TIIIING!
"Where am I?"
Caesar's thoughts puffed away like smoke.
He felt his consciousness rging together, except there wasn't any presence of cold or warmth—a rather strange feeling. His skin tingled like electricity as he passed through what he could only make out as a wide, dark corridor.
In the end, he saw two black bars above and below him, like a cinematic screen, with white static at the center, while the bars extended forward to unattainable lengths. Caesar saw the space moving forward—or perhaps it was him moving forward; even he couldn't distinguish what was going on.
"Is this..." He blurted
"Cecilia!"
'Huh?!' Caesar exclaid ntally. 'Who is...'
"Cecilia!"
The black bars crumbled apart, and the white static ford a clear image.
Caesar, from his perspective, sat at a dining table filled with food and fancy candles. There were six seats in total at the round table. Caesar was alone in one of the seats; the rest were served with delicacies and fine cuisine, but no people were present. He scanned the dining room, taking in the interesting decor.
It was nothing too extraordinary: an average deer head was mounted on the wall as a decoration, the walls were tiled in ocean blue, which gave the room a serene atmosphere, a red carpet highlighted the tiled walls, and a chandelier designed with red and green bulbs hung above, along with so random photos and mundane furniture.
'A restaurant?' Caesar wondered.
"Cecilia, you're so stubborn!"
"Ooh, so you do have a girlfriend!"
Two voices, one male and one female, bickered in the distance. Like the voices of haunting spirits, the sounds hovered gently over the room, echoing weakly off the walls. Caesar couldn't grasp everything they said; all he heard was...
"You're my sister, not Mom! Quit acting so nosy!" the male voice yelled.
"Don't be so rude! I'm just trying to help you! Be honest with yourself: if we're rating your resonance with ladies, then you're at a negative ten. Just let your adorable little sister help you!"
"I told you, I DON'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!"
"You're lying! Let help you before the relationship falls apart..."
'Awkward.' Caesar rolled his eyes and sighed.
"She's foreign, huh... where from exactly?"
"Don't laugh if I tell you."
"Sure, sure, big bro, go ahead. I won't laugh, I promise."
Caesar pulled his attention elsewhere. He wasn't interested in eavesdropping; far greater matters were at hand. Such as why he was unable to move from his shoulders downward, or what he was doing in this restaurant in the first place.
'If I rember correctly, I was in the North Pole on my trial. So Indulgers of the Winter's Choir faction ca to take in... I tricked him into a verbal agreent before my body gave out, or so I rember things playing out,' he pondered.
'I purposely claid to have info. In a group as large as that, they naturally had to have at least one healer. By faking my knowledge, not only did I prevent the others from being targeted by them, but I also secured my own life. No smart Indulger would let their only lead die, and WE lack a skilled healer. I steered the situation as best I could, but in the end, I couldn't fully control the overall outco.'
'I wouldn't be surprised if those Indulgers did this to . They're obviously trying to question , or worse, torture for pleasure first. The fact that they have a healer makes it even more frightening to imagine.'
"Alright, fine. This girl that I'm interested in isn't from Leon City."
"You've said that!"
"Cutting to the chase." The male took a deep breath. "She's from the Antarctic!" His voice roared and squeaked at the sa ti.
"More specifically, the North Pole," he concluded.
"Huh?" the sister reacted.
'Huh?!' Caesar involuntarily overheard the exchange. 'The North Pole... just what exactly is this place? And did I just hear Leon?!'
"Bwahahaha! That's so ridiculous! You're going all the way to the North Pole because you fell in love with a girl online?"
"We've done video calls, and we see each other online almost every day. I know she's real."
Caesar's hearing sharpened.
"That's not the point. Are you saying you have to go all the way across the world just for one girl?"
"Hey! Leon and the North Pole are very close!"
"In terms of trade and research, maybe, but that doesn't make your goal any more sane."
CLANK! CLANK!
'Angry stomping! One of them is coming!' Caesar tried to slip under the table and hide, but he was frozen in his seat.
CLANK! CLANK!
"I don't know why you're always so impulsive and unreasonable, brother!" The sister scuffled in, dashing past the table with furious movents.
