บท 56: Chapter 55: Prophesied one.
Rigel sat on the bed, listening to the birds chirping outside the window. He just woke up and had no idea where he was until he checked the window and found himself in an abandoned building in the middle of the forest. He used the Dragon's Sense and found only a person with him from a mile radius, and that would be Aria.
He saw food had been prepared for him at the table, but he wasn't hungry, he was exhausted because his Mana was depleted and needed to charge it. Although he had Anima energy within his body, he hadn't fully possessed it and it was borrowed from Stryg. His connection with Stryg wasn't strong enough, and he had just found it back when he used it during the fight with Serena.
"How long have I been asleep?" Rigel asked as he rubbed his face and fixed his hair, standing at the door to the outside.
"4 days, and you were so close to dying because your body was dried up. I had to bring you to this place because this place is rich in Mana," Aria was sitting on the tree branch, and he looked tired as well
Rigel assumed that Aria gave him a lot of his Mana to keep him alive. It would be bad if Rigel died and Aria knew that he could come back to life.
"There's bad news," Aria looked at Rigel as he jumped down for the tree. "We can't leave the 1st floor because currently people are looking for us," he pointed out.
"Listening to you say that, does that mean they're strong?" Rigel sat down and bathed himself in the sunlight, absorbing Mana from his surroundings.
"One of the Executive's main forces, the Masquerade. They're too much even for us, and we don't want to risk it. So we should stay low for now," Aria explained. "We are safe here, and it would take them a while to find this place. So take your time to recover, and hope they won't go to the 1st floor," he added and drank water from the bucket.
Rigel noticed the moment he got into the tower that somehow his head was so valuable to both Players and Non-Players. He believed there was something they were trying to prevent.
"Who sent you here? And why does the Resistance want me?" Rigel looked at Aria and washed his face. "What are you hiding from me?" he added.
"The Lady... Another descendant from the great heroes..." Aria answered and he hesitated to tell the whole thing to Rigel.
"Are you still trying to hide it? We have all day, so start talking," Rigel looked at Aria with a serious expression. "I don't want to be around someone who's hiding a lot of things."
"Aren't you the same?" Aria stared Rigel in the eyes.
"But I don't need you. You can leave if you don't want to tell everything. I'm fine on my own, and I don't owe you for saving me because, without me, you would have been dead by now in that fight with Serena," Rigel answered.
Aria had no choice but to tell everything because if it wasn't because of The Lady, he wouldn't even bother to waste his time babysitting Rigel. He walked into the house with Rigel following him from behind, and then they both sat at the table enjoying the fruits Aria had prepared for them.
"I can't tell you The Lady's name because I want you to know her name from herself. That's the only thing I can't tell you, and I hope you understand," Aria said with a serious expression. "The reason why The Lady sent me down here is because you might be the person in the prophecy," he explained.
"Prophecy? What kind of prophecy?" Rigel furrowed and looked at Aria with curiosity.
"The Non-Player that will come into the tower and save us all. We don't know the origin of the prophecy because the prophecy was passed down from generation to generation," Aria answered and he told the truth. "The content of the prophecy was that there will be a man that will stand above everyone inside the tower. A man with the power that can destroy the tower," he explained.
"That doesn't sound like a good prophecy to your people," Rigel said as he folded his arms on the table and chewed the grape.
"It's not, and the prophecy isn't about someone that will save us. But, that also doesn't mean the man will destroy the tower. The prophecy said the man held the power that can destroy the tower, not use the power to destroy the tower," Aria responded as he nodded in agreement.
"The reason The Lady wants to see you is because she wants to know if you're indeed the prophesied one. That's why the Executives are also interested in you because if you're indeed the prophesied one, you can help them reach the top of the tower," Aria pointed out.
Rigel never thought such a thing as prophecy existed because that was something he heard from mythologies. When he thought about it, he wondered if those mythologies existed in the past. Thinking about it made his head hurt because he didn't know if he wanted to know the truth or not.
"So to put it simply, I'm just a tool so either of you can use me to achieve your goal. Sounds like both of you are being shameless," Rigel stared at Aria and he didn't like the fact he was someone from a prophecy.
"I don't have the right or authority to respond to that statement. But if you help us, we can help you achieve your goal," Aria responded.
Rigel scoffed and started chuckling as he shook his head. Aria squinted his eyes and didn't like Rigel's reaction to his words.
"You can't help me achieve my goal. The path that I'm taking might against your goal because I might destroy this whole tower to reach my goal," Rigel said with a serious expression. "With that being said, I believe my existence here is endangering your goal, and might help those Executives because we might want the same thing."
Aria showed his disappointment and dislike toward Rigel through his gaze. Listening to Rigel's words, made him want to get rid of him, but he couldn't because The Lady insisted on meeting him.
"As I said, I can't respond to your statement," Aria stood up as he kept staring at Rigel with deep hatred. "I don't see there's a reason for me to stay here anymore. You can stay here for as long as you want," he said and then left the house.
Rigel sat there and thought about the prophecy, wondering if he was indeed the prophesied one. If it was true, Lysara'elmaris would be the one who gave that prophecy to those 6 children that she blessed. He decided to rest a bit more to recover his body.
(On the 30th floor)
A big round table with 100 seats around it was placed in a big hall. There were so many Players sitting on them with fancy-looking armor and capes that represented each guild. They all looked like they were on the edge because it had been a while since the 3 big Guilds had gathered in the same room.
"Let's put our conflicts aside for a moment because right now there's a more important matter that we need to solve," A man with noble-like attire with his brown hair stared at everyone at the table. "The Player Association has been acting weirdly lately, and the fact the Resistance has been making a move also makes it harder for us to maintain our position in the tower," he explained.
"What are you proposing, Silas? Can you just cut the chase and stop with your stupid fancy explanation?" A man with wavy long orange hair and a big and muscular body that the seat could barely hold its body and its armor with a Sun emblem.
"How about we take this opportunity to increase our influence up to the 50th floor? I believe with the current situation between the Player Association and the Resistance Army, we could gain a lot of benefits from it," Silas answered as he tapped the table with a smirk on his face.
"You're out of your mind, and honestly I already knew you would say something like this. You're the last person who has any rationality in this room," A man with a dignified face, a handsome man with short gold hair as the emblem of an "X" on his white cape said. "Cardin, I told you we're wasting our time here," he looked at the muscular orange-haired man.
"Always involving someone else every time you disagree with anything, hoping the other party will agree with you," A woman stood up and sat on Silas' lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You haven't changed at all, Zest. If you don't like the idea, you can go. We don't mind hoarding everything for ourselves," she chuckled.
Zest looked at the woman and Silas with disgust, and he wasn't the only one who looked at those two like that.
"I'm listening, but can you not act like this in front of us? You both are twins, and seeing you act like that is disgusting," Cardin said and he was uncomfortable with what he saw.
"We only have each other, and we understand each other so well. What's wrong with us being this close? Everyone knows that we are lovers," the woman gently put her thumb on Silas' lips and kissed it. "So? What do you say? I'm the one who has planned all this. If you're in, I can guarantee we will be able to change our status in the tower. We will replace those people and take the tower for ourselves," she looked at Cardin and Zest.
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