The mission begins

Eric slowly gasped for air and his eyes turned normal. He still heard the voices of a shadow and children inside his head calling for him. Telling him to come to the house.

"E-68?" Darvin worriedly asked.

Darvin tried putting his hands on Eric's small shoulders, but Erl stopped him.

"Don't touch him. We're not sure what might happen when he is in this state."

Eric slowly came to his senses, gazing at the gloomy house. The voices inside his head finally stopped. He groaned and rubbed his aching eyes.

"W-What happened?" Eric asked, as he noticed that Darvin and Erl were staring at him.

Erl ignored the question and came closer to inspect if there were any abnormalities on Eric's body. Erl looked straight into Eric's eyes, but saw nothing unusual.

"How do you feel?" Erl asked.

"I feel good." Eric said as he stretched his neck.

Eric took a few steps and realized that he was feeling much better in his transformed body. He was no longer clumsy, and his body felt completely natural.

"In fact, I feel great!" Eric added.

"Interesting." Erl muttered.

Erl was sure about abnormalities in this town. After all, according to Erl, Eric was a living proof of the abnormality. Erl stared into the barren plains beside the town and soon felt shivers going down his spine.

"Those barren plains. That must be the source of the anomaly." Erl muttered.

It was a nightfall, and it was getting harder to see anything. Darvin decided it would be too dangerous to stay in an anomalous place during the night, so he suggested finding themselves somewhere to sleep.

"How about we find ourselves an inn for a night?" Darvin asked.

"You two leave. I'll be here for a few hours." Erl ordered them as he observed the barren fields Eric was gazing at.

"You're not coming?"

"Not yet. If just send me your location using telepathy's ring. Check if it works."

Darvin risen his brows in surprise, but nodded. Usually, he was not permitted using any anomalous or magical objects, despite having access to them or even wearing them. Darvin looked at his ring on his right hand's middle finger and pressed on it.

*DING*

A sound of a bell reached Erl's ears. Erl tapped on his own ring, and Darvin received the same bell ring inside his head.

*DING*

"Alright, works perfectly. You two can go now." Erl said and gazed into the barren plains.

Darvin nodded and when he noticed that the townfolk were staring at them, he took Eric's hand.

"Pretend that you're my son." Darvin ordered.

Eric frowned in annoyance, as he was against walking while holding hands with Darvin. However, he knew that his life was on the line here, so he simply nodded and accepted the hand.

The two of them walked for about half an hour, and the sky was already dark. There wasn't even a moon in the sky, and because of a cloudy weather, there were no stars as well.

"Uh…So…" Eric attempted to break the silence.

"So?" Darvin repeated.

"So, you've worked for an organization for a while now?" Eric asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

Darvin thought about it and decided that it was not against the rules to tell him about how long he was working. After all, E-ranks life was limited to the Illuminati organization. There was no reason to keep this as a secret.

"Well… For about a year." Darvin replied.

"What about the mean guy?" Eric asked about doctor Erl.

"Eh? You mean Doctor Erl?" Darvin chuckled.

"I guess." Eric said, as he did not remember Erl's name.

"He's been working for an organization for more than 15 years now." Darvin answered.

"15 years?! You're joking, right?" Eric was speechless.

Eric's surprise was for a reason, because Doctor Erl looked about 20 years old at most. Doctor Erl was quite tall, about 1.89cm, but his facial features and eyes looked extremely young.

"Well. Doctor Erl, is an immortal after all."

"H-Huh?" Eric stuttered.

"What?"

Eric stopped walking and simply stared at Darvin. His eyes opened wide and his mouth opened.

"Like, an actual immortal? He lives forever?"

"Yes." Darvin nodded, without changing his expressionless face. It was as if this was a normal topic for him.

"Can anyone become immortal?" Eric asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"I am not sure. Doctor Erl never told me how he became immortal." Darvin finally chuckled.

"Oh, look at the sign!" Darvin pointed his finger at a two store wooden building, with a sign 'INN'.

"It's about time. My feet started hurting." Eric complained.

Darvin sighed, and the two of them walked into the inn. He got two seperate rooms for them, as he was sure that Eric would not try to run away. After all, Eric was bound to a slave contract that would kill him if he dissobeyed.

"Well, goodnight E-68. Don't leave your room" Darvin said, as the two of them went to their rooms.

Eric's collar became hot for a moment, and changed color to red after receiving an order from Darvin.

"B-But what if I need to go to a toilet…" Eric's eyes widened, as he needed to escape and go to the house. He needed the answers. But if he died before getting the answer, then what would be the point of going to the house.

"Goodnight… Sir." Eric said, trying to remember the assistant's name, but failing.

Eric looked around the room, it contained one bed, a table and an empty bookcase.

"This room is larger than the cell in the facility. That's for sure." Eric frowned, before thinking about how to escape.

"Eric Jayson." a deep voice appeared in his head telepathically.

"Eric Jayson." a voice of a young boy added to the voice.

Eric Jayson." a voice of a young girl called for him

"ERIC JAYSON!" Bunch of voices of children screamed in unison.

Eric took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He listened to the voices who continued to scream his name, before asking.

"Are you willing to come to the house?" The voices suddenly asked him.

"I want to. But I am afraid, if I do… The slave collar will kill me." he muttered, wondering for a way to get there without breaking any orders.

"Don't worry about the slave collar." A deep voice said.

"Yes." a young boy added.

"We will remove the slave collar. a young girl said.

"Yes." a boy added again.

Eric smiled in relief as the slave collar began to quickly rust . It cracked and fell appart, as if a broken piece of glass. Now, nothing is holding him.

"Thank you." He said to whoever removed the collar.

This brings oppurtunities, because as long as he looks like a kid, he could even escape the Illuminati. Atleast win some time to find a murderer. However, for now, he needs to reach the house and find out if the voice was telling the truth, or simply baiting him.

He looked around the room, and found a bronze dagger in the bookcase. He took it, just in case.

"Well, I might be needing this." He smirked as he walked out of the room.

He took one glance at the Darvin's room doors and quickly rushed to the stairs, feeling anxious of getting caught.

"I hope I won't be seeing you." Eric muttered.

When he walked down stairs, he noticed that an inn was still full of people, many of them were drinking at the bar. However, none of them were paying any attention to him. When he reached went outside and took a deep breath, only one word came from his mouth.

"Freedom."