Chapter 23: HBA – Chapter 22 – Arc 2 – That… part had produced unforeseen circumstances?

“Change you seek, Change you will get.”

 

“However, care that the Change is what you expect.”

 

“Change loves throwing curve balls at everybody.”

 

“How you deal with the unexpected Changes is what divides the successful from the failures.”

Quote #3 - of the Shamanistic Crafts and Rituals

 

*

 

Pa’Li gazed upon the golden city that was his homeland he had not seen for quite some time.

 

In this case, being about a decade or so.

 

At first, it was just a Mission. Now it has become a Journey of Introspection, where he questioned a few things regarding himself and others.

 

The Journey had made him question things. And it had made him stronger than who he was before he started on this supposed Mission. 

 

He even had proof of his Ascension.

 

Upon his forehead, hidden by his golden mane, was the symbol of the Sun. 

 

The Mark of the Sun embellished his sun-kissed complexion with its golden color. It just had to be golden, as gold represented his species and the Li’On Pantheon. 

 

There simply was no way around it. 

 

It displayed said facts as he walked through the crowds of people. 

 

Even though the Mark of the Sun was hidden by his mane. Every Li’On that saw him instinctively felt the Mark of the Sun on his forehead.

 

All of them gawked and fawned when they noticed somebody from the 4th Stage of Ascension passing them by. 

 

The Mark represented Power. 

 

The Mark represented Dedication over a long period of time.

 

The Mark represented Status. Enough status to be registered in the Book of Heroes.

 

Enough status to join the Ascended who ruled over the Li’On Domain and have a say in what goes across the Domain. 

 

Most of all it represented the bare minimum requirement to begin one's contest for the Prime Li’On position of the Pantheon. 

 

Still, all that was for the future. Right now, all Pa’Li wanted to do was to return to his home and re-establish bonds with his younger twin brother. However, when he reached their house and opened that circular door, and looked through the whole house, there was no sight of his brother.

Not finding his younger brother, he shook his head and relaxed for the day. 

 

Yet, when his younger brother still did not return by the next sunrise, he wondered what he was doing, but whatever it was, he had a Temple to visit. 

 

On his way there, more people recognized what he represented, and while none interrupted him, they all paid their respects by lowering their heads down slightly, well, almost all. 

 

The cubs were an exception with their awed expressions.

 

Before the Temple of the Oracles, guards stood and guarded the entrance. With the mark representing what he was. He ignored them, and they opened the door to him. 

 

Once inside, he once more stared at the Golden Status of the past Heroes. 

 

All of them had the same Mark, but a few differed by color. Those who had embraced Destruction, usually represented by the Military, had Black Suns painted on their golden foreheads.

 

When he reached the end hall, the magnificent door appeared again. He stared at it for the few moments it took the guards to open the huge doors. 

 

Once inside, he passed the huge stone columns decorated with gold, and at the end, he found the Head Oracle sitting on his golden throne waiting for him.

 

Unlike the last time he was here, he did not kneel before the Head Oracle. However, he did take a good long look at the Old Li’On sitting in front of him.

 

His face and postures had not changed. However, he could feel a weird but familiar vigor emanating from the old Li’On. 

 

“ Ascended Pa’Li has come before the Oracle to finish the Mission assigned to him.” Pa’Li declared, slightly distant from his tone, but the demand was without a doubt in his voice.

 

“Welcome back, Ascended Pa’Li, and congratulations on your Ascension to the 4th Stage.” The Old Li’On replied. “ However, I do not see the promised goal of the Mission.”

 

Hearing it, Pa’Li showcased his right-hand palm towards the ceiling of the Temple to the Head Oracle. Upon the hand, Golden Flames manifested, and from its Flames, a book made of gold appeared.

 

“Inside this book, I have recorded everything regarding the White Streak Fury that I witnessed, as well as the workings of its White Flame.” Pa’Li explained as the book in question hovered slightly above his palm. 

 

Then with a push of his Mana, the book flew to the Old Li’On on his throne.

 

The Old Oracle grabbed the golden book, opened it, and leafed through the pages that did not behave like solid metal at all. They were soft to the touch and easily folded and curved before returning to their initial shape.

 

“And the other?” The Head Oracle said, while his eyes never left the pages he read.

 

“That… part had produced unforeseen circumstances.” Pa’Li said. ”Due to the natural behavior of the Neutral Flame, any attempt at Branding a White Streak Fury has failed under the condition that it is the White Flame that you seek. Every time the Special Ability of this Species manifested, it would fight off the Branding I had placed upon it.”

 

“So you did not complete the other half of the assignment?” The Old Li’On extrapolated from the words he heard. “You know that that will be half the reward of the assignment?”

