Klein Cylrit
We slept back to back through the night. Lizzie handmade a blanket made out of the lavender leaves of the trees. The fire boosted their warmness enough for us to rest without getting cold.
I was the first to wake up at dawn. The Azure Sun was still rising to shine its lumen.
I watched Lizzie sleep. She was like a little kitten. She looked harmless and peaceful. But we had no time. Even though I didn't want to wake her up, we had a trial to complete.
I poked her cheek a few times. After the third she stirred and slowly opened her gentle eyes.
"Hmh? Klein? Did something... happen?" she asked, trying to wake up.
I shook my head.
"It's dawn, we should get moving. I believe the other Awakened have already started to tour through the forest."
Lizzie sat up and looked around bemused.
"Damn, I still feel sleepy." She blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes.
I nodded my head and got up from the ground. Lizzie scratched and then she also stood up. She gathered her weapons and the other gadgets and then looked at me somewhat with an annoyed face.
"Why didn`t you grab any weapons on the cave entrance?"
I gave her a faintly simple answer.
"I have no idea how to use a weapon."
She shrugged.
"Fair enough."
I looked around the trees. The half of the Azure Sun shone through the leaves. Here felt like paradise. A false one perhaps, but it did look like one. It was calm and fresh. I felt like I was on the Blooming Islands of the Fated City. A place only made for peace.
"Hurry, Klein. We need to move before the Sun is fully up." Lizzie warned.
She already looked ready to go. If only I was trained like her... I need to learn. That is the only way I can survive.
We begun our journey to escape this false paradise. The "Sargula Forest", Lizzie called it, the fateful place we are in. It seemed like even though she was here for the first time, she was educated to learn the island in her schools. She is not ignorant. She knows what to do. And for that I have my faith in her all the way. It makes me happy to have someone here with me. I liked having Lizzie by my side. At least someone knew what she was doing.
The Sargula Forest is by all means not small. This precinct is the biggest forest I have ever seen in my life. As we explore more of the forest it gets even more colossal. Lizzie herself was mazed by the enormous forest. This place seemed to have no end. And yet we continued. For comest to be great, I must first learn it all. This entire island will soon be in my grasp. And then the Organizer will know what becomes of me. I will show aether what I am truly capable of.
"This place has no endszz." Lizzie grunted with boredom."
She looked tired of walking, I was in the same boat with her.
"We need to reach the exit." I look at her, my eyes furrowing. "Don`t you have a map of this place?"
Lizzie lowered her brows.
"Of course I do!" she grumbled. "It's just... On the map, this place seemed smaller. We are moving to the east of the island." She glared up at the trees. "When my father reached his Third Awakening when he was thirteen, he too was dropped into Soulbattle Island. He always told me how large the Sargula Forest was. But I, the kid I am, never took his words solemnly."
I kicked a small rock on my way.
"And, which rank is he now?"
Lizzie`s eyes flee mine.
"My father is long gone." She sighed a dark breath.
I immediately regretted my question. She had lost her father. I had lost my family. Grey lost that girl. Rain lost her sister. Nico lost his mother. All of the people I know who are Awakened, are all people who lost someone or something.
Lizzie smiled faintly.
"But do not lament all you lose. For one to Awaken, first they must be chosen by the Grace of the Purple."
"By aether." I said, to confirm.
Lizzie nodded her head.
"But that's not the only requirement. For aether to choose you, you must be in its liking. You must to be through an experience you will either forget for oblivion, or one that you will remember till the wretched end of thy life."
I lingered her words in my mind for a minute, then asked:
"We have to go through a traumatic experience?"
She glanced at me, her smile growing.
"Yes."
I picked up a chopped flower from the ground and planted its stem back in the soil.
"So how many have Awakened in your realm?" I asked.
Lizzie stopped walking to watch me plant the flower. Then she spoke in a clear voice.
"There are five billion People of Time in the Absolute Realm. And amidst those five billion, four billion of us have Awakened to witness the beyond of our eyes."
"What about wars and battles for politics? For conquest and control over one another?"
Lizzie let out a whimper.
"Of course my people waged countless wars amongst the history. We are humans after all. As long as we exist for will war so too."
She is thru. But then, why is there almost no Awakened in the Green Realm? It's absurd that only after Grey Awakened did aether began to spread. Or at least, that's what I believe.
As we marched through the forest we came across a dead body of an adult men. He had long black hair and gray eyes. He looked lean and tall. He had white horns on his head, similar to Lizzie. And he died by getting split in half, his intestines all around his dead body. The men`s eyes were open, filled with shock and regret.
