Destiny

After the whole commotion, they commanded all the remaining people from the cities to leave, since it was already five in the afternoon.

In the evening, the Jonas brothers don't need to guard the gate because at night no one can enter their clan. It is because those balete trees that surround their clan are enchanted that they can hide the whole clan during the night. All of the people that go in there at night cannot find them; that's why their only chance of entering the gate is when the sunrise sets in.

At 6 p.m., they all went inside the castle and ate dinner before going to sleep.

In the morning, Jon Bane and Rica were told that Elder Zabala was already outside the chamber. They immediately went to the throne, where the elder was sitting.

Rica bowed her head and politely said, "Elder Zabala, I'm here to consult about the cure for the curse that I have in me."

"Our vision will be based on what you want to know; all you need to do is keep repeating it inside your mind," Elder Zabala replied.

Elder Zabala slowly closed her eyes while holding Rica's hand. After a few minutes, the elder finally talked and said, "A scent that ran throughout the hallways. An odor that you can recall. As if no time had passed at all."

Rica is actually thinking about the cure for her being barren, and hearing the words of the elder, she got confused and said, "What do you mean by that?"

The elder just smiled and walked away from her, leaving Rica in confusion.

The elder stopped in the middle of the place and proudly uttered, "You know what? After spending a year praying inside the chamber, I finally achieved level 3."

Hearing this, all of the seers inside murmured in awe at their elder. "Our Elder already has the gift of prophecy."

"He is waiting for the vessel.

Bad souls feed the blade of the devil.

The love of the cure that you can't refuse,

Kill or protect? you need to choose."

The Elder said this while walking beside Jon Bane.

All of the people in the place are really confused by what the elder has just said to Jon Bane; they can't figure out what it means.

"Whatever you mean by that, I am telling you I am the one who can decide what will happen to my own life: kill or protect? If I have to choose between those two, I will always choose to kill rather than protect anyone," Jon Bane remarked.

The elder only grinned and murmured, "We will see, we will see."

"I think we're done here, Rica; let's go," Jon Bane said, motioning for Rica to leave the castle.

"But, but, I still don't know what's my cure." Rica looked hesitant to move out.

"Her allegory about your cure is pretty easy to decipher, you idiot! I will tell you later what it is." Jon Bane looked confident about Rica's cure.

Rica thanked all the people in the vicinity and immediately followed Jon Bane, who was already downstairs.

At the gate of the castle, they saw the Jonas Brothers. Jon Bane just passed through them while Rica said thank you to them.

After passing through the small gap between the Balete trees, they saw the looters of the Tubalcain clan.

Jon Bane immediately asked them, "I want to visit your clan before going to Estes Mountain; are we welcome to go to your place?"

"Yes, of course, you're always welcome, and if you want to get a weapon for your journey, we are pretty willing to give you one," one of the looters replied.

"Okay, let's get going." Jon Bane was about to move, but one of the looters stopped him. "Wait! We need to get some branches of this Balete tree first before we can come back to our clan, but we are not good at climbing trees."

"Okay, give me that machete that you are holding; let me do it," Jon Bane immediately said.

The looter gave it to Jon Bane and let Jon Bane do it for them. Seeing him climb up the tree, they were amazed at how fast he did it.

After cutting more or less five large branches, Jon Bane asked the looters if it was already enough. The looters responded that it's already good and he can already go down.

"You're so good at climbing trees," one of the looters commented.

"There's a lot of trees in our clan, so climbing trees is pretty easy for me," Jon Bane replied.

"Did you see that mountain? The one that has a lot of rocks, molten magma, and no trees—that's Tubalcain Mountain, where our clan is residing." One of the looters pointed to it using one of his fingers.

"Alright, let's start moving," Jon Bane commanded everyone.

After three hours of walking, they finally arrived at Tubalcain Mountain.

"Where's your citadel?" Rica asked the looters.

"Did you see that large red rock? At the back of that huge rock is our citadel," one of the looters answered.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the citadel. All of a sudden, an arrow has been shot in front of them, and it hits the ground. The looters got surprised, but the moment they saw the arrow, they became calm.

"This arrow came from..." the looter is about to say.

"from Giovan," but Jon Bane said it before the looter.

"What? from Giovan?, Giovan is in Bolo Mountain. That's two mountains away from here." Rica got amazed.

"That's his tokugi, a sniper; the last time I checked, he can snipe up to three mountains. This clan is just two mountains away from our clan, therefore it is still inside his sniping range," Jon Bane explained.

One of the looters picked the arrow up, and he noticed that there's a letter attached to the arrow.

+++++Senior, there's a huge army from the Uranus clan coming to your place.++++++

Upon reading it, the looter trembled in fear and immediately went to his elder to tell him.