Chapter 475: No Predestined Path

Damon arrived at the Transfer Point a little over two hours later.

The first thing he did was take the tablet out of his pocket.

The signal returned almost immediately.

There were seven messages.

Four from Jian Yue.

Two from Aria.

One from Ester.

Damon opened the first.

ALIVE?

The second:

DAMON.

The third:

YOU SAID YOU’D REPLY.

The fourth:

IF YOU’RE ALIVE, ANSWER.

He checked the time.

"It’s only been twenty minutes."

He typed:

ALIVE.

The reply came so quickly that Jian Yue was probably staring at her tablet.

TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH.

THERE WAS NO SIGNAL.

I KNOW.

Damon stared at the screen.

"Then why did you ask?"

Another message appeared.

COME BACK.

Damon smiled.

This time, he didn’t ask whether it was an order or a request.

He activated the return marker Aria had prepared.

The passage opened a few minutes later.

Jian Yue stood on the other side.

Arms crossed.

Aria behind her.

Also with her arms crossed.

Ester stood farther back.

Without her arms crossed.

Which, somehow, seemed worse.

Damon stepped through.

The passage closed.

He looked at the three of them.

"Good evening."

Jian Yue approached.

"You took too long."

"I walked."

"You could have used energy."

"There was no need."

"You went to meet an unknown group alone and decided to enjoy the scenery on your way back?"

"It was a pleasant road."

Aria immediately approached.

"Who were they?"

"A woman named Teyra and a man named Oren."

"Descendants of Maerin?"

"Maybe."

Aria stopped.

"Maybe?"

"That was their answer."

"What do you mean, maybe?"

Damon started walking.

"Let’s eat."

Aria followed.

"Don’t change the subject."

"I’m hungry."

"You spent hours talking to people connected to Arvell."

"Yes."

"And your priority is food."

Damon looked at her.

"Liora taught me."

Jian Yue let out a small laugh.

Ester examined Damon from head to toe.

"Injuries?"

"No."

"Poison?"

"No."

"Sedatives?"

"No."

"Did you use anything from the kit?"

"No."

Ester nodded.

"Good."

Damon stopped.

"Aren’t you going to examine me?"

"Do I need to?"

He thought about it.

"No."

"Then eat."

Damon remained silent for a few seconds.

"This is getting strange."

The conversation continued over dinner.

Aria already had her notebook open before Damon had even finished his first serving.

He pointed at it with his fork.

"I’m still eating."

"You can eat and talk."

"I can. Doesn’t mean I want to."

Aurelia sat down on the other side as soon as she heard he had returned.

Jian Li appeared afterward.

Xue Mei showed up without anyone calling her.

Chen Mo remained near the window.

In less than ten minutes, Damon had an audience.

He gave up.

"Arvell is gone."

Aria stopped writing.

"Gone how?"

"As a community."

"Destroyed?"

"No."

"Attacked?"

"No."

"Abandoned?"

"Gradually."

Aurelia was the first to understand.

"They chose to disperse."

Damon pointed at her.

"Exactly."

Aria frowned.

"Why?"

"Because staying hidden was beginning to turn their differences into another form of fixed identity."

Aurelia became thoughtful.

"That makes sense."

"Don’t say that so quickly," Aria replied. "I spent weeks trying to figure out where Arvell was."

Damon smiled.

"That’s the best part."

She looked at him.

"There’s no place to find."

The silence lasted two seconds.

"No."

"There are families and small groups scattered around. Maybe hundreds. Maybe thousands of people with varying degrees of these structures."

Aria closed her eyes.

Damon took another bite.

"You’re suffering."

"Yes."

"Good."

"I had maps."

"I know."

"Trade routes."

"Those too."

"Recurring symbols."

"All correct."

"So everything was right, and yet it led nowhere."

"Basically."

Jian Li began laughing.

Aria pointed at Damon.

"That’s not funny."

"A little."

Aurelia asked:

"And Maerin?"

"She existed. She lived in Arvell. She had five known children."

Aria immediately opened her eyes.

Her pen returned to the paper.

"Now we’re getting somewhere."

Damon continued:

"And they don’t keep complete genealogies."

The pen stopped again.

"Why?"

"Because they don’t want anyone turning ancestry into a classification system."

Aurelia nodded slowly.

"Smart."

Aria looked at her.

"Can you stop agreeing with everything that makes my job harder?"

"No."

Damon finished eating before talking about the rest.

He explained the symbol of the three lines.

Not as a representation of three families.

But as three possibilities coexisting without any one of them needing to eliminate the others.

He spoke about how Teyra had possessed four connections when she was young and now had only two.

That changed the mood at the table.

Ester became particularly attentive.

"They closed without causing damage?"

"According to her."

"Did she lose any abilities?"

"Yes."

"And she doesn’t consider that a problem."

"No."

Aurelia rested her chin on her hand.

"That explains some inconsistencies in the records."

Damon looked at her.

"Which ones?"

"Some individuals from ancient times displayed more structures during their youth than in later records. I assumed it was an observation error."

"Maybe it wasn’t."

"Maybe."

Ester asked:

"Did they say why they close?"

"When another part of the body takes over enough of their function, some are no longer necessary."

Jian Yue looked at Damon.

"Then one of yours could disappear."

"Yes."

"And you’re fine with that."

"If my body doesn’t need it."

