Chapter 3: Prologue 3: Sage

It’s been about three years since ‘Vira’ showed up. My parents are still oblivious to this. Kanau is getting married today. It is a bit sad since she was like a sister, and the fact that she’ll be moving to the town next to us, we’d never get a chance to visit since it’s that much of a distance. 

I can understand the language well enough to hold a conversation, but still I want to learn to read and write. That’s an irreplaceable skill that will be needed. 

I wondered whether my family was ‘rich’ (compared to the town), it seems that my father is a baron. He controls a territory that covers this town, and a temple in the south. It’s a pretty moderately sized piece of land.

Though from the stories that I heard, I’ve learned that nobles have ‘mana’. But, I seem to have no such thing, nor do my father or mother have it. I think it’s probably because our blood is far away from the ‘royal blood’ needed to use mana. It makes sense, but it’s sort of disappointing.

I haven’t done much in these five years either. I mostly try to observe the environment and learn, while ‘Vira’ has made a few friends and plays with them. And I’ve recovered about fifteen-ish years of memory. But, I didn’t really find anything useful there. I still couldn’t remember my name.

My memories are more like a library, meaning I don’t forget them even after these years, it’s like they are recorded with no discrepancies. In all honesty that doesn’t make any sense. From what I know at least, memories deteriorate. But, my memories don’t. 

Each year I remember about two-three years. They used to come as throbbing pains in the heart. But, now they are just headaches, which isn’t desirable. But, it’s better than getting paralyzed and not breathing at least. 

Today, I was curious about the temple. This world really fascinated me to be honest. I heard that not many nobles go to the temples, but we don’t even feel like nobles either way. Apparently the religion that most people follow is called Kytallix (which the nobles follow as well). While the temple’s religion was called Mankari. The temple also follows a certain fighting style called Jixu.

My parents however didn’t associate themself with a religion.

“Mama, can we go to the temple?” I asked mom, who was currently in the middle of cooking breakfast.

“Hmm~” Holding her chin, mom thought about it. 

Crouching, she told me “We can. How about we go a bit later?”

“Mhm.” nodding my head, I smiled at her. 

Pinching my cheeks, she said “Ah~ Look at you so irresistible.” I smiled back at her.

---

Later in the day, my mom carried me, and prepared to go to the temple. Mom sat on the horse, while my father helped me get on. More accurately, he passed me along to mom who then put me in front of her. Waving at dad, mom then started moving.

While we were traveling, most if not all people waved at us and some even bowed. I truly got a scale for this town, there’s a lot of people. Mom also had no trouble traversing the place. 

The temple had a wall surrounding its area. Being built on a mountain, it was pretty far. As the temple was in the south, while our home was in the north. 

It also seems that it would take about an hour to go from and back. The horse moved at a moderate rate. I’d say the distance was maybe fifteen, no. Maybe twenty kilometers?

Soon we reached there, the wall was about four-five meters tall. It seems to be built on primitive stone bricks, but they all had intricate designs engraved onto them. I couldn’t exactly understand the designs or diagrams, but they were beautiful.

The gate seems to be an arc-like shape, the gate had a wooden inner frame (which was visible from the front), and the surrounding seems to be made of some sort of metal. It looks brownish.

I tried remembering the name of this familiar seeming metal, and the only thing that comes to mind is copper.

Moving into the gate, the place was very open, all the saints also bowed to us. They wore minimal clothing, which covered part of their chest and their bottom-half. The cloth itself varies between each person, ranging from white to orange. They seem to be made for the sake of functionality, with no regard for aesthetics.

My mother still on the horse, then waved at all of them and continued on this pathway. There are trees and plants which are maintained, that contrasted well with the surrounding forest which was chaotic more than anything.

I noticed that the pathways are also made with stone, which was surprising, since most of the roads in the town are all dirt, and the only place where stone is used is for the houses’ foundations.

This stone was more for pathways, so it was a bit more rough. 

All in all, the area here looked very pleasing and calm. The designs weren’t anything over the top, the place reeked of a 'peaceful atmosphere’.

