SWNOVELS Chapter Thirteenth Chant
The Epilogue
The boy fell asleep on the floor, still holding the unrolled coil of paper in his hand.
“Looks like you finished earlier than I thought, boy.”
The middle-aged half Asian man took the scroll out from the grasp of the boy’s hand, snapped fingers and scroll burnt down in mid air.
The man took still sound asleep boy in his arms and went downstairs to the big room with only bed and a desk inside. He placed boy on the bed, covered him with a duvet and exit the room without a sound.
“Sleep well, boy. You have a rough times before you. First ADAM test, then the return to the Archives and the fight for the destiny of this and other worlds. I just hope father was right.”
He reached inside his inner jacket pocket, took out a pipe, a lighter and started to smoke. He looked at his phone.
It’s only tea time in London, it’s best not to disturb her this early.
He walked out the large house at the top of this mountain range’s highest peak. The air was thin, cold, the clouds were slowly moving without the wind, blocking the view.
He sighed, breathing out the smoke from the pipe. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and blew the air out of his lungs with immense force, scattering all the clouds around the mountain and revealing the magnificent view of sun hiding behind the dale on the far west from their hideout.
He enjoyed this silent moment for a while, until it was disrupted by the loud sound of his phone’s ringtone spreading through the mountains. The caller was unknown.
“Hallo.”
“Li, we’re in trouble”, it was one of his friends. “The Archives, they found out we were recruiting from the inside. I don’t know how, we just all got out. I think no one is hurt, but we must be much more careful now.”
“Slow down, start over, what exactly happened?”
“We were in 1999, they came out of nowhere. They knew we were meeting there.”
“Whose meeting was that? Which clan?”
“That’s the thing – it were all seven clans.”
“Impossible. Someone must’ve leaked the information.”
“Yes, she said the same thing. Once I confirm my team’s all right I will contact Fathers and we will get to the bottom of this crap.”
“Good, take your time, the rat is already on the move if he’s smart enough to wait for all clans to gather. We must find him before he disappears into the thin air.”
“Copy. And one more thing.”
“What is it, Juu?”
“It might be nothing but she asked if I talked with you lately. Did something happen?”
“No, nothing happened. Don’t worry about it. Focus on your next mission. I will get the briefing from the meeting later.”
“You know me – never surrender.”
“Yeah, one more thing. Don’t call my father. I will do that. You call all the other higher ups. They all have taken a liking in you for some reason.”
“What can I say, I’m likable.”
“Sure you are, just don’t let the rat outsmart you. He can’t be any new guy, it must be someone from at least our year or older. And if my hunch is correct – I know who the rat is, why he did what he did and what will he do next.”
“So, do you mind telling me?”
“Yes, I do. Uncertainty is what might cause our doom in this particular case. But let me tell you this – beware the white crows.”
“Got it. White crows. Thanks. Well, I gotta run, a lot happened and I have even more to do so, I’ll call you tomorrow, when we find something out.”
“Yeah. Stay sharp.”
The call ended. The sun has completely set. The darkness started overflowing the world.
Li turned around and looked at the window to the boy’s room. The hope is not lost yet.