'What do you want to be when you grow up?
A hero?
But the world doesn't need a hero, little Aven.
Do you still want to save the world that doesn't care about you?'
—
Aven clenched both fists. His glare sharpened, staring coldly at Elian. "Are you some sort of a mixed human? Zombie? A vampire? I'm taking you to my Guild. Whatever you are, Elian. I need to… I need to…"
To what? Get rid? Of who?
Him? You can't do that. You can't even decide. Pathetic.
A flicker of shame coiled in his chest.
He exhaled slowly, tearing his eyes from Elian just long enough to ground himself. And that's when his mind wandered—to the world he was trapped in.
Stop whining, damnit! He suddenly slammed both palms on his cheeks, rapidly shaking his head, which jolted the members around him.
Elian scoffed at him, examining Aven's distrustful red-faced look, before dusting off the dirt from his clothes. He turned back, taking a few steps away from Aven. "I'm neither what you claimed. You called me a glitch, didn't you. Must have been a system error."
But behind him, the twins stood there, unwavering and staring at him like he just broke their hearts or something.
Sun's eyes were even watery and Moon had her palm tightly pressed on her face, hiccuping. Elian strangely stared at them, one brow raised. The fuck are they crying when my life is in danger here. It's not like I wanted to be claimed. How old are they again?
[Oh, you silly heart breaker.]
[Hehehe. This is pure quality content.]
[Initiating stream…]
[Several Constellations (re)joined minutes ago.]
[Some Constellations are shocked at the scene.]
[One particular Constellation 'Timid Bride Of The West' Is desperately asking for a rewind.]
[Told you It's quality content. You're doing great.]
Elian rolled his eyes at the System. And also a little bit pissed about the constellations acting like they didn't see or know what happened to him after interfering with his scenes. However, he stomached it.
His eyes caught Sun angrily storming towards him. Elian staggered back, a little whimper escaped his lips when Sun gripped his wrist and held it up as if he was caught stealing.
Sun let out a hurt sigh. "Why didn't you accept our claim, hmm? And you're fine with the little arrogant goody-shoes obnoxious Queen, and not me?!"
[The Constellation 'Timid Bride of the West' just spat out blood.]
[The Constellation 'Devil Maker' Is confused.]
[The Constellation 'Timid Bride of the West is arguing with the Constellation 'Devil Maker.']
[A weird bet has been placed on you.]
[Hahahahaha.]
What should I do about these people? I'm not polyamorous. And I'm not into men. And I didn't have the ability to reject then." Elian dead-panned
Also, reminding himself that his own system had sabotaged him by 'disabling' his ability to reject a claim. And I don't think anyone is fine by being owned and used by anyone.
[Heh. Sorry about that.]
"W-well…" Sun continued. HE is also a man! Is he because he looks like a sun-kissed female?! H-he is still a man! There's nothing wrong with me, pawn. I can dress and cry like Moon over there—"
"Hey!" Moon shouted as she wiped her face with a white handkerchief that has an embroidery of a teddy bear eating red jam.
Elian face-palmed. He further dragged his palm across his face. He was exhausted. On one hand was the 'hero' Aven. Hell bent on fixing him and dragging him to his hot-shot Guild to be experimented on and used. Hell no.
On the other hand were two deranged twins that 'likes' him. Probably might kill him off if he becomes useless. But wants him as an asset?
And there's the constellations that find him amusing. But if I'm not doing what they want, they'll mostly either edit the scenes to their taste, or try to manipulate the way out. And I can't say shit.
And my sister is still missing.
Ah… I just wanna eat…
He suddenly felt a shift under his weight, the world tilting upwards. Aven had pushed him down and dragged one of his legs, the other draped on the ground. "Ah! That hurts! The hell are you doing?"
"Taking you back to the guild… And away from the unhinged twins."
"Hey," Sun called. "We had a deal. The pawn is mine!"
"Well, not anymore."
Elian thrashed violently against Aven's grasp. "I am not a TOY!" He gritted his teeth as he turned, twisted his other leg, and kicked Aven in the nuts before making a run for it.
