Golden Ayodhya Palace Museum, 23rd of Last Seed, Sepphira’s Study

“I literally just hit send, telling Mulah that it’d be okay if you want to visit, then your servant knocked on my door the next second. THAT is not a coincidence, is it?” Satoshi said as he sat down on one of the low sofas.

“Did you see what I was going to answer through the Evil-eye?” He asked.

Sepphira looked at Satoshi with a playful smile on the corner of her lips and said, “That’s merely a coincidence.”

Satoshi wouldn't buy that, but there was no point in arguing with her.

“Anyway, what do you need to meet me for?” Satoshi asked instead.

“Let me apologize first for suddenly sending a servant to pick you up like that. When I think about it, what I’m about to say to you shouldn't leave these walls, so it’s better to do this here. So I hope you don't mind” Sepphira began their talk with an apology.

“It’s fine, I understand.” Satoshi replied simply, he instantly understood this was going to be an important conversation.

“So, what do you need to tell me about?” Satoshi asked.

“You should pick Daojia Institute as your academia of choice in the trial.” Sepphira said.

Satoshi was startled by the sudden unwanted advice, but considering Sepphira, she must have a good reason for this so he waited for further explanation.

“I looked into the letter that your cousin Xiahn sent, and while looking into someone’s life merely by a trace of their aura is more difficult, I was able to gain some things about his future.” Sepphira further explained and waited for Satoshi to respond.

“Go on” Satoshi gave his consent to hearing what Sepphira’s had seen.

“In my vision I saw a journey through the continent that was beset by dangers. In fact, to say dangerous would be an understatement, it was very deadly.”

Satoshi was surprised by this but he couldn’t help but notice that there was something weird in the way Sepphira was telling him.

“You mean..Xiahn will go on this dangerous journey?” Satoshi asked for confirmation.

Sepphira gave a faint smile and said, “I can’t be fully certain, given that I only have the letter to go with, but there’s a big probability for it.”

“The vision that I saw was within the owner's aura point of view, so it is very likely that it would be Xiahn.” Sepphira continued.

Satoshi pondered for a bit and said, “Did you see more?”

“Yes. This is the important part of the vision that I need to tell you about. In the vision I also saw someone else and Xiahn was battling this person.” Sepphira answered.

“What person? What do you mean by battle?” Satoshi was getting impatient.

“It was Kirgio.” Sepphira said.

“And they were battling each other using magic and constructs. And judging from the vision, it was not looking good for Xiahn.” she continued.

Satoshi felt like thunder went off inside his mind. He was filled with surprise, suspicion, and even anger. He wasn't sure what he was feeling, after all, all these things didn't happen yet but he still felt uncomfortable about it.

“What was the outcome of the battle?” Satoshi asked Sepphira, he wanted to make sure that Xiahn would at least survive.

Sepphira pondered for a bit before saying, “I am not sure, the vision got cut off.”

Satoshi was so shocked and agitated by the vision he didn't realize the way he spoke to sepphira began to change. “What do you mean it got cut off, isn’t the Evil-eye supposed to be able to see all possible reality?”

Sepphira noticed that Satoshi had become agitated so she tried to calm him down as she explained softly.

“While the Evil-eye is indeed capable of seeing other possible reality, it is not without flaw. For example, if the target of the technique is too powerful or is using some kind of supreme technique to mask themselves from prying eyes, the evil eye wont be able to do anything against it.”

“That, or if the technique only has very little to go with. For example, just a trace of an aura.” She continued.

Satoshi heard the explanation and pondered. From what Sepphira said, then there were two possibilities: either it got cut off because the aura on the letter was too weak, or something happened in the vision that stopped the Evil-eye from looking further into it.

There was another possibility that Satoshi was aware of, that Sepphira was lying when she said it got cut off.

Sepphira waited for Satoshi to digest what he just heard, while Satoshi waited for Sepphira if she had more to say. The two of them sat in the study in silence. When he noticed Sepphira wasn't going to say anything else, Satoshi decided to ask a question.

“What do you mean I should pick Daojia Institute for the trial?” Satoshi asked.

“In the vision that I saw of Xiahn battling Kirgio, I noticed two familiar mountains in the background. I’m pretty sure it was the Dual Divinity Mountain of the Dual Divinity Path.” Sepphira answered.

“The Dual Divinity Mountain is a sacred mountain of the Dual Divinity Path, and Dual Divinity Path is another name people use to refer to Daojia Institute.” She continued.

“Are you sure it's even the same mountain?” Satoshi inquired.

“I spent some time in Daojia Institute when I needed a safe place as I waited for Mulah to find me when the Power Tribunal tried to target Xinjia-kor, so I’m pretty sure they are the same mountains.”

Satoshi wasn't really convinced by her answer, after all, a lot of mountains look indistinguishable from one another on a quick glance.

