Only Wisdom Awakened

After stealing a glance at the remaining fluid, Hans turned and looked Emma directly in her eyes.

His amber-colored eyes looked like they were staring directly into her soul, and the girl felt a little bit uncomfortable.

Then, he began talking:

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

"You haven’t brought me here just to tell me this, and your hand still being inside this tank touching this bone means that you’re still about to reveal something, what is it?"

Hans was being very direct, but he felt like this would’ve been the best method to talk to Emma, he knew her from when they were kids and remembered talking with her was always a conversation to the core, no useless information, no small talk, nothing that isn’t of use in helping you saying something.

Emma nodded and then replied:

"Hans, there are two things you must do… first of all, help in stopping Elijah, you have to stop him, otherwise millions of people will die at his hands"

"Oh, that’s right!"

Hans exclaimed suddenly.

"There was something strange with Elijah’s condition the last few times I visited him.

Were you the one who helped him increase his remaining time?"

Emma, who thought she had to explain what was happening, was relieved to hear Hans already knew about the tragedy that threatened America.

"Mh, I visited him and fiddled with the thing inside him since it wasn’t a living being yet, I managed to reset it to how it was one year ago, ah, I may have forgotten to mention, but my class is time weaver, I don’t know if it would be classified as forbidden knowledge or not, but it’s better if I don’t risk it.

What I wanted to say is that you have to do three things, first of all, restrain Elijah, then possibly kill the abyssal snake, and third you have to stop what’s going to happen at the Academies gathering, there’s going to be an attack that otherwise will decimate the people who’re going to be there.

I can’t go in too much detail otherwise we might waste precious fluid."

"I understand"

Hans replied, taking notes in his head.

"And you have to end this all and deal with the aftermath before the end of the year"

"Mh? Is there a reason for that?"

Before Emma replied, the liquid had already dropped to 82%.

"Yes…

Hans, in a little more than a year, something is bound to happen, for us who are experienced awakened, it’s going to be forced, while some will have a choice."

"What are you talking about? I can’t understand a single word"

"Hans…"

Emma called him out before turning her head towards the meter on their side, and Hans immediately understood… if she gave a lot of detail, the fluid would be consumed at a faster pace, and it wouldn’t leave enough space for the following conversation.

Hans gulped before asking:

"Is it something like the first catastrophe?"

’If it is, I will immediately build a bunker for my family, there is no chance I will let them risk a single hair of their body’

"It’s… better and worse at the same time"

"Will my parents be safe? What should I do to shield them from danger?"

"You don’t have to and can’t do anything, it will only involve awakened this time, if you really want to prepare, then learn how to survive.

Society as you know it may not be there for you when you need it."

’What could that mean?…’

Hans was trying to piece together the puzzle, but having to talk like this was annoying, he could obtain all the information in the world but he couldn’t figure any of them out…’

"Sigh…"

Hans turned towards the wall and saw the liquid standing just a bit higher than the 73 percent mark.

"Mark my words"

Emma said…

Hans hadn’t been paying any attention to it, but she was talking like an old woman, it made the serious situation seem ironic.

"Why are you so fixed on doing these things? Is there something in for you?"

Hans couldn’t help but ask, curious about it… she asked him for help instead of leaking it ’unintentionally’ and letting the association deal with it…

"I want to change the course of fate"

Huh? What… what is she saying

Hans felt his voice fade out… change the course of Fate? He had heard from Caelan that Fate was above the gods… what was Emma trying to do…

Without even realizing it, Hans muttered:

"You can’t!"

Emma immediately turned around, her sharp eyes trying to see through Hans’ exclamation.

"What do you mean by saying that? What do you know?"

Hans closed his eyes to think about it for a second and then opened them once again.

"Someone told me, I will tell you the details later, for now, please explain…

Why do we need to change Fate?"

The woman’s eyes turned dark, she lowered her head as she talked… hearing her describe it… Hans could picture it in his eyes…

"The future does not hold pleasant surprises for us Hans…

The war that will come is going to take.., everything away from both of us.

You will face a crude end covered in blood and shame as you suffocate, and I will be damned for eternity, with the burden of my lost companions.

We will both... Suffer more than we can handle, and we will both… break down at a certain point"

"Break down? What does that mean?!"

Hans’s question was ignored, and the woman continued speaking:

"Most of the people who know about it think of Fate as a string… a path to follow, but they’re wrong, fate is nothing like that.

If it had to be described… Fate is like little islands along your route, or cities along your travel…"

Hans couldn’t quite follow her…

"The only certainty you have is that you will pass from that island, or that city, but you do not know where you can go if you try to run away from it… you can try to keep yourself as far as you want, stretch it as hard as you want, but you will always, inevitably, end up in the same way, that is what kind of existence fate is."

The liquid on the wall was now barely hanging above the 50% mark, they both observed it before turning toward the other:

Hans opened his mouth, but Emma spoke before he could say anything:

"I have told you what you wanted to know, I think it’s now your turn to tell me, where have you come in contact with someone who told you about Fate?

If they are of the same opinion as us, then we might be able to get some help from them."

"Sigh…"

Hans’ loud sigh resounded throughout the white room.

"I think he doesn’t care much, but I guess explaining things to him would get us some info at least, I will tell you how I met him, his name’s-"

"Don’t"

He was interrupted by Emma.

"If he knows about fate, there’s a high chance he’s also someone who can’t be talked about, telling his name would consume a lot of water, and it’s better not to waste it."

Thinking that it made sense, Hans nodded and continued.

"To tell you about him, I would have to first explain one of my abilities…

Thanks to one of them, I am allowed to enter this ’plain of Dar-’ "

He couldn’t even finish what he was saying when something felt wrong.

A chill ran down his spine and goosebumps appeared all over his skin.

In that instant that felt like an eternity, Hans could clearly feel it… death.

He knew it… he knew that if he had even only hinted at the following letter...

His heartbeat would’ve stopped.

It was the second time in his life that he felt so powerless.

All of a sudden, the remaining holy water evaporated into thin air.

A crack appeared on the skull of the beast contained in the capsule, and it soon turned into a huge breach, that split the bone in two.

Just a moment later, thousands of little bone projectiles were shot all around the capsule, breaking it and shattering it into minuscule shards.

The explosion was so powerful that it obtained the same effect as a frag grenade.

Even Hans’s tough skin was pierced as many of the shards ripped it apart, absorbing the color red.

He had barely managed to cover his eyes with his arms, otherwise, his sight could have received permanent damage.

The little projectiles were smashed into the wall all over the room, destroying the whole structure.

As he felt the tremor beneath his feet, Hans realized what was about to happen, he glanced at Emma, who was still petrified by what she had witnessed, before grabbing her wrist and dragging her out of that place.

With the ceiling collapsing behind his shoulders, Hans bolted up the flight of stairs as he helped the still-confused Emma to do the same.