Chapter 21: Truths, Goals And Brining Up To Speed

Zax was on the verge of retorting against the notion of already joining Sinister Chain when it dawn on him that if former Supreme Ruler Gid Chu Takeda declared so, he probably will not budge for any other demand. Thus, he semi officially became the seventy fifth member of Sinister Chain.

As Zax showed no indication of asking himself, Gid Chu took his silence as the essential attentiveness he would like him to exhibit before bringing up to speed. “Might as well start from the beginning, won’t you mind?” It was a rhetorical question.

Zax preserved his equanimity. Taking a sip from his cup he thought he detected a hint of a nutty flavor. ‘Also earthy... ?’ They did not make the bitterness less harsh on his taste buds, but fixating on them enriched the overall experience, perhaps the first step toward acquiring the taste?

“Back then”, Gid Chu opened. “I was serving, together with big brother Ariel and big sister Trey, in the Blessed Army. Big brother Ariel shined the brightest among us three, catching the attention of the high command. His talents were, are legit, so dazzling that me and big sister Trey had to strive with utmost determination just to keep up with the sight of his back. It is fine, though, we would not have attained our accomplishments without him presenting goals to learn from and surpass. Besides, we were wary of the five powers for New Earth. By attracting the limelight to himself alone, he could advance quickly in rank while helping us stay inconspicuous as we probed long enough to formulate an idea of the Blessed Army’s, correspondingly all five powers, intentions”. He snickered and reminisced. “If they came to know of our identities early on, things wouldn’t had been as simple. You see, at its core it was a web of deceit, enlisting to the Blessed Army”.

For the most part Zax’s possessed a solid countenance. On the one side he was listening and on the other, trying impatiently to figure how the man sitting before him now came to be through the narrated history.

“At the time of our enlistment, despite knowing of the world beneath the ground, the five powers’ attitude toward it was very lax, therefore when we joined the Blessed Army, by the time where we originated from was known, certain figures in the army were convinced of our, big brother’s mostly, value and allegiance, which, following by contemplating their intentions, enabled us to uncover a truth or two. These truths were the reason of my discharge, a decision that aroused distrust from those who had opposed big brother’s promotions and were cautious from our countryman’s Martial potential.

“It was not easy, but in the end, in order to leave and be free from the watchful eye of the army, be it in New Earth or Ercas Mir, I was penalized with a great but worth it price”.

“Your mist cultivation?” Zax asked bluntly. Not trying to be impolite, yet not being able to sense an iota of mist energy when he used his Soul Sense before, he was quite curious about the former Supreme Ruler’s cultivation, unless it was concealed extremely well, like his presence. Additionally, Gid Chu’s cordiality simply gave him the impression that he is free to ask anything.

Gid Chu lowered his head to his cup and whether it was a confirmation, he did not say it immediately. “Big brother Ariel remained at stationary position in the army, he was obligated by an oath and frankly it was good for him to stay on this front in the occasion of a storm ... Big sister Trey returned to Kingdom Earth as the chief Supreme Ruler. She was still unlisted in the army but with big brother’s support it was agreed to let her manage Kingdom Earth. As for me, after conditioning my soul to the task”, he said as if admitting to Zax’s suspicion and as if it was understandable for him to exchange the mist cultivation he earned by the tutelage of the Blessed Army for freedom and a life as a soul cultivator. “I returned to Ercas Mir and roamed the oceans and continents till eventually establishing my own power, Sinister Chain, which fundamental goal is to eliminate the threat of the five powers”.

Zax withheld his opinion on Gid Chu sacrificing his mist cultivation. Grandmaster Kartion had done the same for a cause that was righteous for him and sometimes another man’s shoes and another stag’s hooves are better left with no wet behind the ears sympathizers. ‘The five powers are a threat?’ He turned to the following matter.

He was aware of their oppressiveness, especially against New Earth’s inhabitants, with their rules and limitations, yet their conduct never really posed a threat, on the contrary, they were open to receive and groom those prospects from New Earth, hence the Martial competition every half a century.

‘It correlates to their findings’. Zax thought, meaning the intentions and truths that were uncovered, probably long before he was born.

“Here we return to the hope big brother Ariel placed on you. At his current position of a Lieutenant General, the second highest rank in the army, and as a fourth level Martial Mortal, along with all the contribution he made over the years and meritorious service, the General of the army is still keeping him, the majority of the army actually, in the dark from a few things I could not discover unless I was discharged.

“Starting with understanding the magnitude of the truths we learned, after Sinister Chain was functioning and we gathered intel from four of the powers (Blue Sea not easy to get to or penetrate as the rest due to its topography) and investigating the roots of the different communities ... initially we thought that the tribes and villages who grew up to become the first clans and cities were cells of humans and beasts left behind during the great immigration, but it turned out that we were entirely wrong. By examining the heritage of the human communities, there are no signs of any association to the pre immigration humanity. Furthermore, all documented history indicates that since they, first villages and tribes, were formed, the five powers were already reigning”.

Allowing Zax a moment to digest, Gid Chu took a step back and said. “The truths about the five powers that we thought we so well understood are, one, the five powers emerged thriving right after the catastrophe that drove our ancestors underground, meaning there is a chance they were connected to it”.

‘They weren’t’. Zax said to himself, knowing it was the expert from whom he inherited his Black Core that was the mastermind of what he, too, entitled as “Age of Catastrophe”. Nevertheless, he will not tell it to Gid Chu, not his full truth, anyway, and not before he will have an alternative to mask the details he would rather keep to himself.