Cargo

Cargo

(Chapter 13)

*

[<<]

"Don't get things all confused up. I'm not gonna show you care. You will never feel the sun on your skin, and even if I decide to kill you after all… you're gonna have to comply."

"But I can be useful for more than that. I can pledge my allegiance to you here and now."

"*laughs* Hey. Did the torture actually get to you? 'cuz if that's what it takes to repent I'm gonna take up a job at the tribunal."

"It's not that… The way you defend your mother. It reminds me of what I used to live for… I don't have her anymore. I don't have anything… What does it make me? Homeless? Aimless? Lifeless?"

"… No… it makes you my hostage."

[>]

[Mom]

The most precious one of them all arrives at the doorstep of her very own home, but she hesitates to go in. "Why didn't I stop him?" she thinks to herself. She knew perfectly well what was going on. If he needed to die why didn't she do it herself? Her only thoughts were shielding her son from the world. When did their roles reverse?

"Lord God, please don't let it be ugly inside." Her shaking hand interacts with the door. The lock opens and the handle gives way under the weight of her hand.

No one in the compound living room. She takes a few steps forward. "Son! Where are you?!" In a mere second, he emerges from the hallway. Her eyes tear up for the first time in a long time. He rushes over and hugs his beloved.

"What's wrong mama? What's going on?"

She puts her hands to his cheeks and asks him, "Didju do it?" He answers no and she thanks God. She hugs him again but tighter.

"Mom? You're scaring me. Say something."

"I lost sight of you for a moment. I don't know what happened to me, why I allowed it."

"I don't get it."

"Always ask yourself 'did it amount to anything?'"

"… I think I saved a person's soul today—"

"No. You almost killed a person. My son is not a killer."

"Mom."

"Even if you do something for the right reason it can still be wrong. Remember the 'five rights?' Don't do anything of the sort anymore. I'm your mom and I'm always here for you."

"But… but what's the use of following the rules if you can't protect what you love? There's only one person that I hold dear, and I can't let her go."

"And what if you can't love what you protect? Hmm? Have you thought about that? When you're too eager to protect something and you lose sight of yourself, who's gonna love what you protected? Who are you? What have you become? Where did it get you?"

"…I… As for that, I can only find out in the end. I live in the moment mom. You're alive now. However I sustain that is all I can think of."

"But… you didn't think that way before. It all started from the day you saw me to be weak. It's like something awakened in you that day."

"No… I just understood- I understood my name. What do you think about purpose? That's my directive. If I don't protect what I love who's gonna do it for me? My purpose is to protect my mama. It will never change. As it was—"

"As it always is, As it always will be. Awwwww. My darling son, hug me tighter-tighter-tighter-tighter! I think I really need it right now."

And there it is. That moment where time freezes, because all you need is within your arms' reach.

[Valentina]

With all that's happening, dinner is the last thing that's on her mind. What's wrong with this place? Did she make a mistake coming here? She can only wrap herself tight in the covers so she can feel like the world isn't inside with her. What has HER life amounted to? But… there's a glint of hope. She remembers Guillelmus. If he's still alive…

"{[<<]…the place that you people call The Evil Forest.

"Without further ado, we raked up everything that we could. After all, all the Tyrannus Raid Units that we sought help from rejected us. We had to go in alone. I should've honed my skills. I am actually the daughter of a noble but I ran away with my love, a love who died soon after."

"And do you regret it—"

"Of course not… we treaded deeper and deeper into that god-awful place. I was right! Layer after layer, the circle faded away. We encountered a Raid Unit in there. They were badly wounded. They begged us to turn around but they didn't understand the gravity of the situation we were in. With just a few layers left how could we turn back?

And so we pressed on. The overall glow of the circle diminished. My breaths were short. I heard growling and a cry for help soon followed. My husband just had to be brave since he was the man, but it was the adrenaline that had kept me mentally unscathed up to that point. The breeze just felt so eerie on my skin. I could feel that death was imminent… but all the layers of the circle were gone. There was no turning back.

