Yasuke : Rise of the Black Dahlia

Yasuke, Chapter 5 : Shocking Discovery

Mona, under King Musa's orders, watched over Eradius' farm the entire night. She was placed in the vicinity of the farm and was instructed to continuously scan the area for chi users. It proved to be an easy assignment, as she didn't feel any interference in the area throughout the night. But, once she went to escort Yasuke and Eradius to a new location, this changed. Yasuke awoke to the smell of beef roasting, which was a typical breakfast for Eradius. He calmly got out of bed and went downstairs where the smell was coming from. 

"Hey, Yasuke" Erad stated. "You're just in time. The food is done. That is, if you plan on actually joining me today." 

"No, thank you" Yasuke stated as he opted for an apple out of the bowl of fruit they kept on the kitchen table. 

Every morning, Eradius would cook a breakfast big enough for an entire family consisting of roast meat, eggs, oat porridge, etc. But, upon realizing that Yasuke developed a habit for not eating meat he also kept a variety of fruit for him specifically. 

"Will you atleast eat some of this oat porridge? It's nice and sweet...with honey as well. I didn't use sugar this time." 

"Milk?" 

Eradius glanced down at the half-empty glass container of milk that was sat next to the pot the oat porridge was simmering in. 

"Okay, next time no milk. I got it" Eradius stated. 

Yasuke continued munching on his apple until he finished it and grabbed another. 

"Will we train today?" he asked with his mouthful. 

"No, today we have livestock maintenance. I'll excuse you from the milking process and such but I'll still need you to feed and wash a few of the animals. You can start by giving one of those apples to Abel, he should be around back." 

"Okay" Yasuke stated as he equipped his shoes and left out the front door. 

Although it was very visible outside, the sun wasn't beaming, which indicated that it was around eight o'clock am. Yasuke gave the sun's different positions throughout the day alot of attention. As he looked up to the sky, he finished his second apple and held the third to his side. He then went around back of the house where he saw Abel tied up to a pole. 

"Good morning Abel" Yasuke stated as he gave the horse some pets after approaching it. 

The horse bumped Yasuke's arm with it's nose, which was it's way of telling him he knew he had an apple for him and that he wanted it. 

"Okay, okay" Yasuke smiled as he rose his hand with the apple in his palm. 

The horse grabbed the apple immediately and began eating it. 

"Oh, I forgot your bucket of water." Yasuke stated after petting the horse a little bit more. I'll be right back Abel." 

Once Yasuke walked around the side of the house, he saw a brown-skinned woman with curly, dark-brown hair wearing a golden robe with golden jewelry walking towards the door. As he continued, he heard her knock and Eradius open the door and greet her. 

"Hey, how are you?" 

"Fine. Is the boy up yet?" 

"Yes, he is. Why might you be asking?" 

"I was sent by King Musa" 

"Oh, you're a knight for The Order." 

When Yasuke reached the front of the house, he saw Eradius and the woman glance over at him. 

"Yasuke, did you forget to give Abel his water bucket?" Eradius asked as he spotted him. 

"Yes I forgot, i was coming to get it now." 

"Don't worry." The woman stated. "I can give him his water bucket. Right now, I need you to pack up everything you want to take with you." 

Yasuke looked at Eradius. 

"Yasuke, this is Mona. She's going to be taking us for a ride for a little bit. We'll finally be able to see Town Square." Eradius commented. 

Mona got the water-filled bucket from Eradius and took it around back. A few seconds went by before they could hear Abel's audible sips of water. 

"Don't worry, Yasuke. She works for the King, the one who gifted us with his beautiful land. She's trustworthy." 

"Okay, I'll trust her" Yasuke replied. 

Mona came back around the corner of the house to see Yasuke and Eradius both empty handed, just looking back at her. 

"You two aren't going to bring anything with you?" Mona asked. 

"No, because we will come back." Yasuke answered. 

"Yes, I suppose you will." Mona stated. 

A black and golden carriage lead by three horses began to approach the three. 

"This is our ride." Mona stated as she walked towards it. 

Two coachmen could be seen steering the horses in the direction of the three. The two welcomed Yasuke and Eradius onto the carriage. Once inside, Yasuke and Eradius sat on the left side. As Mona sat on the right side where, another woman was already sitting. 

"Guys, this is Samor" Mona introduced. "She's the bishop I report under." 

"Nice to meet you, Samor." Eradius stated before looking at Yasuke. "This is one of the high-ranking personnel I was telling you about, Yasuke." 

"So this is Yasuke?" Samor stated. 

She glanced at Yasuke and examined his entire body. 

"What's wrong, Samor?" Mona asked. 

"Nothing at the moment." Samor replied before looking at Eradius. "So how has his training been going?" 

"I'd say pretty good." Eradius replied. 

"You haven't encountered anything...unusual during training?" 

"Well..." Eradius uttered looking to his side at Yasuke. 

"If you don't want him to know, you can just tell me." Eradius heard in his head. 

He looked up at Samor, he was looking back at him. 

"Just think about what you need to say, I'll be able to hear it, just as you can hear me." 

"Okay. Well, his enlightenment stages seems to be all over the place. He might be able to perform a mending stage, or even third eye stage level feat. But, he struggles with the empowerment stage. It's unlike anything I've seen before." 

"He's not able to power his own body with chi at all?" Samor stated. "I never imagined this would be an issue with the Black Dahlia." 

"As we both know, those who cannot power themselves with Chi are one of two things. Yasuke is either unable to cultivate or will experience an impromptu enlightenment." 

"In his case, it might be both." Samor explained. "He's able to gather chi but cannot empower his own body with it, that makes cultivation for him impossible. He also doesn't progress stages in the correct order, which makes his enlightenment impromptu." 

"Like you said before, I never imagined this would be an issue with the Black Dahlia." Eradius admitted. "It's bizarre." 

"Bizarre, indeed." Samor concluded. "The only thing I can say is to watch his progression closely." 

"Yeah, I will" 

"Just to make sure I know everything, the Black Dahlia formed from the soil Yasuke's blood spilled onto?" Mona heard Samor say in her head. 

"Yes, it seems his blood is what's necessary for it's growth. One of the reasons King Musa wanted them relocated, was to see the limitations of this." Mona thought. 

"So, neither of them know about this?" 

"Eradius probably saw the Black Dahlia form in the field and concluded the same thing we did, but the kid is oblivious to everything." 

"The King does have plans to explain his significance to him eventually. But, in the meantime-" 

Mona and Samor's conversation was cut short due to the carriage stopping abruptly. 

"What the hell was that?" one of the coachmen stated. 

"Mona!" Samor explained. 

"I'm on it" Mona vaguely replied. 

A gust of chi came from the left side and knocked the entire carriage over. The path they took was seperated in two by small ditch, that the carriage became stuck in. 

"Mona, let's take care of his quickly." Samor stated. 

"Understood" Mona replied. 

"There might be multiple attackers, should i assist her?" Eradius replied. 

"No, she'll be fine. Just sit and watch her work." Samor replied with a smile.