Kingdom's Bloodline, page 394
Silver Shadowman shook his head slowly. "If you have even the slightest idea how great of a price the wizards paid to get rid of this curse and the effects it brought… If you have even the slightest idea how many of those so-called powerful, wise, sharp-witted people tried to break this curse and unlock its mysteries...
"And how many among them were natural-born genii, but lost their way trying to dispel this curse, fell into madness because of it, and died on the road to solve this mystery…
"And in the process, they then produced and brought about even more evil, even hastening the creation of this evil. And from this evil, many other problems were born, and still continue to torment the living even now.
"If you have any idea what exactly is happening, then you will not say these words so casually."
There was puzzlement in Thales' eyes, but he remained quiet as he listened to the man telling him about this. However, he could not completely understand what Silver Shadowman had said.
'What did he mean?'
"A good heart does not necessary bear good fruits." The man's words became stern and fierce. He did not even bother to be tactful. "Some soil is destined to nurture the flowers of utmost evil."
They sank into silence again.
"Is it?" Thales lowered his head and did not say a word. He merely sighed faintly.
The silence lasted until Silver Shadowman's light began to move gently. "However..."
Silver Shadowman looked at him, then slowly raised his right arm and gently clenched his fist. "If you really want to do something, then go and be prepared."
Thales forced a smile, lifted his head, and let out a light snort. "Prepare for?"
Silver Shadowman nodded slightly, but shook his head immediately afterwards. "Now, your body carries only the bloodline."
Thales' smile disappeared. "What do you mean by 'carries only the bloodline'?"
The man's dark facial features moved. "Young Jadestar, your will is still childish, your path ahead is still unclear, your resolve is far from enough.
"I heard what you said. Calamities still remain in the mortal realm, and they are mercilessly reaping lives, resulting in tragedy, correct?"
Thales was slightly shocked. "Huh?"
The brilliant light on Silver Shadowman's face alternated between degrees of brightness and darkness as he stared quietly at Thales.
The prince suddenly felt that perhaps there was a great passion far beyond his imagination hidden behind that face made of silver light.
Silver Shadowman quietly gazed at Thales and said slowly, "Tormond could not fulfill his promise, but I can tell that he left his hopes to his descendants.
Silver Shadowman spread his palms gently. A few strands of silver light rose above his palm, and they flowed back and forth like a sparkling galaxy. It was an incredibly amazing sight.
It was quiet for a second.
Thales' pupils narrowed slightly. "Tormond," he muttered. "Are you saying…?"
"Go," Silver Shadowman said faintly, but the echo of his voice was incredibly clear. Thales could not help but be shocked by it. "Find the mission that belongs to your ancestor and to your family, accept it, and become a reliable man."
Silver Shadowman's facial features shook slightly, as though this man with the unique identity had put on the most serene smile. "It is only then, when you will be worthy of returning to fulfill the long-cherished wish belonging to Tormond and myself, the wish which we had failed to accomplish."
The darkness in his eyes seemed to contain the depths of the entire world. "At that time, only then will you be fit to end all of this, to end even the disaster wrought by this ancient curse. You will be able to put an end to it forever."
Thales, utterly upset and confused, stared at Silver Shadowman who was in such a darkened state. He seemed to have caught hold of something, but also seemed as if he had not understood anything.
In the end, the prince still frowned and shook his head honestly. "I… don't understand."
The man moved slightly. Ripples appeared in the silver light on his face. "Then I hope that you will forever not come to understand it."
Thales was somewhat startled.
Silver Shadowman slowly raised the flowing silver light on his right palm, then watched the light return to his body.
"Young Jadestar." He slowly came forward to approach Thales as he said quietly, "Thank you for giving me these few precious, interesting, and happy hours in this darkness which has no magnitude, no end, no future, and no direction.
"Even though, I would forget it very soon and return to how I was before I met you."
Thales stared at the man. The emotions stirring in his heart were complicated and difficult to put into words.
In the next moment, Silver Shadowman touched Thales' face with his right palm. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead—formed by silver light—against Thales'. He gazed into Thales' eyes quietly.
Thales only felt that the spot, where the silver light flowed at the center of his forehead, grow cold. He stared dumbfoundedly at Silver Shadowman, who gazed at him deeply. The silver light shining from this person caused him to be unable to look directly at him and was forced to squint.
Nevertheless, Silver Shadowman's gaze was incredibly profound. Thales had never stared directly at this exceptional Silver Shadowman at such close proximity. He even had an impression that all the stars in the galaxy were contained in this man's dark eyes.
"May the mountains be tolerant of your feet. May the earth bless you in your journey." The light from Silver Shadowman's body brightened, and it would shudder with every syllable he spoke.
At that moment, a gentle ringing sounded in Thales' ears.
*Eeeeeeeeeee…*
It was lighter and softer than all the ringing Thales had to suffer before this. It was as though it was noiseless.
"May you… never be lost."
