Everyone Forgets the Beginning (BattleR Saga Story 1)
Thirteenth Chant

The Epilogue

The boy fell asleep on the floor, stillholding the unrolled coil of paper in his hand.

“Looks like you finished earlier thanI thought, boy.”

The middle-aged half Asian man tookthe scroll out from the grasp of the boy’s hand, snapped fingers and scrollburnt down in mid air.

The man took still sound asleep boy inhis arms and went downstairs to the big room with only bed and a desk inside.He placed boy on the bed, covered him with a duvet and exit the room without asound.

“Sleep well, boy. You have a roughtimes before you. First ADAM test, then the return to the Archives and thefight for the destiny of this and other worlds. I just hope father was right.”

He reached inside his inner jacketpocket, took out a pipe, a lighter and started to smoke. He looked at hisphone.

It’s only tea time in London, it’s best notto disturb her this early.

He walked out the large house at thetop of this mountain range’s highest peak. The air was thin, cold, the cloudswere slowly moving without the wind, blocking the view.

He sighed, breathing out the smoke fromthe pipe. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and blew the air out of hislungs with immense force, scattering all the clouds around the mountain andrevealing the magnificent view of sun hiding behind the dale on the far westfrom their hideout.

He enjoyed this silent moment for awhile, until it was disrupted by the loud sound of his phone’s ringtonespreading through the mountains. The caller was unknown.

“Hallo.”

“Li, we’re in trouble”, it was one ofhis friends. “The Archives, they found out we were recruiting from the inside.I don’t know how, we just all got out. I think no one is hurt, but we must bemuch more careful now.”

“Slow down, start over, what exactlyhappened?”

“We were in 1999, they came out ofnowhere. They knew we were meeting there.”

“Whose meeting was that? Which clan?”

“That’s the thing – it were all sevenclans.”

“Impossible. Someone must’ve leakedthe information.”

“Yes, she said the same thing. Once Iconfirm my team’s all right I will contact Fathers and we will get to thebottom of this crap.”

“Good, take your time, the rat isalready on the move if he’s smart enough to wait for all clans to gather. Wemust replace him before he disappears into the thin air.”

“Copy. And one more thing.”

“What is it, Juu?”

“It might be nothing but she asked ifI talked with you lately. Did something happen?”

“No, nothing happened. Don’t worryabout it. Focus on your next mission. I will get the briefing from the meetinglater.”

“You know me – never surrender.”

“Yeah, one more thing. Don’t call myfather. I will do that. You call all the other higher ups. They all have takena liking in you for some reason.”

“What can I say, I’m likable.”

“Sure you are, just don’t let the ratoutsmart you. He can’t be any new guy, it must be someone from at least ouryear or older. And if my hunch is correct – I know who the rat is, why he didwhat he did and what will he do next.”

“So, do you mind telling me?”

“Yes, I do. Uncertainty is what mightcause our doom in this particular case. But let me tell you this – beware thewhite crows.”

“Got it. White crows. Thanks. Well, Igotta run, a lot happened and I have even more to do so, I’ll call youtomorrow, when we replace something out.”

“Yeah. Stay sharp.”

The call ended. The sun has completelyset. The darkness started overflowing the world.

Li turned around and looked at thewindow to the boy’s room. The hope is not lost yet.