Without the knowledge of the local authorities or any of the shadow organizations present in the city. People were dying like flies. Dropping dead, seemingly without a logical reason. Their minds seemed to have ‘withered’ away. By the time people caught on to the fact that an invisible assailant was running rampant within the city, Samuel was already long gone. He was now standing in front of a grand gate with the engraving of a mysterious shadow-figure holding a long bow. The figure seemed to have many different forms, yet also one. It was very strange. The long bow looked like the one Merling used to attack the sharks in the Kalamark Ocean. Indeed, it was the gate of the Strand family, one of the three great families of the Phoenix Empire. At the gate stood two menacing young men. Not menacing in the sense that they were depraved, rather that they were vicious, hardened warriors. They had lived in death, day in and day out, and knew that even a slight hesitation would cause their fall. As such, they took their job very seriously. So, when they saw the young man staring at the gate in wonder. They did not feel glee or pride. They felt vigilant.
“Hey, kid. This place isn't safe. Go somewhere else. If you really admire the family so much, you can come back in a few months and see what happens then. But for now, stay away.”
“I'm sorry, I can't do that. There's someone inside I'm going to meet, I owe him a favor. Well, two actually. I was given this badge the last time we spoke. I was told to give it to anyone from the Strand family and they would lead me to meet with him.”
Samuel was about to toss the badge towards the guard. However, he was quickly dismissed from doing so. Which makes sense. They can't be having people throwing suspicious items towards the guard of a targeted area right now.
“Kid, put down whatever you're about to throw. If it truly is a badge, put it down on the ground right now and we'll check it out. Step away from it.”
Samuel did as he was told and stepped more than 50 meters back. Just to avoid suspicion. He honestly couldn't be bothered. Isn't it just a badge? Why were they treating it like some bomb?
One guard stepped very carefully towards the badge. His facial expression seemed to show that this was the last thing he would ever do. All the other onlookers who stood from afar, watched nervously as he approached. Except for Samuel. He was looking at it with an amused expression. ‘Who is this guy? Why is he acting like a monkey?’
“It is indeed a badge of the Strand family. Young Miss!? The young miss gave this to you? Orlo quick! Get the attendant of young miss. She has a guest. Young master, please proceed towards the gate. I'm sorry for my rude behavior earlier, I hope you can understand. Were in lockdown right now. Please do not take offense.”
“It's fine. It's fine. I don't care. How long do you think it will take for me to meet with them?”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Not long, maybe four-five minutes. Depends on when the attendant is going to arrive. Please come and wait inside. It's not safe out here, just like I said. A lot of people have been targeting the Strand family lately. Can never be too safe.”
“By the way, there will be two people arriving later. They've been sent by the Runemaster Guild to reinforce you. I do not get along with them. Can you please not tell them that I'm here? Just a few minutes back, we had a great falling out. I do not know of their appearance as my eyes are closed, but I know there's an old man and a young woman. You'll recognize them when you see them. Can you do that for me, or is that too much to ask?”
“If they don't ask about you, I will not tell. However, as they are from the Runemaster Guild, I do have to show the proper etiquette and respect. Meaning, if they ask about the situation of the gate, I will also have to inform them about you. Do you understand? I'll help as much as I can, but I can't promise anything. It's up to their inquiries. Again, please do not take offense, master.”
“That's more than enough. Thank you.”
As Samuel was about to step inside the gate, an attendant, a young girl came running as fast as she could towards him. Almost bumping into him. She grabbed his hand and said: “Your master Samuel, you're here. Young miss has been expecting you for so long. Come, come. Please come inside right now. I'll take you to her immediately.”
Samuel relented and followed. Well, relented isn't the right word. This is what he was here for. Can’t really relent when this is your purpose, can you? After walking, basically running, for around two minutes, they came before a big manor. The Manor was big, but not grand. Did not possess any accessories. It was just pure concrete. It looked fine, but nothing impressive. Outside, however, was a large patch of flowers. Incredibly mesmerizing and in a great variety of colors, they stood in acres of space. The person living here obviously was fond of flowers. It wouldn't be wrong to assume that was Quinn who enjoyed these flowers. But it wouldn't be right either. Turns out Lukas was tending to them right now.
“Hey, Lukas. These your flowers?”
Although two years and six months have passed since they last saw each other, and he looked significantly older, he still had the same face and the same way of carrying himself. Like an innocent child. Luckily, he was not in his pirate form. An old pirate tending to flowers in front of a big manor would be quite a scene, to say the least.
“Samuel, is that you? It's been so long; I was starting to think something happened to you.”
Samuel’s lips started twitching. ‘Something happened, all right. I can promise you that. God damn it. I must teach Merling a good lesson afterwards. It's all his fault I was captured. I'm not going to forget this. You know what? I was owing him two favors, but I took the hit for him for so long. It's down to one. That counts as a favor.
“Yeah, you know how it is, just growing in power and such. Obviously, with my talent it's not very difficult.”
A more accurate word would be ‘was’ not very difficult. Indeed, it wasn't difficult for him to reach his current power. But to advance would still take him 30 million years. And that's just one level within one cultivation stage in the lowest of realms in this universe. Obviously, he couldn't say this out loud. A man must know how to posture. Lucas was present when Great Rio told of his amazing talent. He couldn't let the kid down. He knew he was His icon. His idol. The person whose words he lived by. That was undoubtedly Samuel in Lukas's mind. In Samuel's mind. In reality, Lukas thought nothing much of Samuel. He respected that he had great talent, but that was about it.
As he and Lukas engaged in idle conversation, the attendant had run in and to get her young miss and was now emerging from the building with one young and one old person. That's right, Merling is old. He's technically only 40, but since Samuel is quite upset with him, he is now old. The young person was obviously Quinn. No one really cares about her. Merling was the entire focus here. God damned Merling Couldn't keep it in his pants. You make one revolutionary breakthrough within one aspect of cultivation, and he can't restrain himself. Pathetic.
“You're here. I was starting to think something happened to you. Thank God.”
Hearing Merling’s still jovial voice. Samuel felt melancholic. He had suffered so much, yet Merling was having the time of his life here. He was even being protected by the entire guild he was a part of. Why was life so unfair?