The Kind of Evil

Chapter 629: Intertwined and connected.

Anastasha tilted her head as her head swayed by the rough road the carriage took. Her eyes fixated on Rasmus, Aris, and Rullein that sat on either side of Rasmus. She didn’t know what had happened, but ever since Rullein came back, those two had been glued to Rasmus.

"So, Miss Rullein. Is there anything you want to share with us? About the Great Spirits, especially the Ancient Ones?" Anastasha asked with her brows raised. "If I can be honest, I’m interested with the one that has blessed my family," she pointed out.

"Zagres?" Rullein tilted her head and stared at Anastasha. "What do you want to know about him? I can ask him to come here if you want to," she offered.

Anastasha raised her brows and the idea of summoning Zagres on a whim was terrifying because nobody had seen Zagres unless they were the patriarchs of the Asghar family. She never thought that Rullein could subjugate the whole kingdom of spirits, or even Zagres. She looked at Rullein both in awe and fear that the terrifying stories that her mother told her about Great Spirits suddenly felt like children’s literature compared to the one that was sitting across from her.

"No, I don’t think that’s necessary," Anastasha chuckled as she shook her head. "I’m going to meet him in person soon enough anyway," she looked out the window, her words filled with confidence because she had fixated her focus on becoming the family’s head.

"Is that so? Well, he’s the lazy type though. He’s not like what I have imagined after I saw your family," Rullein revealed.

"Lazy type?" Anastasha arched her brows as she glanced at Rullein.

"Every Great Spirits, especially the Ancient Ones, they showed off their elegance and grace, he was laid-back, uncaring," Rullein answered as she crossed her arms and nodded. "And those Great Spirits who are bound with the Asghar family are under his protection. He’s like the elder of those Great Spirits," she added.

"That’s interesting, it has a similar system to how the people of East Neva do. Having elders to have influence over those below them, I suppose the Great Spirits are the ones who introduced such system to them to begin with," Serena joined the conversation. "But such structure and combined with human nature, that structure has been smeared with a lot of blood by now," she added.

"Yes, and they don’t care much about that. They’re spirits which most of them have no attachment to humans and their world," Rullein pointed out.

"How irresponsible, introducing such a thing but doesn’t hold accountability for it," Aris commented.

"They have seen through many civilizations that they think they have figured everything out and the world would operate quite smoothly if everyone else would do as they suggest. Or to put it simply, they have grown arrogant because of their long existance," Rasmus said under his breath as he stared out the window. "But enough about that. I want to know which powerful families that have the Ancient Great Spirits support," he looked at Rullein with a serious expression.

Rullein told everyone in the carriage about the Ancient Great Spirits and which families they belonged to. However, among the nine Ancient Great Spirits, only two maintained significant influence over humanity, Agon and Zagres. It was enough explanation for why the Asghar family was powerful and untouchable and why the Khan Empire never fell or why the imperial family never ceases to exist. However, although the other seven weren’t connected with humans, they had favorability toward one particular pillar, it was the Heavenly Alliance because they upheld righteousness and maintained peace across East Neva.

"Heavenly Alliance that belongs to the Khan Empire has good relationship with the sultans?" Rasmus looked at Anastasha to confirm Rullein’s words.

"Yes, and those who are affiliate with the Heavenly Alliance from the Khan Empire, even with the current state of belligerency between the empire and the sultans, they have been keeping close ties with them. It’s one of the many methods to prevent the war from breaking and a slight protest toward the imperial family that they don’t support the war," Anastasha nodded, affirming Rullein’s words.

"Do you know the reason behind this war?" Rasmus asked.

"I’m not sure, there are too many rumors to confirm because none of them have the same roots of cause," Anastasha shook her head. "Such information is hard to get, especially when it comes to the imperial families. For the sultans’ side, they tend to keep it to themselves when it comes to this kind of issue," she added.

"To keep quiet even in this state?" Aris furrowed her brows.

"The Sultans have their own agencies and rivalry. Even if they’re at the same table, I can assure you they wouldn’t even mention anything about the war but about their conflicts with each other," Anastasha scoffed as she leaned back and crossed her legs. "But you must be wondering how can they still can fend off the Khan Empire, don’t you?" She stared into Rasmus’ eyes. "The Sand Tower," she revealed before he could even ask, her expression was serious and cold.

"The Sand Tower again, and even now we don’t know who’s the master of that tower," Rasmus nodded, contemplating the mystery behind the Sand Tower that he always found its secrecy to be interesting. "We might encounter with them later on, but let’s get back to the Great Spirits," he pointed out since his focus was on the Great Spirits. "About the three Evil Gods, the Great Spirits that don’t belong with the others. Do you find anything about them since Ana’s mother is one of them," he asked as he looked at Rullein.

"Yes, I found out that the Great Spirits despise them for one reason, they’re not malice, but because they have no reason to join with the others because the Evil Gods believed they’re better than them. You can say that they’re putting themselves as outsiders among spirits," Rullein answered as she looked at Anastasha, knowing that her mother, Natia was one of them. "Are they powerful? I don’t know but for the Ancient Ones to even pay attention to the Evil Gods, that’s enough to say that they are," she added.

"We saw how Natia could suppress the power of the Great Spirits back there when Zechariah paid a visit with all his other wives which were Great Spirits. If it wasn’t the blessing from Zagres, I don’t think those Great Spirits could suppress her," Aris pointed out. "And, I know that she is powerful, more than you can imagine, Ana. Your mother might look like that, but when she stopped consuming opium, I saw a glimpse of what she truly was," she revealed.

Anastasha didn’t know if she should feel proud or scared by what Aris said. She only nodded her head, acknowledging Aris’ words and it made her wonder what kind of existence her mother was before she decided to succumb and hide herself from the world.

"Do you know who they are, the Evil Gods?" Rasmus looked at Rullein.

"Natia, Ginas, and Sunwu. Ginas is the embodiment of terror, Sunwu is the embodiment of chaos, and Natia is the embodiment of stagnation. The three Evil Gods that the Ancient Ones named them those titles," Rullein revealed.

"Stagnation, huh?" Anastasha muttered to herself, her gaze fixated on the window.