image [https://imgur.com/4DJW73B.jpg]

When we all reconvened together in our train cabin, there was some good news from the others.

“We’re going to be staying at cousin Adalyn’s house?” Yamin asked when as she sat down.

Apparently, before we were searching for the baby, Marek, Miss Lauri and Uncle were all trying to plan out a place for us to stay while we were in the capital. It was looking like we were possibly going to be staying there for a while, so having some secure sleeping arrangements would be great.

Enter Yamin’s rich cousin, Adalyn. Miss Lauri’s sister’s daughter. She lived very close to the capital city of Congirlin and was willing to house us for as long as we needed. I could only imagine the kind of mansion we’d get to stay at!

Conveniently, Marek also had a friend who lived with her, which was an odd coincidence, but he was quiet about who that was.

Seeing as so many high priority figures would be gathering in one place, security across the capital was being upped. With coordination from Marek and the Wellington family, which was the name of Adalyn’s side of the family, her home would be the most secure place of anywhere in the country.

“I didn’t know you were related to the Wellington family, Yamin,” Marek commented.

“Oh…” she was caught off guard by his comment. “Well, not by blood. They’re actually related to my mom.”

Yamin was adopted when she was little. Miss Lauri’s actual last name is Samuel, whereas Yamin’s last name is Kintsugi.

“Bah…” Indena waved her hand. “Family’s more than blood. I don’t even remember my own parents well, but that doesn’t stop me from having a family.”

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that an organization called the ’Family of Sai’ was a type of actual family. Criminals and cultists, but still family.

It’s not that much different then Uncle and I. He’s a magical construct, and I’m an exceed. Although, it’s pretty mysterious how he, dad and I all looked similar. Maybe we were made of similar DNA?

“Uncle, can I scan your DNA?” I asked, holding out my hand for a sample.

“No,” he replied.

“Please?”

“No,” he smirked. “What’s this about?”

“I wanna know if we're really related.”

Yamin put her hand on my shoulder and twisted me toward her. Her eyes squinted as they seemingly peered deep into my soul. Then she turned to Uncle and looked at him just as intensely.

“You two are definitely related. Like, I can see it,” she nodded. “Honestly, he could easily pass as your dad.”

Uncle isn’t my dad. That would just be silly. Otherwise, calling him ‘Uncle’ would be ironic.

But with how he’s practically raised me longer than dad did…

Wait! I shouldn’t think like that.

Dad had a duty to protect mankind. That kept people away from their families, just like superheroes. I have a super hero daddy.

“I agree with Indena’s perspective,” Miss Lauri proudly stated. “Blood or not, raising a child from a baby makes them your own.”

“So, tell us…” Indena leaned on the table and glanced at Miss Lauri with a sly look. “What was Yamin like as a baby?”

“Oh ho ho!” Miss Lauri let out a loud haughty laugh. “What a little handful!”

“Ma…mom!” Yamin blushed, using a big sun hat to cover up her face. “D-don’t say anything…”

Miss Lauri held a breath in her mouth, ready to expel grave details about Yamin’s childhood that would compromise her fragile adolescent dignity.

Before Miss Lauri could whip out the photos, Uncle cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.

“So, Yalda, can you tell me what you and Yamin discovered about the book?”

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As Uncle asked that, Yamin slouched over with relief. A question like that was sure to pull in a more productive conversation… As well as one that wasn’t humiliating.

Marek closed the cabin door to make sure nobody would hear the conversation, allowing me freedom to explain the strange dark hand that could be summoned from the book upon Yamin’s emotional command.

“Didn’t you mention last year that hands were attacking you when you were rescuing Anima?” Uncle asked.

He was referring to the time I went inside of a mana pylons computer system to save an AI named Anima. I shivered when I thought about it.

“They weren’t all that different, but this hand didn’t have any gold on it or faces.”

“Hands with gold and faces?” Marek brushed his chin. “Where have I seen that before…”

It was on the tip of his tongue, but Miss Lauri fully drew it out for him.

“The Royal Palace, Marek. That sort of imagery is all over the rims and details.”

