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The Red Flower
Chapter. 39
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Two weeks ago—
“Wait, Bren.”
And Bren did as he was told. He came to a stop as he went outside the building and toward the gate. He didn't turn around as his friend approached him from behind. He suddenly felt the need to look up at the blue sky as Owin came to stand behind him.
“Tell me, why are you taking only Javi and Elois with you to save Ellmer?” Owin didn't waste any time and asked right away, patiently staring at his friend's back, which appeared lonely and distant in such an obvious way for the first time since their childhood. When the silence stretched out between them, he opened his mouth to ask, but suddenly Bren calmly spoke…
“I don’t want them to get in the way when the plan starts against Davante Fixsen.”
For some reason, Owin felt there was something strange or new with Bren’s calm tone. slightly frowned, “…Is this about the vampire roaming the academy when you told me in my room that I have to sit still and watch until your signal?” He waited again for an answer, but the other just stared at the sky in cold silence. “What do you know that you’re not telling me?” He sadly frowned, “Or is it that you can’t tell me?” He waited, and when the answer didn’t come, he looked to the side with a bit of pout, “I grew up, y’know…” He looked back at Bren when a soft snort responded to his mumble.
They used to fight a lot because they were so polar opposites to one another. Whereas Owin was an emotional yet spoilt and sheltered child, Bren was indifferent and mature for his age, enough to make all the kids avoid him without even trying, and even the grownups struggled to deal with Bren back then. Owin had the fleeting thought that his friend was, in fact, much older than he appeared. He recalls asking Bren about his family and where he came from several times, but the guy had never told him any information, not even allowing any feeling to show on his face.
Bren’s silence was in itself…unexplainable on many occasions. When Owin first met him, Bren's eyes were those of someone who had gone through death and were in a state where no one could tell if they were still alive deep inside or had long since given up.
“Do you hate your family…?”
He once asked the other, because even if Bren wore this dumb blank face every single time he asked, there was something…
“Quite the opposite.”
Something about that answer and those eyes…Owin couldn't help but feel that his friend, deep down, was lonely and in pain. The constant attempts to push everyone away, even Owin, reinforced his belief. A subtle message from Bren that he'd be better off alone, as if caring for someone was a crime he shouldn't commit.
But Bren cares, yet he dismisses the fact as an obligation that anyone in his place should do rather than a genuine feeling from the heart.
And many years now, yet here they were again. Bren was trying to keep the same distance and put that blank mask on, but this time…
“You’re tired.” Owin stated after some time of close observation, and his friend, as usual, did not show any reaction. “Why were you scared when Henrik spoke of, uh, what was it again? The Rul—”
“Don’t.”
The stern warning from the other surprised Owin, but it didn't sound like a threat.
“Don’t say their name. Who knows what might happen to us now? I don’t even know how they can intervene now after so long of just staying silent…”
Owin slightly widened his eye as Bren sighed long and didn’t bother to cover up his exhaustion this time. He stayed silent and waited as his friend shook his head slightly before turning a little to show the blank look on his face, staring off into the distance.
“I always took it as some bullshit and only focused on surviving the game, but guess…it’s not the case anymore.” Bren took a deep breath and looked at the sky again, “…the fact that even this sky could not be…”
‘…real?’ Owin remembered then what the bastard old man rumbled on about the real world and whatnot. Was Bren worried about that? “What if it is bullshit, though?” And he didn’t expect his friend to snort and shake his head at his question as if the truth had already been out.
“Then the thundering sound, the voice speaking over the signal noise, and the warning your brother read, none of which would have happened if that name hadn't been mentioned.” He looked at the orange head, “You, I, or anyone of us could be Fake.”
Owin just stood there in silence, staring at the blank look in Bren’s eyes as he openly expressed his concerns to him for the first time. This quiet and open side of Bren was new to him, but he wasn't willing to pass up the opportunity, so he wanted to think carefully before saying anything.
“Ah…”
He waited as Bren blinked and suddenly looked to have noticed something as he looked to the side for a moment.
“…I need to explain something to Javi now, don’t I?”
