Chapter 15 - The Calm After the Storm

Tiberius didn't understand what Rael meant by guidance, but he wasn't in a position to question it. He was hurt, in a strange place, and surrounded by strangers (aside from Rael, of course).

He was still unable to recall every detail of what had happened because his mind was foggy. He only began to recall after the doctor put him back down. He was injured and Rovshen tried to protect him but was late. But after that, it is just blank.

“What happened? Where am I?” He asked the doctor.

“Stabbed,” he replied, “and you are somewhere safe. That is all you need to know for now.”

“Safe?” he asked again but started to cough, which made his pain worse. “Can I get something for the pain?”

“So it hurts at the same level. Interesting,” the doctor said, turning his back and walking toward the table behind him. He took a glass of water (or what appeared to be water) and handed it to Tiberius.

“This should ease the pain for a while,” he said, lifting him and helping him to drink it.

“Tastes weird,” Tiberius said after drinking.

“If it tasted good, idiots would catch a cold just for the treat,” he said, sitting on the chair next to Tiberius. “So, how did you end up here?”

“I don’t know; black mist surrounded me when I was at work, and I fell here,” he replied, making a sour face because of the pain.

“Mist, huh?”

“Do you know anything about it?” Tiberius asked. The doctor had reacted way too calmly to his words, as if he was already familiar with it.

“Nope,” he replied, “never heard of it.”

Tiberius sighed and tried to close his eyes and sleep, but he forgot the most important thing.

“Where am I?” he asked.

“Tanshy.”

“Tanshy? Isn’t that…” Tiberius suddenly remembered Rovshen’s words, “Tanshy, as in ‘Devil’s Land’?”

“Yea, as in Devil’s Land Tanshy,” the doctor said with a confident tone.

“But this place is dangerous,” he said with a scared tone, trying to lift himself up.

“Calm down. They are no worse than others. Relax.”

“But Gyoz is—”

“We are far away from Gyoz. Don’t worry about it. You just need to rest.” The doctor interrupted him.

“You are sure nothing will attack us?” he asked.

“Well…” the doctor stopped for a moment, “If they are too hungry, one or two of them might. Don’t take us lightly.” He replied with a smile, then took a book from the shelf, “Now, go to sleep and heal fast. The captain said he’s going to have a word with you when you get better.”

“Captain?” asked Tiberius with a confused expression. “What does he want from me?”

“I don’t know, but he probably has a reason if he attacked a capital to get you.”

“So your captain is him?”

“Yes, Rael is our captain.”

Tiberius closed his eyes and slept for a while. He was too tired to ask so he left them for later.

He did not know how long it had been, but when he woke up, there was no one next to him.

“Anyone there?” He called but couldn’t get any reply.

He felt he could stand up now that his pain had subsided, so he did. Only now, after getting out of bed, did he realize that the pajama he was wearing was noticeably too small for him. Lifting the shirt, he noticed the injury had been sewn.

“Isn’t there any water here?” he muttered. He was thirsty, and because he couldn’t find anything he could drink, he left the room and directly went outside. It wasn't until now that he realized he was in a big tent rather than a room.

There were dozens of them where he was, and they weren’t just little camp tents—you could actually live in them. Different shapes and colors, as if made by a nomadic tribe, but with a more modern, settled feel, built with no intention of ever moving.

As he walked outside, people around started to notice him. But unlike in the capital, where they were scared, they just gave him a look and continued their work. Some of them were doing daily chores, some were training their magic, and there were even kids who were running around and playing.

He walked past a few tents and suddenly heard a familiar voice from one of them.

“May I come in?” he asked, and a second later, the door opened.

“You are already walking?” The doctor who treated him came closer and held his arm, helping him to get inside and sit. “It’s impressive, but you shouldn’t push yourself too much.”

“It’s fine; it doesn’t hurt much.”

“Then, would you like to join our meeting?” said the voice Tiberius came for. No surprise, it was Rael.

“Why did you bring me here?” he asked, making a sour face. Looks like the painkiller was wearing off.

“You seemed fun, so…” Rael shrugged his shoulders with a smirk.

“You are telling me that I got stabbed because you thought I was fun?” He raised his voice.

“Oh, stabbed, true,” Rael went close to the tent’s door and looked out. “Maria, come here,” he called.

The girl came and on closer look, Tiberius recognized her immediately. She was the one who stabbed him.

“I am sorry for misunderstanding,” she said, bowing before him. “I hope you will forgive my action.”

“Misunderstanding? Forgiving?” he got mad over her words and tried to stand up but the doctor pushed down from his shoulder, not letting him. “You did not steal my money; you stabbed me to death. I could die!” he screamed and held his injury since it started to hurt bad.

“But you didn’t,” said Rael, still smiling. “You can go now,” he told the girl.

She first thanked Tibrius, then Rael and left the room. Since Tiberius was at the door, he could see her face. She looked scared.

“Look, she is just a child, and it was her first mission. Just let this one go, okay?”

“This one?” Tiberius’s eyes widened. “You plan to stab me again? Who are you people?!”

After saying this, he looked around and searched for an escape route, but how could he? This was even worse than when he was with the prince.

“No, of course not. Why would we? And don’t worry, we will not do any tests on you. Right, Herald?” Rael looked at the doctor with a serious expression.

“Okay, I promise,” he said annoyedly.

“Now, we are done,” he said, looking at the map on the table. “We will continue the meeting later, so everyone, feel free to leave.”