"This looks awful." Lizzie muttered.
Lizzie looked disgusted and when the smell of the corpses came to her nose, she began to vomit.
I slowly reached the men and closed his eyes gently. He was ruined. Blood everywhere. I could only wish that he still had chances to loop back. I slowly turned to Lizzie, who was cleaning her mouth after the puke. She was sitting on the ground, her back was turned towards me.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Yea, I just never seen someone`s guts like that."
I scratched my arms to relax the dormant feeling of disquietude inside me.
"Was he of your kind?"
Lizzie tilted her head.
"I guess so, I don`t recognize him though."
I walked to her side and politely helped her get up.
"Thanks." she whispered.
I grimaced. Lizzie looked terrible. She was trained from her childhood to be an Awakened, just like all the other kids in her realm. I was upset seeing her like this.
"Don`t look at me like that. I still am a good Awakened."
I smirked slightly.
"Never said you weren`t."
Lizzie shrugged and stood strong. When I made sure that she was ready, we continued our journey. And as we did, we met with many corpses of man and beast. These fellow Awakened had all cleaned this forest before we could get hurt badly. I was glad that their final graces helped us. Otherwise we could`ve already been absolutely dead by now.
"These man all dead." I let out a sigh and kneeled down on their center to thank them for their sacrifice.
"Why are you doing that?" Lizzie asked, confused. "You don`t even know them."
I smiled at her.
"Everyone deserves peace and a thank you."
Lizzie rolled her eyes and stood by my side to thank these fallen too. After a few seconds we left the place to find our way out. There was no peace here, in this forest. Because as we walked more, the number of death bodies also increased. But after almost five hours of set journey we had finally reached the exit.
"Finally..." Lizzie laughed. "Finally!"
Lizzie jumped across bushes and half length trees and was met with a plain of yellow grass. I smiled exhaustedly. It has been a long adventure to come here. Hours upon hours. I dropped myself to the grass, welcoming it.
"It looks nice here." I said chill.
"Yeah," Lizzie called. She adjusted herself to a sitting position."We call here the 'Golden Lowland'."
"A suiting name." I said.
I looked around to see smoke coming from most directions front. Lizzie glanced around as well.
"Looks like most others are here too." she said.
I tilted my head.
"Are they trustful enough?"
Lizzie shook her head in disillusion.
"There is a reason why the Voice of Aether warns us. Here you can`t even trust yourself."
"But I trust you." I said, meeting her eyes.
Lizzie flushed for a moment then coughed to disband the focus.
"Ehem, don`t say overlooked things like that. My alliance with thou is nothing but a mere need of survivability."
I grinned but feeling gratified I gazed away, to the smoke that came from the fellow Awakened.
"So join `em or continue being a duo?" I asked with a humorly tone.
Lizzie`s shoulders sagged and she pouted.
"Do all I tell you go in one ear and out the other?"
I shifted my arms to a more apologetic position.
"No... I just don`t believe at what you said. I believe that at least some can want to lend a hand to us."
Lizzie glared up to the sky.
"Well it's all bullshit. Here we do not kill because it's a rule, we kill because it's our nature."
Her muscles tensed and she scowled. "Most Awakened only care for themselves. But still the most authentic reason is simple: Eliminating potential threats in nigh future."
I let my shoulders rise. My brows fell. My hands went steady.
"So long for blood for no reason to call." I uttered.
Lizzie did not continue our talk, as she just watched the sky. After sitting on the grass for maybe two minutes she spoke in a keen voice:
"Why did you thank to those who fell back there? You know that's not their real death after all."
My eyes hopped onto her horns.
"Death is something none of us can avoid. I respect all that has fallen. They deserve that at least."
"Even the worst?" Lizzie recked.
I confirmed her with my head.
"Even the worst. Even the ones who commit the act of the worst deserve a chance."
Lizzie fell on her back to the yellow grass. She played with the divots prying through her hands.
"You know, I always wondered why the Green Realm worships Pillar Destruction. I mean... Who would pray to Destruction?"
I was caught off guard and tried to refocus on the question.
"W-what? We don`t pray to Destruction. We have..."
I paused as I realized that every religion was meaningless as our subjugation was to Destruction. How did I not see this before? All those "gods" we love and pray are fake. What about all the wars that occurred because of them? All those pointless deaths for a pointless "god". "Gods" who are not even real.
