The Connection

This discussion had raised multiple questions in Jean's head. But since the only person that could answer most of these questions seemed not to know that much, Jean decided to keep most of the questions to himself.

Scratching his head, Jean glanced at Natalie with dubious eyes.

"Mom, I really appreciate that you have at least clarified some of the things to me. But still,  I would like to ask you something."

With that, he paused.

Rubbing her eyes, Natalie lingered.

"What is it?"

Letting out a gentle smile, Jean sighed.

"Have you ever for once asked yourself about what is contained below the mysterious spot, because the ground at the spot feels different from the rest of the forest. It strangely feels like a rock and yet there are plants growing at the place. Don't you think that is abnormal?"

The moment Jean was done with his statement,  Natalie seemed to shift a little in her seat as she seemed startled by what the boy had said.

But since he had mastered the art of concealing her feelings, it became so hard for Jean to deduce this.

"Why do you seem so interested in knowing more about this spot? What exactly are you up to? Don't tell me you want to inspect it, knowing very well the dangers that it can subject you to. Let that not sound like an alarm, but just take it as a warning."

When Jean heard this, he gasped out of fear but the urge of wanting to know more about the spot didn't fade away, in fact it multiplied.

Shifting in his seat,  Jean blinked for a couple of times.

"I understand your concerns, mom. But don't you think that there are some chances that the government might come to know of the existence of this spot sometimes in the future and this might land us in trouble?"

When Jean saw Natalie's reaction to his statement he was dumbfounded. Instead of her looking worried,  she just smiled darkly as if mocking his words.

"So, you think your mom is that dumb never to think of such possibilities, isn't it?"

Natalie asked in a voice laced with anger.

When Jean noticed her sudden change of the mood, he gritted his teeth in anger as he felt like he was on the verge of losing his precious chance of asking her his most disturbing questions.

But just as he was still blaming himself in framing the last question  he asked in the wrong way, Natalie continued.

"I think I will let that slide. But keep in mind that, there is a technique in which you are supposed to ask your elder a question. Maybe I should teach you on this some other time."

Lowering his head in embarrassment,  Jean nodded severally as if a foul pecking on seeds. Deep down,  he was glad that his mom was understanding.  Therefore,  his chance of asking the questions seemed to be intact at the moment.

'At least I have an understanding mother, otherwise I could be counting a lost chance already. Now that I still have the chance to ask her some more questions,  I should try to be careful not to repeat this similar mistake because she easily gets angry.'

Jean contemplated on the matter as he also tried to give Natalie as much attention as possible.

After a short moment of silence, Natalie resounded and thus snapping Jean out of his reverie.  Therefore,  she got all of the boys attention.

"Now let me tell you something that you don't know. This place has been in existence for so many years, and it seems like the powerful guy also already found this place in existence already by the time he moved here. According to my deductions, this spot might have resulted into his relocation to this place, despite the risk of him breaking the law that was already put in place by the government to prohibit such individuals from entering Kili city and many other cities and villages that the mundanes resided in."

For the very first time, Jean found Natalie's information about the spot to be spot on. He found the information making so much sense, and that information seemed to confirm his speculations about the spot since the strange ensnaring.

'Now I can confirm that the spot must be hiding some secrets.'

At this point,  Jean felt like asking Natalie about their safety around such place considering that it seemed to share some connections with the powerful individuals. But before he could say a word,  Natalie continued...

"About our safety around this place, that should not worry you because the powerful guy had imbued the spot with some mysterious powers as soon as he discovered it. So, there is no one who can know of the existence of such spot even if they come in contact with it."

Suddenly, a question formed in Jean's head and without wasting time, he decided to ask Natalie right away.

"Why is it that there is something that I don't understand here,mom."

With that, tense silence hanged between  the two.

"What is it that you don't understand?"

Natalie asked out of confusion.

Heaving a sigh,  Jean responded.

