"Aah! About that. I never thought anyone would come asking about them. They appeared out of nowhere and they all disappeared one by one," a middle-aged man said scratching his head.
"Tell me about them," the kid pressed. He would have dismissed him but the man just felt that it was better to have this stranger hear the full story. It was actually a tragic one.
"Okay, I won't hide anything from you. Everything changed in that household when their kid awakened. You know just how rare it is for us to awaken.
"Everyone was genuinely happy as this marked that someone from our village had taken a step forward to shedding of our low social status. We all had great hopes for the kid. Hmph…
"I guess that brewed their arrogance and can you believe it? The mother wanted to raise her status quickly such that she actually sent him to the wilderness immediately.
"We did not know when he left but we learned one week later that she had sent her kid to the forest. That is beyond imagination. Not even adults go there without experience or partners. Yet she and her foolish greed sent her only son to die. Tsk!
"When she started wailing in the village and everyone heard the story, we all panicked. We did not blame her actually at first and we all volunteered to look for the kid the whole upcoming week...
"Can you imagine it? There were not even traces as though he had been destroyed. Our search did not yield fruits but it happened to catch the attention of the academy.
"They learned what had happened and they promised that they were going to find the kid and if he had the slightest cultivation talent, they would allow him to do their entrance exams.
"A waste! It was a waste. Two months in and they never found the kid! Can you imagine that our great academy failed?
"We villagers had stopped searching but his mother, she was always at the entrance of the forest waiting for him to come back. She kept blabbing stuff like her husband had said that their son was going to venture into the woods and come back strong. She 'knew' he was going to come back.
"Can you imagine that. Even the academy has given up but she keeps spouting nonsense. If she had accepted her fate, she would have started mourning after one week and she would have gotten over her grief with no time.
"But believe or not, that woman, every time I recall about her, I feel rage because never have seen such a hopelessly foolish woman. Aargh! Hmph… Tsk.
"That day we woke up and learned that she had decided to go into the forest alone. This is the most foolish thing she could do. We did not hesitate but when we tried to find her, she had also disappeared with no trace!
"It just like I said that family came out of nowhere and disappeared into the forest. Even the father, we stopped seeing him after the kid was born. She said he went hunting…
"The academy was speechless when they heard about the mother and they sent another team to search but they found nothing. That is the tragic story behind that family.
"We don't usually speak about it because the memory alone is grating. Their house had to be looted and who could have thought that they had precious goods. Can you believe it that we found even jade piece?"
He man kept pausing and harrumphing. He clicked here and there in his story and at the end, he had been salivating when he remembered about the jade piece.
"So how do you know the family or do you want to buy the shack? I hear that it is about to be auctioned…" He stopped unconsciously when he felt that something was wrong.
He had phrased the story just as everyone had seen it but why did he feel that he was standing on thin ice that was already cracking?
He turned to look at the kid but the next sight was beyond his expectations. The kid had his fist clenched and his back was bent. His head was facing the ground and for a moment, he did not appear like he was alive.
The kid was shaking terribly like he was having a fever. Then something struck him as his skies crumbled on him.
"You…"
He stretched his hand pointing at him and suddenly the kid turned his head to him. The man fell on his butt as he saw a sight that was going to haunt him for the rest of his life.
The hair dispersed and the face was clearly visible but that was not what was scary. It was the face he was making.
He his mouth was open but his teeth were gritted so had it appeared they would crash each other. His face contorted and even his nose was wrinkled as his scarred forehead showed.
His eyes were on the verge of popping out and the narrow pupils were now surrounded by the blood vessels on the white region of his eyes. What was scary though, his skin had turned pale.
The man was now the one caught shivering because no one was going to convince him that this was not a ghost he was seeing.
The pale skin and the scar was the death wound. He had just made his speech in front of the dead kid. Made fun of his mother and most importantly, the ghost was enraged.
***
Lyren felt as though his entire world was crumbling as he listened to the man ramble on and on. He could feel his anger kept rising but there was no way that he could release it.
By the time the man finished his story, Lyren was already on the verge of shutting down completely. He was angry and he was sad. He wanted to cry and also scream but all he got in return, an unresponsive body.
Then he heard about the jade and he realized that they had looted his mother's other precious gift from his father.
He turned and glared at the man who instantly fell on his butt as he tried to crawl backwards. Lyren did not know about the face he was making but right now, he wanted to know who had taken his mother's precious jade.
He took a step towards the man and as he stretched his hand and by the time he opened his mouth, the man was already begging.
"I swear that I am sorry and I apologize for everything that I have said. I said we found a precious jade but it was I who found it.
"Please spare my life and I will give it to you immediately. I never got to sell it and no one knows about it. If you spare me, I will give it to you… Please do not come closer."
Lyren did not get to ask for what he wanted but when the man spoke, his rage seemed to boil deeper and then he reached the man who had stopped.
He held the collar of his shirt and pulled the man closer to him and he looked into the eyes of the man ho just met his eyes briefly before he started screaming.
"…Jade…"
Lyren could not articulate any other words and this alone sent the man into more panic as he started searching in his pockets and he removed a green jade that had a thin string attached to it. He was shivering as he showed it to him.
"Here it is. Release me and I will give it to you!"
The man was still trying to negotiate for his life but when he looked at those eyes once again, he shut up and submitted to his fate. This was the end and he had brought it upon himself.
Lyren looked at the jade dangling in the hand of the man and he snatched it away. He then released the man and he stood up not bothering to look at the man who was on the verge of passing out.
He clenched the jade in his fist as he looked took staggering steps forward.
His rage… his grief… they were all betraying him. Why did it have to be this way?