Chapter 28: The Reason (Part 1)

I ran. I was still running. I would continue to run. I could never stop running. If I did, I would have been swallowed. I would have died. I would have kept dying. I would have continued to die every day until I was completely dead.

No, I couldn't take that. I would have had an instant death than lived a life that would become death itself. So, I had to run. In order to protect myself, I had to run. There's no other way then.

Kais: "I … I have … already lost everything … everything except myself. This might be … selfish … but I don't care … because I don't want to die."

Barry: "And you think wanting to not die is enough?"

I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to think about anything he said. And yet, his voices rang in my head so loud I couldn't ignore it. Why was that torture happening to me?

Barry: "Look around you, look at the corpses, Kais."

He said as he spread his arms; his arms that were covered in the blood; the blood that was all around us.

Barry: "Do you think any of these people wanted to die?"

I was running, running so fast I couldn't even see the road. So why – why couldn't I shake him off?

Barry: "Do you think all of them came to me telling me to kill them or something?"

It was a nightmare, right? It would be over as soon as I woke up, wouldn't it? Yeah, the moment I woke up, I would see Barry's smiling face. The smiling face – his smiling face –

Barry: "Hey!"

I remembered seeing his smile every day. The expression of happiness rarely left his face. He was so … so amazing. That smile – I used to envy that. Not anymore though, I didn't want to see that face anymore. I didn't want to see that face anymore. Because the only smile of his I remembered then – is the one covered in blood.

Kais: "Go away!"

I don't know how loud my voice was. But it didn't matter. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

Barry: "Well, if that's what you want,"

I fell. My feet came to a halt automatically. No, I had to have kept running.

Barry: "then make me go away."

Kais: "H-huh?"

Barry: "You have everything you need for it, don't you?"

I looked up. I looked up from the ground I had fallen to. No, was it really ground I had fallen to? Looked nothing like that. All it looked like was a sea of blood.

Barry: "Do it for yourself."

As I stared at the sky, my vision was blocked by the face of the brother I had known for so long. His face covered in blood, his voice cold, and with a smile on his face, he looked at me.

Kais: "S-s-stay away!"

Barry: "Make me stay away. If you want something, take it for yourself."

I couldn't even move. I didn't know why but no matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't move my limbs. Why … why was this happening?

Barry: "Come on. Do it."

Kais: "No!"

I couldn't do it. I wanted to … so badly, but I just couldn't do it.

Barry: "You were always given everything you ever needed."

Kais: "No!"

I wasn't. There were so many things I needed that I wasn't given.

Barry: "Our parents left us before you even knew what family means. You didn't lose anything by that, did you?"

Kais: "Shut up!"

You were wrong. I could see with my own eyes how parents cared for their children. I could clearly see how all the kids around me got the love I never did. You got it too, even if not forever. But I didn't.

Barry: "You were also given psychic abilities. That made your life a breeze, didn't it?"

Kais: "I-It didn't."

Barry: "It did. You could accomplish anything with your abilities. Everyone else had to work hard for it. But you could do anything because of your abilities."

Kais: "You are wrong!"

You were wrong. You were wrong. I didn't use my abilities for things that you told me not to. I always stuck to the rules you laid out for me.

Barry: "I am wrong, huh?"

Kais: "You are. I also worked hard. I worked hard knowing I didn't have to."

It's not easy to suppress the urge to use those abilities every single time. But I did. I did suppress it every time. I never used it to cheat it in any way.

Barry: "You worked hard, you say? Oh yeah, you worked hard, didn't you? It would have been so easy knowing you could make up for anything you ended up lacking in by your abilities."

What the heck did that mean? You were just spouting non-sense.

Barry: "It would have been so easy for you, wouldn't it? While everyone in the world tries to do their best trying to achieve their goals without knowing the end result, you knew you could make up for anything with your abilities. The only reason you worked hard was to satisfy yourself. It was so you can say those lines you are saying right now."

Kais: "Shut up! You are wrong! You are … just wrong about EVERYTHING."

Barry: "Is that so?"

Kais: "Yeah, it is. And who are you to talk anyway. You were far superior to me in every way. You didn't even have a big brother to tell you to not use your abilities. You would have exploited your abilities all you wanted."

Barry: "Ha! Ha! Ha! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!"

Kais: "Stop … laughing."

He didn't stop laughing. I sat there looking at him as he laughed like a maniac. He laughed so loud that it echoed throughout the place, that everyone around could hear it. But, they didn't hear it, because they couldn't hear it, because the only things around me and Barry were corpses.

Barry: "HA! HA! Ha! Ha!"

As I barely kept myself up, as I barely stopped my legs from completely going numb, the sound of Barry's loud laughs kept piercing me. They weren't piercing my ears as much as they were piercing my soul.

Kais: "S-SHUT UP!!!"

I shouted at the top of my lungs. I couldn't help it. I just couldn't take it anymore. The brother I had known for so long was dying. This man – whoever he was, he wasn't my brother. And I felt like every laugh from him was killing my brother.

Barry: "Tell me, why are you crying like that?"

And only then I realized – I had been crying. I had been crying for some reason. But why was that?

Barry: "Why are you crying, Kais?"

Kais: "I … don't know."

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12 years in the future, in the Vampire Kingdom's courtroom, four people are gathered.

Reid: "What's up with this war between you and the ghosts?"

Knowing that he was touching the heart of the matter, Ro had prepared himself for a cold stare from Reid.

