CHAPTER 125
THE WORLD SUMMIT (2)
"He'll return, alive...NO, this old man must be plotting something." Hans kept his emotions in check. He lifted his head and inquired, "Why are you sharing this with me?" Arat was taken aback, thinking, "Does he not care a bit?" He was known for his lack of surprise, but Hans's indifferent attitude rendered him speechless. "You're quite an unfilial son. Aren't you, prince?" He emphasised, "I'm telling you, your father will return —”
"You could be lying," Hans cut in, but upon taking a careful look at Arat's face and the command centre affirming his honesty, he corrected, "Or maybe you are not. Still, I'll only believe it when I see it, not a moment sooner." He asserted, recognising that the crafty man before him could be as deceptive as a new Monday. But his thoughts were no stranger to the Prime Minister. Contemplating, Arat stated in a relaxed tone, "However, there's also no evidence that I'm being untruthful, my prince."
They locked eyes in a standoff, but Arat being the older, gave in first, intervening, “I brought three documents to show you. The first was from Mandate. Now take a look at this one,” he said, producing another paper from his pocket."It's what we deciphered from the Book of Prophecies – How everyone you loved will die. Don't you want to take a loo —”
"What?" Hans swiftly seized the paper, moving twice as fast as before. He read aloud, "My son managed to defeat the Madaruka but at a great cost. He vanished, leaving ##### #### behind. My mother.. she sank into the deep ####n, and my ###cher went ahead and got #### killed by ######. I've never felt so helpless... my life and my body shattered. What's the point of having this much power when I can't even control a fraction of it? Everything spiralled downward due to the Elven Council; you need to end it at its core. I may have failed, but you must succeed, my #######."
"What is this?" Hans yelled at Arat, his anger overpowering his awareness that this might have been something Arat manipulated. But he couldn’t help as he read those words, it felt like Samson's plea to someone, and it wasn't intended for him. He realised it was about Sierra and Rudolf's deaths. Him taking down Madaruka, likely referring to fighting the ancients, and then disappearing, hinted at his own death. This seemed like a prophecy, or rather, what Samson had seen through his eyes, and he was asking someone to prevent it from occurring, but whom he wondered, tugging at his hair and succumbing to the notion that all of it could be true.
Arat found an opportunity and struck while the iron was hot, pointing, “This book was intended for Bernard, the traitor of Parv.” But Hans was not oblivious to what happened back then. After meeting Arat, he researched on his own, mainly asking people of Edenberg Manor and reading the fragmented notes of reports, “Elven Council, didn’t he kill them all?” Hans asked, confirming, “He already changed the prophecy, or visions whatever.” But Arat burst his bubble, “No," He firmly denied, "Many from their faction survived the war. Clandor still has their influence in their political world.”
"Ah, what a headache," Hans groaned, rubbing his temples. "But if I died while taking down Ancients, it's not a terrible way to go, I suppose—"
"There's no such thing as a good or bad way to die; once you die, it's over, my prince. And you know I'm being truthful because that thing in your head must be confirming it," Arat stated, indicating Hans's head forcing him to acknowledge, "I can't deny it. Command Centre is recognising the text; this is authentic content from the Book of Fate." However, there is a positive aspect, which Hans realised. "It confirms one thing: I became unbelievably strong," He looked at Arat in excitement, adding, "A Mage capable of defeating Madaruka. That sounds incredibly powerful, but then who then which bastard bested me?"
“Ha…" Arat sighed, "That is your take after knowing what lies ahead.” remarked, deflating Hans's enthusiasm, and continued, "We've also deciphered a few other pages. They didn’t make any sense and were hard to comprehend. But one thing I'm certain of is that in those texts, you weren't a mage. You were a Knight, a powerful one."
He stopped abruptly as various thoughts flooded his mind. And Observing Hans's sudden halt, Arat chimed in, "You're starting to grasp it now, your father—”
“Never wanted me to be in this conflict,” Hans interjected, completing the sentence. Memories of everything that had unfolded since his mana had awakened rushed through his mind. His inability to manifest an aura, almost as if Samson had deliberately veered him away from his set path. Gazing straight into Arat's eyes, he continued, "That's why the elven war occurred. He intended to handle everything alone, so I wouldn't have to shoulder the burden. That's why he wrote not to pursue revenge and be there to protect Grandma and Grandpa in his place. That's cheap, getting rid of my potential —”
"I've heard him mention many times," Arat spoke, locking eyes with Hans, emphasising, "That all he desired was for his son to grow up without feeling any responsibility to the world, not to be used or abandoned when not needed."
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“Well, he definitely won the father of the year,” Hans added with a touch of sarcasm but Arat wasn't bothered; this was the discussion he had intended to have with Hans back in the Frozen Tooth. However, Hans had cleverly evaded it. Arat continued resolutely, " But it all changed when he died without accomplishing his goals. Now you can’t have the life he desired for you.”
