Epiphany Of The Weak 71 Enkhtuya - Part 3

Ulii led us back to the underground parking lot. Both Caesar and Lily arrived there later, somewhat avoiding themselves from everyone. After some thoughts, I concluded Caesar was afraid of Ulii. Lily always followed him so it didn't need more than a few seconds to figure out why she was doing what she did.

Everyone in the rebel group, Enkhtuya, grouped together and surrounded me, Lily, Caesar, and Helena. They watched with wary eyes, mindful of any movements we made and would be made.

It was particularly dark, but Segma brought a lantern with her as she and Ulii sat down at the center. That lantern was bright enough that I could see every person that was present there. The other rebels distanced themselves in order to free some s.p.a.ce, and so we sat in front of Segma and that old woman.

"Is it okay for you?" asked a teenager. He casually approached us and took his spot next to Ulii. "Oh, I'm Qara. Nice to meet you."

Caesar hummed to himself, somewhat refusing to answer his question.

"What do you mean by that, Qara?" I asked.

He scratched at his short, wavy dark hair. "Er, I'm not sure if you guys like to sit on this hard cement. That's what I meant."

"Is that it? We don't need your concern. As for me, you should worry about what will happen to you next."

His eyes widened at my reply.

Ulii laughed as she hit Segma in the shoulder a few times. "You! I like you, Ava! Haha! You! I want you to be my granddaughter!"

I shook my head. "No . . . I don't want to be your granddaughter. You don't have one?"

"I do, actually." Her dry lips curved downwards for a few moments before she smiled at me.

"Putting that aside," said Segma, "is there anything you want to learn from us? I'm sure you're not from Mongolia. We're willing to share any information--"

"I think you're mistaken," I interrupted. "I never said anything about sharing information. You give us any info about The People's Light and that military coup and that's that. Nothing else. You don't wish for your head to fly off, don't you?"

Qara scowled at me. "HEY! What makes you think you can act all high and mighty all of a sudden? You're being rude here, kid!"

A violet crystal blade swung at his face, leaving a small trickle of blood flowing slowly across his face. Lily eyed him with her menacing yellow eyes. "I held back just now. Don't think I will the next time. We're the ones who you're supposed to not being rude to."

Qara gritted his teeth and stood up. "Oh yeah?! I'm not scared of you!" He took a step towards Lily but another boy grabbed his arm from behind.

I was about to burn him.

Literally.

"Qara! Calm down! What are you doing?" he said.

"What do you think I'M doing?! Teaching them what it means to have respect on someone older than you! That's what I'm doing, Khenbish!" He tried to get away from Khenbish as they struggled to let go of one another.

"Let go, Khenbish!"

"Wait! Do you want to die?! Stop this! You don't have a chance!"

"Hey, you two!" said a girl. She forced her hands in between them and pushed those two teenagers away. "You're gonna make Ulii mad!"

My eyes were locked on those three as they bickered at each other. They wore casual clothes one would expect from teenagers their age. I realized I'd been smiling as they bickered. Perhaps deep inside me, I also wanted to be included in that circle.

That girl, who they referred to as Odval, seemed to be handling them pretty well. Her short, dark hair and fair skin did not pop out that much to me except for that blue dress she was wearing. It had intricate sunflower design plastered on it. Other than that, they all appeared to be of the same height, about 165 cm.

I took a sideways glance at Caesar, and surely, he was watching them too. Helena, who was sitting at the far end next to Lily, was expressionless. She watched those three with a good amount of concentration unlike the rest of us.

"EH-HEM!"

The trio froze as they met Ulii's gaze. Slowly, they sat down near Segma with their heads drooped down.

"These people do not know how to behave in front of their guests. I hope you don't mind seeing that just now," said Ulii.

I nodded. "It doesn't matter. I want to hear about The People's Light that you were talking about."

"Ah, of course. Mind I say that you're quite an impatient one?" said Ulii.

"I've been told that a lot."

"Hah! You're more mature than any kid your age! I like you. Then we can get right into it. Tsetsegmaa, if you can."

"Yes."

Segma cleared her throat and looked at the four of us. She took a deep breath and her expression stiffen. "Before that, where did you find Ceci?"

"At the nearby lake," I replied.

"I see." She narrowed her eyes at me. "The other rebel group, The People's Light, made their way into Mongolia quite recently. About two years ago, I think. As far as we know, their members were all Russians, and they have been actively trying to take over the capital city of Mongolia. Just a few days ago, they succeeded. They managed to drive away the C.U and even the coup outside of that city."

"I a.s.sume they're not really trying to free Mongolia, is it?" I asked.

"No. They did it for their own reasons, I think. They killed a few of our members . . . And a large number of the citizens, so freedom is not their objective. We a.s.sumed they want to take Mongolia for their own personal gain."

"You mentioned they're Russians," said Caesar all of a sudden.

"They're a large group. Their base resides deep in the heart of Russia if I'm not mistaken. So far, they've managed well against the C.U on their own. At the pace they're going, Russia will soon be theirs," said Segma.

"Yeah. I heard about what they've accomplished. It's surreal when you think about it. I can only a.s.sume they have an Aegis User on their side. But you've confirmed that," said Caesar.

"It is. But there's not only one in that group. I'm afraid there is a handful of them."

Lily frowned. "How is that possible? I'm sure there's no one else."

"You youngins forgot about me," said Ulii as she raised her cane.

"I'm curious. How did you get your Aegis?" I asked.

Ulii touched her chin. She was silent for a few minutes before she opened her mouth. "Have you heard about the breakout in Kazakhstan? At that temporary lab built there."

Caesar snapped his finger. "Oh! I remembered that! It was when a group of the C.U's scientists decided to carry out Project Aegis on their own. In the end, they all died, with a few Aegis Users that managed to escape from the facility."

