Blade of Ruin- Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol 3

Prologue: Before Departure

*Iah*

The warm tropical sun of Wahkan shone down as Nyima, Lei, and I went to join the others as they finished packing for their trip to my country.

"Ahh, sure is nice here," I said, spreading my arms as I stared at the shimmering cyan sea. If not for my curiosity to find out what was in the tablet I had found in Rios—I would've vacationed here with Lei and co. instead of inviting them over to Mina.

"Sure is," Lei said, grinning.

His hair had grown almost up to his shoulders since I had last seen him at school. The months sure had passed by in the blink of an eye. Despite that, An still had yet to wake up from his coma...

My eyes glanced over at Sarah as Kun helped her carry her luggage. She limped forward with crutches. A burn mask still covered her once beautiful face.

"Hey, Sarah!" I yelled, waving.

She smiled and waved back. Stupidly, I had expected a verbal response...forgetting that her vocal cords had been destroyed by Aida.

"Hey, careful," Kun said, grabbing her as she began to tilt to the side. "You got to be using both crutches at all times."

Sarah lowered her eyes.

"Don't be sad. In a few months you'll be walking like you once used to," he said, spreading his arms out. "Until then, you can rely on me!"

"He's right. Your therapy is coming along smoothly," Nyima said, smiling. "Just keep at it and soon it'll be as if nothing happened."

"Say, what's going on in the continent?" Lei asked, glancing at me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The situation with Sera. What's going on? Have there been any developments you know of?"

Sarah looked at me expectantly.

I took a deep breath. "Sorry. My uncle has been tight lipped about it. All I'm sure about is that nothing has blown over or else we would have heard about it in the news."

"True," Lei said, tapping the ground with his left foot.

The princess of Shui's head drooped down once more.

"Uncle is bound to figure something out."

"Come to think about it, isn't it odd that Mina is helping Shui?" Nyima asked. "I mean, Shui has been Kyuu Seishin's ally throughout the past millennia."

"True," I said. I snickered. "But knowing my uncle, he's probably plotting something."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at me.

"I mean as in snatching you from Kyuu Seishin's orbit. Though, that'll probably be hard to do since they're planning their own effort to retake Shui from H.E.H." I ran a hand across my hair and grumbled. "Now that I'm saying it, this could result in another war between Mina and them."

"How so?" Lei asked.

"Battle for influence obviously," Nyima explained. "Not to mention, if both Mina and Kyuu Seishin were to march armies into Sera, they would need to agree to give the land they're occupying back to the king. I don't see either side doing so without arranging for the king to give them preferential treatment or at least some other benefits."