“Javi?” Owin frowned slightly. What happened between the two? Though, in their short time working together to find Ellmer, both Bren and Javi seemed fine, as if they had already talked about the past and moved on, or were they both putting it off for later? If they had fought without his knowledge, wouldn't the two idiots know just how to keep it from him? He hated and admired how keen and meticulous they could be at times; they could even fool everyone if they wanted to.
“Yeah, I guess I need to clarify what I told him.” Bren shrugged in resignation, “Anyway, I spent a long time playing a specific role in order to deceive a certain doctor, but maybe I don’t have to anymore?” He appeared to be contemplating before returning his gaze to Owin, “Okay, I’m not a human.”
“……”
“Or, well, not entirely. An enhanced human?”
“……” The fact that the person just said it naturally with a straight face astounded Owin more than the admission itself.
Bren snorted quietly at the look from the other and took a step closer to speak in a hushed tone, “Please listen to me, Owin. Davante Fixsen, however odd and unsettling you may soon find him to be, just watch and let the show proceed.”
Owin blinked and widened his eye, “You said ‘please’? You?” He looked even more in disbelief when the other just calmly chuckled. “No, no, no…who are you, and what have you done to my bastard friend? What the hell?”
“In any case, I called for support from a vampire friend to come along with us three to look for Ellmer and help him out. I need to go to make sure of something.” Bren patted his friend on the shoulder and whispered one last thing, “Just make sure to look at what happens behind the scenes in here from now on.”
Owin looked utterly dumbfounded when the other waved at him with a nonchalant smile while walking away from him, telling him he’d take good care of Elois and Javi and that he’d make sure to bring them back safely after finding and saving Ellmer.
And now…
Owin sighed as he watched the disastrous show unfold before him for two weeks...
His fingernails pressed into his folded arms as he stared intently at everything, knowing that Neron was also keeping a watchful eye from a different location. “…it was brilliant of you to take them with you, indeed.”
Elois and Javi would never stand by and watch as their friend is destroyed in the most infuriating way possible. It was even better that Ellmer wasn't back in the academy…no, Owin would make sure to tell Ellmer everything once he came back. The guy deserved to know what the hell had happened to his brother at the time he was away.
Because Owin was barely holding back his rage at the perpetrators who had set up the entire display for everyone to see, using none other than Davante himself.
He was struggling even to keep his dad, Alvis, from running fast to stop whatever he was witnessing with him, Neron and the young twins. His dad considers Davante as his own son, so it must be extremely difficult and painful to stop and watch. That was why Owin had begged his father to trust him and stay away for now.
‘Hurry up and get back already, Bren.’
He thought as he sighed for the millionth time for the day, worrying just what was happening to have the man, possibly older than he looked just as he thought, take this long to bring Ellmer back.
He really hoped nothing went wrong…
.
.
Ellmer let out the slightest and most quiet breath in an attempt to sigh. ‘I’m going in circles, am I not?’
He didn’t know how long he had been walking in the dark, the corridors somehow all looked the same, but he could swear they weren’t that way when he came along with Chronos and the rest of the Anfinrud group. And it was eerily quiet in the place. It felt like he was the only one trapped in this space.
He vaguely recalled a memory of when he was in the orphanage, all beaten up and locked in the cold, with no bed or any basic human necessity in his room. It was always too silent since the room wasn’t even in the same building as everyone else. It was a separate, old cottage behind the main house in the distance, closest to the woods where animals come to hunt for food or sometimes take a piss or whatever. It was cold and silent, and he liked it that way. It could have been the only time he felt so at peace and free from the world. He wondered if that was what it felt like to be dead.
He blinked, bringing his attention back to the present, and he quickly cast aside the memory.
Now it's almost as though he's the one who had disappeared, rather than Henrik and everyone with Chronos.
And probably that is exactly the case?
It was easy to assume that everyone else had vanished into thin air while he remained behind, but after being trapped in a never-ending loop, he had to come to terms with the fact that he was, in fact, separated from the others.
