Leavetaking 4
SoYa followed KiNa back into his room and sat down on the edge of the bed. He felt relief of knowing his student was still in one piece after doing something as foolish as trying to take on the Manor head-to-head.
"How are you feeling?" SoYa asked, pleasantries first, though he had other, more pressing thoughts on his mind.
"I'm alive," KiNa sat down next to him with a groan.
"And quite lucky to be considering what you went up against," the mind mage told him gently. He didn't want to frighten the boy, but KiNa needed to understand the magnitude of the situation.
His eyes widened as the memory rushed back to him. "They're keeping a monster up there in the Manor! I saw it... claws and fangs and black eyes. But it could talk, too!"
"It's Marked," SoYa nodded slowly. Then he added, to cover his tracks, "They're documented in the journal I'm translating."
KiNa thought about this for a moment. "So, it’s something that comes from that time before our memories? What you're always researching?"
"I believe so."
"And we just don't remember any of it? Why?"
SoYa paused. He had the answer to this now, but he didn't want to share it yet. He didn't think it was time for them to learn about his Awakening and how the reality of his past life now hung across his shoulders. The battles and the loss and the...
I can't dwell on it. That won't do anything to help any of us here and now.
The past was a weight that he had to bear on his own.
I wanted the answers. Now I have them.
Sometimes it's better just not to know.
No. I can't think like that. The past is our truth! I can't run from this. I have to make sure it doesn't happen again!
"Master SoYa?" KiNa asked with a concerned look.
The mind mage shook himself out, realizing he was lost to his thoughts. "Uh, what was the question again?"
"Why don't we remember things?"
"I'm not sure yet," SoYa lied smoothly, feeling terrible that he did. "That's why I have to keep searching the translations."
Another lie. There would be no more translations. He didn't need them anymore, and he couldn't risk the information falling into the wrong hands.
Thankfully, KiNa didn't pursue further questions on the topic. Instead, he asked, with a hint of childlike worry, "So am I in trouble?"
"Yes, you are," SoYa responded, without anger.
The youth grimaced and looked the other way.
"Making a reckless attack like that has repercussions, KiNa," the mind mage tried to explain as gently as he could. "The Manor has guessed at my involvement with the Anarchy movement."
KiNa's chin jerked up, a frightened expression flooding his face. "But we didn't do anything that could trace back to you!"
SoYa hesitated a moment, unsure of how to answer. He wasn't ready yet to tell his student that the winged figure of light that intercepted the Marked at the top of the tower had been him.
"I'm not sure how," was all he could muster. "Still, they sent men out to find me at my home."
"That’s why AsaHi is here," the boy asked, true worry in his eyes.
"Yes," the mind mage winced a bit.
"Oh..." KiNa wrung his hands a bit, realizing this was a lot more trouble than he anticipated. "I'm sorry, Master SoYa... I..."
"I doubt I'll be able to return to the Manor, even under the guise of a teacher," SoYa spoke plainly. "This affects your presence there. It may affect Fu."
The student just cast his eyes around, as if searching for a way to respond to the news. It was obvious he hadn’t thought this far ahead when he concocted the plan to make a strike on the Manor big-wigs.
SoYa did feel sorry for the youth. The outcome was not intended, but it was a cold, hard reality. The mind mage left KiNa to flounder a bit while he decided the best way to advance the conversation. There was something on his mind, though he didn't know the right way to approach it.
Finally, SoYa asked, "Why did you rush ahead to do something like this without my knowledge? You locked me in my study, so you must have known that I wouldn't agree to such a rash plan."
"I was just tired of sitting here watching us getting kicked around by the Manor all the time," KiNa admitted. "We set up all these passive-aggressive plots, always being reactive and not proactive. And then I watch things like what's happening between you and Fu. Suddenly, I thought to myself: This is it! We need to stop this for good!"
"And that was your idea of stopping it for good?" the mind mage arched his eyebrow.
"It probably would have worked if one of the Manor Lords weren't a monster."
"Marked."
"Marked. Monster. Same thing," the boy huffed.
"No. Not always," SoYa murmured.
KiNa gave him a curious look, so the mind mage took him off guard with another random question.
"What's your history with the Manor, KiNa? There was more than just Fu and I. There's something personal to this."
