Chapter 64. I said

“I said I didn’t want to be inside, sister. Why’d you teleport us back to your Inn?” Roselyn sighed and asked.

“You may not want to be outside, but it’s cold this morning. Do you want my younger sister to be freezing to death?” Orchid replied.

“She’s your niece.” Roselyn corrected.

“Niece, daughter, sister. Same thing.” Orchid replied. She didn’t let Roselyn continue to question her thinking and continued “Besides, I brought the servants with us too so it’s okay.”

Roselyn sighed at Orchid’s response. She could only go along with whatever Orchid as she was too weak right now. Roselyn also realized that Orchid was right, the air outside was quite chilly this morning. She looked down at the peacefully sleeping baby in her arm wrapped up in extremely warm cloth. “Take us to your bedroom, we can talk in while she’s asleep.”

Orchid nodded her head and brought Roselyn and the baby to her room. Roselyn placed the baby beside her and looked at her younger sister. “What did Gran say about what happened?”

“He said it was a natural phenomenon that happened every thousands of years and that he knew about it from his ancestors.” Orchid replied.

“That’s completely not true, I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Roselyn replied.

“What is he hiding from me?” Roselyn glanced at the baby resting beside her. She felt it may have something to do with her daughter but seeing her peaceful face Roselyn didn’t want to wake her up and see if something would happen in doing so. Her daughter was just an Exotic like her…right?

“I think he’ll tell you about it later, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about, rest up until tonight. I’ll take you back when they’re done rebuilding the house.

Seven hours after the tribulation the house was rebuilt to livable conditions and Orchid teleported Roselyn back home. The entire day the baby not once woke up, but just from how healthy she appeared Roselyn and Orchid was not worried a single bit.

However, during that seven hours, the whole village couldn’t stop spreading rumors about what had happen. Not everyone believed what Gran had said even though it made sense. But if it was true then someone else in the Village would’ve known something about it yet no one did. What was even more strange was that Gran didn’t let anyone else go inside to help him repair his home, only little kids and the people Pebble brought back were allowed.

The rumor spread like wildfire out of Boulderville to neighboring towns and villages and even reaching the ear of Samuel and Angel who was back at Rouge getting ready for their sneaking out later that night.

“This smells like something Boss had done.” Angel was the first to comment after hearing the rumor. She just instinctively thought it must’ve been him who had done something to cause a natural phenomenon akin to the most powerful attack an Exotic was able to unleash.

“I agree that man child is always up to no good, first he got close to the kids, then he became one himself, now we have no choice but to let him escort them all the way to Naturelle.” Samuel complained.

“However, I don’t get why he’d blow up Chief Gran’s home? Did he get bored and wanted to show off? Or did Gran do something to anger him? Could Arthur perhaps be in trouble?” Angel spoke her mind and immediately went straight to the worst case scenario.

“What if it wasn’t him and the planet itself did it?” Samuel asked his wife.

“There would be no way our planet could do such a thing.” Angel tried to laugh it off but something in the back of her mind couldn’t completely disagree with what her husband had said.

“Ever since we’ve picked him up, I don’t know if that was the right choice or not. But remember when he told us what was going to happen to our planet? At first I thought he was crazy for saying our planet could evolve and that we’re going to have to fight against animals who can harness energy. But, more news from the other side of the world is starting to make me think that that man child wasn’t lying.” Samuel expressed his thoughts.

“Did you know even though the Tillowisk Empire has been trying to hide information from us, I’ve recently received news that King Tyran is looking for ways to quickly improve the strength of everyone around him? He even sent his own daughter to Naturelle to find capable students that would improve his strength!”

Samuel then continued. “Why would he need to rapidly improve the strength of his people? I’ve thought about it and it’s either what that man child had told us about creatures going out of control over there or those prophetic idiots who say there’s going to be another war. Both are not good for us at all.” Samuel furrowed his brows and stated flatly.

“Like, what should we do in this situation? I just sent our son on his way over there and now I hear this kind of news?” Samuel sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I already disobeyed King Baroque and his decree, now I could potentially be sending our son to a continent of energy harnessing creatures and a King who is looking to increase his own strength!” Samuel couldn’t believe it.

“I don’t know what to do…” He felt weak that there was nothing he could do in this situation. He was a freaking top tier Extoic and so was his wife, yet he didn’t know what to do in this situation. He could recall Arthur, but then he’ll be forced to send Arthur to Lumiere once King Baroque found out. If he sends Arthur to the Tillowisk Empire and their military strength can’t hold off the creatures, then the whole continent is doomed.

