Mountain of The Suns • Book 2

Chapter 18

I ventured out of my room after having been in there for 5 days now. I had pestered Yami that I wanted to speak to Rin but he had told me he was meditating in his chambers. It was supposedly something he did often, but it wasn't a normal thing Meishu's did for more than a few hours. Yami said it helps him retain his youth and mortal appearance unlike the other Meishu's.

It was odd but there were many things about this place that didn't make sense. I knew each temple had its own way of doing things but as I stood here looking down into the main chambers from this upper balcony down below looked like a military base. My father was commanding a large squad of soldiers who I could only assume were students.

He was going over a type of drills with them and it was scary how robotic they all came off. They looked identical at that, I had seen many different kinds of people at the other two temples I had been at. Here it's like everyone was of Asian descent or at least had the same jet black hair. My father fit right in with them considering he was fully Asian.

I felt a presence coming up the stair case across the hall and as I turned to look I saw my brother. I gripped the railing tensely wondering if I could jump without harm from this height. He connected his gaze with me and I could see he was going to go the opposite direction until he locked eyes with me. I snapped my head away and tried to focus on the scene below, but I saw him slowly walk this way.

He came up at my side but stopped a few feet away. I tightened my mouth knowing I had nothing nice to say and I didn't want to start a fight before I was ready. I knew I was a ticking time bomb, but it was too early to set myself off. I knew when it came time my powers were going to handle the hard work for me.

"Surprised you can show your face around here." He said lowly.

"I'm the one who's supposed to save us all. People around here look at me like I'm royalty because what I choose to do determines their futures." I snapped because it had been true. Everyone that I had run into, though few could hardly form a sentence, it was like I was some celebrity. "What do you have?"

"Powers that I've earned." He backfired.

"Right, well I hate to break it to you but in the end it won't matter how much you've earned. Bottom line is I'm finally stronger than you." I said wanting to smile but I held back.

"So what, you going to try and get pay back now?" He asked crossing his arms.

"Eventually yes." I said bluntly.

"Brutally honest I see." He said with a laugh as he looked down at the men. "A little bit of power and it goes right to your head."

"I don't lie like them." I said seriously looking at my father down below.

"They did what they knew best. Doesn't mean it was right." He said in their defense.

"Doesn't mean it won't have consequences." I said and he just shook his head.

"You'll learn one day." He said still shaking his head.

"Learn what?" I asked.

"This world wasn't meant to be fair. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Our father has fought to make sure we stay comfortable in the luxuries we have." He said as if that had meant anything to me.

"I would never use the word comfortable and father in the same sentence." I said emptily. "Why are you even up here buzzing in my ear?"

"I came up here to study but found you finally leaving your room. You've locked yourself away just like you used to." He pointed out.

"You knew why I locked myself in my room as much as I did." I snapped in a quiet voice.

"I did as I was told." He said in rebuttal.