Chapter 36: Meeting at the cafe [2]
Selina and Navin regarded everyone with a faint smile and stepped towards their chairs. Selina’s gaze stayed on Jaden for a bit longer before she took a seat.
As soon as Selina took her seat, Shelly, who had been standing beside Jaden’s chair till now, stepped forward and stood beside Selina’s.
Jaden raised an eyebrow at it but didn’t say anything as he remembered their small exchange the previous night.
’She must be a maid or something similar to Selina in the mortal realm.’
A few moments passed, and everyone sat in their respective chairs and adjusted themselves.
Jaden stood up from his seat and gave a bow as he added.
"I am very thankful that you all arrived on such short notice, and I wish to apologise to all of you for that."
Jaden was expecting all of them to reply or at least give him a slight nod, but instead, all of them had a frown.
"Did I do something wrong?" He asked as a frown also appeared on his face.
He didn’t know if he said something wrong or did anything wrong ...He just did it based on the false memories of the mayor’s son, but now that he thought about it, maybe the customs of nobles within the city were different to the ones in the mortal world.
’That could be the issue.’
Jaden nodded inwardly at his reasoning before speaking.
"I am sorry if anything I did or said came across as disrespectful... that wasn’t my intention at all."
However, his words only made their frown deeper and now even Jaden was confused.
At last, Selina was the one to answer his worries.
"The Jaden from before wouldn’t care about such trivialities... He was never a person of manners or demeanour..."
Hearing her words, Jaden just gave a bittersweet smile as he added in a low voice.
"I see..."
The room felt silent as the losses that had taken place within the city weighed heavily on all of them.
Jaden forced a chuckle and clapped his hands together as he spoke.
"Nonetheless, let’s begin."
Just as he said so Arden raised his hand in question.
"What is it, Arden?"
Arden leaned forward and tilted his head as he questioned.
"What did you want to tell us?"
"I was just getting to that, just wait a moment."
Jaden replied and took out a scroll and a sheet of parchment. He placed them on the table and began spreading the map on the table.
Everyone, even Shelly, raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to look at it. After checking the map, they all looked at Jaden with puzzled expressions. It was a weird map after all. It didn’t have any lines or markings, just strange symbols of a book, a sun, a house and a gate.
Jaden finished spreading the map and took a step back.
"What is this?" Jamie questioned as he pointed at the map.
Jaden’s lips stretched into a grin as he announced.
"This, my friends, is the map to the entrance of the city’s drainage system..."
Everyone’s eyes widened at his words, and Selina was the first to question.
"Where did you find this?"
"Within the arcane library."
Selina nodded at his reply and mumbled.
"That makes sense..."
Navin looked at him with furrowed brows and questioned tentatively.
"How are you sure about it being a map to the entrance of the drainage and not something else?"
Jaden nodded at his question and took his seat as he answered.
"Assuming that the symbol of the gate is the entrance, the sun is ...well, the sun, the house is the mayor’s mansion, and the book is..."
"The church of knowledge," Selina completed his words.
Jaden pointed at her, and his smile widened as he added.
"Then the gate would point at the statue of the founding father... which happens to have a pond at its base."
Everyone attentively listened to his explanation and nodded their heads at the end of it.
"So... we can leave?" Arden questioned with expectation-filled eyes.
Hearing his question, everyone turned to look at Jaden, who had a dark expression on his face.
"What’s wrong?" Selina questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Read the paragraph at the bottom of the map," Jaden replied as he pointed at the map.
"Let me."
Jamie took the map off the table and began reading.
"Their fall began long before the brilliant sparks could apprehend. The covetous mortals, once graced by the moon, succumbed to the yearning of impossible wonders. Their envy shattered the calm, only for them to fall into the game of possibility... What the fuck does that mean?"
Others also had the same question as him, so they turned to Jaden for answers.
Jaden let out a sigh and asked, "Do you all know about the gods?"
They replied with a nod.
"Okay, that makes it a bit easier, then...
’Their fall began long before the brilliant sparks could apprehend.’ means that the ones responsible for the death of the gods had already begun their plan long before their eventual fall.
’The covetous mortals, once graced by the moon, succumbed to the yearning of impossible wonders.’ means that someone had shown or told something to the blessed mortals of the moon god, which made them lose faith in their god... or have faith in something else.
’Their envy shattered the calm, only for them to fall into the game of possibility.’ means that the mortals then betrayed the moon god... but they didn’t get what they sought; instead, they became part of a game."
The room stayed silent for a few minutes as Jaden’s words sank in. It was a lot to take in... they were talking about mortals betraying one of the seven gods after all.
Jamie was first to organise his thoughts and asked with a puzzled look.
"What does that have to do with us?"
Jaden gave him a wry smile and replied.
"I truly wish we had nothing to do with it... But you see this game - we have already become a part of it."