Rise of the Nameless Heir-Chapter 16: The One Who Laughs At The World

"Yes, your Chi," Dinan speaks, blinking slowly.

But, I thought.

"I don’t understand. You said–"

"I know what I said, Ralyn." He cuts me off. Rudely.

The left side of my lips slightly curves up, forming a dry, annoyed grimace.

He simply avoids eye contact, pretending like he isn’t seeing my expression.

"I thought we both agreed that you’ll address me as Young Master now?" I pressed, a gloomy frown plastered on my face.

"Anyway, Chi, no matter how little it is, flares in both the soul and body when strong emotions spike to a certain degree. For the inexperienced, like you, this Chi reaction is internal. It’ll feel like it is and isn’t at the same time. But for the experienced like me, it happens both internally and externally."

Dinan wipes his nose, sniffing as he lets out a low, deep grunting, pushing himself upward.

He stands, arms crossed, head faced downward, eyes locked into mine. I just sit still, staring at him.

"That’s why we as swordsmen must learn to control our emotions and emotional reactions. Because our Chi controls Tein. And.. that’s self explanatory." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Is it really?

I let out a soft sigh as I stand up slowly.

That might explain what I felt during my interaction with the Patriarch. Hmm.

"Does this flaring Chi cause a non-existent weight to press down on people?" I ask Dinan. My expression is neutral as I eagerly await his response.

"Yes, and no." He replies, bluntly.

Huh?

"What do you mean?"

"I meant what I said. Yes, and no." So blunt. So utterly blunt that I don’t even know how to react.

My lips part to speak, but words hang, unable to come out as I stare at his unbothered expression. I force the words, "Then," I say, crouching low to take my shirt. "What exactly is ’yes, and no.’"

"You felt the weight that pressed down on your legs when you were running, right?" He asks.

I nod. "I did."

"Not anybody can do that. The Patriarch is probably the only person apart from me who’s capable of doing that in this family. Not even the captain of the Flameworths forces can."

Is that so? So it’s hard to learn or master, or maybe it’s not taught but rather attained? I don’t know. This Chi and Tein.. No, this entire world is a mystery to me.

"Don’t mix it up, though. That ’weight’ wasn’t caused by Chi. It was caused by Tein. My mastery in Tein is the level of a first-grade warrior." He says, holding his head high, a subtle gleam flashes through his black eyes.

That gleam has no color. It only has a name.

Pride.

I look away from him, staring straight at the distance.

I’m tired. My body’s heavy. And now he’s saying things that are not so easy to grasp.

I turn, looking at him again. "That will be all for today, yes?"

He nods. "Yes, we’ll meet again tomorrow. Early in the morning. I won’t be using my Tein as weight, though. I’ll be bringing equipment that’ll help in that regard." He takes a step forward, toward me. Then he slowly walks and arrives at my front, and he pokes my stomach with his index finger. "We’ll have to strengthen your core before we move to footwork." He says as he turns to leave.

I breathe out a sigh of relief as he walks away, waving from behind.

Finally.

"Goodbye, ’Young Master.’" He speaks as he reaches the large, stone wall.

The veins on my forehead bulge, and my eyes twitch slightly as I stare at his bright grin from a distance.

"Oh! Before I forget." He speaks, and as he does so, he outstretches his left hand.

Something moves past my left ear like a misfired bullet, tearing the air as it moves.

I just stand, frozen. My eyes refuse to blink.

I finally blink. When I open my eyes, I see the two wooden swords held tightly within his left grip. He raises it, shaking it in the air for me to see clearly. Then he nods and walks out of the stone door. To wherever his quarter is.

I rub my eyes. Maybe by doing so, I can somehow ease myself from this overwhelming feeling that’s whispering in my ears, telling me to chase after Dinan, catch him, and break his nose and bruise him a little.

"Let’s just go back. I need to rest. And sleep." I whisper. Making my way toward my quarter.

______________

’This dream again... even in this new world?’ I tried to whisper, but my voice didn’t come out. No, it was like it couldn’t come out at all.

I was seeing it again...

Various tenements of mountains stretched out on the horizon, painted crimson with the blood of men and women alike.

The sun was dyed red, and the world was dull.

The pain-filled screams of random men and women beneath the mountains raged on.

Those screams increased, and as they increased, I realized that the entire world was raging in pain.

They were being burnt from the inside out. Some people exploded from the intensity of the heat.

A dark, looming shadow eventually covered the entire world. It was like something you’d see during an eclipse.

The moment this happened, every single person paused their screams, enduring the pain they felt as they looked up to the sky.

What their widened eyes captured was the figure of a man.

A man whose face couldn’t be seen properly as he floated in the air, haloed by the dull red light from the sun.

He looked down on the entire world with a wide, satisfied grin, as if their doom was a fuel for his joy.

And when I squinted, straining my eyes to get a good look at him through the haze, what I saw shocked me.

His crystal blue eyes snapped into focus, meeting mine across the impossible distance. And as they did, his maniacal grin widened, as if he had been waiting for me.

Then I realized it.

That man was me.