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[Alex Walker POV]
As I tried to find what I was missing to craft my weapon, the one I intended to use to vanquish Knull permanently. I felt something, a pulse of energy so dark, so vile, so horrendous on a fundamental level, that it sent an icy shiver down my spine.
Putting me in a state of alarm.
In all my life, I had never felt something like that, something so vile, so putrid that it went beyond good or evil, entering a category of its own.
"Knull," I muttered without realizing, opening my system in a rush to see if he had broken out of his seal. Only to confirm, he hadn't.
Nonetheless, that pulse of energy had to be him.
The question was, why, why would he put everyone on alert by doing so? To force action? To send a warning?
I couldn't really know, and that scared me.
I had to check where the pulse had ended, perhaps then I would get an answer.
Rushing to check, I opened my map, putting the pulse on the search parameters, seeing it had stopped after scanning the nine realms, which meant…
The girls…
Somehow , someway, I felt something was amiss, with my first thought going over to the girls. If Knull wanted to hurt me, to weaken me, they were his best shot as of now.
Cursing under that realization, I summoned the girls to my office using a non-compliant spell, begging whoever could hear me for them to be okay.
Working as intended, the spell summoned the girls in front of me, and at the sight of them, I started crying in relief. They were okay, he hadn't harmed them, they were okay, they were okay.
"Dad?" Nat was the first to speak, approaching me with a look filled with worry.
I said nothing, pulling her and Emily into a hug, they were okay, they were alive, and that's all that mattered.
"Dad, are you okay? Daddy, please answer." Nat asked her tone soft, hugging me back.
I couldn't answer, not verbally, so I simply nodded.
"Dad, we are okay," Emily said, her tiny arms hanging around my neck.
I nodded, she was right, they were okay.
"No matter what happened, everything will be alright," Nat added, taking hold of one of my hands, delicately putting her face on it.
"I'm sorry," I managed to mutter, loud enough for them to hear. Never in my life I had been so scared, so vulnerable, so human, the thought of them being hurt pained me beyond anything I could possibly imagine.
Those brief few seconds where I didn't know how they were, I felt weaker than ever before.
"Don't be," Nat replied.
"Vest stopped him dad, don't worry," Em muttered, while hanging around my neck.
At this, I froze, taking what she had said, and dissecting it, as everything around me seemed to come to a full stop. Vest had stopped him?.... He had been here, and Emily had faced him.
At this realization, I felt the color drain from my face, as a new sense of cold took over.
"Who?" Nat asked, giving Em a look of concern.
"Someone named Knull," Em replied.
He had been here.
He had targeted my daughters.
Knull had been here, and had tried to harm one of my….
Had Vest not stopped him.
I would've lost them, I would've realized what had happened too late.
In a state of shock, I repeated those lines in my head, over and over again, almost like a mantra, as little my little, all that I was feeling, turned into a new feeling altogether, one of passionate wrath like I had never felt before in my life.
He had dared.
That fucking coward!
"I will kill him," I muttered, grinding my teeth. I would show him the meaning of true despair, and on my path, I will stop at nothing to end him, to see his suffering, and even if my soul stands in the way, I'll toss it aside!
"Dad," Nat and Em muttered at the same time.
"Don't worry girls, you won't hear of him ever again," I replied, staring at nothing in particular.
He wanted to play that way? I would oblige him then, after all, I was anything but a bad player.
"You should not let your emotions cloud you,"
I blinked, feeling a warm hand touching my forehead, one that didn't belong to Nat or Em.
"Vest?" Em muttered in shock, as Nat slowly moved her hand to her hip to get her knife.
"Don't," I said, giving Nat a kind look. Her reaction was the correct one when an unknown appeared in the room, but it was as of the moment, unnecessary.
"Don't let your emotions rule you. Feel them, embrace them, but don't let them take control," Vest smiled, giving me a warm look.
"Girls, leave," I said, my eyes on Vest.