He stopped walking, ‘The Rulers Circle…’
Thinking back on it, this only happened once Henrik spoke of that name, so wouldn’t it be safe to assume they were the ones behind whatever this was? But having that thought, what would that possibly help him with? He needed to know how to get out of there. He felt like he had been walking in place for hours. His eyes became used to the darkness, and he saw nothing but twists and turns in passageways and stairs leading up and down. However, in the end, they all seemed like the same spot he was in from the beginning; one would go insane by now, and perhaps he wasn't all that far from losing his mind.
Should he let out a sound and see what happens?
For some reason, he got a feeling that was so bad of an idea. Or was the dead silence making him careful of letting out the faintest sound? And what if the main goal is to get him to talk, and he'll fall for the trap once his sanity starts to falter?
He went back to looking for an exit or any secret passage.
Perhaps it was because of the dark that he wasn’t able to notice any other routes. With that in mind, he had an idea as he brought his hand and flicked his necklace with his finger, causing the four small globes to grow in size only a little, lighting up the place around him with their electricity. He frowned, however, ‘Why are they powerful…?’
The little globes were usually a bit weaker if he caused them to activate this bit, so why were they lighting as if he activated them to their half-power?
That only confirmed his theory that he was in a different space somehow. That, or the place originally had some kind of enhancing signals, which he doubted was the case. If they thought of programming the area to strengthen their weapons, wouldn’t that mean the enemy sneaking in would also have their weapons powered up? Unless it was designed to support only the weapons confirmed by the Anfinrud group using the codes. And technically, his weapon is still registered in Anfinrud’s system, so maybe that’s why.
He went back to focus on his surroundings, finding nothing new except…
The walls around him and everything looked to be like in programs? Pixels, perhaps? It wasn't quite the same as pixels, but it seemed like he was inside a program and not in the real world. The floor he was standing on, on the other hand, was quite firm, much like a real one. So it would only follow that those walls and the rest would behave similarly, right? He tried, and it was exactly as he had thought.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He started to question himself more now. Where the hell was he? He wasn’t sleeping, was he?
He walked some more, and it was all the same loop once again. He looked at the lightning globes, then down at the one still hung in his necklace. He flicked the necklace to activate Rewind, making it grow to fit his size, and he stepped inside the glowing bubble. ‘Maybe if programmed objects collide with programs instead of humans…’
He let the bubble carry him and float in the air before guiding the bubble to one of the walls.
‘Having a big brain really is wonderful.’
He smirked when the bubble and the other four globes easily went through the wall and found himself in another similar space but with different order and directions this time. He wondered if he could let the program in his weapon move on its own as it communicated with the program in the place. However, he figured that it would still need help from a human after all, and he was no intelligent programmer, not that he could do anything in this situation when he barely had any equipment to modify his weapon.
He studied all directions before leading the bubble to the ceiling and quickly found himself on another floor with only one door visible from a distance.
He thought twice about whether to go straight to the door and open it or if it would be better to look around the place a bit more and see if he could find other doors. But he may not find the floor again if he wandered around in his search. He went slowly to the door, staring at it for a long minute before deciding to pass through it.
And so, he found himself in a white place of what looked like the inside of a data tower with more than 100 story high…
He wasn’t even on the highest floor. He looked up, and the sky…was just white with the sun so bright, if that even was the sky to begin with. He floated to the edge in the middle to look down at the tower and instantly felt a bit dizzy from how high it was. He couldn’t even find the ground; he saw only darkness instead. He looked back at the door where he came from, thinking of whether he should go back inside or proceed to look around the tower.
It was easier to think of this as a dream to help him move around without much thought.
Tap—
Then, unexpectedly, he heard a faint sound that was loud in the silence near his side. He snapped his neck to look in the direction, “…!”
He barely held back a gasp before moving the bubble away quickly and silently from the massive chunk of data shaped into a human figure, which appeared to be looking directly at him.
He passed through the door using the bubble again, going straight to many walls and far away from the data.
He paused, staring cautiously at the wall before him that he had just passed through. Finding nothing as some time passed, he let out a silent sigh of relief.
Vrolelem—
His breath stopped for a moment when the giant hand slowly crept through the wall with the sound of a data transfer like one of those video games the kids liked to play, moving calmly to grab him.
