"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The traveler who came from beyond the Karrabata screamed till his throat was torn, and although he was aware that he was shouting unnecessarily, since his fall would not end soon, he still could not stop screaming, no matter how hard he tried. In fact, to tell the truth, maybe he didn't even try that hard. He screamed deep from his throat, and in the end he didn't even know why he was screaming, and maybe if his eyes hadn't been squeezed shut, he would have even noticed that the world had gone dark in front of him.
However, since he did not do so, the only thing he perceived was a soft breeze caressing his face and solid ground under his feet. And when he opened his eyes, he didn't even know what had happened half a second before. The only thing he perceived was a small clearing surrounded by trees, on the far side of which, among the many green trees, stood a tree dotted with red leaves. At the base of the tree was a lake that almost covered the entire clearing. On a rock on Rahul's side of the lake sat a man with white hair and blue-green eyes, smiling broadly.
He didn't notice, or if he did notice that something was wrong, he didn't understand what happened. Rahul was no longer his eighteen-year-old self, but more like a five or six-year-old kid who now ran up to the white-haired man with clenched fists and a face puffy with anger and without any thought started hitting the mans knees.
"You have lied! You have lied! You have lied! You said there were secret cookies in the father's room, but there was nothing there! I shearced everywhere!" He growled and in his anger his tears almost came out.
"It's a secret cookie so you won't find it." The man stroked little Rahul's head. "By the way, you found it."
"Liar! Then I would eat it now." Little Rahul pouted and turned away from the man with folded arms in front of him.
"All right, all right! I'm sorry." The man chuckled. "How are you Rahul?"
"My throat hurts like when dad chased me because I stole the last cookie from mom and said it was him." He grabbed his neck.
"I told you not to shout so much." The man shook his head, then reached into the pouch hanging from his belt and took out a small round shiny thing. "Here, this will help your throat."
"Candy!" Rahul suddenly grinned and grabbed the candy from his man's hand, only to immediately put it in his mouth and start sucking.
"Shhh!" The man looked at him seriously. "You know that no one can know that you know its name." Little Rahul just nodded at his words.
"I know, it can be only known by..." Suddenly his happy expression changed and he looked like he really wanted to figure something out. "Why don't I know its name? I know I learned the name of your hometown. Why don't I know it?" He mumbled, but he just patted Rahul's head.
"I know you know Rahul. Don't strain yourself. That's not why I called you here." He said seriously. "I want to talk to you."
"You always just want to talk." Rahul rolled his small eyes and simply fell on the ground. "The father also always wants to talk."
"My Gods!" The man grabbed his head. "I should have brought him as a teenager." He mumbled.
"And this too! What is god? According to mama, he watches over us from heaven. According to papa, a god is stupid. According to him, there is mother earth, father sun, mother moon, and so on. In the village, the father says that the god is who gave rules and systems so that we don't live like pigs, that the brightnass...ness of the living god shines on us. But I think that's the sun." Little Rahul grabbed his jaw. The man chuckled at his words.
"I can't say whether your mother or your father is right, although if you ask me, I think there are more gods and I believe that what your father calls mothers and fathers are the gods I know. In answer to your question, however. The god that the father talks about in the village is actually just a very strong man, who was respected by many and whose word was so valued that they eventually spun tales around his actions." The man waved. "Now I'm wondering how you are Rahul?"
"Good?" Little Rahul looked up at the man suspiciously.
"So nothing special, everything is fine, as I could judge from the few times I heard." He nodded. "Just tell me Rahul, what do you think about the hegins?"
"Aren't those bedtime stories?" The little boy asked with his head tilted to the side.
"No." The man assured him.
"Idiot Athiramaniac bastards." The little boy grinned, and the man's eyes widened.
"This is my opinion and I don't know how you learned it so well, but that's not what I was wondering about." He shook his head. "I want to know what you think about them?"
"They're funny." The little boy glanced to one side.
"So they're just as stupid as before." The man found out.
"It's good to be with them." Little Rahul started blinking in front of him.
"I'm glad you've found friends, although you've probably found all the relatively sane hegins." The man laughed. "Just tell me Rahul what is their weakness?"
" Weakness?" Rahul tilted his head to the side. "Like you not liking it when I call you rich man?" His eyes sparkled.
"Not me..." The man started, but Rahul interrupted.
"Or like mine, when you tickle me? I hate it when you tickle me." The little boy shivered.
"I just..." The man would have continued, but he couldn't get long.
"Or like for dad when mama sings?"
"Not at all." The man's eyes widened.
"But papa is always nervous when mother sings, he says her voice is so bad that the house catches fire and we suffocate in the smoke. Mama has a nice voice though." Little Rahul scratched his head.
"I knew that an older memory should have been brought, but then there would have been a risk that he would remember." The man muttered to himself. "Listen Rahul, what is the weak point of the hegins?" The man grabbed the little boy's shoulders.
"I do not know." He shook his head.
"I see, so nothing has changed." A faint smile crossed the man's lips. "It's fine, I'm glad you're fine Rahul. But now you'd better go back before that young cultivator gets his neck broken by the little hegin." He laughed.
"Cultiman? Little hegin? What are you talking about?" Little Rahul blinked at him with a confused look.
"You'll find out, you'll find out in time. But now it's time to go home. We will meet again soon. Bye for now!" He pressed Rahul's shoulders lightly, and the little boy nodded.
"Bye!" He said with a smile and turned to return to his village from the forest.
"Oh and Rahul!" Little Rahul stopped at the man's voice and looked back at him. "I will soon subdue that little mud-soaked pool for you." The man grinned, but little Rahul had no chance to ask back. Suddenly the sky darkened and it started to rain, the wind picked up, and then lightning struck. Rahul squeezed his eyes shut then the rain stopped and he started hearing voices.
"I do not know what is wrong! He should have gotten up already!" Said a familiar ringing voice.
"I swear, if he is in trouble..." This voice was much more familiar.
"Raz... Razvan?" Rahul started to blink slowly.
"Rahul!" He heard the voice again and felt a hand on his back that helped him sit up. And when his vision cleared he faced Razvan, and found himself facing the nervous-faced athamanas and Mo Ching behind him. "Thank the ghosts that you're okay." Razvan said in a relieved voice.
"What do you remember?" The chán man asked the gloomy question.
"I fell. I fell for a damn long time, then I think I passed out before I hit the ground, and I'm here." He held his head.
"Then there was an error in your system, master?" Razvan looked at Mo Ching, and Rahul just frowned, not understanding the situation and only knowing that something was very wrong.
However, before Mo Ching could open his lips to answer, a loud laugh filled the cave of the Karrabata Mountains, which echoed eerily through the stone walls, causing the group gathered in the cave to look around with nervous eyes, not knowing where or who the sound came from.