Chapter 6: Saving

Inside a room with fixed furniture, and a bit luxurious look, a young man is laying on a thick and big mattress.

His eyes begin to move and they open bit by bit. When his eyes finally open, he takes a moment to look everywhere.

He lays his back on the headboard of the mattress, and speaks, "Where am I? Furthermore, what happened?"

"You suck, you know that?" a voice spoke to him.

"I found your voice… familiar, is that you who are speaking to me, crystal?" Anarkion removed the thick red blanket off his thighs.

"Who else would it be? Your conscience?" the crystal spoke.

Anarkion arises from the bed, he ambles toward the pair of red closed doors, and there, he ceases his movement in front of the red doors. He raises his hand to hold the doorknobs and pushes them.

Anarkion steps out of the room, and moseying along the hallway; from left to right, he never misses witness tall jars, tables with picture frames, and beautiful-looking paintings.

Multiple footsteps echo throughout the hallway, hence Anarkion shifts his eyes in front of him and beholds a man holding a tray with a plate, drinking glass, and utensils.

"Helkrias?" Anarkion looks at him from head to toe, "you shouldn't be doing that, I should be the one who goes to fetch my food."

"No, I am the owner of this house and I serve my visitors' needs," Helkrias sighs, "wait a minute, you should be resting in the room that I gave you."

Anarkion looks beside him and sees a painting. He looks once again at Helkrias. "I am quite fascinated by these things that are hanging on this wall. What do you call them?"

Helkrias looks at the painting that Anarkion is looking at. "You haven't seen a painting? Interesting. What you are seeing hanging on that wall is what you call a 'painting'."

"Painting?" Anarkion walks closer to the painting that he's staring at, "beautiful, it's like I can look at it 'til the day that I die."

Helkrias looks at Anarkion while walking toward the painting that he's staring at. Helkrias halt beside Anarkion and hums while staring at Anarkion.

Helkrias tells Anarkion, "Your idea is bleak. I mean it's—"

"Absurd?" Anarkion chuckles, "I've heard that many times… since I was a kid, I've been treated like I was a rat."

"I was overwhelmed by poverty, and left all alone without anyone to care for me," Anarkion shifts his eyes to Helkrias, "what about you? What is your life like?"

"My life?" Helkrias looks at the painting, "it was like this painting. After my mother died, my father only treated me as if I was nothing to him.

"Compared to this painting, I and this painting are treated the same; we are hung on the wall until we get old and broken."

Helkrias extend the tray towards Anarkion and he turns his eyes to Helkrias in confusion. Anarkion stares on the tray only to see 3 pieces of hot pancakes with syrup on a plate, one cup of hot tea, and lastly, a fork with a knife beside the round plate.

"Is that…?" Anarkion pointed his index finger at the pancakes, "breakfast isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is," Helkrias gasps, "don't tell me you didn't feel what it's like to have a fine breakfast?"

Anarkion chuckles while taking the tray from Helkrias. "Well, thank you for this."

Lina is sitting on a red stool in front of a dark long table. She uses a fork and knife while eating 2 pieces of pancakes.

She swallows a piece of the pancakes and then the corner of her lip curves upward. She put her fork and knife beside the pancake and held her cheeks only to grin while screaming.

"Yummy!" she yelled.

Anarkion is standing near Lina, and his eyes grow wide upon witnessing her facial expression. He smiles widely. "I never knew that she would go crazy like that over those round meals."

"My pancakes never fail to surprise anyone." Helkrias put his hand on Anarkion's shoulder.

Anarkion closes his eyes. "Well, your pancakes taste… it tastes like an egg and I was disappointed."

"Idiot!" Helkrias lifts his hand from Anarkion's shoulder and slaps Anarkion's head, "pancakes are made mostly from eggs!"

Anarkion rubs his head while staring at Lina. "I didn't taste any pancakes until now, so it wasn't my fault if your pancake tasted like that."

Helkrias grimaces at Anarkion. "YOU'RE DRIVING ME INSANE! THE PANCAKES ARE—"

"Okay, okay," Anarkion sighs, "let's just go and not talk about those round buttered egg things."

Helkrias rubs his forehead while Anarkion begins to step toward Lina. She turns her eyes toward Anarkion and stares at him.

"A-Anarkion?" Lina blinks, "I-I d—!"

Anarkion halts in front of her, he holds her head and gently pushes it towards his chest; he caresses the back of her head.

Anarkion says, "It's alright, I comprehended the situation that you're in… I don't hate you."

"But I… I attempted to kill you," Lina sniffs, "I think that's unforgivable. I understand if you won't forgive me."

Anarkion grits his teeth. "That's enough! Enough putting yourself in a fabricated state, I already have forgiven you."

Lina closes her eyes and her tears fall from the corner of her eyes, and she utters, "I-I am grateful."

Helkrias stomps his foot. "Stop irritating my eyes, you sweethearts!"

Anarkion steps back from Lina and he turns toward Helkrias. "If you want a warm embrace then I can give you one! No need to be bitter!"

Helkrias shakes his head while glaring at Anarkion. "HUGS ARE ONLY FOR KIDS!"

"Oh, so you didn't go under a good childhood, Helkrias?" Lina rubbed her cheek.

Helkrias inhales deeply. "Shut up."

After some minutes have passed, in the living room, Anarkion, Helkrias, and Lina are sitting on separated chairs.

"I brought both of you here because the authorities are pursuing us," Helkrias told Anarkion and Lina.