"I..." the student blinked, looking stunned.
"Don't seem so surprised," SoYa told him. "I sensed this about you, even in the very beginning. You were very eager to join me and fight against the Manor. However, you had no real reason to pledge yourself to my cause or follow me. I knew something happened that made you feel that way."
"Kinda, I guess," KiNa pursed his lips.
"I left it be, because I felt that when you were ready, you would tell me the truth. Maybe now, you owe me the truth."
"So, you really are mad?" the boy asked, a pained expression squinting his eyes.
"I'm not mad," SoYa reassured him. "I just need to know why you're doing what you're doing. You're not a child anymore, KiNa. But things from our childhood can fester and grow into troubles in adulthood."
"I just don't want to feel like I have to run from them anymore,” KiNa explained. “I'm always nervous. I'm always afraid they'll recognize me. That one day, I'll be sitting in your office and they'll come in and take me away, like they did Fu."
"Why? What reason do they have to do that?" the mind mage leaned forward, watching his student with an intense look.
"Because… I think I came from the place that was in the time before our memory."
"Really?" SoYa pretended to mull this over.
He knew the truth, of course. He knew the moment that he walked in the room, and memory recognized KiNa from their life before. SoYa had known the boy's parents, and had even talked with a very young KiNa, though the youth didn't remember that time and world.
What I don't understand is how KiNa seems to have aged so little in the time since we arrived on Runne. He was very young the last time I saw him. However, he appears to be similar in age to Fu, if not younger.
SoYa knew something odd had happened, he just didn't know what.
"I've had flashes of mind images sometimes, usually when I'm around the crystal stone that the Ingway keep," KiNa explained. "I remember waking up here. Just like you describe."
"Were you alone when you woke up?"
"No," he shook his head. "I woke up in the Manor. Manor people were standing over me, watching me. Like I was some sort of experiment."
SoYa blinked slowly, taking this information in. "You didn't wake up with the rest of us?"
"No, the Manor was already there," KiNa frowned. "Big dark room, creepy people -- I even remember Zemus being there. They wouldn't tell me what was going on, though they tried to act really nice to me. I was young and didn't understand a lot at first. But as time passed, I started to sense things weren't right. I knew I had to get out of there."
"So, you escaped from the Manor."
"Yes. They didn't like that because... I don't know. I don't really know what they wanted from me," the youth confided. "They conducted research on me. Nothing that hurt me. Mostly magic stuff. I think they knew I was a mind mage, but I also think they thought I was something else, too. I don't know what."
"What happened after you escaped? They tried to find you?"
He nodded, "I think that's when they hired the Darkman. Originally, he was supposed to find me and bring me back to the Manor. Then it turned into something else. Something bigger. I knew it... I knew those kids were there because of me. I wanted to stop it."
"I see."
"Even after we busted the Darkman, though, I'm still scared the Manor will realize who I am," KiNa muttered. "I just want to stop living in worry. We can't do that until we take down the ones calling the shots."
SoYa was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Usually, I would agree with you. But learning there's a Marked as a Manor Lord, I think there’s something more than meets the eye. Even for the Manor."
"What do you mean?"
"This may all go beyond the Manor Lords," the mind mage spoke grimly. "Even if you were successful in taking down the Manor Lord, someone would replace him. I think the real power of the Manor lies beyond the leadership."
"That’s what that Marked said, too. You believe that?" KiNa grit his teeth, looking uncomfortable at the thought.
"Yes, I do."
"Then why did they want me?" the boy mulled.
SoYa already pieced it all together in his mind. It had been a very long time since the incident with the discovery. He wasn't privy to all the knowledge of the situation, but he had been there to witness the excavation. It was only now that everything fell into place.
The mind mage let out a long breath. There was so much he was keeping secret, more than even before. This was certainly one thing he could share.
"It had to do with how the Manor found you," SoYa told him.
KiNa blinked, turning to his teacher, "What?"
"I didn't realize it until now," he said with honesty, "But I was there when they found you. I think I know why they believe you're important."
A parade of emotion crossed the boy's face, finally settling on worried curiosity. He spoke slowly, with deliberation, "Tell me, Master SoYa. I want to know."