Chapter 6 - Changes

"The world has changed."

The man turned to him as soon as he heard what he said, the shaman smiled at him and continued while looking to the vast area in front of him.

"You've been gone for quite a long time, surely... the world won't be as you remember it,"

"Enlighten me then, leave no detail."

The bewildered man turned to face Kael, his eyes reflecting a profound sense of confusion. "Tell me, where do I even begin? The world you left behind has evolved in ways that would defy even the most vivid of dreams. Technology, science, society... they have all undergone profound transformations."

The man leaned forward, his gaze fixed on Kael. "I yearn to understand, to comprehend the marvels and mysteries that have shaped this new world. Please, enlighten me. Spare no detail, for I have much to learn."

With a reassuring smile, Alex began to paint a vivid picture of the world that had emerged during Marcus's absence. He spoke of towering skyscrapers that scraped the clouds, of vehicles that moved without horses, and of a global network that connected minds and hearts across vast distances. He described the wonders of medicine and science, the exploration of space, and the birth of artificial intelligence.

As Kael delved deeper into his explanations, the man's eyes widened with wonder and disbelief. The world he had known seemed like a distant memory, a relic of a bygone era. He struggled to reconcile the images painted by Kael with the world he had once called home.

Hours passed as Kael recounted the events and discoveries that had reshaped the world. He spoke of wars and peace, of triumphs and tragedies, of the unyielding spirit of humanity in the face of adversity. The man listened intently, his mind racing to grasp the enormity of the changes that had unfolded.

As the evening sun dipped below the horizon, Marcus felt a profound sense of awe and humility. " Your words.....they are hard to believe "

"I know its a lot to take in for now, but the world has changed, it's not the world you once knew, if back then people treated you like God, then here you're nothing but a mystery to them, a creature that no longer exists in people's minds .. in people's world. To them, you are nothing but a myth. "

The man smirked as he looked away from him. He seemed to be recalling some painful memory before he said

"They treated me like God, asked me to protect them. Asked me to feed them,asked me to provide them shelter...and then, just like that, they burnt down my forest and called me a monster before killing me alive. "

"They intended to kill you, but never they succeeded,"

The man smirk grew wider before he commented

"But they did..."

"And yet here you are.."

The shaman turned to him and told him as he held on to his shoulder

"Do you know why you came back? "

He asked him as he stared at him, knowing surely by how his eyes seemed to recall something forgatten, he knew he didn't understand why.

But then the man smirked and answered, " I don't know, nor do i care, but i know one thing... revenge."

" The world you knew is not the same world you're in now. They are not the same weaklings you knew. "

"But they're still mortals...weak mortals,"

" The technology they've reached is far more powerful than you might think. You might be a beast..."

"Am divine!!!!"

"If you want to live peacefully in this new generation, without the same thing or worse happening to you, then I'd kindly suggest you live quietly here,"

The man stood up from where he was sitting, moving towards the door.

The shaman turned and asked him, "Where are you going?"

The man turned to him and told him, "I told you, revenge."

"The people who did that are no longer alive"

"But their children are, i'll ruin that."

" How can you do that when you only got a hundred days?"

Now the man was shocked, a hundred days? What did he mean by that? Are the gods playing with his life now?

Though weak, he still managed to go to him and asked him

"What do you mean?"

The old man extended his hand, trying to touch his bare chest.

The man held his hand, not allowing him to touch him any further.

The shaman smiled at him and told him, "I can't feel any energy from you, nor power, your chi is gone!!"

The man was now wide-eyed.

His chi, the source of his power, the source of his existence, how can it be gone? How..? With much anger, the man held the man's neck and asked him, "What happened to me? Who did this to me?!!!" He yelled. But the shaman was in his tight hand. He was barely holding on to a thread of life. "Tell me!!!" He yelled once more.

The shaman, though chocked, he still tried to answer his questions " When they burnt you, your chi left your dying body. It lived while you died!!!"

That made no sense.

"Why did you think you were able to come back? That you aren't dead yet? It's because your chi didn't die with you. It lived, and it's now roaming.... in the world!!!"

With that, the man released his neck, and the dshaman fell on the ground. Looking lost, he stepped back and ended up leaning on the cottage's door.

The shaman inhaled enough air before he stood up and faced him again

"Without your chi, you will cease to exist.

Now the man laughed sarcastically.

Why save him from death thousands of years ago to only kill him after a hundred days? These gods, are playing with his mind.

The Shaman felt the confusion he was currently suffering from, he could feel the hopelessness in his sarcastic laughter. But he knew nothing on how to help him, as he himself had no idea where his chi disappeared to.

The man who seems to be lost in thought while he leaned on the wall, finally got off it and held the doorknob.

"You don't have your chi, what are you going to do?"

"Should I just sleep here for the next one hundred days waiting for my death?"

The man asked sarcastically, and the priest had no words for him, but the man continued

"The least I can do is repay the favour. If I am going to die, for the second time, the least I can do is take them with me"

He then shut the door, before he left.

The shaman sigh before he said to himself "then I wish you luck"

....

That night, Hazel was in her room. She was on her desk doing her work with a light lump beside her, typing something in her laptop, she had been sitting on her desk since when moment she arrived from the office, and now, it was already late in the evening, and her stomach was still empty.

While she was doing her work, a knock was heard on her door, and she quickly raised her head staring who as pn the door before she answered " Come in!!"

Mrs. Patel entered in inside "dinner's ready miss young"

Hazel smiled at her before she answered her "I'd be right there in a moment "

Mrs Patel turned and left, leaving Hazel finishing up her work.

When she was done, she lay her back on her seat before she sigh, she then stood up putting everything in an a ranged manner on her bed when she accidentally dropped a picture frame. "Oh shit"

She bent and picked it up, thankfully, it wasn't broken. She held it in her hands as she stared at it.

It was a painting of her parents. Her mother, dark haired beauty with a beautiful crytal pendant, with her grey handsome father in suit holding her mother nyvher waist.

She held her pendant, the same as her mother's and said "I miss you mother"

Before she put the fram back on her desk and left to have her breakfast