Though showing surprise at his sudden transformation, the man quickly replied, recalling all that he knew:
"He's a relatively new hire; just about a year since he joined us. His record is clean, dating back to twenty-plus years of hunter experience, even his thoughts gave us nothing to worry about. We've found little dirt on him, but that isn't unusual, actually, so saw it as too little, as if his record was altered, so parts deleted. Most hunters have a truckload of dirt on them after all."
Emir stayed still for a while, appearing to be lost in thought, his gears turning.
'...Deleted?'
With a nod, he turned to the man and asked:
"Do you have his ID? I want to talk to him."
"Oh, you don't know? ... He's dead."
'...Dead?'
Emir's eyes widened as he inwardly repeated what the man had just said, and the gears inside his mind shifted once more, hinting at a possibility that he NEEDED to be false.
"When?!"
The man replied calmly, not reacting to his quickly changing state:
"It was more than seven months ago, I believe. We investigated his whereabouts, but we found nothing. There's a high chance he went missing alongside all those desperate hunters who went after Ms. Aria..."
'Fading Haven.'
Emir blinked.
"Aria, you said?"
"Yeah... I lost a few friends that day too. Damn that life insurance company! Second Life, huh? Second life my ass!"
Ignoring the man's frustrated grumble, Emir continued to think as the gears within his mind shifted more and more until...
'Fuck.'
Everything clicked.
What he wished to be false turned out to be true.
Johnson was the third player.
And he-no, 'He' was still alive.
'He' was the one who made the monsters go mad, making saving Aria much more difficult.
Yes, 'He' was the shriveled-up man who they saw in the ruin.
Yes, 'He' could sohow control more than one body, hiding his true identity from ever being found out.
'He' was the reason why Emir's ID was seven hundred and seventy-seven.
'He' was the reason why there were seven hundred and seventy-seven students.
'He' was the reason why Emir ranked as the universe's 777th youngest Seraphim. 'He' was the reason why Felix was taken over by a parasite so early.
'He' was the one who agitated Emir to stab his steel into the girl walking in the dark.
'He' was the one who led Felix into eating the poor girl with steel in her heart.
'He' was the one who repeatedly stole Emir's mories.
'He' was the one who visited Mr. Player's Incomplete Celestial Realm.
'He' was the 'Man' with the pocket watch.
'He' was the one who watched all along.
'He' was the 'Author,' the one shaping Emir's story.
Not the Oracle, not Magnus, and certainly not his allies.
It was 'Him.'
'He' was the third player.
[Lyra...]
[...]
'...I can't contact her.'
And that player seed to have found out about Emir discovering 'His' little secret, jamming his connection.
Click clack...
Slow steps resounded in the distance, approaching their location, but Emir remained still, not panicking, thinking of a solution.
'I can only escape... but I need to know first.'
Tick...
A sigh escaped his lips, and he looked at his bodyguard.
"Did anyone join after he went missing?"
Tick, tick...
"Hmm... I think so chick called Maria was brought in. She's a doctor."
Tick, tick, tick...
Emir's icey face turned even colder.
Tick, tick, tick, tick...
'Maria?.... No, no, no, no, no... no FUCKING way! He was the nurse too?!'
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...
As his thoughts churned, the steps quickly grew closer, faster, and alongside them was the ticking of a clock, a sound that eventually drowned out the steps, reverberating inside his
mind.
It ca from a watch, or more specifically, a pocket watch.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...
His bodyguard reacted calmly to whatever was happening, indicating that he didn't hear the ticking, only the steps that caught his attention, causing him to turn around and look at who
was approaching them.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...
No one was there.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...
Emir, knowing that to be a lie, leaned forward lightly and whispered:
"Whoever's coming, slow them down."
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...
Without questioning him for a mont, the man sprang into action, rushing towards the
steps, while Emir ran the other way, heading to his office.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...
But as he was about to Flash Step away, his legs wobbled, as did his entire body soon after, feeling all of his Aether get sucked out of him, leaving only a trickle in his reserves.
