Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 59

Chapter 59

Sift produced a tray of cookies.

Ash gasped. “Besos!”

“Shhh,” Ruwen and Sift said at the same time. Both glanced over at the meditating Echo.

Sift put the tray in Ash’s lap. “Your grandpa mentioned they were your favorite. He’s doing great by the way. A wonderful man, although a little touchy about his kitchen.”

Ruwen felt the surge from Ash’s Heart chakra.

“I was afraid to ask,” Ash admitted, his eyes glistening. “Thank you for that. I miss him. I can’t count how many times I’ve wished I’d paid better attention to his lessons this past month. It would’ve saved so much time.”

Ash eagerly ate one of the soft, cakey cookies. They looked like tiny sandwiches with strawberry jam leaking from the sides. The whole thing was dusted with powdered sugar and Ash chewed with his eyes closed. Ruwen shifted his focus to Sift, studying his friend.

Sift glanced at Ruwen. “What? You’ve got a staring problem. Do you need glasses?”

“You’re different.”

“How do you figure?” Sift asked, stealing one of the cookies from the tray.

For once Ruwen hadn’t thought that far ahead and wasn’t prepared with an answer. He considered for a few seconds. One of the worst moments of his life immediately came to mind. It occurred at the top of the library in Malth. Rami had triggered a trap protecting an Ink Lord’s books. The blowback of that spell had almost killed Ruwen, but that wasn’t what had crushed him emotionally. It had been the loss of Rami. He’d never felt more fragile.

In seconds, Sift had completely pulled Ruwen from the despair that gripped him. And it wasn’t just Ruwen. He’d witnessed Sift do it multiple times with Lylan and more recently Echo. Over and over, skillfully identifying the problems and expertly guiding others past the danger. Blapy had recognized it before Ruwen, but she thought Ruwen was part of the ruse. That what he and Sift did was somehow on purpose and done as part of a calculated plan.

A wave of anxiety struck Ruwen, and it took him a moment to identify its origin. And that revelation terrified him.

“Are you okay?” Ash asked the concern obvious in his voice.

Ruwen drew on his Solar Plexus, giving him the confidence to say out loud the fear that had grown inside him. He hadn’t realized how fundamental Sift’s friendship was to his identity.

“It’s all an act,” Ruwen said quietly. “You pretend to be an idiot but it’s only to get past other’s defenses so you can manipulate them. You’re some kind of genius.”

Sift didn’t laugh or joke and met Ruwen’s accusation with a serious expression. “And that bothers you because you’ve always been the genius, so how could I outsmart you.”

The words hit Ruwen hard. Was Sift right? Did his worry stem from jealousy?

“How are you doing this?” Sift asked Ash.

Ash stopped chewing and his shoulders slumped. He swallowed hard and sighed.

“It’s not on purpose,” Ash said. “I have this curse and it affects my surroundings. I’ve never seen it change people though. That’s why I asked about the fight earlier. I was worried that might have been because of me.”

“No,” Sift said, “that’s pretty normal, honestly.” He pointed at Ruwen. “But that isn’t.”

“Are you saying I’m abnormal?” Ruwen asked. “Wait, are you baiting me again, like some type of…”

Ruwen couldn’t think of an example and Ash finished for him.

“Like an emotional ninja,” Ash said.

“Yeah, like an emotional ninja.”

Sift sighed. “Don’t worry smarty pants, I’m no genius. I’m the same person I’ve always been. You’re the one that’s changed and now Ash’s curse has watered your fears. Probably because Harmony integrates you into the environment.”

“I’ve changed?” Ruwen asked. “Obviously a few things are different, but I think I’m the same person.”

“Oh, you are,” Sift said. Then he made his best Ky impression. “You look but do not see.” He turned to Ash. “Ruwen’s the smartest guy you’ll ever meet, but his memory is terrible. As are my manners. I’m Sift, something my best friend has forgotten.”

Ash wiped a hand on his gi, spreading strawberry jam across it, and then held it out to Sift. “Hey, Sift. I’m Ash.”

“Sift,” Ruwen muttered as understanding arrived like an avalanche.

When they’d first met, Sift’s center had zero connected pathways, and it allowed him to “sift” through the environment like a sieve. Ruwen had never spent a lot of time thinking about that, but it made sense that Sift could parse invisible or intangible things from his surroundings. It would give him an advantage or special insight in many different situations.