"That's correct," said Ulii.

"But you're a pseudo Aegis User," I stated, "So--"

"An Aegis User escaped from that place dropped in front of my house. She handed me an Aegis container before she died. But it was no use. She demanded me to at least consume it despite half of the content had spilled out, saying stuff like prolonged life and blah blah blah," said Ulii.

"So you took it?" Lily asked.

Qara snorted at her question. "Well, DUH! What do you expect? Did you bury it? You're dumber than you look, lady!"

Lily, of course, did not let that just slipped off her mind.

"You don't mind if I break your neck, right?" said Lily.

"You're the one who asked for it first!" retorted Qara.

"NEIN! NEIN! Lady Lily, stop!" said Caesar.

"But he--"

"Come with me for a bit."

Caesar grabbed her arm and both of them walked away into the darkness, where I a.s.sumed they went back to the surface.

It was the right choice, given what Lily would do if he didn't interfere.

"You get ticked off pretty easily, eh?" said Khenbish next to Qara.

"She asked for it!"

"Qara . . ."

He turned his head towards Ulii.

"It seems I need to teach you a lesson after this."

He gulped and then ducked his head. His hands pressed at the back of his head.

"Don't worry, Qara. It'll be fine . . . I think," said the girl, Odval.

Segma sighed and looked at me. "Is there anything else you wanted to know?"

"Who's the leader of The People's Light?"

She shook her head. "We don't know that. But, if you're talking about the main group in Russia, it's Evgeny. He's a mysterious one. We don't know anything about him."

"Hmm," I muttered.

"Well!" said Ulii as she stood up with ease. At one point, I forgot she was an old woman because of how smooth her movements were. "You can think about all that we've said to you. I don't think we've any other information regarding The People's Light."

Helena met my eyes and went over to my side. "Lady Ava. Should we head back to our hideout? Most of our supplies are back there."

"Oh! I forgot about it. I guess we can just go right now."

Ulii smiled at me. "If you want to come back here, you're all welcomed. Join us for dinner tonight. Though I'm sure you folks have better food than what our group has right now. We're not a restaurant so don't expect too much."

"We'll come back," I said, "I need to confirm something."

"Hoh? And what is that?" asked Ulii.

"I don't know yet."

"HAHAHA!" Ulii laughed as if there was no tomorrow as the rest of the rebels chuckled at her. She stopped herself after a minute and coughed. "We'll not attack you, and I hope your crew here treats us the same. I must say, in this grave time, I hope to spend more time with you, Ava."

"Me too."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. But it's only because there are so many questions that I have to ask you. I need to sort it out first."

"Take your time, khüükhed."

_._

_._

"So, you remembered what you want to ask me?" asked Ulii.

That night, the four of us went to the Enkhtuya's hideout once again. However, I didn't remember what I wanted to ask Ulii sadly. There was something about her that reminded me of someone, but I couldn't wrap my head around it.

I looked around me and as expected, the people that decided to eat at that spot of the parking lot was not many. The trio; Qara, Odval, and Khenbish sat at a far corner, with a small lantern as their only light source. Segma sat with the five of us, but she didn't eat anything. Instead, she was inspecting her a.s.sault rifle, minding her own business.

Our lantern flickered for a moment and I blinked.

Lily stabbed her fork at one the slices of bread that the rebels had procured and swallowed it whole. There was still a few more slices in her hands.

"Lady Lily, I don't think you need a fork," remarked Caesar as he split the loaf of bread he'd been holding in half and handed it to me.

"I don't need it, Caesar." I looked at my own food and somehow, it didn't seem that appealing to me.

'Why am I like this?' I thought. I felt like I was allowing my emotions to take over me the past few days. Hope was in Mongolia, and I was sitting there doing nothing. He needed my help, and I was sure of that.

"Ava?"

I looked at Ulii.

"What's bothering you?" she asked as the book she'd been reading was put aside.

"I don't know . . ."

"Then, I'll change the question," said Ulii, "What are you thinking right now?"

"I . . . I've been thinking of him."

"Ah, that Hope guy, isn't it?"

"Hope Domitius," said Segma, her eyes were on me.

"Yes, yes. Hope . . . Is he that important to you?"

I nodded. "He's . . . My everything. If it was not for him, then I'm sure I'd no purpose whatsoever in my life. I see him as my parent."

Ulii grinned. "Hoh? Interesting."

Caesar who was next to me nudged my shoulder. "Lady Ava. I've asked Segma if she could lend us a room in the apartment, and she gave us her permission. We can sleep here for tonight."

"Only one room?" I said. I looked at Segma. "How about four, hm? I don't think you have that many people that you only give us one room."

"There are a lot of people who we are treating right now. I can't force them out--"

"But I can. If you value your life, you'll give anything that I ask."

'What's happening to me?' I thought at the same time.

"Lady Ava . . ." Even Caesar jerked his head from my response. Helena was stunned but Lily had her attention fixed only on her food.

"Ava," called Ulii. She stood up and tossed her wooden cane over her head. It fell down and she caught it relatively easy. "How about this . . . We have a fight! I think you young folks call it a duel. You fight me with your Aegis and whoever manages to win over the other will get she wants."

"No! Lady Ava, you mustn't--"

"Okay. I don't mind. But, what is your wish?"

Ulii smiled. "You'll join Enkhtuya. What do you say?"

"Okay."

Helena had her mouth gaped.

Ulii tapped at the cement a few times with her cane. "However, I have a condition. You cannot use your Aegis's specialty. As a pseudo User myself, I don't have any specialty."

"So you want us to fight fairly. Okay."

"Haha! Don't be too serious on this old woman. I'm afraid my back is not that strong anymore."