Everyone else left the hall one by one, including Red. The boy went back to his room to reflect on what he saw on that pendant.
‘The dark star.’
As soon as Red recalled that image, a sharp headache came to him. The boy gritted his teeth and stopped trying to visualize it. This time, however, it wasn’t as easy.
The image of that dark star surrounded by the crimson skies lingered on the back of his mind, just like ephemeral colors that remained in one’s vision after staring at a bright light. It took almost a minute before Red cleansed his mind of it.
‘I still can’t think about it.’
Although that was the case, the boy now remembered that his memory loss back in the dreamscape of the Infernal Realm was related to that star.
As soon as Red thought back on it, another headache came to him.
“Ugh…”
He couldn’t help but grunt in frustration and pain. Now that Red knew about the cause for his short-term amnesia, how could he stop his own thoughts from wandering back to that “thing”? It was instinctive, and trying to fight against it was almost like trying to stop your unconscious breathing. It was almost impossible.
He couldn’t help but think it was better when he couldn’t remember it at all.
‘This won’t stop until I clear my doubts.’
With no other choice, Red tried to fight through this worsening headache and reflect on what he had learned. First, the dark pendant. It was apparently a portal to the Infernal Realm, and that demon saw him through it. As Hector told him, draconic demons were a sub-type of demon, and this wasn’t the first time Red saw one. The demon back then also had lizard-like features, so it was likely that the being that noticed him and the demon that he killed were connected in some ways.
The biggest question, though, was what did any of this have to do with the dark star from his dreams? How was this draconic being connected in any way to that nightmare-inducing celestial body? Why did looking at that lizard eye remind him of it?
Red tried to recall what he saw in the depths of the dark star that one time. His eyes widened.
‘Could it be that I-’
Another sharp headache, this time stronger than before. The boy felt his vision darken, and the image of the dark star was engraved even deeper in his mind. Red felt as if it was about to hop out of his imagination and take form in the real world.
And who was the boy to say that wasn’t exactly what was happening?
Hector’s words from earlier echoed in his head.
‘I have to stop.’
Red wasn’t prepared to deal with this.
He closed his eyes and tried to draw his thoughts away from that thing. This time, it took ten minutes for the image to disappear from his mind. When it was finally gone, Red let out a sigh of relief.
Almost by instinct, he wondered how he could deal with this problem before he caught himself. If he tried to think about solutions, that was likely to draw the image back to his mind, and the boy didn’t want that to happen.
‘So I can’t even make a plan?’
Red frowned. For someone who was meticulous and oftentimes over thought every minor aspect of his life, this was one of the hardest challenges he was faced with yet.
To stop analyzing and contemplating plans and countermeasures and to just let this enormous problem be. Was that even possible?
‘Maybe I should look for something to wipe my memories…’
With no other choice, Red laid down on his bed and tried to go to sleep.
His mind, however, subconsciously wandered towards the image of the dark star over the course of the night, and a strong headache always hit him every time that happened. The boy didn’t know if this was due to some cursed effect or just the result of his curious and wandering mind thinking about what he shouldn’t think. Either way, it was an unsustainable state of affairs.
Red soon gave up on sleeping and instead sat down cross-legged on his bed to meditate with his Radiant Current technique. His mind was wiped clean of any superfluous thoughts and the boy concentrated solely on examining his body’s condition with his expanded awareness.
This distraction worked, and the image didn’t return to his mind while he focused on the technique.
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Red didn’t know how much time passed in this state until he heard a knock at the door. The noise broke his concentration, and the boy felt a fluctuation in front of his room.
He frowned and walked towards the door before opening it.
Rimold was waiting for him on the other side with a troubled expression.
“S-So…” the man stumbled over his words. “How are you doing?”
Red sighed. “If you’re about to invite me to another heist, I’m not interested.”
“Hey, there was no way I could have known he was a demon worshipper!” Rimold threw his hands up in defeat. “I know it might not look like it, but most times my jobs don’t go this badly.”
“And where do you assume it went wrong?”
“Uh…” the rogue hesitated. “Perhaps I should have done a more thorough investigation into this merchant, but in my defense, this was our only opportunity to strike if we wanted those Spirit Stones.”
“And yet, there were no Spirit Stones.” Red shook his head. “Only a cursed rotten head.”
“Y-Yes, that was indeed the case…” Rimold scratched his head in embarrassment. “That has me very confused, too. I’m certain that the information I got of the Spirit Stones was legitimate, and since the merchant did no big purchases with them, I thought it was reasonable to assume he was carrying them on his person. And yet…”
“Could he have been carrying it in another hidden compartment?”
“I don’t know.” Rimold frowned. “You were the one in the room. Did you see anything else?”
Red shook his head. “I only found the strongbox in a hidden compartment.”