Hans sensed what Arat want to accomplish from this conversation, so he asked, aiming to steer clear from this mess, “Didn’t you show me the first paper, he seems to coming back —” “As much as I want to believe, it has been ten years." Arat argued, "I can’t hold back our countrymen anymore. They are boiling with anger. The balance might break any moment, all it needs is a little spark, and we’ll have a world at war.”
“So what do you want me to do here.” Hans pointed, not beating around the bush and Arat respectfully answered in the same tone, “Be the one that Samson wrote, become his second coming and take your rightful place. We can’t have a war right now.”
“NO, I’m not him, and I at least now want to honour what he dreamed for me, a happy and carefree life. So long, Mr Prime Minister, I don’t want any part in this mess.” Hans declared his stance, this time firmer than ever.
“You are taking it too lightly” Arat shouted furiously, and this was the first time he was showing his anger so openly at Hans, “A happy and carefree life, was a good dream of your father’s, but for it to realise, he has to be here solving things on your behalf, not buried in Grimgar cemetery.” He smacked the table, stood up and added, “Whether you like it or not, you already are in deep shit. I’m trying to help you steer in it safely, can’t you see? Your nation has been waiting for you for a whole decade; you hold a responsibility to it."
“But I don’t want to.” Hans stood up, matching Arat's intensity, "I won't let my life be dictated by words scribbled on paper. Even if I have to commit massacres to change it, I'll do so, but I'll do it on my own terms. Neither you nor my dead father has a say in it.”
“So you won’t come with me. Is that what you are saying?" Arat confirmed, sitting back, "You could stop millions of death just by showing up, accepting your destiny, be the prince that everyone wants.”
“ A war," Hans nodded, ignoring all the words as they fell on his deaf ears, "Yes, go ahead and do it.” He challenged Arat, knowing that he did not want it either and as he expected, Arat argued back.“If that were to happen - the first thing everyone would eye for is you. Rudolf and Princess Ira would get hurt saving you.” He once again tried to convince Hans, “The words written on that very piece of paper will turn true. Can’t you see I’m trying to stop that future?”
“That will never happen,” Hans threw the artefact Mother's embrace at Arat, “I believe we are done here.”
“Wait” Arat grabbed his hand in haste, “Take this at least” he pulled the last piece of paper along with a small box, roughly the size of an adult's hand. “I hope you never have to use it.” he pressed on and put both in Hans's hands, continuing, "It's an Ancient killing weapon, used by you, in the future, but with the things changed in you. I hope you find a way to construct it and can use it as a mage too. It operates using sunstones. There's one in the box. You should at least take this, because Parv isn't the only one eager for a war."
“You mean, Xandor.”
“Yes but unlike me, he wants to destroy everything. His rage will soon burn everything, so I beg you to stay away from him.”
“Fine, Can I go now?” Hans asked with a frown and Arat nodded to his request, “Yes and don’t show the sunstone to anyone.”
“It's just expensive rock —”
“Yeah, and even Norwin Grimgar would make a move for that expensive rock.”
“Then it's a fricking bomb, aren’t you trying to protect me before. You sure about giving it to me?”
“You are not dumb enough to announce it, and yes. We have plenty of those.” Arat finally calmed down and continued pointing at the box, “One other thing, please use INGRESS in modesty. One jump burns several of those.”
"I'll try, no promises." Hans put the box in his pockets and exited the room. And the three figures who were masking their presence appeared before Arat. “He is stubborn, I wonder whom he get this from, King Samson was rational not this childish.” One said, supporting Arat to stand up. “Whom of course his mother," Arat responded, "Who do you think he got these bad things if not from Samson? If it wasn't for the preservation of Goddess, I would have never agreed to let him born this way.”
“But PM, We are not lying about millions dying.” Another one added, looking at the doors where Hans had just departed, "The World is unstable enough, we don’t want Parv to be the spark throwing it into the turmoil.”
“Tell that to our bratty Prince,” Arat said, looking at another strange object in his hand and the third one, who was silent till now joined the conversation, “But Sir, You expected him to act this way. Isn’t this why you bought that thing.”
“I expected it, but I didn’t want it to happen, kid,” Arat responded, disappointed, “Xandor is way far ahead of us, we need to hurry before he completes it.”
“But we are here for stabilising our almost divided nation. A civil war might interrupt at any moment.” The third one said, continuing, “It would have been better if Prince agreed to tag along.”
Arat agreed, nodding and said, “But we can’t have all the things we want every time.” Putting the weird object on the table, Arat tapped and said, “ACTIVATE Fabrication.”
The object lit up and projected the image of Hans saying, “People of Parv, the day will soon come when the world will kneel again before us but for that to happen, I have to become strong, so strong that even my father can’t hold a candle before me. All I ask is your patience and the trust that you’ve given to my father. And in return, I promise you the Parvian sun shall rise again.”
“This will buy us at least three or four years,” Arat said closing the artefact called Fabricator and continued, “We need to change our plans a bit since our prince is planning to stay here. I can’t just watch him killed.”
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