Phantom Chained

Chapter 30. Adaptation(cont.) Elm.

"Let's say that I do."

"Help me!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course!"

"The training will be rough, tedious and will require you to develop numerous skills."

"I'm so ready!" Caleb began jumping in his seat like a child that just got told he's going to Disneyland. I clapped my hands and solemnly proclaimed:

"Alright, you convinced me. In that case, I recommend you play a couple of excellent video games. I guarantee that with strong perseverance you would be able to take down any demon, even Manus, Father of the Abyss, after only a couple of years. Don't forget about stats like strength or intelligence. And hatred towards curry, too, while you're at it."

I wanted to go on but just couldn't stop myself from giggling at the small priest's expression of utter dejection.

"Look who's pleased with himself." Father commented but I decided to just let that little remark slide.

The room fell silent. Caleb grumpily fidgeted on the chair, looking off to the side. Today he was dressed head to toe in brown: his caramel shirt almost blended with his skin and his suede suit completely matched his shoes. Looks like he decided to dress up after I asked him what gypsy tribe he came from. From eye cancer to formal terracotta? Well-well... I'll have to break it to him that now he looks like a piece of excrement. He-he.

It didn't even take thirty minutes for Caleb to start another discussion. He even brought tea and chocolate chip cookies, which were warm, soft and chewy yet still crunchy on the outside. I sincerely wished for Johan to eat nothing but bread and water for the rest of his life as I had to severely restrain myself simply because he did not like sweets! So I just tried not to choke on the saliva waterfall in my mouth while convincing Caleb that all of his investigations were utter nonsense since all of them could be attributed to mental illness or drugs. He actively argued otherwise, describing physical evidence of paranormal activity in between polite sips and crunchy bites.

"Even Raul here has witnessed paranormal occurrences with you." He mentioned. "Am I wrong?"

Father bit his lip and hesitantly responded:

"Caleb, my friend, if I may be honest with you, I nearly shot my pants when I saw the chandelier fly around me like that. And those poor fish... one second they're fine, the other they resemble gory sashimi."

This revelation piqued my curiosity but Johan's memory refused to let me access any information regarding these events. This wasn't the first time my query ran into a mental barrier that I had to break through. However, I wasn't really in the mood for that at this moment.

"All this proves is how contagious a crazy idea can be if it's consistent, self-sufficient and indisputable." I explained, saying a silent goodbye to the last cookie. "And you should be quite informed on that front, Caleb, since you are a firm believer."

"How could you compare faith with madness!" The priest angrily exclaimed.

"According to the wisdom of the internet, if one person believes in an imaginary friend that he has frequent and deep conversations with, they are considered mentally ill. However, if a number of people believe in that same imaginary friend then it's called a religion and it gives them the right to belittle and even kill the non-believers. "

"Only people who are stupid or uneducated view religion like that." Caleb shook his head. "You appear intelligent yet still say that? Is that what you truly believe in?"

"Madness has long since left me, so I don't believe in anything. However, I do suspect that our universe is but a shadow of divinity, cast by the First Light, where every fraction of a moment is a mirror with a myriad of reflections and each of those reflections is true as they are a part of the greater truth. Concurrently, the mirror is also but a lie as the truth changes faster than time itself and verum plus uno esse non potent! I'll translate it just for you, Caleb: there can only ever exist one truth."