Omen: 4, 7

“You cannot bully me today,” Adam said, staring at Elder Zijin opposite him. “Taygak is now nine years old, so she’ll sort you out.”

Elder Zijin smiled. He leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers on one of the many books he was currently checking. “She is so big now.” Zijin thought about her birth. She and her mother had almost lost their lives. “Next year she will begin to learn the ways of her family.”

“At ten?” Adam asked. “Is that the age everyone begins to learn their abilities?”

Zijin bowed his head. “Ten. She will be taken to train with her peers. Then, one day, she will give the show.”

“The show? You mean during a festival?”

Zijin smiled. “Yes.”

Adam swallowed. “I’d rather she stay small. Growing up means all kinds of stress and danger.”

“Do you miss being a boy?”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “Everything’s so simple when you’re a kid.”

Zijin couldn’t help but smile wider. “Yes. I remember my father, Zajin, would toss me in the air when I was a boy. I remember I fell, and scraped my knee.” Zijin pulled up trouser leg, revealing a scar across his knee. “He pinched the base of my tusks and asked me how I would protect the Iyr if I cried at just a scrape of my knee. He tossed me more that evening.”

Adam chuckled. “I forget that you Iyrmen are… normal.”

“Is anyone normal, Adam?”

“I suppose not.” Adam remained quiet, thinking about his youth. “I like it here in the Iyr, Elder Zijin. It’s nice, you know?”

“I know,” Zijin replied, bowing his head. “That is partly why I called you here.”

“What’s up?” Adam asked.

Zijin was about to reply literally, before realising it was Adam’s way of asking what was happening. “The Iyr has confirmed the situation. You can place just a single enchantment onto a weapon and the Iyr can complete it, at the least, for basic enhanced weapons. It still requires a week.”

“Nice,” Adam said, smiling. “So you want more to test out?”

Zijin bowed his head. “If you are willing to enchant more weapons, and are willing to reveal how deep the enchantment runs, from how much Mana is required, to how well you felt enchanting the weapon, to the amount of gems required, we are willing to assist you in the matter, and to pay you.”

“How much?” Adam asked.

“We will pay you one hundred gold for each enchantment placed on a weapon,” Zijin said. “We will also consider it as a contribution to the Iyr.”

Adam narrowed his eyes. “Is it the same for greater enhanced weapons?”

“Yes,” Zijin said, leaning in. “You may enchant as you please. If you are lucky, unlucky, it does not matter. We must test the matter. Once we understand how much we are able to do, then we will discuss further payment. I cannot promise you anything, but if we find that we are able to continue your enchantments, then…” Zijin paused, wondering how much more he should say.

“Alright,” Adam replied, simply. “What about for Black Death?”

Zijin placed down a pouch full of gems.

Adam tilted his head, before peeking into the bag. “That’s a lot of gold.”

“The times have changed,” Zijin said, thinking of the war which is going on in Aswadia, and the tension in Aldland.

Adam swallowed, noting all the gems, diamonds, worth three hundred gold. He looked up at Zijin, wondering if he was trying to say something.

“In case it is needed,” Zijin said.

Adam nodded his head slowly, appreciating the fact he had more gems to cast Revivify with. “Elder Zijin…”

“I do not know if they are planning to kill you,” Zijin replied, assuming Adam’s question.

Adam slowly nodded in response. He had to ask to make sure because they had given him gems worth six thousand gold in total. “Okay.”

“I would ask that you do not enchant daily, Adam,” Zijin said, smiling warmly.

“Right,” Adam replied.

“If you keep worrying your Aunt, it may be something the Iyr takes into consideration in the future,” Zijin warned.

Adam swallowed. “Right. Thanks.”

Zijin bowed his head, allowing Adam to leave. It was true that Sonarot’s worrying could be used against Adam, just like how Adam knew some of the Iyr’s secrets, and was able to replicate some of them, as well as his crazy abilities which they didn’t understand.

In the same way him favouring the Iyrmen, and assisting them so eagerly, and also his close relationship with the other Iyrmen, and his intentions of having the Iyrmen control his business, was something the Iyrmen would have to take into consideration when dealing with him.

Zijin was certain that Adam understood that being so open with the Iyr was keeping him from dying, but he was sure that Adam was just genuinely this way.

Zijin tapped the book beside him. Those precious children, who were now Adam’s companions, seemed to be growing up so well too. Zijin thought of the day before. He had heard the complaints of the Iyrmen about Jaygak and Adam, and Adam’s words which had caused them such utter shock.

‘Since Jogak is saying one thing, and Jaygak is saying another, does that mean an Iyrman is lying?’

Zijin was glad Adam had warned them beforehand, allowing them to tighten or loosen the rope around their own necks. Then, the utter audacity of Jaygak, who had given Bloodseeker, which was such a great weapon, to her cousin.

The very same Jaygak who was so ill when she was just a girl. The very same Jaygak who had aimed for Steel, when she could have aimed for more. The very same Jaygak who would constantly take more peppers than was assigned, but always left silver coins in their place.

‘What did I do to deserve being Adam’s Elder?’ Zijin complained, but he couldn’t hide the smile on his lips. He stared down at the books, the very same books he handed to Churot with all manner of equations, each representing different items within the Iyr which needed to be checked and divvied out.

Answers which held no mistake.

Zijin make sure to keep a notebook, a fresh notebook, which was black, with the symbol of Baktu.

It was Adam’s Book of Death.

There he wrote all the reasons as to why Adam should be killed, some which were told to him by the Great Elders, and sometimes those reasons would be added to the reasons why he shouldn’t die. Elder Zijin made sure to mark every reason as to why Adam shouldn’t die, and he wrote all the anecdotes he could, so the Great Elders understood.

‘Please, Adam, stop trying to get yourself killed,’ Zijin thought.

Adam returned back to the shared family estate, where he saw his companions, who had decided to spend their time with Jurot and the others for a short while, before they had to return to work.

“What is the matter?” Jurot asked.

“I don’t know,” Adam said. “I feel like I’m going to die or something.”

“In the Iyr?”

“Yeah.”

“Do not worry,” Jurot said, placing a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “We will petition for you.”

Adam smiled. “Don’t worry, you won’t need to petition for me.”

“Why not?”

“Baktu probably will,” Adam said, winking at him.

The Iyrmen nearby, who were relaxing during noonval, sighed. Adam kept saying so many outrageous things that they wondered if they should remain at their main family estates so their pregnancies were not affected by his words.

Sonarot couldn’t help but to smile about the matter, though. After all, Adam was a breath of fresh air, and he had done so much for them. She was certain that Adam was playing with the children, not because he wanted to be close to them so they would protect him from the Iyr, but because he wanted them to be happy.

‘What did I do to deserve being Adam’s Aunt?’ Sonarot thought.

“Yes,” Jurot said, nodding his head. “He may.”

The pregnant women continued to wonder how Jurot could have possibly fallen for Adam’s words, but Sonarot had fallen for them too. There were many things the pair knew that they didn’t, and whatever it was, it was something which swayed the mother and son duo to Adam’s side.

Even Mirot, who disliked Adam the most from them all, would leave her faith in Sonarot, her sister by marriage. She stared up towards the sky, wondering where her brother was. If he was here, surely he would have talked some sense into the pair. Adam was too ingrained within the family. It was a murky relationship, one which they didn’t know how to tread themselves. She understood how to work with Adam if he was a Nephew, but as the brother of both Jurot and Lanarot, things were far more awkward.

“Alright,” Adam said, kissing his sister’s cheek, before letting her go. “I should go and Awaken Churot. He should be a Scribe Mage soon.”

The women sighed.