▪︎ It doesn't matter how bright the sun shine upon you, take a look at what's behind ▪︎
"Ink is Cerevauz's shadow." Teo answered, "And that's all you can know till you join."
Devlin pressed his lips together and turned his head away.
"Since Marcus is planning to bring you back, you have a week to decide." Teo said while standing up, "Marcus don't know anything about Ink, so don't worry."
Teo took down the soundproof coating and left the tent, leaving Devlin standing there by himself.
After a while, Devlin slowly stepped out of the tent and looked around.
There's ten tents around the small camp, and surrounding them looked like a metal fence.
He slowly headed back to the campfire, thinking about the mysterious offer.
'I didn't think I will still end up as a shadow of a place.' He thought, feeling nostalgic, 'Every place has a shadow, and I keep finding myself being a part of it.'
When he reached the campfire, Lan and Sam were asking him what happened, but Devlin kept his mouth zipped.
The two soon dropped the matter and continued talking about how their life in Cerevauz was.
Devlin just listened on while considering the offer.
'The difference between Cerevauz and Blizwall..' Devlin thought as he heard all of the soldiers' stories, 'In Cerevauz, you wear a smile while stabbing each other..'
He lowered his head, 'Should I really be going to Cerevauz?'
"Whatcha thinking bud?" Sam asked, seeing Devlin looking so gloomy.
Devlin glanced up at him and just shook his head, "Nothing."
Everyone there knew that was a lie but didn't question any further.
They continued talking about themselves and then proceeded to tell about the folklore of Cerevau, catching Marcus' attention who was standing a distance from them, which caused him to slowly get closer to listen in too.
"They said Cerevauz was once considered a free country before abilities was discovered," Teo was the one sharing, he spoke with a whispered tone, "That instead of having competition to choose the leaders, they were chosen by the votes of people."
"You mean when the candidates got a tie in the competition?" Lan asked, tilting his head a little, expressing his confusion.
"No, I heard anyone can run to be a leader!" Teo said, causing the gasp of the soldiers.
"Anyone?!" Sam asked, "So someone ordinary can just get voted?"
Teo snapped his finger while pointing at Sam, "Exactly!"
"I can't imagine voting for just..anyone.. I can't even imagine voting for a leader. Period." Lan expressed his thoughts, "What if we voted someone that can't lead?"
Teo shrugged his shoulders, "It's just a folklore in the end."
Marcus stood there silently. After they've finished discussing, he finally spoke up, "Hey kid, you ready to go?"
Devlin looked up at him and nodded, Marcus had his bag all ready beside him and was dressed in his uniform.
"Cya kid." Lan and Yakov waved as Sam and Teo just nodded at him.
Devlin said his goodbye, and the two left the campsite, heading towards Cerevauz.
Meanwhile, at Felix's lab, Zita finally woke up.
She woke up in the dark room and stared at the ceiling, rubbing the side of her head.
'I had a weird dream.. I only remembered running..' She thought, rolling to her left side only to feel an intense pain.
She gritted her teeth and did not scream, pushing herself back to her original position. She panted with sweat dripping down the side of her head.
'That was hell of pain..' She thought, spreading her right arm across the bed, 'Right, I lost my left arm..'
Felix soon entered the room with his headset resting on his shoulder. He walked towards the other side of the room and pulled out a drawer of medical supplies.
Picking carefully which ones to use, he placed it on a metal tray and gently pushed it towards the bed. It hovered and stopped before hitting the bed, as Felix went to wash his hands.
When he arrived at the bed, he saw Zita awake and staring at the ceiling. She felt a presence and glanced over, seeing Felix standing there awkwardly.
He gave an awkward smile and waved, causing her to raise an eyebrow, expressing her confusion.
He quickly wore his headset again and brought the tray to the other side of the bed.
"This will be painful, so bare with me." He finally said something.
Zita had her eyes closed, getting ready for the pain she's about to experience.
Felix unwrapped her bandages and could still feel his stomach sinking no matter how many times he saw this.
He was about to apologise when Zita spoke first, "Sorry for making you angry."
He felt stunned, and a small smile crept on his face, "Why are you apologising?" He said while throwing the bloody bandage away, "I'm gonna to apply the medicine now."
He took a small bottle and sprayed it on the wound, causing Zita to bite her lips in pain.
"Usually, this won't be painful cause we have A.I. doing this." He said while wiping the liquid off, "But because of what happened, I don't wish to risk it."
He applied some kind of cream around on her skin, "I'm quite rusty, so it's more painful than it should be."
He quickly used another kind of bottle and this time sprayed all around the wound and bits of her arm, "I'm not closing this wound yet because you can still get a prosthetic arm. It's gonna be more painful if you had your wound reopened."
He finally wrapped the wound, causing Zita to breathe a breath of relief.
"If abilities weren't discovered, maybe we would have invented medicine to regrow an arm." He mumbled, but she could hear it clearly.
"You like saving lives?" Zita asked while wiping her sweat.
"I just don't wish to see people to suffer unnecessarily." He replied, standing up, pushing the tray back to the other side of the room. He lowered his head, "I'm not a Saint, so how can I save everyone?"