Nat and Em nodded, leaving the room, but not without giving Vest a look before leaving, Nat, one of suspicion, and Em one of worry.
"Who are you?" I asked, once the girls were out of ears reach, "I'm done playing these games."
"Well ain't that the question," I heard someone chuckle, the voice echoing across the room, each echo making the voice clearer and clearer, until I had no shred of doubt, it no other than Mr. Ara.
"Now it's not the time to be playing!" Vest scolded, as Mr. Ara appeared, giving Vest an apologetic smile.
"Sorry," Mr. Ara sighed, scratching the back of his head, "I was trying to make a dramatic entrance, but, it's obviously not the time for that or my theme song, so I will… keep it serious."
"I want you two to know, I hold you ill towards you, in fact, I am grateful for what Vest did for Em, saving her from that… monster, but nonetheless, I am tired of these games you two are playing," I said, my eyes firmly on them.
"Games we are playing?" Mr. Ara chuckled, "I assure you, it's quite the contrary, Merlin."
If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/XHduApz
A quick reminder for everyone, Corn, your sexy writer, likes to misguide you all. So, who knows what theories are true, only that I like to toy around various threads only leaving one in the end.
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I looked at Ara and frowned, I barely knew him, and he was giving me nicknames?
Seeing my face, he chuckled, tilting his head ponderously, "Not in the nickname stage I assume," he smiled, "No matter, we can work with that."
"Who are you?" I said, repeating my previous question, tired of this play and run, his constant jokes and other annoying habits.
"Hmm, well, that's a hard question to answer," Ara sighed, taking a seat on my desk, right hand on his chin.
Vest sighed, giving me a sad look, "It's not that we don't want to answer, we can't. Not entirely, at least, and that has nothing to do with you, believe me, there's nothing in this world that I wouldn't give to answer you, truthfully, but things are at play, and answering your question could… break the veil we are trying so hard to maintain, at least until we find a way to break it without shattering a part of what we seek to preserve."
A veil? Of what?
I frowned, going over what she had said, trying to break down the information into something I could understand. There was a lot to unpack there, her words had been vague, but had a lot of meaning in them.
"Long story short, we are not from here, if you catch my drift," Ara sighed, his hands running down his hair, and I think for the first time since I have met him, he didn't look overly happy, but instead looked concerned.
"Where are you from? Another timeline?" I asked, pushing the subject.
"You could say," He nodded.
Another vague answer.
"Is anything I know about you two even true?" I asked, taking a deep breath.
"Part of it," Vest replied, walking towards Ara, her shape changing to that of a woman.
I should've seen it coming.
"Our names are a lie," Ara chuckled, giving Vest a look that immediately gave away he wasn't her father.
"Why?" I asked.
"The veil we are trying not to break, it's quite fragile," Ara replied, "I mean, we want to break it, but not until we find a… safe way to remove certain things, because once that veil comes down, everything else comes down with it."
"What's the veil?" I asked, the subject having peaked my interest.
"We can't answer that kiddo," Ara sighed, giving a small smile, one that carried a lot of emotions.
I frowned.
"We really want to answer," Vest muttered, getting a hold of Ara's hand, "But, we have to avoid triggering any events that might lead to the veil breaking before it's time."
"And talking to me about it… will do just that?" I sighed.
"Yes, any talk too specific about it can fuck our entire operation," Ara nodded.
"Ad-Ara!" Vest scolded at him, for a moment, almost calling him something else.
"Ad-ara?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well… that's," Vest muttered, seemingly trying to find a way to fix something.
"My name," Ara smiled, giving Vest a warm look, "Adara, that's my name, for the time being that is."
I sighed, "What can I know about you two then?"
"That we mean no harm," Vest stated without a hint of a lie in her words.
"We are simply trying to fix something," Ara, or Adara, nodded, "Nothing more, you know it to be true, don't you?"
He was right, while I wasn't sure why I believed them, I did, their words carried a weight of honesty I simply couldn't ignore, even with all the secrecy behind it, I just couldn't help but trust their words.
