I felt as if the world crashed down over me as Evellyn said those words.
You stole the body of the Kurt from this world’s version.
’I... Killed him... To be here?’
But before I could even get Evellyn’s response, the system itself answered it, to my utter shock and horror.
[THE SUBJECT IS TELLING THE TRUTH]
My heart began beating faster, and I felt like panicking. But somehow, just a second later, I felt as if something was holding my heart and calming it down.
[PLAYER’S HEART RATE STABILIZED]
[FEELINGS OF ANXIETY AND PANIC REMOVED]
WHAT?!
I didn’t have control over my fear anymore?
But that made me realize one thing that I didn’t while I was panicking.
"But... I’m not a [TRAVELER] like you, my class has nothing to do with traveling."
"That’s because you didn’t come here through Infinite Consciousness." Evellyn took a step back going up one step on the staircase.
She was at my height, looking at me.
"I don’t know what kind of ability you have, but it helped you travel here for a reason."
The thought that crosses my mind made me a bit anxious, but the system issued the same message from before, and less than a second later, I felt no discomfort anymore.
I felt as if the system was helping me become insensitive to fear, panic and anxiety.
It felt good, but at the same time it didn’t, and I couldn’t explain why, but I asked away, out loud.
Despite what Evellyn would think.
"System, are you able to unseal abilities?"
I remembered the first time we met, me and Evellyn, and the way she seemed able to look at my system window.
[YES]
"I don’t recall asking what ability you have. Is it this... System?"
I took a few seconds to answer.
"I don’t know if I can say yes or no to your question. This system is something like a tool, but it already tried to double cross me a few times, and it almost got me killed, if it wasn’t for you... Helping me awaken. But..."
"Yes?"
Her eyes looked curious and eager, excited even. Like she wanted to tell me something, but expected me to arrive at the conclusion by myself.
"You said you kissed me for my awakening. But you kissed me ’after’ I almost died underwater. How’s that so?"
She smiled.
"I said I kissed you, yes. But did I say that it was ’that’ kiss that awakened you?"
I froze, looking at her and feeling the frown grow over my face.
"Then... What do you mean?"
She sat on the stair steps, looking in front of her. But her eyes were looking far beyond anything in the staircase.
Far beyond this world.
And she had a longing smile on her face.
"We had a three week flame in that version of the world, and I never been so happy. We were born in different years, and you were younger than me, but still, you were so nice. Born with everything, stripped out of everything because you didn’t awaken, you met Nikolai and started working for him in his guild as an accountant. He was an awakened and became a wielder there, but I knew you had something he didn’t. That no one did, actually..."
She paused, and I looked at her, asking what it was with my eyes.
"Fate."
"Fate?"
"Yes. You’re the son of Octavius Blake, the man who created the Dawn guild, a spiritual successor to the ’real’ Dawn guild. The first one."
"And why is he so important? I know he’s famous and all, but I still don’t get it. Why him, of everyone else?"
"KURT?!" I heard Nikolai’s voice from downstairs, going up in a frantic speed.
"YES?"
Evellyn looked away, and I wished that Nikolai didn’t interrupt us then.
But his news sent me in another spiral of curiosity.
"Johan talked. And there’s a call for Silence, from a man who claims to know about his weapons. He said it was extremely important that Silence contacted him, because he has information about the New Dawn and something else that he could only disclose with you. I mean... with Silence. Did I say too much?" He looked awkward.
"No." I laughed, but got up instantly. "She knows, after all, she’s going to help stop the attack at our school."
"Attack? New Dawn is going to move and you’re planning against it? Where do I sign up?" Yuri’s voice came from the flight below.
We waited for him to show up, and he looked curious about what I said.
I already noticed that his hook was violence against the Association, and I didn’t even need to know his reasons, as long as he didn’t turn on us.
"Evellyn is charged with the planning, I need as many help as I can get, since I won’t be able to be there myself." I answered, serious. "And now, it seems I must get going, but first things first. What did Johan say?"
Yuri’s expression turned grave as he spoke.
"He said that the sealing device runs on an unidentified red crystal, and the only one who knew its source-"
"Was Octavius." I didn’t let him finish, looking at Evellyn.
"That’s what I was telling you before Nikolai and Mr. Semenov arrived." She looked at us with darkness in her eyes. "Octavius is so important because he found a use for the Calamity’s fragments."
I couldn’t speak, it was too ludicrous to believe, but still it made sense.
The red crystal Quintus told me to steal from father, the crystal I stole from him before his death.
It all made sense.
"Nikolai, get me in touch with the person you told me about. And fetch a room for Evellyn, we still haven’t finished our talk, I’m going to talk with this guy and get everything sorted up as soon as I’m back."
"But..." Nikolai frowned. "Are your weapons that important?"
I couldn’t answer his question straight forward.
"Just think about it, Nikolai. I didn’t have any money on me, I’d forsaken my family’s name to the extent of being hunted down by my father’s subordinates, you’re the only person, aside from your father, who can put your hands on first-class equipment. Right?"
Both Nikolai and Yuri shrugged.
"Pretty much."
"So, you can see the point, right?"
Both father and son fell silent and exchanged glances, shrugging.
They looked so much like a loving family that I couldn’t not ask myself who was lying, but I had to ask them for the skill to work, and it wasn’t the time for that.
So I just nodded at them, and took Nikolai by his elbow.
"Where do I meet him?"
"How did you know he left an address?"
"He talked about the weapons. He wouldn’t be so indifferent about topic. He knows what it means, so he wants to talk about it as soon as possible. I just have to know why and who he is. Because..."
Because no one’s supposed to know about anything related to the system, unless I told them. And Nikolai was the only person who knew about it in its entirety.
"Because it has to do with that system of yours?" Nikolai lowered his voice.
I nodded.
"I see. He said he’s waiting for you in the woods, at the place you had your first raid."
I stopped on my tracks when Nikolai said those words.
Not a living soul knew about the place.
Not even Nikolai.
"He’s not gonna see me coming, that’s too suspicious to be something good. You said he’s already there?"
"Yes, it seems like he’s still waiting for you."
"I’ll be going, then."
I turned to leave and Nikolai wished me luck, but when he turned to wave at me, I was already using [SHADOW WALK] to leave without being noticed.
I went to my room, grabbed the mask, and left the building, which was more and more looking like a guild headquarters as the days went by.
In the streets, billboards showed edits from the videos where Silence performed his ruthless violence against the righteous members of the Association.
"So the Association and the news approve of the violence the monitoring division use against regulars?" I heard one person asking another while walking by.
"I imagine what Silence would do if he was face to face with the president of the Association. Can he take down an S+ ranked wielder on his own?" And things like that.
The opinions were still a bit divided, but they’d all find out the truth.
In time.
***
When I arrived at the park, the smell of the woods the memory of trees, lizards, vultures and nightmares, but I wasn’t there to reminisce.
I had something to do, so I slapped my face and started looking, after activating [ABSOLUTE SILENCE].
And when I walked a little longer, arriving at the very tree where I opened the Gate to the [HIDDEN NEST], he was there.
And my heart pounded in my throat as I saw him.
My [ABSOLUTE SILENCE] fell off immediately and my eyes went as wide as they could go.
"Orkas?"