Perceived Fate

“The God of Evil,”

*Whack*

“Don’t say a true title so lightly in this house. Now, you either man up and go to school or I’m dragging you there!”

Malum hated when his Uncle was like this. School was so boring, and his classmates annoyed simply because he was an outsider. But, Malum knew he had to go anyway.

He took a breath, unclenched his closed fists, and stormed out the creaky wooden door.

The mud road was being brutalised as Malum released his final pent-up anger. Thoughts about running off and exploring the woods tempted Malum mind, but he choose to conform knowing that becoming a scholar was a decent direction for a future job.

He already worked helping out his local hunters because he had nothing else better to do and making a side income was never a bad thing. Malum liked to think he was future thinking but that didn’t mean he enjoyed the present.

The village was as small as you would expect for one with less than a hundred residents, which meant it took no time for Malum to arrive at the town hall where basic education was taught.

There was a good reason Malum wanted to become a scholar, and looking at his teacher explained it in full. Mr Davis was a scholar, but he also was the Mayor of the small village. It was by far the most well-respected job in the village and easily the most powerful.

Malum wouldn’t say he was obsessed with power, but wouldn’t deny it played a role in him wanting to become a Mayor in the future.

As he was always early, Malum sat alone in the classroom for quite some time. Looking around, he saw no change: a large rickety wooden table with 20 or so stumps being used as the chairs, natural lighting was used to save on firewood, although during the winter months Malum had seen the fireplace light up more than once.

Heat mainly came from an emphasis on clothing, which was thick shirts and regular trousers made from the villages finest farmed wool. Unlike many of the villages Malum had travelled through this one had a good clothing situation thanks to a pen of sheep which provided enough wool to both clothe and feed most of the village.

Malum had seen far worse, and a few better in the many villages he had come across. If he had to rate this one he would give it a 7/10, minus 3 because of flooding and the annoying classmates.

Speaking of, Malum was joined by the worst offender of the group.

“Morning Eric.” Malum spoke, he found being overly nice tended to help.

“Don’t speak to me Alien, wouldn’t want people thinking were friends.”

He was a black-haired boy who in many ways looked similar to Malum. Except Malum was better built and had yellow instead of blue eyes.

Leaving the speaking Malum decided silence was the better option and it stayed that way until an older girl entered the room.

She was in her final year in basic education, so she was 14, and unlike Eric, Malum maintained a good relationship with her. She had 7 siblings, Eric also having 4. It was one of the reasons he stood out in the village.

Around the large, crooked table, she sat next to Malum, and they both began speaking about topics they found interesting. She wanted to be a pharmacist and with the village being surrounded by forest she was in an ample place to learn.

“Yesterday I found this wonderful blue Andria Flower, if I only I had some Blue Jaulit Berries then I could mix the two in a 2 to one ratio, boil it, then I would have a fantastic health tonic.” It was clear to Malum how much she enjoyed her hobby, her face made zero effort to hide her enthusiasm.

Malum complimented her knowledge, and asked a few mundane questions. He found testing her knowledge were the ones she enjoyed the most. It was similar to how merchants liked questions on how expensive their coats were except hers came from joy over her own hobby rather than some twisted form of pride.

Malum wished he had something to be so enthusiastic about. He wasn’t goalless per say but he just didn’t have that fire that she had. When he was younger he wanted to be like the Gods he heard about in myths. A few times he had heard bards sing their tales, killing demons and monsters and to a young mind that seemed possible.

Monsters did exist, and Malum had even seen his Uncle fight one. Demons also were known to exist although Malum couldn’t say he had seen one of those. Now those tales revealed themselves to be lies from the churches, logic had seeped into Malum mind and with it came wisdom as he questioned the knowledge he learned.

Breaking his train of thought was the teacher entering and beginning his lecture on woodworking, Malum paid close attention and remembered everything he could.

6 hours later,

Walking out the classroom and Malum breathed in the first breath of sawdust-less air. It felt nice not to have those tiny specks agitating and annoying his throat.

Instead he was swapping that for his lazy Uncle. Coming home to his shack of a house and his Uncle was indeed starring at the sky again. Malum asked him a few base questions to gauge which persona he was currently.

“Yo Uncle how’s the sky today?”

