View Chapter 1 for Copyright and Fair Use Disclaimer
From the Author
I really need to update these stories more. XD
Michael "TheZorch" Haney's
"Beneath A Crimson Sky 2"
Chapter 3
Ranma stood with Nabiki as they watched Ukyo and his father turn a corner and vanish down the street. A part him of felt bad guilty. His hand found Nabiki's and she squeezed it reassuring him. This was the right decision, Ukyo was indeed very pretty but a relationship based on looks alone was doomed. He and Nabiki on the other hand were opposites, and like the poles of a magnet they attracted. It started out as lust but it was quickly becoming something more.
As for his father, he'd work at Ukyo's restaurant in the financial district during the day and come home in the evening. It wasn't that far away, a ten minute walk at a leisurely pace or just three if you he roof hopped. Genma looked like a man who was fat and out of shape, but Ranma knew better. He was just lazy. He didn't have to worry about him giving Ukyo a hard time. Genma was a thrall, he'd follow his orders to the letter and without question. Ranma just felt bad that it had to come to this.
"It'll be ok, it's not like he's going away forever." said Nabiki.
He smiled at her. "Yeah, I know. I just feel a little guilty having to do that to him." Nabiki wrapped herself around his arm and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
"That was kind of….freaky, but it had to be done." she replied. He nodded and lead her back inside. Genma was going to spend the night at Ukyo's so he could help her with a few last minute chores before the grand opening in the morning. After that he'd be back in the evening.
"Enthralled him I see," they noticed Sanangi standing in the doorway, hands on her hips.
Ranma nodded. "I can see you feel a little guilty, but don't the man had it coming." Sanangi was never a big fan his father. She never met him during their training but his stories of him told her enough. Meeting him in person reinforced those opinions.
"I'm surprised he hadn't done it sooner." Nabiki interjected.
"He isn't that strong willed, so I always just glamoured him to keep on a tight leash." Ranma replied, remembering the first time he had a war of wills with his father.
Sanangi shook her head, "No love, eventually he would have developed a resistance and you would have been forced to do this anyway." Nabiki had a surprised look.
"Really, you can develop a resistance to being brain whammied?" Ranma nodded.
"If you do it enough, yes." Sanangi replied.
"It takes a while, depending on how strong the will of the person is, but in time the mind will develop a natural resistance to glamouring." the African beauty swept down off the porch to get out of their way. Soon all three of them were in the living room and seated at the kotatsu table. Soun seemed unperturbed by Genma's absence, he just kept his head in his newspaper, but his emotions told Ranma a different story.
"Mr. Tendo, pop told me to tell you he'd be back tomorrow." his words calmed the growing storm. Soun was excitable, not emotionally unstable, but more like emotionally vulnerable. The death of his wife left deep scars, the kind that either take a long time to heal or last a lifetime.
"Oh, alright, that's good to hear," Soun pulled back a corner of the paper to look at him. "I hope he does well at his new job."
Sometime later John Powder landed in the yard. The Aussie had an unreadable look on his face. Ranma knew him through Sanangi, they'd worked together before and Ranma received some training from him. He plopped down next to the former African princess and pulled off his Crocodile Dundee-esque hat.
"I don't bloody get it, where is the damn bastard!?" he slapped the hat down.
"I'm starting to worry, this is definitely not like him." Sanangi scowled. She knew the Russian better than any of them, they had a history. Not a pleasant one either, from what Ranma was able to gather.
Nabiki asked, "You said he never leaves a job unfinished, right?" Sanangi nodded.
"You also said he's something of a sadist, maybe he's biding his time, letting us sweat so to speak." Ranma wondered about that, he could see the gears turning behind Sanangi's eyes.
"Nah, Sheila, the bloke would make his presence known to remind us that he's still there, that he can get to us whenever he bloody feels like it." John replied. They all sat in silence for a moment while they sorted their thoughts. The quiet was interrupted by the sound of shattering cinder blocks from the dojo.
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Seriously, didn't anyone tell her she doesn't need to strength train anymore." Akane was a vampire now, strength training was moot. As a human she was already pretty strong but now that she was undead she was way stronger than that.
