Chapter 17: Aali’s Disappearance and the Revelation of Truth

“Oh? Have you recalled anything?”

Downstairs, Manrot observed Qi Lin’s slow descent, then posed a question.

Hearing the question, Qi Lin shook his head.

“Ah, I see… Do not fret, take your time. Memories, you know, possess a peculiar nature; they tend to resurface naturally when the opportune moment arrives. Heh heh, allow me to share, in my youth, I traversed countless lands with a few comrades, and we, too, encountered similar predicaments. Alas, how truly the sands of time have shifted!” Manrot, his gaze distant with recollection, mused aloud to Qi Lin, who now stood beside him.

Qi Lin remained silent, merely nodding slightly.

Observing Qi Lin’s reserved manner, Manrot offered a soft chuckle, shaking his head as he moved towards the door. “Come, it is time for us to depart. To think we’ve barely spent a few years living here, only to leave once more… truly, it is a pity.”

Trailing closely behind Manrot, Qi Lin listened to the man’s incessant muttering, a slight frown tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Where shall we gather?”

Casting a brief glance back at Qi Lin, Manrot responded in a hushed tone, “At the town entrance. We shall await the Elder’s completion of obscuring our traces, and then we may depart. My only concern is how long it will take to locate a new dwelling this time.”

As they proceeded, elves, one after another, made their way towards the town entrance, each shouldering a verdant backpack.

Several elves and even some humans, recognizing Manrot, stepped forward to offer their greetings before joining the group heading towards the town’s periphery.

With the sun sinking in the west, Elder Sylph emerged at the town entrance, a longbow intricately carved with green leaves resting upon her back, and a staff etched with the motifs of trees and blossoms held firmly in her grasp.

The elves who had already converged at the town entrance swiftly encircled Elder Sylph the moment she came into view.

“My friends, are you all prepared?” Elder Sylph asked, her countenance composed, as she leaned upon her staff.

The elves nodded in response.

Elder Sylph surveyed the group, then frowned. “Where is Aali?”

At Elder Sylph’s words, the elves exchanged perplexed glances, for none among them knew where Aali had gone.

“Qi Lin?”

“I am here. Is something amiss, Elder Sylph?” Responding to Elder Sylph’s summons, Qi Lin raised his left hand.

Moving with purpose to Qi Lin’s side, Elder Sylph questioned, “Where is Aali? Why is she not among us?”

“Aali? What about her?”

“Was she not with you?”

“Ah, indeed!” Qi Lin exclaimed, bewildered. “Was she not within your treehouse? Did your paths not cross?”

Following her brief exchange with Qi Lin, Elder Sylph’s brow became deeply furrowed.

As Qi Lin observed Elder Sylph’s perturbed state, he opened his mouth, intent on questioning the matter, but she offered him no opportunity.

Instead, Elder Sylph pivoted abruptly and sprinted back into the heart of the town.

Perceiving that something was gravely amiss, Qi Lin, alongside Manrot, who had been silently privy to their conversation, hastened to match Elder Sylph’s urgent pace.

The surrounding elves, witnessing their sudden retreat, exchanged bewildered glances but did not pursue, for they were all bound to the town entrance to commence the migration ritual.

****

Arriving at the treehouse, Elder Sylph flung open the door with an abrupt force.

“Elder, what has transpired? What troubles Aali?” Manrot, following closely behind Elder Sylph, questioned with palpable anxiety. Aali, after all, was a child he had watched mature, akin to a cherished half-daughter; any misfortune befalling her would undoubtedly plunge him into profound sorrow.

“Having confirmed the absence of any other inhabitants within the small town, I made my way to the town entrance to rendezvous with you all and commence the preparations for the ceremony. Yet, Aali was conspicuously absent from the gathered crowd, prompting my suspicion that something was gravely wrong,” Elder Sylph elaborated to Manrot.

Qi Lin, standing nearby, found himself momentarily bewildered before swiftly relaying the events that had transpired within the treehouse prior to his departure to seek Manrot.

Having heard the account, Elder Sylph and Manrot exchanged troubled glances. Based on their intimate knowledge of Aali, they discerned the gravity of the situation.

Clenching her staff with renewed resolve, Elder Sylph moved towards the stool reserved for guests.

Elder Sylph intoned obscure elven words, and the staff in her hand began to emanate a vibrant, emerald light.

Within the ethereal void before the trio, segments of text, utterly inscrutable to Qi Lin, shimmered into existence.

“Preposterous! Aali is acting utterly recklessly!” Manrot, having scrutinized the emerging texts, angrily pounded his staff against the floor, his voice thick with exasperation.

