A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Michalina had a helpless look on her face as she watched her brother writhe in agony, she had tried everything to help her but to no avail, and the cause of Ryan's agony was a small flame that seemed to have appeared on his right cheek just below his eyes.

"Michalina there is no need to fret he is alright."

Michalina literally wanted to electrocute and if possible fry a rather smiling Xuelong who looked at the scene with an excited look on her face, but the only reason she did not was because of the fact she was outnumbered greatly and she doubted she would be able to harm her before she gets herself killed, as such all she could do was stew in silence while gritting her teeth in anger.

"Michalina there is nothing to worry about he is fine."

The jovial tone further enraged her especially the smile on her face as Ylerias spoke in a disapproving tone, "Xuelong behave what part of her being worried about her brother do you not understand so stop taunting her."

Xuelong pouted as she spoke, "But she makes it so easy, and how long are you going to allow them to play around."

"For as long as it takes Xuelong they are people from a different culture and believes they are different from us and thus perceive things differently and I am not going to force them apart."

Ylerias eyes then fell on Michalina as she spoke, "Please do not be alarmed, Ryuu is going through a cleansing phase it would be over soon."

Michalina was so angry that she was unable to even respond to her words as such Jessica stepped into their conversation as she spoke, "If I may be bold enough to ask your Holiness, what is this cleansing thing?"

"Every child is born precious and pure but over a lifetime we do various kinds of sins, some of which are done knowingly some not so, as such a cleansing ritual is needed for him, for any of us because otherwise, the next part would be extremely dangerous."

Jessica could not help but question out loud upon hearing her words, "The next part? What do you mean by that Your Holiness?"

Ylerias looked towards Ryan as a large smile blossomed on her face as a writhing and cursing Ryan went still as if something or someone had held him down on the floor making it hard for him to move, and then it began.

The flame on top of his right cheek spluttered before changing from bright red to hot white, as markings appeared over his skin to those who looked it seemed as if someone was using a knife to cut those markings.

Both Ylerias and Xuelong seemed extremely pleased at the sight in front of them, even their subordinates seemed extremely elated at the sight, a fact that were not missed by Michalina who was trying hard not to snap, after all, according to her everyone was relishing in his brother's pain and anguish something that she could not tolerate.

And after what seemed to be an eternity to Ryan but in fact, was a couple of minutes in real life the pain vanished along with the flames that were burning over his cheeks, but it did not leave with leaving a mark, a mark which was left behind in the form of a tattoo.

"Ryan, are you alright?"

An exhausted Ryan looked towards his sister as he spoke, "I am fine though I would like some water please."

As Michalina offered him some water Ryan could not help but let out a heavy sigh as he mused inwardly, 'Why is this happening, every week I am ending up in a situation that would normally make me admitted to a hospital and by now I would make a world record on the number of times a person was admitted into a hospital in a single year.'

Suddenly a new set of notification chimed in as Ryan jumped up with joy startling everyone before he drew the closest person, Nikita into a bone-crushing hug as he let out a large whoop of cheer startling everyone.

Jessica looked towards Ylerias as she spoke with slight hesitation in her voice, "Was this the good thing you were saying about, well I failed to fathom why him going mad is good."

Her words seemed to him drawn Ryan's attention who spoke with a scowl, "Hey Jessica, I am not going mad.", his scowl then morphed into a large smile as he spoke, "In fact, I am very happy about the fact that I am now free from the curse."

A stunned silence descended amongst the group before Michalina gave out a whoop of joy before engulfing Ryan in a bone-crushing hug.

Michalina would have liked to celebrate before a more pressing matter appeared in front of her as such she held her brother by his chin before studying the tattoo intently for a moment before she spoke while looking towards Ylerias, "Your Holiness, but what is this tattoo on my brother's face? Also, it seemed to be some sort of writing but I am unable to read it, what is it actually?"

Ryan frowned as he spoke interrupting Ylerias's speech, "What tattoo?"

Xuelong smirked at him as she spoke, "Why don't you use a mirror and check it out?"

A mirror appeared in his hand and as he looked at his face he was stunned to see a tattoo that looked like some form of writing on his right cheek just below his right eye, he gaped at it for a moment before he spoke out loud with a slight hint of fear, "Mom will tan my hide if she sees the tattoo, she was greatly upset on seeing the one on hands after the apocalypse took place but this is too much."

