Chapter 113

He

who flatters a man

is his enemy.

He

who tells him

of his faults

is his peacemaker.

-Confucius

He doesn't even look at me when he says those words. I'm left with the wide view of back. His figure looks so far away, and a sinking feeling that fills my stomach. I feel like I can't catch up to him. As though I'm a peasant trying to catch a glimpse of the omnipotent King.

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Melia's POV

I throw myself onto my bed. I am exhausted and there are wounds all over my body.

Baozi appears out of his space. In his human form he rushes to my side and brushes stray strands of hair away from my face. In a concerned voice he asks, "Master, who did you get into a fight with?"

My whole body tenses as my fight or flight instincts kick in. I leap up from my position and pin Baozi down on the bed under me.

"You...you don't want to know. Not yet. I need time...time to figure things out. Everything is progressing too quickly. I thought I had at least a year to prepare Baozi...A year. She said I-

"Master, calm down. you're crying."

Tears from my eyes drop onto his face. I didn't even notice that I was crying. My nerves are so tense, I haven't recovered from the attack I suffered under earlier.

"Baozi, We need to go. I can't stay at the academy anymore." I get off of him, removing my hands that gripped his shoulders tightly.

Baozi stands behind me trying to talk sense into me, but my ears are closed. "We're under an emergency lockdown master...How-

"I don't care I just can't stay here anymore. We're running out of time. We need time."

"Do you even have any money on you master?" His voice gets louder as I near the door.

"Money is not an issue, I can always sell things." My usual logic is all out the window.

That...It. It said things to me...things that scared me. The fact that my vision...the one that I thought was only a dream state the moon goddess put me in so that we could communicate...the fact that it might be true makes my blood run cold.

I suddenly stop in my tracks. Sebastian...I need Sebastian. I can't do this without him.

"Where's Sebastian now? do you know?" I bite my inner cheek as my mind races with possible ideas on his whereabouts.

"Well, from the tracker that I put on him, he could be at the infirmary..." His voice trails off at the end as my eyes narrow into slits gazing in his direction.

"And pray tell why would you need to put a tracker on him?" In a calm voice I question his motives.

"One can never be too careful, that's all. Just because you trust him doesn't mean he's trustworthy." Thinking back to how I fell for that scheme and almost lost my life because of how blinded in infatuation I am with Sebastian I decide that Baozi may be right in his actions.

We are a team, I should rely on him more.....

".....Master, master, MELIA!" His shrieking snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Huh, what?" I dazedly acknowledge his calls.

"You zoned out...What's wrong with you. You don't usually act like this. All of these bruises you have on your body? What exactly did you encounter on your way to the library. You've been acting so strange lately ever since the academy had been put on an emergency lockdown."

He is my mount, and someone very close to me. I can tell him...

So I commit to my words.

I spill everything that apparently happened only a few minutes ago. I told him about the fight. What exactly it was I had been attacked by. What I learnt from that vile creature, and the prospect that I might die in this war...however this time the Jade Emperor won't be there to save me.

"Well, we don't know that for sure? I mean, it could be lying. You did kill its mother." Baozi tries to logically evaluate everything I told him.

It is a possibility. It could be just trying to scare me. On the other hand though, why was it so eerily similar to what I saw, the feelings that coursed through when I saw Sebastian die. The thought that we could lose this war is scary because it's an actual possibility, and I've just been so blindsided by the overwhelming confidence I have in myself that I hadn't even considered it.

As well as the fact that I have zero allies except for my own kingdom and the little spy network I have on the side.. With what had just happened earlier I'm not even sure if I can trust Sebastian anymore as much as I did in the past.

"Master, I agree with you. We can't wait around this place hoping to be friends with future Emperor's and Empress's that haven't even taken the throne yet. We need to start with who holds the power now. And yes we will need your lover boy."

He doesn't have to tell me what I already know. I make for the door. My dorm cleared of all my personal belongings.

I take out some some paper, and using ink and a feather quill plucked from my home grown bird, I write a letter to my father and mother informing them of my leave from the academy and then I make a next letter for my spy network called the Great Lines. I inform the person I appointed as leader to bring two of their top mercenaries to the Beast Taming Kingdom's borders. Finishing up with the date and time I fold the paper into a crane and infuse my mana into it.

They fly off and I watch as they get more distant until I cannot see them anymore, even when using my mental power. I hold my head and stumble, feeling a bit drained as I had poured a significant amount of mana into them as their journey would be very long and I want them to get their faster than their five-seven day average arrival estimate.

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I met Sebastian when I had almost reached the infirmary. He said that he had been looking for me everywhere but couldn't find me.

"I was busy with some stuff but I am free now. Listen, I need to leave the academy for an emergency and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me...Actually let me rephrase that I need you to come with me." I shake my leg as a nervous habit, my hands twiddling at what his answer could be.

"What for?" He questions. However his stance lets me know that he will be joining me, buŧŧerflies fly about in my stomach at that.

"I'll tell you later, but we need to leave soon, and Tian Tian, why were you at the infirmary anyway?" Concern is laced in my voice. My eyes scan his body for any obvious injuries and I breathe a sigh of relief when I detect nothing unusual. Even the aura surrounding him is a bright yellow meaning he's happy.

"I was visiting Ora-" I cut him off.

My eyes bulge out of my head. "Why is she in the infirmary! What happened is she okay?"

Sebastian looked like he wanted to tell me something else but he refrained from doing so. "No, she isn't doing well at all she's sick."

The way he said the last part seemed as though he was insinuating something more but all my mind is on now is seeing Ora, and to what extent her injuries are at.