"Catherine's gonna murder you, maybe Aizawa'll get to you first." Aaron chuckled, leaning back in his chair.
Guessing by the way Aaron was smirking, he seemed to know something regarding this, maybe he wasn't surprised to begin with. If he did know I consumed a potion, he most likely would've told the others and had them inspect me.
"What did he mean by that?" Shinso continued pressing the black cat sitting on the table, which was now grooming itself.
It looked up from its personal treatment, licking its lips before speaking. "Before you and Ayumi consumed the Saint and Justice Pathway potions, Isaac stumbled and encountered the Apocalypse pathway potion. How he retrieved it is unbeknownst to me."
I rubbed the back of my neck as I leaned forward, whispering into the cat's ear. After receiving the information, the cat continued.
"He got it from a shady vendor in the market. Following that, they haven't talked much."
"Hold on a second," Aaron looked towards me.
He adjusted his posture, looking at me as he clasped his hands together. "You told me that you got a pathway potion from a shady seller in the market, and not an official organization?"
"What official organization would hand out these potions like candy? Didn't your friends steal them for you guys?" The Umbridge questioned.
"Y-yes, but I mean, how could Isaac here get a pathway potion without the jurisdiction of the Mother Nature church?"
After absorbing that, my entire body tensed as if preparing for some inexplicable event. "Will you ...turn me in or something?"
"Why the hell would I do that?" Aaron chuckled softly. "They'd capture you on the spot".
I felt my face go pale as I almost choked on my own building saliva. I had interacted with the Church of Mother Nature before, but they never accumulated suspicions regarding my own pathway. On top of that, they never questioned what had happened during the Blood Moon. I passed out after absorbing those demons before I could see anything, but if I really were a figure of interest, the Pollinators would surely have questioned me by now.
Upon realizing this, I attempted to stifle my current worries and let out a long, relaxing sigh.
At this moment, the waiter approached our table, her eyes still glazed over as she distributed our dishes. We all thanked her, including the Umbridge, and began to eat. As I slowly dove into my cheesecake, a small pit in my stomach had begun to form. Even amidst my current state of suppression, the thought of being captured by the Pollinators, labeled as a heretic and possibly killed or tortured, made me want to vomit. But if I did, I'd surely ruin everyone's appetite.
The Umbridge padded over to me, looking at my cheesecake with their yellowish-red eyes. They let out a low meow as they lowered their head, taking a bite of my dessert.
"W-what are you doing? Cats can't have that stuff!" Shinso abruptly grabbed the black cat, pulling it away from the plate.
The Umbridge let out a low meow, and the sound of something vibrating caught everyone's attention. Shinso, feeling a surge of curiosity, dove into his pocket and took out the bronze pocket watch. The hands telling the hour and the minute spun wildly, before stopping immediately in the direction of the black cat on the table.
"What does this mean?" Shinso asked, feeling stunned and bewildered.
Even if he was ready to advance to Order 8, the nature and abilities of the Justice pathway always confused him to a certain extent. The Umbridge, in their cat body, replied in an ethereal voice.
"That pathway fragment materializes the single ability at Order 9: Liquidus Judgement. Due to the nature of the pathway, it perceives judgment not as black and white, but as a myriad of shades. The watch is unable to properly perceive my nature."
"Go on..." Shinso raised an eyebrow.
"It doesn't know whether or not I'm a cat or another entity. Cats can't eat cheesecake, but I, in my true form, can."
Shinso looked down at his pocket watch, noticing the small tremors in his hands, and slowly sighed. "Perhaps after I advance it'll get easier to understand."
Following this, he turned to Aaron. "Do you know where I could advance next? Does anyone you know have the Order 8 Justice potion?"
"Not that I know of..." Aaron rubbed his chin and began to consider countless possibilities.
After a few moments, Ayumi seemed to get an idea and perked up. "Maybe the Pollinators do. We're still within their ranks!"
"Right..." Shinso suddenly felt a little flustered, as he oddly hadn't considered such an idea.
"Maybe I'll digest my potion too, and I can also advance with their help!"
"Then we're in agreement. We'll visit them tomorrow and see what they have." Shinso nodded his head, taking a bite of his steak.
Ayumi suddenly reached out, taking Shinso by the arm and pulling him from his seat. "Damnit, we'll go now! Aaron, can you pack the leftovers?"
Before Aaron could reply, Ayumi and Shinso were already out the door, leaving me and Aaron alone at the table. I watched them run down the streets, and my heart couldn't help but churn. I knew that me and Shinso were in a relationship now, but when Ayumi and Shinso would leave to go to the Pollinators, my mind considered countless possibilities that I didn't like at all.
We sat in silence for a few moments, and I pushed my plate of cheesecake away from myself. I sighed shakily and looked up at the older man across from me.
"Why did you really do this?"
It didn't take someone with overwhelming intelligence to guess why Aaron, who had been more silent and refrained after Isaiah's death, would take three teenagers out for a bite to eat at a quiet restaurant. Hearing my question, the man across from me seemed taken aback.
"What do you mean?"
I sipped a glass of water sitting on the table, my gaze remaining on him. "You've been quieter the last two weeks. You also haven't been showing up to our dinners. Even when you did, you'd show up drunk."
Aaron fell silent, his grip on his fork, which hovered above a nearly empty plate, tightened and began to tremble.
"I-it's just grief, kid." Aaron's voice was low and soft as he spoke, barely audible above the fire in the corner.
