Chapter 37
Unworthy
_cough, cough, who would have thought getting your life sucked out of you would be so painful _
Saiko says then chuckles weakly.
After using the fox bead, she felt extremely weak and had to be carried by Ken and Daxia.
They then traveled to the mother’s hideout, a cabin in the woods at the edge of Hyesan province, and laid Saiko down on a bed in one of the rooms.
-Saiko, you-
The moment Daxia was about to say something…
BAM!
The sound of a fist slamming against the wooden wall of the cabin attracts Saiko’s attention.
She looks down and flinches.
Normally, she would expect Ken to start screaming and hurling insults at her, which she was ready for, but instead, he is staring at her unblinkingly with a furious and desperate gaze.
Ken lifted his hand and using his aetheric magic made the book float to his hand, then without saying a word left the room.
BAM!
The door slammed behind him.
Saiko felt apologetic toward Ken but didn’t know how to soothe his anger.
This is her first time seeing him like this.
The invisible Noai follows after Ken, passing through the closed door like a ghost.
-Ahm, change of subject who are you? And what do you want from me? –
The mother asks with a mix of curiosity and confusion.
-I assume you don’t want to hurt me, since you saved me, so what do you want from me? –
Daxia shrugs her shoulders.
-well, we don’t really know you either, we are here because the invisible Firey ghost asked us to meet you –
The mother looks annoyed.
-this again? I don’t have time for jokes-
_ I know it’s hard to believe but it’s the truth, she is not joking, the only thing he told us is you are a mother _
The mother raises an eyebrow at Saiko looking even more confused now.
-your ghost is not wrong but my daughter was kidnapped a long time ago. -
Daxia and Saiko look at the mother in surprise then look at each other realizing why Naoi wanted them to meet her.
Saiko turns to look at the mother.
_ma’am _
-you can call me Celine –
_alright, Celine can you please tell us your story and where your kid is right now _
Celine uses her light magic to conjure the holographic copy she made of the file.
-well, I don’t know where my daughter is right now, but hopefully, the answer is in this file as for my story, well-
Celine stares off into the distance with a longing gaze and begins to reminisce about her past as memories begin to play in her mind.
-I believe the misfortune began with the man I fell in love with-
She sees herself in her wedding dress being embraced by a handsome man with dark hair and a strong build.
She looked much healthier and was very happy with love being the only thing in her eyes.
-Sean was a very good man but unfortunately, he was a light mage like me, light mages are very rare you know so imagine how rare it is for two of them to get married. -
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She sees herself lying on a bed while pregnant with Sean taking care of her.
-but then a miracle happened, we expected our daughter to be born a lightning mage or if we were lucky a light mage like us but instead she was born with the mythical life magic. –
She recalls her little child.
A cute young girl with black hair like her parents and black eyes that glowed with very faint barely noticeable blue light from her life magic leaking out.
She recalls how her child would animate her dolls bringing them to life and playing with them.
-you would think something like that would be something to celebrate and for a while we did but once word about my daughter’s magic began to spread around, the government came knocking on our door.-
She recalls how a unit from the royal guards of Kim Sungta that usually only protects the king came to their home demanding to take their daughter.
-Sean was always hot headed and rather aggressive and light magic is not the best magic for combat in the first place.-
She recalls how Sean fought with the guards.
It wasn’t a long fight nor an epic one, in fact, it ended rather quickly, all it took was one shot.
BANG!
-they blew a hole through his chest with a lava bullet. –
She chuckles to herself but it sounded like a sad mocking chuckle.
-and then they had the nerve to try and apologize to me and claim it was an accident but of course, their apology didn’t stop them from taking my daughter, Lavie, from me-
She recalls the image of her daughter crying while the guards took her away and her husband lay dying in front of her.
She recalls how terrified she was.
She wanted to stop them but she was frozen from fear, scared she would meet the same fate as Sean.
-after that, I tried for many years to get my daughter back through, let’s say, conventional means, I tried to ask at many government facilities, but they either said they didn’t know about my daughter or refused to tell me anything, I even tried to make a request to the king but they wouldn’t even let me meet my daughter-
Celine can’t help but laugh at the helplessness of her former self.
