"Sooooo… you're saying that you're an apostle…"
"One of the twelve apostles of The Almighty One," corrected Bartholomew with a calm face.
"Yeahhh… and you're here because you had … dreamt of my brother as an angelic being… hmm… that's kinda hard to take in but can you tell me exactly who actually is this Almighty One?" William asked with interest and doubt and for the first time while Bartholomew looked dumbly at the kid infront of him. Bartholomew sighed weakly as it was the first time in his more than a few hundred years of life as a Saint that he was asked such a basic question.
Feeling the aura of tiredness coming from Bartholomew, Morgan interjected in to sate William's curiosity but was swiftly rejected. "Only I will answer his questions!" declared Bartholomew in a slightly angry but possessive tone.
He turned towards William who was sitting silently, gazing at him with an innocent gaze. Bartholomew's face twitched a little when he saw his innocent smile but a Saint never goes back on their words. He sighed internally and gave a brief introduction of the world they were in.
"Very well child, listen carefully for this would be crucial knowledge to you and your brother—"
"He's unconscious." William declared but no sooner did he interrupt; the head of Bartholomew's staff met his head.
Bam!
"Ouch!"
"Don't interrupt me ever, understand?"
"Muuuu… fine…"
"Now, what was I saying… ah! Yes, this information would be crucial for you and your brother. You will reiterate everything dot to dot to him when he awakens. Understood?"
"What? That's insane—"
Bam!
"Understood?"
"Muuuu… fine…" William nodded with a defeated and sad expression. Bartholomew laughed a little in his heart seeing that expression but didn't show anything to his face and started his explanation.
"As you may or may not know but currently the kingdom we're in is named Asteia, located in the Continent of Yesenia or the Central Continent. The world we're in is called the Plane of Existence and there are many Planes of Existences other than our own—"
"Why is it called the Central Continent?" interrupted William and of course the result wasn't good.
Bam!
"Good question," Bartholomew scratched his white beard and continued on, "Currently, other than the continent of Yesenia, there are four more continent that have been discovered and inhabited by humanity. These are Xegres or the Southern Continent, Idorias or the Western Continent, the Heavenly Yuan or the Eastern Continent and Rewos or the Northern Continent. And since Yesenia lies right in the middle of these four continents, it is called the Central Continent.
Anyway, names are just names, what's important is what's inside these continents. Let me show you something." He said and extended his palm.
Swoosh!
A bright red flame appeared over his palm and floated above his palm. He twitched his hand a little and immediately the flame changed into a cube of ice which too floated above his hands. The ice then changed into a pile of rock then into an invisible gale of wind, a black blob of darkness and finally into a beam of white light.
"Woah…" Cried both William and the other girl, whose name was Shirley.
"Yes, wow indeed but this is what magic is. More specifically, this is what Mana is and if you ever get an opportunity to learn magic, you will know that magic is nothing more than controlling Mana, a natural energy in the Plane of Existence. And do you know what this means?"
"That there can be other forms of energy in our Plane of Existence!" replied Shirley intelligently.
"Yes, absolutely!" Bartholomew praised her and for a moment she enjoyed the glow she was getting.
"Hmph! Even I knew that answer," William snorted but before Shirley could retort, came Bartholomew's staff.
Bam!
"First of all, this is not a competition and second of all, you did NOT know the answer. Anyway, other than Mana, there other types of energy too. Like the Heavenly Qi of the Heavenly Yuan Continent or the Totemic powers of the Rewos Continent. As a matter of fact, Mana isn't even the signature energy of the Yesenia Continent."
"Eh, Continents have their signature energies too? I thought it was only advertisements of trading companies." asked William a little confused.
"Yep. Well, the Continents doesn't have a choice, they are not living beings after all but most of the continents are saturated with a certain type of energy. As for our Yesenia, it is Battle Qi, a mixture of the Heavenly Qi of the Heavenly Yuan Continent, the Faith energy of the Xegres Continent and a little bit of Mana from the Idorias."
"No totem power here?" he joked but Bartholomew simply scratched his face and nodded a little.
"As a matter of fact, there is. It's just not in the mainstream yet."
"Wait, really?"
He nodded his head and continued, "Well, unlike other energies which are nature-made and can't be very much tinkered with until you've reached a certain level but Battle Qi can be configured. It is more like an internal energy than a natural one. Let me show you it."
Bartholomew extended his hand and lightly tapped the wall of the carriage. "Sturdy, isn't it." he smiled before fisting his hand into a tight ball. A yellowish glow spread through his hand for a moment before bam! A hole appeared in the wall right beside his hand which was approximately the size of his fist.
"What…just happened?" asked Shirley blinking her eyes.