We pressed on and on as the glow gradually diminished, the only light we had in there was this candle-size flame that I'm generating from my finger tips right now… The glow became faint, we were close. All of a sudden, with just a single step, the glow disappeared alongside our flame. That dark region ahead was actually pitch black inside. That's the first time I felt true fear creep up my spine.

It was as if we walked into a ball of black. I couldn't see, only feel. First instinct was to move back but that disorient couldn't shroud my memories. I pushed forward again and heard a grave warning to turn around."

"Lemme guess, you still proceeded."

"Of course, I wouldn't be telling you this story then would I? We walked through kilometers of death just to get there. A mere deduction I could make is it was our destiny to go there… to the grave. After the third warning, the dark shroud disappeared and we found ourselves in a clearing at the end of the forest. There was a small, beautiful grave in there and it had the moon's spotlight. The writing on the sepulcher started to glow red. It said, 'THIS WILL BE YOUR GRAVE!'"

"I'm spooked," she teases.

"I'm being serious Valentina. Do I look like one to fib?"

[>] If we met a Spectre that powerful in Zone A, there's no way in the world that two civilians could get all the way to the deep side of the forest. I can't… can my fate be changed? It… it isn't that hard to die is it? All… All of my suffering will be over.}

[Veteran]

Alexander set fire to the wreckage. That was the smartest decision to make. The enemies rush to the fire to put it out. Alexander put in all he had so there's nothing to salvage. One of them turns straight to Alexander. "You're gonna pay for this!" He raises his axe to maximum height but his hands fall to the ground behind him with the axe and his blood gushes out. Alexandra just landed.

She might be the talkative and proud person, but she is by no means a boaster. In her hand lies her Raid Gear: Arena's lance. It's a bladed lance that could sever bone and she happens to be an I.M.U. She gets hold of her brother and gets him a bit farther before she inevitably stands her ground; they surrounded her.

"If you come near me I'll kill you. Try me." She really means it.

"You just killed one of our brothers. YOU're the one who we're gonna kill—SLOWLY."

The first arrow plunges into her left shoulder, the same arm that got injured during her fall. She twirls and falls, AGAIN, but she gets back up. They seek to torture her to death. If she were to leave, her brother wouldn't make it. She can tell that the fire was a diversion for her to escape, something she would never do without her brother. She takes one bullet after the other. Jolts of electricity, needles, rocks, all are shielded off by her left arm. It's as if she's actually gonna die… but a odd-key whistle or something sounds and they start to retreat.

"{Hunh? What's going on?}"

"Don't think you're saved. I'm gonna kill you before I go!"

He lets out a flurry of slashes. Up, down, left, right, you name the direction. Her fortitude definitely dropped after the relentless bullying she just faced. She might actually be scared. She can't keep him at bay and almost takes a slash, but a hand comes ripping through his chest. Blood bursts out and the hand yanks his heart out. It's Mr. Alexander, the guild veteran.

"You can't always rely on having a weapon in hand, so you've gotta learn how ta deal with Emerged with your very own hands." It might've been cool to her some other time but she burst into tears.

"Hunh? What's up with YOU?"

"Grandpa! I was so scaaared. I thought I was actually gonna die but I couldn't leave him behind," she cries.

"I wanna give you a hug but I think I'm too bloody here. I'll have you know that you did great champ. You not only defended your brother but—"

"CLIENT!" the driver calls. They can't really pinpoint his location. " gah. OVER HERE!"

"It's coming from under the rubble Grandpa *snivel*," she wipes her tears.

"Wait right here; I'll be back," he assures her. He heads over to the rubble and tosses the heap aside piece by piece. He finally uncovers the driver who got shanked by a piece of unfortunately.

"Oh my!"

"I don't have time so…listen. I-I have the cargo in my coat. I trust you know the way?"

"Yes, I do."

"Take the cargo to the town hall… I can't explain much but the bandits think *coughs*, they think it's destroyed. YOU.CANNOT let them lay hands on this. *gasps* Deliver it FOR ME… This is my dying wish. Please. Ugh."

"Rest in peace my friend."

