Aimless Ascension

Gale flew away far as a quiet breeze kissed his cheeks and moved on caressing his body. He flew at the top of the speed his current ability let him, and it was still rather fast, touching almost the hundred KMPH mark.

However, there was a demerit of going at such a high speed as well. It cost more Qi than Gale could recover in time to go on for a longer period of time. At this rate, within about five minutes, he would be out of Qi to fly.

What's even more worrying was that Gale didn't seem to be aware of or care about that fact. He flew intensely, uncaring about anything, the high-graded alcohol dulling his mind as a semblance of peace spread throughout his body.

For the moment, everything was peaceful. No past memories or nightmares to haunt him, no annoying individual for him to bother. He was at peace after so long.

Then Gale fell.

It was a complete free fall, and Gale did nothing to make the landing less damaging. Well, if you call that a landing. He fell on the wheat field with a quiet thud. Even though he was above a lush green wheat field, it only reduced the damage by a little, considering Gale had been flying quite high in the air.

Gale was conscious even after the fall, his mind too dull with the high-grade alcohol for him to feel much pain. He sprawled comfortably in the middle of the field, uncaring about anything.

***

Several minutes later, a shifting image of a figure moved through the wheat field. Her movement wasn't affecting the crops even a little. She seemed to be phased through the crops to reach for the man that dropped from the sky.

She stopped about ten paces away from the unconscious figure in the wheat field, as if considering what her duties entailed.

The figure was in a complete jet-black costume that hugged her body too tightly, though not giving away any appealing vibe. She was far from being an appealing figure. The figure appeared eerie and worrying from any point of view you watch her.

Twilight stood there for several seconds and seemed to sigh. It was never easy to read her when she was completely covered in the soul cloak. Even her eyes were always distant.

Eventually, against her better judgement, she went to help her employer, even though this wasn't in the job description.

Twilight had watched him from the shadows for some time now and knew he didn't mean harm to anyone and only wanted to leave in peace. However, heaven seemed to be against his will, throwing nuisances in his direction from the first day.

Twilight had heard some part of his story when he was telling that to the disciple and the other woman after he first employed her for their safety. Well, she hadn't started from the beginning. She heard from where he had already escaped from being a slave, however listening to all this, she couldn't help but feel sympathy for him.

His misery hadn't stopped after he escaped from enslavement.

Twilight drew closer and found the foreigner sleeping peacefully under the naked sky. She hadn't learned of all the misfortune he went through, nor should it be her place to act. But Twilight stooped next to him and held him up.

For a practitioner of her caliber, his weight wasn't much, but she was grappling to keep him steady with the sheer size of him. At last, she put his chin on her shoulder and her arms on his waist and hips and crept from there.

Twilight wasn't sure how far she would be able to move him, as it would look weird carrying someone like this under the gazes of common folk. Even though the Soul Cloak hid her face and bearing, it would be extremely embarrassing for her to be seen like this.

Unfortunately, for her, her ability to go invisible or shifting to spiritual nature didn't work on living things.

The Inn her employer was supposed to go to was quite the distance away, and so was the enforcer's office, not that it was a good place to leave him there since her employer seemed to get annoyed whenever he had to deal with bothering matters.

She still didn't understand why he acted so erratically. Of course, he was furious, finding the counterparts sent by the noble family attempting to throw a disaster at his farmland. However, why drink such a high-grade alcohol if you can't digest it?

Not to mention in such a situation. This didn't seem like a good decision to make at that moment, not to mention from someone who fought in the war.

Twilight knew the answer to that. She just had to think a little. Sometimes she felt like that.

Sometimes everything feels so empty that you simply don't care what happens to you.

Listening to the slow breathing of her employer, she crept quicker, trying to find a secure place where she could leave him.

After several minutes of searching, all Twilight could find were some farmhouses and common households. Since she couldn't leave him to any unfamiliar person, she chose an abandoned farmhouse where nobody bothers to go.

Twilight worked fast and went the long way to get into the abandoned farmhouse. The farmhouse was quite spacious, though full of dry woods and crops. She selected one corner in the back, shaded by the dry woods, to leave her employer.

She gave the surroundings another good look and returned to her employer, who was still in the middle of perhaps his most precious and much-needed rest. She had seen him work at scribing relentlessly day and night, even if there was no reason to.

"I'm leaving for the duty you employed me for," she left those words as her figure disappeared from the farmhouse.

***

An unknown time later, Gale finally found some semblance of clarity, though he didn't bother to wake up. The fight was short, but it was tiring. And so was life.

It wouldn't hurt to simply lay down in the middle of nowhere and rest for a little longer. Everything was taken care of. Twilight will take care of his disciple even if the Han Family go after her in indignation. Not to mention, there was a law and order in place to keep the peace.

'Yes, I should just lay here like this for a while,' Gale mused. 'Who would want to leave when she was stroking my hair so gently? So lovingly. I want to stay like this for my whole life as she caresses my hair.'

"Saarya--" Gale called unwittingly, longingly. Then he remembered.

Saarya was dead.

She was dead for over five years now. And so was Selene, though for a lesser time. 'Then who's caressing my hair?'

Gale was about to spin into wakefulness when a palm touched gently over his cheek.

"Rest," a voice whispered gently, "you deserve it."

Gale found the voice familiar, but he couldn't put a finger on the owner of the voice. He was sure he knew the person that had such a gentle tone that almost compelled him to rest.

It can't be Saarya for obvious reasons. Or was this one of those twisted dreams that he was so familiar with? Those dreams started gently, but they turned into a nightmare and poured him with all the guilt, hatred, and malice the world could account for.

"Rest," the voice said again in her ever-so-soothing tone. "Mysterious Farmer Expert, you most need it now."

"Mhm," Gale hummed, finally understanding who it was. Thankfully, it wasn't one of those nightmares.

But why was she here?

Well, he would just need to ask her. Gale blinked a few times and opened his eyelids a little. He was confused to as her lovely face came into his sight. With bleary eyes, she looked just the spitting image of Saarya, though younger and perhaps prettier.

"Sumei," Gale called in a whisper. He had been sleeping on her lap so far in some abandoned house.

"Yes," the woman said, still ruffling his hair. Gale was lurching up from her lap, but she stopped him. "Don't move, Mysterious Farmer Expert. I don't know how you got it, but your body and mind are in a terrible state to move around. How can a man get such fatigue!"

"Mostly through nightmares and annoying stuff I come across," Gale answered curtly as she put her fingers on his lips.

"Hush," Sumei said, caressing his face and hair, soothing him to the realm of dream. "That explained why you're so fatigued. You haven't had a good sleep for some time. . . I don't know, weeks? Months?"

"It isn't so bad," Gale mumbled, and the finger was on his lips again.

"What did I say?" Sumei asked.

Gale smiled awkwardly. She didn't stop soothing him though. Gale felt embarrassed at first and then decided there was no harm in resting in a pretty girl's lap. It certainly wasn't the first time.

"I guess you have a few questions about why or how I'm here," Sumei continued. "But I think you'll be better not knowing them until you have your rest."

Sumei stopped caressing his hair and dropped her head closer to his, her lips growing closer to his. However, she didn't kiss him, only touched his forehead with hers, to his relief or frustration, Gale didn't know.

Honestly, at the moment, Gale only needed that, the warmth of someone who would understand him and wouldn't ask anything in return.

Gale was almost sure Sumei wasn't the one, but he didn't care about it now.

"Gale," Sumei asked, calling his name for the first time, "you really need rest."