The mountain being big, the path continued to go around the mountain. The path didn’t have steep inclines and was very nice to travel on. Soon, we reached a part of the mountain (on the side of it), where it was flat, and there was an entrance leading into a huge cave. This flat part didn’t have any stones as flooring. It was all soil and sand. Looking inside the caves, there was a three-meter tall statue of an old man, he looked very frail and yet it seemed like he exuded an aura. 

There were also beds, but that’s not exactly accurate, it’s more of a wooden frame with some clothes on top. They didn’t seem poor, but they seemed very disintrested in looks.

Some saints on the flat part were fighting each other, while others sat near a tree and meditated.

Suddenly an old man from the cave came near the both of us.

“Ah… Who is the little one?” He said while looking at me.

“He is my son, sage. Isn’t he charming?” My mother said while smiling.

“Indeed~ He has quite a personality.” I wondered if I actually looked that good. In all honesty, it wouldn’t surprise me if the old man couldn’t see well, and mother was just lying. Haha...

“So, what has brought you here, my child?” 

“It’s just that my son wanted to see the temple all of a sudden.” My mother replied back to the sage. It seems that the sage doesn’t call my mother by any noble title or name. But, my mother doesn’t mind either.

“Oh? Is that so?” It was as though it had piqued his interest, he suddenly raised his eyebrows and titled his head, looking at me he said while chuckling “Hmm~ In that case, do you want to see around? I’ll show you.”

 “Mhm.” Nodding my head I replied to him.

“Aren’t you excited?” he said while smiling.

My mom got off the horse, and put me down on the floor. “Wait here, okay?” She then went to a nearby tree, and tied the horse there. The sage patting me on my head told me “Did you know that the great sage that we follow was actually buried here? Even if he had died, his teachings and memories have lasted for more than two-thousand years. The tree over there is the memories of his teachings.” 

He pointed to a tree at the end of the flat part of the mountain, it continued on the mountain on a slight hill, the tree had a purple tint, and the branches had grown long, the path to it had bushes lined, the bushes were maintained it seems. The grass was trimmed and the sky looked beautiful, there was a simple cuboidal stone situated in front of the tree, and the path had one more of the gates which led to the purple tree. It was as though contradictory to all other signs in this temple, this place had a focus of beauty.

For a moment I was simply lost in the vast beauty I had seen. The cold breeze hitting my face, and the birds chirping, it felt surreal.

“How about we visit him?” the sage asked me.

“Okay.” I replied back.

“Look at that, I’ve left for one minute, and you’re already convincing him to join you.” It was my mother, who said it in a joking tone, to which the sage replied “Of course, we need all the skilled young uns’ we can get.” he then started laughing, my mom together laughed with him. 

Later we ate food, contrary to its look, it was delicious.

The sage then held me by the hand and led me to the tree, it was after sunset, and the stars could be seen. My mother, following the both of us, stood at a distance.

After the both of us passed through the gate, my mother stopped following, she stood behind the gate.

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“Grandpa, why is mom standing there?” I asked him, I do not know why, but it just felt natural to call him grandpa. He did not mind it and answered the question “Well~ Usually no one apart from the disciples can go here, but I have made an exception for you.” 

“Thank you grandpa.” He then smiled back at me.

It seemed like he was sad, yet he also seemed happy at the same time.

After I had arrived at the tree, I sat down on the soft grass and stared at the stars and looked around. My mother was a few meters away, but I could see her smiling at me.

The rectangular shaped stone caught my attention. I couldn’t read it, and so I asked the sage. He told me what was written.

A sudden dizziness hit me as soon as he finished reading, my heart started to hurt, my body felt paralyzed, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe, and my body felt cold, I fell on the ground. I could see my mother rush to me, the sage looked surprised.

This event felt all too familiar.

---

I felt cold, I couldn’t see anything. It was like I was floating in some space, suddenly a voice called out to me-

[Uncle..?] It was ‘Vira’, who called out to me.

[Vira…? What happened?] I had asked him, perhaps he knew something.