“I think we should stick with our first decision.” Angel calmly replied after thinking it through.

“You’d send him over there knowing there’s extremely powerful creatures and a King that wants to strengthen himself?” Samuel asked his wife.

“It’s no better than what’s going to happen here.” Angel answered. She then continued “Do you know what Boss said when Benjamin asked him if he could prevent all this?” Angel asked her husband.

Samuel had no idea Benjamin had even asked this question and even moreso didn’t know why Benjamin only told his wife and not him. “What did he say?” he asked.

“He told Benjamin that he wouldn’t let our kids die.” Angel replied. She continued “I honestly don’t like his behavior or how he does things. He seems to make mess everywhere he goes. But, just from the few times that we’ve interacted and how he’s willing to just get impaled…I mean he could kill us all if he wanted to, right? Just take our kids and do whatever the heck he wanted to. Yet, the whole time he’s been with us he felt like an annoying guest we couldn’t get rid of.”

“What kind of person is willing to get impaled by me so easily? He says he’s an immortal, but it must hurt, right? There’s no way he couldn’t feel pain, otherwise why else would he be so damaged when we found him?” Angel asked.

Samuel had no idea how to respond. He quietly waited for his wife to continue.

“If he does feel pain, why didn’t he even let out a single sound when I pierced him straight through the chest with my icicle? I left a hole in his chest! The shirt proved it went straight through... Yet, why…?” Angel tried to recollect her thoughts and continued to ask. “How much does someone have to go through to not even let out a single sound from that…?”

Samuel could only remain quiet. He thought about what Angel had said and thought back to all the times he cried out in pain. Even stubbing his toe would make wince in pain for awhile. He sat and waited until Angel finished what she had to say.

“Samuel, I trust him.”

Samuel knew she was going to say this and nodded his head. “I’ll put my trust in him, too.” He then continued to ask. “But we’re still going to check on Arthur, right?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll meet you outside in 5.”

“Mhm.”

Shadows freely moved in the ground completely invisible to anything around them. The pale moonlight hung above illuminating the grounds below as the pair flowed from one location to the next. They were in no hurry as they kept themselves hidden from the elements calmly walking at constant pace.

“A few more hours until sunrise, at this rate we will be able to see him train in the morning.” Samuel commented while completely hidden in his shadow.

“Should we speed up?” He asks his wife who was hidden beside him.

“Let’s keep our pace, I’m sure the King will have a Teacher staying in Boulderville like the one back at home. I want to see if Gran knows anything yet.” Angel replied.

“Mm, it should be the same situation, they should be relaying the information to all the parents about the King’s decree.” Samuel answered.

“Yeah, but Gran is almost as strong as us, which Teacher did they send to bring him the news I wonder…?” Angel thought to herself. The Kings Decree was only relayed to the most important individuals of more populous places like Towns, cities or other Kingdoms. This is normally because there is no incredibly strong individual above Tier 4 in villages, tribes or bands within the country of Zel.

King Baroque didn’t feel like it was necessary for his own personal envoys to send the message and used the Teachers of Lumiere themselves for these smaller places and less important normal people. However, to ensure that the King’s decree isn’t just a small matter, The Headmaster of Lumiere personally made sure Teachers sent to each place was more than capable of persuading the most influential person within them.

“I also want to gather some intel this rumor people have been spreading.”

“Yeah, just before we left, I received urgent letters sent from my men I have stationed around the country, apparently every person who was capable all had the same prophecy about an angel and demon being born.” Samuel replied.

“Do you believe it?”

“I believe I forgot to give the carrier falcons their snacks for delivering these urgent messages.”

“Samuel…”

“I’m kidding, of course I fed them.”

“What do you think about the prophecy?”

“Mm, eh, we’ll see. I mean, there’s already an Alien.”

Angel facepalmed to Samuel’s unconcerned comment as they continued to traverse from Rouge to Boulderville.

Sunrise came and the two finally made it to Boulderville. Sneaking in of course, no one were to know about them. The couple quickly arrived at the center of the village flew directly over the gated walls around Gran’s home.

Immediately they noticed the sound of fighting near the back of the enormous shabbily rebuilt home of Gran.

“Wow, at least there’s a roof.” Samuel commented and hurried to the back of the home quickening their pace to the sound of fighting.

