Chapter 399 - Bittersweet Family Reunion
"Aeron!" Shouted a woman in simple clothes, and whose face was covered by a mask similar to the one which Aeron always wore. She was part of the entourage of the mental factions, and more specifically, a member of the Psionic Dimension, who along with a few other similarly dressed individuals, approached Daniel's now crowded table.
At the same time, the old man who had been bewitched by Kreah looked at Daniel and Aeron with annoyance, before excusing himself from the table.
As she grew in power, Kreah had gained the ability to bewitch people from within their imagination. All she needed for that to happen, was for them to possess a mean that allowed them to fall in love with her, like for example, a memory, or a mental image. Due to this, one of the tasks that the Charmer had given to her strongest followers was that, if they ever met the Outcast, they would have to make the memories of her resurface from within the depths of his mind.
Daniel's mind was oddly powerful, and instead of taking effect immediately, these artificial feelings were built in slowly enough, to give Aeron a chance to stop them. If not for him, there was a good chance that Daniel would have fallen prey to Kreah's powers once again.
Utterly confused, Daniel looked in silence as the old man walked away, then turned towards the approaching mental warrior. His memories of Kreah had been pulled out, and stored separately by Aeron, unable to be accessed. For all he knew, after saying a few words, the old man had simply decided to leave.
That was until a string of words reached Daniel's mind, which explained to him how he had just risked his life, and that he had been unknowingly carrying a bomb in his mind for so long.
Daniel nodded at Aeron with appreciation, before standing up, and placing himself between him, and the mental warriors that now stood only a few steps away from him.
"Can I help you with something?" Asked Daniel to the masked woman, who stood in front of the small group of cultivators of the Psionic Dimension faction.
After stopping in their tracks, the woman slowly turned towards Daniel, and said menacingly, "Move, Outcast. This has nothing to do with you." As she spoke, Daniel felt a subtle power wrap tightly around the imaginary confines of his mind and consciousness.
"As long as the Psionic Dimension has problems with one of my people, it does have something to do with me." He responded, completely indifferent to the mental threat. While confident, Daniel was wondering what methods he could use to defeat someone like this group of powerful mental warriors. After all, their karma was nowhere near the point where karmic retribution would be more than a nuisance. His only hope would be to deter any aggressive action with his nuclear option.
The mental factions were one of the few factions not scared of Iewah's children. Unable to possess ki, they lived as bodies of solidified mental power merged with their spirit, and while that body was not as resistant as a body made of ki, and their spirit was not as powerful as a pure spirit, their mind was their own power.
With their mind, at a high enough level, they were able to protect themselves not only from the damage, but from the intent. Amongst them, were ascended mental warriors with powers that allowed them not only to control one's mind, but also to protect themselves against any form of corruption, like induced feelings.
While specific, and not always useful, these powers were the most powerful shield against beings like the Charmer, the Merchant, and even the Monarch, who by playing on the feelings of love, greed, and submissiveness, would be able to control, or convince their opponents to do their biddings.
Thanks to this safety measures, they were able to avoid any conflict with most of Iewah's children, with exception made for one, whose entire system revolved around the power of the mind.
The situation for Daniel, however, was slightly different.
While he did not possess a system that allowed him to control the minds of others, someone next to him could, and to a point where he was able to deflect the power of one of Iewah's children while not even being particularly powerful. His success, was simply due to the purity of his power.
Naturally, only a mental warrior could have achieved that, and it did not take long for those who had practiced in similar cultivation methods to recognize him immediately.
Annoyed by Daniel's behaviour, the woman turned to look at one of the masked men that was standing behind her, and said, "Make him move."
The man's masked face slowly turned towards Daniel, and as their eyes locked, his eyes started to glow with a dark green hue. Daniel narrowed his eyes with suspicion, but even after a few seconds, nothing happened.
"He is blocking me." said the man as the glow of his eyes lessened, and went back to their original color.
"He blocked you?! How is that possible? He barely ascended!" Said the woman with shock, through a mental transmission.
The man shrugged his shoulders in hope to show his confusion, before saying, "I don't know. It's was like trying to pierce through a thin layer of ice, with a glass of water. I can force myself in, but it will harm him."
After this mental conversation, the woman turned to look pass Daniel and towards Aeron, then said, "I just want to talk." Contrary to what she was hoping, however, Aeron ignored her, and took a sit on the empty chair next to his friend's seat.
Daniel stood in between them, not sure what the relationship between the two was, but since she had called him by his name, it was clear that the two knew each other.
"Let me speak to my descendent." Said the woman after turning to look at Daniel.
Shocked by the woman's words, Daniel turned to look at Aeron, who simply nodded his head in confirmation.
Seeing that this group of mental warriors did not mean any harm to his companion, Daniel sat back in his chair, allowing the woman past him, and towards the empty seat next to where Aeron was sitting.
"A crazy night." Said the old man Cauldron, who had quietly observed the events unfold.