"Accurally there is no Destruction... Only 'gods' who are false... I guess now they are."
Lizzie was... shocked. Her mouth was hanging open.
"How can a realm not know their Pillar?"
I shook my head, apologizing.
"I... don`t know."
Lizzie sighed deeply.
"That explains why you know so little about aether. There was not a Pillar to guide you."
I acknowledged her answer but then I asked something even more bizarre:
"How does the religion of the Pillars work? Like if the ones who worship Death want to be killed?"
Lizzie raised her brows.
"Like I mean... is Death something sacred to them?"
She shook her head in disbelief.
"Remind me to recount the history of all the realms to you after all this is over."
I shrugged.
"Why not now?"
Lizzie gave me a simple answer:
"Becasue, dummy, that would take hours of a time we don`t have. " she giggled. "Don`t worry, once you visit the Absolute Realm, I may teach you so much."
I smiled warmly at her hospitality. Lizzie did smile too and raised her pinky.
"Promise then." she said softly.
I raised my own pinky and our fingers intertwined, securing the promise.
"I promise, once I accomplish my dream, I`ll pay a visit to you."
Our fingers slowly let one another go. Lizzie chuckled softly.
"Thats a sealed vow," Her face got more serious. "Do not break it. Otherwise I would be sad."
I shrugged kindly.
"As you say, my lady."
We ventured enough to meet the Awakened around this land. Lizzie told me that we were at the east of Soulbattle Island. There were so many Awakened around here, most of them were in a group even though of the warning of the Voice. We sought at least a small amount of help. And with that we stood before three boys. Two of them were the same age as us and the other looked much younger. They were kids, like us.
"Hello to all of you, my fellow Awakened." Lizzie bowed slightly. "We are here to seek guidance."
Lizzie did look laidback, but her bow was just at finger reach. One of the boys stared at us and then took a step forward. His face was handsome, his hair was short and teal white; eyes that are in crystal blue. He was not so tall, only coming to my chest. But he sure had good muscle mass and a short length black horns that curled forward on his head.
"You are one of us." He said to Lizzie, then his eyes pointed over me. "You?"
I glanced at Lizzie then back at the boy.
"I`m Klein Cylrit," I stopped to remember what Lizzie told me about my realm. "And I am a Subject of Destruction."
The Boy`s sharp gaze narrowed.
"A Descendant of Destruction? That is a rare occurrence." he chewed, rolling the ancestry in his tongue. "Whatever then. Name is Gwyn of Grandline Nidus."
He took a step to the side and next to him came the other two boys. The one that was older had no horns, he was not a People of Time. He was dressed in black cloaked long and wavy hair and gentle ruby eyes. He had the body of a tall and lean athlete. His skin was as smooth as silk.
"Hello, Gentle Descendant of Destruction and of Time. I am Gherman von Armum. A Subject of Arsha."
His fingers moved like they were dancing, then the fingers slowly leveled towards the shorter boy behind him. He had short curly white hair and amiable yellow eyes. He was short but had longer dark horns than both Lizzie and Gwyn.
"And this is Leth of—" Gherman`s words were cut off by Lizzie as the girl's eyes widened.
"Leth of Godline Stella." Lizzie said in both astonishment and awe. Her mouth was left hanging open.
I stood there as confused as ever.
"And...? What's that supposed to be?"
Lizzie`s hands were shaking, she slowly turned to me with a senseless expression on her face.
"'Godline' is the highest status a family can reach in Absolute Realm." Her brows knit together. "I can not even dream of being a Godline. And besides all that, Lord Leth is the youngest recorded person to Awaken in the Absolute Realm."
I slowly raised my arms to a more defensive jest.
"How young?" I asked, fear slowly gripping my voice.
"Right when I opened my eyes to all these crumbling worlds." Leth said right after I asked the auspicious question.
When I heard the gentle and firm voice of the little boy all I could do was to take an volitionless step back. Leth tilted his head curiously:
"What`s wrong, Descendant of the Destroyer? No exigence to be dreadful of me." His eyes narrowed down to a fierce look. "As I can view, I should be the one to be afraid. As all of us can espy, ye have a Concept Rune etched onto thy wrist. If I'm not mistaken, that is the Rune of Space, am I thru?"
All I could do was nod my pathetic head. But to Gwyn and Gherman, the two Awakened backed away from me as soon as they spotted the rune.
"H-How? Why do... you?" Gherman muttered.
