”How come I didn’t know this? I am a king but it seems a transcendent knows more about the family than me.” Ghoto complained. While he was enlightened by the story he couldn’t help being disgruntled about his earlier ignorance.
The supervisor almost stumbled when he heard the question, “Cough cough, I am sorry about that. I don’t think I know why either.” He apologized quickly. He was just trying to use the story to create a nice impression. He didn’t want his efforts to lead to something bad instead, so there was no way he would tell Ghoto the reason for his ignorance.
Soverick knew why and he wasn’t shy enough to care about Ghoto’s feelings. He opened his mouth and said “Maybe It’s because you are not a true descendant of the family. You don’t have the bloodline of the ancestor. That’s probably why?”
The atmosphere became awkward when he said that. “You mean to say that the forest is a powerful tree sentient being? I never thought about it like that. How powerful is it?” Mihila asked the supervisor. Her question changed the focus of the conversation.
The supervisor coughed. He was glad for the subject change. “I am not sure but what I do know is that it is capable of killing sovereigns. It is also capable of monitoring all the activities going on within the city.”
Mihila’s eyes narrowed. She thought back to the fact that the city was built to alleviate the boredom of the tree and that the tree liked listening to stories. The power of a sovereign of law is capable of a lot of things.
“Is the tree eavesdropping on us?” She asked.
The supervisor avoided her gaze and answered. “I don’t know.”
Soverick was beginning to find Mihila irritating. He wanted to ask her what the point of her question was. So what if the tree is listening to them.
‘What difference does it make? Plants are all around us and it is a fact that they listen to us. They can talk to each other and us but we ignore them because we can’t understand. Suddenly you feel eavesdropped on when you find out that plants aren’t the stupid things you thought they were.’ He couldn’t stand the fact that there was someone that wanted to malign a tree.
‘Ignorance is just bliss. I wonder what she will think if she knows I can listen in on their divine sense conversation too.’ He snickered to himself.
Kayla shuddered at the thought of a sentient being watching and listening in on them. “That’s just creepy.” She looked around suspiciously.
The supervisor wanted to scoff and say ‘If you had the family bloodline you wouldn’t find it creepy at all. You are outsiders after all.’ But he didn’t dare say that for the sake of his life. Mihila could have an emotional outburst that would cost him his life. While it is true that there is law and order in the city and murder is forbidden, manslaughter is another thing entirely. He sighed in relief when he saw that they were approaching the door to the evaluation room. He decided to use the upcoming survey to change the subject.
“It seems we have arrived already. Now we can get the process underway.” He opened the door quickly and everyone followed him into the room. There were people inside the room waiting for them, they stood around a large cube about 3 meters on each side. This machine is the Life survey equipment that would perform the evaluation. The machine was black with golden lines of runes etched onto its surface. It looked seamless with only a single opening on the side. It was making a low humming sound as it operated and the golden runes were flashing with light. It looked like a strange creature from a certain angle instead of a lifeless machine.
“The machine has been checked and warmed up before your arrival. There will be no delays. Can we start?” A female officer approached them. Her appearance startled the family, with Litori being impacted the most. This officer didn’t look like a battle sage monkey at all, her features were serpentine. She had no fur, only scales, and her tail was not the prehensile one that battle sage monkeys possessed. She belonged to a rival race of the battle sage monkeys but was now almost hunted into extinction. This particular race was one of the most dangerous races the battle sage ever fought, they seemed engineered to hunt battle sage monkeys. They lived in trees just like the battle sage, they were incredibly agile just like the battle sage monkeys. So the battle sage lost their mobility advantages in the forest. That race was cunning, silent, and were patient hunters with terrifying tracking capabilities that liked to hunt and eat battle sage monkeys. Their innate incredible defense made the efforts of the battle sage futile in a confrontation. The battle sage eventually won the struggle for survival because of their higher intelligence and the development of weapons capable of breaking their scales. The race of serpentine monsters had the advantage in physical prowess but lost in the area of intelligence and learning ability, which led to their demise. Even now the name of the race is taboo and must not be mentioned. They are used to scare children straight, they are practically the stuff of nightmares.
The supervisor bolted to the officer, “Stop it, put it away.” His divine sense screamed at her even before he started moving. He reached her quickly and yanked on a necklace she was wearing. Her appearance flickered and she became a normal battle sage female. His reaction was swift and decisive but it was already too late. The sight of the serpentine features invoked a primal fear in the mind of Ghaster and Litori. They might have chosen to fight or flee if the officer had chosen a weaker form of the dreadful species, but her current form made them give up. Hopelessness welled up within them, Ghaster chose to sit down on the ground and started wailing, he was crying for his mother like a child. Litori’s reaction was worse, her intelligence became her bane, and she went into catatonia. She froze because her mind was telling her that resistance was hopeless.
Laughing resounded from within the room. The officers were the ones laughing but the sight of the grave face of their supervisor soon tamped down their enthusiasm.
“What?” The female officer was confused, she did her part well enough so why had the supervisor gone off-script. Another officer approached them, he asked softly “What is the problem, boss? We got them, well at least two of them.”
“I didn’t ask you to do this, whose idea is it?” The supervisor growled.
“But you asked us to prepare for a life evaluation this morning.” The female officer said in her defense. “It was my turn so I wore the illusion costume to scare them.”
The supervisor rubbed the bridge of his nose. His subordinates were not really at fault. This act is part of their tradition, after all, it was his fault that he hadn’t prevented it this time around. He should have warned them not to carry it out as usual.
He approached the family with an apologetic smile while hoping Mihila wouldn’t turn him to mush.
Mihila and Ghoto were trying to soothe the two anxious children. They had powerful divine sense and had been able to tell that what they were seeing was fake.
“I am sorry.” The supervisor started. “It wasn’t intentional. It is a tradition that has been passed down from before my time. It is just a silly prank and I should have warned them not to execute it this time around.” He spoke aloud and quickly. The female officer also approached them, she brought out candies which she offered them to alleviate their fear. “See, I am normal.” They recoiled at first, it was only after examining her closely did Ghaster and Litori finally calm down. But they didn’t receive her candies, they were still wary of her.
Ghoto was boiling. “You had better have a good reason for the prank.”
Ghoto’s threatening stance reminded the supervisor that he was actually against two powerhouses. Mihila’s aura had made him forget that part.
“When the machine was first constructed for use, its appearance was too intimidating to children. They were afraid of being sealed into it and refused to use it. It was decided that the fear of the machine had to be eliminated one way or another and someone recommended that they scare the kids with something else. Nothing worked for a while until that specific species was used. The process became a pranking tradition since then.”
“Honestly it was not a bad prank. It would have been better if it worked on everyone.” Mihila said glancing at the stoic Soverick. She was referring to the fact that Soverick was not scared. The supervisor breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn’t die because of a simple prank.