Spirit's Ascension-Chapter 64—Suspicion

Cole was oblivious to what was currently going on in his surroundings.

The only thing he could actually confirm was that he was moving.

He didn’t know where he was going or even how he was going to get there; he just knew he was heading somewhere.

Sometime during the journey, Cole regained a little consciousness.

He scanned his surroundings to see where he actually was.

The only thing he could see was trees. Trees kept rushing by quickly in his line of sight.

"I can’t have you waking up now; this location is top secret," Cole heard from just beside him.

Before he could do anything else or even respond to the man’s words.

He felt a hard chop behind his head, knocking him unconscious for the second time.

And this time, he didn’t regain consciousness until they were finally at their destination.

After an Unknown amount of time.

"Wake up, kid," muffled sounds rang out in Cole’s ears.

"Ohh, it seems I hit too hard, hahaha," the fourth elder said before resorting to an even more drastic approach.

Cole hurried to his feet as he felt a cold substance spread all over him.

"What?" He screamed.

"It’s really fun manipulating life energy like this." The elder said with a cheeky laugh.

"Now that you are awake, it’s time to get to serious business."

At the same time, Cole was scanning his environment with surprising vigilance.

Something felt awfully wrong at the same time.

It felt like he had been there not quite long, but he just couldn’t pinpoint the exact spot.

"Familiar, right?" The fourth elder continued.

"This is the current situation of your kids’ battle zone."

Cole’s eyes immediately widened in shock; he would never have believed their battle could cause such devastating damage to the environment.

The damage wasn’t just physical; it was necrotic.

The plants in the surrounding areas appeared to be dying off, like life was being drained out of them.

Even the ground had taken a strange dark tint. It was completely unrecognizable.

"Did we do this? " Cole asked.

"Hahahaha, do you really think you puny kids could cause such damage to nature?"

"Nature is unimaginably more powerful than you think; only special powers could cause this."

Cole felt a little bit of relief but still held on to some level of doubt.

"If we didn’t do this then, then who did?" Cole asked.

"That’s exactly what we are trying to figure out."

"Of all the people who had participated in that battle, only you have an unknown background."

"And your innate spirit remains unknown."

Cole’s heart rate suddenly sped up as he wondered what the elder was insinuating.

"Immediately after your battle, I came to observe this place but didn’t notice anything wrong."

"But I did notice something; there was an aura that boosted comprehension, and none of your friends are capable of that."

"So it can only be you."

"An aura of comprehension?" Cole asked skeptically.

"Yes, why do you think all of your friends could advance so quickly after that?" the elder asked.

Cole was even more amazed by what he was hearing; every one of the man’s words kept blowing his mind.

Ever since he had been here, things have just been spiraling out of his control.

"Uhmmm, but my Innate spirit only grants me a speed boost," Cole said anxiously.

"Didn’t it grant to flaming fist,"

Cole immediately grew speechless; he had nothing to say as a response to the man he could only stand there and stare.

Thankfully the old man didn’t stay too long on the topic; he only looked at Cole with scrutinizing eyes before looking away.

"Finally, you were the first person to engage the enemy after that Brussell kid, what happened within that time?" the elder asked.

This time, Cole decided to respond as truthfully as he could to prevent over-suspiciousness from his incoherent words.

"When I tried to attack, I suddenly lost control of my body for a moment, but miraculously I regained control, and then the others arrived."

The fourth elder stared at Cole with piercing eyes as he attempted to detect any lies or inconsistencies in his words.

But he couldn’t seem to find any; Cole seemed to be speaking the truth at the moment.

"If you remember anything more, make sure to let someone know," the elder said.

"I will surely do."

Cole still couldn’t take his eyes off of the damage to the surroundings. It was extremely unsettling.

"I will return you to the healing center right now," The elder finally said.

And just like the previous time, Cole lost consciousness before the words could completely leave the area.

The fourth elder was now standing alone next to Cole’s unconscious body.

"Quinox, what exactly are you planning?" he said while observing his surroundings.

Without wasting any more time, he picked up Cole’s body and turned to return the same way he came.

For some reason, the return journey was much shorter than the original.

In no time, they were back in the healing center where the head nurse awaited their return.

The elder silently appeared in the room, and in a fluid motion, he set Cole down on a bed before turning to look at the nurse.

"He won’t be waking up anytime soon," he said to her before vanishing.

Now, just the nurse was left there. She stood on her feet staring at Cole with unknown thoughts in her mind.

"So young and still getting involved in so many things," She said before turning to leave.

Now just Cole’s sleeping body was left.

Not far away from the healing center.

The fourth elder stood valiantly on a tree with his eyes staring into the far distance.

With the rustling of some leaves, someone appeared behind him.

"Still hiding in the shadows, uhh, Isaac."

"Any progress?" He proceeded to ask.

"No elder," Isaac responded.

"Did you find out anything about the kid?" He continued.

"Yes, I did; the kid is associated with Quinox." The elder responded.

"Whatttt?" Isaac asked with wide eyes.