5 a blind promise

During one of his combat training classes, Careth remembered vividly the criticisms he had, of one which was moving like a worm. His blocks and parries were weak, his strength futile, and when he moved he always swayed from one side to the other, as though having malfunctioned inertia.

Right now, Careth felt as though the harsh words of Chief Daughberg, his trainer, was coming to life. He crawled like a worm, squeezing himself into the metal vent and inching painfully slowly. Fortunately Merry went in first, or else it would take hours for them to move to and fro the vent.

Her shoes nearly kicked him square in the face multiple times, but Careth avoided them by estimating the distance in which she would use her leg to further push herself inside. For some time, the children did not talk, instead they concentrated all their effort into worming through the oblong passageway that stank of kerosene.

"I see light. I think we reached the room."

Merry unscrewed the cover with the tool Careth had brought, placing it aside and looked down. It was a fair drop, not too high that it would cause casualties, but high enough to wake up a grown man.

"Is there anything near the vent?" Careth questioned, out of breath. "A bookcase, lamp, or anything that can sustain your weight before landing on the floor."

She scanned the room and found her target. "There's a coat rack. I can use it as a platform; it's within my reach too." She turned to him, declaring confidently, "Careth, I believe in you."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Really? Even I can make that jump."

Merry smirked as she hooked the rack with her leg and slipped down, using the object as a support before hitting the ground as soundlessly as possible. She positioned the rack so Careth could have an easier time getting down and scouted her surroundings: they were in front of a study desk, which littered with papers and had the odour of ink. A tall bookshelf was right beside it, less packed than the ones at the library, but still in abundant amount of reading materials. Across the room was another door, ajar, that seemed to lead into the master's sleeping area.

She heard a light thump! and swiveled around to find Careth landing on his backside. He winced in pain as she laughed, clamping her mouth to prevent making too much noise. Careth glared at her and got up modestly.

"Excuse me. Oh! That narrows down our searching." He approached the bookshelf, skimming through the books. After a moment, he gasped excitedly. "It's here!"

Merry rushed to his side as Careth pried the book titled 'Willdyer Records from X107' open, flipping through the pages at inhuman speed. He glanced through the profiles of previous heirs, looking out for their specialties, contributions, and the word 'Blessed'.

But as he went from one page to another, he felt an ominous sensation creeping up his chest. It latched onto him, dragging his heart down further and further and drowning it in a pool of despair, suffocating him. He held onto his rationality as he continued scanning through the pages, which was getting thinner and thinner on the tips of his fingers.

Merry saw his reaction and swallowed, afraid to speak. She was as nervous as him and when he closed the book, she asked, "What did you find?"

He looked at her, his ever strong demeanour cracking as he croaked, "They're all Blessed."

__

None of them spoke to each other when they returned. Merry hesitated to comfort him, as she didn't know what to say—her friend was going to die, all because he was not born Blessed. Her words were stuck in a lump in her throat as Careth sank on his bed.

She went in front of him, kneeling down to get a look at his face. Careth's head drooped, his hair disheveled from their journey back and it hid his painful expression like a curtain.

Slowly, a tear stained his pants, then another, and soon he was sniffling and Merry embraced him tightly.

"I don't want to die," he choked, gripping Merry's dusty shirt in anguish. "It's not fair. Why did I try so hard for all this time? It's all for nothing anyway! None of my efforts will be rewarded!"

Anger, sorrow, and hopelessness swirled inside of him, coagulating and forming a miserable feeling that expressed in the form of his silent sobs. Merry stroked his back, encouraging him to spill out his tangled emotions, as his thin string of rationale can only sustain his emotional weight for so long.

After a while, Merry let go to check up on his face. Careth was a still blubbering mess, but he made effort to muffle his cries. He looked at her, auburn eyes desolate of will, a lost soul.

"I'm scared, Merry." He said softly.

She nodded and said, "I would be scared too. But we still have to think of something. I'm not letting you leave just like this." She gripped his shoulders, her voice stern and determined. "We can come up with a plan. Whatever we do, I will make sure that you stay alive. I promise."

Careth scoffed and shrugged her off. "Don't say that. Don't make a blind promise! You don't even know if you can keep it."