"Brother she will understand.", Michalina gave him an understanding smile before she looked back towards Ylerias with a look of expectation.

"That is marking of Holy scripture that appears on anyone who is blessed by Gods to use Holy power, the first thing is that the painful process was cleansing of your body, and the second thing is that the tattoo is a small excerpt from Sacred Scriptures that is written in the tongue of Gods which enable you to use Holy powers though at present it is in a much smaller amount, and with time more markings would be etched on your body as well as the amount of Holy power you could use."

Ryan's eyes widened as he spoke with a horrified look on his face, "You mean I have to undergo that horrible pain again."

Ylerias nodded as she replied back, "Of course we are imperfect beings full of sins unlike Gods as such in order to use the Holy powers we have to undergo cleansing of our body.", seeing the growing look of horror on Ryan's face Ylerias continued with a small smile on her own, "But, do not worry each cleansing is less painful than the previous one."

Ryan deadpanned at her as he replied back, "That is not exactly comforting."

Xuleong titled her head as she spoke in confusion, "Why not you are being cleansed of our sins and knowing about it should be comforting enough, also is there not a saying, 'No pain, No gain'."

Ryan's brow twitched for a moment as he with great difficulty suppressed his urge to bash his head hard while he screamed and cursed inwardly, 'What kind of idiot I am, why am I discussing logic with some religious nut job, why? I should have known they would view these acts as some form of reward.'

Ryan took a deep breath to calm himself down before he spoke, "So this markings on my face are part of Sacred Scriptures, and I would receive more and more.", as both Xuelong and Ylerias nodded in agreement Ryan pressed forward, "So what do this scriptures mean?"

Xuelong shrugged as she spoke, "No idea, they are written in tongues of God so that is something a God will only know so we cannot help you there."

Ryan sighed at her words as he spoke, "Such a shame."

Meanwhile, Jessica was looking at the scriptures with her eyes narrowed and after studying them for some time she remarked out loud, "I have seen this form of writing somewhere."

Both Ylerias and Xuelong gawked at her before Ylerias spoke with disbelief, "I doubt you would have seen it somewhere after all our Deities have not stepped into your planet."

Ryan shook his head as he spoke, "No she is right this looks like a cuneiform, a style of writing from ancient Mesopotamia .", seeing the questioning look on the apostles and their subordinates faces Ryan decided to elaborate, "They were ancient civilizations a few thousand years ago and their writing is similar to the tattoo on my face."

Jessica's eyes widen as she spoke, "Ah that is why they looked familiar, I have seen pictures of them in my history book."

To which Ryan simply nodded while Xuelong frowned hard as she spoke, "Are those sacred scriptures as well."

Ryan shook his head as he spoke, "As I said they look like cuneiform of our world, though I am no expert in this matter, I have seen pictures of Cuneiform in my history book but as I do not know the language itself so I can say to me they look similar but those who are an expert on the languages can tell us the differences but for now to me, both look similar."

Ylerias gave a small nod as she spoke, "I understand."

Their chat was interrupted as one of Xuelong's subordinate arrived with the news that a group of people were trying to enter claiming to be Ryan's family.

"Tch, they are here again, what do they want?", Ryan rubbed his temples as he spoke with a heavy sigh, "Well then tell them to get in."

Michalina looked at Ryan as she spoke, "Are sure you want to meet them?"

"No, but at the same time I do not want to be hounded by them."

Marcel stepped with his wife by his side, while his mother and his daughters trailing after him, they were once again greeted by Ryan sitting in a rather familiar position with his left hand resting on a kyōsoku.

Ryan watched the nervousness in his ex-parents faces as he sighed inwardly, 'What do they want from me? I know they need something from me as such they are approaching me too much, not to mention the nervousness in them, are they afraid I will not grant them their desire, well whatever they are right every person in this road train would be treated the same with no difference.'

Eleanora was nervous as well as greatly worried, as she sat down in front of Ryan she idly noted two women sitting by his either sides, while the rest of the people were scattered all across the room including Xuelong who had warned them to stay away from Ryan sitting in a corner keeping an eye on the group.

As tension rose to a great height only to be cut off by Ryan who spoke in a bored tone, "So what do you want?"

"You have a tattoo!!!"

Ryan's eyes briefly drifted towards Isabella as he spoke with a drawl, "I do but more importantly what do you want from me?"