Bartholomew smiled, "This is Battle Qi, invisible, intangible and malleable. Malleable in the sense that it can be transformed into any other forms of energy whenever needed which makes it more practical and as a matter of fact, powerful.
Because unlike the cultivators of the Heavenly Qi continent or the mages of the Idorias continent whose sole interest is to understand the Heavens and to discover the mysteries of the world, Battle Qi is solely for war. And this is the signature of Yesenia.
You see, unlike other continents, the continent of Yesenia is not saturated with any kind of energy. We don't know the specific reason but since there are no signature energies, it drove the Forefathers of the Knights to innovate and create a new type of artificial energy after the Old War. The result of which was the Battle Qi, a mixture of Mana, Heavenly Qi and the Faith energy. The advantages of this energy is evident, you can create vast armies of powerful and professional knight armies at comparatively low costs, its practical because after attaining a high level one can change into a different energy type with very little throwback and since it's artificial, the results are most of the time predictable and improvable.
Of course, there are bitebacks, throwbacks and even death can occur but considering how many mages died to perfect the simple fireball spell, what we've achieved is pretty significant."
"Anyway, the other energies are much less complicated than the Battle Qi. The Mana of the Idorias continent is magic, like you already know, the Heavenly Qi of the Heavenly Yuan continent is the next most complicated thing but its way out of your league, so let's leave it at that. By the way, don't think that the Heaven of the Heavenly Yuan continent and Heaven of the Yesenia are same because they are not. The Heaven of the Heavenly Yuan continent is metaphorical and when one reaches it, it means they are either dead or immortal. The Heaven for the Yesenia is an actual Heaven with Gods, Goddesses and their respective Angels.
The Faith energy of the Xegres continent is a little interesting. The name of the energy might give you the impression that it is connected to a religion, which it very much is but its more than that. Faith energy is like a using the faith of the people around you to fuel their and your strength. It's a leadership energy and quite a powerful one at that. But its greatest flaw, it will never work if the group is divided or if there is a great conflict.
That's why the Sultanate of Xegres is always unstable but let me tell you, no matter how bad or uncultured they look like, they've some nasty and some quite powerful commanders. Both of which can spank even the most professional knight armies like babies.
As for the Totemic powers of the Rewos continent, it calls on the Ancient Gods powers to strengthen the body. It's the opposite of the Faith energy for it tailor-made for a single person only. Well, there are different Gods and different tattoos has different effect. We found them a little late but not to worry, there are a few lords who are actively trying to harvest this power. As it happens to be, these Ancient Gods are not dead as we thought them to be and are willing to form cooperative relations with us for their own survival."
"Aren't they Gods? Aren't they immortal?" asked Shirley confused but Bartholomew didn't answer this question.
"I would be happy to answer the question but unfortunately, you're not mature enough to understand it. But I do can tell you something. If a God has no follower or person who prays to them, then he or she is no God or Goddess at all. The Ancient Gods are facing a similar challenge too."
"Wait, wouldn't using totems be considered as a form of praying?" asked William quite intelligently but Bartholomew simply shook his head.
"Next question." Bartholomew said unflinchingly.
"I don't have any question." Shirley shook her head but William looked at Bartholomew with a curious gaze.
"Which God does my brother belong to?" he asked with a calm tone.
Bartholomew smiled wryly, "Angels don't 'belong' to any Gods or Goddesses. They 'serve' a God or a Goddess. Mind the language child for many Angels don't like to be called slaves. Most of them are powerful entities on their own rights and they follow their Gods for their faith like a real Angel. Whereas for others, its like a job just… there's no resignation for this one."
"Isn't that slavery in a different form?" William asked in a little tone.
Bartholomew shook his head, "Its not slavery if one trades their freedom for power. In fact, every single ounce of power is associated with its corresponding responsibility and shackles, shackles no one can break free from. Slaves, on the other hand, are those people who're being utilized by other people for their own greedy purposes without getting something in return.
As for your brother, he is very lucky and very unlucky. He's lucky that the God he serves is one of the most respectable and powerful in the whole Pantheon. He's unlucky because…" he paused and looked a little distracted for a while before smiling teasingly at William, "Actually now that I think of it, you don't need to know about it."
"What??!!! Why?" William asked defiantly but Bartholomew kept on smiling as he turned his face and looked outside at the speeding countryside. They were currently in the countryside of Asteia which even though has been struck hard by the chaos but there still were many houses and villages which were burnt to the ground.
"C'mon, grandpa Bart! Tell me what you're going to say!! C'mon!!" William pestered for the rest of the journey but Bartholomew never conceded. And that's how their time was spent before entering the capital of Asteia, Morvingrad.
…