Cups clattered together as n sat around in circles, they cheered onto themselves as they drank themselves full of liquor, rum and anything considered manly enough to be ingested.
By the side of the room, a man sat with a plate of food laid out before him, it was untouched as the man played with his fork, it seed he had suddenly lost his appetite, as though the steamy aroma of the at before him did little to entice him.
"Eat up!" Liora exclaid. She had wolfed down her food and tried her best to not pick into Shadows food, his al looked delectable, roast pork belly with cinnamon spices and a cup of cold wine placed by his side. The dish also had a variety of fruits and vegetables but those were of no concern to Liora.
"Hmmm" Shadow stabbed his al with his fork, playfully he toyed with the knife in his left hand, swirling it about for a mont before using it’s sharp end to cut into the at.
He chewed on it slowly, trying his best to not think of the thoughts that pervaded his mind. He took two gulps of wine to push down the at and went at it again.
The al was delicious, he noticed. He would have enjoyed it better if he weren’t so confused on what to do from here on out.
Kane...
Ever since he woke up this morning, he had smiled foolishly, rembering the events of last night, and with Lisa. The woman who shared the sa na with his Aunt, making things awkward for him.
But soon after that, he had banished the thought as quickly as it ca, he had more pressing matters to attend too. Where would he go from here? What missions would he take?
He would receive his guild license today, and after that he had to find sothing to do. He had to know more about Kane. Was he really the Kane from his last world?
Had he been also killed by the organization and gotten reincarnated? If that was so this was a terrible joke by the System.
He placed down his fork by the side of his unfinished al and stood up abruptly. He needed answers!
"Are you going to finish that? I want it" Liora said poking at his al, he waved her away and walked off, she giggled as she took the al from his plate, wolfing it down with an unnecessary sense of urgency.
Nobles don’t get to eat food this spicy, he thought.
He walked back to his rooms, shutting the door behind him as the sll of his deeds the previous night left a scent about the room. He sat down and looked up at the open space ahead of him.
"Syl".
[YES?]
"I need to ask you a question" he pushed.
[CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING THE MISSION AND RETRIEVING INFORMATION ON THE DEMON CULT.]
[ASSIMILATION COMPLETE.]
[YOU HAVE GAINED AN ABILITY.]
[ABSOLUTE ZERO. A SKILL TAKEN FROM THE ICE SPIRIT AND OF THE HOST YOU DEFEATED.]
Shadow felt a rush of energy rush into his soul, it was instant. His body imdiately froze to the point where he couldn’t move, the room itself dropping temperatures till frost could be seen growing on the walls.
Then his heart had frozen, ice creeping around it. Shadow panicked but couldn’t do anything about it, he couldn’t even breathe.
Then his heart thumped once.
Another thump. And another.
Slowly he felt himself coming back to life, his blood vessels loosened, he blinked his eyes and took in deep breaths of air. Suddenly he didn’t feel the cold anymore, although the room was still frozen, it seed unfazed by it.
He opened and closed his palms tightly, slowly cursing at the system. Why had it waited so long before granting him his power. Maybe a glitch? He wasn’t sure.
[ADDED ACTIVE SKILL. RESISTANCE TO COLD]
"That’s not the point Syl! I called you here for sothing else entirely" he said looked at the holographic image that displayed his stats.
[HMM? HOW MAY I BE OF HELP]
"You knew that he got reincarnated into this world, Didn’t you?" Shadow asked, his anger slowly growing.
[WHO?]
"Raphael Kane. My student! The last person who blasted a hole in my head. You knew it was him and you still sent him to this world? Why? What for?... Is this so kind of parody to you? An entertainnt of so sorts?" He shouted, letting his rage control him.
Unknown to him, ice had begun creeping out the room, as though corresponding with his emotions.
[YES...]
[NO....]
[I DON’T... KNOW...]
[SENT... HE WAS... SENT TO THE WORLD.... RIVAL...]
[DEMON LORD....]
[EREVOS....]
[PANTHEON OF... GODS...]
[PAWN PIECE...]
[WILD CARD....]
Shadow took several steps back, this was the first ti he had even seen the system behaving this way, it seed as though it was sothing much more than a glitch. He didn’t understand the words of the system.
