Chapter 37: The Price of Salvation

Avrie was circling around the Black Sun, trying to fully comprehend its design and uncover the secrets of how it worked. But while she was having the time of her life. It wasn’t the same for her comrades.

Elpis had not moved one bit from his position, still looking carefully over Avrie in case anything happened. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t bored; he was just too disciplined to show that he was.

But no one was like him. Aether was a prime example, who, out of boredom, had made his own little place out of chairs and was resting like he hadn’t just fought a harbinger not far from where he was standing.

But he couldn’t sleep, not even close his eyes one bit. Even if he wanted to do so, it was like someone was constantly keeping him awake with thoughts.

His whining echoed throughout the chamber, irritating Avrie bit by bit, but not only by him, Elpis too, since he had started to scold Aether. And that Fool, being himself, didn’t listen one bit to the knight.

She couldn’t concentrate one bit.

She turned to them, with a fake smile on her face, one that disguised the burning fire inside of her.

“It’s going to take some time until I figure out how they kept it going on for this long, so you guys go and find something that would help me.”

They had both stopped fighting to listen to Avrie, but their reaction to her order was mixed.

Elpis had kept his calm expression, not paying Aether one bit of attention anymore, and nodded at her request.

Aether, instead, was sitting with his jaw wide open at her request, as if he couldn’t believe the little witch was ordering him around. Of course, usually he wouldn’t have minded doing it, he was already bored, and her request was acually something he wanted to do.

’But not with him!’

He wanted to reject, but he didn’t, because he was too embarrassed to do so. Elpis had accepted, meaning that if he said no, because he didn’t want to do it with him, it would look as if their hate was one-sided to Avrie; he alone would look like a bad guy.

So with his tail between his legs and his pride screaming at him, he nodded.

And that was how The Knight and The Fool had found themselves working together.

Most of the place had already been searched, but there were some thing still some things left to see. Like the rest of the rooms in the dormitory.

So that was the first thing they scoured, using Elpis’ light to look at darker places, but there wasn’t really that much, just the same bed, wardrobe, and desk. The same unreadable notes.

But what was worse was the silence between them; neither of them wanted to speak a word to the other. It was a sudden death of who would put their dignity down and initiate a conversation.

After leaving the dormitory, there was still one more room left to see, but they didn’t have that much hope in finding anything inside.

’A waste disposal room.’

Inside was exactly what he had thought there would be.

Things like: food, broken glass, burned clothes, bags everywhere, there were also crates that he didn’t know that they held, but since it was with the rest of the waste, there was nothing special about them.

But he still decided to open one up, and to his expectation, it was filled with leftovers and unimportant things.

Why had they even agreed to this? Of course, the only place where there would be information was the observation well, and they had already gotten everything from there. That was that; there wasn’t any elsewhere.

Aether crouched, digging through old food wrappers and charred uniforms, the stench of rot and rust thick in the air. Behind him, Elpis stood motionless, eyes fixed on him.

“Why are you here, really?”

Aether paused for a second, closing the crate and turning to Elpis with a mocking grin.

“Haven’t I told you to save the world!”

Elpis scoffed, which was one of the first times he had seen anything slip from his knighthly behaviour, but that wasn’t the end.

He had a big frown on his face, and his eyes didn’t hold that conviction anymore, but hate, which made Aether stagger a bit, worrying for his life. But that thought quickly left him.

“That won’t happen! I won’t let it happen!”

Elpis slammed his fists into the wall, creating a big hole in the concrete.

“You figured it out already, I know you, I’m sure you did. You know the sacrifices needed to be made, poor human lives will be lost, and I don’t want that to happen. I don’t care how many must suffer for my selfishness, but I won’t let you do it!”

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, knowing that he wasn’t so much of a knight at the moment, but he didn’t care. Even the proudest knights have their limits when it comes to Fools.

“What, do you think you’re the first? I’ve seen many just like you, all cocky, thinking nothing bad can happen.”

His tone hastened; it had become rougher, like he didn’t care to protect anyone anymore, he didn’t care if his word hurt him, he wanted to be heard.

“But it does! Everything goes wrong, and human lives,”

His voice cracked.

“Innocent human lives are lost because of idiots like you!”

Aether didn’t respond; he just stared at the ground, listening to his words, his fists clenched tight. After his jabbering, he raised his eyes and stared into Elpis’s eyes; his eyes held a calm aura, but it was just a cover over what was hidden inside him at the moment.

“You…”

His brows pulled together so sharply that it was as if they could cut his skin. A faint tremor ran along the corner of his mouth, not from fear, but from restraint. His eyes stayed fixed, unblinking, as though looking anywhere else might make him lose control.

“You know nothing about me.”

His voice was calm, gentle, and defensive. But he knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold it for long.

His jaw tightened, lips pressed into a hard line, the tendons in his neck standing out like drawn bowstrings.

His gaze sharpened; it no longer looked as if he were looking at an ally, but someone he hated.

A pulse flickered at his temple, his blood rushing faster and faster through his body.

“You don’t know one thing about me. So what gives you the right to say who I am?”

The lines of his face deepened, shadowed in the emergency light.

His nostrils flared, breath dragging in through clenched teeth.

And his fists tightened even more, shaking from the force he was putting inside, but he didn’t even know; he didn’t feel a thing, not even when his blood had started to come out.

“I don’t care one bit for saving the world; it doesn’t deserve my protection.”

His tone had intensified, as if all his emotions had come out all at once. He didn’t even recognize his own voice.

“And I don’t care about spilling human lives if it helps me get home. For all I care, you could all die, and I wouldn’t mind if that got me home.”

He paused for a second, and then another, breathing heavily, gasping for air at this point.

His anger had dimmed, leaving him in a mess, like his body was trying to figure out what to do next. His hands were bleeding, shaking drastically from his outburst.

He frowned one last time and pushed one of the crates, only to find a hole hidden under it.

The air became heavier as the smell of rot covered the room.

They both covered their noses, intoxicated by the smell of death.

With Elpis coming to use his light to see what was down the hole, they both paled as they saw something they never expected to see in this place.

It was a monster, one that looked similar to Chaos, meaning it was taken from the forest.

With the tension still grand between them, they didn’t dare look into each other’s eyes, but they agreed to jump down.

Inside, the smell only intensified, almost making them sick.

But the sight was even more horrifying.

The room was filled with these kinds of monsters; some were lying on the floor dead, while others were resting in some kind of tubes, filled with some kind of liquid, and with frost growing on the glass, but they still looked alive.

In the middle of the room, a note rested.

As Aether saw it, he rushed over to it, brushing the dust off of it.

“Our First Success.

This marks the 14th day here in Downspire, and after a gruesome amount of attempts, we have done it, we have created a core good enough to resume time! This is the biggest discovery of mankind, you hear me?

With this… sun, that was what we decided to call these powerful cores, we’ll be able to finally defeat the Queen.

I was a bit unsure when I heard the others talk about fuelling it with Abyssal creatures, but it seems they were right. There is no other way than this; nothing else would cut it.

It did have a side effect, though; it has turned black, well, nonetheless, it’s still a success.

I just don’t think that just Abyssal creatures will be enough to create a sun powerful enough to serve as a core for the whole world.

Plus, I’m not sure there will be enough to feed it every once and a while to keep it burning.

But be sure, we will find a way, no matter how many lives it takes, after all, we are not The Children of Praise for nothing.

— J.

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