Kaelren peered around the crumbling pillar once more— the only difference being that he was inside the building now.
His gaze landed on where the blonde man was supposed to be.
Nowhere in sight. He had seen Kaelren. His heart raced in his chest. He was unarmed— if the blonde man found him, he was surely as good as dead.
Then, he heard a deep voice behind him. He froze up.
"You aren't very good at hiding," Spoke the unknown voice, cold.
Kaelren stiffened. He slowly turned around, only to see the blonde man up close. He couldn't form a coherent sentence, just staring at the man.
Before he could turn, a cold hand lunged forward and clamped tightly at his throat, shoving him back against the dusty walls.
"Who are you?" He spoke, unforgivingly. "And why were you watching me? Who sent you here?"
The blonde bundled questions at Kaelren, the man who couldn't form a sentence. The pressure on his throat was too much, he could barely breathe, let alone talk.
Kaelren struggled, hands clawing at the wrist choking him. His thoughts reeled. Panic simmered just beneath the surface, he really did want to answer.
Kaelren felt as if he'd pass out, with no further help. He was helpless against the blonde. He was about to give in, that was before—
The blonde recoiled back, his body being thrown back a few paces. It was as if an invisible force had taken him and thrown him across the room. His back hit the wall, coughing out some saliva.
The blonde's eyes widened slightly.
Kaelren watched, his own eyes fixed on the blonde, with wide eyes. But before he could do much else, the force seemed to have an impact on him too.
But he didn't physically feel it? He aggressively coughed, covering his mouth— until a crimson colour spilled out, covering his palm in a warmer liquid. He slipped to the floor, the wall behind him acting as support.
Kaelren coughed out blood. He wanted to stand, but then it flashed across his mind.
The man— the blonde, standing in front of him, not as he was now, but he was very different.
Kaelren was with him. He was laughing, the blonde was smiling. It was as if they had known each other for ages, talking about past stories.
Déjà vu. Was this a memory?
No— it felt like.. a vision. The future.
Then he snapped back to reality. The blonde was a few paces in front of him. On the other side of the room. But he seemed fine, as he picked himself up rather quickly.
Kaelren's hand trembled as he wiped the blood from his mouth. His head pulsed with the impact and the vision, and something intangible pulsed back in return— something that he couldn't put his finger on.
> [New skill unlocked: Vision.] <
> [Vision. Lvl.1] <
> Skill deactivated involuntarily due to decline in physical wellbeing. <
The words played like a text bubble in front of Kaelren, then glitched away, vanishing.
The blonde stood up. This time, he was less cold and mad, more wary and cautious.
"You… What the hell was that?" He said, a bit more wary than before. "Did you do something to me?" He added.
"I… I don't know," Kaelren spoke, still shaken up. "I think… You did something to me."
< Narrative Registered: Fourth Vein of Fate
Zone: Ashen City Core
Consequence: Timeline collapse risk [HIGH]. Subjects may cease to exist.
Potential reward: Fragmented Armament – 'Blade of Searing' >
< [Temporal Note: Thread anomaly risk at 37%.] >
Kaelren stared at the bubble that reappeared in front of him. Narrative registered? Number 4?
"Narrative registered, what now?" He muttered solely to himself. He carefully picked himself up, looking back at the blonde man.
"I have to get to the ruins.." The blonde man said, his hand resting on the grip of his sheathed sword.
"What ruins? And what the heck is this narrative registered- thing?" Kaelren asked, despite the blonde's earlier attempt at strangling him.
"Shut up and get up if you want to live." He said coldly.
Kaelren had many, many questions once again.
'What the hell does it mean thread anomaly risk? Covis did say that something about this all being planned fate or something,' Kaelren tried making sense of the situation, somewhat succeeding.
'So maybe I just have to play along? But he also said I was weak. Does that mean I'm unfit for this? What should I do? If I'm too weak I might end up dead.' There wasn't much that Kaelren could do in a battle sense, though he was willing to try.
The blonde was already out of the building, walking at a slow pace to the center of 'ashen city', since that was the name of the city.
Kaelren sighed. He couldn't just stay shocked and incomprehensive of this. If he didn't do anything, he'd be as good as dead.
