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A Tree of Omens - Volume II - HFY Isekai Progression
Chapter LXXII - Adriaas' Punishment - A Branch of Expression

Chapter LXXII - Adriaas' Punishment - A Branch of Expression

Chapter LXXII

A Branch of Expression

Adriaas, Wynden, and Elnara were escorted to their table on the third floor. A local kabbalah, responsible for the restaurant's hosting, seated them before departing. Once settled, Wynden resumed their earlier conversation.

"You need to become a lethal weapon if you want to protect Malkuth," he insisted, refusing to leave the topic unsettled. "It is one of the greatest honors in our galaxy!"

"Leave her alone, she’s made her choice," Elnara interjected, showing support for Adriaas.

"Thank you," Adriaas responded, grateful for her sister's intervention. "Protecting our society in that form isn't my calling to Malkuth," she added, still uncertain about her true path. "There's a reason my interest faded."

Wynden took a deep breath, letting go of his stubbornness. "What are you planning to do now? Do you have a realistic plan?" he asked, more gently this time.

"Sometimes, drifting in a sea of possibilities can lead you to the right path," Elnara intervened. "Adriaas doesn’t need to know everything right now, Wynden. Remember, you didn’t join the Fifth until you were forty."

Adriaas spoke with determination, "I won’t follow the same path as you. I won’t waste my time and energy on something that doesn’t fulfill me. Can we have breakfast now? I’m starving."

Her tone signaled to Wynden where her mind was. "Yes, I agree. Food is needed."

"Father knows?" Elnara inquired.

"Don’t know, don’t care," Adriaas responded with honesty, avoiding the topic of their father's influence.

Instead of getting angry as most of her family would, they smiled. "As it should be," Wynden said with a rebellious glint in his eye. "He would peacefully try to dictate your actions, being nice and manipulative."

"Like he did my entire life until I left," Adriaas recalled their fight from a few years ago. "I’m sure he’d be eager for me to follow the Third Sephirah—"

"Ready to order?" A kabbalah waiter interrupted as he passed by.

They realized they had forgotten to check the menu projected by their kabbalahs. After placing their orders, they resumed conversing while waiting for their meals.

"Whatever you do, don’t get into the Binah," Wynden warned with alarm. "At least not until Annevan dies, unless you want to continue playing the shadow game."

Elnara and Adriaas shared a laugh, finding it hard to imagine a world without their father. "He’ll probably outlive us," Adriaas remarked with irreverence.

"How old is he, three hundred?" she joked.

"How dare you!" Wynden responded in a sarcastic tone. "He's only two hundred and ninety-three. He’s at the peak of his youth."

"Don’t you know how much I have achieved?" Elnara mimicked their father, bursting into laughter and drawing attention from nearby tables.

Adriaas laughed until tears streamed down her face, still chuckling when their food arrived. The technorganic entities serving them placed the dishes on the table with their crybine arms.

"Enjoy your meal," the lead technorganic entity said. "Please let your kabbalah know if you need anything, and we’ll bring it right away."

"Thank you," Elnara said with a grateful smile as they soared off and before continuing with their conversation. "How long should we stay in this dimension? I believe two hundred years would be a reasonable milestone."

Wynden pondered for a moment. "Honestly, even if we tease Annevan, I see no reason to leave this dimension. My abilities have never aligned with the higher dimensions. Connecting with Gevurium is a tremendous challenge for me, and even when I manage it, it’s only for a limited time. It’s not my strength. There’s a fear of dying within me."

Adriaas, born just twenty years earlier, found the concept of death almost nonsensical.

"That’s precisely why our species has achieved immortality," Elnara remarked before savoring her Asparagus and prosciutto omelet. "The fear of the unknown and uncertainty have haunted us for thousands of years, and it’s a perfectly understandable fear."

After taking a bite of her sunny-side-up eggs with bacon, Adriaas chimed in. "I’ve never really given it much thought," she confessed. "Knowing that death isn’t a limitation for us, that we can choose when to move on, makes it feel so distant. Two hundred and fifty, if I had to give a number. Whenever I grow tired of this dimension, perhaps. My Astral Projection abilities furk too, so it’s hard for me to comprehend what you’re talking about with Gevurium and other dimensions."

"You’ll experience them soon enough," Elnara assured her. "Reaching the Sixth Dimension is a life-changing moment for Malkuthians. It provides unique aspects and perceptions with profound meaning of the universe. It’s difficult to explain in words alone."

Wynden nodded in agreement as he sipped his orange juice before shifting the conversation to other topics. The main one being Dubrovnik and its rich history. Elnara’s deep passion for the city was evident in the detailed schedule she shared after their sumptuous breakfast.

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They made their way to Old Town, strolling along its preserved stone roads covered in a thin, imperceptible layer of crystaphene. This ingenious material allowed tourists to explore the ancient streets without causing any damage. The streets buzzed with locals and tourists alike, flanked by grocery stores offering Croatian cuisine to go, plant shops, souvenir stores, antiques, clothes, and many restaurants.

Adriaas, a novice trainee at the T1 level, enjoyed some perks and benefits, albeit not as extravagant as those available to her half-siblings, both esteemed S2 Level, also known as Sephirot Two. In one of the souvenir stores, Adriaas became fixated on a scale model of Dubrovnik. It was reserved for the T5 level, intended for senior trainees who had already been accepted into a branch and possessed advanced knowledge.

"Get it," Elnara said with a generous smile, noticing her sister's fascination with the model. "Consider it my treat."

"Are you sure?" Adriaas could hardly believe it.

"Take advantage of our time together while you can, little sister," Elnara replied playfully. "I know your birthday is coming up, so let’s call it an early present."

