Chapter 0175
“Cardis, come out!” Tempest yelled after she was reasonably certain she got away from the madman. “Cardis, come out! We have to talk!”
“What do we have to talk about?” A breeze blew by Tempest as Cardis emerged from it.
“Cardis!”
“I’m here my silly little Successor.”
“Tell me Cardis, what the hell was going on back there?!” Tempest snarled, her anger leaking out. Confronting Cardis and demanding answers weren’t the best methods right now, but Tempest was too angry to go for circumspect.
“That my dear was your lightning spirit taking over your body.” Cardis knew Tempest was referring to him not helping her teammates when they encountered the madman but he took exception to her tone. She is his student, not the other way around. She should show respect a student had for their teacher. The main body was too lenient with her.
“What?” Tempest gasp, not understanding Cardis’ answer.
“Didn’t you blanked out in the cave? That was your lightning spirit taking over your body.”
“What, who, how?”
“You were quite quick to kill the annoying girl back there,” Cardis said, getting to the heart of Tempest’s problem.
“That wasn’t me Cardis. I...I’m not usually that quick to attack. I can kill if I’m pushed to a corner, but I don’t kill people because they irritate me. That wasn’t me!” Tempest shouted, trying to block out the memory of killing the idiotic girl with a qualm.
Tempest felt Cardis’ piercing gaze probing her yet she refuses to acknowledge it. She refuses to acknowledge what she did. It was her body, but she wasn’t in control. Someone possesses her body and used her body to kill. It wasn’t Tempest who killed the girl!
“You keep insisting it wasn’t you who killed the girl. If it wasn’t you, then who was it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m not like that! I don’t kill people arbitrarily!”
“You keep saying it wasn’t you, that you aren’t a cold-blooded killer. Then who are you?”
“I am Tempest Arashi Kataigida.”
“What is Tempest Arashi Kataigida like?”
Tempest was stumped at the question Cardis asked. She has always been saying she is Tempest Arashi Kataigida, yet she never once stopped to consider who Tempest Arashi Kataigida is. Tempest wanted the power to determine her own fate. Becoming Tempest is a part of taking control of her destiny. No longer will she be helpless Athena or the naive Asalia.
Through it all, Tempest realized what she didn’t want to be but she never defined what she wants to be or become.
Tempest closed her eyes and imagine the person she wants to be.
“I want to be free,” Tempest said as she thought about her previous life where she was always restrained in one form or another. She held back, allowed herself to be imprisoned, allowed others to define who she was, allow them to manipulate her, allow them to control her. Well, no more. Athena was restrained, imprisoned, manipulated, controlled, a shell of who she was meant to be. Tempest will be free. Free to be who she wants to be.
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“I want to live my life as it was meant to be lived.” Athena never had a childhood, never had friends, never had love. Tempest wanted everything life to promise her. A chance to be a child, a chance to grow up, fall in love, have babies, grow old… uh, a chance to be a child, a chance to grow up, fall in love and live happily ever after.
“I want to destroy anyone who gets in my way.” It was Athena’s weakness that was the root cause of the tragedy. Tempest will not be weak.
“Carefree as the wind, going with the flow as the water and deadly as lightning.”
“What? No.” Tempest shook her head to emphasize her denial.
“Then what? Mortal women want to marry, have children, raise said children with their husbands until they die. Cultivators want strength and power. Female cultivators want strength, power, youth, and beauty. These are the things most women yearn for, yet I don’t hear you mention them at all.”
“How would you know? You’re not a woman!”
“I’ve gotten to know enough women over my long life to know what they usually want, yet you never asked for any of those.”
“What are you implying Cardis?” Tempest knew he said those words specifically. Wind, water, lightning. Her elements. She understood what he was trying to say, but she wants a direct clear answer instead of running around in circles.
“When I was a young man -”
“Yeah, like six thousand years ago,” Tempest said to poke fun at his age.
“When I was a young man, I wanted to marry, have children and raise my family. I knew nothing of the cultivating world nor did I want anything to do with it. Fate has a way of changing one's view. I fell in love with a powerful cultivator which propelled me into the immortal world. I didn’t handle it well after she was gone. I became a very lecherous man, sleeping with any woman who was willing, doing things you wouldn’t believe and basically being an idiot of epic proportions.
“However, time changes a person. I slowly grew up and matured to become the man I am today, a very passionate, very flirtatious man who can be counted on when responsibility is thrust upon him. Like a child who asked to become my student.” Here Cardis smiled genial at her, taking away the stings of his words.
“Get to the point.” Tempest snarled. She did throw the responsibility of taking care of herself on to him. He didn’t have to take her as his disciple and later his Successor, yet he did so. She is truly grateful to him. Still, his roundabout way of explaining things is irritating her.
“I am a passionate fire burning brightly, carefree as the wind, and stable as the mountains.”
Tempest immediately understood. Mages take on the personality trait of their elements.
She understood Cardis’ implication, yet she didn’t want to acknowledge it. To acknowledge it means she never had control over herself in the first place. The spirits dictate who Tempest Arashi Kataigida is supposed to be and not Tempest Arashi Kataigida herself.
Cardis continued as if he wasn’t aware Tempest wanted to play ostrich and stick her head in the dirt. “You and I are in the minority who notice the correlation between our elements and our personality. Due to the previous behaviors of mages throughout the ages, many people are aware mages have personalities that correlate with their elements. Since affinities are tested at birth, future mages are stereotyped with the personality traits. When they do start cultivating, they don’t realize the influence the spirits have on their personality. They simply grew into those stereotypes since those personality traits help them cultivate faster.
“My personality was completely different than what it is now. I was a responsible man who had no time for frivolities, even during my free time, I become the embodiment of personality traits associated with my elements. Granted, the changes can be associated with the upheaval in my life at the time and how I cope with the consequences of my actions, but I don’t think so.
“The person I am now is the type of person my past self looked down upon. I would never become who I am today, no matter what happens to me, yet here I am.”
Tempest trembled in fear at Cardis’ revelation. If what he said is true, then the spirits influence them more than they realized. Cardis, who went through a myriad of trials and tribulations to get to where he is now couldn’t withstand the influence of the spirits, then Tempest, who had little to no experience whatsoever, had no chance at all.
“Afterall,” Cardis murmured, “nothing is ever truly free.”