3. The House without Time (2)
"The house without… time?" Adela tilted her head, seeming to be perplexed by his words.
"In short, it is the alternative reality that is separated from the one you live in. The time here is stagnant and doesn't move much compared to the place you came from." The man said, getting up from the ground as he patted off the dust on his cloak.
"That… really exist?" Adela didn't seem to be convinced by his brief description about this place. However, the man shrugged his shoulders as he trudged wearily through the darkness, dragging his tired body to move forward.
Hesitating for a bit, she strolled beside him as she was still scared about this place.
"You should prepare yourself. With your current body and experience, you would be nothing but a meal for those beasts." The man said, seemed to not be bothered by her following him around.
'But do I really have the ability to do that?' She scoffed herself inwardly. She couldn't imagine fighting or at least running away from those horrendous things she recalled in her memories.
"But… how did I even get here?" She asked, feeling relief as he didn't have any ill intentions.
However, there was no reply from the man for a while and Adela didn't push it any further. The two of them wander in the dark with only a dim light from the lantern. But the atmosphere between them seemed to be at ease.
"You can call me Veilhem." The man in the cloak added.
Adela nodded and inquired, "Then Mr.Veilhem, how long have you been here? This place seems to be…" she looked around and there was nothing to do or to see.
"Quiet and peaceful enough for one to lose one's mind." He cut in and finished her sentence.
"...Then isn't this a perfect place to stay?" Her voice became smaller at the end to the point it couldn't be heard clearly even in the silence this place was.
Being devoured by the grievance and sorrow as she was, she didn't have any will to live on anymore. What purpose would it serve after all?
Adela was glad that Veilhem didn't say anything. She thought of her life as nothing but a rope that was at its end so that it wouldn't matter if she died out there or rotted in this place without anyone knowing.
—sigh—
A heavy long sigh left Veilhem's mouth as he turned his gaze toward Adela. He removed the cloak and revealed behind the shroud was a black armor with mechanical parts here and there. However, they looked too old and rusty to be in use.
He is a black knight covered in dried blood, a reverse crucifix symbol was carved on his cheek's helmet. One of his eyes was burning in yellow amber, containing the madness within it.
Adela subconsciously gulped down as she looked at him. She couldn't quite see the face behind the helmet but the yellow eye behind his helmet exuded a faint thread much like those who long have lost their sanity.
"Do you resent those beasts, who have destroyed your life and torn it to shreds?" Veilhem asked, however, his tone was serious.
Adela, on the other hand, didn't know what to say. It would be a lie if she said she didn't have a grudge for them but more than that, she hated her useless and incompetent more than that. Unknowingly to her, she bit her lower lip tightly and her eyes well up with anxiety and self-mocking.
"You are just like me and that makes me feel… ill to the point I want to puke." Veilhem uttered.
"However, unlike me, you have something left to choose. You are a singularity in this world, an abnormal entity that will rouse this era."
"Whether you destroy everything or save it, it's within your choice."
"Rather than that, those wretched bastards would be happier if you could end this Age of Decay."
"I… don't quite understand." Adela tilted her head cutely.
He snapped his fingers and a flickering flame emitted on his index finger, although feeble.
"Let's think simple, like this fire right here, the world is at its end. The fire will fade sooner or later due to its lack of fuel, it is a matter of fact. So call the world, nothing can change it, not even the Three Great Kings."
"And that is where you come in this formula." Veilhem pointed at her.
"Say… do you believe in fate, in the so-called gods?" He added.
"No." She answered without hesitation and somewhere deep inside her heart, an anger kindled as if his question had touched her wound in her heart.
"What kind of God wouldn't be concerned about their people even when they were slaughtered!? For most of my life, I prayed for them and when I needed them the most, what did they answer?!"
"Nothing…" She knew that it wasn't right to let her emotions take over and displayed her hatred of this topic. But she couldn't just turn a blind eye either, she was nothing but an imbecile to believe in such things.
She wanted to be calm and collected but this time, she couldn't even if she tried her best. She didn't know what made her to be like that. Anger? Resentment? Or perhaps the pity the man in front of her showed to her?
"I will never again put my trust in something that doesn't exist." She turned around, hiding her twisted expression. For a while, none of them said anything and thus, the comfy between them became awkward.
"I know…" The black knight sighed to her words instantly which instantly got on Adela's nerves.
"You know… hahaha. And what did you know?" She glared at him, her anguish showed clearly on her face despite her best effort to suppress it. "You know nothing… Stop showing that you care about me. After all, we just met each other." She gave him a hostile glance and clenched her fist.
Suddenly, he extended his hand and stroked Adela's hair with caress but it only made the hatred in her explode.
"You are just like me…" he said.
"Do you know that every fucking day I pray to Gods, hoping that they will save my soul? Our outsider's souls?!"
"I hate you! I fucking hate you!" She shouted that but deep inside she hated herself more than anything, she hated this impotent feeling, this uselessness. She slammed her fist into him and in return, he just endured it without saying anything.
"How can you talk like you know anything about me?!" She let out a low cry.