"I hear there is a plot at hand," he said and Ed closed his eyes again.

"Why don't we go there and teach them something," he seemed to urge.

"You must be bored," Ed answered.

"Not really. But, when will you be done with your contemplation?" he asked, but Ed did not answer. He returned to his core and continued to make his way towards the stone tomb, settling on the middle of an ink stream. No matter how much he walked, he could not reach the stream banks to step on the water. He looked past the ink stream and at the hell tree in the distance and the Baju valley's outline sloping downwards. There was a swirl of strong winds sweeping across the landscape. For some reason, it echoed through him as it passed. Trying so long to walk through the plains but could not, Ed sighed and opened his eyes. When he did so, day had passed the baton to night. Nti Anem was nowhere to be found. He got up and walked out the mouth of the cave and stared into the distance. He needed to find more places like the tomb. Something in him felt that if he found more places, he would find a way to access the other relics he seemed to have collected into his being.

He took a deep breath and with eyes closed felt the strong winds in his being sweep around him and stepped into the air. He concentrated his mind on the very atoms of the wind and stretched his being to touch them. At that moment, he felt overwhelmed by the eternity he had just entered. It felt as though he had touched something without end. That existed just because. He stretched even deeper; allowing the smell of leaves to sweep past his nose.

For a split second, he could feel the smell of the leaves merge with his being. He stretched farther beyond the leaves to insects, soil, and worms in the ground. The feeling was without compare. He touched everything green within a mile of his location, but could not stretch farther than a mile.

"What have you done?" Nti Anem's voice broke through into his head and his mind came out of his being and he opened his eyes. The moment his eyes shot open, the forever darkness snapped off, and blazing sunlight streamed into his eyes. Ed looked around in confusion. He was sure that he was only in this state for a few minutes.

"Sunrise?" he asked.

"Noon, but not until a second ago," Nti Anem answered and Ed turned around in the sky and saw him approach from a distance.

"What do you mean?" Ed asked.

"What were you doing, your Highness?" Nti Anem asked gloomily.

"I don't quite know," Ed frowned slightly.

"You descended darkness that lasted for hours," he said with a deep look in his eyes, but had to sigh at the confusion on Ed's brows.

"Even when time told all that day was here, for miles, darkness remained," he explained to the confused Ed, "Only the moment you opened your eyes, did the darkness vanish," To this, Ed looked away and frowned. His mind wandered to what he had done, what was he trying to do? He could not find the answer no matter how long he stood.

"You can fly now, I see," Nti Anem said.

"Fly... 1'm not sure how I am doing it," Ed said, and then they started to descend. When Ed reached eye level of the trees, he froze. To this, Nti Anem stared at his reaction deeply. The trees were no more. The things in front of him could not be called trees. They had leaves and branches but looked to be frozen in a transformation. Their barks bent and protruded into the shapes of men. Their arms stretched out from trunks like trying to crawl out of the tree.

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"Your Highness, I will ask again, what did you do?" Nti Anem asked and Ed stared at the trees in shock. He moved closer to them, to a face shaping from the tree and reached out to touch. At that moment, the face seemed to turn to him and he froze.

"I don't know," Ed answered.

"We must leave," he turned and looked to the distance, then moved towards their cave to find, it too had changed shape. The rock mouth actually became a mouth. He swept his hand and every evidence of their stay vanished. He and Ed dashed off into the distance, using the wind as their guide. They dashed away so fast; they had left the greenery of the forest instantly and were in rocky lands. They stopped when they found a cave. They entered and settled, but this time, Nti Anem placed a spell on the cave so that it could not be noticed by those who passed. Only then did he turn to stare at Ed take a seat at the cave's end.

"We are being hunted. Doing such a thing is like sending out a signal that you are there,"

"It was not intentional," Ed said and closed his eyes.

"I wasted no time preparing a good battle for you for when you leave seclusion. But we cannot be found before then. It is better to let the situation stew for a while before we make an appearance,"

"You talk as though they will get past your spell,"

"They will not,"

"Then there is nothing to worry about. In fact, I am sure I understand your issues with what I did. But I particularly do not understand that look on your face," Ed opened his eyes and stared at Nti Anem's solemn face.

"What look?" he asked.

"That is what I want to understand," Ed said deeply, as though he was trying to figure it out.

"A person like you appears in this world, taking the tomb not too long ago and today, darkness like never known covers the light, you are the first person people will want to ask what happened. You are the anomaly," he explained.

"You should be happy about that though. As you said, you had spent so much time preparing a good battle for me. Even though there will be those who do not think this had anything to do with me, it is but one in many crimes to create a battle for justice. More enemies; this is something that should thrill you. So what does that look on your face mean?" Ed asked.

Nti Anem then sat cross-legged before him in silence for a while; his eyes seem to wander to different worlds, before returning to Ed's form.

"Edward, I said, I will know if you are a principality," he said and Ed paused. Very rarely did Nti Anem call him by his name.

"You think me a god now?" he asked.

"No. You are definitely not one. You did something, I have only seen done once. If you were not human, I would have," Nti Anem squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again.

"Edward, that kind of darkness, one that light cannot penetrate; no one, even principalities can see in such, so it is good that no one saw you," he said.

"You saw me,"

"That is why I am uncomfortable. It is not that you look like someone, or I think you something you are not, it just brought back memories," he said.

"You saw me,"

"Yes,"

"You have seen it done once? You did not even suspect I may be that person?"

"Your many deaths mean that you reincarnate, Your Highness. You were born human. You are not it," he said, "Let it go,"

"You saw me,"

"A long time ago, I saw it too," he answered.

"As long as you are not holding back information I may need,"

"There are many blessed with The Darkness; knowing you got such a blessing, may explain why you are being hunted. Forget being hunted, the odds are against you, Edward. Darkness or not, it is a blessing only one can give. Why you were given is not my place to ask. You should explore it. I too was once given a blessing from one who does not bless. I do not know who you are, but for that blessing, I will be always on your side," he said.

"Why?"

"I did not use my blessing. When the time came, I failed greatly," he said, "But you will not fail. I will make sure of it,"

"I will not mistake that look in your face for blind faith in me," Ed said.

"True, but this is a chance Edward, a chance to survive. If that blessing is what got you in this, using it as it was fated could get you out," he said, but Ed raised a brow. One could tell a question was coming.

"I will ask you to trust me this once, without reason or rhyme. I will not fail this time," he said with a determined look in his eyes. A promise to Ed, to himself, or to whoever dished the blessing, it did not matter. Ed closed his eyes. He had no intention to ask a person so old to tell him of his life. He had no intention to pry into this. Neither did he care, nor did he have the energy for it. He re-entered his being confidently. This time, he was sure he could cross the ink stream.

"I have lined up great battles for you. When you come out, you will fight," he said to Ed's cultivating form.