Gwyn didn`t speak at all, he was shaking in fear where he stood. Leth`s eyes glanced at Lizzie who was calmer than the others but not as much as himself.
"Thou knew he had the rune?" he asked.
Lizzie quickly nodded her head.
"Y-Yes."
Leth shrugged in sagacity.
"Really, Klein of Green Realm. Don`t be afraid of me, be wary of the blessing embedded on thine body." He smiled like a warm fire, but quickly the smile fell to fret. "I`ve seen it before. Be from nothing or have everything, it doesn`t matter. Those who get closer to godhood all have overwhelming egos such to no end. They never concern themselves with the ones beneath their very feet. They are a scourge. They are calamities who all have one goal in their ridiculous existence: To be beyond all. To be the one above all."
He offered me a hand.
"I don`t know how someone like you have a Concept Rune but I wilt not think about it as long as you don`t be a threat to me or my realm."
I slowly raised my own hand. And accepted his accord. We shook hands like good old veteran pals.
"And now what?" I asked, conflicted.
Leth signed towards Lizzie with his small head.
"Complete your trial and maybe we`ll meet again someday."
Gherman suddenly interrupted us.
"W-wait!" he cried, "We can`t just let him go. The brat has a rune, a Rune of Concept." He was breathless.
"Hush, on the very horns of Ion be a little serene Gherman." Gwyn hissed, his crystal blue eyes still looking at the rune.
Leth let my hand venture and I quickly pulled it back to my side.
"Don`t act like I am so major. How can you Awaken right from birth?" My voice almost shook, I didn`t want to look so miserable. If I wanted to survive I had to look at least a little formidable.
Leth smiled once again, but this time it was not warm at all, but cold as ice.
"Just like how you did," he pointed at me. "How she did," he betoken at Lizzie. "And how these two did." He glanced at the two frightened Awakened next to him. "By an experience I can never truly erase." Leth yawned. "Now, shalt we continue our conversation?"
"Well that was a wonderful time." Lizzie said, still trying to compose herself.
I remained silent. Didn't know what to say. Didn't know how. We were now walking through the Golden Lowland in the hopes of finding a shelter. Gwyn warned us to never trust anyone here, especially while everyone can easily see the rune on me.
"Klein? Are you okay? You were never silent till now?"
We were walking side by side, yet both Lizzie and I didn't know much about one another. Yet here we are trusting our backs to each other.
"I just... don't really know what to say or do." I whispered. "Why is only my realm this... this enigma?"
Lizzie gently placed her arm around my shoulder.
"First understand your own life, then you can worry about the realm, okay?"
"I guess."
"Good."
I looked around.
"What does walking around this island even make us understand?"
Lizzie`s eyes danced around.
"I don`t actually have an accurate answer for this. Normally there have to be challenges we must overcome." She looked somewhat annoyed. "Butttt... Other than that tall ass volcano I don`t see any real challenges."
I weaved my hand around us.
"What about all these other people? Why do they spend their precious time here?"
Lizzie chuckled.
"Probably because the Golden Lowland is the safest place on this island."
I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, you sure?"
"About fifty percent sure."
"What about the other fifty?"
Lizzie pouted.
"Should I remind you that this is my first trial as well?"
"No," I inhaled the fresh air. "no need."
Lizzie scowled and then out of nowhere slapped me across my cheek. I faltered back, trying to balance my feet while trying to gasp what the hell had just happened.
"Hey! What was that for?"
Lizzie smiled innocently.
"To slap you back into existence."
I stroked my cheek with a long face.
"You didn't have to do it literally."
She just was acting like a child since our encounter with Leth. Lizzie cupped my cheeks and gently creased them.
"Hey, Klein, please don`t be sad. I`m sorry." Her voice was soft and soothening. "What's wrong really? Please, tell me."
I didn't pull away from her touch, instead I leaned on her hands. Lizzie seeing me like this kindly let me lean on her. As with the movement of the wind we were on the golden grass, my head on her lap and her hand delicately stroking my dark hair.
"Now this is a first." She said giggling.
"Its juts... I am tired of all this. I am tired of aether."
Lizzie smiled. A sorrowful smile. A somber smile. A sad smile.
