Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 103. Important Words.

“I think they forgot the walls here are thin,” Arslan said with a somewhat awkward smile. He was sitting with Johan in a room two doors away from the living room, so the two of them heard this exchange between Sarah and Daniel quite clearly. “She’s quite an overprotective big sister, huh?” Arslan asked with a slight smile, sympathizing with Johan’s little predicament.

“Yeah,” Johan said with a nod. “I get that she wants to protect me, but we aren’t in our village anymore. She should just focus on herself now, even Albert…” he began saying, but then stopped abruptly and blushed a little. Albert had been complaining a bit that Sarah wasn’t paying him much attention even though they were technically going out, but when he realized what he was suggesting now he just started feeling ashamed for some reason.

Arslan chuckled, approaching the whole subject with a much more lighthearted approach compared to Johan, what undoubtedly was in a large part due to the influence Laien and Yin had on him during the past two weeks. “Why did you want to talk alone?” he inquired, having no interest in pursuing either of the previous subjects. Simply enough, he saw Johan’s family matters as none of his business, while he didn’t care much about the topic of relationships quite yet.

“Um.” For a second, Johan found himself back in his old shoes, unable to make words come out of his mouth, but he fought the nervousness off and asked. “I don’t want to stay here, so could I come with you? I can become your servant or anything, I promise I will make myself useful!” Thankfully, despite getting a bit excited toward the end, he remembered to keep his voice low enough for it not to carry over to the living room. He was sure that if his sister learned of his idea, she would oppose it to no end. Thus, he wasn’t planning to tell her anything until the time to leave came.

Arslan tilted his head, not having expected a request like that at all. “Why do you want to come with me? I mean, I do like you, but I think that we both like those two better,” he inquired with an honest and a little playful smile. There wasn’t much of a point pretending it was otherwise; he liked Laien and Yin better than Johan, and he was pretty sure it was the case for him too.

“I wouldn’t be able to,” Johan replied and smiled in a bit helpless manner. “You saw how strong they are and how much they like to travel and fight… they are going to this Eclipse Academy too. Even if they agreed for me to come, I wouldn’t be useful to them at all. I would only be a burden,” he explained, aware well enough that with his degree of cultivation talent, he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the adventures of those two. He liked them a lot… but there wasn’t a place for him by their side.

“True,” Arslan agreed and nodded to himself, doing so in such a thoroughly confident manner that Johan couldn’t help but pout a little. There was no reason to rub it in, was there!

Chuckling, Arslan asked with a smile on his face. “Are you sure about going with me though? It’s not like it will be much easier for you.”

“I am,” Johan said strongly. “I thought about it quite a bit and I would rather live in Makarash than in the Ruishi Federation. There are people like Reian there too, so it’s not like I would be the only one,” he explained, hoping that Arslan would see the point he was making.

“Sure, but…” Arslan started slowly, looking as if he was trying to choose the right words. The smile on his face grew dimmer too, causing Johan to worry. “I can’t tell you much, but if you really want to go with me, then you might end up dying… Don’t tell anyone, but we will be doing something very risky soon,” he said with a very much serious look in his eyes. If Johan wanted to go with him, he would need to join them on the way north; in case they were attacked directly, there was no guarantee there would be someone to protect him at all times… he really could die there.

Hearing Arslan say so shocked Johan, but when he remembered their clash at the borders of the Ruishi Federation and recalled that the outside of this country was still in the middle of a war, he no longer was so surprised. “Dying…” he murmured, all of the sudden not too sure what he should do anymore. He didn’t want to live in the Ruishi Federation, even if it meant being around Sarah and Albert the whole time. He wanted to go somewhere with Laien and Yin, but that would make him a dead weight, he wanted to go with Arslan, but Arslan was telling him it would be dangerous.

“I don’t know,” he said while shaking his head. “If you were me, what would you do?” he asked, not wanting this conversation to end without him making a choice. He had gathered enough courage to ask Arslan to talk privately once, but he didn’t know if he would be able to do it twice.

“What would I have done?” Arslan raised his eyebrows. He considered the answer for a brief moment, then said with a laugh, “I would have faced the danger. Living just by defending and running away all the time… it’s the worst.”

It took Johan a good few seconds to react in any apparent way to Arslan’s confident response. He was three years older than Arslan, but Arslan could answer such hard questions without any hesitation… Arslan was a son of a Grand Yimar too and he was very talented! Somehow, it seemed like he was surrounded by nothing but monstrous geniuses from all sides. If it was the past him, he would have felt dejected, maybe even resentful of people who had better lives than him. Currently, however, even to his own surprise he was feeling more admiration than jealousy or frustration.

“Then, I want to go with you,” he said with a newly-found resolution. If he died, he died… at least, he would live his life the way he wanted.

