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Raiden stretched his arms when he was strolling down the street of the village town, he need some break after that incident leave them in awkward situation and he was embarrassed of himself after that. He was trying to get over the nightmare of himself, the man he never known of--his future self that is, he has the strange instinct for him to feel different from him in present, well--obviously he never have that kind of depressed face, that made him wondered what had happened to him. “Alright, what do we have?” he muttered while he was about to take out his wallet, before he sensed anyone passed behind him.
“Huh?”
There’s a black cloaked figure was walking across him from behind, he didn’t know why but he could sense a familiar presence. Raiden tried to ignore his suspicion but he think it might be the mysterious man he encountered that wasn’t probably a part of their organization and even ADVENT, then his other instincts on the man seems unusual of not noticing him since there was nobody living in the nearby areas who wore a cloak. There are his friends who stayed as a tourist around the village area, when they need time for breaks such as shopping the stuffs they wanted or getting food at the restaurants and cafes or maybe had a little talk.
Raiden knitted both of his eyebrows together, looking at the figure for a moment when he noticed that. 'That feet…' he thought, before he noticed the similar cape is similar to the mysterious man in the first place--it's same fabric too and the hand was same, the sound of the footsteps was the same when he was walking like what he said, yes, before his dark magenta eyes sharpened in perceptiveness.
'Time to figure it out.'
Raiden smirked, he was confident enough to catch up on the mysterious figure with his stealth ability, he didn't look back where the cloak figure was gone since it seems that he teleported after the sound of footsteps disappeared. Only one of them are gone is his best for time to prepare to ambush, it's been five minutes in the end once he heard the footsteps again. Until he hide in the alley when he reached the stairway to let him walking up, he goes to quietly stalk him from behind when he was still heading up there to the top of the high five of the building. The cloaked figure didn’t know someone was following him, he look around before he continue to walk like usual. “Okay, almost there…” Raiden was anticipating to stop him, until he didn’t find him there and he clenched his teeth. “Wait, he disappeared?!”
The hooded figure now is been chased by Raiden all the way up to the top of the hill of the building, what Raiden don't know is--the cloaked figure is watching his back before his body flickered in and out several times, he used the cloak to cover himself when someone tried to look for him. Raiden really had to detect his energy, but there’s no sign of his presence and it pissed him off. “Oh well, I’ll search for you later,” he shrugged, before he left without looking back. Not to mention the figure was hiding from him, looking up to see what does he looks like and it surprised him. After the Thunder Raksha came into a street food area, he started to feel hungry.
“God, after several tons of thinking... now that made me hungry…”
Raiden sighed before he adjusted a black winter coat that covered his regular civilian attire, taking out his wallet to check if he has some cash which he has enough of the cash to buy foods. “Raiden, there you are,” he stopped when someone called his name, he turn around to see none other than Yukito himself. That made him shrieked by surprise when he appeared, trying to brush off those thoughts of his nightmare. “Yukito, you scared me man!"
Yukito rolled his eyes, before he was now relaxed. "Sorry about that, anyway--I noticed Sanju sent a message a few minutes ago. He just informed us about his Core of the Samsara artifact we just discovered from the town," he explained, holding his shoulder since they shared similar height. “Are you okay? Your father Ryoma told me that you’re not in the best state lately and… I want to make sure you’re doing fine, and Haruse... appears to be worried about you."
Raiden blinked two times, before he held up his hand at him. “I’m fine… just having a bad nightmare, things like these aren’t common for me but…” he knew this one is unusual, usually some normal nightmares are able to get over it--but this one is not. “… this one is, a bit sensitive for me so… I cannot say much about that.”
“I see… I was thinking if you want to eat in your father’s restaurant?”
“Uhm… sure, I guess?”
Raiden decided to keep proper distance between them when they are walking, he need to get over those thoughts otherwise he’ll get carried away by that. Yukito thought he was not in the best shape which is why he was keeping distance, he hoped he won’t be having a hard time about that. “You know… you don’t have to hide it if you can’t hold it back anymore,” he look back at him, before he let out a deep sigh. “You know… I’m not a type of person who always open up about his true feelings, close friends or not no exceptions.”
