The Fragment the Lanfear Pride allocated to me went by the name, Kaiser’s Blessing.

Upon summoning its first form, otherwise known as its basic or starting configuration, I knew that it was quite clearly a weapon.

How powerful of a weapon was something I wouldn’t learn for a long time to come, but even with the little I’d unlocked of its abilities, I knew that it held promise.

It’s fair to say, that shortly after entering Galatea Academy, I had a glimpse of its potential, but I have yet to acquire it.

When it was allocated to me, the Lanfear researchers already knew what kind of weapon it was. What they didn’t know was its final configuration – the so called Kaiser Form. This was because the Kaiser’s Blessing had remained locked for centuries since the end of the War of Supremacy, and after the war, a great deal of information on the Artifacts was deliberately destroyed. So while they knew it was a weapon, they didn’t know its final form. Complicating matters was that all attempts to fully unlock it had failed. This is something that I learnt later as I began to slowly unlock the Core.

So what does the Kaiser’s Blessing look like?

In its first unlocked configuration named Schneider, it consists of two armored gauntlets that cover my hands and forearms. Attached to these gauntlets are sword blades some four feet long. At the back of the blade is a narrow, angular shield that looks more like a fairing than a traditional shield. It’s certainly nowhere near as large.

So the Schneider Form comprises two gauntlets and two arm-blades.

That’s what I’d unlocked when I started at Galatea Academy. It may not seem like much, but trust me, those two blades can cut through permacrete and thick armor like a warm knife through butter. Later, I was to make good use of them when I unlocked the next piece of the Artifact.

Sometimes, I perceive the Kaiser’s Blessing akin to a magical weapon without being magical. It is an example of a super advanced science at work. That was one of the reasons the researchers believed Fragments and Artifacts were not of human origin. They were simply too advanced. Yet considering how well some of these Fragments appeared to suit the fighting styles of us humans – dare I say Familiars – then perhaps whoever made the Artifacts really did intend for them to be used by humans.

There was one other possibility to consider when contemplating the origins of the Artifacts and Fragments – the possibility that these devices came from a time and place far, far into the future.

I did mention these Artifacts only appeared after the Cataclysm.

Well, some researchers believed that the Cataclysm was a form of space-time quake. They theorized that an event took place in the future, which translated into the past. The result was the massive shockwave in trans-space that propagated at super-luminal speed and ended billions of lives. If that was indeed the case, then wouldn’t the Cataclysm have an indelible effect on our future? After all, if the Aventis were not supposed to inhabit our galaxy for a long time to come, then their appearance in the past would most certainly alter the future yet to take place.
I listened to the arguments and the theories.

Before becoming a Familiar, and before being allocated a Fragment, those arguments and theories were just talk. They were intangible speculation that had little impact on a tiny cog in the wheel of the great machinery of the cosmos such as myself.

But now I didn’t think so anymore.

Now I was a part of those theories and speculations, and little by little I have become a bigger cog in a bigger wheel. So when the researchers talked about the Fragments, Artifacts, Aventis and Prides, I listened and I learned from them.

There is one more thing I need to mention.

While the things the Kaiser’s Blessing can do amaze me most of the time, I do not take its abilities for granted.

That old saying ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ was potently fitting.

I had great power.

But back then what the Hell did I know about great responsibility?

I was a sixteen year old kid turning on seventeen, with an unhealthy passion for large breasts and women’s lingerie.

Give me a break already.