Adriaas couldn’t contain her excitement, a wide smile spreading across her face like that of a young child. She felt grateful to Elnara for remembering.

"I know where it will go," she said, her eyes sparkling.

The Croatian shop owner, a woman in her sixties, packed the chosen model. "Please share your address with our kabbalah, and we’ll send it to your home. It should arrive within a few hours. Thank you for your purchase."

After leaving the store, they continued their schedule and headed towards Kristalni Put. The point of interest was a majestic, elevated crystaphene road that emerged from an ancient path and lifted them to a breathtaking altitude. From this vantage point, they could appreciate the city of Dubrovnik, with its vibrant orange rooftops sprawling beneath them. The view was awe-inspiring, offering a new perspective on the city’s grandeur and the immense protective wall that surrounded it.

Countless others were also traversing the same path, a lane spacious enough to accommodate twenty people walking side by side. "When I first arrived, I didn’t perceive any of this. I’ve walked on crystal roads before, but this one feels different, as if it has always been an integral part of the city," Adriaas remarked, her admiration evident.

"That’s the reaction the Binah we're seeking when they designed it," Wyden added, his voice filled with admiration. "This road achieved an extraordinary synergy with the sky. It’s imperceptible at plain sight, without relying on holotech for invisibility."

As they approached the end of the three-kilometer circuit, the road descended, transforming into a long flight of crystal stairs. Nearby, a group of children played, racing up and down the crystal road. Adriaas and her siblings ignored them until they witnessed a sudden incident. In a moment of carelessness, the children pushed an elderly man, causing him to stumble and fall down the stairs.

Adriaas and her siblings were too far away to offer immediate help. Even as Wynden unleashed his green and red merkabah in seconds and flew towards the injured man, it was too late to prevent the fall. The old man tumbled down the stairs until a group of onlookers, fifty meters away, formed a barrier to cushion his fall.

From a distance, Adriaas saw the unnatural position of the man’s limbs, twisted at strange angles. Elnara stifled a cry of anguish, while Adriaas stood frozen, unable to move. The man was breathing, lessening their worries. Those around him called for help with urgency. Wynden communicated through his kabbalah, seeking support.

A minute later, a tall woman with striking aquamarine hair glided through the air on a levitator, landing beside the injured man with grace and care. She wore a unique merkabah, a suit like none Adriaas had ever seen in action. As a member of the Chesed, The Fourth Sephirot, she commanded respect and authority. Her crystaphene sleeves extended from fingertips to shoulder and locked at an intricate chest piece and a half helmet emerged.

“She can see inside his body with that mask,” Elnara explained, recognizing her sister’s curiosity. “The harness extends down to her spine and allows the Chesed to bear an incredible weight that no ordinary human could manage while also transporting any tool they might need for an emergency.”

Adriaas watched as the woman with aquamarine hair knelt beside the injured man, speaking to him and offering reassurance. She touched his neck with one of her sleeves, performing a gesture that seemed to calm him.

“She just administered a sedative through the sleeve,” Elnara’s knowledge about the Chesed was sharp. “There are microscopic needles embedded within it that delivered the medicine into his bloodstream.”

The arrival of the Chesed brought relief to the witnesses, including the children who caused the accident. Aware of the full context of their actions, their parents shared the guilt in their faces. From her position, Adriaas and Elnara observed the Chesed’s methodical approach to rectify the situation. After sedating the old man, she realigned his limbs with precise moves, doing things that would have caused excruciating pain if he were conscious.

Wynden set up a safe perimeter and guided people down to avoid overcrowding. Using her merkabah, the woman with aquamarine hair placed both hands on each broken limb. From a distance, it was challenging to discern the exact nature of her actions, but she was healing him.

“She enhances her healing abilities with the merkabah and applies nanoscopic surgery to his fractures,” Elnara provided Adriaas with the knowledge she was seeking. “He’ll wake up with just soreness.”

It was a marvel to watch the man’s bones return to their original shape with a snap. The Chesed touched his neck again, awakening him. The old man appeared disoriented, confused by his surroundings and the crowd of onlookers. Adriaas smiled with relief as the group of children responsible for the accident and their parents approached him, ready to apologize.

“That’s enough excitement for now,” Elnara said, standing next to her sister. “Shall we continue? Wynden is waiting.”

Their brother had directed the flow of people with success. He had ensured they could proceed with their descent back to ground level in Dubrovnik while also preventing further disruptions. The rest of their day trip was filled with splendor for Adriaas. They visited renowned landmarks selected by Elnara with care. Wynden indulged them with exquisite meals at elevated restaurants with breathtaking views of Dubrovnik. However, the accident lingered in Adriaas’s thoughts, distracting her from the present. She kept her inner turmoil to herself and refrained from making hasty decisions.

Upon her return to her mother’s Domus in Treinta y Tres, Adriaas found herself inspired and in admiration for the Chesed’s help to the injured old man. She had always shown care and concern for others, and that morning, she might have witnessed her true calling. The closest encounter she had with that branch was when Zeban fell from their Domus in Colorado while their parents were still together. Adriaas had been traumatized by the sight of his broken leg, with an exposed bone and much blood. The Chesed arrived to aid Zeban, but his sister was ushered away after crying, denied the opportunity to watch her brother’s healing.

Now, as a witness to their remarkable abilities, Adriaas experienced a newfound clarity. She would become a member of the Fourth Sephirah and help others in need, there was no doubt about it, her true calling just knocked at her door.

****

Thank you for reading! See you in "Chapter LXXIII - A Party's Aftermath."

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Indigo Sapiens.

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