CLANG! Clang! clang...
The sound of metal being deflected sounded throughout the closed space. It echoed repeatedly in the dimness.
Inside a dark room painted in dried blood, a twelve year old kid stood facing a creature with no facial features. The creature stood 20ft in height, slender body, and long whip-like arms.
"ARRGHHHHHH!" The kid yelled from the top of his lungs and charged towards the creature with raised dagger. The creature stood there indifferently and simply swung its whip-like arms to swat the kid.
When the whip was almost closing in, the kid nimbly leaned to the side and avoided the whip. With a large crazed grin, the kid held the dagger and stabbed forward.
BAM! The kid was sent flying by an unexpected attack.
The attack came from the slender creature. Its long legs was slightly raised while its face—devoid of any features— faced the kid that was thrown off to the side.
"Cough! PLURT! Argh...cough!" The kid continued to cough and vomit blood. But despite his groans, the kid staggeringly stood up. Grabbing the dagger with trembling hands due to exhaustion, he eyed the creature ferociously.
"You...Mother-F*cker... You don't know A-Ace do you? I-I'll freaking show you!" The kid charge again at the indifferent creature who simply stood in the middle of the room.
***
"That sh*tty dream again." He muttered in obvious annoyance. This was a dream that he wanted to forget but failed to do so.
Sighing, he shook his head.
'It's all in the past...so forget it.'
He ruffled his sky-blue hair and stared at his reflection on the mirror. He was a mess. With bloody pajamas, unkept hair, sweaty forehead, and red teary eyes, he looked horrible. A great contrast to the usually handsome young master.
He glanced at the window in the corner and concluded that it will was probably afternoon. The gloomy and cloudy weather from earlier was still the same, but the outside was much brighter.
Slightly nervous, Ace then called out, "Pandora, show the days remaining 'till 'Fading'."
Ding! [Number of Days Before 'Fading' Resumes: 150 Days]
Hearing the monotonous voice, and looking at the number of days, Ace sighed in relief. Fortunately, it was still the same day and he had not fallen asleep for an entire day like he feared. He looked at the number of days for a moment before thinking with a hardened expression:
'I need to start moving...'
Looking for clothes, he grabbed a simple cotton shirt and some simple white pants; courtesy of the church's favourite color. He the went to the bathroom and silently took a warm shower.
***
Exiting the room, he walked around the corridor and proceeded to enter the praying area. He saw several people wearing white robes walking around in the area; some sitting in the benches lined up in front of a large statue of Holy Mother.
He went close to the priest nearest to him. He first did the holy gesture and asked the priest: "I am Castileo Ed Trio, sir priest. Do you happen to know the whereabouts of the bishop?"
He came looking for the bishop to get the extracted information from the butler. His only lead was this person towards the 'Hidden Story Scenario' so he needed the information.
From the memories of Castileo, he recalled the method of extracting information used by the Holy Mother Church: Torture.
Although information obtained by torture is sometimes unreliable, it's a different story when this particular church is involved. Just thinking about it sent shivers to his spine.
Seeing the person with clean and handsome face, chiseled jawline and arched brows, though a bit skinny, the priest knew this was a noble, so the priest respectfully revealed the bishop's whereabouts.
"Thank you, sir priest." He expressed his thanks and went to where the bishop is currently located: Garden Eden.
Glancing at the tall sculpted marbles with flowers coiling around, he was inwardly marvelled by the church's grandeur. He spotted bishop Lancaster inside a gazebo completely made up shiny white marbles, drinking tea. Beside Lancaster was several beautiful ladies.
"Good afternoon, bishop." He respectfully addressed. He didn't forget the gentlemanly act for show.
"Did you rest well? Was the place your liking?" Lancaster inquired while smiling softly. He sipped the tea poured directly to his cup by the ladies.
"Yes, bishop. The room was very comfortable," He responded with a smile. That was the truth, the warm shower was refreshing.
Bishop Lancaster gestured him to sit down. Ace complied and sat opposite to the bishop. A piece paper was handed to him by one of the ladies.
"Honestly, when I read the information, I was distressed. To think those swamp creatures dared to venture into the town!" The old bishop huffed. The lady behind, began massage his shoulders. The expression on the bishop Lancaster's face relaxed as he held the milky soft hand of the lady and intertwining fingers.
Pretending to see nothing, Ace nodded. "They are already dead, bishop, but this event is a reminder that the town is not completely safe from enemies."
Saying that, Castileo began reading the information printed on the paper. He was disappointed but he did not let it show outside. He simply sighed inwardly.