The moment they arrived, Angel immediately slapped him on the shoulder and spoke in a hush voice. “I see Arthur!”

Samuel rubbed his shoulder, he noticed Arthur the same time Angel did. The two quickly hid in the shadows of a nearby tree, the shadows of Samuel and Angel merged perfectly within the shadow of the tree.

“Oh my gosh he’s using a real weapon!” Angel exclaimed. She was completely shocked to see Arthur holding a sword that wasn’t wooden for training.

“Samuel what if he gets hurt? What should we do? Should we stop them?” Angel was already ready to blow her cover because the weapon in Arthur’s hand was too dangerous.

“He’ll be okay, this should be the training Gran assigned for them let’s just watch for now, we can’t just pop out and stop this, you know.” Samuel assured trying to quiet down his extremely excited and worried wife.

“Samuel, he’s charging at Gran’s kid!” Angel exclaimed.

Samuel and Angel watched as the five trainees all with charged at Cobble with weapons in their hands.

“Samuel! Did you see that!? My baby didn’t release his grip on the sword!” Angel exclaimed as the five trainees’ attacks were deflected by Cobble. Admittedly none of the trainees lost grip of their weapon. However, Angel was completely tunneled onto Arthur.

“He threw down the weapon! Why! Samuel, why?” Angel continued to commentate everything going on during the training and questioning Samuel about Arthur’s decision.

Samuel however was calmer than Angel and kept his eyes on all the trainees. One of them was very familiar to him. Isn’t that the brat who tried to blackmail me? Why is he here? Samuel remembered Seth who was training alongside Arthur, Shelly, Michael and Julie.

He then turned his attention to Arthur “Nice punches son! That’s my boy!” Samuel maintained his silence ignoring the smacks to his shoulders coming from the excited wife of his who was questioning everything.

“Samuel! They’re breaking through Gran’s kid defense!” Angel exclaimed. However, before she could cheer for Arthur’s victory Cobble quickly spoke up. “I’m attacking!”

“What! He’s attacking, that’s not fair, he’s cheating! I’ll stop him!” Angel was about to send Cobble flying when Samuel quickly stopped her. “Do you want to get us exposed!? Calm yourself and stop slapping me, I think my shoulder is all bruised up.” Samuel exclaimed. He kept quiet the entire hours of the training but had enough when Angel was about to intervene.

“My Angel, this is just training. The young man training them even warned them beforehand they should be okay.” Samuel responded.

“See? They’re avoiding his attacks and are looking for opportunities. The young man is throwing slower punches since this is only training. You don’t have to worry.”

“But Arthur is going to lose…”

“Does he like he’s worried about losing?” Samuel’s comment got Angel to quickly observe Arthur’s expression. She noticed that he while he was huffing and puffing from the constant attacks there was determination in his eyes and that look on his face that clearly showed he was not worried at all.

“Besides, there’s Shelly.” Samuel stated calmly.

The moment Samuel made that statement Shelly closed her eyes and began directing everyone to attack Cobble at extremely precise and specific places while avoiding every attack of Cobble. The battle continued to rage on with the five trainee and Cobble attacking and defending against each other until morning training was over.

“I can’t believe it! Arthur did it!” Angel exclaimed and smacked Samuel beside her. She continued to cheer for her son from afar.

During the very last moment Shelly found a big enough flaw for them to exploit in Cobble’s defense by forcing him to move at their tempo. Thanks to this Shelly managed to land a single hit on that flaw, her fist landing squarely on his body and concluding morning’s training.

“Hm… she’s still hiding her power.” Samuel noted when Cobble took the hit from Shelly and felt unfazed. He continued to look at the group of trainees who had just completed training. “What’s next?”

“Samuel, hide, hide” Angel pulled Samuel closer behind the tree as the door of the estate pushed open. “It’s Gran and Roselyn. She’s as beautiful as ever.” Angel sighed as she looked at Roselyn who was 20 years older than her.

“That red hair boy must be their son, right? He looks just like Gran.” Angel commented at Boulder who followed behind Roselyn and Gran.

“Wait, what’s that in her hand? A baby!? FOUR KIDS!?” Angel’s eyes were about to pop out as she noticed the newly born baby in Roselyn’s hand. She looked at Samuel who returned the gaze. Both of them were amazed and had panic in their eyes. After they had Arthur, they realized one was enough. However, seeing Gran and Roselyn who was almost twice their age with four kids total made them gulp in admiration.

