Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2385: I Write Fiction

Sylas gave the young man one long look, then turned away as though the outstretched hand, innocent expression, and request for a gift had never existed. The silence stretched just long enough for the young man’s smile to falter, and for perhaps the first time since appearing, he looked genuinely speechless.

Sylas hadn’t even asked his name. In fact, Sylas had hardly reacted to his presence at all despite the fact he should have come out of nowhere.

"Januar is my name," he finally supplied on his own, tapping a thumb against his chest. "Since apparently we’re skipping all the normal parts of meeting your grand disciple."

Yamero’s long body shifted through the air in a slow curve, the spatial Runes composing his scales flickering faintly as a chuckle came from him. Sylas still didn’t answer, and Januar stared at the side of his face for another moment before recovering with impressive speed.

"Alright, then, Grand Master, what exactly are you hoping to achieve here?"

Sylas continued walking.

Yamero’s laughter grew louder. "You know, if you’re trying to decide whether you should be his enemy or not, you probably shouldn’t make it so obvious."

Januar’s lips pulled into a pout. "I’m trying to understand what sort of person my Grand Master is. Is that really so unreasonable?"

"Go ask your master."

Januar scoffed and adjusted the backwards cap on his head. "Who knows where the hell that old man is? He’s probably knee-deep in some nonsense, that or a muscle mommy."

The spatial Runes around Yamero’s head flickered unevenly for a moment as though even his body didn’t know how to process that answer. His serpentine head rotated toward Sylas, several rings of space folding subtly around his neck as he regarded him. "What sort of disciple did you get yourself?"

"Like I said, it was by accident."

Januar immediately grinned. "It’s the gift, isn’t it? Whatever he gave you was too good to pass up."

His eyes moved toward Sylas’ back and landed on the calligraphy brush almost at once. The scythe there carried a strange enough presence that most people would have focused on it first, yet Januar barely seemed to notice it beside the brush, his gaze lingering with the sort of recognition that suggested he understood much more than he was saying.

Sylas didn’t bother explaining that he had hardly used the thing since receiving it. There were very few people in general who could make him muster up the care to reply to something they said, let alone have a conversation. If he wasn’t particularly interested, then nothing could make him interested.

Januar eventually laughed and raised both hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I’ll stop being an annoyance."

He clasped his hands behind his back and fell into step beside them, though his attention quickly shifted toward Yamero. "What about you, then? What’s your story?"

Yamero’s body coiled once through the air before relaxing again, his tail passing through a thin fold of space rather than disturbing the luminous grass beneath them.

"You’re not very good at reconnaissance, are you? Is that because you’re used to magically knowing everything you want to know?"

Januar blinked, then his eyes narrowed slightly.

There was no reason Yamero should have phrased it that way unless he knew something about what Januar could do, and that small realization erased some of the casual amusement from his face.

"Oh?" Yamero’s serpent maw curved into something that looked dangerously close to a smile, though the expression was carried more by the bend of his Runes than anything human. "You’re the only one allowed to question people?"

Januar said nothing, and Yamero continued as the three moved deeper into the glowing forest.

"I can tell you this much, Sylas probably knows a lot more about you now that you’ve appeared than you know about him. Master-disciple relationships are interesting things, and so are husband-and-wife relationships, so don’t you find it curious that the system would bother caring about bonds like that at all?"

Januar’s expression stayed still for a long while. Then he chuckled.

"Maybe there was a good reason my master took a kid as his master, then."

The Runes along Yamero’s jaw brightened as his smile sharpened. "Indeed. Don’t you think your years are a little wasted if you have to call a ’kid’ Grand Master?"

Januar looked toward him, then burst into laughter. "Touché."

He began walking ahead of them, hands still clasped behind his back while the tails of his trench coat fluttered through the strange currents moving between the trees.

"Since you are my Grand Master, though, I’ll give you one piece of advice for free. This situation is far more complicated than it looks, and you haven’t had the same patience the three of us have had when it comes to affirming our foundations."

Sylas’ gaze remained calm. One would have thought he hadn’t heard anything that Januar said in the first place.

Januar glanced back over his shoulder. "You’ll have a tricky time finagling your way out of this one, Grand Master. When that sword maniac gets here, we’re probably all going to have trouble, though knowing her, she’s already somewhere nearby and just decided to sightsee first."

Yamero’s laughter followed him as Januar increased the distance between them. "If you were that confident, you would’ve attacked already."

Januar lifted one hand without turning around, waving lazily as though the accusation didn’t interest him in the slightest. "I’m no fighter."

His next words drifted back through the radiant forest with the same casual tone.

"I’m a historian who wants to write fiction."

For reasons Yamero couldn’t explain, every Rune in his body seemed to tighten at once and space around him froze. The words were so simple an unadorned, they didn’t seem to carry even the slightest hint of a threat either, and yet...

A strange certainty passed through his mind with no source he could identify, so sudden and complete that for one brief instant, Yamero thought he had just died.