Ch. 7 - Promise Me

Now they were both crying with bright smiles on their faces. They were truly happy. Now none of them would ever have to feel alone.

Soon they both fell asleep. They had not known each other for that long and yet they were already as close as family.

A few hours later, Jin Long woke up. The spot beside Jin Long were empty, but this time, he did not feel any panic at all. He knew that Xiao Huoyan could not have left.

After seeing how happy and excited Xiao Huoyan had been the night before, he knew that he could not have possibly left.

Jin Long was full of energy. He rose up from the bed and went over to the door, but as soon as he was about to open the door, it got opened from the outside.

Through the door came Xiao Houyan. He was holding a plate with many kinds of fruits on as well as a cup of water.

"Wake up, it is time for breakfast!"

Right after saying that, he noticed that Jin Long was behind the door.

"Morning, teacher! Uhm... what are you doing back there?"

"Eh... morning! Well, thanks to a certian 'someone', I got smashed against the wall when this 'someone' opened the door!"

"O-oh, sorry! But I have prepared breakfast!"

Hearing that, Jin Long heaved a deep sigh. Xiao Huoyan was truly a good and innocent child. He had done a lot of bad things while not being himself, but the fact that he actually regretted it, was enough to know that he is a good person by heart.

"Thank you, my dear di-..."

"Hm?"

"... After yesterdays talk, I am not sure what I am supposed to call you. We already decided that I would adopt you legally as soon as possible, but even as my son, you would still be my first and only disciple."

"... You are right. So, what am I supposed to call you then?"

Jin Long thought of it for quite a while, then he suddenly remembered what happened yesterday. He began to remember how excited Xiao Huoyan had been. Those big and bright eyes, they were filled with both happiness and excitement. Those eyes were something Jin Long knew that he would never forget.

"Since we have ready decided to be a family, then how about, from now on you call me father instead of teacher? But if you do not want to, you can just keep calling me teacher. It is entirely up to y--"

"--Father!"

"Geez! Will you let me speak until I am finished?"

"Haha, sorry... father!"

As he said 'father', Xiao Huoyan smiled brightly. Hearing his now dear son call him father with such a bright smile on his face, Jin Long felt his heart melting into a puddle of happiness. He could not think of a time when he had ever been happier.

He gladly ate the breakfast prepared by his son. While Jin Long ate, Xiao Huoyan began to think about how it would be outside. He felt a little sad knowing that he might be unable to ever come back. Jin Long noticed his son's worried and sad expression. He understood the reason, yet he did not know how to comfort him.

"I understand that you might be sad about leaving this place. I know that it can be hard to leave a place that you grew up in and are familiar with, just to go to a place that you have never been to and know nothing about, but you just have to take it all in slowly."

"Take what in slowly?"

Xiao Huoyan looked a little confused. What was he supposed to take in?

"Information, knowledge and other stuff. When you learn more about the outside and what awaits you there, you will understand that it was good to leave this forest."

"But my mother said that I would become the most knowledgeable person there is."

"You are only five years old. I do believe that you will stand on the peak of humanity, but that does not change the fact that you are currently only five years old. You are simply too young to--"

"--I know that I am young, but I have abilities that others can only dream of."

"Geez, will you stop interrupting me? I know about your abilities, but to go invisible, lose control and become insanely powerful, or absorb someone else's spirit essence will not help you increase your knowledge."

"…But it will."

"Huh?"

Hearing that, Jin Long felt as if he had just explained everything to a wall. What his dear son had said did not make any sense! Unless…

"I--"

"--You can read minds, or maybe you can absorb memories… right?"

"Now, who interrupted who?"

"That is of no greater importance! Just answer my question!"

"Right, sorry! I can read minds and I can absorb and memories, but if I absorb someone's memories, their memories will get either wiped out or temporarily sealed. That will depend on how much I absorb. I can either absorb all of it, causing the memories to be wiped out, or I can absorb fragments of it, causing the memories to become rather vague. I can also choose to only read their memories. That way I will have seen their memories, while they can still keep them."

"… Can you transfer the memories back?"

"Yes, I can."

"How do you read their minds and memories?"

"I just focus my thoughts on that person, and then I enter a space. Then it is like all of their memories rush against me like a huge wave. Now I have learnt to control that 'wave' to the point of where I can search for memories I am interested in."

"Could you possibly seal a portion of that power into an object, so that it could be used by anyone?"

"I could create a small orb which can be used only by the person whose blood I use to create the orb."

"Hm… how much blood would you need, and which of the two effects would that orb have?"

"I would only need a drop of blood, and the orb would not erase somebody's memories, only temporarily seal them."

"How long would this orb keep the other person's memories sealed?"

"That would depend on how big that orb would be."

"Then… could you make me one that can seal another person's memories for about… half a year?"

"Of course! But why do you need it?"

"If we run into some trouble on our way through the forest, then I would like to use it on you to make you forget me, your gifts and the people who killed me."

"WHY?!"

"Because I want you to be safe. I want you to forget about me and the people who killed me, so that you will not lose control, and I want you to forget about your gifts so that you will have no way of exposing them."

"If that is really what you want… then I will make you one… but why will you only seal it temporarily then? What will happen when I regain my memories?"

"When you regain your memories, I hope that you will already have found someone whom you can trust. Someone who will take care of you without thinking of gaining benefits from your special abilities. By then you can try to get into a great school and begin learning techniques, so that you can get strong enough to avenge me."

"…"

"I know that this makes you sad, but I just want you to be safe. And about that orb… could you mix in some of that power of invisibility into it? I want you to be able to hide from them, even after losing your memories."

"Yes…"

"I want you to promise me something."

"Anything!"

"If we meet with trouble on our way through the forest, then you have to listen to my every command, absorb all of my memories before I die, keep this letter with information that you will need when you wake up and…"

"And what?"

"…And please live on well!"

"I-I…"

"Please, just promise me!"