Chapter 9: Reversal (Part 1)

I stand at the entrance to the tomb alongside the little girl who has no name. She is still scared and shaken by the shock of what she saw before.

Kais: "You okay?"

The girl nods. Both of us keep our eyes at the tomb.

Girl: "I'm sorry. I'm just … a little …"

It's understandable. I am bit bewildered myself.

Kais: "Don't worry about it. I am not in a hurry."

After all, there are some really important moments of my life coming up, I need to be prepared. If you are giving me extra time to do so, I'll gladly accept it.

*******************************

Girl: "He said his name was … was … Ethan … Kales."

Dragon: "Ethan Kales?"

I have heard that name before, I think. But where was it? He's a brown-haired youth as tall as me with the name Ethan Kales.

The scene from the store flashes through my mind. That round object; the man who picked it up – had brown hair, was as tall as me and his name was Ethan Kales. Yeah, it had totally slipped my mind.

Dragon: "I've never heard of anyone with that name. Do you two know anything?"

Sona: "No!"

After her short 'no', all three of them turn towards me.

Kais: "I may have heard it. But … he doesn't seem to someone with any special abilities or so."

Dragon: "He was a normal human?"

I nod. Ethan Kales is definitely a normal human. I know it from his aura. But the fact remains that the description matches him perfectly. And now that I think about it, I got chills from shaking hands with him. I tried to ignore it back then, but what if there was a reason for that, something even my psychic senses couldn't pick up.

Girl: "I already told you. He said he was no one special himself."

That's true. She did say that. If that man was really the Ethan Kales I met, could he be also involved with Ro and Mohammed.

Kais: "It is possible."

Dragon: "Huh? What is possible?"

I said that in a soft voice but it seems like he heard me. Well, I don't think I need to answer him though.

Dragon: "Don't even think of ignoring my question."

Damn! Fine, I don't think telling him makes too much of a difference right now. It might affect the situation later on, but nothing would change now.

Kais: "I met this guy named Ethan Kales sometime before coming here. He is a pretty good match for what she is saying."

Sona: "Before coming here? Is that so?"

Well, it's more like before being brought here, but I'll feel like junk that got dumped at an island if I say it like that.

Kais: "Yeah, more or less."

Girl: "But didn't you say you didn't come here, but were brought here."

Kais: "Did I say that? Well, I may have."

Sona: "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kais: "It was something like – a few powerful people ganged up on me, kidnapped me and left me here."

Sona: "You sure don't sound like anyone who's been kidnapped."

It's hard to think of my situation that way. It's not like I'm being kept tied up or anything. Also the kidnappers are not even here.

Dragon: "Well, we can discuss your predicament later. For now, tell me all you know about this man – Ethan Kales?"

Kais: "There's not much else to tell you. We just met once and that's all. Other than his facial features which she already told you about, there's nothing much I know about him."

Dragon: "Nothing?"

Well, there's something else actually. I sigh before saying,

Kais: "If it helps, there was a woman there with him."

Dragon: "How did she look?"

Kais: "Well, she was tall, pale-faced and quite pretty."

Dragon: "I don't know how to distinguish you human based on the last part, but I can work with the other two parts."

Sona: "Isn't that still pretty vague though?"

Kais: "Well, I only saw her once too."

I can do a few things to help in finding her, but I'll keep that to myself for now –

Dragon: "I'd expect a psychic to have a way of remembering more about her."

Or so I thought.

Damn! This guy knows quite a lot about psychic abilities, doesn't he? Of course he does, he befriended one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, psychic in history.

Sona: "Well, what about it?"

Kais: "I don't have complete faith in the two of you or anything, so I won't use any ability that may make me vulnerable."

Sona looks disappointed after hearing the answer and the dragon shows no change. He might have expected me to say this.

Dragon: "I guess I'll have to wait because winning your trust will probably be impossible."

Kais: "I wouldn't call it impossible but not very easy for sure."

Dragon: "And I don't have the patience to do something so tiresome."

That's a roundabout way of insulting me.

Dragon: "Well, if that's how the situation stands, let's get back to the original topic."

Kais: "Me going into the tomb, right?"

The girl looks at me, surprised by what she just heard, and tilts her head.

Dragon: "That's right, you are to accompany him and keep an eye on him."

The dragon says while looking at the girl. Somehow, she immediately knows he's talking to her and nods without even looking back. These two don't have any names as far as I know, yet they are able to perfectly communicate with each other. Is that because he made her? Well, it's possible.

Girl: "I understand."

She looks at me with her tilting-head-expression.

Dragon: "If you find him doing anything suspicious, you just need to call for me in your mind."

He says that as he looks at me.

Kais: "Basically you are telling me there is no way I can get away with anything suspicious. (While sighing) Don't worry about it; I'm not going to do anything to upset your friend."

Dragon: "If you understand, then that's good."

Kais: "Obviously, I am not going into the tomb to sneak away and screw around."

The first thing I need to do in the tomb is to find a way to sneak away.

Kais: "But wait, the last I heard, she had never been in the tomb. How would she know it even if I do anything suspicious?"

Dragon: "I just transferred all the information about the tomb into her head. So don't worry about it."

Well, that settles that.

*******************************

And so we are here, standing in front of the tomb of Ozyllus, ready to go in while the dragon and the spirit-user stand a little distance away, looking at us.

Girl: "Okay, I am ready to go."

With her saying so, my time to prepare is also over. In these moments, I thought over all the things that happened from going to store, to the deal with Ro and Mohammed, to this island, to the fight between Death and the dragon and to now. I need to keep all the relevant information in my head to understand how to proceed from here.

Kais: "Okay then, let's get moving."

While I have no reason to betray anyone here, I am not fully confident they are the same. So I will have to tread my steps carefully. After all, everything can change and even this girl who looks so innocent and pure could be an enemy in the future.

Dragon: "Don't forget …"

Kais: "Not gonna do anything to Ozyllus' body, now shut up!"

That's right, I am going to act the way he wants me to and try to keep being on good terms with him. But, if the current situation changes, my stance might have to change too. If that happens, I need to be prepared.

*******************************

After Kais and the girl went in the tomb, an atmosphere of awkwardness is left between the two people left. Neither of them tries to ease this atmosphere. After quite some time goes by in silence, one of them finally breaks the ice.

Dragon: "Do you still plan to kill me?"

Sona: "If I can."

She doesn't even hesitate in giving that answer. It is as if she isn't even afraid of the dragon at all. No, that's impossible. The effect of fear is active and hence she is indeed afraid of him, but her hatred is far too much to be engulfed by fear.

Dragon: "That's disheartening to hear."

Sona: "As if a monster like you even has a heart."

Dragon: "I do have a heart. If not, how in the world would I have become a psychic's friend?"

Sona gets irritated upon hearing the dragon say 'friend'. To her, the dragon is someone abhorrent who would lie about a god.

Sona: "Get out of your delusions, dragon. That whole thing about you befriending Ozyllus is a farce."

Dragon: "You are saying the story is false."

Sona: "The story is true to most extent. But the interpretation of it is nothing more than you trying to deceive the world."

Dragon: "How so?"

Sona: "You didn't become his friend. He merely pitied you and let you live. Going around saying you became his friend when in reality all you had been was a defeated creature who only survived because of pity – that's truly pathetic."

The dragon doesn't answer right away, but keeps looking at her. Since she is no psychic, she cannot tell what emotions he's trying to suppress at the moment, but she knows they are not pleasant.

Sona: "Don't you feel ashamed of yourself looking like the man who kicked your ass?"

Dragon: "Sona, was it? I see that you know some things I'd really want no one to know."

*******************************