Yukito nodded when he was walking beside him, before they arrived at the Kumori Restaurant. “Understandable, sorry for that,” he said with small smile, a slight frown appeared on his forehead. “No, it’s fine, I know you’re worried,” Raiden reassured him, before they entered inside and meeting none other than Raiden’s father. “Welcome to the--" he paused when he saw his son Raiden and his friend, making him hold the top of his head before suddenly pulling him down into a bow, that made him yelped when he shake his head at him. "Why aren't you bowing to your father who serves the food, how disrespectful!" he accused him like as if they didn't meet each other with him having that demeanor.
"I'm telling you, this is embarrassing!"
Raiden shouted angrily and shyly, until he was relieved to see his father releasing his hand from his head. “Don't tell me you have forgotten the customs already! Sheesh… but fine, where do you two want to sit now?” he scolded him with a frown and rubbed the back of his head, watching him sat on the high stool when Yukito did the same. “Over here,” Raiden nodded once he followed him, thanking his father to let them sit there and sat down in front of the table facing the Flower Raksha.
Raiden ordered his food before Yukito got his turn and the waitress nodded at the two of them, before he folded his arms with a deep sigh. “Are you alright?” he heard Yukito asked, noticing his slight worried look on his eyes after noticing the hint of his expression turned into his somber state. “I told you, I’m fine… why are you worried about me?” he asked thinking that it would make them worried but he didn’t want that. “Look… I know everyone has the right to keep secrets, but you seems to be bad at keeping them.”
Yukito aware he has something to keep that he doesn’t want anyone to know, but he know he didn’t want to ruin someone’s fun and that kept him quiet. Seeing him being upset was disappointing, so he have to at least cheer him up somehow so that no-one would tell on him about that. Surprised when he felt a hand patted on his shoulder, he didn’t think that even some people did know that he wasn't the type of person to showing his worry towards others since he was still a bit indifferent.
"I have a feeling that's not what I want to do, sure we may trust each other very much but being honest is pretty much difficult," the Thunder Raksha said with small frown, he knew Sanju has gone through a lot of pain just like his friends--even himself after all. "Are you sure? We'll be fine about that, besides… we have the right to help each other no matter what," he said with assuring voice that would make him convinced, but Raiden was a little bit hesitant about it. After he was silenced by his words, he was now having a heavy guilt of it. "How can I tell you about that, Yukito? There has to be a limit," he asked him after he look back at him.
Yukito frowned, he wasn't surprised that he didn't want to let anyone knew his fear. "If something is bothering you, you have the right to tell it either way," he said as his response, but hearing his sigh and looking to the side--not having any feelings to answer it. “I don’t want to compare our destiny, so I will keep the sadness for myself. There will be time I will tell them, but now’s not the time to dump the sadness on them.”
Raiden explained when he think about it, as much he cared about his friends he can’t stand of seeing them hurt because of him. “Raiden… ever hear what Althair said through Salihin? The future and the destiny is already determined, our ending is set in stone. Destiny determines what we should do, so sooner or later... you have to tell us," Yukito stated, making him startled by his words--how does Yukito even know this before?
'Salihin and I are partners, you think I didn't know about that?' he realized he need to be careful on what he spoke, remembering that some people are starting to change and a huge impact would affect them. "My apologies, I shouldn't have--"
"No, Yukito... you're right, we have been friends for a long time. Right, I have to explain this too and you're right," Raiden smiled at him, thanking him for the lesson that taught him, it's just not a dream after all but part of the reality. “I think they would’ve known if I’m around or not, so I’ll let them find out on their own,” he said, before their orders came. “Sorry for making you sad,” Yukito chuckled a little, still hearing the humorous side of him.
“Nah, it’s fine.”
Yukito saw him laughed a bit, before he reverted into serious side of him. “Alright, jokes aside, what is Karuna doing?” he heard him asked before he nodded, he need to inform anyone about the updates from Nirvana Organization.
“Karuna… he was busy focusing on how to get Althair out from the Phantom Samsara. Turns out that he was ALIVE the whole time, he spent his time fighting in there and probably discovering something new. He was also busy in processing a project with Nirvana Organization known as Project ARK-ECLIPSE; a project aimed to find the existence of Phantom Samsara, to prove the theory about Tree of Universe--according to the author Chelsea Wijaya, to unravel the mysteries of Phantom Samsara, and to find the being that was known as a Intention of the Reverse.”