Anarkion lifts his eyebrow. "Then, thank you for saving us and yourself as well."

Lina looks down and hums. "How did you find a way to escape from them?"

"You lack words, Lina," Helkrias glances at Lina and he crack a smile, "I just woke up and I was here in my home, then I explored this whole mansion.

"I first witnessed Lina sleeping on the dining table, and Anarkion is sleeping inside a room."

"Okay, listen up!" Anarkion yells, "we have an important task to find the other champions like us."

"To stop the awakening, isn't it?" Helkrias looks at Anarkion, "what do you know about this awakening?"

Anarkion nods and looks at Helkrias. "The awakening is a kind of catastrophe that serves as a trigger to awake the sleeping beasts."

"Then why is this needed to stop?" Helkrias inhales deeply, "not all beasts are aggressive, some of them might just be neutral."

"Then what made you sure that they're just some neutral kind of monsters?" Lina asked Helkrias.

Helkrias chuckles while shifting his eyes to Lina, and he utters, "If I am not aware of my words, then I wouldn't be speaking towards both of you."

Lina's eyes go wide as Helkrias looks away from her. "It's all different now, we are not just ordinary individuals but individuals who have superpowers and a task to perform."

"I like him," the crystal spoke to Anarkion.

Lina turns her eyes toward Anarkion and he looks at her in confusion.

"The awakening and the monsters, Anarkion, how all of this will connect?" Lina closes her hands, "and what will happen to humanity if the awakening will not be opposed?"

Anarkion looks down on the red carpet and his pupil becomes white. "Before civilization exist, everything in this world was only forest and monsters as well.

"We never truly own this world but the mighty colossal creatures own this world. After multiple humans exist, they chose their leader and so the leader of the first civilization leads the humans to survive.

"Not until the leader meets the gigantic beasts and their mighty leader… henceforth, a deal was made, thanks to Agra, the leader of humans.

"But as they live with each other and learned to rightfully treat each other, Agra chose violence and greed. That violence and greed brought him to perform a war against the beast.

"After the war has ended, the humans did win but the beast being defeated was sealed in the deepest depth of this world."

Lina arises from her seat as she glares at Anarkion and Helkrias also stands up and stares at her.

"Try to make a move and I'll break your bones, Lina," Helkrias declared.

Lina tells Anarkion. "They own this world! Our kind has betrayed them… why are we stopping them to be awakened?"

Anarkion raises his head as cold wind glides in each direction, and he utters, "A human who's half beast is capable of manipulating seals. Before he vanish, he has made a vow to wreck the seal.

"Then rouse the beasts to perform their revenge against humankind."

"Listen to Anarkion, out of both of us, he is the only one who knows the awakening," Helkrias sighs, "this awakening, and this human who can manipulate seal, rather than finding the other champions, maybe we should track this human."

"Do you think that we are right worthy to defeat this person?" Anarkion slowly stands up while scowling at Helkrias, "I don't know the full power of this human, so that's why I bestowed Anarkion a duty to find the other champions."

"You are not Anarkion!" Lina steps toward Anarkion, "are you the one who's capable of lending him power?"

"Yes." Anarkion gazed at Lina.

"The question is how can we track the other champions?" Lina asked Anarkion.

Anarkion lifts his hand above his palm: multiple white particles appear until they become thick and collide as one.

"A hologram?" Helkrias stepped closer to the white hologram.

Lina gasps. "That's beautiful!"

"Silence peasants! This is a hologram representing the other champions," Anarkion speaks in layered voices, "after Anarkion traced three of the champions: I now remembered that I can track the other champions."

"You pathetic entity!" Helkrias slaps the back of Anarkion's head, "Anarkion wasted so many times trying to pursue us!

"If you should have just used that ability of yours then this situation of ours won't get any complicated."

"I understand, shrimp," Anarkion groans, "that is why I am telling this to both of you. Be thankful that you have me."

"But if we're only the champions that Anarkion has successfully tracked, then where are the other one?" Lina installs herself once again on her seat, "where's the third champion aside from me and Helkrias?"

Anarkion shifts his attention to Lina. "That champion is Trifa."

Lina's eyes widen as her thighs begin to tremble, then Anarkion's eyes are shutting down as he falls to the ground but a pair of hands hold his nape and back.

Helkrias lays Anarkion gently on the carpet, then he looks at Lina. "Hey! Are you okay?"

Lina raises her shaking hands and she embraces herself. "I-I am s-sensing my friend calling for help!"

"Can that be?" Helkrias shifts his eyes once again to Anarkion, "hey! Hey! We need your help!"

"It's no use," Lina's hands drop from her head as she's inhaling and exhaling swiftly, "I can track her Helkrias, c-can you go to where she is?"

Helkrias looks down as sweats are dropping from the sides of his head. He takes a glance at Anarkion and Lina only to see her calm gaze.

"I'll do anything for my comrade," Helkrias tells Lina, "but I cannot make a vow that I can save her."

Somewhere inside the city of Laman, a structure is coated by flames that are swallowing it, and a man is walking inside the burning structure.

He is wearing a mask and a dark attire, then he speaks, "Trifa, the third champion, I must get to you before that brat gets you first."

Everything around him is wrecked; the chairs, tables, and even the walls are destroyed.

The filthy, hazardous air around him didn't bother him nor make him stop walking.

"I found you," he halts and moves his eyes downward, "no one will retrieve you from me, even those brats."