As he ordered, everyone left the room, including the doctor, Herald, but left Tiberius there. When he tried to stand up and go, Rael lifted his hand with an open palm. “Not you,” he said.

“Why?” Tiberius asked, sitting back.

“Because I wanna know what you think about these events,” Rael answered, taking a chair and putting it the opposite way, next to Tiberius. He sat and put his arms on the back of the chair. “So tell me, what do you think of this world?”

“This world?” Tiberius repeated with confusion. He did not understand the exact meaning of the question. Was he asking about the people? Country? Or maybe as the world itself?

It has indeed been more than two months since he has been living here, but he did not believe he was knowledgeable enough to judge it in any meaningful way. Everything aside, why would Rael care about his view on this? Isn’t he just a foreigner?

“It’s good. I still miss my world from time to time; however, the place does not feel too alien to me.”

“I’m glad you like it so far, but that is not the question,” he said, taking a cigarette out of his pocket, but as he was about to light it, he changed his mind and threw it away. “Can’t smoke next to an injured man, can I?” he added with a smile. Of course, this was just an excuse. He didn’t like the taste of it but was too curious since people from all six nations would smoke.

“If that is not your question, then I don’t know what the answer is,” Tiberius replied.

“I am curious about your view on these events, especially the festivals.”

“Which one?” he asked, as if he were knowledgeable in both. He had been in both festivals that were internationally celebrated, and both of them were interrupted, either by him or them.

“Both, actually. I wanna know what you think of them.”

“Well, the sword festival is still unknown to me, since the concept of God is not the same as you guys. But for the one you guys stabbed me,” he raised his voice slightly, making sure Rael could get what he meant, to which he just smirked. “It is kind of…” he stopped. He couldn’t find the word to describe what he was feeling about it.

“You think it is wrong, don’t you?” Rael said with a confidence like he found the answer he was looking for.

“Could be. Sending kids, especially those who don’t have faith in gods, to get blessings is kind of the same as my world.”

“You have the same festival too?” Rael wondered.

“No, not anymore. At least we don’t face them anymore. However, in past times, people would sacrifice some of their own, most of the time the ones that looked or thought differently, for gods to forgive their people. Or for rain, that was also one of the reasons.”

“Would that work?”

“Killing someone for a drop of rain that has nothing to do with human life but with nature itself? Of course not. They were stupid to believe someone’s blood would give them a better future,” Tiberius replied aggressively.

“That was all I needed. Now, go rest so we can talk in depth,” said Rael, standing up and about to leave the room.

“I also have a question,” said Tiberius, but then corrected himself, “Two actually.”

“Sure, ask away,” Rael said and waited next to the tent’s door.

“First, why did you bring me here?”

“You will find it out yourself after we talk next time.”

This response did not satisfy Tiberius, but he did not want to dwell on it too long.

"The second question is, why did she stab me?"

Rael gave a deep sigh before answering, “Are you still there? It was a misunderstanding and won’t happen again. I made sure of it. Any other questions?” He asked annoyedly, like a child who wanted to go and play.

“No,” Tiberius replied.

“Okay then, Harald will come in a minute, so wait till he comes, and then get some rest. See you,” Rael said and left the room.

…

[The day of attack, after they reached the camp]

“Quick, get him to Harald. I only wanna hear good news,” Rael ordered with a slight panic.

“Roger!” they said, rushing toward the doctor’s tent while carrying Tiberius’s injured body.

Then Rael looked around; seeing everyone’s attention was on him, he gave a short speech that everyone was expecting.

“Good job, everyone. Take care of the kids,” he said.

“And?” someone asked.

“And nothing, good work,” he replied

“Is that all we get for attacking the capital?” another one asked.

This question made Rael giggle a bit. “Okay, I will give you a pat on the head after dinner,” he said.

Hearing this, everyone who was around him complained and just went to their tents or continued their work.

“Maria,” Rael called, “follow me to my tent.”

She did as he ordered. Until they entered his tent, none of them spoke a word, not a question. Maria couldn’t talk because she knew why he asked her to follow him, but she never expected to make him this mad—that he didn’t even crack a joke with her, which was typical for him.

“What did I order before we left the camp?” asked Rael with a serious tone.

“Silently entering the city while—” she said, but her voice was too low since she was scared.

“I can’t hear you, Maria.” Rael raised his voice so much that people outside definitely heard him. Of course, no one thought of interrupting them.

“Silently entering the city while Jack’s illusion distracts everyone and kidnapping kids, together with the tall man,” she explained with a shaky voice. Her fear could be heard from every breath she took.

“Then why did you stab him? Did I not order to not hurt anyone this time?”

“You did.” Teardrops began to form beneath her eyes.

“Then why did you stab him?” Rael started to aggressively rub his face.

“I thought he broke the illusion and—”

“How the fuck can someone break an illusion if they don’t even have mana, Maria? Huh? Can you explain it to me? Only one there who could break the illusion was Rovshen, and we knew that. You knew that. But the hate for your parents is too much that you can’t even complete a mission.”

She couldn’t say anything; all she did was start to cry and hiccup silently.

“Rovshen could kill you there. We all know what he is capable of, but luckily, he didn’t. Now, count yourself lucky and apologize to Tiberius when he wakes up. If you continue chasing revenge, you won’t get anything. You hear me?”

She silently nodded.

“Good, now go wash your face.” Rael ended the conversation and let her leave the room.

As she left, he sat on a chair and started to move his fingers on the sides of his forehead as if he were massaging it.

“You will understand me one day; everyone will.”