Chapter 336: Predicament in the House of Night (2)
Kai took a moment for himself after showering and changing into more comfortable clothes.
He sat on the edge of his bed, leaned forward with his elbows on his lap, and then closed his eyes.
In that silence, his mind moved somewhere else.
Bella.
Kai was back in his cramped apartment room again.
It was Sunday, and he mainly used the day to completely rest. He couldn’t sleep, but his body still needed to rest. He was lying on the old sofa; the redolent, musky scent was thick enough to fill his nostrils.
In the other room, Bella was humming while she cooked breakfast.
Even with her underarm crutches, she moved through the kitchen seamlessly.
Most of the time, she cooked for the two of them to fill her empty time while he was out in school or working until late at night. Kai always helped her whenever he could—either by putting out the meat from the freezer, boiling eggs, or even buying ingredients.
But she always insisted on doing things herself.
It was a way for her to feel normal.
Sunday, however, was always special.
Both of them would cook together and spend time watching a movie.
Kai watched Bella scurry over in a panic to grab a bowl when the popcorn finished popping.
She opened the cover, and one late-bloomer popped and struck her in the face.
Like a kid, she pouted and tried kicking with her underarm crutch, but even though Kai could not see how she did it properly, he knew that she missed multiple times. And as expected—she became even more frustrated instead.
And then, she turned and found his eyes.
A beautiful smile bloomed on her face as she let out that awkward chuckle she always did in an embarrassing situation like this. Kai couldn’t restrain his smile. He had always been doing this with Bella every weekend, and yet, these moments never seemed to dull.
Kai was never bored watching her perfections and imperfections.
It was... one of the best moments in his life.
Once he opened his eyes again, deafening silence pressed on him from all sides.
Many things happened ever since those innocent moments.
Kai was now sitting in his master bedroom that was twice the size of his whole apartment. He was warm, satisfied, and powerful. And yet, the feeling wasn’t quite as fulfilling as the feeling he felt while he was with Bella.
"If you were still here, sister, I’m sure you’d love this house."
He shook his head and lay down on the bed.
For a few seconds, he stared at the ceiling before finally closing his eyes.
"Deep Slumber."
As soon as the words escaped his lips, his mind was pulled away.
Even though Kai had experienced this countless times already, the feeling of having his mind pulled away so suddenly and brought into another realm entirely was still unnerving. It was something that would certainly take a long time for him to get used to.
Kai opened his eyes again and found himself in a vast expanse of darkness.
He was now closer to the night, and thus, he was closer to being able to step into—the House of Night at will. No chance for failure anymore. In fact, it had been about two months—since his last failure, which was a good thing.
"It’s colder."
A strange coldness lingered in the air.
One that Kai sensed almost immediately.
It was a bad omen.
Kai sharpened his focus and called for the night.
And then, a notification emerged before him.
[You don’t have enough usable exp to enter the Ending of Impersonation’s domain.]
[It would cost 180,000 usable exp to locate and enter the Ending of Impersonation’s domain.]
"Hm... It increased again." Kai clicked his tongue in displeasure—last time he checked, it only cost one hundred and thirty usable exp to find that wretched creature—and now it has gone up by fifty thousand usable exp. "Seems like it has another success, while I’m still stagnant."
Kai clicked his tongue and reached out for the night again.
A streak of darkness came down from the sky.
It devoured Kai whole, and when it pulled away, he disappeared from where he stood.
Another streak of darkness struck down an unknown distance from where it first appeared— and Kai emerged again. He looked around, making sure that nobody was following him, and then turned to enter the domain beside him.
Noxian’s domain.
Upon entering, he was met with the same sight as always—except for the additions. For one, Noxian wasn’t seated on the staircase leading to his porch as he usually was. Instead, he stood with his back straight and arms to the side, facing the rear of his domain.
Across from him were Perion and Kaelmorath.
Both were on the corner; one was still wounded, and the other was meditating.
"Do you always need to watch over them like that?" Kai chuckled as he approached.
"I don’t like other Nightborns staying inside my domain," Noxian said—and crossed his arms. His tone suggested that he had a really bad experience in the past with other Nightborns who stayed inside his domain, which Kai picked up instantly.
"But they are my Nightborns."
"That didn’t make it any better."
"Really? An association with me didn’t make it better?" Kai turned around—and looked into the vast darkness beyond. "Mom!"
"Don’t do that—you fool!" Noxian quickly covered Kai’s mouth. "How can you even possibly think of disturbing the Final Night for something mundane like this? Do you want all of us to die?!"
Kai pushed Noxian’s hand away and chuckled.