When he said his final few words, Thales felt that gentle ringing in his ears slowly fade away. In the next second, Silver Shadowman's light suddenly grew dimmer.
Before Thales could react, Silver Shadowman released him. The cool feeling on his forehead was gone.
"What was that?" Thales looked at the man, puzzled.
But Silver Shadowman just shook his head wordlessly and remained quietly watching him.
"...Thank you for bringing me her greetings."
In the next moment, before Thales could register what was going on, Silver Shadowman turned around and walked towards the dark, rocky wall, which was completely devoid of any kind of cracks or crevices. The silver footprints he left behind still shone with bright light like before.
"The deceased souls will trouble you no more. Turn around and walk forward, you will find the way out. Forget about today, return to you life." The man's words resounded in his ears.
Thales had a thought and a feeling: This was goodbye.
A strange impulse made the prince take two steps forward and he shouted at Silver Shadowman's back,
"Will we meet again?"
The footsteps of the Silver Shadowman's feet paused for a moment. The light on his body flickered slightly.
"Of course, " he replied softly.
Right then, that amusing ray of silver light, now just a spark to avoid being seen, suddenly flowed to the top of Silver Shadowman's head and formed a few words.
[He's lying.]
Thales was stunned.
Silver Shadowman stood where he was, as though he still did not notice the strange phenomenon above his head. "Young Jadestar, one day, we will surely meet again in the underworld, just like all souls who rest in peace.
"We won't meet here, in this curse where everything about us is taken away, against our will."
Silver Shadowman moved again and walked down the path where he came from.
His body, made of light, slowly fused into the stone walls.
The silver spark jolted and formed words again.
[He's still lying.]
With a dumbfounded look, Thales stared as Silver Shadowman sank into the rock formation. He watched the silver gradually fade away. The silver spark then became dark and it continued to form another string of words.
[The two of you will never meet again.]
Thales' eyebrows knitted together.
Finally, Silver Shadowman disappeared completely into the stone wall. The silver light vanished, never to be seen again.
The silver spark was almost completely dimmed by now. It formed its final words in the air before it vanished without a trace.
[Bye-bye.]
In the next second, the world in front of Thales turned dark. As Silver Shadowman left, the cave became completely swathed in darkness.
Thales was left alone in that place, returning to this lonely and silent darkness; he had to face the cold air, hard rock, and endless silence again.
Thales could not see a thing in the darkness, but he continued to stare blankly in the direction where Silver Shadowman left. Then, strange feelings filled his heart.
The things that happened not long ago still played vividly in his mind: the heavy blow delivered by Silver Shadowman, the armor he manifested, and the light jabs and teases aimed at Thales in the cave.
'"I have always been dead… I can only stay here until the day I am destroyed with it… It's been so long, so long that I can't even remember how long it has been…
'"Thank you, for giving me these few precious, interesting, and happy hours in this darkness which has no magnitude, no end, no future, and no direction... We eventually need to go on our separate ways..."'
'"Bye-bye."'
Thales clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. An impulse surged into his heart and filled his blood.
*Bang!*
His arms crashed against the solid rock wall!
But Thales seemed to not have felt a single thing. He opened his mouth with great effort, and said softly in that boundless darkness, "But I will remember."
The area around him remained as the same still darkness, and only his low murmurs echoed in the cave. There was not even a single response.
Thales lowered his head and resisted the urge to turn around. He whispered in the cave, so dark that nothing could be seen, "Even if you forget everything or cease to exist, there will always be one man in this world who will remember your life here."
It was as if he was talking to himself. Still, he hoped that his words could travel to the other end of the wall in front of him, into that spot that would forever be cloaked in dark loneliness.
...So that he could give that man, who could not rest in peace after he died but still smiled while he guarded this place alone in eternal darkness, a small spark of hope.
"Did you hear me?"
In the endless darkness, the upset and dispirited prince sucked in a long breath to suppress the strange burning in his nose.
"Raikaru… Eckstedt."
Chapter 351: The Pulse of the Ground |
Thales stayed for quite a while in the dark.
He composed himself before turning and carefully taking his leave in the darkness.
'What did that man mean?' Thales carefully felt around the ice-cold cavern wall beside him as he thought with a heavy heart. 'I just have to turn around to find the way out?
'But…'
Thales raised his head and stared at the darkness before his eyes. He felt extremely troubled, because he could practically see nothing.
Once he thought of the possibility that he might touch an unfamiliar head on the dark rock walls or suddenly see someone's stiff face, the prince felt his skin crawl, and he decided not to activate the Sin of Hell's River to find a path. He used both his hands and legs to feel the cavern wall beside him and the ground beneath his feet in an attempt to search his way out. He did not dare to relax at all.
But the Black Track was more perilous than what Thales had expected. He had only taken a few steps when he felt something strange beneath his feet!
*Rumble…*
There was the sound of rock tumbling down.
Shocked, Thales could not react at all. He felt the ground beneath his feet disappear. He screamed and lost his balance. His upper body tilted forward and he fell!
'What…?'