"I told her to focus on doing katas, she needs accuracy and improved reaction times not strength." Sanangi got up and stomped towards the dojo. Ranma recognized the look on her face, he almost pitied Akane. Sure enough, moments later they heard a shriek and Akane went flying across the yard to land head first in the koi pond. Ranma couldn't help but smile, there was some strange irony here.
"Oh my, was that Akane?" Kasumi stuck her head out of the kitchen.
Ranma replied while Nabiki tried her best not to burst out laughing, "Sanangi is helping her with some training."
"That's very nice of her." smiled the eldest Tendo sister before she vanished back into her kitchen.
"Yes, yes, training, it's high time Akane took her training seriously." said the Tendo patriarch from behind his newspaper.
Meanwhile, a full on catfight was raging in the back yard with Sanangi playing keepaway from a very angry and very wet Akane. After racing around the fight went out of view, there came another cry and Akane went flying into the privacy wall. She recovered quickly, an angry but almost joyful look on her face, then leapt back into the fray.
"Assuming the house survives," Nabiki pointed, still trying not to laugh. Ranma looked where she was pointing, it was the wall. Akane's impact point, actually, which looked cracked and indented.
"We can pay for the repairs." he reassured her. Heck, he could buy the entire city block and it would only account for less than a third of his wealth. A moment later the ground shook, Akane came sliding in the yard face first. When she stopped she laid there for a brief moment before slowly getting up and shook her head.
"Believe it or not, Sanangi is actually going easy on her." Nabiki's eyebrow went up at that. Ranma watched Sanangi walk into view, pick Akane up onto her shoulder and carry her towards the dojo. He remembered his time training with the former African princess within the pocket reality which served as a training area for the order. They occasionally left it to go out into the real world. The monastery in China wasn't the only location the pocket reality was connected to either.
His thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell. "Oh my, I'll get that." Kasumi emerged from the kitchen and disappeared into the front foyer. A moment later, Ranma jumped to feet upon seeing the man who followed Kasumi back into the room. John did the same.
"Lee sensei," Ranma bowed respectfully. "Welcome sir. It is an honor."
"G'day boss," John smiled. "You on a walkabout?"
Master Lee did not smile, he gestured to the table. "John, Ranma, where is Sanangi?" A battle cry issues from the dojo, there came the sound of breaking wood and Akane once again came flying into the yard. This time she flipped over in mid air, hovered for a moment, then landed and ran back out of sight.
"Training new blood." John replied.
Remembering they weren't alone, Ranma gestured towards their visitor. "Nabiki, this is Master Lee, grandmaster of the order." She stood and bowed respectfully.
Master Lee noticed the man sitting at the table reading a newspaper, he didn't seem to notice they were having a visitor. Ranma saw where he was looking and said, "He's been glamoured." It was one of the first things he did when arriving at the Tendo home. Lee nodded, understanding and allowed Kasumi to escort him to the kotetsu.
Ranma noticed for the first time that Lee carried some kind of long case. He put it next to him when he sat down at the table. "What brings you by, not that I'm complaining you're always welcome." Ranma sat back down as did Nabiki. He looked at Nabiki and Kasumi.
"They know," he said, gesturing to the two girls. "What we are, Kasumi's mother was..."
"A watcher," Lee interrupted. He turned to the eldest Tendo sister and took her hand.
"I am sorry, word of what happened to your mother reached my office," he told her. "I didn't know her personally, I wish I could get to know all of our watchers. We did send someone here to see what we could do to help, but they arrived too late."
Kasumi smiled down at him and said, "Thank you, mother passed quietly, she didn't suffer."
"When I heard we arrived too late to help," Lee continued. "I authorized our agent to use order funds to pay for her medical bills and funeral expenses." Ranma heard Nabiki's sudden gasp.
"That was from you?" she looked over at Kasumi dumbfounded.
"We always assumed that came from someone on mom's side of the family," she looked like she was about to cry, Ranma put a hand on her shoulder.
"They never approved of father," Kasumi looked at the end of the table sadly.
"They didn't even come to mom's funeral," Nabiki frowned angrily. "All they sent were flowers."
For a long moment they all sat in silence, then Lee cleared his throat. "I'm sorry if I drummed up bad memories."
Nabiki shook her head, "No, it's alright, you didn't do anything wrong. In fact, I'm glad the money didn't come from mom's side of the family. They never visit, never call, we haven't seen them in years." Ranma wanted to reach out and hold her, he could feel her emotions, despite what she said Nabiki was hurting inside. Both young women were.