“What do the writings reveal?” Qi Lin inquired, his voice somewhat subdued, as he gazed at the irate Manrot.

Elder Sylph, her brow still furrowed, cast a pointed look at Qi Lin before revealing, “Aali has departed to seek her brother.”

Manrot’s temper flared instantly. “To go searching for Aric—is that not utter folly? What is our current predicament? The Empire has uncovered our sanctuary; we are once more in a state of emergency, with Imperial soldiers or War Fiends liable to appear at any given moment. Is this girl not being utterly irresponsible?”

“Manrot, compose yourself! Our most pressing concern is to locate Aali,” Elder Sylph pronounced gravely, a shimmering emerald ray emanating from her hand to strike Manrot’s brow.

Bathed in the verdant glow and soothed by Elder Sylph’s weighty words, Manrot gradually regained his composure. Yet, with calm came a deluge of troubling considerations.

“What course of action should we take? It is entirely plausible that the Imperial legions or the War Fiends have already commenced their march towards our location.” Manrot’s brow furrowed into a knot of worry, resembling twisted ropes. They were utterly bereft of time to search for Aali.

“Um…”

“What troubles you?” Both turned their gazes to Qi Lin, their brows still a tangled mess of concern.

“Might I suggest, then, that you entrust the search for Aali to me? I do, after all, bear a measure of responsibility; had I not sought out Mayor Manrot, these events might never have unfolded,” Qi Lin proposed, his tone tinged with a subdued gravity. ‘If only I had offered Aali some counsel back then, perhaps she would not have departed to find her brother.’

“No, you bear no culpability; this is entirely Aali’s own decision,” Elder Sylph countered, her tone conveying clear disapproval of Qi Lin’s assertion. “Furthermore, to dispatch someone as utterly defenseless as yourself, and a patient at that, on such a perilous search is something we cannot possibly sanction.”

“I…” Qi Lin faltered, caught in a profound quandary over whether to disclose the truth. The decision weighed heavily upon him: to speak would grant him the means to pursue Aali, yet it might also brand him with an undesirable stigma; to remain silent, however, would be a betrayal to Aali, who had unveiled this world to him, to Manrot and Elder Sylph, who had offered him knowledge, and to the benevolent elves who had extended their friendship.

Despite their acquaintance spanning less than a single day, the collective impression these elves had imprinted upon him was overwhelmingly favorable.

“Please, entrust this task to me; I am capable!” After a protracted silence, observing Manrot and Elder Sylph preparing to depart, Qi Lin asserted with unwavering conviction. Perceiving that Elder Sylph was poised to rebut him once more, he quickly added:

“Furthermore… I possess certain extraordinary means.”

Swallowing her rebuttal, Elder Sylph met Qi Lin’s gaze. “What?”

Qi Lin offered no verbal response, choosing instead to manifest his determination through a tangible display.

A crimson luminescence swirled forth, and the blood-red scythe materialized once more, settling securely within Qi Lin’s grasp.

As he leaned the chillingly radiant scythe against his shoulder, Qi Lin’s previously dim crimson eyes began to ignite with a ferocious scarlet glow.

Caught by the piercing gaze of Qi Lin’s scarlet eyes, an unbidden surge of terror unexpectedly seized Elder Sylph’s heart.

Nevertheless, this sudden fear dissipated as rapidly as it arose, thus Elder Sylph gave it no further thought.

“You… are Qi Lin? Is this… your authentic self? Was your purported amnesia merely an elaborate deception?” Elder Sylph questioned, her staff slightly raised, as she regarded Qi Lin with cautious vigilance.

Upon hearing her words, Qi Lin surveyed his transformed state, then nodded with a degree of hesitation. He, too, felt a flicker of uncertainty as to whether this was his true form, for who could truly foresee what new changes might yet unfold?

Whatever thoughts currently occupied Qi Lin’s mind, Elder Sylph had already plunged into profound contemplation, a state mirrored by Manrot.

“Why did you feign amnesia?” Manrot was the first to break the silence.

“I hail from a distant land and am largely ignorant of the intricacies of this continent. To circumvent inquiries from those I first encountered regarding my dwelling place or origins, I chose to feign it,” Qi Lin explained, his gaze unwavering and earnest as he met Manrot’s eyes.

“Then, were the War Fiends also vanquished by your hand?” Elder Sylph, having maintained a prolonged silence, finally posed the question.

In response, Qi Lin offered an immediate and unhesitating nod.

“Very well, then. We shall, for now, accept the veracity of your words. Aali… we shall entrust to your care, and we earnestly hope you can aid us in locating her,” Elder Sylph stated, her gaze unwavering as she regarded Qi Lin.

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