Tick, tick, tick, tick... Tick.
Not relenting for a second, he marched on, dragging his feet till he reached his office.
Tick... tick... tick...
The door opened, automatically detecting his presence, and he rushed in.
Tock!
As the lody neared its end, his eyes began to bleed, to cry, leaving black tears trailing down
his face as he looked past his desk.
Tick!
And just before he could reach out for his guns...
Tock!
A voice resounded right behind him:
"Sleep."
'Not again...'
Like a puppet cut loose from its strings, he imdiately crashed into the ground, his eyes
bleeding a waterfall of black.
It seed that those tears weren't a result of his corruption but a result of the woman who now stood next to his sleeping body.
That woman was Maria, the sa nurse who welcod Emir into this world.
"How many tis does this make, hm?"
Her voice resounded once more, and it was far from normal, far different from the one he
knew.
It sounded like hundreds of people talking at once, each with different tones, accents, and volus, all speaking at different tis. It was contradictory to itself.
Her voice rivaled the song of chaos in just how revolting it was to hear. "Stop figuring out, boy. Just relax, take it easy. No need to worry, you're in good hands,
really."
Maria chuckled, giggled, and laughed out loud, continuing to talk to herself:
"Yeah, I know, I know, it's not your fault. But I can't help but get the watch out, you know."
""
"Right, right, you've missed quite a few as well, but hey, it was a lot better than last ti."
Pulling his body by the arms, she dragged him back to the elevator, closing the door to his office behind her.
"It isn't ti yet, so don't ruin this for ... I don't have many tries left, and look at you, you're already crying."
While she moved, her eyes glanced at each and every cara, stealing everything, deleting her very existence from the database, and making it as if she was never there.
"This ga between you and Magnus is just beginning. I'll be watching it till its conclusion,
so stop..."
Letting out a bored sigh, she continued:
"Stop trying to be sothing more than what you really are. You 'awakened' early once, you unlocked a unique ability without a blessing. Neither will happen again."
Her face, which once showed a kind smile, had twisted, and as if it were a glitch, her features began to be rubbed off, erased, scrambled, and blurred.
"You're alone, child. So utterly alone. Not even your little subject friend holds a candle to your
starless fate."
Ting!
Reaching the elevator, its door automatically opened, and there stood a sleeping guard,
awaiting the entry of the professor he failed to protect.
"Don't forget, darkness awaits you, and death awaits your people. You will get stronger, but
I'm beyond strength."
"....."
She pulled him up and placed him next to the man, with arms that were as 'nonexistent' as her
face.
"I'll be your end..."
The doors closed as the last of her words resounded.
"And you'll be my new beginning."
Emir remained there, standing next to a man he knew not of his na.
He was still sleeping, and the tears that once surrounded his eyes cleared, as if a cloth was
wiping them away.
"Тар...
But then, all of a sudden, his right-pointing finger moved, harshly hitting his thumb.
The first tap was followed by three others in quick succession, and after a pause, two taps in
similar volu and speed resounded.
|| ||
That was it.
His finger moved no more, and he stayed limp, standing like a zombie.
However, his mind, or rather, his neural network, was busy working.
An incredibly small part, which connected to his subconscious, was recording the taps, and
those taps brought forth a hidden counterasure that wasn't active or even ford before everything aligned.
That guaranteed this procedure would never be detected by the third player since it wouldn't
even exist before 'They' made their move.
{Procedure conditions t.}
{Initiating procedure.}
{Decoding Morse Code.}
{H: ....}
{I:..}
{Complete.}
{Adding to previous 9 procedures.}
{Johnson. Thi...} {Sentence incomplete, requiring further input.}
{Procedure termination delayed.}
{Sending to Lyra's database.}
{Authorization requested.} {Authorization sent.} {Lyra system 20175182109 accepted data.}
{Procedure complete.}
{Wiping information.....}
{...}
{...}
"...Ah."
His eyes slowly fluttered open.
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