Inverse System - Chapter 48

Meanwhile, somewhere in the continent of Lomia.

The two who were teleported suddenly found themselves in a prison cell, with no visible means of escape.

“Ow! Wait, that didn’t really hurt that much. Hmm… What just happened?” Xenia asked, bumping her head on the floor on impact.

“We were standing on top of a teleportation pad. It was stupid of me not to notice…” Clyde blamed himself, then looked around.

The cell they were in was about 4×4 meters large, with a barred window at the back, overlooking an ocean, the cell being located atop a cliff. Outside the locked cell door, a black hallway leading into two large grey doors, which appeared to be made out of steel. Clyde tried cutting through the bars, but his attacks were damaging his blade more than the bars. Eventually, he stopped, sitting down to rest on the opposite side of the room to Xenia.

“…”

“…”

They both sat in silence for a while, until Xenia broke the ice.

“Hey… Clyde?”

“Hm?” He looked up at her, straying away from his train of thought. When their eyes met, she averted her gaze out of reflex.

“Oh- ummm. H-how did you cure me? Just what is this ring?” She asked, beginning to fidget with her long, hazel-colored hair.

“That ring was made by a friend of mine, his name is Rein Xilris. I am unsure of how he made it, but it most likely has other unique properties I am unaware of. If you want to thank anyone, save your thanks for him. Compared to his and your brother’s efforts, I’ve done virtually nothing,” he told her.

“That’s not true! Sure, that idiot Quint pushed himself way too hard, and I’m sure your friend, Rein, put a lot of effort into making this… But if it wasn’t for you… I’d still be…” She put her head down and began shivering, Clyde taking notice of the fear that she harbored to her curse.

“You give me too much credit… I was driven by a different motive anyways, I don’t deserve your thanks…”

“Different motive?”

“…” Clyde had a look of sadness and anger on his face, sitting with one arm over his legs.

“Oh, sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked,” Xenia apologized.

“No, it’s alright. Since you asked, I’ll tell you. It’s not like I was purposefully hiding it. I used to be a part of the group of mercenaries that kidnapped you,” Clyde revealed, looking up at her to see her listening attentively, unfazed by his claim.

“Haha, that is not the reaction I was expecting,” Clyde laughed while he looked at her, her not understanding what he meant.

“Hm?” She tilted her head.

“When I was young, I lived in a very large family, in a village that is now wiped off the map. I was the youngest child in a family of 10 children, me being the only boy living among 9 older sisters. My parents, the village chiefs, were incredibly wealthy, as a result making the entire village prosperous. However, beyond that wealth, there was something more. Something my father kept under constant surveillance, in the depths of a high security safe, which was under 24-hour surveillance.

My father spoke about this object like some sort of god, protecting us from all harm as long as we possess it. It was always at the top of his priority, and if anyone ever questioned it, he would verbally curse them. It evidently had mystical powers, as my mother eventually became entranced by the object. To this day, I still do not know what it was.

But that very object, instead of protecting us, brought upon us wrath that we could not defend against. A group of mercenaries were hired to retrieve the object from my father’s possession, who of course, didn’t give it up. The village was ravaged, they left nobody alive. Still, My father refused to give up this object. My father took my mother and me to a bunker inside the village to protect us from the attack.

I watched my sisters, from the safety of the bunker, die before my very eyes. My father didn’t lift a finger to help them, and neither did my mother. I hated how overprotective they were of me. I wished I’d died along with my sisters.

To our dismay, we were eventually found by the group’s leader. His name was Roki the Red. My mother and I watched as he tortured my father for hours and hours, trying to extract the information about the object. We listened to his screams as he writhed in pain. Eventually, he realized that it would be useless to continue. My father wouldn’t talk. So he moved on to my mother.

My mother was just as much a believer in this fake god as my father was, and no matter how much the man tortured her, she didn’t speak either. Roki moved his sights to me, a 5-year-old child. But for some reason, that was the trigger for my father. He begged him not to touch me, and even offered up the location of the object, the thing which he had just endured so much pain to keep hidden.

My mother grew furious at him, cursing him for betraying their god. My father simply sat there and took the words, which were like knives to his heart. Roki agreed to the deal, he would spare my life in exchange for the information. My father handed him the key to the safe, which my mother could not accept. She slit her throat with a sharp object in the room, most likely a shard of glass.

When the man took the key from my father’s hand, my father looked at me, with blood and tears in his battered eyes. He warmly smiled at me and uttered these words. ‘I would never prioritize god over you, my son,’. As he stopped talking, I saw his brains splatter across the floor.

I hated my father with a passion. After those words he uttered to me, I almost wanted to end his life myself. All of that time, he had let the village die, my mother, my sisters, but when it came to me, he threw away all of those sacrifices just to save my life. I was confused, frustrated, and scared all at the same time.

