20. Death - Karvon

The rebels were a group of people who want to overthrow the cultivators ruling them. They have hope to find the mythical entity called the nether which can grant them the power to rebel against cultivators.

The rebels have amassed a huge following since they raised but the cultivators don't even pay attention to them as, the entity known as the nether was just a myth.

And they feel very courageous after knowing that they will win over the cultivators with the power of the nether.

...

"What?! That's foolishness!" Silas blurted out loud with a frown.

"Courageous?! Over an entity that might just be... Unreal?!" Silas continued as he was a bit angry that these people would kill themselves over an item that hasn't been confirmed to exist.

"Reduce your voice, young man." The shop owner said to Silas as he looked around and listened to the surroundings.

Silas sighed tiredly.

'Plus, they're telling the cultivators their plan out in the open... What the actual fuck?' Silas thought and then he stretched.

"They sure are wasting their time," Silas said as he put his hand in front of the man.

He for one, knows that they're wasting their time as the nether was in him as of this moment.

"The tip," Silas said to the man who was confused as to why Silas stretched his hand forward.

"Ah, right." The man then put his hand over under Silas' and then a stream of coins dropped onto the man's hand.

The man was shocked as the amount Silas gave him was more than a hundred gold coins which was quite the sum and he smiled at them as he poured the money into his pocket.

Silas was stunned as he couldn't imagine how deep the pocket of the man would be. A hundred coins could last the man for a month.

"We'll be going now." Silas said as he left the shop with Juliet and both of them walked back to the road they followed before.

"Our first time coming here and we find this." Silas mumbled and then Juliet shook her head in pity.

"Those people are really hopeless. They will definitely be all dead by next year." Juliet said and Silas nodded.

"Probably."

...

Both of them followed the connection compass as they walked through the straight road. Whenever they saw the guards patrolling or a strong cultivator passing in a flying treasure they'll just blend in or hide.

After more than one hour they finally got to a part of Avalon where the compass shifted easily and they looked sideways to see an alleyway that lead somewhere and both of the followed it.

The compass was now pointing forward and they walked calmly.

"May this compass not fail us." Silas said nervously and then Juliet smiled a bit.

"What?" He asked.

"You and him were very close friends. I doubt he'll have his memories now." Juliet said and then Silas smiled as this person they're going to find sounds interesting.

Soon they emerged from the alley and found themselves in the middle of some clustered houses.

The compass pointed at a boy lying on a bench and Silas walked towards the bench and walked passed it and the arrow shifted to the boy behind him.

The boy was looking upwards towards the bright and clouded sky and all is a sudden two faces popped up in his vision.

The boy was not very thin but he looked like he hasn't been eating well and his body was riddled with scars, some fresh, some old.

The boy had very short black hair and his eyes were grey and cold and he looked at the two people above him and immediately stood up.

"What do you guys want?" The boy asked as he looked at both of them with a frown.

The boy was tall and he already started growing a mustache and beard. So Silas put him in a category...

'Must be a teenager.' Silas nodded as he thought and then he sat down on the bench.

"Why don't you have a seat." Silas said and the boy frowned even deeper.

"Who are you? You look familiar." The boy frowned as he looked at Silas and then he looked at Juliet.

"Her too." He pointed at Juliet.

"It's a long story, just sit down." Silas said and for three reasons, he went to sit beside Silas.

Number one reason, they weren't cultivators. Cultivators have this aura which anyone can feel. Number two, both of them feel and look familiar to him.

And number three is that he was sure he would be able to escape from them if they tried something funny, this was the slums after all.

'Mans gotta look after himself.'

"I'm Silas. What's your name?" Silas said at first.

"Karvon." The boy replied.

"Karvon, I have a question for you. Are you satisfied with the way things are?" Silas asked and the boy immediately stood up and looked at both off them.

"What do you mean?" He asked, he was already comfortable with both of them but then Silas dropped that question.

"I mean... The way everything is out of balance, the cultivators treating us like trash--"

"Wait, you guys are part of the rebels." Karvon said and people around suddenly looked at them and Silas chuckled at Karvon's statement.

"I'm not part of that aimless group." Silas said with a smile.

"Now, are you or are you not satisfied?" Silas asked again and this time, Karvon answered straight away.

"Of course I'm not satisfied with the way the weak are always treated. I was good at drawing, and because I wasn't a cultivator, the cultivators chose someone worse than me. They see mortals as useless." Karvon said to them quite calmly but his clenched fists betrayed his calm face.

"What if I tell you that you can do something about it?" Silas said to him and then Karvon only smiled.

"How's that possible? I've already tried cultivating." Karvon said with a sad smile and then Silas clicked his tongue.

"There's a different way to cultivate and gain power." Silas said as he stood up and then he snapped his fingers. And everywhere turned black and white and everything slowed down.

Karvon was stunned.

But everything returned to normal in a few seconds and Karvon was really shocked.

"Come, I can teach you the ways." Silas said with a smirk and then Karvon furrowed his brows.

"Why me?" Karvon asked.

There were hundreds of people in the slums just like him, so what made him special?