“Are you sure?” Arslan asked one more time. “I can help you in Makarash, but I can’t promise that either of us arrives there safely,” he said with a troubled smile. He had recently experienced a situation in which his life was in danger, so it wasn’t like he was ignorant of the danger the plan carried. He would be using himself as a bait, so there was no way he wouldn’t be nervous about it, even though he very much wanted to play this role out to help his father.

“I will take a risk,” Johan replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Still, through to be told, he was feeling greatly nervous deep inside and was sure some of it was showing on his face. However, if he could stay around Arslan, then no matter what kind of life he had in Makarash, it would be infinitely better than in the Ruishi Federation, where he had no friends and where he was certain he would be treated as an outsider.

“Just don’t regret it later,” Arslan said wryly and reached out with his hand, which Johan shook after a second of feeling startled. “Wanna go back?” he asked with a smile. There was still quite some time until the noon, so playing some games with everyone as they wanted for Laien and Yin to finish training seemed to be the best idea to him.

“Yeah,” Johan agreed happily. His heart was beating really fast right now and he was in a great mood; for the first time in his life, he had made an important choice for himself… and he was very happy with it.

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“Do we go somewhere or are we just going to play inside?” Yin wondered aloud as he and Laien were going to the house Arslan, Johan and everyone else was in.

“Dunno,” Laien said carefreely. “I don’t feel like doing anything in particular, so we can just leave the choice to them,” he added with a slight smile.

Yin laughed a little, but not because of what Laien said. This particular feeling of knowing his emotions and intentions that came from their spiritual bond had already grown strong enough for their daily conversations to feel a bit weird, though immensely fun. It was the same during their meeting with Arslan this morning; they sparsely need to actually say anything to understand each other’s rough thoughts and ideas. The only problem was that when sparring, they could predict each other’s movements so perfectly and effortlessly that they needed to suppress their spiritual bond for the duration, else there would be little gain apart from the exercise from those fights of theirs.

“Oho,” Laien smirked a little. “Looks like we’ve got a guest. I wonder what does he want from us?” he said quietly and exchanged a glance with Yin, then chuckled in amusement. It was quite rare for Yin to allow himself to be lost in thoughts so deeply that he would fail to notice someone first. When they competed in things that related to perception, Yin won every time without fail, so Laien was actually glad to be able to enjoy getting one over him in this field at least once.

“He came alone,” Yin mentioned, feeling a bit challenged by Laien’s satisfied thoughts. “I don’t think he has subordinates capable of hiding from us… but let’s be careful, just in case,” he added in a low voice. He wouldn’t have been all that worried, but his Qi was still acting up; he would be able to exert at most sixty or seventy percent of his strength. He was predicting that in two or three days his Qi would finally reach a stable level, but until then, he would rather not be forced to fight.

“It will be embarrassing…” Laien mentioned with a grin. “But we can always call out for help. Reian and the rest of them wouldn’t leave Arslan unprotected; you can also tell that those six grey-cloaked guys are hiding around the area, no?” he said while looking around at three specific spots; he couldn’t quite see where those six were hiding, but he could swear he felt them flinching in their teams of two when he looked in their direction.

“In that case, you do the yelling,” Yin said playfully. The two of them exchanged one more glance before approaching the door and the white-robed man standing beside it.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” the Prophet said with a smile. “Forgive me for not removing my hood, I don’t want to attract too much attention here,” he added calmly.

“What did you come for?” Laien asked in a tone that was neither friendly nor antagonistic. He just couldn’t make out what to think of this man, but he had a feeling he shouldn’t make him into his enemy… or first friend. It was the first time he felt he shouldn’t get too deeply involved with a person for his own good.

“I came to deliver two messages to your friends from Karta,” the Prophet said without beating around the bush, then as if he was expecting Laien and Yin’s reaction, he added. “No need to get so defensive, it’s in part something you would have come to me to discuss either way. Well… if we consider everything, then maybe we could say that both of those messages are related to what you would have wanted from me anyway.”

“And what do we want from you?” Laien asked carefully. He didn’t like this vague, all-knowing attitude of the Prophets. It was causing him to feel strangely stressed.

“Would you really like me to say it here?” the Prophet asked with a laugh. “Unlike others, my humanly senses are nothing amazing… but I’ve seen this time. There aren’t only your allies listening… and there’s a great shadow circling around your lives, a great black crow that brings death,” he warned, the previously dreamy expression on his face turning into one that almost seemed fearful.

“Why do you speak in riddles?” Laien asked with a hint of anger, though admittedly both him and Yin got nervous due to the Prophet’s remark. Yet, they quickly calmed down; they could imagine that the Grand Elders would be keeping watch on them though and if those people were observing them from afar, or if they were weak practitioners disguised as average people, then they wouldn’t necessarily spot them.