"And we, Silver Slumbering Dragon and ADVENT are willing to work together with him, they also need Althair back too. The problem is, there was an 'anomaly' getting their way and Karuna warned us to be careful of them. He informed us that there was an Eclipse World 'colliding' with our world, and turns out it was the 'main' timeline of our world--which is the future counterpart of the world."
Yukito explained, eating his food like usual while facing him. "I… don't think there was an Eclipse World but… okay?" Raiden murmured, chewing his food. "So, what happened next? What was the Eclipse World about?" he asked, the Flower Raksha slurps his ocha tea before he explained. "It's the original timeline that 'connected' to the New World, the timeline is the same like ours--the difference is… there was a change of 'flow' from the Phantom Samsara. Before, each timelines were actually 'diverse'; as one part is very parallel to the New World but have the different events than what we experience it in the present."
"And, what happened in the Eclipse World?" Raiden asked, he looks like he need to know the center of the problem in here. "Karuna informed me that... from what he can sense and discover there's an event that triggers. The event is completely different from this timeline, where one of them... died after the disaster happens," Yukito told him, this one is serious than the next one.
"I don't know how did that happened, but recently the Nirvana Organization has discovered an Eclipse Prophecy from the Eclipse Gate they found in the ruins of Saranjana Island in Indonesia. The prophecy said: 50.000 Phantom Beasts will wreak havoc upon the land, leaving behind the ruins of the world."
Raiden's left eye twitched at the eclipse prophecy, his brain still can't get over the fact of... he cannot comprehend about how and why does a disaster struck the universe and one of his best friend's life. "Dude, seriously...?" Yukito nodded at him when he sighed heavily and his irises shrunk to small circles. "What is... the Intention of the Reverse?" he asked, this made Yukito took a deep breath--he knew Raiden is seriously concerned about this.
"The Intention of the Reverse is..." Yukito smirked, this made the Thunder Raksha narrowing his eyes with deadpanned expression on his face at him. "It's an entity in Phantom Samsara, called in ancient legends; when the people look at them in the sky--they will seek for something unknown and eternal. Legends says that... the Reverse is actually an allegory or symbol for the moon and the source of life, while the Earth's connection to the sun represents a state of balance and an end. The balance is important--with the two forces operating in opposition yet being complementary and ultimately part of the same existence, as when viewed through the Samsara everything comes together," he finished his explanation, showing to be mysterious about this Intention.
"How did that happened?" he asked, Yukito bit his lips when he explained. "Apparently, the prophecy came true in the Eclipse World--the cause of the 50.000 Phantom Beasts attacking the whole nations into chaos is... Althair's death in that world, from what Haruse gathered about the information of Eclipse Prophecy; it all started when they failed to stop the beasts and he was stabbed by one of the deadly claw that are injected with deadly disease that weakens him."
Raiden have to make sure that if this disaster will happen, what would lead to this?
Yukito folded his arms, sighing. "This is just a beginning, from what we discovered--the person that killed the figure in Eclipse World might hurt our feelings. Well, that time... Asuras are all 'dead' in that timeline after getting 'too involved' to the point they ended up in the same fate, and the world lost almost of the balance point that the Time of World was beginning to collapse. I don't know who's the survivor is, but not all of them survived--because of the curse of the Eclipse that bestowed upon them."
The cloaked figure was listening to them from the distance, before he walk away after that and made him anxious by his words.
Sanju was observing the view of the village town like usual with hot springs, standing in the rooftop with his arms folded together. "Oi, there you are," he turn around to see Yukito was here, tucking his hands inside his pockets while walking and standing beside him. "Yukito," he said his name, letting his friend standing beside him. "Are you alright? You seems worried about someone?" he know he may trusted his friends when they're doing something, but this time something irked him and this is getting a bit too much. "No… it's fine… well, not really fine."