[>]

"Grandpa?"

"… He's dead… we've gotta keep moving."

"Moving? I'm bleeding out here! And what's that?"

"It's the cargo that those chumps were after. Seems like medicinal herbs to me. I can only imagine SO many reasons why money-loving bandits would be after something like this."

"…If we're gonna walk I'm gonna have ta take a rest. They… they bullied me because I couldn't move. They pelted me with rocks and electrocuted me… Let's not forget that I dislocated my left shoulder. I hate to say it but I'm in too much pain to embark on a trek."

"No worries princess. You're not bleeding that bad so I'll leave the arrow in for now."

"And what if it's poisoned?"

"They wouldn't have wasted their time on you. I'll fix your arm next. I see that the hind wheels weren't destroyed and some of the wooden planks are not completely demolished. I can make something to string the both of you along."

Mr. Alex, always encouraging despite the odds of surviving. After what he's seen I don't really think anything can scare him now. He's fought emerged on lone missions even after he sustained that crack in his cranium.

"Okay. Can you fix my arm before it gets worse please?"

"Oh. My bad!"

[>]

The best solution to their problem. He managed a wooden platform with two wheels at the front end, tied to the horse that survived, the horse on which Mr. Alex slowly rides. He can't even trust the wind at this point.

"My Princess."

"Yes grandpa?"

"I hope the ride's not boring anymore."

"Hey! That's so not funny."

He whispers, "It IS when they could be watching us. Be on your toes."

"… Then why don't you just ride faster?"

"Just trust my judgement."

[>]

Morning soon comes. All but the vigilant guard are sleep when the suns first rays drizzle on them. How unfortunate it must be; to think they were only out for a giant bird and it ended up like this. However, they're almost at the designated town.

[Guillelmus]

Mom comes to wake him up today. He doesn't wanna, but he has to get up. That's of course, when she starts to talk about releasing the prisoner.

"Hunh? What?"

"I let him go- for a while."

"You what?" He looks to the right side and the dude's still there in the corner. "Why would you put yourself in danger like that?"

"Heard 'im calling out your name quite a lot so I came. He said he needed to, you know. I couldn't let him go at it on himself." Guillelmus laughs. "What? What's funny?"

"I really wonder where maternal instincts come from. You females are definitely something else."

"I haven't the slightest clue either. Let's go get something to eat, shall we?"

"Alright! I was about starving anyway."

[The Twins]

They are also riding in a carriage. Seems like they all woke up early today. Paz rests her chin on the window sill while Jed sits with his legs crossed and Tamar leans on Paz.

"Don't tell me you got off on the wrong side of bed again hon."

"… how long does it take just to go down south?"

"Shhh. It's too early to disturb the Earth."

"Hey. Just because YOU wanna pray all your time away doesn't mean we're into the same thing, right Paz?"

"…"

"Meditation always yields solutions. You can always join me. What's sharper than a focused mind?"

"We both know you'd be chasing after women if things were different."

"Luckily for me, my standard of a sister turned out so beautiful. I could only set sights on someone I considered more beautiful."

"In other words, you're a bachelor for life."

"Maybe we'll join you later—Father Jedidiah," Paz giggles. That's a surprise. All of her positive emotions are normally followed by negative ones but that one was a genuine laugh. Tamar just hugs her tighter."You're smothering me again." It goes ignored.

"I think we'll be there in no time. Aren't you raring to see The Bigfoot?" she asks, wrapping Paz' hair around her finger.

"Ouch! I… to be honest I hope it's as cute as I imagined."

[Veteran]

"mmm"—she wakes up—"…? Why'd you stop, Grandpa?"

"Do you even know what's up ahead? I honestly didn't give a thought about the route we took before or where we were goin'. I saw a sign a few meters behind us and decided it'd be best to wait for you to wake up."

"… And where does the sign say we're heading?"

"… It didn't say we're heading anywhere. It said welcome… welcome to Dead Man's Curve."

-------------End of Chapter 13----------

Chapter 14 Teaser

Walking into a trap with a plan is still walking into a trap.

To be continued…