Chapter 48: What Is the Truth

  When Felix opened his eyes, there was no terror in his gaze. There was no resignation in it, nor fear of death. Only a hard will and resolve.

  "And what was all this for, boy?" asked Pan Twardowski, sitting bored next to his great rooster. "With such a patiently built foundation and a rare talent, you could have gone very far."

  The young adept, though he heard the question, did not answer. His thoughts still circled around Aldona and their shared past. A past in which he had failed.

  10 years earlier...

  A little girl curiously observed the hall where Voivode Boruta presided.

  'It's large, but completely different from daddy's...' she thought, looking around the room, which—aside from the throne—lacked the typical splendor of the nobility.

  Horrifying deer skulls with antlers did not adorn the walls here, and the lack of beautiful carpets meant one didn't have to take off their shoes to walk around.

  'I wonder how long the trial will take, mom is swamped right now...' she mused, thinking of the woman upon whom all the household duties had once again fallen.

  Like every traditional noblewoman, she had to manage the estate when the master of the house was absent, when he was occupied with important matters—like judiciary duties, or when he was feasting.

  Soon, her father—the nobleman Borowiak, and his accuser, Nicodem Rudnicki—entered the hall and bowed before the voivode.

  "Honorable Boruta!" the latter began. "This is yet another time that this questionable nobleman Borowiak's dog has wreaked havoc on my land and bitten my cattle!"

  "You're the questionable nobleman, and a cheat at that!" the little Aldona's father, of course, had no intention of being insulted. "Most noble Boruta! Rudnicki intentionally grazes his cattle on the border pastures, just to..."

  "How dare you!" his neighbor interrupted, so angrily that Borowiak jumped. "Are you going to tell me, you paltry nobleman, where I can graze my cows?!"

  His devilish face, red with indignation, was very scary to little Aldona. Especially since she knew her daddy was weaker and less wealthy than this irritating Rudnicki.

  'Looks like mom won't be seeing us anytime soon...' she thought, as Boruta separated the noblemen.

  "Enough!" he shouted, irritated. "Sierotka, as this is another time this has happened—what is your petition? Is the dog to be killed?"

  He asked menacingly, clearly not in the mood to listen to this buffoonery any longer. The little she-devil's heart began to beat very fast, and her hands started to sweat a little.

  'Scrawny is to be killed?'

  Rudnicki smiled and twirled his mustache.

  "Honorable Boruta... the problem exists and it must be definitively resolved," he began, causing tears to well up in Aldona's eyes. "However, one cannot blame a dog for ending up with such an owner! Clearly, it is the fault of Borowiak's low moral standards, and it is he who should be punished!"

  The other nobles present in the hall, who had come to watch "Sierotka's" performance, burst into laughter. After all, suggesting that a nobleman lacked the proper faculties of virtue was a great slander.

  Aldona's father himself turned completely red in the face and began to attack back. Only the little she-devil, worried about her mom, was not excited by the fact that the dispute would clearly drag on.

  'I wonder if it will be like this with me in the future...'

  "What morons," she then heard a bored voice nearby.

  When she turned in its direction, she saw that it was some boy, about her age, who had said it to his guardian. When she noticed who his guardian was, she immediately turned pale.

  'That's one of the mountain lords!' she thought, terrified.

  Eusebius, who was sitting next to the small child, admonished him.

  "Felix, one must know how to behave in court," he said to the little one with a gentle smile.

  He knew what the child meant, but the theater of it all amused him anyway.

  "Maybe you should tell them that..." Faustus grumbled, dissatisfied, pointing at the nobles who were descending into further absurdity. "...they're arguing just for the sake of arguing."

  When he saw Aldona looking at him, he waved to her. He didn't know her, but he always liked interacting with other children.

  This made the little she-devil blush a bit and quickly turn her head away. What stayed with her, however, was the boy's observation about these disputes.

  An observation that aligned with her own views.

  3 years later...

  Aldona was accepted to the mountain of Eusebius, which held the second-highest prestige in the dimension.

