Chapter 194: Right In Front Of Him
Kidnapping causes a long-term rupture in the psyche of those kidnapped and of those who wait for their return. It doesn’t end.
And Zane wanted to do the same thing.
They wanted to know about Horum and since the man wasn’t here, Xavier asked Zane his next steps.
Out of all things Xavier expected for Zane to say, this wasn’t one of them.
"After the prayer ends, we will kidnap the priest."
"Sorry?" Draxus almost choked hearing the answer.
"Alright." Xavier stood up. He was ready.
"Wait a second." Draxus brought him back down and looked at Zane.
"Are you serious?"
Zane nodded. "Yes. This church was assigned to Horum probably and since he is on leave, the Flamekeeper who replaced him might know something about him."
"But kidnapping? Isn’t that too dangerous? And don’t underestimate Flamekeepers. They might not be stronger than an Emberlord but they would be enough to put you down."
Draxus said some logical words but Zane already knew all that.
"I have a way. Don’t worry." Zane replied.
Draxus opened his mouth but Hena touched Draxus’ shoulder, making the man stop talking.
All of them were sitting on the Scepters seat, disregarding their original status and fortunately, there were no Halocrats present in this church.
The highest in the hierarchy were Zane and his five friends right now.
Nevertheless, all of them remained normal and waited for the prayer to begin.
Just as Zane wished for the start, the lights went out.
Darkness engulfed the church but Zane didn’t panic.
No one else did either.
He was afraid of it when he had first visited the church but now he was used to it.
As the darkness stayed, a voice echoed in the church.
Zane believed it was the voice of the new Flamekeeper so he stayed silent.
He already knew what the voice would say and it was saying exactly those things.
The darkness were the rifts.
And to get rid of such rifts the First Flame helped them.
As the Priest finished saying that, lights came on again and everyone had their hands joined.
Some were kneeling on the floor but Zane didn’t do that.
He simply joined his hands with his eyes closed.
But as soon as the Priest told them to open their eyes, Zane’s gaze went straight to the newly hired priest.
White robes, red shoes, a necklace with sun on it dangled around his neck.
The Priest looked young, younger than Horum at least.
He became a Flamekeeper at such an age. He must be strong.
Zane judged the man silently all the while keeping his gaze filled with worship towards the First Flame.
But for some reason, he felt he knew about the First Flame more than them.
He had seen the images in the dark space and he wasn’t sure if anyone else knew about it other than him.
I’ll keep it a secret for the time being.
He needed to focus on finding the Relic first. He had three days out of which one day was coming to an end.
He had divided groups but he wasn’t that much confident about them.
All his life he depended on himself and this made him paranoid of others. If he didn’t confirm something himself, he would have a hard time believing it.
After some more talking, the Flamekeeper finally began the prayer.
He had revealed his name which was Birgham and Zane found the man friendlier. As if he really cared about people.
But then again, Horum appeared like that too.
After all, the man had distributed offerings even after the allotted time was over. It might sound small but that was a big thing considering how rigid the churches were.
Everyone sang the same prayer for the First Flame.
All of them knew it by heart including Zane as well.
But as he prayed, he wondered whether the uncle and aunty of Xavier went to pray or not.
They were responsible for Milo at the moment and he didn’t want them to leave her alone.
I should have told them to stay at home and forget the prayer. I will ask Xavier about it. Also, some flame fanatics burned his house, they might still be after him or did they forget about him.
Zane’s mind drifted everywhere but his lips never stopped singing the prayer.
He acted as if there was no greater believer of First Flame than him.
After a few minutes, the prayer ended and without waiting for anything, Zane turned to Xavier.
He whispered, "Does your uncle and aunt go to prayer? If yes, tell them to stop it. Milo shouldn’t be left alone. I will punish them if that happens. I wouldn’t care about their age."
Xavier laughed.
"Calm down, big brother. They don’t go to pray. They have the idol at home. Milo is safe with them."
Zane nodded and whispered again:
"Some fanatics had burned the house of your uncle and aunt thinking it belonged to you. They must be looking for you after that. Heck, you came to the Citadel. How did you manage to make them forget you?"
Xavier raised his brows.
"You are asking all that now? You are a late bloomer."
"I was worried about returning the relic at that time. So I didn’t really pay attention. And seeing you fine made me forget everything else."
Xavier lost his expressions. "That’s gay."
Zane’s jaw tightened.
He parted his lips but Xavier raised his hand.
"I am kidding. Don’t mind it. As for the fanatics, yes they wanted me dead as I have questioned the First Flame. But after burning my house they thought I learnt my lesson and I also didn’t question the First Flame after that for my own safety as well. Surprisingly, they know when to give up or forgive someone."
"So burning the house might be the first and last warning and you didn’t do anything reckless after that."
"Yes. Well, I did fight for you so if you want to count it as reckless then go for it."
Zane nodded.
"That’s not reckl—"
SWISH!
"What’s so interesting you are talking about that you can’t focus on praying, friends?"
Zane’s eyes widened.
He almost jumped out of his seat.
His heart thumped louder in his chest as he gulped.
He was busy talking with Xavier but as he blinked his eye, the scene had changed.
The Flamekeeper was right in front of him.
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