Jian Yue continued watching him for a few seconds.

"You really have changed."

"Don’t start."

She smiled.

Damon took the small wooden piece marked with three lines from his pocket.

He placed it on the table.

Aria practically leaned over it.

"May I?"

"Go ahead."

She picked it up.

Turned it over.

Examined the surface.

"Any function?"

"No."

"Energy?"

"None that I noticed."

"Identification mark?"

"Yes."

"Can I analyze it?"

Damon thought for a moment.

"Without destroying it."

"Naturally."

"Without trying to track them."

Aria looked offended.

"I wouldn’t do that."

Damon looked at her.

"You thought about it."

"Thinking doesn’t violate an agreement."

"That argument sounds dangerous."

Jian Li laughed.

Aurelia asked:

"Do they want further contact?"

"Maybe."

"Can you seek them out?"

"No."

Aria sighed.

"Naturally."

"They’ll send another letter if they want to."

"Then we’re dependent on them."

"Yes."

"And you accepted that."

"Yes."

Aria fell silent.

Then she placed the wooden piece back on the table.

"I hate how consistent all of this is."

Damon smiled.

"I knew you’d understand."

The next day, Damon went to the Valley.

Not because he needed to tell Eir everything.

But because he had promised to return.

He also brought cake.

Liora took the box before even greeting him.

Damon looked at her.

"Good to see you too."

"You brought it."

"Yes."

"Then we’re good."

Neria was walking near the base of the great trunk when he arrived. She could already maintain a reasonable pace, although Ester still forbade any prolonged exertion.

Eir spoke first.

"You came back."

"I said I would."

"Yes."

Damon sat on a wide root.

Neria approached.

"Were they dangerous?"

"No."

"Did they want something?"

"To talk."

Eir remained silent.

Damon gave them the short version.

Arvell had ended by choice.

Maerin had children.

The people connected to that history were scattered.

They didn’t preserve an ancestral model.

They didn’t want to be found.

And they didn’t consider Damon the answer to anything.

Neria smiled.

"Sounds like you liked them."

"I liked the conversation."

"Did they say anything about you?"

"They told me not to turn anyone into an answer about myself."

Eir immediately replied:

"Good."

Damon looked at the trunk.

"You’re on their side?"

"Yes."

"Betrayal."

"No."

Neria laughed.

Damon took the small wooden piece from his pocket and showed it to them.

Eir didn’t touch it.

She observed it through the eyes scattered across the trunk.

"Three."

"Possibilities coexisting."

"Without erasing."

"Yes."

Eir took a few seconds.

"I know."

Damon became attentive.

"The symbol?"

"No."

She continued:

"The idea."

Of course.

It was older than Arvell.

Older than Maerin.

Perhaps even older than Eir as they knew her.

Damon told her about Teyra’s connections.

Four becoming two.

Eir remained quiet for longer this time.

"Did you know that could happen?"

"Yes."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"You could have mentioned it."

"You didn’t ask."

He closed his eyes.

Neria began laughing.

"Don’t encourage her."

Eir continued:

"Seen it before."

"Connections closing?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Body didn’t want them."

"Just like that?"

"Sometimes."

Damon ran a hand down his face.

"I traveled half a day to discover something you already knew."

"You wanted to go."

He stopped.

"That was brutally accurate."

"I learned."

Neria was practically laughing too hard.

Damon pointed at her.

"You’re guilty too."

"I didn’t even say anything."

"Your face."

That only made it worse.

When Neria finally calmed down, Damon asked:

"So my three could close."

"Yes."

"They could remain."

"Yes."

"Others could appear."

"Maybe."

"Excellent. We still know nothing."

"Yes."

Damon smiled.

"Perfect."

Eir seemed confused.

"You like that."

"I do."

"Why?"

He looked at his own hands.

"Because it means nobody has a ready-made answer."

Eir understood.

"Not even me."

"Especially you."

"Good."

Liora appeared with cake in her mouth.

"What’s good?"

"Not knowing," Neria replied.

Liora stopped.

Thought for two seconds.

"No."

Damon began laughing.

"Finally, someone sensible."

That afternoon, Damon trained alone in a nearby clearing.

He didn’t seek out the connections.

He didn’t provoke imbalances.

He didn’t try to open anything.

He used only his sword.

The wind stirred the leaves overhead.

Eir’s presence was everywhere, but she didn’t interfere.

Damon performed a complete sequence.

Then another.

On the third, he felt the connection near his heart.

Faint.

Available.

He continued without using it.

It remained for a few seconds.

Then disappeared.

Nothing was lost.

Nothing was gained.

Damon sheathed his sword.

For the first time, it truly felt normal.

When he returned to the great trunk, Neria was sitting with Liora. Eir watched through the eyes scattered across the wood.

"Finished?" Neria asked.

"Yes."

"Did anything happen?"

"No."

She smiled.

"Good training session."

Damon sat near them.

"Exactly."

For months, almost everything he had discovered about his own body had come with an even bigger question.

Now, finally, some answers could simply end where they began.

Arvell had existed.

So had Maerin.

Their descendants had continued living.

Some ancient paths remained.

Others closed.

None of that told Damon what he was supposed to be.

And perhaps that was the most useful information he had found since the beginning.

He didn’t need to discover a destiny hidden inside his own body.

He just needed to keep living in it.