I didn't reply for some moments and then said calmly, "It could be that I taught you that just to make you understand something certain, something you are ignorant about."
Rayan smiled expressionlessly and looked back toward the piano and began to play as it was resounding like earlier. Some pieces of shadow started to fall from Rayan's face as the shape of his face, along with his entire appearance itself, changed before we could understand what was going on.
As his appearance slowly changed, it revealed a very familiar face to me, no, it revealed the most familiar face to me, the most familiar appearance. The person in front of us playing the piano was none other than Raizel.
I didn't say anything as I knew that from much earlier; I kept my gaze down without showing any sort of expression.
However, it simply surprised the other three of them. A burst of surprise appeared on their faces. Raizel didn't look back toward us even for once, kept playing the piano without a pause, making the music more intent and emotional. Leading it to some meaningless music that can shatter anyone's soul just with its mere presence, with some strange strength.
"R-Raizel? How is this possible?" Maria muttered; she failed to express herself out of surprise, kept her gaze intact on Raizel as she was trembling.
"Raizel, you bastard, how can you do that?" Marco shouted as he removed his surprised emotions from his expression and burst into anger.
"How can you kill your own father?" Marco added as his voice appeared as sharp as earlier.
Neither I nor Elesia raised our voice. I kept my gaze down toward the ground and kept listening to their shouts. I wanted to shout back at Marco, but I didn't. Maybe being ignorant about the reason for Raizel's action was supposed to be something better for me. I just hate myself for being intellectual; I hate myself for being able to figure out the reason for the things Raizel did. Maybe it was something better for me to do; I could've killed him and ended my emotions for him. Why am I able to find that out?
Raizel smiled a bit with his casual empty expression and said, "Marco, you have a piece of doubt about me in your soul, right? No, it's not merely a piece of doubt; it's a storm of hatred."
Marco didn't reply. He kept his gaze down without looking toward Raizel even for once, as he hated to do.
"Raizel, I know you can't do something wrong; I believe in you, I know I can believe you, so please, give me an answer that can remove the doubt that's about to be born in my heart. Please, Raizel, I beg you." Maria said with a broken voice as her tears were trying to break the barrier of her eyes and come out. Her pitiful gaze was locked on Raizel's face as she was entirely waiting for an answer from her soul.
I broke my silence at that moment, let my emotions come out from my blocked soul, and shouted, "If both of you really want an answer, then listen. I will tell you guys; I will tell you everything you want to know."
I began to tell everything from there. While speaking, I found myself lost in thoughts and memories.
Several weeks ago. Following the conclusion of our mission, we left the demon world and reached the secretive world through a magic portal. I was thinking about the things that had happened and trying my best to figure out the things the true spirits might do to bring out their victory over Raizel. After thinking for a few seconds, I reached a conclusion and probability of the things that might happen. However, I never tried to go through the worst possibility that could happen, and that is exactly what happened.
Their main opponent was none other than Raizel, due to his endless will and transcendental nature, which would eventually allow him to overcome the true spirits as well. They weren't really aware of Raizel's weakness, so they decided to do something that could weaken Raizel's will using their intuition. Following their plan, they came to Zeldia and killed Raizel's parents without a second thought.
However, a certain source allowed them to figure out Raizel's weakness and his desperation, his desperation to save Zeldia and keep the world intact without fail. It was none other than Arfanez who passed the information to the true spirits in order to ensure Raizel's mental demise.
To ensure the destruction of Zeldia, that certain true spirit took over the bodies of Raizel's parents and began to prepare themselves to destroy the world. Due to their massive magic power, they couldn't invade the 7th layer. So they manipulated their minds and slowly drove them to death by shattering their mental strength through the sudden presence of an extremely high amount of information, just like the way Maria killed Raya. Their death wasn't casual; it was cruel and terrifying, something that no one would want to experience, no one would want their loved ones to experience.
Following their death, the true spirits took over their bodies and began to prepare for the right time to strike the world into demise. However, along with me, Raizel also managed to predict the things as he checked out the events that happened in Zeldia earlier through a certain magic spell and witnessed the cruel death of his parents. I don't know how he felt, but he didn't show any expression, didn't inform any of us about that.
And then he met the person in shadow who tried to drive him toward his death and took him away from the secretive world. As we returned to Zeldia with the news of his death, that certain true spirits kept their act as Raizel's parents without fail.
Even though I was aware of all this, I couldn't help but keep the things hidden. I know I can protect myself from them, but Marco, Maria, and Elesia can't survive the mind-wrath of the true spirits, which would eventually drive them to their demise, just like Raizel's parents.
To ensure their survival, I prepared them for the true spirits through the ritual and the retainers' magic power. However, even after that, I was waiting for Raizel to arrive and let him do the things he did. After returning to Zeldia as Rayan, Raizel managed to remove the dominance of the true spirits over his mother's body and allowed her to sleep in peace for eternity. However, he couldn't remove the control of the true spirits over his father's body. Due to being related from the root, he couldn't kill him with his magic power. So he predicted our actions and planned the things that happened earlier.
Raizel lost his parents, his guardians. Still, he couldn't express his emotions; he couldn't cry with all his heart. To everyone else, he is a madman, he's a soulless bastard, he's an emotionless piece of crap. But to me, I don't know. But no matter what, I could never hate him. Because it's Raizel that's doing all this; it's nothing but a false layout.
After listening to the things that happened to Raizel, the three of them didn't speak, even for once. Even someone like Maria with such a soft heart couldn't cry. What was the reason? Are they emotionless? Or could it be that the story froze them? Did their emotions shatter their capability to express their sadness, freezing them like that? I don't know the answer.
Following that, we returned to Zeldia. Everything was running as always in Zeldia. But something became empty; the house of the Edward family became empty, making Raizel lonely once again.
Night fell in Zeldia. Raizel went to the top of the tower and drove himself into a sea of countless thoughts, drove himself into a sea of questions without the concept of an answer. A wave of wind began to flow there as the flow scattered Raizel's deep red hair all around his face.
I was nothing more than a witness there. I was merely a reader; I was a useless reader who can only hope for something good to happen, but nothing else, nothing else at all.