Longing hearts part 7

Ch7: The root of all evil

Intensity was palpable around Koro and he found himself squeezing further in the corner he had been leaning on. His eyes were focused on the scene in front of him: his master Ikrov was seated in front of master Saika’s desk, the later leaning on his chair nonchalantly, the light from his open laptop casting colorations on his handsome face. The two masters had some sort of casual banter between them, a situation that felt slightly surreal for the followers in the room, before getting to the serious matter at hand. Ikrov was a man who hated leaving his own region and yet he flew all the way to London with three of his followers, one of them an apostle. In Saika’s office, of course, stood only the three followers who ran across the mysterious man called Yabu.

‘’Master…’’, Mainda uttered, interrupting their loud laughter over some sort of inside joke between them. Saika glared at his apostle, but she did not seem to break her serious expression. Koro wondered if the two apostles had gained more backbone after living independent for a while, or if her words in Vadstena were an expression of some inner thoughts concerning the masters.

‘’Master Saika, your apostle seems inpatient.’’, Ikrov commented and gave her a cunning smirk, before shrugging his shoulder lightly. ‘’But, she does have a point. Please describe what you saw and heard once more to us.’’, he added and Saika nodded as well. There was no objection when the female took the word and described with every little detail the scene, the words and the man’s characteristics. Her description was so precise that Koro could nearly feel the same sensations he had caused him, crawl allover his body. Before the masters could speak, Mainda blurted out what was in her mind with no hesitation.

‘’He is a master isn’t he?’’

Koro stared at her with widened eyes and upon glancing at Tori, he noticed his own surprise at her words. The two masters frowned heavily, exchanging a long gaze before facing their followers once more.

‘’Yes.’’, Saika uttered and the male follower felt his stomach drop. His sister could be right about everything. ‘’Master Yabu has had zero followers and takes care zero amount of land. And he is not the only one.’’

‘’The number of masters in this world is larger than the one you followers are aware of and that is for everyone’s sake. Some of them have been in a long slumber and others have been roaming the world not caring about it. It seems that this Yabu master has decided to act offensively.’’, Ikrov added and the revelation of an unknown number of masters sounded frightening in Koro’s ears.

‘’He probably wants to avenge the system.’’, Mainda commented and crossed her hands in front of her chest. Ikrov lifted a brow, while Saika narrowed his eyes. He was probably reading his apostle’s mind. ‘’What seems curious to me is why now. Something must have changed, considering his words.’’, she added and looked back at Tori and Koro, in hopes of finding something more than blank faces.

‘’My, my… You must be having a lot of fun with this one Saika. I for one never had an apostle like that and I can’t remember anyone else being in your place either.’’, Ikrov muttered to the other master and Saika simply sighed. Koro was impressed by his sister’s behavior and he could tell that she hadn’t always been this way in front of her master.

‘’We shall contact every master owning a region. From this point forward, followers who meet this man must contact their masters immediately. He has to be captured.’’, Saika announced and the followers nodded. ‘’You are excused.’’

The two males went to turn around, but Mainda seemed to not move. Koro saw her from his peripherals as she stood her ground.

‘’What is the extend of power masters have on followers not belonging to them and what other powers could a master use?’’, she asked with a firm voice and the air suddenly thickened. Koro could feel the intensity aiming for her, as two pairs of eyes as red as the pits of hell stared at his sister. He wanted to protect her, naturally, but he was frozen. Saika stood up.

‘’You are excused, Mainda.’’, the black haired master spoke once more, this time much slower than before. A few seconds went by, during which Mainda did not seem to move an inch. Koro wished he could see her face. He only hoped that her determination hadn’t crumbled. Suddenly they were able to move again and all three of them left the room, heading upstairs in pure silence. The two best friends exchanged glances as they followed the female in the living room, where the remaining followers occupying Saika’s headquarters were.

‘’Wow there. I can feel my skin ripping apart curly.’’, a young fellow commented at his sister and she lifted a brow at him.

‘’Piss off.’’, she muttered and walked into the kitchen to help with dinner preparations. The two males stayed in the living room, feeling more than awkward. There was another follower of Ikrov joining them at a casual conversation. Apart from the weird acting dude who had fought with them before, called Issah, Koro knew no one else. Dinner time seemed as casual as ever, but the one refusing to exchange more than a few words beneath a mask of relaxation was Mainda herself. When morning arrived, they had to fly back to the estate and Koro hoped that Tori could help his sister relax a bit through their shared, private moments before they do.

Ikrov and his followers returned to the estate with no updates in sight for nearly two weeks. The master sent them off for specific missions, as if nothing had happened. The only detail that had changed was a global warning for the followers to contact their masters if the manifestations seem unusual or if they see the specific man. Naturally, people asked questions, but received no answers due to the dangerous nature of the situation and the probability of panic spreading. Koro had just returned from a few missions in Romania and decided to hang out with Tori, who had also recently returned from his own missions, one of them with Mainda. The two males shared a comfortable silence in Koro’s room, while the sun set behind the mountainsides. Tori’s phone buzzed.

‘’What the…’’, he mumbled in shock and rage and sat up from his laying position. His reaction caught the other male’s attention as well and he closed the thick book he had been reading.

‘‘Check the Swedish news. Thirty percent increase in homicides and twenty five percent increase in suicides.’’, he repeated what was written in the message and Koro felt a shiver run down his spine, his palms sweating immediately at the memory of master Yabu.

‘’You think he did this?’’, he questioned his friend as he noticed him use the search engine to see for himself what the news were about.

‘’I doubt there is any other reason and I am sure Ikrov knows…’’, Tori replied and nodded negatively to himself as he read in different online newspapers the same news Mainda had written in her message. ‘’Let’s go now.’’, he uttered and got up, knowing full well that a confrontation with their master was not going to end well. He recalled his sister and the way she stood up against her own master. Her character seemed to have worn off on the two males as well.

No matter how hard they searched for him, though, they were unable to find him in the estate. Koro tried to recollect the memory of his last time seeing him. Twenty four hours had gone by since then. Tori was especially pissed off, since he was his apostle. They searched for Irene, the one responsible for the communications, scaring the poor woman as they barged into her office, fairly bewildered.

‘’Is master out?’’, Tori asked and she glared from one male to the other before nodding positively. The apostle exhaled and run his fingers through his blonde hair. Irene seemed to have found her voice again.

‘’It’s not the first time he does it. I don’t see why you act offended. This is our master we are talking about.’’, she scolded Tori with a frown and he gave her a glare that forced her to shut her lips tight. Then he brought his attention to Koro and nodded towards the exit of the office, ignoring the female completely.

As soon as they were back in the hallways, Tori took his phone out and began typing aggressively, probably contacting Mainda.

‘’We wait for now. Then we demand a solution.’’, he muttered to himself. ‘’I did not return to his side to let all these people die.’’