He paused for a bit and looked at Timothy as if he was studying his face. Then he looked at Jake, and he continued,
"The old man who was sitting at the end of the table got up and walked to them slowly. The two warriors tried to struggle, but they couldn't move any part of their bodies besides their eyes. The old man stood behind them and touched their backs, looking up as he started saying an incantation. A blinding light burst out from his body and into the bodies of the two warriors.
The earth shook, thunder roared, and the cave trembled, but it didn't last long as everything soon went back to normal. The two warriors could move their bodies freely. They turned to look around and saw the old man floating in the air with his whole body ethereal and a smile on his face.
'I left the heavens and came here to bestow knowledge and power of ancient unto you. But this knowledge could either break the world or shape it into something beautiful.
That's why you two ended up here. I have transferred my power and knowledge unto you. Use it well and teach the others how to achieve it. Don't be like your leaders who wanted the power for themselves.'
He spoke each word like a caring father, but the leaders seated on the long table were raging. To them, this was the worst betrayal ever. 'Sega, you immortal bastard! You forget that in that bowl is your divine blood,' one of the tribe leaders spoke as he drank from the bowl and passed it on to the others.
Their bodies started transforming and deforming. Different types of horns sprouted out of their foreheads, and they all had different colored skin and wings. After their transformations, the ground trembled furiously as it began to crack.
'What - what have you done to us!!!!!!' They all roared furiously, but Sega merely smiled and watched as thick flaming chains came out from the cracks in the ground and started binding them. 'Mortals aren't meant to wield divine power, so your body will reject it, and you'll turn into a devil.
Kelai will imprison you deep inside her body so you won't harm her creations,' Sega spoke as he watched the chains drag the leaders deep into the bowels of the world. Sega gave the two warriors one last piece of advice before ascending.
The two warriors returned and didn't reveal the truth of what happened but instead portrayed their leaders as heroes who sacrificed themselves so that they could acquire power needed to fight off the beasts. The two warriors were known as the enlightened ones and they were blessed with the strength of a God but were never able to ascend into a full God, forever trapped in the mortal world ." Finn finished his story with a smile.
Timothy and his friends were all thinking of several things, but the most important thing was, what was the point of the story?
"Uh, so what was the point of the tale?" Jake asked scratching his head in confusion.
"It was just a tale to keep you from getting bored while they finish clearing the ruins."
After he spoke, there was a knock on the coach, and Finn stepped out again for a few minutes before returning. When he sat down, the coach started moving again, heading towards the ruins, but the teenagers' minds were preoccupied, and Finn was simply observing them with a smile. Ver wanted to speak, but she kept her head down, reminding herself that she was not valuable to this man before her, so he probably would not answer any of her questions.
"So what was this knowledge and power they acquired from Sega ?"
The man looked at Timothy as if he was waiting for him to ask that question. "Knowledge and power to gain Godhood."
"Godhood? What do you mean... my Lord?" Ver suddenly asked.
Finn turned his head to look at the girl opposite him before answering, "Power that transcends human belief and understanding, power of creation and destruction. But the road to this power was rumored to be dangerous."
"So do you think that there are people who wield this type of power in our world, or is it just all baseless stories?" Jake asked.
"In every legend and myth, there's always a tiny bit of truth in it." Surprisingly, Timothy was the one answering him, quoting the 'CHAINED' girl.
Finn simply laughed but didn't say anything else until they arrived at the ruins that looked like a small village. The houses were destroyed with rubble all over the place, and there was no sign of life, not even insects. It was all grimly quiet as they made camp.
"Hey, are you okay?" Timothy asked Ver as he took off his cloak and put it on her.
"No, I'm not. I'm thinking of my grandfather. I didn't even tell him I'm leaving. He must be worried about me, but at the same time, I feel like I've made a good decision." Timothy didn't know how to comfort her, so he simply kept quiet staring at the fire.
"I'm going to check the path up ahead. I'll be back shortly. These two will look after you," Finn spoke, gesturing at the two people in red cloaks with masks covering their faces.
Before they could respond, Finn left. He didn't take a horse; he simply left on foot. Jake approached Timothy with a smile kneeling down , he whispered something in his ear , which made Timothy reveal a knowing smile, placing his sword down and taking off his hauberk he turned to Jake with a look of anticipation.