“But your center is perfect now,” Ruwen said. “How can you still sift?”

“If you do something long enough,” Sift replied, “it becomes natural. Isn’t that why we practice the Steps?”

Ruwen nodded in agreement. Sift’s logic was sound.

Sift took another of the cookies and spoke to Ash. “My mom says there are two kinds of people: thinkers and doers. You and I are doers Ash, and since the first moment I met this clown just outside the Bloodgate until the end of our Master’s Trial, he was a thinker.” Sift nodded in Echo’s direction and spoke even quieter. “Your Sisen is a thinker, too, although she hides it well. The Master’s Trial forced her to change, and sudden change is always dangerous. Why does any of this matter?”

“Because doers see the world with intuition and thinkers with logic. My dad assures me all paths can lead to enlightenment except two: action without thought and thought without action. Sounds simple to avoid, right. But it’s not. The path we travel is nearly impossible to change, and it usually requires some type of transformation. The secret to transformation is balance. But doers take balance for granted and thinkers ignore it.”

Sift leaned back. “This speech is my latest attempt at thinking, which I know was painful for all of us.” Sift nodded at Ruwen. “He’s left the thinker’s path, and it’s shifted his perspective enough that he’s noticing new things. Things that have been there all along.”

“Truth resonates in your words, Grandmaster Sift,” Ash said respectfully, “even though I don’t really understand.”

“You will,” Sift replied. “Soon.”

Ruwen considered Sift’s words. “So your ‘sifting sense’ tells you what needs done to balance the situation?”

Sift shook his head. “I wish. Usually I just get a feeling and go with it. Lately, I’ve been trying to think first. Like with—” He nodded toward Echo.

“That was you thinking?” Ruwen asked.

Sift got defensive. “I didn’t say I was good at it.”

“When you showed up for that hydra, the press called you ‘golden superman,’” Ash said to Sift. “If they’d known about your ‘shifty sense’ they might have called you ‘flying spiderman’ or something.”

“Shifty sense,” Sift repeated. “I like that.”

Ruwen grinned. “More like, shi—”

“Stop,” Sift said, cutting Ruwen off. “Jealousy isn’t a good look. Especially for a god.”

“Those two women with you got most of the coverage,” Ash said. “Beauty like that is impossible to ignore,” he glanced at Ruwen, “even with a literal angel in the sky.”

“You should see them now,” Sift said. “They’re truly divine.”

“Speaking of divine, you never showed me your wings.” Ruwen paused. “Or do they not have wings in the Creation Realm? Io was a bit sketchy on the details as was the Death Tower.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Sift said with a mischievous grin. He grew serious a moment later. “I can’t say anything even if wanted.”

“Seriously, you’re going to be like that. Why won’t you tell me what happened? Hamma isn’t any better.”

“You’ll need to trust us,” Sift said sincerely.

The three of them sat in silence and after a few seconds Ash cleared his throat.

“I mentioned the hydra event before, and something’s been bothering me. It felt wrong to ask Sisen Echo, but I don’t have that same reluctance with you two for some reason. Okay, remember when Death showed up and met you two. The three of you performed our Step Clan’s greeting.” Ash paused for a few seconds. “Is Death part of the Bamboo Viper Step Clan?”

“Death is a part of everything,” Sift responded with a grin.

Ruwen scooted over as Echo joined them. She sat but didn’t speak.

“Sift was joking with you,” Ruwen said, “and also correct. But that wasn’t the question you wanted to start with.”

Ruwen could barely sense Ash’s chakra energy as it flowed through the young man. It made determining his power difficult. Harmony detected the brilliant colors of Ash’s aura which moved erratically in and out of his body Ash had figured out how to manipulate his Aura in some fashion but only had a fraction of the control he exerted over his chakras.

Ash gave a wry smile and bowed. “I’m at a disadvantage, but that was insightful. You didn’t access your Throat or Third Eye either.” Ash turned to Echo. “I apologize Sisen, I didn’t mean to hijack your training. I’m a little out of sorts and likely overstepped my bounds.”

“The grove has no bounds,” Echo said. “We take the same Steps, and they bind us as brothers and sisters. The only limits are the ones we bring with us.”

Ash bowed to Echo and then faced Ruwen again. “You’re one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse—Famine. You’re a harbinger of the apocalypse.”