Mystical Journey

"Alright," Zhaoxing nodded, and looked at Garen,"follow me. Julie, please take care of our two guests."

"Yes teacher."

Zhaoxing stood up and headed towards a wall on the right side of the room. The wall suddenly rose up and revealed a stone door.

Garen followed closely as they went in one after another.

The door closed behind him, Garen was now in a quaint study room.

A few ash white shelves sat in a corner, while some small tables paired with black sofas and yellow lights on the wall. It was a simply furnished room.

"Sylphalan plans to head east. He knows you’re looking for him, so perhaps he’s running away from you, or maybe he has other plans, but he is already preparing a boat. Him running away from you today was not a coincidence."

Zhaoxing said that once they got in.

"What’s your relationship with the old man Gregor?" Garen asked.

"My mother is Sylphalan and Gregor’s sister. The three of them were perfect siblings until one day my mom died in an accident trying to save Gregor." Zhaoxing casually turned on a gas light on the small table, illuminating her’s and Garen’s face with a flickering yellow light.

"Sylphalan believed that it was all Gregor’s fault, so they fell apart. At that time, Gregor was incredibly handsome and very powerful. His position among telekinetic practitioners was just like the position of the Immortal Palace Alliance today. Sylphalan couldn’t fight him, so he distanced himself," Zhaoxing sighed,"Sylphalan seemed to have some sort of perverted affection towards my mother. Since the accident he started relentlessly pursuing greater and greater power in hopes of challenging Gregor one day. Finally, in the end, he killed Gregor."

Garen could sense that there was more to this, but the general summary seemed to be true.

"Sylphalan once had the opportunity to kill me, but he let me go, why?"

"He only has two lifelong objectives, one is to kill Gregor for revenge, and the other is to revive my mother," Zhaoxing said softly,"his relationship with Gregor was complicated. Everything he knew, he learned it from Gregor. Gregor was more than just his brother, he was his teacher. You are Gregor’s heir, so I believe he spared you for the sake of Gregor."

Zhaoxing shooked her head.

"Actually, Sylphalan went mad many years ago."

"I can see that," Garen nodded,"his mental state surely isn’t normal right now."

"So what is your objective?" Zhaoxing looked at Garen,"find Sylphalan and avenge Gregor?"

Garen sat down and cupped his face in his hands, he couldn’t come up with a response.

After a long silence, he finally spoke.

"Sylphalan killed Gregor, he also almost killed me once. I will find him, and I will kill him. This is my objective."

"Aren’t you interested to know if Sylphalan found the path of the Blood Warriors?"

"Do you know?" Garen laughed,"I don’t know anything about what you people call telekinesis. Even if he finds it, it has nothing to do with me, I’m not one of you."

"As someone who is able to achieve this level of power at such a young age, the three of you aren’t just ordinary people. I trust my guts, mere mortals would not possess talent like yours," Zhaoxing said definitively,"well? Would you like to test it?"

Garen hesitated.

"Sure, but how?"

"It’s very simple," Zhaoxing walked to the front of one of the shelves and took out a few books, revealing a hidden compartment in the back. From the hidden compartment she took out one thick book.

The book was covered in a black hardcover, and on the cover were some twisted text that Garen couldn’t recognize.

"This book.." Garen could however feel a sense of familiarity towards the book.

"This is the book of potential I got from Gregor. This used to be his telekinetic tool, it carried the potential of his abilities within it. Now that he’s dead, he mailed this to me before he died," Zhaoxing said,"open it, it will trigger the potential inside your body. The strength of your inert telekinetic abilities will be shown by how many words turn red as you open the book."

"Turn red?" Garen took the book over and casually flipped a few pages. The words on the cover, the words on the page, all remained in their typical black ink.

"Perhaps I’ve gotten the wrong book," Zhaoxing stared at the pages, feeling something was off.

"No, this is the right one," Garen disagreed,"I’ve actually flipped this book before in Gregor’s shop."

"You’ve flipped it before?" Zhaoxing was stunned, she checked the cover again and was certain that this was the book of potential.

Her face started to turn displeased.

"This can’t be! How can someone like you acquire such great amount of power without any potential at a young age?! Keep flipping, maybe you need to do it longer."