Or rather, he couldn’t make sense of them.
"Syl?" He cursed his lips while looking at the system. Suddenly the holographic image blitzed, then glitched and disappeared.
Shadow was quiet. Had he broken sothing? Or perhaps had he asked the wrong questions. Did he destroy Syl?
He felt an ache in his chest, he rembered the tis he wished that the system would just disappear, now he wasn’t so sure about that.
"Syl..." He whispered. Looking round the room, he saw ice growing out of every corner in the room. It ford icicles from the ceiling to the floor and vice versa.
YES?
The system pinged again, like it usually did.
"Syl!" He said happily, he felt an odd sense of relief. "Are you okay? You were glitching not too long ago" he said concerned.
[WHAT?]
[? GLITCH?]
[LOWLY HUMAN. I AM ’SYL’]
[A FRAGNT OF THE SHADOW MONARCH. A VESTIGE OF HIS POWER. I AM KOT ATTUNED TO DO SOTHING AS MUNDANE AS GLITCH]
[WHAT EVEN IS THAT WORD?]
Shadow looked at the holographic image floating before him and slapped himself on his forehead. He had been a fool to think he wanted the system alive. Yes he was sure now. He preferred it dead.
"Since you’re so high and mighty, would you mind answering a question for ?" Shadow asked, he felt a bit hopeful, maybe he could make the system talk by inflating its ego. It seed to have a form of sentience.
[DEPENDS ON THE QUESTION.]
Odd! Syl was never this conversative.
"Did you also reincarnate Raphael Kane to this world?" He asked again.
[....]
"I just need to know, what could I possibly do without your help? I am but a lowly human, a re tool to be used and left. So I ask for your aid. Syl" he added a bit more emotion than he had intended. Partly because he was really desperate to know.
[YES!]
What?
How could she do this to !
"But, you knew..." He whispered feeling a certain weight on his shoulders.
"Not only that, you made him my rival. You want to kill him again don’t you? Is this really fun for you? Playing with my emotions like this? My mories?"
[....]
"No answer again?" He sighed.
[IT WAS NOT MY DECISION.]
"Then whose? You’re the one who brought him to this world aren’t you?" He grinded his teeth in anger.
[NO! I SERVE ONLY THE WILL OF THE SHADOW MONARCH.]
[YES HE WAS BROUGHT INTO THIS WORLD. BUT BY ANOTHER GOD!]
Another god?
"Wait, what do you---"
A knock ca to the door, Shadow looked and felt waves of heat coming from the door. Suddenly the door burst open, scattering into splinters.
"Are you okay? Or under an attack from the enemy?" Liora ran into the room. Shadow, feeling dumbfounded looked at her in confusion.
She ran to the window and back to the door, looking for an enemy that didn’t exist.
"What are you doing?" Shadow questioned her, he felt a little annoyed that she had just run in on him while he was about finding out sothing very important.
"What do you an what am I doing? Are you blind or you can’t see the ice growing from the walls and every damn thing in your room?" She shouted at him still looking for an enemy that didn’t exist.
"Oohh".
"Uuhhm. I’m fine, there’s no enemy here" he placed his arms to the side.
Liora eyed him steadily, "Then where did all this ice co from?" She asked.
Shadow looked around, unsure of what to say, did he want to lie? He wasn’t sure. He stood up from the bed and walked to the door.
"You ask too much questions Liora" he looked at her head. "So tell , why did you co in the first place, I’m sure you didn’t miss that much" he gestured towards the door for them to both leave.
Liora hesitated a bit. She shrugged and walked towards the door.
"It’s Ben. He has our license ready and wants to give it to us... Also he’s asking if we’re ready for another mission, says it’s dangerous" she added.
"What’s the mission?" Shadow asked, although he wasn’t sure he would take the mission, he had to find out more about the demon cult, more than anything.
"The Ashen Wastes" she shivered visibly as she said the words. Shadow eyed her and cocked his head questioningly.
"It’s where they sealed the Demon Lord. How don’t you know even that?" she raised her hands in frustration.
Shadow paused and smiled at himself. Bless you Ben.
"Co, we can’t waste anymore ti" he grinned as he ran down the stairs. Liora looked at him slightly puzzled. She could never understand him.
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