"Blimey, and I thought I had a dysfunctional family." John scratched the back of his neck.
Ranma shot him a look. "Speak for yourself, my pops threw me into a pit of starving cats when I was six years old and locked me inside." Both Nabiki and Kasumi looked at him with horror.
"I still can't believe that bastard tried to teach you the nekoken." Sanangi came in from the dojo, walked up to Master Lee and gave him a hug. Akane followed behind her, looking tired but also very happy. Ranma just shook his head.
"What brings you by, Master Lee?" she sat down next to him and waved for Akane to sit next to her. Ranma had the greatest respect for the Crimson Circle's grandmaster. He showed Ranma that being a vampire didn't mean he had to be a monster. He and Sanangi and John all showed him he could be so much more.
Ranma saw him look at Kasumi and Nabiki, "Anything we say at this table stays between us, alright?" The two girls nodded. He scooted over so Kasumi could sit down next to him and Nabiki, this put him directly across from Master Lee.
"More than a week ago, an unknown force attacked the main compound of the Shangshi in China during a meeting of all the regional generals." Ranma couldn't help but gasp, he wasn't the only one.
"There were no survivors, based on what little evidence we were able to find it is in my opinion they were hit by Malevolence." Ranma saw the look of confusion on all three Tendo sisters, but John and Sanangi were both in shock.
"W….what!?" Sanangi finally uttered. Ranma knew what she must be thinking, that was around the time Dragasoni went missing. He'd been hired by a Shangshi to destroyed him in revenge for the order killing his sire, who was also a Shangshi.
Master Lee nodded somberly, "It is quiet now, but the regional sub-commanders are positioning themselves for a fight over who fills the power vacuum. The underworld in Southeast Asia is about to erupt into full on civil war, we've already informed the Chinese government not to get involved but there is no way to keep the average civilian from noticing."
"Holy shit." was Ranma's only response. Sanangi looked right at him, he was right she was coming to the same conclusion. It made sense, but he'd wait to see what Master Lee said about it first.
"What is the Malevolence?" Nabiki asked.
Master Lee closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Ranma knew some of what he was about to say and wondered how much he was going to reveal. "Long long ago, ancient cruel gods ruled over the universe. They created minion races to do their bidding, at some point the younger gods came into being and forced the old gods, the Old Ones, into a deep deathlike slumber. Most of the minion races went extinct without their masters, but the Malevolence endured. They were born from and feed on the rage, hate, and fear of all the living beings of the universe. They are literally negative emotions given flesh, a twisted form of life that can barely be called alive. They are one of the most evil, most vile entities in all existence, and they are not to be trifled with."
"Also, we received a confirmed report that Dragasoni was seen entering the Black Sabbath Club's rear entrance in Paris." Ranma shot up and slammed his fists on the table, Sanangi did the same.
"WHAT!?"
"Oh sugar," Ranma heard John gasp quietly.
"Wait, that Russian vampire assassin is in Paris?" he looked to Nabiki who only looked back at him with confusion, her eyes questioning.
"There is only one reason he'd go there, he went to the sisters." said Sanangi.
"You said he never leaves a job undone, he's never backed out of a contract for any reason." Ranma said and she nodded, that is what she told him.
"Hold on, the Shangshi, didn't they hire him to kill you?" Ranma nodded at Nabiki's question.
"Then those Malevolence things killed the Shangshi." he could almost hear the gears in her mind.
She looked at him then at Master Lee. "Why would they do that, what does this mean?"
Ranma was wondering that himself, this couldn't be coincidence but he couldn't figure out why him being killed by Dragasoni would matter to the Malevolence. In the grand scheme of things he wasn't that important, he was just an initiate in the Order of the Crimson Circle. Nothing more, nothing less.
"It means what I've suspected for a while is true." Master Lee replied. He turned his gaze on Ranma.
"How you came to become a vampire involved way too many coincidences." he said. Ranma regarded him with a confused look, he didn't understand.
"He was attacked by that fat slob of a vampire, taken advantage of, and then left for dead at the side of the bloody road." Sanangi pointed at him as she raged, not at him but at what had happened to him.
