Lord of Mysteries:Fire of Destruction

"You have to eat more carefully. You're a grown man now. I can't keep cleaning you up like this every time you eat, " Opera gently reproached as she moved her handkerchief away from the boy's face.

"Sorry..." Adamisaul whispered sheepishly and bowed his head slightly.

"Sigh. At least you're improving a little, I don't have to use so many tissues anymore." Nodding gently, the red-eyed woman squeezed the boy's cheek with two fingers and smiled warmly.

"Go and clean yourself. Then you can come for dessert, all right?

"Mhm..." Returning to being mute, the Monster boy nodded with a small smile and left the dining room.

Passing through the crowded room, he gave a slight nod to the occupants and quickly went to the bathroom at the end of the hall.

Watching the young man pass by from his warm prison, Nathan looked at the woman curiously.

"Aren't you being a bit hard on the kid, Miss? I understand he only got his mind back a week ago..."

A soft but equally hard blow to the back of his neck silenced him and the Clown turned his head and raised an eyebrow, "And why was that?"

"She knows what she's doing. Don't question her methods before you see them in action." Sasha said like a mountain sage.

The serenity and peace in her voice somewhat dazzled the Clown, who looked at his partner in amazement, but that little serenity was shattered when the woman broke into a big smile and wrapped her arms more tightly around his waist.

"Besides, I'm the one you should be looking at! Months without seeing each other and you're already eyeing another woman!"

"Sorry, sorry, I won't do it again..."

Restraining the grunt at the crushing of his organs, Nathan controlled his face so as not to show how embarrassed he was right now and calmly patted the strong arms.

He was now sitting on the lap of the big woman, who easily functioned as a large sofa and was surprisingly comfortable.

Of course, he would never publicly admit that and only murmur it in secret to the other giant.

His face was now nothing more than the very reflection of total indifference. It seemed that what was happening now was not as embarrassing as it seemed, but was even expected.

Something that Nathan was giving his all to maintain.

They were now in the apartment of the woman called Opera, one of the team's new members who had been mentioned in the letters he exchanged with the rest of them in his time outside.

Apart from Ademisaul, there was also a little girl named Jerry. From her place on the carpet, she enjoyed the biscuits on the table, her eyes watching everything. He felt that his secrets were exposed to her.

A somewhat cold duo of a man with malicious eyes and a doll-like woman stood a little apart. The man stood beside the single sofa with his arms crossed, while the woman read a yellow-covered book without showing much expression. They were Maric and Sharron, respectively.

Finally, on the last sofa, sunken so deeply into the cushions that she looked as if she wanted to be devoured, was his circus partner, a woman with an expression of utter fatigue and blue eyes that wanted to fall asleep at any moment. Her true name was Fors Wall.

All the people present were Beyonders. Most were between Sequence 9 and 8, while Maric and Sharron were Sequence 6 and Sequence 5.

'Boss has been busy this time... There were barely two of us a few months ago and now there are 14 of us... I haven't even met all the new members, I'm still missing six... I still can't believe Charlotte is a man...' Still stunned at the speed with which they had grown, Nathan couldn't help but let his mind wander a little at the end.

What kind of parents would name their son Charlotte?!

Unaware of his thoughts, the youngest and smallest of the group paused while eating her biscuits, "Miss Sharron, did you manage to confirm the identity of the person of interest?"

"He's the one we were looking for," the Wraith replied without much emotion in her voice, her eyes not leaving the book in her hands. I implanted the dreams the night before. It shouldn't be long before he wants to make contact...

"I recommend that you be ready for a visit, Miss Wall."

Restraining the urge to whine, Fors struggled to leave her comfortable prison and looked tiredly at the woman with the blond hair, "I'll do my best..."

What she had been looking for since she arrived at the circus had finally happened yesterday.

An Abraham had come to see her perform as a Trickmaster!

Once they had identified him, Wraith Sharron followed him. When the opportunity arose, she collected some hairs and sent them to the lunatic, who confirmed his identity.

With the most difficult part of the plan accomplished, what came next was easy.

Using one of the ten artifacts that madman had, Feynapotter Children's Stories, Sharron implanted 'revelations' in the dream of the member of the Abraham's family so that he would initiate contact.

Being a member of a family hunted by the Churches, as the lunatic had confirmed that he was also a Beyonder of the Apprentice Pathway, approaching him first would only make him run away.

That was why the dreams had only been manipulated until they were 'revelations'. Something more substantial could alert the man and scare him.

Everything had to be natural, like a play unfolding, flowing naturally and constantly, not explosive.

'Luckily it's that madman who's planning all this... If planning the development of my stories already gives me a headache, I can't imagine the pain of having to organize all this...' Feeling her energy for the week already running out just thinking about it, Fors sank back into the sofa.

Honestly, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the Abraham.

Without realizing it, as soon as he entered the circus he had already fallen into the sights and clutches of that lunatic...