“I speak as Karta wants me to,” the Prophet said with a smile. “Can we enter? I don’t think you need to fear me, either of you two can kill me in one blow after all… I’m merely a spiritual master of the second rank,” he requested and insisted, giving the two youths in front of him an inquiring look.

“…” Laien and Yin were silent for a bit, but since they couldn’t find a reason to refuse, they both nodded pretty much at the same time.

“Great,” the Prophet said contentedly. “Lead the way, please,” he added and gestured the two youths to go ahead.

Though they felt it was a bit ridiculous to feel so on the knife’s edge just because they had a spiritual master of the second rank behind their backs, they could only keep their guards up. Speaking with the Prophet from close-up, it was far too different compared to seeing him from a kilometer away. His expression, his words, the strange otherworldly feeling they were getting from him… it all caused them to be wary of the Prophet, no matter what the man claimed his intentions to be.

“Lai-…!” Arslan almost called out when the door to the living room opened but swallowed his words when he noticed the figure of the white-robed man behind Laien and Yin. “The Prophet?” he blurted out in surprise. Jasmine told him she would tell him ahead of the meeting, so why was this man here? Did he come on his own? But if so, then for what reason?

“No need to look so surprised,” the Prophet said with a calm smile and laughed very quietly. “I knew I would see only youths here, but it always makes me feel happy to be around children. It’s much more relaxing than being around adults who always question you and judge you… though some of you are quite like adults already,” he said and let out an actual laugh, paying no attention to how confused the atmosphere became due to his somewhat provocative words.

“What did you come here for?” Arslan asked, though he couldn’t help but grow confused when the Prophet laughed merrily.

“No, forgive me, child,” the Prophet said with a bright smile and wiped a tear from his cheek. “I usually only see, I don’t hear much. It’s pretty amusing for me to see how you greeted me with the same question this boy here did a moment ago,” he explained and pointed at Laien, thinking back to the few things in-between the scenes of the close future he had been shown this night. Those youths in this room… he understood well why Karta wanted him to do what he was doing.

Startled, Arslan looked Laien in the eye and couldn’t resist smiling a little. He had been telling Laien a lot that he was similar to his father, that they had the same eyes… but since he himself was Mustafa’s son, wouldn’t it also make sense if he was similar to Laien too? He thought it was a bit childish of him, but he was quite happy about this comparison made by the Prophet.

“So, what do you want to tell us?” Laien asked with a sigh and a helpless smile. That man was too much of a sly fox, but it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to dealing with people of this kind.

“First, I have a message for the young Arslan,” the Prophet said unhurriedly. “As Karta showed me, when the time comes, I and my people shall move with you,” he declared simply, touching upon no details. However, he knew it would be enough to allow Arslan, Laien, and Yin to understand the meaning behind his words.

And certainly enough, the three of them were greatly surprised, if not astonished to hear the Prophet say so. The information about their plan should have by no means leaked out at this point; even if the Prophet had spies amongst the inner circle of the Grand Elders, Jasmine and Sirius wouldn’t allow anyone but Elder Samuel to hear of the matter. It was impossible for anyone to have spied on them when they were forming the plan either… this man… as unimaginable as it was, could he really see glimpses of the past and the future?

They had already been close to believing in the Prophet’s abilities after he predicted the two consecutive thunderclaps and revealed Julien’s past, about which no one should have known… but only now were they beginning to comprehend how great of a meaning the Prophet’s ability had.

“No wonder we feel anxious around him,” Laien murmured soundlessly. If this man could use his power freely… or if that God, Karta, had questionable intentions, then he alone could potentially shake the whole world in its roots. “Makes one wonder if the Grand Elders didn’t issue an order to have him secretly killed after he leads those people out. A martyr is dangerous, but not as dangerous as this man when alive,” he mused silently, all the while eyeing the Prophet carefully.

“As for the second message…” The Prophet’s gaze wandered around the room, finally stopping at Sarah’s face. “You will be faced with a choice within the next seven days… and if you don’t want to regret it for the rest of your life, I advise you to follow your little brother,” he said in a roundabout way, just like the previous time. He smiled slightly when a worried and shocked expression emerged on Sarah’s face, then without saying another word, turned around and began leaving at a leisure pace.

“Wait!” Sarah called out and rose up from her seat on the floor. “What do you mean by telling me to follow my brother? What is going to happen? Why will I regret it if I don’t do that?” she questioned anxiously. Why did that man need to talk in riddles?! If he could see the future, why wouldn’t he just tell her what she should watch out for? If it concerned Johan, she would do all that was needed to protect him!

“I told you everything I needed to,” the Prophet said without stopping or turning around. Seconds later, he opened the door to the house and left.

