“Are you really going to simply discard him?!” VinWei1Literally vin (hard) + wei (crystal) asked incredulously.
He would even kill him, if he had to, ZaiWin2Literally zai (blade) + win (chaos). thought grimly.
“You can see the position I’m in, right?” he replied instead. “You know that the Palace has never seen me with good eyes. This Celestial thing will only make things worse.”
“It’s not like you’re the first Calzai3Literally cal (bright) + zai (blade), or Blade of Light. It can be translated in common language as General, one of military leaders of the Empire. Each Province has it’s own Calzai. to be blessed!” she immediately countered. “In fact they should feel grateful that you were chosen. Heavens know how much the Nox4Literally nox (night). Nox is the name of the Clan (family name), also the name of a Province. Province needs all the blessings it can get.”
“They couldn’t care less about Nox! If they did, they wouldn’t have left it abandoned for so many years! They will care, however, if someone like me suddenly appears with a Celestial hanging from his arm. They are already carefully watching my every move as it is, making sure my power and influence is kept under control. Being a Chosen One will raise me to the same level as the El’Gin5Literally el (supreme) + gin (gold). Name given to the male children of the Emperor. Could be translated into prince in the common language.. They will feel threatened by it, and they won’t think twice before retaliating.”
“As I said, it’s not like you’re the first one who isn’t a royal to become a Chosen One!”
“But the others were all from influential noble Clans. They had their families to back them up and assure the royals that they would never be a threat to the Imperial succession! I am the bastard son of an unmarried woman!”
“You are the child of a noblewoman who was also blessed by a Tien’Elhar6Literally tien (Heaven) + el (supreme) + har (girl child). The Heavenly Beings also known as Celestials in the common language.! Who cares who your father is? So he was a Palace servant, or a soldier. So maybe your mother was foolish enough to fall in love with a commoner and dare live her love! Why does any of that matter? You have your own worth and you have proved it time and time again. And you have always been a dedicated, loyal soldier of the Empire! If you ask me, I’m not surprised at all that you were chosen by that child!”
“Even if you see things like this, they will not. And they will not simply nod their heads and welcome us into their midst. They will do everything in their power to drag me down back to where I belong. And that would be fine by me, if I didn’t know that with me many other people, many other innocent people will be dragged down as well. The people of Nox included. ZenTar7Literally zen (silent) + tar (wind) included. Your father included.”
“So you want to find a way to break this bond?!”
“I do! And no matter how much you may hate me for saying it, the only reason why I still haven’t killed him is because ZenTar wouldn’t allow it, fearing I might die with him.”
VinWei’s eyes widened in absolute shock.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“It’s not a matter of daring or not. It’s a matter of doing what has to be done in order to save as many lives as possible.”
“He is a Tien’Elhar! A heavenly being!”
“He is a sixteen-year-old brat! And there are hundreds of boys just like him living in Nox. I will not sacrifice them all for the sake of one single life!”
“How can you even compare them!”
“And how can you say they’re heavenly beings, holy beings, and then ask thousands of people to die so that one of them may live? What kind of blessing is that?”
VinWei opened her mouth, clearly angry, but no words left her lips.
“And even if I chose to sacrifice them, what then? We’d still be hunted down by the Palace! We’d still be on the run for the rest of their lives!”
“You could leave Wen! You could look for refuge in another Empire, maybe amongst the Demon Clan!” she suggested eagerly, but his dark expression told her that she was far from being successful in making him change his mind.
“And then we’d have sacrificed all those people to be able to run away. Then what? What’s the good of this Celestial of yours? You say that they are sent to bless the land. What land will he be blessing then?”
VinWei lowered her gaze, unable to counter his words.
“I see you’ve really thought things through …”
“You think?! I spent endless nights trying to figure out another way out of this. Do you think I want to kill that damn kid? Sure, I do dislike and distrust Celestials as a whole, like you said. But we’re talking about a brat that just until the other day didn’t even know what a Celestial is! If there’s a way I can break this bond and allow him to live, maybe send him to the Demon Clan like you suggested, then I’ll gladly take it! But if that way doesn’t exist, if I’m led to a position where I have to choose, then I will kill him. Even if I have to die with him as well.”
VinWei took a deep breath and stood up, raising her head.
“Fine! Then let me help you!”
He looked at her with a suspicious expression.
“Let me look for that way! Or let me make sure with my own two eyes that it really doesn’t exist! In return, if I do find a way to break your bond, you must promise me that you won’t kill him! That you will deliver him to me, and that you will allow me to take care of him!”
ZaiWin’s first instinct was to tell her to take a hike! Allow her to keep him?! Not in a million years! He had to bite his tongue to keep the words from spilling from his mouth, forcing his rational mind to take control of the matter.
“Fine. I promise. Find me a way and you can do whatever you want with him. In fact I’ll even feel better, knowing that I won’t be simply abandoning him to his fate, and that he’ll have someone to look after him.”
“We have a deal, then! Until then you must allow me to observe the both of you! And you have to honestly answer all my questions. It is important that I understand to what extend you two are connected.”
“I have no problem with that.”
“That’s what you say now. Before you almost tore my head off just because I tried to approach him.”
She is a necessary facilitator to both of their growths.