“Oh, shit…” He cursed under his breath and moved the bubble away from it, though it was suddenly moving slowly with glitching sounds. ‘Really, now?’ He quickly noticed that his weapon was weakening, glitching and going slower the moment the hand got too close when he let down his guard. ‘Fuck, I fell into the trap either way, didn’t I?’
Whether it was a dream or not, he was clearly expected to walk out of that door and have that freaky data-shaped human capture him for whatever reason. He was led to reveal his location in the data tower, wasn't he? And his weapon had fully lost its power now.
He stumbled a little on the floor trying to regain his footing when the bubble faded, and all five of his globes shrank and fell to the floor. The hand encompassed him in less than a second, giving him little time to move an inch, and everything went dark around him.
But he soon opened his eyes to find himself…in front of a medieval-looking door in what looked like the basement of Anfinrud’s secret base.
He stared at the door in the dark, unaware that he wasn't even breathing as he struggled to comprehend what had just occurred. The data hand was gone even, ‘What…the hell was that?’
“So, this is the place.”
Ellmer quickly turned around and came to a halt when he noticed a gun pointing at him.
“Error location detected. Thanks for your efforts, Real Native.”
Ellmer stared blankly at the man in front of him, the same man who had supported Ellmer's lies to Chronos before being taken along with the crew. The same man was now smirking almost mockingly at him, and his gun pointed directly at Ellmer. At that moment, he was finally aware of the loss of weight on his necklace. Glancing down, he found the five little globes scattered on the floor. “…that wasn’t a dream.”
“Regrettably, no, it was not.” The man said with a calm smile, gaining Ellmer’s attention back on him. “Now, I’d really appreciate it if you’d be so kind as to open that door behind you.”
Ellmer raised an eyebrow at the man with the weird sunglasses, “You need my precious help to open a door?”
“Yes, your valuable help is very much needed. As it’s the door to the error itself.”
Seeing as the man did not seem affected by the taunting attempt, Ellmer knew his first plan to provoke the stranger and divert his attention for a second would not work in this case. For some reason, his body had little strength and was in no condition to kick the gun from the man’s grip and turn the table on the bastard as quickly and skilfully as he used to do in his many missions. He guessed it was because of the weird data world he was in moments ago. Or was it moments only? Why was he feeling so weak, like he hadn’t eaten anything for days? Why was he getting tired from standing only?
“Well?”
Ellmer fixed his gaze on the man, who, despite his respectful demeanor, seemed to be looking down on him. Ellmer may understand one thing here only from that. He wasn't as useful now that 'The error spot' had been discovered, but it would save the man some time from looking for someone else to unlock it for him in case he had to kill Ellmer if he refused to help.
Should he go along with it? He could find his chance to attack while also learning what lay behind the door that this robotic-like person was so obsessed with.
With that in thought, he silently turned around and went to open the door…
“Cover your ears!”
Ellmer instinctively did as instructed once he noticed the familiar voice from behind. As soon as he covered them, he felt the vibration of the soundwaves from the weapon belonging to a person he knew, pressure waves that could cause all the people in a whole city to become immobilized or deaf by controlling the range and strength. If he hardly heard anything with just his hands covering his ears, then the waves must have specifically been directed to one target with calculated strength of the press, which affects only that target and no one else, even if people were so close nearby.
After a moment, he carefully removed his hands from his ears and opened his eyes, slowly turning around…
There, a person he knew was standing with a gun pointed at the stranger, who was now on the floor, seemingly passed out…
Bren Carson.
With Elois standing behind him.
‘…when did they get here in one day?’
He clearly remembers that they were communicating when he was interrogating Henrik, and it sounded like they were in the academy. This secret base was very far from the academy, and he was trapped in that data world right after the connection was cut off by whatever force…
He suddenly had the same thought from a moment ago, just how long was he in that data world…?
.
.
Evester eyed the foreign place around him, observing and searching in his memories for a similar environment in Davante’s life. No matter long he tried to find places close to this one, he couldn’t find any in his mind.