Yukito watched him running his fingers through his black messy locks, until he let out a huff at him. "Raiden has been acting strange lately and it's getting bothersome, I hope he was able to get over it--this time his nightmare is unusual," he stated honestly with his eyes narrowed, looking forward before he bit his lower lips. "All of us obviously worried but we decided to let him take his time," Sanju murmured quietly, he didn't want to make them worry if something comes up because of this. "But you have to keep your point of view to at least what is happening and how to deal with it, I'm sure he was having a hard time--how should we know when he's ready to tell? We know each other for a long time, it won't affect our trust."
"Since this is about Althair who disappeared for a long time, I understand the concern and how sensitive that topic is," Sanju muttered as he look away, Yukito knew this part but he have to tell him. "Akito told me that something's not right, there has been strange occurrences in this place lately and seen a mysterious figure in black cloak--Kinana happens to see one as well, she told me that the figure is familiar. Senja, Karina and Kanae told me the same description of the figure. Don't you think it has something to do with that? "
Yukito asked, making him frowned. "What? They… met the one in black cloak?" Sanju asked, he have a bad feeling about this and he have to be careful since someone--anyone could've marked someone important to him, in the first place as Althair's disappearance was unexplainable of what happened to him. He don't know what is going on, so they decided to put the effort in finding out. "Salihin told me to be careful, the script he just written from Althair's clairvoyance stated; 'when someone turns out to be a 'key', everything will change for the worst' so I have to warn everyone just in case," Yukito warned him that sounded very serious when someone could've been the person of interest like what he said and he have to take full responsibilities in this.
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Meanwhile, Akito was taking a photo with his phone that shows a view of the snow--until he jolted when someone bumped into him. Wait, no apologies? He thought, before seeing them walked pass him, but he held their shoulder. "Excuse me--"
He was speechless, being frightened when the hooded figure lift his hand up--before he stopped him from putting his hand on his head. The figure suddenly left and vanished on his sight, making him puzzled before his eyes widened to see Raiden panting from running towards the cloaked figure. "Raiden! Why are you--" he paused to see Raiden was hyperventilating with heavy breathe, something made his vision blurry and almost losing consciousness. His heart was beating from excessive running, before he fell down.
Raiden fell down from the exhaustion, Akito ran to his side and helping him up. "Raiden!" he yelled, he realized that he was fainted and he didn't know what had happened. He texted on his phone to inform the group about this before he called on Haruse and the rest of the Silver Slumbering Dragon members, especially to Senja who finished his meditation and he narrowed his eyes at the message from Akito. "Huh, this is bad," he muttered.
While Sanju and Yukito talked, Senja slammed the door open as he informed them. "Bad news, Raiden's not in the good shape and fainted in the market place. Akito said he was chasing the black cloaked figure that he assumed and he got caught into severe shock, he was about to faint because he used excessive running on the person he was chasing," Sanju's eyes went wide in surprise, his jaw hanging open before he snapped. "Where is he now?! He's okay right?" Senja nodded, that made him relieved at this. "We'll explain later, I called Ryoma to warn him about this," Sanju nodded, until he was going to the market place to find his unconscious friend.
To prevent the people from watching them, Haruse spoke to the police that they will handle this and the officers nodded their heads before leaving the area. Raiden was carried on his back by Akito to the ryokan, leading them into the room and slide the door open. Laying the Thunder Raksha on the futon, Sanju could feel the fever running from Raiden's whole body after what happened to him--and he knew something is wrong. "Sanjaya, what happened?" Radithya asked his son, before his eyes widened and Ryoma was so flabbergasted at his son Raiden's recent condition after the accident he had today.
"Raiden's not feeling well, I saw him running towards a certain person until he fainted from hyperventilation..." he explained, Kinana put her ear on Raiden's chest--his heart is beating but slower than the normal heartbeat. "Raiden was fine earlier... how did he got sick?" Haruse asked, but none of them answers. Knowing that Raiden was sick and mentally tired by the thoughts in his head, he felt bad for what happened to him and Sanju was concerned--he frowned and made him angrier at himself.
"I'll get some tea and make him some herbals..." Akito muttered, Senja and Yukito went to a nearby store to get their specifics. It took them two hours waiting for him to wake up, his fever hasn't come down either.
Raiden flinched when he woke up from that nightmare once again, he couldn't sleep well that his fever dream's getting much worse. Now he ended up grunting a bit by that and slowly opened his eyes, sniffing when he realized that he was in tears and he was not having it. "W-What…?" he immediately brushing off the tears from his eyes that she sat up from the futon and the covers, before he look to the side to see his friends are inside his room.