"Too many things line up," Master Lee explained. "The time of day it happened, his specific Jusenkyo curse, his birth sign, the position of the planets and stars on the night of his rebirth, his blood lineage, all these things matter. Astrology, true astrology not that watered down garbage human fortune tellers peddle, but true astrology is very real and has a tangible influence over everything."
Ranma looked at him in surprise. "What are you trying to say?"
"The Malevolence work towards one goal, awakening their master, the Old One that created them." Master Lee explained to him.
"But what does that have to do with me?" Ranma asked.
"The old one that made the Malevolence is also known as the father of the undead," Master Lee answered. "They need a catalyst to bring him back, I won't go into the particulars of what all is involved, but I believe you are that catalyst. Your curse, your birth sign, your blood lineage, the day you turned, it all lines up too perfectly to be just a coincidence. There is no such thing as a coincidences, all things happen for a reason. The threads of fate weave around you in a complex pattern, I saw it the moment you were brought to us." Ranma couldn't speak, Nabiki held onto him tightly as if unwilling to let go. They all sat in silence after that for a long time.
Akane was the one who broke the silence. "Him being here will put a big red target on this house."
"Akane!" Kasumi and Nabiki both berated her.
"No, she's right, if I stay it will put you all in danger." Ranma had to agree, Akane was right. The last thing he wanted to do was put Kasumi and Nabiki in danger.
Nabiki latched on tighter, "You aren't going anywhere!"
He watched her turn a hopeful look to Master Lee, "It won't matter where Ranma goes, they know where he is at all times, assuming I'm right. They'll already know you are connected to him, they won't hesitate to use you against him so it doesn't matter if he stays here or somewhere else."
"Blimey, this is all rather heavy." John commented. He reached over and patted Ranma on the shoulder.
"If they want him, they'll have to go through me." Sanangi wore a grim face that brokered no argument. Ranma knew her well enough to know she meant what she said, no matter how impossible the odds she'd stand and fight. Even if it meant her end.
Master Lee sighed, then smiled. "There is some hope. The window of opportunity they have is limited and they lack key artifacts they need for the ceremony, some we have locked away where even they would struggle to get to them, and the rest are scattered all across the multiverse. If they miss this window of opportunity they'll have to wait a thousand years to try again, but for immortals and vampires a thousand years is a blink of an eye."
A certain thought came to Ranma. "Dragasoni was hired to kill me, but the Malevolence needs me intact, so I guess they ran him off and that's why he went to the sisters."
"Who are they?" Nabiki asked him.
"Witches, they run a nightclub called the Black Sabbath in Paris," Sanangi explained. "But, it's a cover for their real operation. If your wallet is big enough, they'll teleport you to whatever universe you want to visit and bring you back assuming the trip isn't one way. Since they operate in Paris it doesn't matter who their clientele are we can't touch them. Not without going through a lot of red tape."
"What's that supposed to be mean?" Nabiki looked confused at that statement. Ranma was about to explain but Master Lee beat him to it.
"Paris is a neutral city," he replied. "For the denizens of the underworld that is. In Paris it is forbidden to kill humans, it is also forbidden for supernatural entities to fight, and the Shadow Tribunal enforces that rule with brutal efficiency. If he shows up there again we can't touch him without permission from them."
"Will the Malevolence obey those rules?" Nabiki asked. Ranma shook his head.
"No, and the Shadow Tribunal won't fight them either if they can help it." he said.
Master Lee nodded in agreement. "The Shadow Tribunal is a three person governing body who occupy three positions called chairs. The Chair of the Sun is traditionally held by a human, often appointed to the role by the government of France. The Chair of the Night represents vampires of all kinds. The Chair of the Moon represents demon and all other non-human kind. Their enforcers represent the three chairs, but even they know better than the fight the Malevolence."
"They are an enemy on another level, even we would struggle to fight them and we do so only if we are forced to." said Sanangi.
"There is only one group that has successfully fought them," Master Lee interjected. "The sorcerers of the Library, the last great ancient guild of magic in the human world."
Elsewhere in Tokyo
Tomoe Mami smiled in triumph as she tossed her spent rifle to the side. The witch wasn't even fighting back. The dark haired Homura girl warned them this wasn't an ordinary witch, but so far this one seemed weak. Mami prepared to call forth more guns but the mouth of the tiny witch opened revealing a huge, comical looking creature. It leaned towards her larger than before, it's face almost clown like, it's body cartoonish. The comical creature's mouth opened revealing shark-like teeth. Mami froze in stunned horror at the thing, she'd fought a lot of witches but none were like this. She couldn't move as the thing slowly lunged towards her. She barely heard the cries of her friends pleading with her to run.