He looked again at the globe floating and glowing in the air with big rings circling it, rotating slowly in unison. He then looked at the stairs around the room, with the faint lights glowing in some places, giving off a sense of coldness yet tranquillity.
He looked at the floating globe, wondering if he should go up the platform and right under the glowing little programmed-like world. He was suddenly struck with the memory of one of Davante’s lives he had seen from saving Elois…
“Well, anything is possible in this fabricated world.”
That was what the evil Davante driven by hatred and despair, had said to Elois when he discovered the change in Elois’s behavior. With the rest of that Devante’s memories…then Evester could assume the world they were in was actually a program?
Looking up at the data displaying a globe of probably a fake world, ‘So that’s our world we had been living in?’ He thought silently as he kept his gaze on the planet, ‘Then, how am I here?’
He glanced around him again, ‘This is where the small world is programmed. A lab?’
He hummed in thought, glancing one last time at the floating world before deciding to roam around the place, thinking that by stepping on the platform, there was a chance he would just be sent back to the program again. Why would he do that when he was given an opportunity to know more about this ‘program’ and would be able to be of help to Davante later on?
He went and climbed one of the spiraled stairs, finding himself even more amazed and bewildered by the advanced environment of the place. Bedrooms that didn’t look like regular ones and many odd functionalities he normally wouldn’t find in the world he witnessed through Davante’s eyes.
He could tell he was in a very vast building, like a mazed hotel of many bedrooms, labs, large halls and meeting rooms. Mostly everything was white, and it was comforting in a way, giving a sense of…endless peacefulness.
However, the emptiness in the place felt so cold and lonely. There was not a single soul in the building aside from him. There was not even any trace of anyone living there.
Looking to the windows, the world outside the building was dressed in a beautiful landscape, an endless expanse of grass and flowers with running rivers. The sky had the most beautiful blue he had ever seen since there was no speck of contamination in the air.
Then again, there were no buildings or houses outside, no humans, no animals even.
Cold.
If he could describe this world in one word, it would be just that.
“Feeling nostalgic?”
Standing relaxed still, Evester blinked and calmly looked over his shoulder with his arms crossed, noticing a woman in all white save for her ruby eyes and half of her face that appeared like a chess pattern mask.
[https://i.postimg.cc/Sx8Z3XmQ/1.jpg]
“……” He turned around to fully face the woman smiling elegantly at him, finding a look of familiarity in her eyes when it was his first time meeting her. He shrugged lightly and smiled, matching her smile when he knew she wouldn’t see his mouth anyway. Looking to the windows again, “This place is as peaceful as it’s been.”
Play along. That was the way he chose to go with things for now.
That, he thought, was the first distinction between him and Davante. While the other is hopeless when it comes to lying or acting, Evester is perfectly capable of both.
Acting lost and confused now wouldn’t help anything, especially when the woman came talking to him like she had expected his arrival, waiting for him somewhere in this place.
“Right, it’s the closest picture of what we call Heaven.” The woman agreed with a soft chuckle, “Heaven made by the very devilish monsters in the world. How ironic, right?”
He glanced at her, meeting her smile once again. He was no fool to not be able to notice a sinister smile when he saw one, “Did they finally perish, I wonder?”
There were no monsters found in the place as he had checked the whole building, discovering different kinds of small worlds in other rooms similar to the one he first arrived at.
There were no people except for him and the woman, who clearly didn’t look to be a human.
“As if,” The woman laughed softly as if she found his question cute and the funniest thing she had ever heard, “This is inside your mind after all, and I’m thrilled I was right about you all along.”
“Oh, really?” He slightly tilted his head curiously, ignoring the so many questions in his head at her statement that this was his own mind, inside Evester’s mind, not Davante’s.
“Yes,” The woman almost hissed, smiling satisfyingly at the man before her. “I’ve always known we were very similar,” Her smile looked almost fond at that moment, “It is truly refreshing to meet you once again, our sweet little Glert.”
‘Oh, my. What is even what anymore?’
Should he drop the act? Though from the way this woman speaks…
“Fancy to meet you again as well, hmm, should I say…” He slightly tilted his head and lightly rested his finger on the side of his face, “…Noble Vampire Queen?”