  Unlike the empty Mountain of Plague and Misfortune, and the requirement-free Mountain of Envy and Conflagration, being an adept here was a certain distinction. It was one of those few days when her father could thumb his nose at Rudnicki, which he gladly did—after all, Sierotka's son hadn't gotten in.

  Reality, however, was not so black and white.

  'It's harder than I thought...' young Aldona noted, who—in order not to fall behind—began to train extra at night.

  That is how her second meeting with Felix came about.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  On the training ground, despite the late hour, the young devil was training in a way that was simply unbelievable. He was manipulating ki to move objects from one place to another, but there was a catch.

  'No one in our family can do that with a single object... Yet he does it with many, absolutely flawlessly.'

  What she saw was not simple energy transfer. All the objects seemed to move in a specific rhythm, with synchronization, like in a magnificently composed song.

  Felix, of course, realized he was being watched as soon as Aldona approached.

  "It's not nice to spy."

  The girl blushed a little, but as a born noblewoman, she naturally had some experience with banter.

  "It's also not nice to occupy the entire training field for yourself."

  Felix looked at her, a bit surprised, and then laughed heartily.

  "You're right, I didn't know anyone else trained at this hour."

  The she-devil nodded.

  "Then why are you doing it?"

  The devil shrugged.

  "Eusebius keeps saying I have to train to handle myself at the holy games."

  Aldona was momentarily speechless—so this boy was a representative adept, upon whom rested the mountain's hopes for glory or infamy. But something didn't seem right.

  "You don't seem particularly happy about it..." she finally said.

  "I only seem that way. How could I not be thrilled about another pile of duties?" he smiled.

  The she-devil raised her eyebrows.

  "Is that how a representative adept should speak?"

  The devilish boy, however, didn't much care for such a framing of the issue.

  "And shouldn't a young noblewoman be helping her parents run the household?"

  Aldona didn't know what to say, so she stared at the ground, thinking of a good reply.

  At the same time, however... she felt a spark of curiosity.

  For the first time, someone held up as a role model was completely contradicting the expectations of his surroundings... and was proud of it!

  From then on, they often met for joint night training sessions, and in an atmosphere of mutual teasing, they quickly became friends.

  During one such night, when the sky was exceptionally clear and the stars were visible in all their glory, Aldona asked her friend:

  "What do you think of our traditions?"

  He, being constantly forced to participate in all sorts of exhibition tournaments, was honestly sick to death of them. So he answered truthfully:

  "I'd gladly get rid of the vast majority. It's all for organizing more useless drinking parties and feasts."

  "Don't you think that what is traditional is sacred?"

  Yawning, the boy replied, staring at the sky:

  "What's sacred, above all, is what can survive. I've been with the mountain lord to a few other hells, and believe me—there are far fewer feasting, fat noblemen there, and far more powerful warriors."

  Aldona listened to his words in silence. Although these weren't the reasons she disliked her world, it was hard not to see the threat in it.

  "If the mountain lord is not mistaken about my talent, one day I will change and modernize this world," he said, still gazing at the exceptionally bright stars.

  The she-devil sitting next to him smiled at this, feeling for the first time in her life that maybe this awful world wasn't so bad after all.

  4 years later...

  Time flew by, and soon they were both teenagers.

  The she-devil had grown into a breathtakingly beautiful girl, and her combat talent made many of the local adepts sigh for her in their dreams.

  Faustus, meanwhile, was gathering more and more attention in the dimension, dazzling everyone with his magnificent control over power and his level of talent.

  "Felix is our child of destiny!"

  "They say the ruler of hell himself issued an important decree at the moment of his birth, that's why he's so magnificent!"

  "Do you know if he has a girlfriend?!"

  The crowds of adepts were absolutely enthralled with him. The boy himself noticed this, feeling a deep satisfaction. At the same time, he made no effort to curb this instinct—after all, pride was one of the 6.6 great infernal virtues, so reveling in one's success was practically encouraged.

  "They say there's supposed to be very little smog tonight, and the stars will be wonderfully visible," Aldona brought up as they talked at a barbecue.