He knew that the situation was very bad for him right then, so he subconsciously hugged his head to his chest to prevent suffering more damage from the impact.
However, Thales' luck was clearly worse than that. Even though his elbows hit the ground, he could not stop his body from moving downwards at all. He was still slipping downwards because of inertia, and he even rolled forward!
'Shit!'
Thales thought while panic-stricken and in pain. 'This is even a damn slope!'
*Crack—*
The stones on the wall scratched him, and he collided non-stop against the rock formation. Thales covered his face and curled up like when he was beaten at the Abandoned House a long time ago, trying his best to avoid being injured from the tumbling.
In the darkness, the impact made his back ache, there were quite a lot of scratches on his knees and elbows, many parts of his clothes were torn from the abrasion with the coarse ground and a burning sensation spread through his entire body. Thales could not help but to curse the damned place again.
Finally, after rolling around for either six or sixteen times, the dizzy Thales finally stopped moving, though that came with a loud bang and an immense pain in his left elbow.
He crashed into a piece of flat ground that was not so hard.
"Damn it…"
Thales laid on the ground in the dark and moaned in pain.
'How in the world… do I go out?'
However, an airy, deep, cold and soft moan appeared in the pitch-black darkness. "Aaaaahhhhhh…"
Thales was rubbing the wound on his elbow, but when he heard this sound, his blood immediately ran cold!
"Who is it…?" the voice spoke falteringly and was completely without any sort of rhythm. It rang airily in the cavern, and was light and mysterious.
"Who disturbed my beauty sleep…?" These words traveled into his ears. They resembled the pants belonging to a person struggling to breathe before he or she died.
Thales felt a chill down his spine.
'It can't be?'
Thales exhaled in pain and cowered a little from the cold air in the Black Track.
He could not believe that he had encountered those things again.
"Which idiot is it?" The voice continued with a bone-chilling rhythm.
"How dare you…?"
Thales bit his lips hard, held his breath, and laid flat on the ground. He did not dare to move at all or make any sound. He only wished that he was a rock that had no perception or consciousness right then, because he was afraid that he would be discovered by some unknown being in the dark…
"How dare you do this when I'm resting…"
'Huh?
'Wait.'
Puzzlement surfaced in Thales' mind as he listened to the frighteningly low moans that rang beside his ears.
'This voice…'
He lifted his head swiftly and spoke with a quivering voice in the dark.
"Kurtz?"
Thales asked probingly in the dark with surprise, delight, and puzzlement, "Is that you, Kurtz?"
The pants in the dark stopped momentarily.
A few seconds later, the creepy and mysterious voice turned into an even colder laughter.
"Hehehe…"
The echoes of her sneers resounded in the air, and it even spread out further, though those sounds were soft. "Oh, it's you, brat."
'She sounds…'
Thales felt a chill running down his spine once again. 'Why does she sound so strange?'
He gulped and asked, puzzled and terrified while trembling in fear.
"You, you, are you still alive?"
The silence in the dark continued for a very long time.
During those few seconds, Thales could even hear his increasingly rapid heartbeat.
"No."
The cold voice traveled into this ears again.
Kurtz sounded a little dejected, even feeble. There was a strange, eerie tone to her voice. "I'm already dead…"
Thales immediately stiffened.
He shut his eyes and sighed softly.
'Hah...
'Kurtz…'
At that moment, Thales said in a dispirited manner, "Sorry, Kurtz, that was my fault. At that time, I wasn't able to…"
However, as though she was aware of his mood, Kurtz's breathy voice traveled into his ears again.
But this time, her words were completely different. "But…
"If you get off my body right now…"
Kurtz's feeble voice became clearer and clearer, and Thales could slowly grasp the dissatisfaction and fury in her words as she gnashed her teeth in anger. "And stop pushing me down…
"I can still come back to life."
Thales felt his blood run cold. He then realized something and gasped in shock before climbing backwards in a flurry, away from Kurtz's poor back.
'And here I was wondering…
'Why this piece of ground was so warm and so…
'Soft.'
As Kurtz moaned in pain and hissed in dissatisfaction, Thales, who was embarrassed and terrified apologized non-stop, but at the very least, he did not commit the crime of manslaughter.
While he was still moving about in a mess of limbs due to his panic, he helped up Kurtz, who had escaped from her disaster and was lying on the ground while panting.
"You, you are actually alright… I saw you…"
In the darkness, Thales grabbed Kurtz's arm and cried out, surprised and excited. "You are actually alright!"
Thales could feel that Kurtz was rolling her eyes scornfully at him in the darkness.
"Listen to yourself. This is nothing…" The seamstress' voice was still faint and weak, but her tone was back to normal. "I grew up among a pile of corpses!"
The seamstress leaned against a protruding rock and panted. "I don't die easily!"
Thales exhaled loudly. The corners of his lips curled up.
"Is that so?
"I'm glad that you're alright," said the prince in a soft voice.
Kurtz stopped grumbling for a moment.
A second later, her boorish voice rang again.