“……”
It was the right thing to roll the dice and gamble with his guess, he thought. The cold amusement dancing in the woman’s eyes was instantly washed away after hearing the name, even when her smile remained still.
She crinkled her cold eyes in a fond smile, shaking her head softly before suddenly standing so close to Evester, who hardly even reacted and only looked straight at her eyes. “You’re as naughty as you’ve always been, little brother of ours.” She caressed his cheek and softly rubbed it with her thumb, “That isn’t my true and rightful name, now, is it?” She whispered with knowing eyes, “Or is it that you forgot me and everything from your life?”
‘It was a lost battle, after all.’ Evester easily accepted that he was caught covering the fact he had no memories whatsoever and lightly shrugged, casually meeting her amused eyes. “Would you be so kind as to teach this poor brother of yours then, big sister?”
He did not, however, expect her to kiss his forehead gently in a seemingly loving way.
“That’s what I’m here for, dear Glert.” She gently took the other’s hand in her own and smiled at him reassuringly, “Let’s talk in my room, just like we used to in the good old days.”
Evester could tell that the woman whom he still didn’t know the name of other than the Noble Vampire Queen, Leondra Verick, was indeed a bit fond of him, more so when he silently followed without any bit of protest. Leisurely passing by the windows and many rooms with their hands clasped like loving siblings. It was honestly a relaxing walk to her chambers, and it shouldn’t be when he clearly could tell she was planning something with her visit to his mind in the first place.
‘A visit to my mind?’ It finally sank in. Glancing at her as the door to her large bedroom immediately opened for her, ‘Not a memory of mine, but an actual visit.’
He calmly took one of the seats in the comfortable room with calming sunlight from the large windows when she let go of his hand.
After a long silence and relaxing on her seat with a glass of something black? She smiled again at him, “Both you and I hated this place, and we both failed to achieve what we wanted,” taking a sip and looking distantly at the sky from the windows, “Which resulted in us falling into one of the many trashcans resting in the floors below.”
“Hmm,” He relaxed in his seat while observing everything about her, her tone, voice, face and hands, everything as she talked. There was fury behind that smile and a bit of honesty, but he could see a play on words there. “So, you want us to ‘work together’ to get back to this place and get ‘our revenge’ on the ‘devilish monsters’?” He merely stared when she turned to face him at his question, wondering if she had gotten the message to cut the nonsense and get to the point, sparing her the effort of explaining her made-up backstory to him.
“It was only when I was kicked out from the Rulers Circle and thrown into one of their magnificent toys in the shape of miniature worlds that I realized…” She leaned over and rested her elbow on her crossed legs, her chin resting on her hand. “I could’ve gotten rid of the Master if we had worked together, Glert. It may all be in the past now, but we can still work together and defeat them eventually.” Sadly, she said, “I couldn’t find you when I was the Empress, my first life in that one Garbage.” She smiled at him in delight, “Only to find you in my second and current life in there, living inside the mind of a random kid at that.” She whispered, “Do you realize how hard I worked to get to meet you, Glerty the Happy?”
He simply stared at her and didn’t bother to react to the name at the end, and he couldn’t even care about the rest of the story, but one thing piqued his interest…
“You must have been still in the Rulers Circle, here, with the rest of the heinous bastards, when I was trashed out, because you are in the same Garbage I’m in only now in my current life. Were you locked somewhere? I still wonder.” She looked at her ‘brother’ as if she felt sorry for him and deeply felt his pain, “Just when I thought they couldn’t get any worse, they dump you into the mind of some pathetic kid instead of a living individual…I will not forgive them.” She shook her head slightly in a display of frustration.
“I like my life in Davante’s head, to be frank.” He was pleased by the look of disbelief that flashed across her face for a split second.