Garen shrugged, he couldn’t understand why this old woman was so tense, it was just telekinetic energy, not like it was a big deal.

"Alright, I’ll keep flipping."

As time passed in the study, there was only the sound of Garen occasionally turning pages.

Zhaoxing’s face also started turning more and more displeased. The excitement that was once in her eyes slowly faded away.

"It’s not that serious right?" Garen noticed her changing expression.

"I shouldn’t have had high expectations..." Zhaoxing sighed, her face seemingly turning older,"and there I thought our generation was saved. But all of it was just a dream."

"Well, I just don’t possess telekinetic potential, what’s the big deal?" Garen frowned.

"You don’t understand. Gregor was the greatest master of our generation. He represents the continuity of our millennia of traditions and culture. But now, all this is for a naught, we will just die out...." Zhaoxing replied softly,"He gave you that book and that pendant. Only you have the right to inherit his abilities sealed within that book. Yet now, you don’t just not have telekinetic potential, you can’t even open the pendant...."

"As I said, don’t you think you’re taking this whole thing a little too seriously?" Garen asked plainly.

"Telekinesis is everything to us," Zhaoxing closed her eyes, and replied in immense sorrow.

Garen slowly understood her perspective. Everyone has something that defines them in life, for this woman, it was the telekinetic culture.

"Screw it, let’s not talk about this for now," Zhaoxing opened her eyes, they were still filled with waves of tiredness,"now we can only rely on you, Garen. You are our last hope. You’ve given us hope, even though you failed to live up to my expectations," she smiled bitterly.

"Sylphalan seems to treat you like his enemy?" Garen asked,"he doesn’t even care if you live or die, looks like he’s just going to bulldoze over everything that comes in his way."

What this meant was that Sylphalan never even treated Zhaoxing and group as enemies, they were merely like ants on the road that Sylphalan couldn’t even be bothered to step on.

That, was the truth.

"While it sounds harsh, it is the truth," Zhaoxing nodded,"However i must ask you again. Garen, are you sure you want to completely settle your vendetta with Sylphalan?" her face suddenly turned serious.

"Of course, that’s the whole reason why I’m here." Garen replied plainly,"I am different from the King of Nightmares and Andrela. This is the sole reason why I’m here."

The whole reason why Garen went on this quest to destroy Sylphalan was because of the fact that he killed Gregor, and almost killed him.

Ever since he arrived on this world, he’s had little close friends or relatives. If he were to rank them, the first would be his sister, the second would be Gregor and his teacher, his uncle, parents, then followed by Su Lin, Andrela and the rest. As for everyone else, he had known them for too brief a time to say much.

"What do you mean by asking that?"

Zhaoxing shook her head,"I just needed to be sure. The Immortal Palace’s plans are way too elaborate, should you choose to pursue them, you must be prepared for the worst."

"Do you hear what you’re saying?" Garen stared at the old woman,"I don’t think I can run into much danger given my abilities. Let it be Behemoth’s Gate, or even the Immortal Palace, nothing can stand in my way. Heck they’ll only serve to entertain my journey."

Zhaoxing did not expect him to answer like that,"You are insane! Do you even realize how powerful Sylphalan is?! He even..."

"You should have more faith in me." Garen smiled as he cut her off.

"If you continue to be cocky like that, you will lose everything the next time you face the Immortal Palace!" Zhaoxing was visibly angry now.

"I am not cocky, I am just confident about my own abilities." Garen shook his head.

"This is cockiness! You aren’t even certain of how powerful Sylphalan is, and yet you dare talk about him so lightly!"

"I told you, I am not cocky," Garen frowned,"Nevermind, I shan’t waste my time on pointless arguments like this with you."

"You have no potential, you can’t possibly fight Sylphalan! Today he was not being serious but if he goes into his full form..." Zhaoxing couldn’t help but shiver for a bit, like she was recalling some brutal scene.

Garen saw the woman who was scared out of her mind before him, and was at a loss for words to comfort her. He had to respect her still, after all she is a relative of the late Gregor, and an elder.

"For his next step, Sylphalan is going to travel somewhere at a specific time, not sure if he’s running away from you or he’s planned this all along. If you are as powerful as you claim to be, then go ahead!"

"Where and when?"