"Let's go over there," Jake pointed at an empty space not so far ahead. After arriving, the boys quickly took a fighting stance.
After departing from the ruins, Finn moved with urgency towards the location where he was set to meet the spy embedded in the neighboring kingdom. The journey took him through various terrains until he reached a temple ruin after an hour of walking. The building stood mostly intact.
"Nora, come out." He said as he sat down on a bench, waiting for his spy to report her findings. A trap door near the choir opened up, and the scent of blood filled the whole temple, making Finn get up from the bench as he approached the trap door, only to find a woman with one missing arm resting against the wall. She wore loose pants cut off just below the knee, woolen stockings, and a thigh-length blouse. The woman lifted her head up as she looked at Finn.
"Greetings, my Lord. I'm so sorry that you have to see me in such a state." Finn shook his head as he went inside.
"Nora, what happened?"
"My Lord, my identity was leaked. I don't know who did it, but all I know is that it's someone from our kingdom. But I did find something out. The La'faurians are working with the CHILDREN OF THE FALLEN. Cough Cough Some of their forces have already infiltrated Zebha." Finn's whole body trembled at the statement.
"And also cough cough my Lord, trust no one." With that, her body started swelling up.
Finn immediately jumped out of the trap door as he ran out of the ruins. But at the same time, the place exploded, with the explosion covering the whole ruins.
"Phew, that was close." Finn said as he stood far away from the explosion.
"Soul bombs, huh? They clearly let her go on purpose. But what did she mean to trust no one," Finn thought to himself before vanishing.
Timothy and Jake were busy sparing with neither besting the other. Their combat styles were different. Jake moved like a lethal assassin, all his movements were quick and well-executed, and Timothy was like water. His style was fluid like water, going from soft to hard and hard to soft. Neither of the boys could break the tie. They continued sparring until they both passed out on the ground, breathing heavily.
"Jake, have you noticed how the bulkier one of those two people is looking at me with hostility?" Jake didn't respond.
The two people in red kept looking at the two boys until they fell asleep.
"Ever since we started working under Lord Zaloz, I've never heard you speak, not even once. Are you mute?" The bulkier one of the two asked. Without waiting for a response, he continued blabbering.
"Why do you think he places so much importance on these two? Do they have runic markings? Well, that Mesa boy clearly doesn't. We both saw that. Is it the yellow-skinned one? Plus, he does look like something special," the man said with lustful eyes directed at Jake.
His partner beside him stood up to leave but after taking three steps, "thud," collapsed on the ground.
"You did a good job resisting the poisonous smoke. You should have never let me light the fire. That was your mistake," he said as he slowly went to the boys.
"You Mesa bastard, you have been such an eyesore," he said as an orange aura enveloped his whole body.
"And now I'm going to squash you then go play with your two friends before I dispose of them too," he said raising his foot above his head. As he was about to stomp it, a sword pierced him from the back, making him twitch as he looked back to see who did it. To his surprise, it was his partner, the one he thought he had killed.
"Ho-cough* how?!" He asked, bursting into a fit of coughs.
"You talk too much," a cold female voice reached his ears.
The man started laughing crazily as his body began to swell up.
"It doesn't matter. All of us will be buried here, and I will be reborn in the fire. Hahha coughs."
The woman in the red cloak moved so fast it was invisible to the eye as she grabbed Timothy and Jake and ran towards the coach Ver was sleeping in. She threw them inside, closing the door as she started weaving hand signs. A light radiated out from her body as it started expanding and covering the coach and horses with many symbols on the surface of this protective barrier made from light.
"You think that will protect you. Hahaha," with that, he exploded with so much power it blew away the ruins, destroying everything with him.
The protective barrier shielding the red cloaked woman started to crack as the power contained within the explosion was much more than she expected.
"Sigh* humans are incompetent," a childlike voice rang out.
Immediately, the woman in red felt a huge burst of breath enter her body and assimilated itself with her spell, making it even stronger. Countless purple chains appeared, covering the whole barrier. The woman in red didn't know or understand what was going on, but she kept her spell active until the explosion died down.
Finn, who was running as fast as he could towards the ruins, suddenly heard an explosion and saw a cloud of smoke rising up from the direction he was headed. This made him pick up his speed, arriving a few seconds later. He saw nothing but smoke and dust, but he didn't panic , releasing a dense aura from his body clearing away all the smoke and dust .What he saw amazed him.