Capítulo 35: - His Mind...
'Where…where am I?'
The thought silently floated through what felt like muddy and thick water, surrounding the mind, keeping it cold. Dark. Alone.
The feeling of water surrounded the body, as it waded in an almost black pool of water. It's waves turning white with the motion.
The land was dark, the sky was back, and if it wasn't for the changing colors of the waves, moving and shifting from black to white, no one would be able to tell that there was water. That there was land. Or that this was a space outside their own mind.
The body moved, its shifting limbs sending white waves highlighting the dark and murky waters.
Sitting up, Lia's mind slowly came back to her, an aching and throbbing pain in her stomach, the pain one would feel when they have a stomach bug, but can do nothing about it.
'Where am I?'
Her mind asked again, though surprisingly, its voice echoed out in the empty space, clearly as if it had come from her lips.
Lifting her hands, Lia glanced down at the black waters below her, though she could not tell how deep they were, or where the waters ended and where land began.
'This place…'
She didn't need to finish, as her mind had already put together her location.
'This is where I met Cain. But why am I back here?'
Standing up, Lia was surprised to see that the water, though it felt and resembled water exactly, her clothes were completely dry. Devoid of any signs of water having touched it at all.
The silence of the area, of the world around her, set her whole body on edge with shivers down her spine.
The place had an eerie feeling to it, just as she had felt when she first met Cain, only this time, it was worse.
Knowing what had happened just moments before her arrival here made her think this was somewhat worse, that she was here for a purpose other than to meet Cain.
Death. Darkness. And loneliness was all she felt.
'Where is he?'
Looking in every direction, Lia desperately searched for any sign of Cain. Knowing that this was his space, she was expecting him to greet her.
Instead, she saw only the dark and empty space, void of any life other than her own. The vast expanse of murky water spread out to a distance that even Lia could not see.
'Does this place even have a horizon?'
Once again, as always, her voice echoed out into the distance, breaking the silence that refused to let Lia feel safe.
But then…
"No. It doesn't, I'm afraid."
Slowly, Lia turned her head in the direction of the voice, caution and worry stricken all over her shaking body.
Letting out a deep sigh, Lia was more than relieved to see Cain standing not too far away with his hands behind his back.
Though her shivers were subtle and small, Cain took notice of it immediately and frowned.
"Are you afraid?"
"Of you. No. Of this palace, well…that's different."
Nodding his head as if he understood, Cain stroked his chin pondering deep in thought.
"Yes, I know that feeling all too well."
For a moment, Lia was shocked. Never before did she ever believe Cain would be afraid of anything, let alone a space he had conjured up.
'Why…?'
For a moment of hesitation, Lia had forgotten that her mind echoed her thoughts as if they were true spoken words.
Flinching at the sound of her voice, Lia glanced at Cain for any signs of annoyance, proving to her that she had said the wrong thing.
However, once again, she was left shocked by what looked to be Cain and his sad but longing eyes. It was a look she had never seen before, and never believed she would ever see.
Cain, showing emotion like a human. Laughable. The man was a titan in her mind, a being incapable of caring for anything lesser.
But now that she had seen this part of him, perhaps her idea of Cain had changed. Maybe, deep down, he was just like her.
It only lasted for a moment though, as Cain's expression snapped back to his original, less emotional face.
"I'll tell you another time. For now, follow me."
As he was turning his back to her, Lia heard the faint and subtle sounds of his muttering. His words almost unrecognizable.
"And don't get used to this."
She didn't know why, but hearing his muttering complaints, Lia couldn't help but smile, almost as if she expected this from a friend.
Jogging after him, Lia began walking shoulder to shoulder with Cain, his own eyes barely offering her a glance.
"So…"
She said, attempting to pick up conversation with the silent, sentient walking stature that Cain had become.
"...Why am I here?"
Instantly Cain responded, showing no hesitation in his words or attempting to let go of the information slowly, as to help her take it all in.
"Your body right now is nearly dead. As we are speaking now, I'm attempting to heal you but…"
Normally, Lia would have preferred to have everything told to her at once, leaving no room for anticipation or hope. But after hearing his words, Lia couldn't stop herself from feeling a dreadful sense of fear.
"But?"
"...My powers only heal so fast. While I may have a much larger limit on healing than other people do, I still have my limits. They're just larger than the average person."
