บท 100: Catalyst
On the ride inside Ernanfo's shiny black car, there was only silence.
Renir saw Ernanfo's grave expression and didn't dare to speak any word. Without saying anything, they both knew what each other's worry was.
The black car was striding through the road, overpassing every car they see. The road to Imee's apartment just takes fifteen minutes of walking, but it was not the same road for a car to take. Ernanfo had to take the main road and then enter the main street. Even though the route for walking was much shorter, with Ernanfo's speed of driving, it will only take them ten minutes to get there.
They even attracted traffic enforcers but they were so fast that every traffic enforcer couldn't do a thing. Perhaps, one of the weapons Ernanfo also mastered was the car.
However, it wasn't a fitting time to think about that. When they were nearby, Ernanfo broke the ice and asked, "Did you know?" his tone was usually aloof but Renir could sense something behind the surface.
Renir already knew what his Uncle Ernanfo wanted to know even with such a short question asked, "Yes, but since I don't have a phone, I went to her apartment in the afternoon... but there was no answer."
Hearing this, Ernanfo stepped onto the gas harder and then the brakes as they drifted into the opened gate of the apartment building, creating a loud screech and a fog of dust. The car passed through the gates as if the width of the gate was perfectly measured for this specific entrance of the car.
It was an insane trick that even by making the smallest margin of error, the steel gate would graze the shiny black paint of the car. But it was executed perfectly. And with another loud screech, the car drifted for the second time just to stop and park in the parking lot.
Ernanfo immediately opened the door and as he stepped out, it instantly cleared the fog of dust.
Renir hastily followed right after and Ernanfo didn't even bother taking the elevator and just jumped without creating any sound and ran up the walls to enter the fifth floor in one quick swift. Renir looked up with amazement.
"What happened here?" the clerk stepped outside. While he was just standing by at his post behind the receptionist's desk, he suddenly saw a black thing enter that created a loud screech and smoke, then it disappeared and the smoke right after.
But as he exited he then saw the abnormal young man then heard a Thud* and the teen vanished but a shadow covered his head and when he looked up, the clerk saw the teen who flew like a bird.
"Oh, it's them again..."
On the fifth floor, Ernanfo already rang the doorbell on door 512 but like before, there was no answer.
Unhesitatingly, Ernanfo took a set of keys from his pocket and opened the door using one of them. The lock clicked and opened,
"Stay here," he whispered.
Ernanfo entered the door and Renir, from outside, heard him call, "Imee?.. Imee?" his first call was still cold and aloof but as he repeated it, the worry was revealing itself in his tone. It had great depth of emotion and Renir could somehow pick it up, because he too, was feeling this.
Then a sound of door opening reached his ears which followed, "Imee" now, Ernanfo was not calling but it sounded as if he found her...
Renir breathed relief, a large burden of anxiety and worry just vanished in the instant he heard this tone of voice. But at the next moment, his heart skipped a beat when he heard a surprised:
"What?"
He couldn't continue to contain himself and rushed inside to see Ernanfo, kneeling on the floor beside the bed, holding Imee's hand, her eyes close while she laid on her bed.
Ernanfo's eyes were unstable while his jaw quivering. From what, he then questioned, "How?" in a low voice.
"She's breathing but it's irregular... her eyes don't react to light..." he murmured as he continues to inspect Imee's state.
And after a moment of inspection, Ernanfo's limbs lost its strength and his arms just fell on the bed.
"Why is she in a coma?..." his whisper entered Renir's ears which hit Renir like a truck.
There was a minute of quietness as Renir just blankly stared at the sleeping Imee and Ernanfo having his head down. Afterwhich, Ernanfo whispered, void energy;
"Renir... didn't I tell you to wait outside? Please?"
Renir just nodded and exited the room to the corridor outside. He stood by the wall and stared into the yellow sky with the descending sun in front of him.
'Even the strongest people have their weaknesses. Strong people's weakness isn't themselves. And when that weakness was exposed to danger, you will learn that... they aren't as strong as they are at the outside...'
Renir leaned against the wall and slid down as he hugged his knees.
The faint image of the moon entered his blank gaze as the sky slowly turned dark as time quickly passed by without him realizing.
Tears trickled down his cheeks. It reflected the vanishing sunlight and the moonlight became clear in the dark sky.
....
On the ascending stairs that spiraled around a mystical mountain above the clouds and under the moon, Unmeig just finished his stroll around Moonbridge with the other three Rune Masters accompanying him.
There were two levels of plain land on top of the mountains of Moonbridge. The lower level is where the city of normal Rune Users was located, it never ceased to bustle as Rune Users have more stamina than when they were a normal person back in the original world. Development never stopped over the decades.