His twin brother doesn’t deserve the hate he was getting from this woman when she hardly even met Davante. She doesn’t specify who she is in her current life, but the fact she knows so much of him, a weapon hidden inside Davante’s head for all his life, must mean she is either a vampire or from Anfinrud organization. And to connect the dots here with what he sensed from Elois’s lingering presence in his realm and knowing what had happened in the forest that night, along with the foul smell he found on Elois before he got separated from Davante…
There is no other than one person, no, with the help from some others as well, she was able to get to this point and into his mind, a weapon’s mind inside someone else’s mind…
“Don’t be silly, Glert.” She narrowed her eyes with a dark smile, “Me aside, I really wonder how you were kicked out, or are you just hiding in the kid’s mind for your safety? You’re not very innocent after all.”
Evester noticed the dangerous glint in her eyes as she proudly said that last part.
“Work with me.” She whispered, elegantly throwing her glass, which disappeared in the air and went off somewhere else as her seat flew slightly above the floor and went close to Evester. “They will find a way to get to you eventually. While you were the most laidback Ruler in the Rulers Circle, the ‘Happy Youngest’ who hopped from one person to another to chatter and joke in this gloomy world, you were secretly gathering information and looking for all sorts of loopholes and vulnerabilities, weren't you?”
“……”
“You may have failed even more spectacularly than I did, leading you to take refuge in Davante's mind with no recollection of how you got there. But with my assistance, I can restore your memory, and together we can make them regret having been born, thus saving the world from the likes of them.”
“……”
“Glert,” She softly brushed his hair back with her cold hand, “If you still consider yourself merely a weapon, then explain why you look like this now?” At his puzzled look, she lightly waved her other hand, and the large window to their side turned into a mirror instantly. “Take a good look, Glert.”
He calmly turned his head while still looking relaxed and bored in his seat, ‘…so that’s ‘Glert’?’ He stared at his reflection.
A person with long black horns, a long tail, and two bony wings, and his skin looked a bit purple, indicating that the person there was not even human nor a vampire. He looked down at his body, and true, he did not notice when he had changed, or it was simply the woman’s work playing tricks on him. Though, if this was his mind as she said, then she wouldn’t currently have any control over this place. He figured she could only do so much depending on his mind and the memory buried deep in his head or what he viewed her in the past.
“You've already realized that you're separate and different from Davante, and as a result, your actual self is emerging.” She smiled at him softly with her chin resting again on her hand, “Tell me honestly, can you still lie dormant within that kid's mind?”
“Hmm…” He stared long at his dark hands and claws. He quickly adjusted to this alien, powerful body. “I guess this body is pretty cool as well.”
“……”
So, there was one thing that piqued his interest…
He looked at her, and he wasn’t sure why her smile dropped at the sight. Did he have an ugly smile? Well, considering he was apparently a monster not quite as beautiful as her, he could understand if he had hideous sharp teeth or something. He lightly chuckled, and he was not sure if that was more to his thoughts or the situation overall.
“Whether it's Glert, Evester, or Weapon, I just don't have the motivation to necessarily care.” He raised an eyebrow when her seat started moving away, and he calmly stopped it with his long black tail, smiling in delight at possessing a convenient body. “You said you were originally from here, and you died once in that ‘Garbage’…”
There was only one thing that piqued his interest…
He stood up, calmly walked, and towered over her, trapping her in her seat with both hands resting on the handrest. ‘This is inside my mind, indeed.’ He confirmed as she suddenly looked like a trapped rat, none of her previous confidence and elegance was there anymore, and it was because, in his mind now, she was nothing, or perhaps, Glerty the Happy might have looked down on this woman since the beginning.
One thing that piqued his interest.
“You must have an incredible life force in you. Then again, I don’t know how life works in that ‘Garbage’ anyway, but you still have some of your vampire powers, right, Queen Leondra?” He smiled almost gently down at her, “I smelled it, and I still smell it now.”
“What are you trying to say?” Despite the sinister aura that was forming around him, she kept her gaze fixed on him.
He lightly shrugged, “I'm not innocent. You said it. In any way, I'm an undeniably deadly threat. I can feel the power of my realm and more in this body. With this type of power, am I not a walking Nightmare?” He let out a quiet chuckle when her eyes wouldn't stop trembling, yet she still tried to appear cool and collected, confirming his theories about this body's dark power. “I mean, you came to me first. I was minding my business trying to keep my brother safe until he wakes up, so I’m not as mean as you, I believe.”
