Chapter 299 - Secrets Not Meant To Be Known (1/2)
”Hi to you too. Been a long time. You've been well?” Laz said, not answering her questions right away.
”Did you not hear me? Of have you gone stupid since the last time we met?” A'ruya was annoyed that he wasn't answering her question.
”You said, in fact everyone said, there was something I needed from that realm. Why was that?” Laz had never forgotten what she had told him or what the strange creatures in the grey forest had said to him back when he left Tyr. Although his encounters were many and his gains plentiful, he felt like he was missing something.
”I don't know. I read you karmic line and that's what it said. Destiny and fate are two sides of the same coin, but they are not the same thing. Destany leads you to where you need to be while Fate drags you there kicking and screaming like an child. I was able to piece together that destiny and fate both wanted you to enter that gate.. Of course neither of them were able to tell me if you were going to be coming out again. But that's just what it is.”
”I could have died?” Laz understood this for the first time. He figured since everyone was sending him there, they knew he would get out alive. But now it seems like he was just being stupid.
”Nothing is set in stone. Your life is nothing like it would have been if not for me. I tied you to my fate in the same why I tied myself to your fate. And yes. In that world, I wasn't sure I would have been able to reach you if you encountered a life threatening attack. But because you are still this weak, I was not only able to find you, but help you while I was able to look into a few of the secrets of that world. Now that I've explained this, tell me what happened and leave nothing out.”
Laz couldn't help but notice how serious A'ruya was being. And also how patient. This was unlike her enough to make Laz understand that she really needed to know what had happened.
As Laz brought A'ruya through what happened, he noticed that she seemed disinterested. In fact, it almost seemed like she was bored. The look on her heart-rendingly beautiful face was one that he had seen countless times back in his school days when the students were tuning out the teacher. And this continued all the way until he got to the point about hearing a voice and going into the lab. Once he spoke of all of the strange creatures in there, including the ones that ended up with Ruby, Laz saw A'ruya focused very closely on every word Laz said. She even interrupted him several times as though she was confirming exactly what the creatures looked like.
Laz then spoke of finding the Asura restrained on the wall and he felt A'ruya's body tensed up before she struck, grabbing Laz's shirt and bringing him to just within inches of her face.
If this was any other time, Laz might had mistaken her gesture as wanting to kiss him, but he could see from her face that her eyes were moist while her face looked like she was in pain.
”Did... did he.... did you get a name?” She asked, trembling.
Before Laz could even respond, he noticed that in the large, open courtyard of wood where she had always met him was suddenly filled with dozens of people who looked very similar to A'ruya, although not as strikingly gorgeous. They all held white, spear like weapons in their hands while wearing matching clothing, something that appeared to be a hardened wood-like black armor.
They stood around and didn't say a word as they looked on. If Laz had been closer to them, he would have seen a bit of moistness in their eyes as well.
”He said his name was Rak'sha...” After having said this, it seemed as though a sad lament echoed through the group, as though everyone was about to break down at once, but no one did.
Laz was able to connect some dots seeing this. Apparently, these people knew his master.
As Laz looked on, these warrior type beings all dropped to one knee, holding their spears up straight and banged their ċhėsts three times with their fists. Even A'ruya followed along, although her ċhėst banging was a lot more muffled due to the epic sized mounds on her ċhėst.
After having done this, they stayed in this position, as though they would remain there for all of time like statues. Laz could tell that there was a profound pain within their actions, even if he didn't recognize the ritual.
A sudden vision hit him as he watched this, something from deep inside and before he could stop himself, his deep blue eyes suddenly took on their golden hue as light spilled out, engulfing everyone gathered. Shocked, they could only raise their heads and see Laz staring at them with a face that didn't belong to himself.
It held anger and fury, but also a horrible sadness and look of regret.
”Rise. And be free.” The voice wasn't Laz's, it was far deeper and more powerful than Laz was capable of. But with that, the golden light faded once again as Laz regained his young, human like form.
He had no idea what had just happened, minus that he blanked out for a few seconds.
But now, he saw their shocked faces, full of tears while even the ever godly A'ruya couldn't help but cover her mouth while fighting back the tears.
”What?” Laz asked, clearly confused.
A'ruya didn't answer. Nor did she ask anything else from him. Instead, she just walked forward, put a hand on his cheek in a manor that was way to gentle for someone like her and simply said,
”Thank you.”
With that, Laz felt the world spin as he slipped into the darkness once again.
With Laz gone, those that had knelt stood up, but unlike when they had knelt down, being almost completely silent, there was a lot more noise as they rose. This wasn't from the ones that had gather around A'ruya, her personal body guards, but from the hundreds of thousands of those gathered all over the massive tree that all stood at the same time. Before, only those around were visible to Laz. But now, there was nothing blocking the direct view into A'ruya's personal courtyard, the protections have been removed back when Laz had first mentioned meeting an Asura restrained on a wall.
While A'ruya was focusing on calming down her heart, several other women and men appeared beside her with many complicated expressions on their faces. Of the group, one of them looked just like A'ruya, only with a much more mȧturė air to her.
”Grandmother...”
”I know. We... Don't deserve to be rid of that burden.”
”But he said...”
”He is nothing but a human with a bit of blood inside of him. That's all.”
”Grandmother...”
”I know. I know... perhaps this can be considered the first step. But if we don't succeed, then all of us and them....”
”Yes Grandmother.”
”Never tell him. Anything. There are many secrets that are not meant to be known. And even if he brings the message, he is still human. He can only be trusted if he can be controlled.”
”Yes Grandmother.”
”Good. Still...”
”Yes Grandmother?”