Foreboding Storm - Chapter 142

Bai Lan smiled and walked up to the girl.

“We have to wait until daybreak. The Dark Moon has ascended and no one should walk under its shadow.”

“The Dark Moon?” Princess Qamari turned and looked out the shack flap at the black disk in the center of the sky.

“Yes. The Dark Moon ascends once a century. But even though it only ascends once in a century, it’s one of the most dreaded times for all magicians.”

“Why?” Seeing there wasn’t any chance of them leaving at the moment, Princess Qamari returned to the cot and sat with her sword on her lap.

Bai Lan followed and sat beside the cot as she explained.

“The ascent of the Dark Moon is a time when the entire seven realms get engulfed in absolute darkness. It is a time when the presence of light is dimmed and darkness rules. It is a time when dark magic is at its strongest. And because of this, magicians dread it. Because at this time, the dark magic wielders become two-three times stronger than usual.”

“How can the presence of a single celestial body have such an effect? The magicians are elemental wielders because they have elemental magic in their veins. But how can the celestial body affect the elemental energy bestowed by the heart of the realm?”

“That’s where everyone is mistaken. The elemental magic might be bestowed by the heart of the realm, but they forget that even the heart of the realm is under the light and shadow of the moon. And when the mystical powers of the moon fall on the heart of the realms, then the magic’s properties are subtly changed.”

Princess Qamari frowned. From Bai Lan’s words, she sensed a hidden meaning.

“Therefore, the elemental magic in everyone’s veins carries a hint trace of those mystical properties. And under the moon’s shadow, those properties are enhanced. Dark magic wielders possess greater quantities of dark elemental energy. This energy receives a boost in power under the Dark Moon’s effect, leading to the descent of chaos…”

“The reason we can’t leave is…”

“Aside from the possibility of getting influenced by its mystical properties, there’s also the chance of encountering dark magic wielders.”

“Wonderful…” It wasn’t her thing to be sarcastic, but Princess Qamari felt irritated by all the magic and dark magic nonsense.

Was it just her, or did things seem to get more complicated?

*

Bang!

Aarya Quime slammed her door shut, her eyes flaming with hatred and deep resentment.

“How? How could she be level 3? How could she be level 3 already?”

Why?

Why was she so talented!?

The heavens were obviously playing favorites, giving all the good things to one person. With another enraged roar, she crushed her worktable to the ground.

Knock! Knock!

At this moment, subdued knocks came from the door, pulling her out of trance.

“Aarya Quime, are you inside?” Marui Osklain’s voice resounded from outside. Without waiting for an invitation, she pushed the door open and came in.

But the moment she saw the condition of the place, her eyes turned wide with shock.

“What is going on here?”

“Nothing of much importance. Tell me, did you get it?”

“Yes.” Side-stepping the mess, she handed a mirror like object to the female.

Aarya Quime snatched the object and infused her elemental magic. Light swirled before gathering into a screen-like appearance. Then the screen cleared and the image of a man appeared on its surface.

Huuuuu!

Aarya Quime and Marui Osklain gasped in astonishment. The appearance and aura of the man caught them off guard.

“Is this…?”

“It seems to be? The image was drawn by a member of the Mistland Academy.”

“Heh…No wonder Sister Ling is smitten.”

Princess Qamari, so what if you’re a beloved of the heavens? If they shower you with all the good things in the realms, then I’ll just snatch those good things from you!

The image on the screen was that of Crown Prince Lail…

*

Leader Ku came into the shack to find the girl awake and Bai Lan enthusiastically chatting with her.

“You’re awake? How are you feeling?”

Princess Qamari was startled at the sound of the new voice. Turning her head, she saw a dark-haired man with dark eyes standing at the entrance of the shack.

“You are…?”

“This is Leader Ku. He is the leader of the Jinn Hunters. In the future, he’ll be the one training you.”

Princess Qamari stood up and greeted.

“Leader Ku, it’s nice to meet you. I am Princess Qamari Ramulas. You can call me Princess Qamari.”

Leader Ku was caught off guard by both Bai Lan and the girl. He didn’t remember agreeing to teach the girl. And yet, Bai Lan had already made him the master of the girl!

Now, whether he wanted it or not, he had to train her.

Bai Lan smiled. The complicated expression on Leader Ku’s face told her all she needed to know. The man was going to train her little ancestor…

“Since you’re introduced. Should we depart? The journey to Bai Settlement isn’t an easy one, especially when there are possibilities of encountering the monitoring patrol up the hill.”

“We’re ready to depart anytime you’re ready, Leader Bai. I’ll be taking only a squad of my people. The rest will remain behind to keep an eye on the situation.” Giving the two girls a final nod, he turned and walked out of the shack.

The night ended and with it, the Dark Moon disappeared.

But everyone knew that this was just the beginning. The Dark Moon had ascended and for an entire six months, everything would be still and silent like the calm before the storm.

Once the six months passed, that’s when the reign of terror would begin.

Leader Ku walked past his men and stood on the edge of the settlement, his vacant gaze sweeping over the peaceful and happy expressions of the settlement.

“It must be great to be ignorant.” He scoffed.