Valdis: "Well, that really is the most important query you have, isn't it?"

Valdis looked him in the eyes as she said so.

Barry: "Well, in simple words, it is a political conflict between the two for the balance of power."

Ro: "What balance of power?"

Barry: "Vermillion, the Vampire Kingdom, the Ghost Nation, Aurals, Spirit-users and Dragons. These are the six supernatural factions the world seems to be divided in."

Ro: "Okay, and?"

Barry: "Well, let's see, it was about a thousand years ago that a different factions had risen. It was the faction led by Ozyllus."

Ro fell silent as Barry continued to explain.

Barry: "He didn't per se oppose any factions but he did demand to be left as an uninvolved faction in their struggles for power. And well, apart from the minor conflicts that happened throughout the history, he was left alone. The biggest reason for that was that he was just so powerful. But there was another reason why no one attacked him."

Ro's curiosity kept on rising and he questioned further.

Ro: "And what was that?"

Barry: "Well, it was the Ghost Nation. They were a faction waging a war against everyone else. Every other faction except that of Ozyllus' formed an alliance to take them down."

It surprised Ro to know they were that big of a threat but the real shocking news was yet to come.

Barry: "They all lost."

Ro: "What!"

Barry: "The Ghost Nation defeated all of them."

Ro glanced at Valdis and Reid. While Valdis had a discomforted expression on her face, Reid was barely holding in his anger. It was clear that this was indeed the truth and neither of them is very proud of this piece of history.

Ro: "But …"

So, he decided to ask the question that he couldn't have predicted the answer to.

Ro: "How could they be that strong?"

Barry: "It was because of their king."

Who was their king? – Ro wondered. And the answer soon came.

Barry: "Their king, someone you may have heard about in all the legends of that era, was the demon Abyss."

Ro's eyes widen in shock. Reid clicked his tongue making it clear just how much that name annoyed him. Valdis kept a calm expression but disdain was slightly visible on her face as well.

Barry: "The only reason we hear about the legendary battle between Ozyllus and Abyss is because no one could stop Abyss and finally Ozyllus had to step in himself."

Ro: "Okay, wait! I get what you are saying, but how does it all tie up to now?"

Unable to hold his excitement, Ro looks at Barry with a questioning gaze.

Ro: "Abyss has long been defeated, hasn't he?"

Barry: "Yeah, but the thing is – a demon as powerful as Abyss should have had no reason to become the ruler of ghosts. This is what led to a large amount of theories on how ghosts and demons can be connected."

Ghosts and demons can be connected. It is a terrifying thought in every way. Ro and a lot of other people involved with supernaturals didn't know about the existence of ghosts but all of them know about the existence of demons. And no one wants to mess with them.

Barry: "Back when I got into a fight with a ghost, I found out how they are connected."

Ro: "Huh?"

And suddenly Barry cuts down all the hope of 'this is just a theory' excuse.

Barry: "And not only that, but they are also connected to Angels. And they are trying to raise both to empower themselves. That's when we decided we would put a stop to them."

It makes sense. They need to be stopped at once or a repeat of thousand years ago may happen.

Barry: "But they are capable of fending our whole army off. And since Vampires are not very friendly creatures for those that have blood in them, Vermillion and the dragons have formed an alliance with the Ghost Nation – what we call The Dragon Alliance."

The pieces of puzzle fell into place as Barry's explanation ended.

Barry: "That is what brings us here. We need to stop the ghosts, no, the entire Dragon Alliance at all costs or a tragedy like the past may strike again. And this time there would be no Ozyllus to stop them."

After remaining silent for a while, Ro finally sighed and then said,

Ro: "I understand now why Vermillion's upper echelon kept sending us after Kais even when he kept refusing again and again. They wanted him on their side and you want him to join the Vampire Kingdom. He is the one you want taking the place of Ozyllus, isn't he?"

Barry: "Precisely, he is the only one who can do it. His potential as a psychic far surpassed anyone else in the world. But because of incidents like the one 12 years ago, it might be very difficult for me to convince him of joining the war alone."

Ro got an urge to ask about the 'incident 12 years ago' but decided to save it for later so they could focus on the topic at hand.

Ro: "That's why you brought me here."

Barry: "Yeah, you are not on the best terms with him either but your position is much better than mine."

Ro: "I see. But it's not just about convincing him, is it? He is capable of taking Ozyllus' place but he is not yet strong enough to do it, right?"

Barry: "Right. We also need him to get stronger. This is why; we need to give him a lot of time."

Reid: "And to buy that time, we'll fight them."

Their attention turns towards Reid.

Reid: "Aurals have scattered throughout the world and spirit-users have decided to not take part in any wars. So they are left with the three factions that form The Dragon Alliance. And we'll have to fight those three factions. It obviously is not going to be a walk in the park but don't have a choice."

He turns to Ro with a resolved gaze and asked,

Reid: "We won't be able to completely defeat them. The most we can do is delaying them."

Ro: "And you need Kais to become stronger, start wanting to defeat the Dragon Alliance and then join the war."

As Ro came to understand everything, he felt a heavy burden on his shoulders all of a sudden. His job – to convince Kais to join the war from their side – was tantamount to saving the world at this point. If he failed, everything may fall apart.

Barry: "But that isn't all."

Ro: "What? What more is there …?"

He realized mid-sentence the answer to his question.

Ro: "Ethan Kales. How does he fit into all of this?"

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