Seeing the Prophet leave just like that, Sarah wanted to chase after him, but she managed to restrain herself. First, she had enough sense to know he wasn’t a man to be provoked and second, she doubted he would tell her anything else even if she asked him to. She sat back down, though it might be more adequate to say that she fell down on her butt without caring about her appearances. She took a deep breath, gave her little brother a serious look and asked, “Johan, do you have any idea what could have he been speaking about?”

“You do, don’t you?” she insisted, becoming pretty much certain that Johan had an idea from the timid, troubled and somewhat scared expression on his face. “What is it? Just tell me, I promise not to be angry,” she said and moved closer to Johan, seating herself in front of him. At the same time, though, she scoffed at Daniel’s snort and gave him a furious look; she wouldn’t hear anything from him this time around! If that Prophet was right, then this wasn’t a matter to be joked with!

“… Do you really promise you won’t get angry?” Johan asked, his gaze glued to the floor. Between speaking with his sister face to face, he definitely would rather speak here, with everyone else present. He had no confidence in persuading her on his own, but if the others helped… then maybe it would be okay.

“I do, so hurry up and tell me,” Sarah replied without a second thought. Her mind was already reeling over the question of what Johan could possibly be planning to do, so she could barely keep enough patience to wait for him to speak up. As she watched him hesitate, she wanted to urge him on, but she knew Johan well enough to realize it would be absolutely counterproductive. Thus, she held it in and finally, after a moment that felt as long as eternity, she got her answer.

“I’m going to Makarash with Arslan. I don’t want to live here… I already asked him and he agreed to take me with him,” Johan declared, throwing the whole room into chaos. Some of those present were positively surprised like Laien and Yin, some were smirking like Daniel, some had no particular opinion or just didn’t care too much like Luca and Lea… Arslan was involved so he wasn’t surprised, while finally, Sarah and Albert were greatly surprised with the former of the two finding it hard to accept.

“What… why?” Sarah asked, her eyes open wide. “We are finally safe, we were promised a good place to live! Why do you want to live in Makarash? In Arkaria? Do you just want to follow your friends around…?! You must think it through again…!” she pleaded while grabbing Johan’s shoulders tightly and shaking him a little. Something like going to live amongst Ikarians… even if they were those from Makarash, how could Johan even consider something so crazy?!

“You promised not to be angry!” Johan responded with a mixture of nervousness and anger, this time raising his head and looking his sister in the eye.

“Weren’t you listening to him?” Sarah asked a bit more calmly, truth to be told inwardly shocked to see that Johan was standing up to her. “He said I would regret it for the rest of my life! So, you can’t go! Something dangerous will happen!” she argued, unable to imagine what she would do if something happened to her little brother. If he ended up dying and she couldn’t protect him… she would probably go crazy with grief and pain.

“That’s not what he said!” Johan stood his ground, though with visible hints of tears appearing in his eyes. “He said you will regret it if you don’t follow my choice! So, just shut up and come with me! Or can we only live where you want to?!” he argued back angrily, his words stunning literally everyone present. The ever-shy and timid Johan, if someone told them he had acted in this way and said such things, they would have thought the person was lying to them. It was just that unbelievable.

“Whoa.” Daniel whistled, what would have caused Sarah to curse at him had she not been so flabbergasted that she literally couldn’t hear anything.

“That was quite something,” Laien mused quietly and exchanged a glance with Yin. The two of them were equally amazed; they had already been surprised to hear that Johan intended to tag along with Arslan, but for him to stick to his plans so strongly and to even oppose his sister in this way… it was very impressive, to say the least.

“Sarah.” As usually, Albert stepped in and attempted to negotiate. “I think you should calm down and try to listen to his reasons. Johan isn’t a stupid child, he wouldn’t have done anything without thinking it through. Given what the Prophet said, it might be a good idea for us go along…” he said consolingly, picking his words as carefully as he could as to not cause Sarah to get angry once again.

“Of course, I don’t think we should say in Makarash… just lead Johan up to there,” he added and sent Arslan an apologetic smile. He knew Arslan didn’t get along all that well with Sarah, so he wouldn’t think of asking him to allow them to live in Makarash; to begin with, Sarah wouldn’t have been able to handle it either. However, if living there was what Johan really wanted, then he was of the opinion that they should allow him to do as he wished. Perhaps he really would find his happiness there.

Alas, little of those words reached Sarah, who listened to them absentmindedly. “I need some time to think about it… and I want to be alone,” she said weakly, removed Albert’s hand from her shoulder and stood up. She gave Johan one last look, then left the house with extremely conflicted feelings.

“What’s up with her?” Jasmine asked as she walked past Sarah in the corridor. “Ah, whatever. We have more important things to take care of. Little master Arslan, Laien, Yin, I need you to come with me. Elder Samuel agreed to talk with us sooner than we thought,” she said with a smile, but then tilted her head ever so slightly. What was up with the weird atmosphere in this room?