His lips parted, and his tongue dove out to lick them. "I've known Isaiah since childhood; the boy was everything to me. Even when I found my first wife, I still held him in higher favor."
"Your wife..." This was a figure that Aaron had never mentioned. After deducing a few things and patterns, perhaps something terrible happened to her.
Without waiting for me to speak, he continued. "Isabella, that was her name. After my mother died and I moved away with Isaiah, I met her at a theatre, where we exchanged pleasantries and eventually fell in love."
A small, serene smile formed on his face. I could immediately tell he was reminiscing on past times. He suddenly looked me in the eyes and smiled.
"I see a lot of you in me, and I see a lot of Isabella in Shinso. Not that...that's how your story went, but ...promise me you'll take care of him..."
He leaned in closer, placing both hands on my shoulders, squeezing them taut. "Make sure everyone you know knows they're loved. Sometimes you have no idea what's happening inside someone, even if you can look them in the eyes and see their emotions looking back at you."
Aaron dropped his fork, and his lips graced my ear. "Emotions are a deadly thing, Isaac. Don't underestimate how much they are to a person."
He abruptly let go of me, sitting back down at his seat across from me.
"Now, this pathway you're on ...tell me about it."
The black cat suddenly leapt onto the table. "I'd rather you didn't."
"Why?" Aaron glanced at the feline.
"Little is known about it; he wouldn't be able to recall much to begin with. Right?" The Umbridge looked towards me, their yellowish-red eyes narrowing into horizontally oriented slits.
"Y-yes, that's true." I stifled the urge to cough, immediately sipping my water again.
Aaron remained in his seat, unmoving. "So you and your cat are keeping secrets from us?"
"I-it's not like that!" My face flushed a little, and I felt the unnatural urge to punch the man across from me.
He let out a low chuckle, leaning back in his chair and prompting his feet onto the table. "Damn right it is. The only pathways I know about are Justice, Saint, and Guardian."
"Guardian?" I arched an eyebrow, curious about the unfamiliar name.
"Catherine and Carter brought you, Ayumi, and Shinso three potions for each of you, letting divination guide the process along. Ayumi got the Saint potion, Shinso received the Justice potion, which left the Guardian potion at your disposal."
"What if I were to drink it?..." I continued.
"Well...if what you're saying is true, and you do have some other pathway inside you, the two forces would fight and refuse to collaborate unless they're neighboring to an extent."
Aaron suddenly reached under the table, taking out a stack of wooden disks from his bag. There were fourteen disks, each with a symbol engraved on them and filled in a colored paint. Seeing this, I felt a wave of confusion.
"You said you only knew about three? You have... a lot more."
"Only three that I've seen in action. Carter and Catherine are both on the Guardian pathway, while you're already aware of your friends."
"I see."
I watched as Aaron spread the disks before him, laying them out in two rows of seven. I could now see the countless unique symbols before me.
"Now ...should I invite Catherine and Carter into this mix?"
Hearing this proposal, I felt a wave of dread. "Aren't they being monitored by the Pollinators until they're tried with Shinso's help?"
"That's true..." Aaron paused for a beat, his face transforming into a smile. "Who knows, maybe Shinso'll bail em' out or find some way to end this early."
"He hasn't even started yet, isn't the first hearing in two days?"
"I believe so ...anyways, if you do want to do this legally, I'll do it on my own."
Aaron closed his eyes as he spoke with a more solemn, refined approach. "Before you lie the disks representing the Edict, Barbarian, Depravity, Vitality, Reaper, Justice, Saint, Tyrant, Anchor, Muse, Guardian, Sage, Hunger, and Scholar pathways."
"Tell me about them... or at least what you know about them." I sat up in my seat, feeling a strange surge of excitement.
...
The large stone doors to the Mother Nature cathedral opened, and a figure, clad in a dark cloak, walked in. The entire hall was silent; no one was in any state of prayer, as no one was there to begin with. They made their way down the aisle, the black cloak they wore billowing behind them.. The plants, flowers, and vines within the building habitually receded, some shrivelling up, while others simply turned to an ashen-colored powder.
"Who are you?" The elderly archbishop, the woman with long gray hair, turned to face him.
They didn't respond, reaching into the darkness of their cloak and removing a pair of golden, rounded glasses perched on their head.
"A friend of a friend, someone who possesses important intelligence that the people within the cathedral should know about?" The figure replied, their voice low, almost akin to a purr.
"We only leverage connections with other churches, so whatever you're saying is false. We would have known in advance!"
She looked past the figure, noticing the degrading and complex state of the foliage within the cathedral.
She habitually reached into the altar before her, activating a hidden compartment. She reached into the compartment, taking out a long dagger. She raised the weapon to the cloaked figure's throat, the end of the blade mere millimeters from slicing skin.
"Now, I'll ask you again. Who are you?"
At this moment, she let out a loud gasp as an ancient-looking dagger with traces of dark energy penetrated her lower abdomen. Blood spilled from her mouth as she coughed profusely, falling limp to the floor and clutching the injury. The pure-white color of her robes swiftly turned a deep crimson in the puncture spot.
Her skin, previously wrinkled and pale, darkened and turned a sickly gray color, illusory black cracks formed on her skin, and fungi, including mushrooms, sprouted from within the cracks and fissures.
The figure knelt down, smirking slightly as they tucked their dagger back into their cloak. "Now, care to hear what I want to tell you?"