'Luckily he's on our side. I don't want to imagine how terrifying it would be to have him as an enemy...' Swallowing hard, Fors felt a chill run down her spine and quickly put that in the back of her mind.

Her job was to act, not to plan, so there was no need to waste her precious energy!

"I'm going to sleep when I get to my little house... I want my cozy bed..." The writer mumbled wearily as she closed her eyes for a moment.

She could already see the soft sheets and pillows...

"But Miss, weren't we supposed to continue writing the Mr.'s order today?" Jerry said, tilting her head slightly in curiosity.

Fors froze momentarily, like the cogs of an old, neglected clock, she turned her head towards Sasha.

The giant woman smiled slightly, her eyes taking on a certain sparkle, "It's your turn to look after her. Speaking of which, could she stay with you and Miss Xio tonight?"

As she finished her question, she hugged the man in her lap tighter. The expression of indifference on Nathan's face trembled for a moment.

Understanding the message, Fors coughed slightly, trying to hide her sudden blush, and nodded. "o-Of course! I want to progress quite a bit, so it would be better if she stayed with me for a few days."

Sasha smiled brightly, "Thanks sis!"

Jerry blinked expressionlessly at this interaction, an eyebrow raised almost imperceptibly.

Surely they knew that she understood what they were talking about?

She had been raised in East Borough, so of course, she knew what Miss Sasha and Mr Nathan would do once they had the house to themselves.

She didn't have to be a Spectator to know that. She just had to keep an eye on things and that was enough.

Before she could do anything, a hand was placed on her shoulder and looking up, she saw Opera give her a slight head shake.

Understanding the message, Jerry nodded and continued eating biscuits, pretending not to understand anything.

"Practicing a little temperance is never a bad thing," Sharron said out of the blue, looking at the duo on the sofa who paused a bit ashamed.

Not wanting to say any more or wanting to delve further into the subject, she closed the book in her hands and placed it calmly on her lap.

Looking at Fors, she spoke.

"For now things may calm down a bit, keep attending the circus and act as you have been doing this time. Any abnormality could scare him so don't change anything in your performance."

The writer listened carefully and nodded slowly. Fors would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous about meeting one of the family members whose curse threatened to kill her every night, but at this point there was no turning back.

She could only keep moving forward and not look back. Like a river that flows into the sea, it can only resign itself to being salty.

'I have to write that down...' A little absent-minded, she took a small notebook from one of her many hidden pockets and wrote down the phrase that came to her.

At that moment, Ademisaul returned from the bathroom. And, although some parts of his hair were wet, his face was now clean of salt and butter.

This made Opera smile with satisfaction as she took one of her biscuits and offered it to the young man.

Receiving his reward, the newcomer sat down next to Jerry and began to eat slowly, his bites a little smaller than the girl's.

Seeing this, Opera smiled a little more before putting on a serious face.

Clap Clap!

In the face of the sudden applause, all eyes were on her.

Looking at everyone she said, "In 2 days it's September 21st. Does anyone have anything in mind?"

"What will happen on the 21st?" Ademisaul asked confusedly.

His question was a shared doubt as everyone looked at her, waiting for an explanation.

Opera could only press her lips together in the face of this but she wasn't too surprised.

This was something she only learned by accident. When they were in Backlund, she read about the profile created for her friend in the newspaper.

Sighing a little, she did not answer immediately but closed her eyes for a moment and after thinking about it for a while, she said;

"What do you think the Boss likes?"

"Bullying me," Fors said without hesitation for a single second.

"Provoke" Everyone else said a second, no, a millisecond later.

"..."

Faced with the two immediate responses, the Planter could only sigh.

This would take a while...

'And I still have to ask Miss Serena, Miss Xio and Mr Charlotte to participate...' The red-eyed woman could only shake her head in resignation.

"Okay... So we'll do something simple. I'll bake some cakes and cookies for the team meeting we have on Sundays. If you want to bring something for the boss, go ahead, but I really can't think of many things he likes other than food or..." Opera paused for a moment and looked at the rest, "provoking..."

"I still don't understand what you're talking about, Miss. Don't you always bring food to our meetings?" Sasha said curiously, her chin resting on the expressionless Nathan's head.

Not wanting to beat about the bush any longer, Opera said, "Friday is the boss's birthday, as it's impossible to celebrate it on that day, I wanted to celebrate it on Sunday."

"Is it his birthday? I didn't know," Nathan didn't expect that answer.

Fors was silent for a moment, a pensive expression on her face, "How old will he be?"

Opera opened her mouth but said nothing. She frowned a little, and after about five seconds, she shook her head and said, "I only remember the day and the month, not the year he was born."

"Well, at least you won't have to worry about decorating the cake, just put 'happy birthday' and that'll do. I doubt he'll mind." Fors shrugged a little as she rested her cheek on her palm.

She didn't want to give up so quickly, but she understood the writer's point, so Opera could only sigh a little and nod.

She could always add extra chocolate to the cookies to make up for it...