“Aha! Oui!” he snapped his finger. “But it is just gold hands with eyes, no? Not faces.”

Miss Lauri explained that those were details that paid homage to the Nazalian people. A lot of humanities art and sciences were based around the work of those long gone individuals.

You know, my whole life I’ve used the word Nazalian without even really questioning what it meant. I always assumed it was a term to describe ancient humans.

“You’re not far off,” Miss Lauri said. “Nazalian’s and humans are like cousins. They’re long dead though, with only a few ethnic features remaining in some people.”

“Golden eyes, silver hair, pale skin…” Marek said. “It’s rare, but you can see those features from time to time.”

I hadn’t seen a single person with those features. At least as far as I can remember. Nazalian people sounded kinda spooky. If that wasn’t enough though, Miss Lauri had more eerie details to dogpile onto my perturbed mind.

“Long ago, in the Era of Thia, the Nazalian people lorded over the whole world as our conquerors. It’s said that for a thousand years they reigned until the gods favoured humanity.”

“The gods?” Indena furrowed her brow. “What did they do?”

Miss Lauri gave her a flat gaze. “Have you not learned this before? It’s elementary.”

“Does it look like my name is Watsen?” Indena pursed her lips in frustration.

Miss Lauri gave in and explained it anyway, rationalizing it for my sake. “Yalda, are you aware that gods need mana in order to have power?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Mella told us.”

“Very good. In the Era of Thia, it is said that the gods sided with humanity because they were able to give them mana in the form of worship.”

“Mom, why didn’t they pick the Nazalian’s if they were stronger?” Yamin asked.

“As the legends go, Nazalian’s don’t produce their own mana.” Miss Lauri revealed. “So the gods had no reason to demand their worship. Humanity was a bountiful harvest of spirit energy for them to pull from, and much more submissive.”

That was very interesting to learn. What made them so different from humans that they didn’t produce their own mana? Apparently nobody had an answer for that.

“We’re still learning so much about the Nazalian people. They’re culture however is fairly ingrained in many of the things we do, especially their language.”

Nazalian was the third language I ever learned. The first being Binary and Euron. I can practically speak any language that’s been cataloged, but those three in particular were classified as primary, meaning I used them regularly and understood their quirks.

“So, how does this relate to my book?” Yamin asked.

“The all seeing hand is an image of a Nazalian deity we have yet to properly classify.” Miss Lauri said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if these sightings of golden and shadow hands were related to that in some ways.”

“Did they worship dark gods?” Indena asked.

Miss Lauri shook her head. “We have very little idea. All we know was they liked hands with eyes, and lots of gold.”

Sounds like they had an eye for gaudy things.

“Attention all passengers!” Said a voice over the intercom. “We will be arriving in Little Conberg city shortly! Please remain in your seats until the train has come to a full stop.”

Little Conberg was the city just next to the capital. It was very loosely connected to it, as I’ve been told.

“Oh thank the gods I can finally get off this damn train.” Indena stood up and stretched her arms. "I can't stand sitting anymore..."

*CREEE!*

“Ahh!” Everyone on the train screamed as it came to a sudden stop. Its original motion became our enemy as we were flung forward.

Uncle protected Yamin and I by shielding us from hitting our heads.

*BAM!*

Unfortunately for Indena, she fell forward and landed on the table.

“Woops! Sorry folks!" The intercom voice apologized. "Little malfunction with the brakes!”

"Malfunction my ass!" Indena swore out loud.

“The conductor did say to stay in your seat,” Yamin scolded her.

“Can it, Sparkle Face…” Indena grumbled while we tried to help her recover. "Something doesn't feel right..."

I was actually with Indena on this one. I hacked into the train’s system and didn't see any sort of malfunction at all. The train was purposefully stopped here.

Taking a glance out the window, I noticed a group of guys approaching the train. They were all dressed a bit like Uncle. All fancy striped suits and fedoras. They were heading into one of the cabins ahead of us.

If Marek hadn't held me back, I would have gone up there to go and check out what was going on, but he was very stern about keeping me here. That made me want to find out what was going on even more.

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