He slowly walked towards the blonde. He turned his way out of the building.
> ⟨ "That guy might be trouble… I shouldn't involve myself with him too much." ⟩ <
Kaelren stopped dead in his tracks, stopping mid-way as he saw the blonde.
'Is he talking to himself? No, I wouldn't be able to hear it from here..'
Kaelren ran up to the blonde, ignoring what he thought he had heard. He started walking beside him, following him.
"What do you want?" He asked, coldly and annoyed.
"Who are you?" Kaelren couldn't help asking, ignoring the blonde's concern.
"Im Lucan. Who are you?" He asked.
As the blonde revealed his name, Kaelren felt a sharp pain in his chest. It was bearable enough only to show a little emotion, but it hurt like hell.
Why did that happen all of a sudden? It was as if it waited for Lucan to finish speaking.
"I'm Vex Kaelren."
"Why are you following me?"
"I don't know what else I'm supposed to do."
"Well you aren't supposed to follow me either."
As that was said, this time Kaelren felt… relieved? The prior pain in his chest had completely faded away.
"But I am." Kaelren countered, making Lucan's eyebrow twitch in irritation.
"Look, just leave me alone, go find someone else."
"If I don't?" Kaelren smirked a little.
"You'll end up like that woman I killed."
Lucan replied, not batting an eye at Kaelren.
"You're just going to kill an innocent man?" Kaelren asked. He in fact did not stop following Lucan. He didn't feel threatened at all.
Lucan ultimately exhaled, his hands playing in his pockets. "At least stay quiet."
Kaelren rolled his eyes. He had many more questions. But he couldn't risk losing a possible ally.
He instead took the time to look over the male beside him. Pale gold hair, dim blue eyes, pale skin. Lucan's facial features were quite striking as well. Kaelren noticed a silver ear cuff around the curve of his ear, the tiny spikes tangled in his hair. He carried a sheathed sword on his back. He wore a pauldron on his left shoulder, two straps going over his chest.
Going a little lower, Lucan wore braced gloves, with tiny spikes on the knuckles, the length of the gloves were just about elbow length, a little shorter.
He had a hip charm. It was from one belt hole to another, dangling feathers of a beige colour, and brown beads, making a subtle clinking sound each time he took a step. Around his hip was a utility pouch belt.
"Are you done staring?" Lucan broke the silence, keeping his sentence short.
"Huh? I wasn't.." Kaelren's voice trailed off, discontinuing his sentence.
"My bad.." He said simply afterwards.
"You have a pretty unique appearance," Lucan said, though his eyes still remained ahead, not glancing at Kaelren.
"Ah.. Thanks." It fell silent once again, but less awkward this time.
> ⟨ "He's not going to stop following me, huh?" ⟩ <
Kaelren heard Lucan's voice like that once again. He glanced at the blonde, but he hasn't opened his mouth. Kaelren raised an eyebrow, averting his gaze.
> [New skill: Telapathy unlocked.] <
> [Telepathy Lvl. 1 activated.] <
The text played in front of Kaelren's view, before he walked through it, the text vanishing into thin air.
'I don't want that skill. I think I'd rather not know what he's thinking. How the heck do I deactivate it?' Just as Kaelren was thinking of a way—
> [Skill voluntarily deactivated.] <
Kaelren first stared at the reflection that the words were displayed on, the glass of a nearby window.
'...That was easier than I expected.'
"...Where did you come from? And how long ago? You don't seem to be bothered at all by the penalty for failing this narrative."
Lucan spoke, this time taking a small glance at Kaelren who was still walking beside him.
"You won't survive long without an ally or fighting skills."
Kaelren paused. How long had Lucan been here? He sounded as if he knew every crack and crevice of this world.
"..I only just got here. How long have you been here?"
"Why should I disclose such information to you?" He retorted in the same cold and annoyed tone.
'Gosh. He looks as if he'll never stop being annoyed.' Kaelren thought, his gaze roaming over the blonde's cold expression.
supporting Kaelren's point, he swore he saw Lucan's eyes still twitching. Whatever the case, Lucan must be right.
The world he was in right now… gave him an uneasy feeling that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He hadn't really come across any danger, but considering Lucan's words.. it didn't seem like he was joking around.