"You know aether will never ever leave us. Even before we had Awakened, aether was still a part of us. Aether is the thing that bred us, made us witness our worlds beyond just their curtains. It's what made me meet with you. What made me realize about the realms we call 'home'." She let out a breath that was deeper than my entire existence. "For so long my people were at war with each other. But our Monarchs put an end to it by distinguishing its people to a hierarchy so cruel and vast that it became the only law. Something all of us had to accept." Her voice slowly broke. "And lucky me... I was born in the lowest 'Null'... nothing. My family was nothing. And they had accepted it without even caring what would happen in nigh future." Tears welled in her eyes, as they began to drop onto my hair. I didn't tell her, and just let it happen. "All I want is to put an end to this social order. I want to save the ones that do not want to be saved."
"Don`t." I uttered. "Don`t break yourself for the world you live in."
"Huh? What.. are you talking about?"
I didn't reply straight away. I wanted to fathom the moment I was in, first. Watching the Azure Sun set to oblivion.
"When I was ten, my mother was diagnosed with a sickness. The doctors couldn't figure out what it was. My mother was the first to be its victim. They named it the 'Pollus'."
Lizzie sobbed.
"Why in the bastard eyes of Ion do ye tell me this?"
"Because I need to. Because you need to."
"Don`t be ridiculous. Don`t be a fool. You art a light too pure for your and all the other worlds."
I silenced her with my fingers gripping her armor.
"My mother... She didn't want to concern us with her... her sickness. She wanted to put an end to the pain. She... wanted..."
"Suicide." Lizzie completed me. "She wanted to kill herself."
"Yes. Yes she did and she got what she wanted."
Lizzie gasped, her arms tightening around me.
"K-Klein... I... I..."
"It's okay. I am the sinner here."
"W-What?"
My eyes hid behind a shadow of doubt. The memories of my long gone mother resurfaced.
"I knew what she wanted. And I helped her. I killed my own mother." I glared at my weak hands. "With these bare hands. And as she took her last breath, she smiled. And... And told me to 'be the kind of man who can change the world'."
Lizzie was quiet. She probably didn't know what to say. I never told this to anyone before. Not even to Nico.
"I know what I did was wrong. Cruel an—"
"Don`t eat yourself with what your mother made you do."
She looked more determined than ensuring. And I looked more like a baby than a teenager.
"I know... but still I want to be the man I promised her to be. And all I am doing is falling at that."
Lizzie, without a care in the world, lowered her head and kissed my hair. I didn't pull away from her, I liked it in some way actually. After that a tiny smile spread across my sad face.
"Thanks, Lizzie." I sighed. "For the longest time I kept loving in ways I shouldn't have. But I know what I want even now. Even then."
I slowly got up from her lap. and sat down straight looking at the bright stars slowly creeping into the almost black sky. Lizzie`s hand rested on mine and we watched the stars all as one. Way down we go.
"Before I fell onto this island, the person that gave me the rune said that my name means 'small'."
"And? What became of that?" Lizzie asked intrigued.
Her words reminded me of my oath. Even if aether is an unstable force not to be reckoned with, I also have faith in grace, that aether can be used to bring balance and order to the realms we all live in. I won`t let anything stop me from reaching my dream.
I stared at Lizzie`s kind eyes and spoke with an exaggerated ballast:
"I will not stop because of my emotions. I will put an end to the reign of my leaders. I will burn everything that divides and distinguishes. And beyond that, I will organize everything into a new order, built of not monarchy but democracy."
Lizzie`s head dropped to my shoulder.
"Then we have the same old dream of equality." she whispered.
I shook my head.
"Equality is just a fairytale told us to hide the secrets of our worlds. But I exist to make it burn before us. I will show the Endless Greatness of the Five that we are not their toys to be played with."
"That is a good dream." Lizzie leaned closer to my shoulder. "You are a good dream."
But as we settled to almost sleep the ground shook violently. Both of us immediately got up.
"What is hapening?" I mused. My body tried to balance itself while my eyes tried to focus on Lizzie. "An earthquake?"
Lizzie tried to balance herself by clinging to me. I did the same.
"I... I don`t know. This place was supposed to be the safest."
Lizzie was dreadful. So was I. But to our fortune the shaking had stopped. As a worse event happened. The volcano was almost completely invisible in the near dark sky. But as lava erupted from it, I saw something flying out of it. Smoke and dust covered the sky and the air. All the Awakened around us gazed to the sky, to the thing that was coming at us. I couldn't make out what it was until that thing, or should I say "person" was falling exactly at us. From the dark sky a girl was descending towards us at a fast speed. She was screaming like hell. Her long sky blue hair weaved in the wind and her blue eyes ripped through me. Her gentle face was all injured. I shouted in both thrill and fear of who was coming towards us.
"Raya?"