Rimold sighed. “Then there’s no point in thinking about it. If he did have another way to hide the Spirit Stones, we couldn’t have found it in the short time we had to act.”
The boy nodded. “Is this all you wanted to talk about?”
The rogue scowled at him. “Are you telling me to go away?”
“Yes.” Red nodded.
“Look, you…” Rimold gritted his teeth in anger but held himself back. “Argh, nevermind. I brought you something.”
The rogue fished something from his pouch before handing it over to Red. It was a small box.
The boy looked over at him in bewilderment.
Rimold urged him on. “Just open it!”
Red did so. Inside of it, he saw three glowing white stones.
“Spirit Stones?” the boy was surprised.
Rimold nodded. “It was what I could fork out at this moment. I still owe you two more.”
Red frowned in confusion. “Why?”
The rogue snorted. “Because you got screwed over, obviously. We were business partners, and since my lacking information put you in a lot of danger for no reward, it’s only reasonable that I repay what you’re owed from my own pocket.”
The boy nodded. “That sounds reasonable.”
Rimold frowned. “And? You’re not even going to say thank you?”
Red shook his head. “Didn’t you say this was your repayment? Why should I thank you for it?”
“Ugh, you…” Rimold eyes twitched. “You’re lucky I have a reputation to maintain! Some people out there wouldn’t even bother paying you out of their pocket if something went wrong!”
The boy knew he was right, but then again, the rogue wasn’t the one being targeted by yet another demon.
Rimold face changed as if he suddenly remembered something. “Oh yeah, Hector wanted me to deliver you a message!”
“Did you get rid of the head?” Red asked.
The man nodded. “We did, but it’s not about that…”
Rimold trailed off and looked around in suspicious.
Red realized what he was doing. “No one is spying on us, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
The rogue nodded in relief. “… Hector got some information from Narcha and Rog, as well as from other people. The demon was killed very quickly, but he still managed to take twelve other people with him from the inn. Just like what you said in the hall, the demon was also lizard like...”
Red wasn’t surprised to hear this. “Did you figure out where it came from?”
“We did…” Rimold hesitated. “The merchant transformed into it.”
The boy frowned. “The merchant?”
“Yes.” the rogue nodded. “I was confused too. I never heard of any demonic transformation that sudden and that fast, and not even Hector knows how that happened. It might be related to the pendant, though, since, according to Narcha and Rog, the baron’s men found it in pieces in the room.”
Red’s mind started to wander towards certain possibilities before he caught himself.
‘No… I can’t think about it.’
“Is this what Hector wanted to tell me?” Red asked. “Doesn’t seem to warrant the secrecy.”
“That’s not all.” Rimold shook his head. “You’ll be happy to know that, at least for now, no one knows about your presence in the room. The demon also destroyed almost everything in there, so they can’t even tell if something was stolen.”
The boy nodded. “That is reassuring.”
“Then, there’s the bad part… Hector doesn’t think that is the only cultist in town.”
Red frowned. “How does he know that?”
“The demonic group that attacked the sect forces at the Skycrown Mountains was also related to the same demon that the merchant worshipped.” Rimold said. “It’s too much of a coincidence for someone like the merchant to appear in town right before the horde is about to appear, so Hector thinks that there are probably more already in town or arriving soon.”
“… You mean they might investigate what happened?”
“Probably.” Rimold nodded. “Gustav is going to be at the main target of this, since this all happened under a building he owns, but he is more than capable of defending himself. As for the two of us… Well, let’s just say we better not wander around town alone if they do find out what happened.”
Red understood the severity of this situation.
“There’s one thing that’s confusing me, though.” the boy said. “How do you know the merchant was related to that demonic group that attacked the sects?”
“This…” Rimold hesitated. “I don’t know for certain, but Hector said it was a fair assumption considering that the merchant transformed into a draconic demon. He said that demon worshippers will always transform into the type of demon they revere and pray to. The demonic cultivators in the Skycrown Mountain also worshipped the same damn type of demon… Probably the same demon too, if I had to guess.”
Red frowned. He felt like he was getting close to a discovery and he needed to push through.
“And what demon is that exactly?” he asked.
Information on demons in the books of the library was scarce, probably since people considered the study of those creatures to be taboo and a form of temptation itself. Red’s knowledge on the subject, as such, was still rather limited.
Rimold hesitated. “… It’s not wise to speak too much of Her.”
“Her?” Red was confused.
The rogue nodded with some trepidation. “According to legend, She is one of the nine archdemons of the Infernal Realm, and also one of the beings responsible for invading our world thousands of years ago.”
Red didn’t like where this was heading.
Rimold continued. “She has many titles… The Mother of Destruction, the Primordial Calamity, the Dark Sky. The one most people use, though, is the Chaos Dragon.”
The boy shivered, a familiar image resurfacing in his head.
At the next moment, everything went dark.