As ordinary civilians that were more concerned about their daily living necessities, the ordinary natives hadn’t any clue about the disaster about to strike.

Even though Leader Ku appeared relaxed and unaffected by the impending nightmare, his repetitive inquires and great concern for the prophecy girl showed how restless his heart was.

“Leader Ku, are you alright?” Hu Wan appeared beside the man and asked with concern.

She could sense their leader was a bit off, but as long as he didn’t speak first, all she could do was ask after his health.

“I’m fine, Hu Wan. Don’t worry. Leader Bai wants me to train the girl. I’ll be returning to the Bai settlement with her. In the main time, you’re in charge of the Jinn Hunters. Because of the ascent of the Dark Moon, there’ll be unrest and disturbance among the settlements. We need to stay clear out of their issues. Remember, we’re Jinn Hunters. We hunt Jinns. It’s not our duty to interfere in the affairs of the settlements.”

“Yes, Leader. You be careful.” Hu Wan solemnly nodded.

“Inform Leader Bai I went to take care of some errands. I’ll be back in a bit.” With a quick nod, Leader Ku disappeared into the distance.

Leader Ku moved through the ruins and rubbles, the place of their clash with the Dark Jinn, and headed west.

On the West of the Northwest laid the West Minions Faction Caults. A group of nomadic people that migrated from Ice Plains in the North, the nomadic people settled on the west of the Northwest.

As people used to the cold, the sudden warm air had caught many unprepared, resulting in them getting sick and ill, until half of their numbers were wiped out.

After encountering various trials in the form of being ostracized and disdained by the other factions, they were forced to take up arms and fight for land. Their struggle paid off as in the end, they got the West of the Northwest and created the West Minions Faction.

Leader Ku moved rapidly, seemingly racing against time as he leaped from tree to tree, hill to hill until finally spotting the settlement shack houses among the sparse trees.

Leaping down from a tree, Leader Ku unhurriedly walked through the fence gate and headed towards the Tribe Leader’s hut.

“Ku Yan, is that you? You’re back?”

“Ku Yan is back. I wonder if he came to see his mom.”

“Aye…what’s there to see? The woman had been poisoned by her own daughter-in-law. I still can’t believe she was in cahoots with a Jinn.”

“Don’t say more. Ku Yan won’t like it. After all, he was the one that brought the girl.”

The village women whispered and gossiped among themselves as they watched Ku Yan expressionlessly pass them. They appeared to be pitying him, but from the gleeful gleam in their eyes, it was evident that they were enjoying his misfortune.

Ku Yan felt his heart painfully clench in his chest when the villagers mentioned his ex-wife. He met Su Ra at a market trade and liked the girl at first sight. When she told him she didn’t have a family, without looking into her background, he had brought her home.

Believing himself lucky for getting such a pretty wife, he went against his mother’s choice and married her.

But it was from there that Ku Yan’s nightmare began.

The woman he believed to be a pretty, innocent, orphan girl made a trade with a Jinn for beauty. In return, the Jinn desired the willing heart of a wise woman.

His mother, the wise leader of the Ku Tribe, was Su Ra’s target.

But his mother wasn’t easily taken in by Su Ra and using her wisdom, exposed her identity before the village. Su Ra put on a drama of being deliberately targeted by her mother-in-law as she wasn’t her choice. Ku Yan believed her words and threatened to leave the Ku Tribe forever if his mother failed to behave well with his wife.

Blinded by her fake image, Ku Yan left his mother in her care to take care of his shop. But when he returned, he found his mother bedridden and handicapped.

Su Ra informed him his mother fell into the creek while she was doing laundry, but the villagers failed to see anything.

In fact, it was only upon his appearance that they found out his mom got into an accident. The natives voted for a new leader as a handicapped individual couldn’t oversee the settlements’ affairs and his mother lost the status of Leader Ku.

From that day, whether pained by her new condition or shattered by the incident, his mother had completely stopped talking to him.

Ku Yan felt uncomfortable with the sudden distance between them and stopped going to shop and tried to spend more time with her. But his mother ignored him and overlooked his attempts, making him sad and depressed.

Suffocated by the environment at home, he wanted to go into the woods for a breather but told Su Ra he was going to town as he didn’t want to dampen the atmosphere with his depressive emotions.

As such, he happened to return earlier than usual and just happened to witness Su Ra feeding his mother Scorpion Poison.

The scene chilled him to his heart as understanding finally dawned on him.

His mother didn’t become handicapped by an accident.

Su Ra had poisoned her.

He was so enraged that he wanted to kill the wench on the spot, but a Jinn appeared and saved her from his wrath. From then, he became the stain of the Ku Tribe, as the wife he brought home poisoned his mother until she became bedridden.

It was also him that ended the line of Ku Leaders from his great-grandparents’ generation.

Filled with hate and endless guilt, Ku Yan of the Ku Tribe, became Leader Ku of the Jinn Hunters to haunt down Jinns and seek revenge from the woman that ruined him.

“Leader Ji, I’ve returned with news about the prophecy girl.” Standing outside Leader Ji’s shack, Ku Yan blocked out the women’s voices and schooled his features.

This wasn’t the time to dwell on the past.