"You are right," I nodded, creating a beer, "I don't know why, or how for that matter, but I believe the two of you. Maybe I'm just being manipulated, you two feel, or seem to be stronger than me, and considering the things I have seen in my life, no possibility it's too absurd, but even then… I choose to believe you are not playing with me, not in that way at the very least."
"We would never," Vest promised.
"Nonetheless, while I trust your words that you mean no harm, I will not allow you two to keep lying to my children," I stated, giving them a firm look, "Whatever your goal is, I respect it, but they will not be a part of your games, I hope that is absolutely clear."
"Crystal," Adara smiled, "In fact, we wanted to propose something."
A proposition?:
"What?" I asked, bringing my hands together.
"We can't interfere with anything in a… fundamental sense," Adara said, "We are not sure what can break the veil, or not. Yet, but, after a lot of trial and error, I have come to understand the limits of what I can do, without messing with my main objective."
"The point being?" I asked.
"We wish to protect your children," Vest replied, making me frown, "I know you don't trust us, at least not that much, you trust our intentions, but know nothing about us, but… we want to help, to the best of our abilities."
"Had we a choice, we would kill that little pest you are about to face," Adara chuckled, "But, like I said earlier, we have to keep our interference to a minimum, at least for now."
"But while we can't deal with Knull, for fear of damaging what we seek to preserve, we can protect what you love most," Vest said, her eyes gleaming with unwavering determination.
They considered Knull a little pest, which meant, my gut feeling was right on the money, these two were strong, very strong, that only made their motives all the more interesting.
They wanted to break a veil, yet preserve something, but what was that veil, and what did they seek to preserve, and how was I involved in it? I was no fool, I knew I had a part to play in their quest, yet, what part that was, eluded me.
Now, they were offering me the deal of the century, protection for those who I love the most, but at what cost?
Did I really trust them enough to put my treasures in their hands?
Or more importantly, did I really have a choice?
I could reject them. Face this problem on my own, find a way to keep them safe without any external dubious help. But would that actually keep them safe at all?
Even if I found a way to keep Knull away from them.
These two were on an entirely different level.
I had no means to stop them should they want to be around the girls.
Not now.
Meaning the real question was, did I want them to be around them with my permission, or without it?
I chuckled, no matter how I looked at their offer, even with all the downs it brought, it was too good to pass out on it, "Why would you do that?"
"Why would we not?" Adara replied, giving me a smile
I sighed returning the smile, inwardly chuckling at his response, after all, I had expected as much.
"We will keep them safe, no matter what," Vest stated, once again, using that tone that simply made me feel she was to be trusted.
"What if keeping them safe, eventually breaks your precious veil," I challenged, even if I trusted them for whatever reason, I had to ask the right questions, based on what little I had gathered about them, which was, their mission was to keep the veil.
A veil they seemed invested in keeping for the moment being for the sake of preserving something they wanted. So my question was, what if keeping Emily and Nat safe comprised their mission.
"That's a very good question kiddo. I like how you play around the edges of what we told you, very clever." Adara chuckled, a sad overtone lacing his entire body, "So to answer your question, if that came to happen, I suppose our mission would come to an end."
"While keeping the veil is our top priority right now, and there's nothing more that we would like than to avoid shattering it, we won't forsake your daughters for the sake of our mission," Vest smiled, the same sad overtone taking over her, just like Adara. "We promise you that much."
These two, no matter how much I played around what I knew about them, they kept putting me on a new loop.
"Very well then," I sighed, standing up. "I will entrust you two with my life, for in them, it lays my heart and soul, so don't betray me."
"We would never," Vest replied without a second thought.
I smiled, "I truly believe you wouldn't, but if you do, make sure to kill me first. Because I will stop at nothing to avenge them if push comes to shove."
"Edgy, but I respect it," Adara smiled.
"You really don't know when to joke, and when not, right?" I asked, giving him a tired look.
"Kid, I have one gear, and one gear only, deal with it," Adara winked.
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