After revealing the place of the third stage of Gantlet, Unmeig stopped and decided to enjoy himself a meal which none of the Rune Masters could complain. Afterwhich, Unmeig finished his stroll by completely encircling the insides of the city and decided to come back to the higher level which the councils were located.
This was the highest point of Gantlet Desert where the moon stared above. This is where Rank 6 Rune Users and above live.
While Unmeig was appreciating the tranquility as they ascended the seemingly infinite stair of moss stones, view of softly waving trees on the right and sharp cliff on the left, the old lady Rune Master suddenly expressed, "Hmm?"
Without stopping, Unmeig asked, "What is it?"
Her brows furrowed as she respectfully said, "Rune King, there was a new fluctuation coming from the Runes... a new one has been inaugurated to be a Rune User."
"What luck..." Unmeig sighed, "I want to take the mortal that Olmen mentioned here but it seemed like we need to wait for another month."
"Strange..." the old lady then whispered.
"Hm?" the man in his twenties, Tam Fayehin was curious at the old lady's reaction.
"Rune King, the fluctuation this time is weird. It was still fluctuating, meaning, the new Rune User is still in the process of the inauguration."
"What does that mean?" Unmeig stopped to turn around and look down.
"It means..." the old lady closed her eyes to concentrate and continued, "The fluctuation normally lasts just a few seconds because it comes from the process of Gantlet breaking the limits of a human to turn them into a Rune User. The longer it takes, the more the power is being gifted. The difference is just between one to two seconds. The last Rune User before, Renir, had the shortest amount of fluctuation which is less than a blink of an eye that I almost didn't notice. But this time, i-it's still fluctuating." she trembled from shock, "This is too abnormal...!"
Only several seconds later did she open her eyes and said, "A minute and almost fifteen seconds... The longest that I have ever sensed before didn't even reach ten seconds."
Unmeig picked up the difference as his eyes widened but then, he smirked, "Looks like our luck isn't that bad. If that new Rune User reaches the rank of Transcendant, they are fit to accompany me to the third stage."
"Eh?... rank of Transcendant?" the fat middle-aged man Rune Master had no idea what does that mean and it was the same for the other two.
Unmeig turned around and continued to ascend the stairs, "I am no longer just a Rune King. A simple Rune King will definitely not survived in the third stage of Gantlet."
The Rune Masters were surprised as they already deemed the Rune King as the strongest and highest rank any Rune Users could ever achieve.
"From the Rune, you should know the Celestial Hierarchy. From the very bottom, an Angel, Archangel, and then the Principality or most commonly known as Archai, only the Apniteon Kingdom calls them Principality..." after a moment of pause, Unmeig continued, "There are our final enemies before returning home. If we cannot overcome them, the Advent of Return will soon come after exactly ten millennia, I am not sure when it started but I am sure that in less than a decade, these ten millennia will come to an end, and by the Contract, they will rule over us."
The three couldn't follow what Unmeig was saying. However, they related it to the unexplainable star-like orbs that were encircling the moon from time to time, from which mysterious and gigantic energy was emanating.
"A Rune King is a level lower than the lowest level of the Celestial Hierarchy, Angels. That is why a Rune King has no chance of survival in the third stage of Gantlet. However, we can still get stronger and breakthrough that level and when we do, we will reach the Transcendent Level."
The Rune Masters looked at each other which the old lady then asked, "Then what stage are you, Rune King?" she called him a Rune King by mistake. and since she had yet to know what to properly call Unmeig.
"Me? Of course, I just reached this Transcendent Level, I am at the very first stage called, Spirit Runer. If the new Rune User ever reached this level, we can take on the third stage of Gantlet, Gantlet Lunar."
As Unmeig speaks of this, at the Gantlet Woodland, at the First Port which was the cliff, a woman that laid on the ground opened her weary eyes. What she saw wasn't the familiar ceiling but rather the moon.
She sat up and looked around to see greeneries surrounding her in the darkness of the night with only the bright full moon illuminating the forest. Mountains over the horizons and nothing more.
She began to breathe heavily as this was too real, in contrast to her first impression that it was just a dream.
"Where am I?" Imee whispered, frightened.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
JhiThan_Ser
JhiThan_Ser I hope you did not find it boring since this arc was filled with introductions and information with just a few actions between Renir and Ernanfo. I wouldn't increase your expectation that this is just a build to the overall story but I assure you that there will be lots of actions at the next arc which I am excited to write!
I am still not sure about the rate of updates but I'll do at least daily for the minimum premium required.
And I know you must be sick of hearing this but thank you!
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