Regardless of Anything

(Wilhelm Dragonsong)

Spoiler :

So, it has been a while I guess since I updated this fiction...it seems to go a lot faster then most of my other fictions, but strangely enough it is the fiction with the least amount of planning done for it (this may tell you something).

Anyway...I have been wondering whether or not I should "celebrate" this fiction like I did Reincarnation Flower it's birthday I think is in April so I have plenty of time to do it...just would it be worth it? I mean it has a lot less people reading it compared to RF and people there didn't seem to appreciate my party scheme...

Next chapter will be 'what happened to Vanessa while the two 'old' guys were discussing her future...yeah

I began to read from the parchment but when I was about halfway down the page the Master started speaking the words out loud making it obvious that he had them memorized, as well as greatly distracting me from reading. To prevent myself from being confused, I stopped myself from going further and instead raised my eyes to the line that the Master was currently speaking.

I quickly found the place on the parchment and then listened as I read along. Some may question whether hearing is as important as just knowing the words. However in these sorts of things, inflection can possibly be vitally important or more so, and pronunciation is a whole other ball game.

With things like prophecies the way you beat them at their own game (or possibly do exactly what is expected of you but since you got the result you wanted anyway you don’t care) is to solve as many puzzles as possible yet keep an open mind so that whenever the events of the prophecy happen you will be able to use the prophecy as a guide in order to find certain clues that you then use to predict the way to obtain certain outcomes.

A bit of a mouthful of an explanation, yes. But then again this is prophecy we are discussing, and prophecy is rarely a simple thing, unless it is a ‘simple’ thing that’s actually a complex thing masquerading with the appearance of a simple thing…well you get the idea right?

When he had finished speaking, I quickly reread the whole thing this time completely without his accompaniment and then with my head resting in my free hand, I slowly and carefully mulled over the words of the prophecy in my head.

However, my martial art’s master wasn’t so patient as to let me have as much time as I pleased. Or possibly it was as I suspected and my tactic of making him angry backfired or more accurately worked just a little too well.

“So?!” He firmly interrupted me.

Blinking my eyes, in bewilderment from suddenly being torn from my deep thoughts, as I had been caught up in attempting to pick apart the truest meaning of the words, I casually asked.

“So what?”  

“So you are still going to keep my daughter in such a shallow kind of relationship after hearing that?!

“Other than adding the amendment cum protest that the master apprentice relation is considered far from being shallow by the majority of people who utilize or know of it, then yes.”

It took him a moment to translate my words, but then he tried again.

“But doesn’t it seem quite likely that if you continue to remain her master, and solely her master that you will become that poor sap mentioned in the prophecy?”

I smiled in amusement.

“By ‘poor sap’ I suspect that you refer to the part where it speaks of the one with ‘a fate filled with doom, and sorrows…’”

“Well yes but I was more concerned about the part that mentions betrayal…if it really involves my daughter...”

I laugh out loud, when I hear this and say.

“Why are you worried about this aforementioned betrayal, which by the way knowing prophecies as I do, we cannot be certain that it even is a betrayal at least in the meaning we hold, that defines betrayal? Besides this is when it even seems to point to the theory that your daughter is the betrayer and the cause of the doom rather than the other way around?”

“Well…isn’t there something called revenge in this world? Isn’t it to be expected that that if she betrays others, especially if those others are important folk that she will be increasingly likely to come to a bad end...besides...”

He gives me a look when he says this, and I allow myself the brief flattering thought that, I am counted among ‘important folk’ before turning back in to what he is saying.

“…becoming someone untrustworthy possibly even without any honor, shouldn’t I as her father be concerned not just with her existence but also be allowed to hope for the best for her? Is it so wrong that I want her to have a happy healthy enjoyable life? With more to it then endless and meaningless fighting?”

I interrupt him, with a chortle.

