Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol 2- Descent of Darkness

Episode 15: Renegade

*An*

My teammates and Kun followed me down the mountainside. We traversed the highly dense forest for what seemed to be half an hour.

"Are we there yet?" Hal asked as he glanced around. "This place is giving me the creeps."

"It's not as dense as Xian's forests," Xue pointed out.

"That's true," Kun said. "I still remember getting lost in that place."

"Hey, do you know how Lei and Adela met?" Hal asked, glancing over at him.

Sarah narrowed her blue eyes at him. "We're not here to gossip." She turned to look at me. "So, how long until we arrive at the village?"

"We're here," I said, holding out my hands. The forest in front of us rippled until it vanished, revealing a small town.

Sarah stepped back. The look on her face was priceless. "Cloaking magic?" she whispered.

"It's a specialty of our village chiefs. In order to become one, you got to know the cloaking spell," I said.

"Woah, that's awesome!" Kun said, running on ahead.

"Hey!" I snapped. "Come back here or you'll get yourself killed!"

As if on cue, several arrows flew toward Kun. The middle triplet jumped and spun around in mid-air, sending the arrows flying to the ground on his sides.

"Well that's a warm welcome!" he yelled, glaring at the direction of the arrows.

"Who are you?" a sixteen-year-old-girl yelled as she jumped off one of the straw roofs.

"I'm Kun Lan," he responded as he suddenly grinned like an idiot. The guy was a lot like Lei, but at least the younger triplet wasn't difficult to read.

I sighed and stepped forward. "He's my... classmate. The rest of these are my friends," I responded, pointing at my teammates.

The girl, Guang, leaned against the hut whose roof she had just leaped off of. 

"Ah, so the weakling has returned. I was sure that you would stay in Kyuu Seishin for the rest of your life," Guang said, smirking. "After all, you have always had the habit of running away and hiding."

Xue, Sarah, Hal, and Kun all glared at her.

"An might not be the nicest guy, but he's strong!" Kun retorted.

"Yeah, he might be a pervert but he isn't weak!" Sarah added as she shot her a fierce glare.

I was glad that she was defending me but why did she have to bring that up? Had she still not forgiven me for that little accident?

"Not to mention a goofball," Hal pointed out, chuckling as he said it.

"And a little dense," Xue added.

I smiled. Ignoring those insults, they were all good friends, including Kun.

Guang snickered. "Yeah, right. Sure I believe that," she said as she drew her bow and arrow at me. "Hurry up and finish your task here. You know very well that foreigners are forbidden in these lands, even when accompanied by a resident of them."

Kyuu Seishin wasn't the only country where xenophobia was prevalent. A similar, or perhaps even stronger sentiment existed among my people. Not only in this town but in the capital and in various other towns.

"Let's go," I said, waving at the others.

Guang stepped in front of them and blocked their path with her bow. "You can only bring the Uanian girl. I can't have the rest of these foreigners step any deeper into our lands. That one of them is a Shui and another a Xianian is enough reason to bar them from entry."