A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts. I put down my quill and rose from my chair. I walk over to the door.
Opening the door, I find the familiar face of Zol, one of my father's servants. He was a stoic lanky man with dark tan skin and ash hair.
Mother must've informed father that I had awoken from my coma.
"Salimu, Heir of House Zel." Zol greeted me.
I nodded in acknowledgement of his greeting.
"Does Grand Elder Yarim wish to see?" I asked him.
"Yes, Young Lord."
"Then lead the way."
Zol bowed his head to me before leading me out of the courtyard. Outside waiting for us was a sizable carriage pulled by four razor wind horses.
Carriage was the most common way of travel in the Ancestral Lands as there were fifteen mountains and three valleys within its borders. The clan's territory was larger than most kingdoms, and it was the Ancestral Lands that housed the clans' administrative functions and elites.
The exception was the clan's immortals. Who usually traveled by using a flying sword or other objects imbued with Qi, but my Qi had yet to stabilize, so a carriage was a welcomed sight.
It took only ten minutes to reach my father's residence due to the rapid speed of the razor wind horses.
Unfortunately, that speed came at the cost of comfort as the ride on the cobblestone streets was quite unpleasant in my current state, but I kept my discomfort from showing.
We exited the carriage, and Zol led me through the halls of the clan's treasury. Its hallways filled with clan officials who bowed their heads towards us as we passed.
There were also some members of the clan here. Their expressions upon seeing me were varied. Most nodded their heads with respect while a few gave me looks of hostility.
We quickly arrived outside my father's office. Ur, another one of my father's servants, was standing guard outside the door.
When he spotted us, he knocked on the office door and announced. "Hirom Zel'Astartus is here."
"Let him in." Said the gruff voice of my father from within the room. "Young Lord, please enter." Ur said as he opened the office door and motioned for me to go in. I nodded at Ur and entered my father's office alone.
I hadn't been here in a while, but the room was as I remembered. A table and two couches stood at the front end of the room. The right and left walls were lined with shelves that were filled with books and scrolls. A large window dominated the back wall. Beige drapes blocked the window's view, but the sunlight still managed to pierce through. Bathing the room with its warm light. My father was silhouette by this light as he sat reading a report that lay on his large rosewood desk.
My father motioned for me to sit with his right hand. I followed his instructions and seated myself on one of the couches. I grabbed the teapot at the center of the table and poured myself some tea. Steam was still rising from my cup when my father rose from his chair.
My father had just entered his twelfth decade, but no one would be able to tell by looking at his face. He had a stern face of a man in his forties with short black hair, and golden eyes that held an eerie pale light within them. His lips were thin and were surrounded by a well-trimmed beard. The streaks of white at his temple, and the wrinkles at the edges of his golden eyes were the only signs of aging.
His height and wide frame cast a very intimidating shadow while silhouetted in the evening light.
However, my thoughts while watching him approach were more mundane.
Only my lips, that was the sum of my inheritance from my mother. I had a slightly thinner frame than my father, but the rest of me was a complete copy with none of my mother's grace making it through.
"Congratulations on becoming an immortal." Said my father as he sat down across from me. No expression could be found on his face, but that was normal for him.
"How's your body?" My father asked me.
"As well as can be expected."
My father nodded and held his right-hand palm up. The storage ring on his ring finger momentarily glowed and a sigil appeared in his hand. The sigil was black with a golden lion head at its center. It was the Astartus Clan's sigil. My father tossed the sigil at me, and I caught it. Looking at the sigil, I found the golden words of elder at the top and my name at the bottom.
"I've already been made an elder?" I asked. It would usually take several months to half a year after becoming an immortal, for the elder council to recognize the new immortal as an elder.
"The process was quick due to various reasons. Zol will fill you in on the details."
"Did you pick my territory?"
"I did."
I nodded my head. I trusted my father's judgement.
There wasn't much about my territory in my visions. Only that it had been overrun by demons early in the war. I would need to read the handover report to make my own assessment.
"You'll still need to apply, but the position of Hunt Master for the Laybinao Mountains is ready for you to assume."
It was the posting that my father and I had discussed before I went into closed door training for my breakthrough. It was a good position for me to accumulate clan merits without causing more strain with our rival houses as the position has minimal influence within the clan's power structure.
I shook my head.
"I've decided against having a clan position."
Silence hung as my father's golden eyes stared at me.
"Are you going to tell me your reason?" He asked.
The reasons that I could state weren't very good.
"Since at the present time I can only assume clan positions that have very little influence, I've decided that it would be a good time for me to see the rest of the world and gain new insight."
Silence again. My father's fingers strumming on his leg as his eyes continued to examine my face then the fingers stopped.
"You've received a vision?" My father asked with a hint of certainty in his voice.
I wasn't surprised by his guess. I've been a recluse cultivator for the last sixty years, and just after waking from my coma. I had promptly decided that I was no longer following the previous plan. Instead, I wanted to explore the world.
There was also a rather pointed argument between my father and mother about Hanno within my visions which hinted at a possibility that now seemed likely.
I didn't answer my father's question, just met his golden eyes with my own.
A weary sigh left my father's lips, and his face now seemed tired. He held up his right hand, and his storage ring flashed again. A pile of objects littered the table between us.
"Your clan rewards for becoming an immortal." Father stated as he got up from his chair.
"You may go." Father dismissed me as he walked back to his desk.
I stored the rewards on the table in my own storage ring and got up. I bowed my head to father before leaving the office.