“Blue.” His voice monotone answered Malum's question.

Seemed it was the fool tonight. Malum was not one for mystics, but he knew two mind’s occupied the body of his Uncle: the fool and the wiseman. They would come and go, as far as Malum was concerned they both saw him as his son, so it mattered not to Malum.

He spoke nothing more to his Uncle and moved to the kitchen which held a loaf of bread and fruits, enough for a fairly balanced meal. The loaf he held was already half eaten, so he put a reminder in his head to buy another tomorrow.

The dining table was non-existent, and cutlery was even further from feasible. He had been taught of their usage however, as his Wise Uncle’s knowledge seemed truly endless, if only he had an ounce of sympathy then Malum may have been able to look up to him.

“Dinner!” Malum called, as he laid out the food on the small rug they used as a table. He sat legs crossed as he waited for his Uncle and once he arrived Malum noticed a certain glimmer in his eyes that reflected the change in his Uncle’s personality.

“Seems you have moved on from our fight this morning.” Malum slightly shrunk back, “A good decision, petty acts of revenge are just that: petty. If revenge is what you seek, strike once and with full conviction making sure they never cross you again.”

Malum watched as his Uncle took a bit out of an apple, he gulped at the idea of even trying to get revenge on his Uncle.

They ate in silence, something that was common when the wiseman ate with his son. The Fool was more loose lipped and Malum had learned far more about his past from him than his counterpart.

As far as he knew his family was some noble, perhaps even royal, line, his Uncle was their guard, and they were currently on the run. He knew not why they had to run he just knew they had to; from people the Fool called the Alliances’ Scientists.

It was a mystery he would surely find the answer to later, for now they had finished eating and so that meant it was evening training.

Malum’s body was not built because of his Noble birth it was born from his sweat and his grit. They used their small backyard, one which held a large bush that flowed in all of their neighbour’s backyards as well.

The overgrown grass was his task for today, and that meant his first task was a jog towards the blacksmiths. The cool night air provided relief to Malum's lungs, but this was only the warm-up.

The scythe was borrowed from the Mayor office as the village held no blacksmith of its own. And with it in hand he continued his warm-up back to his house. The weight of the scythe was like an added two arms, the lump of metal at the end in particular added a challenge not only in its weight but also the balancing.

Home was never too far, and the overgrown grass soon became familiar with Malum's technique. His arms were focused heavily now, holding the elongated weight with precision was no easy task especially considering there was no child-size scythe and such Malum had to lift the weight even adults struggled with at age 12.

His Uncle provided feedback in the form of military style shouting. The abuse was something Malum had grown used to, but some attacks still dented his younger heart. It did lead to his technique of soft and methodical sweeps that were mesmerising to the eye.

Swapping hands to do the same facing towards the house, Malum continued his practice as he built up experience. He had done many, many tasks similar and so was adept at all the weapons Malum knew of. That left the question in Malums mind, what would come after?

Today it seemed he would learn the answer to his question as his Uncle began clapping his hands.

“Well done son,” Malum’s skin crawled at his Uncle strange behaviour, his Wise Uncle had never called him son and it felt wrong. Ignoring his sons reaction he continued nonetheless,

“you have impressed me greatly with your talent, it seems you have truly inherited your parents fantastic genes. Today you learn more, about your past, present and future. Listen closely, I do hate to repeat myself.”

Enraptured, Malum starred at his Uncle as he finally prepared himself to learn more about his fantastical past. He wished of being some lost Prince whose crown was only one small journey away. He hastily gave a prayer to the God of Luck.

“Let’s start with your parents, as you know I was their head bodyguard and I’m also your cousin via your fathers line. An event I cannot describe caused their kingdom to collapse, I was safe because I was coincidentally inside my ancestors grave. You survived due to your parents sacrificing their very souls to protect you, although how they did it is truly a wonder.”

Malum could not help himself, “Souls? They even exist?”

His Uncle could not help himself, “Yes boy and so much more. Your journey in cultivation will be long and arduous but I shall help you as much as I can, however, do know you cannot truly begin before your soul matures which usually happens around your 18th birthday however due to rough upbringing I may have played a part in it has grown faster than normal and should come to be around your 17th.”

