"Do you want me to talk about the Warm Light Style? Or how my family was once serving the royal family directly?"
Ram translated what I had asked, my Shoto resting on his neck, ready to be guided across his sweat-drowned skin that was caused by the fear of death.
["I can't believe all of you turn out the same way. Once wronged, you get violent."]
Ram didn't translate anymore and I deactivated Independent-Control. I let the atmosphere cool down, let everyone build a healthy thought.
The men in the cafe still wanted to jump at me, something I wanted to avoid. But Marik turned out to be smarter than I'd initially guessed.
["Stand back! If we do something to him, we'll get killed by the Noor."] Marik ended the men's anger.
["Ram, tell him that his family lives on a farm about 5 kilometers north from here. Also, tell him I apologize for doubting him even though I knew what family he was from."]
"Elder Marik says that the Noor stay on a farm 5 kilometers to the north. He also apologizes for the unnecessary delay he caused."
["Let's go! We got what we came here for."] I informed Tsuki in Japanese.
***
We left the capital and walked north.
"Niam, do you always have to make enemies wherever we go? I can't help but feel the need to use my Salan ability." Tsuki asked.
She was always in the crossfire wherever we went. If I was alone, I would've dealt with things differently. But I doubt I would've even survived if not for Tsuki. 'She needs to toughen up. Special training in the art of combat would help her gain confidence in her abilities. I will have someone train her when we arrive in old Japan.'
"Tsuki, toughen up. I promised to keep us alive, didn't I?"
Tsuki kept whatever she was thinking to herself. Still wearing the scarf she used to cover her head, and walking with her hands locked in front of her while looking down. I wondered if there was more to Tsuki than I had initially thought. I thought she was just another shy and introverted girl that was coincidentally Japanese and blessed with a powerful Salan ability. I couldn't risk asking. 'If I were to ask anything that made her feel uncomfortable, I might risk our dynamic. I need her, the Salan ability that reaches into the future.'
'My blades are chipped, I don't know much they can take until they completely brake. Without them, I'm just another Bearer with no real combat skill.'
It was dark and the moon was covered by clouds. We walked on a dirt-road, not being able to see how much distance we had covered.
Suddenly, Mana fluctuations ripped us out of our thoughts. Spikes made from earth and stone shot up from below, trapping Tsuki in the process.
'An ambush! Are our pursuers here?!'
I was able to dodge the spikes due to Supreme-Control.
"Tsuki, are you hurt?" I yelled.
"No! I'm just trapped."
'Fuck! How could I have been so careless?! Walking around with no way to light our surroundings, or even using Galaxy-Sight.'
It didn't take long for another set of spikes to shoot up from below. Dodging these spikes required all my concentration, leaving me no time to concentrate on Galaxy-Sight.
The barrage of spikes didn't stop, either there were multiple Bearers with the same Salan ability present, or someone with a huge Mana pool was attacking me tirelessly.
The situation didn't look good. I couldn't risk swinging my Katana at the spikes, using my Shotos was an option, but not knowing where my attackers are made using them useless too.
I made myself 'lighter' and jumped a few meters into the air. Decreasing the earth's gravitational pull on myself made it also possible to fall slower than normal, giving me a few seconds to concentrate on Galaxy-Sight.
I looked around, and only one shadowy figure was present. 10 meters away from my position, I needed to fall directly on top of him.
I used up half of the Mana in my core. I sent a majority of it into the ground around my attacker, the rest of it behind him. Then I used Independent-Control, creating a gravitation point on both my Shoto that I held in my hand and behind my attacker.
My plan was to make the Shoto gravitate towards my attacker pulling me with it and use the Mana on the ground around him to delay the time it took for spikes to shoot up with an increased gravitational pull.
It didn't go as planned though. While falling towards my attacker, he created a pillar under himself and came towards me and met me mid-air. Then, a strike to my head knocked me unconscious. I had lost my first battle.
***
["Wake up!"]
I was woken up by a splash of water hitting my face.
'Will I get the same treatment as last time?' I wondered.
I was tied to a chair, again. This time, my Mana-Core was full and the room I was in was a shed.
I looked the person who woke me up into the eyes. Dark-green eyes, like the ones that my father and brother had. I noticed his features after. Curly, brown hair, a short beard and a thick nose, he looked very similar to my father.
'He is my uncle.' I realized.
'I was lucky to have been brought here. I doubt I would've lived if my pursuers attacked instead of him.
My mind fell on Tsuki next.
"Where is she?" I asked.
I hadn't realized up to that point that a scimitar was pointed at my stomach. I couldn't move.
"The grey-haired girl is fine, we locked her in a room." He answered.
He was very calm, he knew he had the upper hand in this situation. I thought about how to explain to him that I was his brother's son. No easy way came to mind, so I just started talking.
"Has she talked?"
"About what exactly?"
'She didn't tell them about me? Oh, right... She doesn't know what my father looks like.' I remembered.
"About who I am." I informed him.
"Who are you then? Please don't say you are some big shot's son or we will have a problem.
"Hahahaha!" I laughed after that.
"He might be, depending on your perspective..."
He closed his fist to punch me, but I interrupted him.
"I'm from Central Superio. My name is Niam Henka, and I'm Nahdi's son." I introduced myself.
I thought that would've been enough to make him stop wanting to punch me, but a punch to my stomach proved me wrong.
"Ogh!"
"What are you talking about? Nahdi died long ago." He said.
My uncle grabbed my vest next, inspecting it carefully. He then widened his eyes and dragged me into the house next to the shed. He kicked open the house's door and threw me into the living room where an older version of my father sat on the couch. He had long, brown and white hair that was put into a man-bun. He was shorter and chubbier than my father, but the face was exactly the same. Clean-shaved and elegant.
'My grandfather, I guess.'
"Niam!" Tsuki called.
I looked for the source of the voice. Tsuki sat opposite to my grandfather, uninjured with a cup of tea in her hand.
"I thought Nahdi was dead! Come here..." My grandfather pulled me into a hug.
"Father do you really think-..."
"Yes, shut up now! That's the kind of thing he would have us believe." He answered.
I freed myself from his hug.
"I guess Tsuki explained everything already."
"She said that you looked for us, and in order to do that how much distance you have covered. She also explained what happened in the capital, you acted just like we would, hahah!"
***
Grandfather made us tea. Tsuki looked delighted and my uncle was the same as before.
"Tell me, Niam. How did he die?" My grandfather asked.