"So what does that mean for me?"
"Well, as of now, nothing. All it means is that it may take a little longer for your body to heal back to its original state. And even then, if someone else gets injured the way you did, I won't be able to bring them back."
"So you're saying that I'm the last person you can heal on this trip?"
"Until the next day, yes."
Thinking about it, Cain's words didn't sound all too illogical. Even though he was incredibly strong, and had blown Lia's mind with his illogical talk more than once, even he had to have his limits.
Such a thing wasn't unexpected, but it still left Lia on edge.
In a way, Cain acted as a sort of crutch for her, someone that she could rely on if she ever needed it, or got to the point where she could no longer keep going.
For a summoner, she was doing the bare minimum, given that other summoners just sat on the sidelines while their summons did all the work. But she didn't want to bring herself down that low, to the point where her own achievements couldn't be won by herself.
"Alright, but that doesn't explain why I'm here."
Nodding Cain stopped, and suddenly Lia found herself on dry land, no longer wading through the murky waters from before.
How she got there, and how she was able to tell, were bits of information that evaded her. But she didn't question it. By now, Cain's illogical sense of reasoning, and his questionable magic had just become normal to Lia, who no longer questioned it.
"I was just getting to that. Because my powers have limits, and because I can only heal you so fast, I thought it best to place your consciousness in a space where time is irrelevant."
"So…In other words, you brought my mind here in order to keep me alive."
"Logically, yes."
Scoffing, Lia shook her head, knowing full well that this fit Cain.
"So…"
She sighed gestures around the vast empty space they found themselves in.
"What now?"
"Well.."
As Cain was preparing to sit down, his body came in contact with a wooden chair that had been nonexistent a minute ago, but had easily appeared at the motion of Cain's will.
"We have some time to ourselves it seems. After all, time may be irrelevant here, but in the end, we're still waiting for my body to fully heal you I'm afraid."
"So what, are we just going to sit here doing nothing until that time comes?"
Smiling at her words, Cain waved his hand at Lia's feet, where a similar wooden chair appeared beside her.
Gesturing he asked her to sit down, to which Lia gratefully obliged.
"Well, considering we may be here for some time, I figured we could play a little game of mine. Are you interested?"
"A game?"
Though it sounded innocent, Lia knew it was anything but that. Being Cain, he most likely had something hidden up his sleeve, but she couldn't tell.
Perhaps it was because this was his space, and he could force her to feel any way he wanted, but she felt somewhat at ease with Cain. Almost as if the man appeared less like a crazy, chaos craving, titan that had no earthly feelings.
He felt human.
"Alright. But what happens if I win?"
Chuckling to himself, Cain was surprised to see that Lia had seen tough his game like glass.
"Alright, fine, fine. If you win, I'll reveal to you something I had planned on giving you later on down the line. The only difference is that you would be receiving it now, rather than later."
"And if I lose?"
At first Cain said nothing, only smiled at Lia, making her tense with worry and anticipation.
"You will owe me one."
"E-Excuse me?"
At first she was surprised, no, rather she was just drop dead shocked. To her, Cain seemed more like the person who, if they wanted something, with just the snap of his fingers he could get it done.
But go out of his way and ask her for a favor. An 'I owe you one,' just didn't seem real.
Seeing her confusion, Cain raised his hand, calming her mind and keeping her silent.
"Let me explain. Think of it as you watching a game, a player if you will, playing some type of sport, or a knight battling in a match. Was there ever a time where they made a mistake you could have easily seen, and you just wanted to scream at them and warn them, but you couldn't?"
"That's oddly specific."
"Well it's the only reference I can think of right now. So, have you or have you not?"
"I have."
"Good. Then think of it that way. I can watch you when you fight, but I can't actively participate unless you summon me, or you become incapacitated. Or if I wanted to I could bend the rules, but I'd prefer not to."
"What are you getting at?"
Lia was now generally confused at his words. For one, Cain watching her didn't seem strange as he spoke in her head almost 24/7 of the day, but to claim he didn't want to participate unless absolutely necessary just seemed off.
"If you mess up, or have trouble doing something, or rather, I want you to go against your instinct to do something, you have to do it. In other words, I would be inadvertently influencing your decision without actually stepping in."
"So, you would be forcing me to make a decision I don't want?"