"You don't know that either," she said, taking a seat beside him. "But one thing for sure is that I'll do anything I can to help you. I don't want you to be gone, Careth. I'll do anything to stop that from happening."

"I'm afraid it's not that easy," he retorted. "Father probably knew about this. The servants, the maids, the guards, heck, I'm the only one who was kept in the dark! They all knew, and no one bothered to tell me, much less help me!" He turned to her, hysteria gleaming in his eyes. "I must've looked so stupid to them. A boy so full of himself, with great ambitions and whatnot, when in actuality his fate with death has already been decided since he was born. Haha, hahaha!"

"Careth!" Merry exclaimed, attempting to grab his wrists, but he flicked her off sharply.

"...did you know?" He asked in a low voice.

She shook her head fervently. "No. I didn't know about it."

Careth examined her reaction, studying her, then relaxed his shoulders. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to doubt you, but—" he planted his face into his hands, muttering, "but I really don't know who to trust now."

"It's fine. It's only logical you would think that way," Merry comforted, putting a hand on his shoulder. "But please don't think this is the end. We're already capable of sneaking out, and managed to return successfully without raising any suspicion. With more planning and thinking, we can definitely come up with a way to save you. Until then, don't give up on it, okay?"

Her words were empty, with no substance or evidence at all, but it still made Careth feel much less hopeless. He gathered himself and looked at her, faith restoring in his heart. "All right. I won't."

—

Underground life was something Rian never thought he would get used to. At first, it was like living inside a giant coffin, but instead of a corpse holding onto stalks of marigolds, Rian was very much alive and kicking and had a grand view of the same kind of flowers. It was the silence that was rather difficult to adapt to, as no sound could propagate out, nor be transmitted in. But even so, he kept himself entertained by watching the events unfold in front of the window, which was actually a vision window that had the ability to broadcast what was going on in the manor in real-time.

Lonely as he may be, he never thought of himself as pitiful. He much enjoyed the life under, as he had came to accept the fact that the world above will always be full of noise and deceit, of people in masks hiding their conceit.

Especially, especially the townspeople.

And that's why when he heard a knock on the door at such an ungodly hour, answered it and saw the person before him, he couldn't help but to laugh.

"Well well, what do you want, miss Merry?"

She wasn't amused. Merry folded her arms, glaring at him with every ounce of effort she still had. "I need to talk to you."

"At this hour? It's way past your bedtime," Rian noted, but she stormed in regardless. The young man shrugged and closed the door, turning to face his uninvited guest.

Merry cleared her throat. "Firstly, he's not here. So don't bother if you're trying to hide anything from me. Secondly, tell me who you really are, and what you are trying to do with Careth."

Rian sauntered around the room, going from the kitchen to pour himself some lemongrass tea and then towards his study table where he took a seat. He sipped on the drink nonchalantly. "My name is what I have introduced myself as. As for Careth, I'm just...giving him a heads up on what's bound to happen."

The girl approached him, slamming her fist on the table, causing the tea to spill and stain some sheets of paper. Rian frowned.

"Giving him a heads up? You bloody petrified him! He's shaken and how do you expect him to carry on like it's nothing?"

"Oh, I know. I just saw." He pointed to the vision window, to which Merry scowled at. "And I witnessed you lying to him too. Makes me wonder—who's really the bad guy here?"

Merry clenched her fists, but she couldn't deny. "I will make sure he gets out alive. I swear on it."

"Of course you will. You need him to be alive. Otherwise it's going to turn out pretty bad for you right?" Rian produced a cloth from under his table and wiped the sheets, sneering. "If Careth dies, I get to be heir, but you would lose your privileges. So is that why you came? To form an alliance with me, so you won't lose your high status even if poor Careth kicks the bucket?"

"I'm not here to form an alliance with you." Merry stated, gritting her teeth. "I'm here to figure out what you're trying to do. There were only two weeks left for you to become heir, yet you revealed the Tradition to him. You said you were just a spare, but only the Willdyer bloodline has the ability to wield Talents."

The young man's lips twisted into a wicked smile at the sound of her words. "So what is your goal, Rian Willdyer?"