[Uncle… I was only watching while you were talking with grandpa.] He didn’t have an idea either, huh? Well, it made sense. Both of us share the same ‘perspective’ afterall.

[Vira, you can’t see or do anything either, right?] I had to be sure whether the both of us had the same problem at the moment.

[Mhm. I can’t see anything either uncle.] It seems that both of us share the same problem.

But then, another voice, one of an old man called out to the both of us. 

[Hey. Are you the one who freed me?] I had no thoughts, my mind stopped. There was no way that there’s another person with the both of us. Vira didn’t say anything either. The both of us were quiet.

[Do the both of you not talk?] The old man’s voice asked.

[Uh… No, we were just… surprised.] I had replied to the voice, I was suspicious, but right now, we have to be calm.

[Oh, alright. It’s been a while since I talked with someone. Well, it’s been more than a few centuries.] Centuries?! What the hell was he talking about? No, stay calm, stay calm. Internally sighing, I had asked who he was.

[In a short summary, I’m the great sage who founded the Jixu style.] I am quite confused…? No, the right word would be ‘dumbfounded’.

[Then… Why are you here..?] I didn’t know what answer to expect, in all honesty, this seems so ridiculous.

[Were you not the one who summoned me?] What the actual hell are you talking about?! No, no, I have to stay calm. Calm. Calm. Ah, screw this, I can’t be calm at all times at all!

[No! We weren’t the ones who summoned you!]

[Is that so? Well, in any case, you’re gonna have to live with me. I can’t stay in a tree forever.] I finally understood. The events that led up to this were all laid out. I saw the tree, grandpa then read out what was on his grave, which led to this ‘great sage-founder old man’ to us.

[So… in any case, do we have to do something..?] I asked him.

[Well, not really. I just need to use this body, that’s all.] But then suddenly-

[No!] It was Vira, he had finally broken his silence and chosen to talk.

[I agree with him. Why should we let you use our body?] I agreed with Vira on this, why would we have to offer our body to this old man, founder as he may be, it didn’t matter. We don’t know who he actually is.

[How about a trade?] the old man replied to the both of us.

[What can you offer?] I asked him. To that- [Uncle!]

Vira didn’t like it. [Let’s hear what he has to say.] I told vira.

[Alright then.] he replied back, his voice sounded disappointed.

[I can offer my wisdom, and teach you Jixu.] the old man stated. I couldn’t help but think that this might be profitable to us, but I also had to consider the consequences.

[First of all…. What do you mean by your wisdom? And what do you plan to do with our body?]

[Quite simple really, For your first question, I was the sage, who warred against the entire continent, that should qualify my wisdom, afterall only I could ever do that. For that, I was locked away. For the second question, I want to see the world with my eyes. I was locked here for 2000 years, I want to see the world once more. Nothing more.] Is that really all? He just wants to see the world?

[Really? Is that really all?] I asked him.

[Yeah, I don’t have anything else to offer or take.]

Vira then suddenly shouted -[I don’t want to give my body! Why should I?!]

I understand his feelings, but it seems that the old man doesn’t have a choice either. I don’t know anymore... This is frustrating. And suddenly a thought hit me, if the both of us agree to not let him control the body, he could never control it. It was that simple.

[Vira... I know, but. Let’s give the old man a chance, we can both agree to not let him control the body, can’t we? Okay?]

[Okay... Uncle.]

And then suddenly the darkness disappeared, and a light enveloped me, leading to all of us seeing each other. All of us were floating in mid air, and I could see the old man, wearing orange clothes for his bottom half, he looked stern, folding his arms and standing there, yet his face contained a sad smile. His physique was simply amazing, his body was honed to its limits, and the muscles looked toned. He had long hair slicked back, with stripes of white, indicating his old age. 

[Well then, shall we seal the deal?] The old man asked.

[Alright.] I replied to him.

Then I went ahead and shook his hands, leading me back to reality. My mother’s face above me, and the sage next to me, kneeling down and sitting there. I then got up and put my hand on my head, it was painful, just like the usual headaches I got.

Mom then hugged me, but I was sleepy, and just slept in her arms.

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