Suddenly, Mami felt herself moving, but her legs weren't pumping. She was being held by someone. Coming out of her trance she realized she was in the arms of an older man wearing glasses. He wore the white smock that identified him as a doctor or surgeon. She was so stunned that Mami didn't think to protest. After what seemed like minutes the doctor sat her down on her feet next to Madoka and her friend Sayaka, and Homura who had somehow gotten free was there too.
"Stay here!" the doctor told her, then before she could say anything he was off. The man ran past the huge witch, yelling up at it to get the thing's attention, then leapt to one of the many raised platforms that littered this part of the witch's domain.
"That man is going to get himself killed!" Sayaka exclaimed, but Mami wasn't so sure.
"There will be no meal for you today, pitiful creature." the doctor shouted from his perch. The witch, silent as death, lunged mouth open but the doctor leapt away at lightning speed avoiding it with ease.
He said something next that confused her. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, blame the Incubators." She watched him trace a pattern in the air in front of him with his hands. Amazingly, his fingers drew lines of golden light in mid air but she wasn't sure how that was possible. He was a man not a mahou shoujo, there was no way he could be using magic or so she thought. It took just seconds for the doctor to draw a complex geometric circular pattern, just enough time for the witch to turn around and lunge at him again. This time the doctor didn't leap away, this time he reached out, grabbed the floating pattern of light in his hand, and turned it towards the witch like a weapon.
They all screamed at the flash of blinding light and sound that resulted. Mami's eyes stung for a long while, when she finally opened them she realized they were no longer in the witch's domain. They were back at the parking garage next to the school, a black grief seed stuck in a crack of the pillar where the portal to the witch's domain had been.
"You will all be safe now, that creature won't hurt anyone ever again." she turned towards the voice and there stood the doctor. He looked to his right and scowled. She noticed he was looking in Madoka's direction, but more specifically at the feline like creature in her arms.
"We warned you incubators, what you think you're doing is based on incorrect information, it isn't necessary." he said looking directly at Kyuubi. "All you're doing is causing needless hardship and death, so I'm only going to give you this one warning. Leave here now and leave these girls in peace." She could see the very confused and conflicted look on Madoka's face. Homura's expression was unreadable.
"Hey, don't talk to our friend like that!" Sayaka moved between a very stunned silent Madoka and the young doctor.
He shook his head. "I wasn't talking to the girl, but that thing in her arms. It isn't what it claims to be, what it's promising you has a price, one that is way too high. It's feeding you lies." Sayaka looked back, Mami could see the same conflicted look on her face.
"You don't know us, who are you anyway?" Mami demanded, angry with how he spoke to Kyuubi.
The young doctor looked at her with an expression that almost looked like pitty. "I'm Dr. Tofu, a local physician, and a master sorcerer of the Library." She wasn't sure what that meant, what library was he talking about?
"I don't know you personally but I know that thing," he added. "As for you, I'm afraid what's been done to you can't be reversed. If you want to know what I mean ask your alien friend over there, he has a lot of say I'd bet, don't you incubator." He turned to regard Kyuubi with an angry look. The little creature remained strangely silent, it's face emotionless.
"You know, you know the truth, how?" Homura stepped forward, showing the first real sign of emotion Mami had ever seen from her.
"As I said, ask him, and I'm sorry but you're situation is the same as hers." he replied. From the way that sounded Mami was really starting to worry. She was going to sit down and have a long talk with Kyuubi when this was over.
Before he walked away the doctor had one final thing to say as he leveled his gaze directly on Madoka and Sayaka. "It is lying to you, it isn't evil just grossly misguided, but what it is doing causes great hardship. They have no concept of emotion, they can't understand the harm they're doing. If you're smart you will have nothing to do with that thing, walk away now before you become like these other two girls."
Master Lee lifted the case he'd been carrying on to the table. The moment Sanangi saw it Ranma could see recognition in her eyes. Her mouth fell open in what almost looked like surprise, even shock. John was the same way, they knew something about that case he didn't.
