“No. I’m not sure what are you referring to, but there were some political movements in the capital after cardinal Francis lost thirty of his chosen in a fire. I’m not clear on the details, but from what I overheard he intended to disband the college altogether.” Bill said.

“What’s the big deal? Don’t they have hundreds of chosen each?” Alex was confused.

“You don’t understand. Chosen represent the political influence and cardinal Francis lost a large part from the new generation.” Bill explained.

“So he wanted to cripple other cardinals by legitimately killing off their chosen as well?” Alex asked.

“Mhm. Something like that.” Bill said, “How many Lord’s seeds did you get in the end?”

“I don’t know.” Alex shrugged, “Three hundred, maybe four – I didn’t count. But it doesn’t matter. Even though I ate few dozen, we have enough to sustain us for several months. If we use sparingly one in two days or so, they will last for quite a while.”

“It’s just … strange …” Bill tried to find the appropriate description, “… to use the Lord’s seeds as food.”

“… and medicine, and cultivation resources.” Alex added, “I’m not certain what they are, but they seem to contain incredible amount of the force of nature, I mean – the holy power. In the college it was said that only those chosen who are yet to reach adulthood could consume them, but I’m pretty certain even you could benefit greatly. By the way, how is your shoulder?”

“Better, thanks.” Bill said, “I think there were more problems with the theft of the seeds, because, from what I’ve heard, only the best and most promising chosen should’ve received them – not the young ones. But what do we know ...”

“Indeed!” Alex agreed, but then asked, “Luckily they don’t have this problem anymore, but we have to use them to practice holding our breaths – do I understand our current predicament correctly?”

“… yea …” Was the only thing Bill could say.

That was how they spent the next months. After the tunnels were collapsed, the search party cut off the source of fresh air. Luckily some of it came in along with the gaps between the rocks and the underground river and the two brothers didn’t suffocate. The river became the lifeline for both. It brought them water to drink as well as washed away their waste. The only thing they had to worry about was to not fall in.

They had no source of light and spent their time in a complete darkness. It was impossible to estimate what time of the day it was or how many days had passed. The only thing they could count were the Lord’s seeds they consumed.

Bill thought Alex a couple of breathing exercises to strengthen his respiratory system. And for a long time he practiced mostly those.

Living of the Lord’s seeds was fine, except very weird in the beginning. While they didn’t feel hunger per se, their bodies screamed for food out of habit. Of course, later when or if they got out they would have to restore their diet slowly, to not cause any damage.

Brothers realized few months had passed only when it became increasingly cold. The winter came and brought along snow and ice, although underground it was relatively fine. At this point they had consumed around half of the seeds and decided to leave when there were no more left. The problem was that the Lord’s seeds were not properly stored and continuously lost their effectiveness. Obviously it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if the two didn’t rely on them to survive.

When there were only four seeds left, it was finally time for them to leave. Both had prepared for this moment for long and didn’t need to go over the simple procedure once again.

Bill went first. He put two seeds in his mouth and climbed into the stream. Alex patiently counted till hundred and followed. The water was just as cold as he imagined, but he didn’t care. Almost as if out of habit, he began to perform one of the headmaster’s force of nature techniques and immediately a warm feeling spread through his body fueled by the two last seeds hidden under his tongue.

He was not worried about not being able to hold his breath long enough. They already tested and Bill could hold on without breathing for over twenty minutes while Alex – almost thirteen. Compared to the eldest brother that was a shameful performance, but to a regular human – above the level of an Olympic athlete.

Neither was afraid of dying by drowning, except Alex prayed it wouldn’t count as a ‘suicide’ in case something unforeseen happened. There were two main risks – first, at some point the stream could separate in few smaller streams and they literally would be stuck, or the second – it would run underground for many kilometers before joining the river on the surface.

Judging from where the hunters found Chucky, Bill speculated they would be capable to easily hold on. And since the stream brought him all the way to the river, they only had to follow the strongest current to reach it.

In theory it all sounded nice, but submerged in cold water while swimming in complete darkness it was anything but comfortable. Luckily Alex had spent the last months in the dark and didn’t feel claustrophobic, but within the first twenty seconds he bumped his head on the rocky walls at least five times.

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Struggling to not loose consciousness, he tried to slow himself down by grabbing the slippery walls only to break off nails and get bruised all over.

‘F******ck! Who the hell knew I have to get manicure first!’ Alex inwardly screamed.