"Oh, good morning Raiden. It's afternoon and your headache is...?"
Sanju questioned him as he examined him, before Raiden shook his head to stop him from talking. "S-Sanju, listen I don't know--" he sniffed at him, making him sigh. "Hey, take it easy there," Akito reassured him, holding his shoulder. The Thunder Raksha grabbed his hair locks, tears began to drop from his face and he was emotional despite he had such a stern but mellow personality, Raiden never wanted to cry but the thought of Althair's disappearance was eating him whole. "I'm sorry… I didn't want you guys to be upset, I don't want to ruin your fun. Everything has been going on and I cannot stand it, I'm just so worried that something bad will happen in the future!"
Raiden snapped when he clenched the grip on the covers of his futon, he knew he was sick and tired of all thoughts that was running on his mind. Raiden bit his lower lips, before he shake his head. "I'm telling you guys, in some point of our adventure... our whole journey would change and different things will happen. You guys... none of you will betray one of us... right? Right?!" he yelled at them when they became shocked by what he said, listening to his sudden outbursts made him wonder of the things he meant.
The whole room became quiet, until Senja started to ask him. "What do you mean? Our future will change to the different path and there will be times where we'll face unexpected hardships? What's that got to do with our fate?" Raiden heard him as he look down, before he buried his face into his arms on his knees. "God, I feel like we're in absolute nightmare; an inception, I can't tell if it's a dream or not and… I feel like I'm gonna die."
He kept crying, Sanju closed his eyes and he have the feeling that something wrong--they may fought this nightmare once and for all, as the Thunder Raksha continued to sobbed again due to getting emotional by the thought of it. "Who's that figure...? Why is he always looking at us... but never coming closer to us? I have the feeling the nightmare started ever since we recovered the Cores of the Samsara, what are we about to witness..."
Raiden was calmed by Kinana who gently pat his back, letting him wiped his eyes to hold his emotions for this matter. "Raiden, let us handle this. You can take a rest," she encouraged him to not get himself worked out, if he doesn't want anyone to get mad at him it's alright. Haruse nodded at them, he shouldn't have this much in his mind but he have to move on, he deserved a break too. Sanju sighed, before he glanced at them. "Akito, I want you to find that figure, is it okay?" he asked. Akito nodded, before he glanced at Senja and Karina as they began their search. "Come on, don't be a baby--we know you're sick so we'll be responsible for you."
Raiden grumbled before he ended up covering himself with the futon cover, Sanju smiled a little that he does what Akito said. "Yeah yeah… I know," he mumbled, hearing the door slide close.
Akito look around when he was in the bridge, until he witnessed the figure walking down the street fixing his hood. The cloaked figure didn't know someone was following him, he look around before he continue to walk like usual. "Bingo," he muttered, nodding at Karina and Senja as his eyes narrowed at them. Senja used his ambush skills to quickly hide his presence, allowing him to track their target in case Akito failed to catch him. "Why does he have to wear a cloak? What's his problem?" Senja scoffed a little, while following him. Karina huffed, keeping a sharp eyes on the target.
The hooded figure continued to walk until Karina loomed in front of the figure--totally wasn't in her sight of vision and that scared the shit out of him. "Ah, did I scare you?" she asked, the figure stepped back until his back bumped against Senja's chest. He was terrified to see Senja as he was intimidating, before he walk passed him and go into an alleyway that no people would watching. Until, the figure shrieked in fear to see Akito in front of him. "Stop right there. As an ADVENT representative, I order you to stand down."
Senja was eyeing on the figure, folding his arms. "Can you take off your hood?" Karina asked, narrowing her eyes. 'What's wrong with him? I hope I didn't scare him…' Akito thought, before his eyes widened when he was about to uncover his hood--but then he saw him lowered his hand that he stumbled a little. "Wait… are you okay?" the Insect Raksha asked, seeing him wobbling a little before he fainted in front of him and the three of them caught him immediately.
Few hours later...