'He doesn't know much... So butler Johnison doesn't know my sister was behind this... Did he really betray his master just for a couple of gold?' He was inwardly impressed by the butler's resolve to actually betray his own kind just for a couple of pennies.
'Poison... So everyone in the manor was poisoned the night before, then poisoned again in the morning.' He read. This answered his question how the lizards were able to overpower the people in the manor. Those Lizards were a tough opponent but he did not believe they could win against all the people in the manor. Thinking about the bloody massacre this morning, something in him felt deep disgust towards the butler.
'This body is influencing me again,' He sighed inwardly. He didn't know how this body was doing it, but he felt emotions not his own. This made him certain that his case of possession isn't normal.
Ace scanned the paper again for information on his called sister and the butler's relationship. Finding nothing noteworthy and relevant to the 'Hidden Side Story', he stood up and folded the paper.
'This information is mostly useless.'
He gazed at the old bishop with 'pained' expression. "Johnison had done an act of absolute sin; Betrayal to his own brothers and sisters. He shall be punished by the rules of the Goddess." He didn't address the man as 'butler', an indicator that he had completely denounced the man from the position and tie to the Trion family.
"I will personally see to it, young master Trion." The bishop muttered while nodding softly.
Glancing at the sky, Ace bowed to the bishop. "I'll take my leave now, bishop. A shall no longer impose your precious time."
"Are you sure? You can stay longer." Lancaster offered out of courtesy.
"The people in the manor needs me, bishop, so I shall not disappoint them. Farewell, may the Mother embrace you." The gestured.
"May the Mother embrace you." Bishop Lancaster ceremoniously gestured.
"I will send someone to take you there, young master Trion." The bishop then whispered to the lady beside him.
"Thank you, bishop." Ace voiced. The lady in white dress bowed and lead the way. Ace followed behind.
***
"Its surprisingly clean." Ace muttered as he looked through the glass window of the moving car. The car he was riding this time was from the church.
Outside, he saw several stagecoaches pulled by horses in the wide cemented road. Although he noticed this before when he was going to the cathedral, he was exhausted at that time and didn't notice the details in the town.
The people walking around the cleanly paved wore simple shirts and pants. Some wore suits and bow ties, and held a cane in hand. These people were accompanied by one or more people behind.
As the car passed through them, no matter who, the people would gaze at it with obvious awe and sometimes envy.
The car itself was crude; but painted in white, it looked beautiful to the peoples eyes. Cars were only affordable to those rich and influential. A typical symbol of status and wealth. Knowing this, no people dared to get in the way.
Ace caught a glance of a youngster that wore a formal attire and was cycling a bicycle. These people was from the middle class in town. Although they couldn't afford a car, they could afford a bicycle.
In this town, there were ranks differentiating the citizens. From the bottom, there was the Slaves, followed by Serfs, and then Commoners, Soldiers, and after that was the Priests of the Church, and then the Trion knights, and after was the Lower Nobility, and standing at the very top was the Bishop and Young Master of Trion.
Ace shifted his gaze and looked at the ten story buildings that stood in the roadside, he thought how this setting looked much like Earth, but a bit behind in technology.
The people in this world were already using iron in their operations, coals were also used as fuels. But because of the existence of Magic, technology lagged behind, this led to electricity being still underdeveloped and the use of cold weapons being the norm.
According to the memory of Castileo, the people in this world were born with mana in their bodies. But very few people could have the talent to awaken to become a Mage. Mostly, the mana was only enough to become a knight. But these knights aren't weak; they may not be able to channel mana outside their body like a Mage could, but they could use the mana to strengthen their bodies and handle weapons that compliment their mana. And hence, swords, spears, and other cold weapons were very popular.
From what he recalled, this world was vast and this town, along with the Trion Territory, was only a tiny piece of land in this vast continent alone. They were also many mysterious places in these kingdom alone. Inwardly, Ace was marvelled by the world building in this 'Story'.
Although he had ventured into several 'Stories' with worlds having grand background, this was his first time actually feeling it to be so grand and big. This was because he had the full memory of a 'Character' from that world that he really appreciated the grandeur of this 'Story'.
As time passed, the scenery outside the window gradually transitioned from buildings and infrastructures to miles of green fields. At the distance, a large grandiose blue manor stood; overlooking the vast greenery.
Ace felt the car stop after a couple of minutes. He habitually fixed his hair and checked on his clothing before stepping out of the car. The woman—who was the driver—briefly bowed. Ace expressed his thanks and the woman left with the white car.
Ace looked at grand manor and saw a big and intimidatingly large man in full blue armour rushing towards him.