-at least, to their credit, they didn’t try to kill me while I was trying the conventional methods but eventually, I grew tired of them, I wanted my daughter back, and I realized that Sean was correct that day, conversation was never an option, so here I am now, trying to find my daughter using unconventional methods, but of course now they are trying to kill me because of that-
Daxia looks at Celine with a solemn look while Saiko looks at the ceiling feeling a little jealous of Lavie for having such a mother.
She wonders to herself, would her mom have tried to save her like Celine, if she wasn’t killed by her decay magic?
At least, I had you, old man’
Saiko’s lips curl up slightly into a smile as the image of the cheerful old priest flashes in her mind.
She turns to look at Celine.
_ I think we have a lot to talk about and you will be happy to know that our goal is to save your daughter as well _
******
In a different room in the cabin.
Ken sits on the floor in a cross legged position.
He stares at the book of knowledge in front of him while fidgeting with the fox bead in his left hand.
~what is life? ~
The book doesn’t react.
~how can you give someone life? ~
The book doesn’t react.
Ken’s frustration slowly rises.
He has been trying to make the book tell him anything about life but the book refuses to tell him anything.
~how does the fox bead work? ~
No reaction.
~who made the fox bead? ~
No reaction.
His frustration turns into anger.
~ TELL ME ANYTHING ~
No reaction.
~WHY WON’T YOU ANSWER ME?~
Ken shouts at the book and finally gets an answer but not from the book.
-because you are unworthy-
Ken turns to face the fiery entity behind him.
- and this time, unlike with Daxia, I am making a moral judgment –
~why am I unworthy? I am not asking for something for myself, I want it for someone else ~
The fiery entity nods his head at Ken.
- indeed, love is a very admirable emotion, however, ultimately, it’s still a selfish one –
~How can it be selfish when I am doing it for someone else?~
Ken shouts at the fiery entity from his frustration.
-to illustrate my point, let me ask you, if the Book of Knowledge answered your questions, from where were you planning to steal the life you wished to give to Saiko? –
Ken flinches at Naoi’s question and doesn’t answer him.
-what you lack child is not love but empathy, much like how Saiko is the object of your love, the random people you were planning to steal the life of are the object of the love of other people, meaning you were planning to inflict the pain you are feeling on many others –
Ken averts his eyes from Noai.
-this is why the Book of Knowledge will never answer –
Ken turns to look at Naoi looking desperate.
~what do you want me to do? I don’t even know what’s wrong with her, the readings from Argus show there is nothing physically wrong with her body, I don’t know what the fox bead took from her, I don’t know what life is. ~
The fiery entity moves closer to Ken.
-as I said, you need to develop your empathy only then would you be worthy –
The fiery entity pauses to debate with himself for a moment.
He looks at Ken’s desperate state and lets out a short sigh.
-haaa, although, the Book of Knowledge won’t answer you nor should it, since you are my student I will give you a small hint-
Ken’s eyes light up and he looks up at Noai.
-it’s only a hint so don’t get your hopes up, whether it would lead you to anything is up to you, now listen carefully, you are confusing the process of necrosis with the end of life-
~huh?~
Ken looks at the fiery entity with confusion.
-let me give you an analogy, observe a single living cell, at the ends of the DNA of a cell exists something called telomeres, every time the cell divides it consumes some of the telomeres until it consumes all of it and can’t divide anymore, in that sense you can say that the telomeres represent the life span of the cell and when it ends the cell dies, which is a process that is different from lets say if I were to poison the cell or damage it in any way causing its death-
Naoi makes holographic projections to show Ken.
- in the first example, there is nothing wrong with the cell, its life simply ended that’s how it’s meant to work, how it was programmed if you will, such is life, it’s what animates the body and if you run out it you die –
Ken is about to shout that this didn’t help him at all but then he stops and closes his eyes to think.
~hmmm ~
The fiery entity smiles at the insolent child and then flies away.