CHAPTER 43 - THE MAN BEHIND THE VEIL
"Alea! Aya! Where are you two?"
My eyes scanned everything around me but nothing else was visible, something alive, moving like I was. Hearing was useless as well, since no sound ever came back to me. Touch was complicated. A single touch of what I thought was solid turned to liquid, even touching that made it to steam.
"What the hell is going on?"
With my enhanced senses, the light that was around me still was dim, like a candle during a rainy storm.
I tried to ignite mana in my hand but was a failure in doing so. Instead, I called for both of my weapons but again, nothing came.
Irritated by my failure to conjure even the tiniest of spells, I activated the power bestowed by me.
"I knew it."
Before I could grasp my own overwhelming power, a deep and sinister voice came out. I jolted and stepped back two meters from the voice previously behind me. Ready for what I had thought was a Retainer or even a Scythe.
Yet, the figure stood high above me with a terrifying aura around it. The silhouette had a pair of horns that reminded me of antlers that deers have.
"The one who had Draneeve shaking with fear and anger, was nothing more than a mere boy. Pathetic, truly. For an instant I had thought it was King Grey who had figured out my plan but I was mistaken."
The shadow came into light, revealing a tall handsome man with pale and smooth grey skin. A muscular build, red eyes, with black hair. A ring came from the cave but I didn't know what it was, until I strayed my eyes from him and to the top where his spear-sharp antlers colored black. He had decorations around his horns like something to be proud of, the several golden-yellow and grey rings wrapped around the many prongs, being bejeweled with delicate chains.
With his hands in his pocket, walking around with a nonchalant expression brimming from his pale face, he said, "So then, boy, what is your name? I am dying to know who dares to not only threaten but also wipe my spies with little to no witnesses."
His red eyes stared at mine for a moment before he turned his back to me. Consisting in a dark grey jumpsuit guided by a black cape under a black armor-like piece of collar that reveals its chest with golden-yellow lines and a red diamond on it.
I knew who it was. But my mind played games with me.
"Why are you here?!" My tone betrayed me, letting him know that I was confused but more concerned.
The man behind the veil took minutes before answering, more like he didn't after the gaze he had given me earlier, it seemed he had lost interest. That was good, he would leave this place without harming me or the Lances.
"That was not the question I was ready for. Still your tone and the way you're on the defensive, you must know things that Lessers shouldn't know about." A smirk arised from his face, his hand on his chin like he was planning something.
I can't get a read on him. Neither in the novel nor now in person. Much less when his aura is suffocating me even though I am on the solid yellow stage.
Now that I think about it, was there anyone who had a read on Agrona's mind?
"How about you ask Ji-Ae, maybe she might have the answer you might be looking for."
Instantly, in the moment, without me seeing his movement towards facing me. Seeing only his eyes suddenly appear in front of me like only the red irises existed in this dark grey world.
"Fascinating, not only do you know about Ji-Ae but you also have other secrets, don't you boy?" This time, Agrona smiled in a menacing way. The corner of his lips reached his ears, showing me a full smile that would bring terror to me in the future. "It seems that my trip to this filthy continent wasn't for naught."
A long arm wrapped in black with lines of grey was heading towards me. Yet before it even got close, I activated my power.
A cold and hot sensation covered my chest, perhaps my sternum or even my core, and still I felt normal to some extent. A weird feeling of my arms and legs crept on me, the small sensation that there were strings inside my limbs and made me conscious of them. It was an awkward feeling when I moved, like I was a puppet of a play that someone orchestrated. Along with that, when I walked away from Agrona, I felt small debris hit my body as I went on. At first it was similar to a mist of water hitting you and engraving into your clothes making them wet. But as time went on, literal seconds, I experienced the unexpected.
Another connection.
Somewhere around me or this dungeon was someone with the same power as me and I could feel them, sense their presence.
'You've finally…'
A soft and yet powerful voice entered my ears. I turned to everything, to every side and angle, hoping to see that familiar voice.
However, all I found was a grey creature with dark cladded armor, red eyes and ram-shaped horns standing just in front of me like a statue.
I gritted my teeth, tasting the metallic cold liquid in my mouth not being able to control my anger. "Cadell."
A voice of hatred left my mouth. I was ready to deactivate my power but with Agrona here, everything becomes unnaturally on his side. His plans and calculations are on another level of understanding for me as a reader and not someone with pure talents in strategies or prowess.
The best choice was to be far from them, just to know what they want. Aya and Alea should be here somewhere… Wait! That voice that was pleading for help!
Being far from both enemies of which I couldn't underestimate at a single glance ro second, I instinctively tried to preemptively send mana into the dimension rings and reach for my weapons.
When I deactivated my power, the whole world, this dungeon and every living thing around began to shine with their respective colors.
I have escaped that world…
"Oh Cadell, you are back?" Agrona, who had been confused by my sudden disappearance, brushed it off as something he was expecting me to do.
"Yes, High Sovereign. We found another and acted on your orders."
My attention fully turned to them, I held dearly and tightly the two swords given to me by the blacksmith that had polished them before I took this unreasonable Quest. "You still haven't answered my question, Agrona. What the fuck are you doing here in Dicathen?!"
Cadell slowly turned to me with confusion like his lord and stared at me like I was some type of ghost haunting him. "Tell me boy, how are you still alive?"
"To hell with your question! Answer me Agrona, what the hell are you doing here? I won't ask three times."
"Oh, bold and courageous are we now? But also an idiot who drowns himself in heroic dreams that overlap his reality just to make him feel better about himself and the decision he makes." The man stretched his arms wide to his sides, before continuing. "If only you knew that the world doesn't revolve around you. There are much bigger things and civilizations in this world that are worth hundreds times more than you lessers here."
That's his stupid habit, to explain and humiliate those in front of him. Asuras and their stupid thoughts that lace their pride and ego to higher lengths.
"What should I do with him, my lord?"
Agrona without a second to waste flicked his hand like he was disposing of me. "Let him be. He's nothing more than a Lesser. His plans or doings won't amount to nothing. Sooner or later he will self-destruct right in front of our eyes."
The Scythe nodded in understanding before pulling out a portal device for his lord to pass through. Yet, before he entered on his own, he left me with a piece of his mind, "I will kill you next time we see each other, boy."
"I promise you that you will pay for what you've done to Sylvia."
Those were the last words exchanged as we both went our separate ways.
UPDATE: The schedule for these upcoming chapters will be on Sundays and if not Mondays at 8 am for better timing and convenience for both the readers and me. Until next time...
Sincerely; GentleLord.