  "I'm already invited to a feast this evening," he replied with a smile. "Maybe some other time?"

  The she-devil sighed lightly and shook her head. She couldn't remember the last time they had trained together.

  "Have it your way," she finally said, placing some fried potatoes—a dietary novelty in the dimension—on her ornate plate.

  They both ate in silence for a moment, when Felix had an idea.

  "How about you go with me as my companion?"

  "You know I don't like such feasts," the girl confessed, despite the blush on her face.

  "But it will be fun! I don't want to sit there either!" he insisted.

  This made Aldona reconsider, but ultimately, after some hesitation, she declined, which Felix accepted with disappointment.

  "As you wish, but you can always change your mind."

  They soon parted on good terms and both went to their caves.

  The girl thought for a long time about the invitation. One particular issue troubled her the most.

  'I don't even have anything to wear...'

  Soon, a glint appeared in her eye.

  'Unless... I bought a new dress...'

  Wanting to surprise Felix, she joined the feast that evening after it was already in full swing.

  Quite a few adepts were completely drunk. This was especially true for the sons of great lords, who somehow managed to combine their studies with excessive feasting. Felix also had to drink a bit, but even under such conditions, he maintained his dignity.

  She soon sat down next to him, causing a huge smile to blossom on his lips.

  "Why didn't you say anything?!" he asked, surprised.

  The she-devil narrowed her eyes flirtatiously:

  "All to check if you wouldn't invite someone else in my place."

  "Hahaha, no way. Come on, have a drink with me!"

  Time flew by rather quickly for them, and soon—as at any infernal party—political topics had to come up.

  It's easy to guess that no one agreed with anyone, and soon, respecting the authority of the representative adept, they turned to him with requests for his opinion on various matters.

  "No, I don't think peasants have plow-shaped brains."

  "I haven't heard what happened to the mountain lord Ignatius."

  "No, Elisabeth, I will not walk you to your cave..."

  Most of the topics were generally absurd, so he quickly ignored them. At a certain point, however, a more delicate question arose from one of the important adepts on the mountain.

  "They say Boruta won't live much longer. Do you think the new ruler will abolish our beautiful noble privileges and introduce laws"—here he spat—"like in other dimensions?"

  Aldona, though tired, turned her attention towards Felix.

  He was her first friend. Someone who had allowed her to believe that the awful structure for noblewomen could be changed, even if he didn't realize it himself.

  The boy, admittedly, no longer remembered those events, but he approached the question very seriously.

  The truth was that in recent years, as he began to shine in tournaments and receive entire pilgrimages of fans—especially with magnificent gifts from the nobility—his perception had changed a bit.

  He had never paid particular attention to the problems arising from the system, while he reaped enormous benefits from it, and life had simply become comfortable. Therefore, not even knowing that what he was about to say would change the course of his relationship with Aldona, he answered confidently.

  "What could be more beautiful than our magnificent system? I will personally persuade every honorable ruler to preserve it!" he blurted out with a smile.

  The entire hall immediately roared with mirth, and the drunkenness continued.

  Only Aldona felt as if someone had doused her with ice-cold water.

  That was the moment she began to see that her friend was no longer the same devil she had taken him for years ago—and perhaps he never had been.

  As the feast ended and time began to fly even faster, their relationship was no longer the same.

  Although it didn't sour immediately, over time they drifted further and further apart—though Felix himself didn't seem to notice.

  In the present...

  At the crossroads between Gathering Ki and Stabilizing the Foundation, his mind returned to those events.

  'Ultimately, what does my regret change?'

  A spark of attachment ignited in his eye, which he immediately extinguished.

  'What matters...' he thought slowly, taking one last look at his surroundings, '...is only the deed.'

  His gaze became much more determined. He knew that the moment he had been waiting for had just arrived, and the next few minutes would define the success of his plan.

  The tornado raging around him began to spin even faster, and Felix himself, thanks to his incredible control over energy... began to tear out from within the entire foundation he had built until now!