there for him in case he got scared.' How can Elias move on from his if you are constantly reminding him? How is he supposed to become strong if you kept telling him that he's fragile? How can he muster up confidence if you, his Big Brother and the only family he has left, doesn't even think for a second that he'd be able to do it?"

"Elder Lorenzo. Elias has his own issues, yes. But maybe it is your 'fear' that keeps on holding him back from being freed from it."

"Give it some thought, yeah? Maybe once you do, you'll finally take the first step towards recovery.." Raven said as he gave Lorenzo some space to think by stepping out of the room. 

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