For a mont, Caesar caught a glimpse of the sister. The strands of hair blocking her face swayed to the side; her eyes, skin, and face were all painfully familiar. Her features were exactly identical to a girl he had t not too long ago in the North Pole.
Saying he had t her was far from the truth; more accurately, it was the girl he had saved a while ago. The sa girl who beca crippled and lost her brother to the fire that burnt the inn that fateful night.
Caesar was wide-eyed, his shock drawn by the wrinkles beneath his eyes, chin, and lips. 'It's her!'
Not too far behind, the brother eagerly chased her. For the first ti, Caesar caught a good view of her brother. He was a fine young man with decent attire, well-smoothed hair, and a peculiarly handso face.
'That's her brother. It's such a sha I couldn't save him.' Regret flooded his mind as his gaze quickly fell to the table.
'I only have three speculations on what's going on,' Caesar introspected.
'The first is that this is an illusion. The second is that maybe, by so odd coincidence, her mories are being projected into my mind. And the third, yet most unlikely...'
'...I traveled back in ti. But no factors support this hypothesis, so it's either of the first two,' he deduced.
anwhile...
Outside the sets, in the freezing wasteland of the snowy field, Rolan and Velonica sat on two different large blocks of snow. Rolan was slowly being made a punching bag by the thin yet spiky snow, while Velonica rubbed her eyes stressfully.
'Soone's finally awoken,' her thoughts played. 'I can't tell if this is a good thing or a disaster waiting to happen.'
She took occasional glances at Rolan's physical condition. Obviously, since he didn't have a uniform, the cold was taking a toll on him. Despite her enthusiasm, Rolan had decided to take a breather and relax, even if it was in the midst of a frosty hell.
'Rolan must have noticed my growing exhaustion.' Velonica turned down the corners of her mouth and frowned. 'I'm happy to rest just a bit, but at the sa ti, I feel awful for delaying us.'
Rolan hadn't said a word since they stopped to rest; he simply sat with crossed fingers and monitored the snowflakes as they gathered.
'We haven't made any progress. At this rate, the trial will be completed by soone else,' Rolan contemplated. 'There are more complex events going on behind the scenes of course, but now that soone has awakened, their chances of finishing the trial have gone beyond my level of predictability.'
'We have to lock in. The fate of My aunt, Big Shaggers, and the citizens as a whole hang in the balance of how this trial concludes.' Rolan exhaled. 'Even if I don't defeat the mastermind orchestrating these events, I'd like to stack up enough points and contribute as much as I can to guarantee a pass. I don't think I'll awaken because of my relationship with Her.'
'Aunty Augusta, Big Shaggers, and the people of the North Pole, please bear with , for I will find your savior.'
"Uhm... Rolan, who do you think awakened first out of everyone?"
Rolan closed his eyes and reflected on the question. "I'm guessing it's Snider. The guy always had potential from the start, not to ntion he's highly skilled with wavelength, even for a rookie."
Velonica pressed her fingers together. "That's actually a pretty solid point, but I highly doubt that."
"Why?"
"Snider is highly skilled, but skills aren't enough to ensure an Indulger's awakening. Deities are strange and mysterious beings; at tis they're so grave and serious, and other tis they're just as colorful and childish as crayons." Velonica shook her head in displeasure.
"I get what you an," Rolan responded.
'Literally, I had the displeasure of having to et a lot of them. Worst of all, I'm in an alliance with probably the most annoying and useless one!'
Rolan wore a plain expression.
"Have you heard that a deity picked an Indulger as an incarnate just because they liked the color of his shirt?" Velonica uttered with a straight face.
"Huh?" Rolan swapped his expression to sothing more perplexed. 'Satire, perhaps?'
"And the worst part is, it's true. I had a conversation with the person."
"Maybe they were ssing with you."
Velonica shrugged. "Perhaps. But my point still stands." She sat up straight and squared her shoulders. "Also..."
"Have you noticed the sll of blood lingering in the air?"
Rolan scowled. "Yeah. To make things worse, it slls fresh."
"Soone was just killed near us."
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