Their eyes turned to Arthur who still had the energy to circle around the baby in Roselyn’s arm and excitedly talking to Boulder.

“Samuel, is it me or does the boy look awfully tired?” Angel directed her attention to the boy who was replying to Arthur with a smile.

Samuel squinted his eyes and nodded his head in response. “Seems like he drained all of his inner energy. But, I’m not sure how that happened. Some sort of training perhaps? Maybe the result of something happening yesterday…”

“Wait…” Samuel paused and continued “Angel, that prophecy.”

“What about it?” Angel asked she was confused at why Samuel would bring up the prophecy they heard last night.

“A baby demon or angel was born.”

“Yeah?”

“A BABY! demon… or angel… Was born…” Samuel pointed at the baby in Roselyn’s hand. “That baby looks like it was born yesterday.” Samuel commented.

“Lots of babies are born every day what makes you think it’ll be Roselyn’s?” Angel rebuked.

“There’s something strange about the baby.”

“There’s something strange about you. It’s just a baby, Samuel.”

“Look at it Angel. Do you not see it?”

“What? I don’t see what’s strange about it at all. It looks like a perfectly normal Exotic baby.” Angel remarked as she examined the baby.

Sigh

“You’re gonna sigh now instead of telling me Samuel?”

“Look at its face.”

“There’s nothing wrong about it! It looks completely fine!” Angel exclaimed. “Just tell me already.”

“Its eyes are still closed.”

“Is it not just asleep?” Angel asked.

“Look closer. The baby is actually awake, it’s even turning it’s head around and ‘looking’ at everyone around it.” Samuel replied.

“You’re right. Can it see with its eyes closed?” Angel asked as she settled her gaze on the baby. She continued “Do you think Boss was involved somehow?”

“Involved in making a baby? I think that’s Gran and Roselyn’s baby.” Samuel responded.

“I mean involved somehow in creating this prophecy and the destruction of Gran’s house.” Angel corrected.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Samuel responded. He continued to examine the baby from afar. He continued “Speaking of that manchild, where is he?”

“You called?” A childish voice could be heard right beside them causing Samuel and Angel to jump in alarm.

“B-Boss!” Samuel and Angel both exclaimed before abruptly closing their mouth trying to keep quiet.

“Eh, don’t worry you can speak up, I’ve nullified the sound around us, you can scream, and they won’t be able to hear it.” Boss squatted down and barged himself into Samuel’s shadows hiding himself away alongside them.

“H-how—”

“How did I just enter your own domain? How did I just silence us from the world? It’s cause I’m Boss.”

“H-how long were you here!?... Did you hear everything we’ve said…? Wait! Give me back my money!” Samuel exclaimed.

“That’s what you have to ask? You’re not amazed at how amazing I am?” Boss replied completely ignoring the latter half of Samuel’s comment. He continued. “Buuut, if you want to know, yes, I’ve heard everything, and I’ve been here since the beginning.” Boss pointed up at a large branch of the tree. “I was napping right there.”

There was even snacks and a cup of water tucked to the leaves of the tree from where Boss was napping at.

“If you’ve heard everything, can you tell us about the baby, is it the one from the prophecy?” Angel asked.

“Prophecy? What prophecy?”

“An Angel or demon is born we must protect or kill it. For it will either help us or destroy us.” Samuel replied.

“What kind of dumbass prophecy is that?” Boss remarked.

“Hell, if I know, I just combined two opposing prophecies I heard last night. You haven’t heard it yet?” Samuel answered.

“Does it look like there’s a prophet in the village?”

“Julie didn’t show anything…?” Samuel asked. Wasn’t Julie a Seer? Shouldn’t she have seen something? Samuel turned his head around and returned to look at the kids and the baby.

“Her? The only thing she saw was me with a bad hair day.” Boss rebuked. “Anyways, I don’t know anything about this weird ass prophecy you’ve heard. That baby is just a baby.”

“Just a baby?” Angel asked.

“Just a baby.” Boss replied.

“See Samuel, I told you it’s just a baby…”

“Yeah, yeah just a baby…”

“…Samuel?” Angel turned to look at her husband who didn’t respond to her. Samuel turned his head around and met her with gaze. However, the moment Angel saw his face she let out a gasp. Samuel’s eyes were completely vacant as it looked at her and Boss beside her.

“…an extremely strong baby.”