At the same time, happy with the information they gathered about Daniel's enemies and connections, the spiritual warrior and the merchant left to either go back to their tables, or to entertain another of the known figures present.
When it appeared that the conversation between Aeron and his ancestor was about to begin, Aeron suddenly turned to look at her, and said, "Out loud."
The woman was slightly taken aback. It was common practice between mental warriors, when surrounded by other kinds of cultivators, to read each other's mind instead of talking. However, Aeron's words relied a clear message. He wanted Daniel to hear what she had to say, which meant that he cared more about his relationship with him, than he did about theirs.
"W-When did you ascend? And how is.. This.. possible?" She asked out loud with confusion. As a mental cultivator, she could feel Aeron's gift in his very body. It was a pool of undeveloped powers which, individually, would match the advancement of his cultivation, but all together, shattered the concepts of gifts of the mental path.
Most mental warriors were jack of all trades, and master of one, which meant that all of them possessed every known mental power just like an immortal cultivator would possess all physical attributes, but that through their ascension, they were only able to master one. The possibility that a mental warriors would have multiple masteries existed, but it was not common, and five powers at the same time, was the historical record.
Aeron's mental power, on the other hand, showed indications that none of his powers were latent, and if he wanted, he could have developed all of them at the same time.
"Just ask me what you wish to ask, Ancestor." Responded Aeron, unwilling to reveal a single fragment of Daniel's secrets.
Disappointed by his detached response, the woman said, "Okay then. come back with us. When we leave, let us go home together."
"I don't remember you being so affectionate towards me. Be it when I was sent to war, or when I chose to leave. I always thought that the best I would have gotten out of our relationship, was to not be hunted down by bounty hunters." Said Aeron in the seemingly longest phrase he had ever uttered since Daniel had met him.
"Things are different now. Your powers.." She said before stopping, and thinking, "Your powers are abnormal. We can protect you.. Nobody will ever hurt you while you are in our care, and nobody else can help you grow better than we do." As she finished, she said out loud "We are your family."
"I am sorry ancestor. I have already found my place. The risk is worth it." Responded Aeron confidently, but with an imperceptible sadness attached to it.
The woman turned to look at Daniel with confusion. She knew that he was one of Iewah's children, but nothing led her to believe that he was the kind which could brainwash people. All she could see was an obscenely powerful young man with an odd amount of enemies for his age. Enemies to which, she knew her faction would soon be part of.
As the woman's eyes turned towards her masked companions, she immediately realized that, since they had witnessed Aeron's powers, it was only a matter of time, before the faction would change their policy towards him. After all, his millennia as an outcast had yet to come to an end, and if they wanted, they could easily put a bounty on him at any time.
"I understand. Just know that as soon as the word gets out, your group will have to face another world of pursuers." She said through her mind power.
Aeron responded with a faint nod, and the words, "I know. It was good seeing you, ancestor."
"Good luck, child." Responded the woman after standing up, and while pressing her hand on Aeron's shoulder. She then walked back to her group, where a few masked men were looking at her with hidden expressions of confusion, anger, and urgency. From their point of view, their faction had produced the most incredible monster of the history of mental warriors, and they were going to let him free.
Back at his table, Daniel was finally alone with the old man Golden Cauldron, and Aeron, while the silver alchemist was still entertaining the lower participants of the banquet.
"A bittersweet family reunion. Outcast, let us show him that we can do better than that." Said the Teacher who, at some point, had appeared in one of the empty chairs of Daniel's table.
"I'm never going to enjoy five minutes of peace here.." muttered Daniel before taking a long sip of his drink, but this time, actually ingesting it. "Call me Sewah, brother. I don't like titles." He then added with a faint smile.
As Daniel finished speaking, the teacher looked at the old man sitting next to him, then said with a faint smile, "You are not one of us, are you? That must be the reason why you are the outcast."
"I don't know what you are talking about." Responded Daniel, slightly surprised by the Teacher's words.
"Oh, do not bother. You and I both know that our powers extend way past their literal meaning. There isn't much I can't learn, as long as I want to.." Responded the Teacher before laying back on his chair, and adding with a reassuring tone, "But if it makes you feel better, it was the covering of your mouth, and the moment of surprise in the face of this gentleman over there, that gave you away."
"I assume you were never the fun one in the family reunions, were you?" Responded Daniel ironically.
The old man responded to Daniel's words with a smile, before suddenly breaking out in an amused laugh. He then added, "According to my brother's standards, I really am not. I was actually eager to have a conversation with the other boring member of our family, but it looks like you are closer to my brothers than I am."
The more Daniel talked to the Teacher, the more uncomfortable he felt. Every form of information, no matter how irrelevant to the topic, was being registered and processed by him. Be it his attitude, or tone. However, he did not show his feelings on the outside, and instead said, "Well, we are still talking. We can still give it a shot. How about we start with your name?"
"Romah. My name is Romah."