The Flower Among the Flames

Chapter 31

As if on cue, a loud metallic thud erupted from behind the doomsayers. Everyone turned their attention towards the castle with the doomsayers speechless towards the sight before them. Not only was it a sight to see, but it was opening on its own. As quickly as the shock affected the demons, they regained composure immediately and ushered the two men inside. The old man took his time entering the castle, following closely behind Seulgi. They stopped after going in about thirty feet into the castle and were told to wait. The doomsayers, Adyama and Helus, left to inform their Master that his guests arrived, but the old man did not notice them leave. His mind was preoccupied with something else. Finally, those damn obsidian doors were opening to him after more than a hundred years, and it was all thanks to a stranger whom he just met.

He clenched his fists. One hundred years. How could he have noticed? Time was hard to keep track of in Yelegan and even more so considering it did not flow the same as it does in the world of the Living. Sometimes it was faster and other times far slower. For all the old man knew, it could be that a minute had passed where he was and a whole year or two did in Ea.

"Who would have thought that my greatest challenge would be completed by the hands of another man?" the old man thought aloud. Seulgi obviously could hear him and asked without turning around, "So you tried to visit the Master too?"

"Visit?" the old man barked with laughter. "No. I want to smack him upside the head."

Seulgi turned his head at that comment, his eyebrow raised. "Pardon?"

"Ever heard the phrase 'Never keep your elders waiting'?" the old man grunted, slamming the end of his staff into the stone floor with emphasis, "Well, I have been waiting for over one hundred years– as you have just explained to me– to have a little...chat with him and for one hundred years I have been denied."

"What reason do you have for wanting to speak with him?" Seulgi asked.

"Let's say I died a little too early and not in the way I wanted to either," the old man crossed his arms over his robes, his expression masked by that cowl of his. Too early? Seulgi was not one to infer on someone's age, but certainly this man was way over his seventies. Not in the way I wanted to either. He thought.

"You should know." The old man interrupted the warrior's train of thought. "You probably have the same reason for leaving as I do."

"And what is that?" Seulgi took a turn for caution. Something about this subject was beginning to sit ill with him.

"You have some unfinished business, am I right?" the old man grunted.

Seulgi did not answer right away, wanting to see the expression on the man's face before saying anything. Unfortunately, he still could not see above his lower face and mouth pulled into a thin line. With a sigh, he shrugged. "I suppose so."

"You suppose?" The old man leaned towards him. "No, you know that you have something you need to finish back in Ea. Don't try to hide it."

"There is nothing to hide." Seulgi shook his head. "I think you overheard me when I said that there are two demons rampant in Sǐ Chéng."

"Two?!" the old man exclaimed, "You said only one!"

"My mistake," Seulgi apologized, "I meant to say that I believe the demon who killed me intends to free his kin from what I can only assume is her prison."

"Her?" the old man uncrossed his arms, turning his back towards the warrior. It couldn't be.

"Yes," Seulgi nodded.

"Do you know if she has a name?" the old man asked, his eyes glancing up to the sky from out the open doorway.

"Sala."