The Deceitful One

Monday, 7th February 1581.

It was a cold winter evening and the sun was about to set, casting an orange hue across the darkening sky. Although the day was about to end, the Damascus Train Station was bustling with life.

The sounds of the steam trains blowing their horns could be heard even outside of the station as people went in and out through its two-way entrance.

Right outside the entrance to the train station, a black steam car was parked on the road. And Bryan was leaning against one of its doors as he smoked a cigarette.

He took a deep puff of the cigarette and inhaled the smoke as he felt the nicotine buzz. He glanced at the people around in a daze.

All sorts of people could be seen coming in and going out, businessmen in fine-tailored suits carrying briefcases, families with children and the elderly going on vacation, and even individuals who looked like they were embarking on a new journey in their life.

A month had passed since Jamie had died and a lot had happened since then. Bryan had never stopped his meditation for a single day even if he was going through a tough time.

He had already carved the 45th mind rune and was only a few days of meditation away from carving the next one. He was getting closer to becoming a Transcendent, slowly but steadily. Such things could never be rushed, anyways.

From time to time Bryan was haunted by the dreams of him spending time with Jamie. And in this time of grieving, it dealt a slight blow to Bryan's mentality. Although he had a few sleepless nights, he continued to move forward.

The six children who used to live with Jamie and Ella had been successfully admitted to the St. Mary's Orphanage which was managed by the Church of Wisdom. Thanks to Andrew, there were no hiccups in the admission process.

And as Bryan had requested, the memories of the six children were altered. However, only their memories of Jamie and Ella dying in front of them had been altered.

It was made so that the children remembered that the death of Jamie and Ella was a result of a robbery gone wrong outside their house. It served no purpose to erase all the memories they had with the two.

Hence, Robert only erased their memories of Jamie and Ella dying in front of them at the hands of Anthony. It was much too traumatizing a sight for a little child to witness, after all.

Bryan had also visited them at the orphanage from time to time. He made sure that were settling in properly. The kids were also gradually growing to live with the deaths of Jamie and Ella.

Surprisingly enough, two out of the six kids, Abe and Ava, had shown promising signs of spiritual force affinity developing in their bodies.

When the people from the Church realized this, they were flabbergasted, to say the least!

After all, for a person to have an affinity for gathering spiritual force and subsequently becoming a Transcendent was very minute.

When Abe and Ava would be of age—that is sixteen years old—they would be given the opportunity to become Apprentices and be welcomed into the world of Transcendents.

As Bryan was lost in his thoughts, out of the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of a middle-aged man who was wearing a blue three-piece suit, a black overcoat, and a black top hat exiting the train station.

It was none other than his teacher, Detective James Watson!

He was carrying his brown suitcase in one hand and his gem-studded black cane in the other. He had also caught sight of Bryan and was smiling at him warmly.

Bryan was extremely elated at the sight of his teacher that he chucked his cigarette away without even stubbing it. He smiled brightly and then ran towards Detective Watson.

"Teacher! You're finally back!" Bryan gave him a warm hug.

After keeping his suitcase on the floor, Detective Watson hugged him back and smiled, "It has been a while, Bryan."

After they separated, all of a sudden, Detective Watson grabbed Bryan's ear and twisted it as he sternly reprimanded, "And when did you start smoking, you little brat?"

"Uh.. uhm." Bryan avoided Detective Watson's gaze as he tried to come up with an excuse, "That's right! It's all Andrew's fault. He peer-pressured me into smoking. I was helpless, I promise!"

Detective Watson rolled his eyes at Bryan, "You better quit smoking. If I ever so sniff the scent of tobacco from you, I'm going to give you a good beating."

Bryan nodded his head like a chicken pecking at rice. He then grabbed Detective Watson's suitcase from the ground and led him to the steam car that was waiting for them.

The steam car and the chauffeur were provided by the Church of Wisdom since they had already known before that Detective Watson would be arriving today.

After getting into the car, Bryan instructed the chauffeur to drive to 22 Augustus Street. As the car started to move, he looked at Detective Watson and asked with bright eyes, "Teacher, how are your wife and daughter? Are they in good health?"

At the mention of his daughter, Detective Watson couldn't help but smile fondly. He nodded his head, "Thank you for asking, Bryan. And yes, both Abigail and Amy are in perfectly good health."

Bryan smiled, "Teacher, can you tell me more about little Amy? What is she like?"

"She's a mischievous one, I tell you! When you come to Nadir, I'm sure you both will get along very well. And she's already started to speak words like 'Mama' and 'Papa' which is always pleasant to the ears," Detective Watson replied with a bright smile.

Bryan was taken aback, "She can already form words? But she's barely six months old, isn't she?"

Detective Watson chuckled, "That's true. She's only five months old, however, you forget that she's a child of two Transcendents. It's only natural that she's endowed with good spiritual force affinity and intelligence from a very early age."

Bryan nodded his head and thought it made sense. He was also surprised by the fact that his teacher's wife was also a Transcendent. He hadn't known of this before as he had never bothered to ask.