 

“I never said that, Head Oracle.” Pa’Li replied. “I am saying that the White Streak Fury is useless if it could not be controlled. Therefore the retrieval part of the assignment is unneeded. The assignment you gave me said I should only retrieve a specimen if the initial observations correlate with what I observed during this assignment. As that is not the case, and the creature being useless without the Flame, I have decided that there was no need to retrieve a specimen.”

 

“Pa’Li, you are arguing about a technicality. While there, it's not enough. I will have to halve the reward since you have not retrieved a specimen.” The Head Oracle reminded the young Ascended Li’On.

 

Maybe, but half is still more than the initial reward promised while doing less work.

 

 The Young Ascended said while smiling at the Old Li’On. ”I have done what was asked of me. I will eagerly await the delivery of the promised resources to my home. Meanwhile, I will be taking my leave. I still have to see my younger brother and celebrate my return.”

 

The Head Oracle’s eyes finally left the pages of the golden book and started at the Young Ascended. “Very well, however, remember this. The promised rewards are agreed on before you become an Ascended. Therefore, the reward will be based upon that requirement.”

 

“I know.” Pa’Li remarked back as if he could not reason that something like this was possible.

 

Ever since he achieved the Creation stage with the Golden Flame, and Ascended to the 4th stage, he knew that this would be the result. 

 

It is for that reason he extended his assignment for a few years. That coupled with the fact that he would not be carrying or pulling a White Streak Fury back with him if it is not Branded. 

 

Far too much work for too little of a reward. 

 

Especially, when resources are far less of a problem now that he reached Creation.

 

Once the Head Oracle nodded to his demand, he made his way back out of the Temple. However, as he walked back home, he could not take his mind off the strange vigor he felt from the old Li’On and Head Oracle of the Temple.

 

A suspicion reached his mind, but he buried it for the moment.

 

Reaching home, he found his younger brother waiting in the launching room. 

 

The first thing that came to his attention was the feeling of seeing his younger brother. 

 

The feeling came not from his bond as twins. No, it came from the Black Sun on his forehead that determined his status in the Military, as well as overall battle capability.

 

However, he ignored it and greeted his younger brother with fondness and hugging as the brothers had done their whole lives.

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“Brother, I knew you came back yesterday, but I could not come sooner.” Ma’Li apologized while still hugging his older brother.

 

“Oh, and congratulations. I knew you'd do it.” 

 

“That was without a doubt.” 

 

“Naturally, now come tell me how everything went.”

 

Nodding, Pa’Li agreed to his younger brother's demand and began telling everything from the beginning.

 

*

 

“So after I had done everything I could to make sure there were no harmful circumstances, I inhaled the White Flame.”

 

“And what happened?”

 

“The Flame coursed through my body without harming anything and just dissipated.”

 

“That's it? I thought something interesting would happen?” Ma’Li expressed his disappointment.

 

“I was too, so I repeated the experiment quite a few more times, and the same happened. It wasn't until I began to cook myself some meat that I noticed a difference.” Pa’Li explained with a nostalgic look on his face. “ I noticed a slight improvement in the way the Flame reacted to my commands. So I posited that consuming the White Flame while it consumed Life Energy from Sapient creatures somehow improved my control of the Golden Flame.”

 

“Oh, Wow, that is amazing. Do you think it will work for me too?”

 

“I do not know how it will interact with Destruction. My understanding tells me it will not help the current you at all.” Pa’Li replied.

 

“Is it because I Ascended? If so, does the same apply to you?” 

 

Pa’Li nodded as a reply. “ Even if I had not Ascended, that is not the problem. I only noticed it because I was so close to Ascending, so my control and perception of the Golden Flame were phenomenal in the first place. However, without said perception, I doubt you would notice it. Unless.”

 

“Unless?”

 

“Unless you are a cub struggling with control and have the White Streak Fury burn lots and lots of Sapient creatures to swallow every single bit of the Flame produced as a result.” Pa’Li reasoned based on his experience of having done it.

 

“I see. A shame then that it's not possible to Brand them.” Ma’Li murmured.

 

“Indeed, a shame. ” Pa’Li commented, but deep inside, he hid something that not even his brother noticed.

 

*

 

Days passed, as Pa’Li got introduced to the other Ascended. 

 

He began to mingle with the few decision makers of their Li’On Pantheon. He learned and realized what it meant to be at the top and what it took to maintain it.

 

Occasionally, when he and his younger brother had free time, they would come together and have fun. Soon, he came across more Li’On’es than he ever did during his life before Ascending. 

 

Every female was strong and beautiful and knew how to please a big and strong Li’On like him. Topics of marriage came more often than not, yet contrary to what people imagined, that was not what had bothered him the most.

A part of him remembered the amount of time spent observing the White Streak Fury and the White Flame they produced. 

 

There were two things he had omitted from the Book he gave to the Head Oracle and even he had mentioned to his younger brother. 

 

The first Pa’Li did in favor of his own curiosity. 

 

Inside the book, he wrote that he had no idea what the Forging stage of the White Flame would do, but that was not entirely correct. 

