The Stonehearted Knight-Chapter 423: Much needed answers (1)

"Mother?" Hex blurted at last. The shock of seeing her, that too here, got his tongue for some time. "Why are you here?"

He, or rather Sterling’s spies, had been searching for her whereabouts. There were questions that needed answers.

"I followed you, of course," Medina, still possessing Cyantha, said. Her warm smile melted some of his wariness away.

’Be alert. Even if she isn’t her corrupted self right now, she soon will be.’ He warned himself. Repeatedly.

"Why?" He asked. Her presence alarmed him. Not only because it was unexpected, but also due to her ability to hide from him. Surely, after his recent refinements and growth, his senses should have improved. And...she was supposed to be under observation.

"That’s what I wanne know. Why? Why are your spies searching for me? Are you in trouble?"

Her concerned voice and worried look nearly disarmed him. It took an irritating inside voice to remain alert. The warmth welling up inside him was beyond suppression, though.

’Wait. She knows I am looking for her.’ He had not expected her to discover the spies before being spotted but then again, she was the Witch. His mother was known to hide and cover her tracks. Not even the best people in the world had been able to outwit her. A few hopeless, nosey people would certainly not fare better.

She looked at him, worried and curious. Hex contemplated his options. Lying and hopefully preventing her from turning into her awful self. Or to be honest, so he could dispel the doubts clouding his mind ever since he went through the books and scrolls.

"I went to the library." Before he could explain, he stopped. Her reaction put him on alert. Medina’s smile faltered as soon as she heard him mention the library. An ordinary one wouldn’t be worth mentioning.

’If she is worried about the things I have read, things that happened after she left Wrixia, does that mean...?’ His thoughts trailed off.

"You remembered everything? Or...your memories weren’t missing at all?" Hex asked, feeling...hurt. Their brief encounters, her calling him son, assuring him that she would be there to have his back if things went bad during their journey, all felt shallow. And like a joke.

She didn’t reply immediately. Her silence weighed heavily, making his breath slow. Her gaze remained fixed on him. Why was she staring at him? It struck him suddenly. She was contemplating which version to tell him, just like he had done.

"They were never my memories to start with," Medina said, after what had felt like a long time, but perhaps had been a few seconds.

"What do you mean? And could you be a bit more direct? All these vague replies with many unsaid things are working on my patience lately. Look. My words are direct. Please, for once, be too." He wasn’t exaggerating. Every new bit of information came wrapped in doubts.

"Very well," Medina said. She even chuckled a little. "If I may point out, though, you were not as direct at the start. You could have asked what you wished to know immediately."

"True," Hex confessed. "Let me be direct, then. When did you regain your memories...no, you say they aren’t your memories, so what are they? What are you? And can you explain your plans to me? At least, things connected directly to me?"

There were many more questions swirling in his mind, but these were the rather important ones. He had to know these. Suddenly, he sensed something changed. Startled, he looked up. Nothing seemed to have changed, but they were cut off from the environment.

"Don’t worry," Medina said, smiling back again. "Some things are not spoken out loud for even the leaves might hear you."

That...made sense. They were in a place where everything was part of a Taboo. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

His mother guessed his thoughts. "He isn’t able to do as he pleases. Not yet. If His plans work out, He will be free soon enough. But we don’t have much time. He is, after all, still able to sense abnormalities."

Hex perked up. Despite his improvements and insights, he fell short against his mother. Her application of the Veil of Death mixed with space-related abilities escaped his comprehension. A quick glance, as there was little time, still inspired him a lot. He would have to ponder these newfound ideas. But not now. Now he listened.

"Much of what you have read and heard up to the point of my leaving Wrixia is correct. I followed my sister out of this place, for here I might never have grown beyond what He allowed. As a Cursed, I didn’t even have Blessings to count on." She looked up. "Do you know what it means to be a Cursed?"

"Cursed are those who aren’t Blessed," Hex repeated what he had learned. Only now, as he said it out loud, knowing what he knew, his mind churned further. "Blessings were the means through which deities harvested their powers. But they are no more. The heavens gave those Blessings. And those, like you, who didn’t get, were deemed unworthy of such?"

The last was conjecture.

"Almost correct. Indeed, the gods are no more. But their Will remains. Their rules and desire to persist beyond death permeated through Heaven’s creation, becoming one with it. Cursed are people whose Strings of Fate have been altered not to receive Blessings. The reason: they are all descendants of a group that angered the deities in the Third Age."

"What did they do?" Hex asked. They had been sidetracked, and there was little time. Yet, he couldn’t help but ask more. The concept of Cursed had dominated much of his life...and of his mother.

"They dared to seek to unravel the mysteries behind the Blessings. They researched it and even managed to replicate many of those powers. Their progress scared and therefore angered the deities. But being deities, their goal was to use the reverence of humans to harvest more power – they couldn’t just eliminate them. They wanted to. But they feared losing followers above their fear of some humans understanding their abilities.

To that end, they just weaved a new Law, preventing those researchers and their offspring from gaining Blessings. With time, the Laws fused and bent. Why else would Sister gain her Blessings, but the remnants of those powers lingered. Now and then, it resulted in people like me. While most, actually everyone aside from me, accepted it as fate, I wasn’t willing to. As such, I became a Witch, a person capable of wielding Blessings while being a Cursed."