It was funny to see Noxian acting like this.
Normally, he was like a wise and old teacher who was straightforward.
But he turned into a panicking kid whenever Kai insinuated calling the Goddess.
"Relax... I didn’t actually call for her."
"Still, don’t do that."
"Alright, alright." Kai turned and fixed his eyes on Perion again, his face turning serious. "So— is there anything I need to know? Did something happen while I was away? That damned thing always made a move when I’m not around."
"It’s wary of you," Noxian replied as he also looked at Perion. "And yes, something happened. That barbarian Nightborn of yours sneaked back to his domain, and he came back even more wounded. I also felt movements in the area—they are preparing something."
Kai clicked his tongue in displeasure.
He already told Perion and Kaelmorath to stay put until the problem was dealt with.
But Kaelmorath didn’t listen.
Naturally, Kai couldn’t really blame him for trying, as he usually spent every second of his existence recalling the beautiful memories he had with Princess Diarbara in the temple, in her resting place.
Staying put must’ve felt like torture.
So, instead of getting angry at Kaelmorath, Kai decided to point the blame on himself instead.
I should’ve trained even harder.
He thought inside, as if he hadn’t been training extremely hard in the last couple of months.
Of course, he wasn’t slacking. Too many things on his plate that could only be dealt with once he became stronger. He had spent a considerable amount of time—days in the House of Night to train, before returning to the waking world.
Not because he couldn’t stay any longer, but because he was afraid to forget some things.
Some things he needed to do in the waking world.
Even then, he didn’t feel like he had done enough, which pushed Kaelmorath to do this.
Kai approached the meditating Kaelmorath, and then went down to crouch in front of him.
"No need for scolding, Son of Night. I accepted the risks."
"I’m not here to scold you. I want to know how you get attacked."
Kaelmorath opened his eyes, mildly surprised that Kai wasn’t angry about his disobedience.
And then he closed his eyes again.
"I was nearing my domain when several of them ambushed me. I don’t know how they found my domain." He let out a heavy exhale. "But if I had to guess—that Ending of Impersonation must’ve been able to track you down somehow."
"Memories," Noxian said from behind. "Tracking the First Son of the Night is not possible for a Nightborn of his caliber. Only the beings on the Fifth Floor could attempt to do that—as that was the same as trying to track the Final Night."
Kai nodded his head as that made sense.
Kaelmorath’s encounter with the Ending of Impersonation happened in Perion’s domain.
So, the Ending of Impersonation didn’t know where his domain was.
For Kaelmorath, he suspected the Ending of Impersonation might have tracked Kai’s trail back to his domain, but that was impossible. Any children of the night held absolute dominion over the House of Night.
No matter what, the night would never betray their tracks.
Knowing that, Noxian came to the natural conclusion.
It was through the Ending of Impersonation’s power.
Kaelmorath specifically said, when he recounted the battle with the Ending of Impersonation, that his mind was infiltrated, and then the wretched being took the appearance of the princess he held nearest to his heart.
As a matter of fact, that was the reason he lost the battle.
Had it not been for that, he would have been able to stalemate or even win the battle.
Seems like the Ending of Impersonation had marked his domain through his memories—and then set up a trap there in case Kaelmorath tried coming back. And that was how the ambush was prepared.
"Destroy that Nightborn, Son of Night." Kaelmorath looked at Kai firmly. "He used her form against me."
Kai didn’t answer.
He only clenched his jaw as he understood how Kaelmorath felt right now.
To use loved ones as weapons was the highest form of wickedness; even the thought of it was making Kai’s blood boil—and for that, Kai would most certainly repay these deeds tenfold to the Ending of Impersonation.
He rose to his feet, turned around, and walked away.
Nothing he could do to help Kaelmorath and Perion right now.
Even now, he still didn’t have the ability to heal their wounds.
"You should go to the second floor," Noxian said as he walked past. "Get another Nightborn."
Kai stopped abruptly mid-stride.
He straightened his posture and looked up to the dim, starry night sky.
"Mom mentioned my mastery over the night, and now I know that she was hinting that it was lacking. She didn’t have the heart to say it to me directly, I suppose." Kai muttered, recalling the Goddess’ words inside his mind. "I’m stronger now, and I can find and learn the name of a strong Nightborn from the Second Floor. And with that Nightborn, everything would surely be resolved, but...
"This is the House of Night." Kai’s form began to be wrapped by darkness as he slowly looked over his shoulder. "And I am the First Son of the Primordial Night. That wretched Nightborn and all other Nightborns would learn to bow their heads before me."