I wanted the nightmare to be over. I wanted time to speed up and never look back. I wanted the cursed day to come to an end. That’s when I awakened to my Spring, the power to slow time. I cursed my fate for giving me this power, I would have to endure the pain ever longer. This became the longest and most painful day of my life.

Roki kept up his end of the deal and made sure I survived. He even took me into his squad so he could keep an eye on me. Naturally, I hated him with a passion, but somehow, even to this day, I feel somewhat thankful to him. Thankful that he ended my father’s miserable life, not to say that I didn’t want to kill him. Every minute I lived, I wanted to kill him. I spent 6 years in his squad, fulfilling various tasks and jobs. Some jobs would be assassination, some would be deception, and some would be simple espionage. I had no choice but to stain my hands to satiate human vengeance. At the age of 11, I had already taken more lives than some worldwide tragedies. I selfishly followed them to ensure my own survival, until I met the man that changed my life.

One day, about a year after the war began, I was given the job to assassinate the ‘Seeking Blade’, who lived on the island of Aj’ess. I had no prior knowledge of who he was, only that he was incredibly powerful. He swatted me away effortlessly, but unlike my intentions, he didn’t take the chance to end my life. He saw the darkness within me and pulled me away from Crypt. He trained me, protected me, and raised me. I owe him my life.

To my surprise, Crypt never came after me. It was almost as if they’d forgotten about me, which I had no qualms with. A few months ago, my master suggested that I become a Ranger, which would give me the freedom to do however I please. Of course, that decision would lead me back to Crypt.

But this time, it wasn’t Roki the red, captain of the stealth squad, but Galo the green, captain of the attack squad. Galo was someone I somewhat looked up to during my time with Crypt. I never sensed any malice from him, and it seemed as though he noble air around him. I was never able to figure out why someone like him would join Crypt, and I usually hung around him when I had any free time, as he seemed to be always dozing off. If there was anyone I missed after leaving Crypt, it was him. Unfortunately, we met again in unfavorable circumstances.”

He looked up at Xenia, who had tears streaming down her face.

“I’m… So sorry…”

“What for?” He said, putting up an unfazed facade to her reaction to his story.

“You gave me this power… I’m gonna use it to help you out!” She said enthusiastically, wiping away her tears.

“Help me out? With what?” he looked at her, confused.

“I dunno, but whatever you need help with, I’ll be there!”

“Are you sure you heard me correctly? I’m a hardened murderer who kills others for his own selfish desires…”

“To hell with that! The way I see it, that’s not who you are now. And it’s only thanks to this unfair world that you got put into that position. In that sense, you’re kinda like me… Just like that Seeking Blade guy was there for you, I wanna do the same. So, if it means anything, I don’t view you as a bad person,” she declared.

“…” Clyde held a face of total shock at the girl, his eyes widened and his mouth gaped open.

“O-oh! Unless of course, you don’t need my help! In which case—” she began fidgeting with her hair again, beginning to blush out of embarrassment before being interrupted, Clyde bursting out in laughter, his eyes beginning to water in tears of joy.

“Thank you for that…” He sincerely smiled, surprising Xenia, as he struck her as the type who never smiled.

A long pause of silence followed until Clyde stood up, prompting Xenia to talk.

“So what now?” She said, continuing to fidget with her long, hazel-colored hair.

“I don’t know… No matter which way I look at it, I can’t seem to find an escape route. Though, it is strange. There are no guards or people around,” Clyde stated as he turned his head to the hallway.

“Hmm, it is weird. What do you think it means?”

“To be frank, I do not know. But judging by the ocean to the north of us, I can safely assume we are somewhere at the top of the continent, facing the northern part of the outer ocean,” he concluded. As he got up on his tip-toes to look out the window, he felt a light graze of water skim his face, followed by a more vigorous rainfall that battered against his skin. He went back to his spot to sit down.

“It looks to be a thunderstorm. I suppose we won’t be going thirsty,” Clyde said as he looked over at Xenia, who physically reacted to the word thunderstorm.

“Th-thunderstorm..?”

“Yes, is there a problem?”

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck, releasing a booming thunder wave that echoed in the jail cell, causing Xenia to curl up into a ball and begin to whimper, shivering from fear.

“Are you afraid of thunder?” Clyde asked, to which she turned her head around and nodded, with small teardrops forming in her eyes.

Clyde silently laughed to himself, then stood up and walked across the room, taking a seat beside the petrified girl.

“I’ve heard that in situations like these, it’s best to have someone near to hold on to,” he said as he sat down, making her face grow red, then grab onto his coat frantically as another bolt of lightning struck.