They brought him to the ryokan, making them surprised that Akito laid down the figure on the floor. "What's the matter--" Raiden said when he tried to sat up, until his eyes went wide at the sight of the figure with black cloak. "N-No way, is this…" Kinana said, taking a peek over the figure's face that made her stepped back in surprise. "What is it, Kinana?" Senja asked, noticing her sudden odd behavior before she took a deep breath. "He... he seems... familiar..."
Raiden was having a hard time thinking about that, before he took a small peek underneath until he saw something dropped by under his coat. "Wait, what's that?"
Sanju asked, watching Kanae carefully grabbed the device that it was a pocket watch with chain. "It looks like a pocket watch…" Yukito said, before he look back at them.
"This is… this is not like ordinary pocket watch, it looks like mechanical with extra clock time on it. Also, why does the time here looks like it's… not from here?"
Raiden tried to process everything that went through in here, making him very confused until he remembered one of the scenes in his nightmare. "I remember he carried that on his hand, in my nightmare," he said when he sat up on his futon, somewhat he can sense the familiarity from his appearance.
Kanae goes to crawl up almost closer to the mysterious stranger who was still fainted, before closing her eyes with her hands behind her ears to detect his heartbeat and the sound of his veins. "Hmm…" she opened her eyes, before lowering her hands once it has been detected. "The stranger is still alive, he's just fainted from the shock--possibly after he encounters Akito and the rest of you."
Karina was still curious about the person, but... being suspicious is kind of frustrating for her and this have to stop. "His temperature is normal… did you feel anything similar, Raiden?" Kinana asked, the Thunder Raksha rubbed his chin, before he was about to check underneath his cloak but soon he's stopped by Senja. "Can you stop that?" he asked that made Raiden smiled nervously when he laughed a little, he has a habit that made him curious to do that. "Sorry about that, old habits."
The male figure's lips twitched a little, which alerted her so she told them once he tried to wake up. "Guys, he's awake!" The figure grunted a little when he slowly sitting up on a tatami floor, until he look around to see the unfamiliar place where he was at. "Are you okay?" he heard the familiar voice across him, as he look back at the group when he flinched before Kanae helped him sitting straight on the floor mumbling out loud.
"Ouch… my whole body…"
They froze when his voice was exactly similar to one of them, and they were anticipating something even more shocking from him. "His voice… what does he looks like you?" Yukito asked when he did, he seems to be uneasy when he saw him uncovering his hood.
Their eyes widened as the figure revealed his true identity towards them, not even a single minute they expecting that to happen. "Oi… this can't be right, what on the cloud nine is this?" Akito muttered, he was equally shocked like them after the figure revealed his true identity towards them. Raiden was in total shock and disbelief, he didn't know that this person has identical features of him--not only that but he also bears the striking resemblances over him.
"You can't be… how did you…"
It was none other than Raiden from the future, or known as Future Raiden of the Eclipse himself.
Future Raiden was seen emotionally tired when he was seen for the first time, but he was trying his best to keep himself awake most of the time. He has striking features of resemblances of his present counterpart, from his short purplish-black messy hair with the long bangs almost covering his dark magenta eyes and cheeks, light complexion and also sharing similar height. The only difference is that he wears his coat that covering his attire, only showing his left arm since he was left-handed like his present counterpart like he used to be.
Future Raiden is emotional, he can be easily swayed by the events that happen but also sensitive and serious which is similar to him. However, the biggest difference between Raiden and Future Raiden was only the right arm of his. Also, he looks so depressed and exhausted from everything he went through, possibly the symptoms and marks of the apocalypse and the Phantom Samsara he witnessed even after these years being in his world. "R-Raiden…?" Sanju murmured, Kanae was equally horrified when the group was going to his side.
Future Raiden's face was paler than the rest, with dark circles that forming beneath his eyes after an incident happens to him during the events of Eclipse. He looks like he already dealt with the aftermath of his alternate universe version and everyone was shook when they were looking at him, he never tried to make a contact with the past counterparts and he doesn't care less about it as the burden of all the mistakes he've done was eating him from the inside.
"How come…? How did we have two Raiden in the same place?"
Akito asked, for unknown reason he sensed his Resonance was weaker than before. "Also, you don't seems to be… like this before. What happened to you? How did you get into this world?" Raiden felt like a bomb heading straight into the place to blow things up, making him dead silent and literally speechless that this is absolutely himself and he felt like he was about to faint. "What the, is this... future me? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Raiden asked, flabbergasted and incredulous when he was referring him here, turning into a total dumbfounded phase.
