Reincarnated into a Snow Griffin-Chapter 57

Now that the other one is gone I can feel a weight lift off from my mind, and yet the aftertaste is still enough to let me drowsy and I find not much relief that his power over me has been lifted for all the attention from the one holding me is focus on myself now, and that on itself makes me unable to open my eyes to confront him, the words of the other one resonating in my mind and my ability captivating gaze could only worsen the situation if my mere face could have such devastating effects already.

And as much as I am angry with my own fragility, my self preservation instincts are screaming at my ears, and yet my curiosity gains terrain as the minutes drag and the only thing the one holding my does is to move us back inside a house, closing the door behind us with a clack.

"...Don’t be scared beauty, I’m not going to hurt you." He says, sounding a little hurt even. "Please believe me...you, of all people, should believe me..." He starts but stops midsentence, swallowing dry as he sighs, somehow overtaken by his own thoughts and sentiments to be able to say anything at the moment, dragging the silence on with it.

The pleading in his voice, plus the fact that he is letting me down on the bed are enough to make me gather enough courage to at least open my eyes and finally face what waits for me, even though I still thought it was a very bad idea, is not like I could stay put like this for eternity, plus I’ve looked at the little devil before many times and nothing happened.

And yet, to my surprise, once I try to look at him it’s like a fog is covering his features, making me wonder if I was still inside the illusion or if perhaps it had left lingering effects on and turned me blind or something, but I can that’s not the case when I can perceive something akin to a mouth moving among that foggy shape, opening and closing behind its veil, but no sound reached my ears, or rather, a strong chilling yet inviting voice can be felt, but no words form at all, making me frown and grunt.

And suddenly all fades to dark, a void that sucks all there is and putts my mind in an empty state until a sound breaks the spell as I hear a stranger’s voice speak as they shake me:

"Hey, you, uhm... are you alright?" I mumble in response, my vision blurring and darkening until I once more open my eyes only to find one of those young robe dressed cultivators from before staring right down at me.

I blink a few times, trying to understand the situation I am in, looking around slowly with a pounding headache, laying on the woods floor, grateful for having the veil on as I keep it in place as I move to avoid any further troublesome situations.

And yet, in my confused state of mind, still feeling the touch of a hand on my cheek and yet not remembering it at all, I am left to hear the cultivator’s discussion as they help me stand up from the dirty soil ground.

"You are the boy from the inn right? The one our master talked it with? How are you feeling?"

"It’s a miracle that he’s still alive!" Others says, gossiping right beside me.

"Yeah, but what was he doing there laying on the floor like that?"

"Maybe he was thrown back by the explosion’s blast?"

"But that would have killed him... right?"

"Not if it has a great constitution." After hearing the young boys talk nonstop around me, confusing me even more as they questioned my state with strange words another voice joins the group, a more mature one this time.

"Master!" Some say in surprise, others in greeting, but all give that half bow fist on palm salute their master steps in.

He walks slowly and dignify and only stops walking when he is in front of me, as if trying to look into my eyes beyond the veil, but when he sees enough he clicks his fingers together and like some sort of magical trick cleanses me from my confused state, enough so that I can finally see beyond the worried faces of the young boys towards the now completely empty space of a huge crate carved right in the middle of the woods where once the village stood.

I freeze up once more in shock at the image in front of me, and at the same time that sadness wash over and makes me want to scream out loud for no reason I’ve got the sensation that something is very amiss, not only that crater nor the missing village, but something else, something or someone very important that I was forgetting about, and the master’s words come to confirm my suspicions.

"Something seems to have altered your memories, perhaps the excessive contact with that Ying energy... It is a miracle on itself that you survived that long while being exposed to it. What is the last thing you remember young one?"

He suddenly asks, finally breaking me away from the catastrophic vision and making me look away from the destruction down below towards him.

And that makes me think and analyze what I did remember indeed, for I clearly can still remember my mother, the high land islands, the prick lion, and yet... once I hit the floor over the lower lands I can’t remember a single thing beyond almost drowning myself, nor how I got these clothes nor my book back, not the plushy tiger, and yet I had a feeling it was important somehow so I could only hide it further into my clothes to avoid exposing it.

"I-I..." I wasn’t sure what to say so in the end I say nothing, and yet the master in front of me only smiles kindly.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"My name? My name is Seraph."

"Good, at least we got something young one. Tell me Seraph, I can see great potential in you, how about you come back with us so I can have you tested out?"

Part of me really did not want to go, still feeling that I had unfinished business left and that I could not trust strangers like him as well, but the other, the one that craved power the most, urged me to follow this powerful person and learn his ways. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

So, in the end, that day is the day I accepted to become a Cultivator myself, and yet I swear that I could feel someone’s gaze at the back of my neck for the rest of the journey back at the cultivator’s sect, and once we finally reach the mountain’s peak where I would live the next years of my life in search for power and knowledge to free my mother from her tortured fate the sensation finally seems to cease.

I look up at the many mysterious mountain peaks cutting the clouds, and take a deep breath from the fresh mountain air, clenching my hands hard and brushing that odd sensation of something being amiss aside, seeing my destiny right in front of me and narrow my eyes at the possibilities that are about to unfold before me.

And to finally be able to fight destiny back and take it into my own hands.

For now I will not be shied away from by my own powerlessness... and will become strong, become the strongest of them all.

And then I will take my home back from that lion’s claws for good, you just wait.