"If you say that no one can know of the existence of the spot, how comes I came to know about it despite you not telling me about its existence?"

Suddenly,  tense silence hanged between the two.

'This conversation might get out of hand before I realize it. I need to bring an end to this.'

Natalie mused.

Some moments later, she cleared her throat and responded to Jean's question.

"The reason why you were able to sense the spot is because you have a connection to it."

When Jean heard this, his eyes widened in bewilderment as his jaw dropped.

He was surprised to find out that he shared a connection with the spot yet he had never been at the place since he was born. He was finding it hard to digest Natalie's statement.

"How is that possible, mom. The last time I checked I was just a mundane.  How comes I share a connection with the mysterious spot that only powerful people that wield supernatural powers are supposed to share the connection with?"

Jean asked out of confusion.

"Even me, I share a connection with the spot."

Natalie responded in a galant tone.

As soon as Jean heard this, he grew restless as he rubbed his eyes to confirm that he was not in a dream.

"How?"

Jean asked immediately he heard Natalie's response.

"You are confused, isn't it?"

With a nod Jean replied.

"Yes."

"What you don't know is that, in order for you to be safe from this spot, you must have the ability to sense it."

Lingering for a moment, Jean asked.

"Does that mean that in case a stranger accidentally comes in contact with the spot it might harm the person?"

"Leaning forward,  Natalie blinked for a couple of times as she smiled with the corners of her mouth.

"I must say, that's a good question indeed. But just to clarify on that; the spot can't subject a stranger to any danger because if that happens, it's existence might be unravelled and you know what will follow after that. The reason to why it can't subject a stranger to any kind of danger is because the powerful guy fine tuned it to remain dormant whenever a stranger is around it. And you have to remember that the ensnaring only happens once in a year. The spot can only pose us to the dangers because of the connection we share with it.

I know you must be wondering how this connection came about. But just to let you know, this connection was imbued in me by your grandpa. So, the connection is within our bloodline and that's why you inherited it."

Natalie explained in a gentle tone.

"Just to ask. How could grandpa do this when he was just a mundane just like us and why did he had to do this knowing very well that it could endanger our lives?"

In response,  Natalie smiled wryly as she perked up and sat upright in her seat.

"Although your grandpa was a mundane,  he was lucky to learn some skills from the powerful guy. It was the powerful guy that wanted to imbue your grandpa with this connection but, he decided against it and thought that teaching this skill to him would be important since he can imbue the same connection to his family members that don't share a bloodline with him like me. The reason to why this connection was to be established was for us always be able to identify the place and protect it from intruders."

Suddenly,  Jean was puzzled.

'How can we protect such a place yet it might be a treasure that the powerful individuals might fight to have it.'

Just at that moment,  Jean decided to voice out his concerns.

"How can we stop the powerful individuals from grabbing the spot from us yet we don't wield any power?"

With a snort Natalie lingered.

"Not every battle is decided by a fight?"

Natalie stated with delight.

With a confused look,  Jean stared at her with questioning eyes.

As if understanding his situation, Natalie decided to explain her statement.

"Although the guys that might target this place might be powerful,  we can always prevent them from accessing this spot by not sharing this information with anyone else. We can also have a few friends as possible who can access our home.

And for those who can access our home, we shouldn't restrict them from visiting the forest in case they desire to do so. This way we can prevent the possibility of them suspecting that we are hiding something in the forest.  After all, even if they have access to the mysterious spot, they can't sense it due to its dormancy whenever a stranger is around it."

Natalie explained in details as Jean paid attention to everything that she was saying. When she was done with her explanation,  Jean still had a question to ask her.

Without further hesitations, the boy perked up and sighed.

"What if I visit the spot with a stranger, is there some possibilities that the spot might activate itself and thus give the stranger a chance to sense its presence?"

Immediately Jean asked this question,  tense silence hanged between the two as Natalie seemed reluctant to respond immediately to Jean's question.

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