She stared long at him before closing her eyes, calmly taking a deep breath. Opening her eyes to look softly at him again like a caring sister, “Glert—”
Stab—!
She couldn’t even gasp as his clawed hand pierced through her chest. She kept her wide eyes up at the grinning devil while he explained coolly as if he wasn’t holding a heart in his hand with her dark blood dripping uncontrollably.
“O’ departed sister of mine. You have something that will be of great use to my dear brother.”
“You…bas…tard…”
He held the heart in his palm, squeezing it tenderly before calmly pulling it away from her and staring at it with a cold gleam in his eyes. “Oh my, I never thought I'd be able to find something to strengthen Davante's frail body and heart. This solves my greatest worry.” He said as he shook his hand leisurely to get rid of the remaining dark blood in his hand and the heart.
“Y—You—!” She gritted her teeth as she looked at the monster bringing her heart to his mouth, elegantly tilting his head back.
[https://i.postimg.cc/JzcNjj1X/2.jpg]
He bit with his sharp teeth and gulped the heart neatly and eloquently as if it were a delicious fruit, and his eyelids closed as if he were savoring the taste thoroughly until he was done eating all of it. As her form fell apart, he smiled at her and classily wiped his lips with his finger. “Don’t worry.” Before bidding farewell, he spoke to her in a gentle voice as if consoling her. “Your heart is still physically intact with your body living in the same ‘Garbage’ we share.”
“Goodbye as of now,” He lightly waved at her playfully, “Lady Angela, the Artist Witch.”
He chuckled when her eyes widened at the last second as her identity was found.
Just when she completely disappeared, his surroundings started turning black, and that was when a name strangely came to his mind, “…Oprill?”
Looking down at himself, his body alternated between Evester and Glert as if his mind was conflicted.
“Oprill…was that her true and first name?” But he quickly dismissed the thought about her and focused on going back to Davante.
And everything went completely black for a moment…
He opened his eyes at the sound of thunders and rain reverberating around him, finding himself in a dark warehouse with the gate open.
“…having a murderer in my academy…”
Evester stared up at none other than Kaven Fixsen, standing tall before him with what looked like all the students in the academy standing and gossiping behind him, all looking toward him, some with contempt and some in horror.
Looking down, he found…a dead person in his arms. It felt like he was bathing in a pool of blood as he sat on the floor with Juli, long dead and frozen in his arms.
“…Alvis was the one who got you in my academy, wasn’t he, Dante Gabrielli?”
Came the question from the academy’s president, looking down coldly at him with the two guards on either side ready and awaiting his orders.
One thought: He was finally back.
Another thought: What the hell happened?
And another thought: Is Alvis Iriart in some real trouble because of him now?
Oh, he'd be damned if he ruined the life of the only person Davante thinks of as his uncle (or father)—
-Allow me to explain, sir…
Evester, in Davante’s place, immediately recognized the voice in his head.
It was Yeolard Verick speaking directly to him for the first time.
.
.
“Ugh—!”
Diara tensed as Angela jumped in her place on the same chair she was kept on since her imprisonment and amputation. The Witch's breathing became labored as if she were recovering from a terrifying nightmare for the first time.
“Hah…hah…hah…”
Diara's expression darkened as she gripped her gun more tightly behind her back.
“…you…fucking…little piece of shit…”
Diara considered contacting Armand, as this was the first time their captive had shown any signs of alarm. When the woman abruptly burst out laughing and then became silent, smirking a minute later, Diara stiffened up even more.
“But I’m no fool, sweet little brother…”
Diara frowned as the woman raised her head slightly, speaking to said 'brother' while gazing directly at her. Diara knew the woman was gradually losing her sight due to the continual sedation she was given, yet it felt like Angela's eyes were looking right into hers at that moment.
“…I've also got my own tricks under my sleeve, so…” Angela smiled, her damp hair strewn across her face, looking anything but graceful.
“We’ll meet soon again…our cute deft escapee.”
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The End of CH. 39