“And I made a note not to ever forget those mountains, because the reason I left before meeting Mulah was because of a rumor I heard, that the Principal had close ties with the Power Tribunal.” Sepphira continued.

Satoshi was overwhelmed with all of this and his mind was a mess. To think that there was a high probability that Xiahn would be going to an Institute with a principal that was rumored to have ties with the Power Tribunal. He would even battle someone that they suspected as part of the Power Tribunal and was confirmed as the subject of the Human King. Then he would also go on a journey beset with dangers.

As someone that had sparked Xiahn’s interest in pursuing higher education in the academy, Satoshi would feel bad if those things were really to happen. But since technically they had not happened yet, Satoshi felt there must be some way to stop them from happening.

“So…I just need to stop Xiahn from going to Daojia Institute, right?” He asked Sepphira.

Sepphira shook her head weakly and said, “It’s not that simple.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What the Evil-eye sees as a premonition of the future is the most natural progression within the main reality. That means whatever it sees, it already happened, albeit in different realities that branched from our main ones.” Sepphira explained.

“We CANNOT change our reality, this is a fact. We can only ride out to other branches of reality that are more preferable, so to speak.”

“That means, what would happen already happened and must happen, changing these things wouldn’t necessarily change the outcome. It will just cause other new branches of reality to occur.”

“That’s why I suggested you pick Daojia Institute, so we can scout the place before Xiahn goes there himself.” Sepphira ended her explanation.

Satoshi let out a big sigh, he didn't realize he had kept his breath while listening to Sepphira’s explanation. As much as he considered himself smart, these whole deal with observable realities and their various branches were very confusing to him.

Few minutes went by while the two of them sat in silence. Sepphira understood that this whole thing must be hard to digest for Satoshi, so she let him slowly think about it.

“I never planned to apply for the academy.” Satoshi suddenly said. It sounded so flat and weak, almost like he didn't mean to say it outloud in the first place.

Sepphira was surprised when she heard it. Not because it was sudden, but because she didn't even think about it. She had always assumed that Satoshi was an Aspirant planning to join an academy through the Academia Scholastic Trials.

“Do you…have some kind of misgivings?” Sepphira decided to ask.

She recalled what she saw when she looked into Satoshi’s past and she thought that perhaps his background made him have some kind of misgivings about going into an academy.

Satoshi heard what Sepphira said and he chuckled, “You looked into my past, didn’t you? But that’s not it.”

“I know going into an academy and to be an academia requires a huge sum of money, money that neither I or my family have, but that’s not my concern. My concern is the way those academia types look at me whenever I say that I’m not going to academy.”

Satoshi stopped at this point and looked at Sepphira, “It was a look of pity.”

Sepphira flinched when she heard this. She couldn't help but become self aware because she too, did feel this toward Satoshi.

“Mulah was the only one among the academic types that didn’t have the look of pity when he found out. Instead, it was a look of genuine concern. Of course he tried to persuade me but he was also quick to drop it, and since then the way he treated me didn't lessen instead he treated me even better.” Satoshi said while recalling his interactions with Mulah.

“I must apologize if I unintentionally made you feel offended, but you must know I have no intention to look down on you whatsoever.” Sepphira explained herself.

Satoshi smiled and said simply, “I know, I understand that when we become so accustomed to a particular way of life it becomes so easy for us not to realize we have looked down on others’ way of life.”

“Those I can tolerate, but you must have realized yourself, that there are some people that look down on others’ choice of life willingly and fully realizing what they are doing.”

“God, I have those kinds of people.” Satoshi grimaced.

Sepphira tried to recall her decades of academia life and she couldn't deny that there were indeed many people like that. The kind of people that thought they were oh-so-much-better than the others just because they were further in their academic pursuits. She too despises those kinds of people.

“So, you decided not to pursue academia…out of spite?” Sepphira asked.

“Damn right I did.” Satoshi said. It shocked Sepphira by how readily he admitted.

“So what? I like to learn about what I want and when I want, I don't feel the need to put myself in a position where I would feel pressure constantly breathing down my neck just to find answers to all my questions.”

“I am happy to have some of my questions left unanswered. And like hell I would surround myself with people that will intentionally make me feel bad about myself, just because I don't know the things they know.” At this point Satoshi was practically ranting.

“I just want to lead an easy life, is that so wrong?” He softly asked at the end of his rant.

Sepphira was at a loss of words. On one hand she wanted to refute that not all academia was like that, but on the other hand she could empathize with what Satoshi had said.

In the end she felt that it wouldn't be right to push further. She couldn't push further anyway, right now she looked at Satoshi like a sister would look at her younger brother.

“So…what would you do now?” She asked.

Satoshi let his gaze go unfocused to no particular spot on the wall. He didn't feel like answering this question and he didn't know how he should answer this question.

He ended up saying what was in his mind. “I dont know.”

