Chapter 27: Unexpected Visit

Lu lost count how many times he had called out. Nobody dared to approach him again when they saw his black hair after the rain washed off the white chalk, and not to mention his eyes.

He started shedding tears in his helplessness and swallowed the fact that the people of Hereth were not willing to help them, and because of him nonetheless.

It infuriated him how they could reject someone who had just saved their city at the time she needed help, disregarding himself as well.

He picked her up and hurried to the speedwagon where he gently lay her. He looked back and found that the city was already trying to rebuild their broken walls with all sorts of materials provided by their animus. He was again irritated at how they could be so shallow, but then he scolded himself to be reminded that he had more important matters than being furious.

Lu drove the vehicle as fast as possible, hoping she could get help in Cybel instead. The city was about an hour or two away, so he had no time to waste.

"How long can you keep her awake?" Lu asked Esther

"Not much longer. I only lasted until now since I slept so much recently. Around ten more minutes and I will need to go to sleep" she explained, struggle hinted in her voice as she spoke.

In response, Lu drove even faster. He was driving so fast that he knew he was risking his own life at the speed, but it did not matter to him.

Thanks to the smooth road and the rain, he sped up without worrying about bumps on the road that might make Autumn suffer more pain if they hit.

"Stop...Lu" A silent whisper emitted from the girl behind him. It was so silent, yet he heard it loud and clear.

"We're going to get help! Just hang on a little more, okay?" Lu reassured her.

"We're not...going to make it" Autumn said.

"Lu this is bad! I'm losing all my mana! Tell her to stop wasting her energy!" Esther warned.

"Save your breath! You have to make it!" Lu's voice cracked.

A weak, silent laugh persisted. "Please... just stop... I know this road...more than you do"

"No! Don't say that! You will make it! you have to!" Lu shouted atop his breath and attempted to accelerate faster, but it did not.

"Just stop!" Autumn rose from her seat and shouted, and she coughed out blood from straining herself and laid back down.

The speedwagon, regardless of Lu being against it, had slowed down gradually. It stopped after a short while and finally Lu took his seat, looking down.

"You stop too, Esther. I know you've been trying to fix me since earlier. I need you to listen, so you wouldn't want to go to sleep now would you, friend?" Autumn smiled despite the pain.

Esther's ears twitched and she started crying.

"Can I make a selfish requests, Lu?" Autumn breathed heavily.

"Anything", Lu said, his voice filled with regret.

"Sorry to interrupt your journey to Rema, but I need you to deliver my items back to my siblings in Cybel. They live in a place called 'Dusk's Orphanage', especially the bag of credits. Go get yourself something nice from me as well" Autumn laughed weakly.

"I don't need it", Lu opposed.

"I entrust to you what's left of my family, Lu. As for you, Esther, be a good girl and help out Lu, okay?" Autumn said, and held out a hand in an attempt to stroke the girl's ethereal hair.

Lu's eyes widened, wondering how Autumn could suddenly perceive his, no, their little fox friend.

Autumn met his eyes, knowing what he was thinking.

"Strange, isn't it?" she winked, telling him that it was best to not discuss the matter.

Esther nodded, still crying.

Lu could not help but shed a few tears as well.

"Now, we all know how this will end, so I have a final request for you, Lu" Autumn closed her eyes and put her hands on her chest.

"Tell me" he said, trying hard not to let his sadness affect his voice.

"Consume my soul. I won't have any use for it now" Autumn said.

"Autumn, I can't do that--"

The dying girl coughs out blood again, interrupting him.

Autumn merely looked at him, mentally telling him that she would persist with the thought.

"Whatever Anna meant earlier", she said, "Or whatever it means to you aurums, I'm sure it will do you good"

Autumn held Lu's cheek with her bloodstained hands, then once again closing her eyes, retracting her hand back to her chest.

"Alright" he agreed.

"Then I can rest in peace" she declared.

Lu took a deep breath, reluctantly extending his right palm toward Autumn's chest, preparing to grant her final wish.

Lu screamed his hardest as he took her soul, following an instruction he knew for so long but never paid attention to. A cloud of violet gas spiraled into his right arm, then into his body.

It felt as if he was indulging an instinct he had ignored for years. However, it did not make him feel any better. He only felt worse.

He did not stop shouting until the process was complete. He shouted for his hatred to those who did not offer their help to her. He cried out for the dreams she wanted to come true but did not. He screeched against fate who treated a good soul unfairly. Most especially, he shrieked for his inability to help her, himself.

When the process was complete, an intense, burning feeling had taken over Lu's wrist. Despite this, he stared into nothingess and his mind went blank. Esther went to the void to sleep, and only came back to his senses when the rain stopped.

Lu took one last glance at his late friend and wrapped her in white cloth. He then slowly drove the speedwagon toward where they were originally headed.

Lu did not show any emotion at all. He passed by another city that was about to be raided by titans with drills, but he paid no heed, not even a glance, and went on with his journey.

In an hour he had reached the gates of Cybelle. Despite his clouded and swirling thoughts, he was reminded that he should chalk his hair using a white stone before he interacts with anyone.

When the city guards came to check on him, he showed them the pass that Autumn was supposed to use. They checked his luggage and found the corpse of the girl, which frightened some of the guards.

"Her cadaver is to be delivered to her family in Dusk's Orphanage" Lu explained.

One of the guards, around his age, touched her face and caressed it.

"Poor thing" the guard boy said. "If we had met earlier you wouldn't be lying there but in my bed" he laughed and almost touched her inappropriately before Lu looked back at him with his eyes.

Shocked from seeing his black eyes, the guard boy flinched back.

"Go ahead. Touch her. I'm not going to stop you. Just know that I'll end not just you, your friends, and their friends too" Lu said without any hint of anger.

The guard boy was angered and was about to use his spear manablade when an older, and well-groomed guard appeared between them.

"I apologize on this one's behalf. We will make sure to teach him proper etiquette that these incidents may never happen again". The older warden gave the other a disapproving look, and let Lu go on his way.

Lu then finally entered the kingdom of Cybelle. It took him back to when he first saw Elle, but with an aura of more prominent grandeur.

The streets were still wet, but the people were already going about their busy lives. The hair of the citizen never fail to make Lu curious. They all had different colors, as well as their eyes if looked closely upon.

They dressed in leather and thick cloth, all in similar fashion with each other as if only one tailor had made them.

Lu then wondered how Autumn appeared differently from the people, despite it being her home kingdom.

The scorching sensation on his wrist got the better of him at last, making him check what was causing it.

Alas, without looking, he found an answer to one of his many questions.

The inscription on his wrist had changed to 1/8, giving Lu many realizations which he dared not think much about at the moment.

The pain subsided as soon as he saw the number as if it were only there to notify him of the change.

The boy then looked up and recalled how far he had gone in the six months since he had awakened to the world that was very similar to Monitum.

At first, he was very sure he would have life easy based on his knowledge of both the game and the world in general from his past world. However, he had a close brush with death far too many times, proving it otherwise.

He wanted the mishaps to cease, but he also knew that they were only beginning, and that it would be asking for too much.

Lu took a step forth, feeling a wind of nostalgia as he recalled his first steps in Elle. Then, he merely wished to live a life of blissful ignorance. To settle with what he has and be thankful. To live every day like there was always a welcoming dawn every morning, in a world where he had been familiar with before he was sent to it.

Now, he seeks to right wrongs, to fulfil promises, and to seek truth. All to prevent any further ruin that may come about his way, which he knew will always try to come to him no matter what.