"Rather, I would be the player in the game for a short period of time. Just for maybe one decision. Like you taking control of the knight, and getting him to hit that one weakness you could see, but the knight couldn't."
The way Cain explained it, the favor he was proposing didn't seem all that bad, especially given that if he really wanted to, he could just directly influence the situation.
But she could only guess what he would be using it for, as even now she had trouble grasping any idea as to where or why he would use this favor.
"Fine. I'll play."
Clapping his hands together, Cain smiled.
"Great. Now, here."
Appearing before her in a small flash, a rounded dice hovered in the air, waiting for her to grab it.
"This is a twenty sided dice. The type you would find in a board game or gambling ring. Now, here's the aim of the game. There are four rounds, and with those four rounds, you have a chance at earning four different gifts of mine. Of course this won't decrease the amount of gifts you would receive. I'd just have to find replacements."
"In other words, you would just be giving me 'extra' gifts."
"Precisely."
The only downside to playing this game, at least to what Lia could see, was the possibility of earning nothing from this, yet owing Cain four favors.
'You can't lose what you never had. But you can go into debt.'
"Well said."
Face palming herself, she cursed her mind for forgetting that her thoughts were practically announcing themselves out in the open air.
"Alright, what else?"
"Simple, the highest number rolled wins. And trust me, I won't cheat, as I hope you won't either."
"Not like I could tell anyways, given that this is your space."
"I guess you can only trust my words."
Shaking her head, Lia found his words more ironic now then she did earlier. Putting trust and anything Cain says in the same sentence just seemed wrong to her.
Taking the dice from the air where it hovered in front of her, Lia prepared herself for the game.
"Ready?"
Nodding her head, she threw down the dice after giving it a firm shake in her hands.
7.
A low number. And with that low number, Lia's heart sank.
Rolling his own dice, Cain didn't need to hope or pray.
12.
"Good game. Ready for round two?"
"Somehow I feel like I'm going to regret this."
"Eh..You probably will."
"That's not helping."
Once again, they rolled.
16 and 17.
Lia lost by one.
"Damn it!"
Laughing at her anger being vented at the dice, Cain could obviously tell she was locked into the game, his own focus doing the same.
"...Give me your dice."
"Huh?"
Surprised, Lia reluctantly agreed and switched dice with Cain.
Though Lia was hesitant, she knew the reason he was doing this. So as to quell any suspicions that they were in fact loaded dice. A common term to refer to dice that are weighted on one side to give full advantage to that number.
"Ready?"
Cain asked again, after seeing Lia's understanding written across her face.
Nodding again, Lia threw down her dice, followed by Cain.
20 and 5.
"Yes!"
Lia cried standing up, raising her arms to the sky in happiness.
"Congratulations. If this had been a normal game though, you wouldn't be as happy."
"Why's that?"
"Well, normally when gambling, two losses don't equal one win."
Hearing his words, Lia slowly sat back down, realizing that, in the end, she was still losing.
"You're right. But I'm confident I'll get you next time."
"We'll see."
And just like that, another round passed.
1 and 15.
Lia said nothing, her face covered in some dark strewn.
"Damn it.."
She muttered, clutching her fists together.
"Don't be upset. I've been playing this game a lot longer than you have. So it's only natural that you would lose this many times."
"I thought you said this was a game based on luck."
"No…I never said that."
Thinking back, Lia found that Cain was telling the truth. She had just assumed that because this was a dice roll and, like all gambling games, it was based on luck.
"So wait, you're telling me that this is a skill based game?"
"No, it's mostly luck. But sometimes you can influence your dice roll by the weight you put on the dice, or the force you toss it with."
Stunned, Lia couldn't do anything but stare at Cain, thinking silently to herself, careful this time to not directly put her thoughts into words so as to not amplify them to Cain.
'How long do you have to play to do that?'
Standing up, Cain gestured for Lia to follow him, taking the two dice and placing them in a small draw box.
"Here. Follow me."
Handing her the draw box, Lia was left puzzled as she followed closely after Cain.
"What's this for?"
"In case you want to play the game with anyone else. I have a feeling that you're going to want those."
Shaking her head, Lia couldn't see herself ever playing this gambling game again. So, with that in her mind, she placed the box in her back pocket, without a second thought.
"Now, Lia. Are you ready to receive your gift?"
Smiling, Lia didn't bother to hide her excitement.
"I'd thought you'd never ask."
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