"Due to the current circumstances drastic measures need to be taken." said Master Lee. He unlatched the case and opened it for all to see. The inside was covered in lush red velvet, in a protective recess was a beautiful kanata in its sheath. Master Lee lifted the blade from the case.
"Ranma, come stand before me." he stood up. Ranma rose and walked around the table to face him. All eyes were on him, Nabiki and Kasumi looked on with confusion and fear while John and Sanangi had looks he couldn't read. Sanangi herself was almost in tears.
"Kneel," Lee commanded and Ranma did so, trusting in the grandmaster of his order without question. With a swish the blade came forth, it was beautiful. The length of the exquisite sword was engraved with strange runes which were filled with that looked like ruby dust. The runes gave off a red glow that almost looked like fire.
"Saotome Ranma, by the authority invested in me as the Grandmaster of the Order of the Crimson Circle I hereby bestow upon you the honorary rank of knight," Ranma bowed his head as Master Lee touched the blade to his shoulders ceremonially. "And grant you all the powers and privileges of that title, before these witnesses, until such time that you may one day earn the rank of paladin."
Ranma looked up as Lee reversed the blade, passed it down the length of his arm until the hilt was within his reach. Gingerly Ranma took the sword, once his hand gripped the hilt Lee stepped back and Ranma rose to his feet.
"This has only ever been done once before in our history, where an initiate was elevated to the honorary rank of knight." Master Lee explained.
"That sword, a slayer so named for it has the power to destroy evil with a single strike, was forged by Musashi Miyamoto himself." Ranma admired the beauty and workmanship of the blade, it indeed looked ancient and craftsmanship of it was unmistakable. The himone line was perfect.
"I was there when he forged it," Lee explained. "I worked the bellows, I also brought him the iron, a mix of iron sand from a sacred mountain in China and some meteorite. A sorcerer friend from the Library engraved the runes. You are the second person to use that sword, the first was a knight, she fell in battle over two hundred years ago."
Ranma took the scabbard offered in Master Lee's other hand and sheath the blade. He was speechless for a moment then said, "I won't disappoint you with this responsibility, sir." He bowed with deep respect.
"With everything that is about to happen you are going to need that weapon." said Master Lee.
"So, do you have a weapon like that, sensei?" Akane asked Sanangi, right out of the blue. Ranma almost wanted to roll his eyes and half expected Sanangi to snap at her. Instead, the former princess reached into hammerspace and withdrew a massive warhammer. It was covered in similar runes that gave off a red glow.
"You're a knight too?" Nabiki asked her. Sanangi shook her head.
"I'm a paladin, love." she smiled. John brandished his own weapon, a large machete also engraved with runes.
"I'm a knight, ain't become a paladin yet." he explained. Nabiki half expected him to have a boomerang or something, but a big knife seemed to fit him better.
"Sanangi and John," Master Lee turned to address them. "Until further notice you both to are to remain here at Ranma's side until this crisis is over. Someone is being sent to cover your post in Australia while you're both here."
"What about the whole thing happening in China?" Ranma asked, not surprised by Master Lee's decision for John and Sanangi to stay, but also wondering how they were going to deal with the Shangshi business.
"We're calling in people from Europe and Africa, it's been quiet there so they have members to spare." Master Lee explained.
"I can't say the same from North America," he added. "But that's a different can of worms all to itself."
Lee closed his eyes and sighed, "I wish my visit had been less doom and gloom and more of a pleasant social call."
Ranma smiled, "Don't worry about it, Lee sensei, you're always welcome no matter what the reason." Kasumi and Nabiki both nodded in agreement as did John and Sanangi.
They spent the rest of the evening and night chatting and telling stories about Ranma's time at the monastery. Across town, Genma finished up stacking boxes of frozen meat in the freezer while Ukyo finished the last of the cleaning. Down the street, Dr. Tofu Ono locked the door to his clinic and wondered if what he said to those girls was enough to convince them to choose a different path. In downtown Tokyo, a vampire princess and her maids settled into a lavish hotel room and began making preparations for the battle they knew was coming soon. Not far away, a young man with glasses and a younger girl in a lolita goth dress sat in a cafe enjoying hamburgers. And, a lost boy wandered dark streets trying to find his way not realizing that the threads of fate were leading him on a clear path.
To be continued...