Mountain of The Suns • Book 2

Chapter 10

I followed Jun nervously out of the Temple. I had no idea how he even knew this but there was a small passage in the library that lead outside the temple. There was a small window that had a secretive latch that could open to the world outside. Part of me expected alarms or sirens to go off but we were able to slip out with ease.

Jun walked with caution, but frankly looked at ease as we walked through the woods guided only by a weakly lit glow stone. It lit up the area in a pink haze just enough to see we weren't being closely followed, but I held his free hand tightly. I hardly knew what could be waiting for us here, but I didn't want to find out.

Part way through the journey we could see a distant glow and I realized we were headed towards the Wisteria forest he had told me about. I hadn't questioned too much what he was doing but now I was confused and worried. For weeks it was just a distant glow, but as we got closer I hadn't realized just how bright it was. He pocketed his glow stone because as we neared closer it was easy to see.

We couldn't preform the oath in the temple because it was powerful enough to alert the Meishu since he would be close by. The Wisteria forest was a small hike away so it was far enough away to possibly go unnoticed. Not to mention it was already a powerful area so it shouldn't alert anyone. I could feel the energy of this place just standing in it so it was unsurprising this was the first place Jun wanted to go to do this. Incase it drained us of energy we didn't have the fountain or someone else to help us.

I looked around as I saw the glowing river that was more of a quiet stream than anything. It's sounds we're relaxing and almost white noise as we got closer. My eyes were looking around wildly hardly able to take in the beauty of it all. I had never see anything like this, it was like magic, I mean it pretty much was.

"Makio?" I heard Jun and I turned to him.

"Hm?" I responded noticing I had been very quiet and zoned out.

"Are you ready?" He asked softly as his thumb traced over my own.

"What do we have to do?" I asked in a hollow voice.

"It's fairly simple. I have to cut a small incision in our arms and then I have to try and connect part of our souls." He said setting his bag down on a stump beside us. "Sort of like transferring energy but different. You'll feel it."

"Our souls?" I asked feeling extremely overwhelmed.

"Yes, it's hard to explain but Uba used to say it was like taking a part of yourself with someone else and swapping places. That way a piece of each of us is within the other." He said and I saw his brain trying to work to best explain this to me.

"What if something goes wrong?" I asked because I knew nothing of this ritual.

"Nothing will go wrong. It's a simple Oath, nothing is being exchanged except for energy. People do it everyday." He said trying to comfort me but I was filled with worry. "Well maybe not everyday, but people have done this before. I've read enough about it we'll be fine."

"Will it hurt?" I asked in almost a whisper.

"The incision, maybe a touch, but not the oath itself." He explained going through his bag and pulling out a long bit of cloth, a small dagger, and two small rags.

"Will it change anything? I mean will I feel different after?" I asked knowing I was freaking out.

"I don't know honestly, hopefully more at ease." He said and I saw him tilt his head up from his bag and to me who stood there shaking in my own shoes. "Are you scared?"

"Yes." I said feeling a welt in my throat.

I had no idea how to feel. I was so conflicted about this but he seemed to sure of himself. He insisted he wanted to do this for me and I was scared I was going to hurt him. I wanted to be able to trust him, but I was scared to hurt him in the process, almost as scared as I was to get hurt. I cared about him and no amount of comfort would ever justify him making a sacrifice for me. It however almost seemed to be hurting him to not do this.