At least the pain from the injuries helped him to stay conscious and focused. The stream didn’t split at any point and nothing barred it when finally, at least ten minutes later, it joined the river on the surface. Out of habit Alex kept his eyes shut and the difference in the water flow was the only indicator he had successfully escaped. Compared to the earlier mad rush, the river felt like a peaceful lake and he continued to float for a half a minute or so, just to relax and enjoy it.

There was only one tiny problem. When Alex opened his eyes he saw it was a night time. The sky was cloudy and the surroundings were dark. He saw, of course, the riverbank and the trees in the forest, but he had no clue where Bill was.

During the time in the cave, the two of them discussed multiple possibilities, but forgot this simple one. But it didn’t matter. Bill’s abilities were far above those of a regular human and he would find Alex in no time, he was certain of it.

Thus, after celebrating his escape by splashing water around a bit, Alex climbed to the shore. He found a flat stone to sit on, took off his clothes and began to cultivate, but fell asleep in a sitting position instead.

Few minutes later a quiet laugh woke him up.

“So, did you make any halva in the end?” Bill asked with a wide grin.

Even in the darkness of the night Alex could see his white teeth shining bright.

“I guess not.” He got up and shrugged, “Do you know where the pope keeps his stash?”

“Don’t even joke about it!” Bill seriously said, “Alfons, we …”

“Wait, wait!” Alex interrupted, “From this moment on you can’t call me that anymore, even when there is only two of us.”

“Right … Alex.” Bill said, “It feels weird to call you that.”

“It’s not like you called me by my name often before.” Alex said, “Let’s go, Chuck!”

“Hahaha! I do like my new name though. Chuck Norris … how did you come up with it? Sounds very manly.” Bill said.

“It is.” Alex nodded. Of course, he called his brother that way only to amuse himself, but Bill assumed it was to honor his childhood friend Chucky and his sacrifice that helped them to escape.

“Alright, let’s go!” Bill turned towards the south and said, “We have a long road ahead of us.”

Their plan was simple – to travel under the cover of wilderness until they left the Holy empire. Alex left the map along with his staff in the cave, but it was too universal anyway to help them in their travels. The map was burned in his memory long ago anyway and all he needed now was the general direction.

Alone Alex would’ve never attempted to do it this way. He would rather change his appearance and join some merchants and travel with them. But now he had a muscle at his side and an excellent tracker as well – all in one person. Even in the dark Bill easily discerned the cardinal directions and would run at full speed if there wasn’t Alex slowing him down.

Both brothers, dressed in dregs and covered in bruises, rushed through the night while avoiding any settlements.

Judging by the nature it was currently an early spring. It felt surreal realizing so much time has passed and how long they had survived on the Lord’s seeds alone, but Alex finally was forced reevaluate their true worth. No wonder people went crazy when few hundred got stolen!

To not loose their sanity in the darkness, between longer cultivation periods, brothers conversed quite a bit. Even if it was forced by circumstances, Alex never felt so close to anyone. Of course, he didn’t suddenly open up too much and blab about his deepest secrets.

While he did tell his brother some stuff and taught him quite a few things as well, Bill began to teach his knowledge in return. Unfortunately almost all that required practical examples and application that couldn’t be showed in the cave.

Now, on the other hand, they not only had a lot of free time, but couldn’t use it to sit and cultivate. Thus, while on the move, Bill continued to teach Alex survival tricks in the wild as well as few basic combat techniques.

Of course, Alex could easily survive in the forests back in his first life, but from the previous one he learned there were unimaginable dangers in these strange worlds. Therefore like a sponge he absorbed anything his brother taught him.

While they didn’t chat a lot, they still talked about other things as well. Obviously they avoided the subject of their parents, although already back in the cave they agreed that both of them had different fathers and Bill senior was their father only in name. The touchy subject was their mother, but they had a silent agreement to not speak about her as well as the fate of their parents.

While in the cave, Alex could swear that at some point he could smell smoke and burned flesh. And if he could, Bill definitely did. It was highly possible their parents were executed along with the rest of the villagers and the village itself was burned down. Luckily they would never know, because for the time being they avoided any human contact, to not speak about entering any village.

In fact, even a month later, after crossing the southern mountain range and arriving at the first foreign country, Morandia, they remained hidden in forests and only on rare occasions, when forced by geographical circumstances, came out in the open.

Armed with spears and dressed in self made leather armors they looked like two young hunters and didn’t cause any suspicions. Of course, it would be hard to imagine anyone would look for them here, after all this time.

But they were not in the clear yet. Morandia was independent country only in name. In practice they were a vassal state of the Holy empire, a part of the buffer zone separating the Holy empire and two large countries – kingdoms of Azil and Ulumundi.

The destination of the two brothers was Azil, thus they changed their direction to south east.