 

He had an assumption, but the problem became that if he told anybody, there was no way that the White Streak Fury would ever achieve the 3ed Stage of Ascension to explore the possibility. 

 

Branding did not work on them, not if one wanted to make use of the White Flame, and captivity was not very conducive to helping a species achieve the 3ed stage of Ascension. 

 

There needed to be a certain amount of freedom in their actions. Otherwise, the hatred inside them would blossom differently and affect the Ascension.

 

Pa’Li dearly wanted to know if his assumption was correct and if that would not happen in captivity.

 

The second was that the Head Oracle was incorrect in something vital. There weren't four specimens that achieved Sapient status. 

 

Well… technically, there were, but there were 5 White Flame users.

 

As he was passing by the Inner Sea in the center of the Central Continent, he had come across a smaller male White Streak Fury. Smaller meant original sized, but the White Flame it manifested was different, from the other four.

 

From the short tests he did on it, the Flame behaved differently than the White Flame manifested by the other three, he observed before meeting this one, and four after he had observed the last one.

 

However, after recognizing that the Head Oracle was wrong, he knew he could not stay in the area to experiment for long. The reason being that the Head Oracle still scried on him by that point in time. 

 

It was less than in the beginning, but he still did it. So he made the decision to stay away from it and act as if it did not exist.

Another part that bothered the Young Ascended was the Head Oracle.

 

All Li’On’s knew that he was old. He was a generation older than the current Leader of the Pantheon, so he was supposed to be getting weaker, not stronger. 

 

The only explanation he could come up with only made more sense as time passed and his mind pondered the possibilities. 

 

However, if one of the possibilities turned out to be accurate, he did not like the outcome.

 

So one day, he decided to investigate by sneaking inside the Temple to see what was happening.

 

*

 

“Teacher, can you tell us what most likely happened once The Wise of the Twin Suns infiltrated the Temple for his investigation?”

 

“I can tell you the rumors, but what the truth is, I am not sure.” The Old Li’On teacher replied.

 

“The first and the most unlikely rumor to be true is that, The Head Oracle was making a Deal with some Demons or Devils to extend his lifespan.” The Old Li’On explained to his students. “ This one is the most unlikely to happen, as Demons and Devils do not have that power. However, for some reason, it's the most widespread and liked explanation.”

 

“ The second is that once he was inside the Temple, he found out that the Head Oracle had been sacrificing Sapient beings in favor of prolonging his own Life.” The teacher explained. “Its possible, as the Neutral Flame does release the Life Energy of Sapient beings, who had stockpiled it in favor of reaching the 3ed stage of Ascension, but the number of sacrifices needed to give someone that is as old as 7th Head Oracle youthful splendor is stupendous.” 

 

Shaking his head, the Old Li’On teacher went on. “It's just a waste of resources, and that is one of the most likely scenarios that Pa’Li found out. Some believe that Pa’Li killed the Head Oracle as that was a waste of resources and that if Death was already staring him in the face, he might as well help him along the way. However, there are some inconsistencies with this rumor.”

 

“What are those?” A young but familiar voice of a Li’On’es reached the teacher's ears. 

 

“Mi’Li, it should be easy to guess.” He replied. “If Pa’Li had indeed done that, then no matter his justifications, he would have been destroyed by the Ascended for the capital crime of killing the 7th Head Oracle. But that did not happen. No, the fact is that his status after that event gained even more favorability. Moreover, this rumor can not explain the disappearance of the Divine Mirror. The Artifact Treasure passed from one Head Oracle to the next.”

 

Once more, the old teacher shook his head and continued to mention the third most likely rumor.

 

“The third most likely rumor is that Pa’Li found what was mentioned in the second rumor. However, instead of killing the 7th Head Oracle, he tried his best to free the two captured White Streak Fury. But instead got caught by the guards.” He explained to his students. “ The problem with this one is that it straight out denies the brilliant mind he possessed and would just let himself be captured like a moron.”

 

“However, with this rumor. It is theorized that during his Journey, he had come upon the origin of the White Streak Fury and made a deal with it. When he was apprehended, he summoned it somehow and seeing how its kind was tortured, in favor of making use of the Neutral Flame, it had killed the 7th Head Oracle and stolen the Divine Mirror.”

 

“Teacher, what is the problem with that rumor?” Mi’Li asked out loud.

 

“Well, for one, any account of a Giant White Streak Fury appearing was denied even having happened.” The teacher replied. “Pa’Li denied his capture. He denied he would ever need to summon anybody to help him escape. Most of all, he denied having met the origin of the White Streak Fury, much less summoning it.”

 

“But then what happened?”

 

“Well… if one took into account the words of Pa’Li, then he had been at the wrong place at the wrong time.” The teacher shrugged his shoulders. “As for what actually happened, without reviving The Wise of the Twin Suns, we will never know.”

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