“...”

Malum's mind struggled to process those words. Stories of Gods and legends usually did feature cultivators and local legends to seeming superpowers were not too rare, but they were supposed to be tall tales the bard had spun together for cash. Not the truth hidden behind a wall of ignorance.

It was then that his mind latched onto something else revealed from his father words.

“Wait, you were a bitch because it was good for my soul?”

The Wise man looked at his son in sympathy, as far as Malum knew that wasn’t an emotion the old man could feel.

“Sorry, yes it’s something most noble families implement to foster a child of a higher calibre. Its cruel but that it the way of this world, the Dao may look fair and to some degree it is, but it holds not a morsel of emotion. You can hate me, but I want revenge and since I can’t do it, I have raised you.”

Malum decided to walk away for a moment. As he walked his mind began to process how he felt about this revelation. Purpose was something Malum had always lacked, he just never felt such strong emotion to anchor himself down with such a responsibility. Finding out he was a tool, by the person who had raised him all his life...

That hurt.

Crying was pointless, it never achieved anything and instead ruined fancy things like one’s own image. Hidden behind a house, near a row of bushes, Malum crouched down and gave himself a moment to let his emotion rush over him.

It was all so complex.

Malum's mind wanted to understand it all, why did his Uncle want revenge, why could he not do it himself, was the revenge the only reason he raised him? Question, upon question, and crying wasn’t going to do anything to answer them.

He felt angry at his juvenile brain, at the stupid emotion called sadness but that did little to stop the salty beads falling down his cheek.

To find answers he would need to ask questions, so he cleaned his face and returned to his home where he found his Uncle was sitting on the dining floor drinking some tea.

Malum joined him, and began his interrogation.

“Revenge for what?”

“I can say little as to what actually occurred, again I was inside my ancestors study but the capital which we were inside of seemed to have disappeared.”

Alright, to Malum that made little sense, but he sketched that up to cultivator nonsense. Some spell of sorts if he were to take a guess.

“Why can you not take revenge yourself?”

His Uncle looked slightly guilty on this one.

“I’m old, you know when I was younger I fought my best to become the successor of my household and then I had just began my assignment protecting your parents and it all went puff, like smoke. Everything I had done was gone, and worse, those Alliance bastards which I reported back to decided they cared little for my plight.

I told you before that the Scientists of the Alliance are the reason we move and all that over just a small fraction of curiosity over our bodies that may hold remnants of the anomaly that occurred to the capital. Do not speak of this, to anyone, ever, for any reason in the slightest.

They are stronger than you can even know. Which is why the tiniest of their whims are so dangerous. Continue with the questions.”

Alright Malum pledged to hold these words to the grave. The next question he decided would be, “Was revenge the only reason you raised me?”

That question elicited his Uncle to look at him with a surprising amount of sadness.

“Of course not, hell I wasn’t that bad was I? I would have, not only do I love children, but I hold more of a responsibility to your parents than you might think. Both saved my life, and I owe them for that more than this simple task.”

Those words were like bandages to Malum's mental wound. They made him feel far better although still could not get used to his Wise Uncles new emotional range. That actually made him want to question,

“Why are there two of you?”

“Ah, yeah.” The wise man looked outside for a moment as he steeled his will. “I will not speak of this long so listen closely, we were taken into the Alliance after I reported what had happened to the capital. Torture, unbearable brutality just to see if I was lying. I had just lost my family and then I was subjected to that caused serious mental damage.

As a cultivator I held far more durability than mortals, but the damage was by no means small. even now some horrendous memories are purposely lost between the two. Don’t ask that to the Fool, he holds less of the mind techniques I do that allow me to speak of this. You were spared as I told them you were a lucky servant of mine.”

That was, interesting to Malum. Anger against the Alliance had now sprouted in his mind and revenge for his Uncle was on his future agenda but for now he decided that was all.

It was already growing dark when he was returning from his outing but now he could hardly see in the room. He said his goodbyes to his Uncle although he promised to continue the next day. He was happy to learn of his past, but the content was far less so.

He had his entire life to think for what he wanted to do, all he knew now was that he wanted to be a cultivator, and that the Alliance were going to pay for their actions.

The moon rose, white and bright over the dark sky.