—

“What have you been thinking? You have been quiet all day, you don't like the food?”

His father's question startled Satoshi awake from his thoughts, he didn't realize he had left the food on his spoon hanging there in the air for quite some time.

“Nothing.” He answered as he shoved his spoon into his mouth.

Satoshi couldn't stop himself from thinking back to his conversations with Sepphira several days ago. Even his favorite food that his mother had especially made for him wasn't able to distract him from the thoughts. But he would feel bad if his troubled mind disturbed the festivity that his mother had prepared to welcome him back home.

After he heard what Sepphira had to tell him about, Satoshi was so distraught that he couldn't think about anything. He impulsively decided that he must go back home to Salted Bays, Mhasgara. He knew that he must make his decision promptly but he didn't want to think about those right now.

Right now he just wanted to go back home and spend some time with his family. He didn't know if he would still have the chance to after this.

It was strange how the place that once made him feel he didn't belong, became a place he wanted to be most when he felt lost.

Satoshi thought, “Probably it’s the sense of familiarity that I seek.”

His mother received his sudden arrival with an exaggerated response. She repeatedly hugged and kissed Satoshi when he got home. Their parents slept late and spent the entire night to hear about his life in Istindi. When his father got tired and went to sleep, his mother insisted on sleeping in Satoshi’s room so she could hear more about his stories.

Early in the morning his mother had invited some neighborhood aunties to help her cook some food. She said she was going to throw a feast and invite all the neighbors and family to attend. She wanted everyone to know that his son had returned home from afar.

Satoshi felt all of this wasn't necessary, he even felt it was a little bit embarrassing. But he didn't have the heart to tell her mother to stop, so in the end he could only gave his mother some money so she wouldn't spend her own money for all of this.

His mother only ended up making the feast bigger than planned and invited more people, so Satoshi could only give up.

The feast started early in the evening and was held in their own yards. Their neighbors came with their own chairs and tables so everyone that came would have a place to sit. His mother went from table to table to greet all the guests and tell them about her son.

The evening breeze of First Seed was quite chilly, but thanks to the wine and alcohol that Satoshi bought, the guests didn't feel cold but became livelier instead. It was very festive.

Satoshi looked at an adjacent table to his and saw his Uncle Di and his family. Xiahn had wanted to sit with Satoshi but Uncle Di stopped him. He said Satoshi should have some time with his own family now that he was back after so long.

This didn't stop Xiahn from repeatedly stealing a glance at Satoshi. He even recounted some stories Satoshi had told him to his mother and little sister. He also told his father about the things he would be able to do together with Satoshi once he joined the same academy, and how he looked forward to this.

Satoshi overheard all of these and felt a gripping sensation on his chest. He still haven't figured out what he should do.

His father filled Satoshi’s and his own wine cup. Although he was still stoic and mostly quiet, he was at least more relaxed and less stern now that Satoshi was back.

“So, what is your plan after this?” He asked Satoshi.

“I’m still not sure. I actually came back to think about that.” Satoshi answered, he downed the wine in his cup.

“So you have some options?”

“I do.” Satoshi said, not offering further explanation.

His father saw this and decided not to ask what they were. Instead he said, “If you are not sure about those options you can always take over the business so your father can retire.”

“It might not be much, but it kept us afloat all this time.” He continued.

Satoshi thought about it and it didn't sound half bad to him. To be close with his family, take over his father's business, and live a quiet life, none of these sounded bad to him.

“Those other things, there will always be some big guys to take care of them. Someone like me, what can I even do? Satoshi thought to himself. But he wasn't convinced in the slightest.

In the middle of his thoughts, Satoshi suddenly felt a sway. Initially he thought the alcohol was getting to him but then he realized that the water jug on the table was swaying too.

When he saw his father was looking at him as if saying ‘are you feeling this’ Satoshi was sure it wasn't the alcohol.

All the guests seemed to feel it too because all of them suddenly quieted down at the same time almost like on command. After some time the faint swaying went away and the feast resumed its festivity.

“That has been happening frequently lately.” Satoshi’s father informed.

“What? The earthquake?”

“Yes. It has happened quite often in the past days so people don't even bother to panic anymore.”

Satoshi pondered to himself when he heard about this,”I didn't think it will reach all the way here from Istindi.”

“From Istindi? What’s from Istindi?” Satoshi's father asked confusingly.

“The earthquake. It must have come from the volcano in Istindi, right? It happened many times too, over there.”

Satoshi’s father looked unsure and asked “Is that so?”

He continued “We thought it came from Anangu since some Aboreans came out and warned them about some suspicious people that came and disturbed their Ancestor’s Rock guardian spirit some time ago, inciting its wrath.”

Satoshi was startled when he heard this. It sounded very familiar to some things he had heard lately. His mind directly went to a particular group: Power Tribunal!

—