Aven groaned, his face bore the mixture of shock and agony as he tossed and rolled on the ground while gently covering his balls.
Ha. Even an SSS rank does feel pain in there.
If Elian recalled correctly, there are only two biggest world Guilds he knew. He wasn't really into them because back then, he had not gained his class assessment yet.
And one of those guilds— the Black guild only recruits strong black pieces only. He had also heard weird rumors on how they experiment on people with unique abilities to gain whatever that's yet to be disclosed. If they knew about his resurrection skill… and if that rumor was true, he's toast.
The second biggest guild was the Heavenly guild, recruiting only white strong pieces. They were fairly known to uphold old cultures of theirs and quite in control with their members. But somehow… Sun and Moon are here? And unbothered in the slightest, which even made Elian question how those two were in a guild known for their upright attitude…
These two are seriously unhinged. Maybe the pay is good? Of course the pay is good! And the twins are strong too. Maybe an S-rank Knight.
But why aren't the Guild master or whatever… Why are they just... quiet?
Beyond those two Guilds, countless tiny guilds scurried like insects in the dirt. Elian belonged to one of those insignificant, weak guilds. Managing to land a job there as an errand boy even took quite a lot.
Elian spat to the side, arms crossed, stick clutched in white knuckles.
"I'm not going with you to your guild. I don't want to be an experiment."
Aven's face tightened. He hated how much those words stung. The Black Guild had raised him like a weapon— he jolted up, smacking his face again, then dusted himself and acting as if he didn't just roll in the dust. Aven coughed as he stroke his hair with his fingers.
He shot a glare at Elian. "You think you have a choice? That glitching system of yours is dangerous. If you don't get it fixed—"
"Glitch?" Elian barked out a humorless laugh. "Oh, that's rich coming from you. My body's warm, genius. Not cold. Undead my ass. I'm more alive than you are. So stop."
Sun tiptoed as he slung one arm on Elian's shoulder. "Yeah. Stop."
Aven scowled at both of them. Is this guy crazy? "Why can't you just follow me, damnit!"
"Because I don't want to! Oh screww you! Why are you so up in my ass!?"
"Your system has a freaking glitch! You caused a world war, claimed a territory, habouring two psychos and unbothered about how three S-ranks are with you without choking on their aura. Not to talk about how you're in a Rogue pawn protocol and needs to be checked! My system still marks you as an undead pawn!"
Moon leaned on Elian's other shoulder, her mismatched eyes twinkling. "Ohhh~ So our little pawn is special. Maybe…" She grinned wide, sing-song. "He's the King Piece."
The air stiffened. Even Aven was a bit shocked at the reveal.
Elian blinked, glancing at her. "King piece?"
Sun's smile thinned. He twirled a strand of hair. "A King piece. With all the unique traits you own, you might be one. Our King piece. No side has found theirs in 20 years."
"What? I'm not even a—"
"Why did you think we've been playing with you all these while? Think helping you and stopping our plays whenever you say stop was just because?"
Elian's eyes widened. His eyes, however, drooped. At least now… he knows why they were so touchy with him.
Moon's voice cut in, softer, sharper. "And you, Elian… maybe you're it."
Elian barked out a bitter laugh. "Wait. Aren't you two dumb White pieces? Why would you say that I'm your King?"
"No, no, no," Moon wagged her finger. "We're not saying you are. We're saying you might be. But then again…" her eyes darkened, "you could also just be suffering from Fits."
Elian frowned. "Fits? What the hell is Fits?"
"False Origin Syndrome," Aven pitched in as explained smoothly. There was no point trying to drag in someone like this. The least he can do was stall and wait for a member of his guild to come in. Besides, he's tired. And something was clawed in his throat for some odd reason.
He does not want to go back.
"When a white piece kills their doppelgänger and inherits their class, sometimes they can absorb the memories. Rarely, the doppelgänger left behind starts believing they were the original, thinking they're a black piece but they're not."
"However, you're not suffering from Fits. I knew about your family's massacre, remember?"