“Don’t worry she hasn’t betrayed me or anyone else yet, nor has misunderstandings or rumors about her being untrustworthy or without honor have appeared. We don’t know that it is a given that will be the details of her future. “

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“But isn’t that dangerous why aren’t you refusing her as an apprentice…?”

“Why would I? Why would I judge and condemn her, in such a way, for something she has not done, and quite possibly something she may well never do? “

“But don’t you care that if you are the one in the prophecy that you are going to suffer and be part of the reason that this world is under a threat of being doomed?”

“Once again I will say it, we don’t know if that will happen yet. Though I admit that it is highly likely that the…so called ‘doom trigger’ is myself, and I think this for reasons very personal to myself and the way the ‘poor fellow’ was portrayed in the prophecy, the idea of being that guy doesn’t really bother me that much.”

“Why in the world does it not how can you possibly be so calm, even if you don’t believe in the prophecy, aren’t I still besmirching your honor by saying that I suspect you of being someone capable of causing a great catastrophe?”

“Well to answer your questions, direct and implied…even without this prophecy I am already likely to cause a great disaster…I won’t say much more on the subject, I don’t want to terrify you just when I have gotten you back to being unafraid of me again, but with or without your daughter there exists in me something that would make the worst doom you can think of less than a single chopstick in comparison.”

“As you say, I know nothing of these dangerous matters you speak of, or of your secrets, however, honestly, I don't want to know. What I have been trying to make- er ask you to do is to take measures that would prevent this dreadful prophecy from coming to pass, if you could become the one mentioned or possibly already are that person you should want to do it.”

“So that is what you were trying to do?” when he glares at me in response I shrug and say.

“Just joking with you. But to take things more seriously even if I acknowledge this prophecy as something really directly pertaining and involving myself. And even if I agree with you that the events that it implies are bad things, why should I do what you ask?”

I quickly hold my hand up palm facing him when it looks like he is about to interrupt me and continue.

“With prophecies there are no guarantees that trying to stop them is the correct thing to do, in fact there have been many cases where, someone while trying to avoid fulfillment of a prophecy ended up taking actions which in the end, led to the very thing they sought to avoid, even someone like you should have at least seen a play or heard a story that portrays such a common pattern right?”

The dojo master then let out a deep weary sigh and quoted while avoiding looking at my face.

“He tried to avoid falling on the path so he looked carefully at his feet and walked slowly and ended up hitting his head on a tree branch sticking out upon the road.”

Nice quote, I thought I would have to remember it…though I had heard similar before none of those quotes had ever been quite as direct or clear cut in their explanation they were, I noted much like and quite fitting for the man who said them and I took them as an indirect agreement.

“Yes” I said “If I attempted to ‘fight’ this prophecy it would most likely be a loss on all counts, not only would it hinder my movements, or in other words I would be ‘walking slowly’ it would probably even make us hit our heads on a tree branch, that is we would end up making the doom happen even sooner…or possibly become much worse.”

Seeing his moroseness and face avoiding continue, I sighed and tried to reassure him a bit.

“You know while I will not try to hinder or help this prophecy consciously in anyway, it doesn’t change the fact that I swore to do my utmost to protect, and do right by your daughter regardless of anything. I may end up stopping the doom by myself…I have a hidden card that I have a lot of faith in that I could ask for assistance. Things are far from being as bad as you even least pessimistically think.”

The master turned and nodded at me, he seemed to be now completely filled with acceptance.

After getting his permission I decided to keep the paper his copy of the prophecy was on, he obviously didn’t mind because apparently he had already memorized it completely anyway and could easily make another copy if he had too.

But he also got me to promise (though not a magically binding one) to not tell Vanessa about her prophecy. In this instance I agreed with him, so it was an easy promise to make...maybe in the future depending on how my apprentice developed I might change my mind, but right now I can't think of a reason why I would do so.

After placing the parchment inside a safe place, I checked the time and realized that my new apprentice had already acquired the minimum amount of time necessary to pass this first ‘test’ I had given her. Curious to see how she’d done I ported to the clearing I had sent her in order to observe.