Future Raiden placed the hood on his face, not to mention he hasn't changed his look after twenty years in his case--he still looked younger through. "It's…" he shake his head when he tried to remember some of the memories from there, before he lowered his hand from his head.
"It's from… the Eclipse Gate," he answered with tired tone, trying his best with staying awake due to his tiredness. "You see, the reason why I came is… I want to warn you what happened in the future. It's… a horrific event, everything is disaster and chaos is happening there…" he replied that made them frowned, Future Raiden looked like he was having a hard time answering this but he know they will trust him. "Because someone started to play with destiny…" he said, making Raiden's left eye twitched when he heard his response. "No, not you--past me."
Oh great, this can be a surprise twist--his future self has an important message for his past self. "Did something has happened to all of us?" Sanju asked, he wasn't sure what he was saying is entirely true--until he find out that his tone is honest and not lying at all. "Yes, all of you were…" Future Raiden gulped, frowning a little that his eyes are emotional from what has happened back then.
"… all of you died, in the Eclipse World."
The dramatic silence is occurring as the group were petrified, their eyes went wide--Karina's jaw hanging in aghast state from what he said. "Wait, did you just said we're…" Yukito asked, Future Raiden nodded slowly at him. "If you're wondering how did that happened, someone killed the person that was too important to all of you and none of you are prepared for the demise. That… changed the course and leading to the current time."
Raiden froze, when he was listening to the message of his future self who said this and the flashbacks about the dream. "It all started in the same timeline that you guys have in the Eclipse World, everything went smooth and fine until... one of you guys killed a figure that might left you betrayed by that murderer..." Future Raiden suddenly leaned and he was falling to the side, yawning when Sanju was there to support his waist from the falling and hold him up. Raiden helped his future self to stay straight up, he was on verge of crying but trying to keep calm. "Do you feel the need to cry…?" he whispered, before Raiden shook his head quickly that he didn't want to upset him even more than before. "No, I had too many tears to shed and I don't remember when was the last time I cried," Future Raiden took a deep breath, before turning away.
"Listen, I felt very terrible right now and you guys are still unaware… no, you actually had 'idea' about this case. After Mahatma Kartawinata's defeat, in the Eclipse World... the Eclipse Gate opened and everyone either corrupted by the Eclipse's curse or die by that and... one of you guys killed Sanju, together with his father Radithya--prior to that event."
Future Raiden explained, he already had warned them about the problem in the future and now they heard this out of the blue after learning about him from earlier.
They were shocked when Sanju sat up straight, they aren't liking the idea.
"This isn't funny here," Sanju stated, eyeing on his friends that he was getting cautious at this sudden truth. Future Raiden hesitated to say the name, BECAUSE the person is amongst them and IN THIS ROOM in this Ryokan.
"No... it's really 'him'."
Future Raiden said quietly, made the Flower Raksha--Yukito frowned slightly in unease feeling--this is going to be rough. "Say the name, Raiden from the future. We will make sure this won't happen, it's not an instant but at least we'll put an end on that," Sanju responded to him, Future Raiden take a few breaths and he can't stop his heart from palpitating inside.
Raiden bit his lower lips that it's him--he knew this'll hurt him.
"Sanju… I'm so sorry to say this, but the one who killed you in my world is... you know who."
Sanju frowned, that made Raiden reprimanded his future self. "Future me, please stop talking riddles. Our brains are already rotting, don't keep us waiting."
He muttered, he didn't want to deal with riddles and he want to know RIGHT NOW and he had to listen. 'None of you accuse each other by what I just heard, or everything will go wrong,' Sanju thought to them--staring at them, Future Raiden look away when he flinched and covered his ears--before he released his ears from covering and faced them. "Who is it? Say the name, please," Yukito asked, which Future Raiden sighed deeply and his entire soul was empty--well, emptied anyway since all of his feelings was weakened. "It's not my past me, he's off the list."
Raiden sighed in relief, but he's not out of the red yet--not after hearing of him.
Future Raiden pointed his finger at the person, it was...
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