It was upon the Prince's orders that I was finally brought out from the dungeons.
MK-5567 and DG-8260 brought me back up the many flights of staircases, into the light, the white crystal that was Shuijing City.
And there, at the top, they cast me at Prince Evian's feet.
The day finally came when I was brought out of the dungeons.
It was on the Prince's orders. MK-5567 and DG-8260 brought me back up the many flights of staircases, into the light, the white crystal that was Shuijing City.
And there, at the top, they cast me at Prince Evian's feet.
My hands were bound behind me, and DG-8260 kept a sword at my neck, so there was nothing I could do. At the moment.
Fragmented memories of the dreams and the realities down in the darkness…
"So, Rinthe. We finally speak face-to-face…"
I glared up at him. He looked the same as when I had first seen him, the same that he had been in my dreams, silver hair over his robes, that one scarred eye the only blemish on him…
He almost looked ethereal.
"What do you want?" I seethed. "You kill my teammates and keep me alive…and now…"
Evian smiled, but did not answer.
"Who are you? Why are you here? What in the world do you want?!"
Evian rose and came down the stairs, his hands folded behind him. "Who am I? What do I want? That will take a while to answer, but I think we have the time."
He glanced up, and I followed his gaze up to the artificial sky that encompassed Shuijing, the sky that retained all the oxygen. As we looked a crack had appeared at the point just above us. A droplet of water fell.
Evian looked back at me. "Do you want to know who I am?"
"What?"
"Do you want to know why you have been ordered to kill me?" And once again, he seemed much older.
"I would like to know that very much," I replied.
"Where should I start…oh…" The prince sighed, gazing up at the fractured sky again. The crack seemed larger than before. "Guards, you may stand aside."
DG-8260 sheathed his sword, and he and MK-5567 stood to the side of the stairs.
"Do you know of the Magic Users of old?"
"What?"
"Them and their abilities…our ancestors…you know, I am one myself."
Him? A Magic User?
"And my ability is a very special ability. Clairvoyance. I can see everything…well, almost everything."
A Magic User…
"I was born here. Grew up here. Here was all I've ever known. They named me Evian, but they never disclosed my name to the outside. I believe you were ordered to kill [him]?"
I did not answer. My mind went back to Cana Lu, and his voice echoed in my ears:
"You can't, you just can't kill [him]! If you do, it'll all be over!"
"Well, for good reason, of course." Evian chuckled. "Growing up here, sheltered… My name spelled backwards is 'naïve'. And naïve I was. Just a little prince, growing up in this city…that's what they all said about me. And that's what I believed about myself. That was who I was. Until I lost this eye."
He pointed at his scarred eye. "That was when my life started to change."
I couldn't understand what he was saying. I could only listen.
Evian checked the sky again, and held out an open palm to catch a drop of falling water. "You know…I can see everything. I could see everything. Things of the past, things of the future. There was just one thing I couldn't see…the end."
"The end?"
"The End. The End of All Things. That, that is the one thing which I have not seen." With this, his voice rose, and his eyes widened, giving him a maniacal look. "Do you know how glorious of a thing that must be?"
"What?"
"I was the one who sent out those android squadrons. I was the one who wrought death and destruction upon the land. The land is ravaged because of me. Do you understand?"
"What?"
"As you have probably seen, this is a dying world. The sky is red. Oxygen is almost gone. There's virtually nothing left. Humans ought to be put out of their misery. Because once humans are wiped out, the end will come."
The cracks on the sky grew larger, and Evian's eyes grew wider. "Yes…that's why I killed all those people. That's why they're all gone now. Because the end is coming. The end is here. The one thing I wanted to see… I have seen everything but the end."
Then came the sound of the sky beginning to collapse.
"Oh, I do believe we're out of time. What do you think, Rinthe?"
"You—you sick monster!" I tried to break free of my bonds, to rush at him and wrap my hands around his neck, to choke him to death…
"Guards, take him back to the dungeons will you? And be sure to lock him up tight."
As I was dragged away again, he turned to me once more, a smile on his lips, and asked, "Now, what part of all of that was a lie?"
A lie?
The sky was crashing down…
As I was locked up once more, the entrance to the dungeons was locked as well, presumably by Evian himself, to prevent anything from getting out. And at the sounds coming from above, Lenin could only pound at the door, screaming.
"My prince, my prince! Open the door, please!"
And Kim could only pull at his sleeves. "Vin, Vin, no, it's too late!"
And the world came crashing down…
I waited for the world to end.
I had utterly failed my mission.