Kalen opened his eyes and lay still, staring up at the ceiling of the cave. He felt nothing in his body, no pain, no fatigue... he just lay there because he didn't have the will to get up and face the things, he knew he would have to face sooner or later.
He didn't even dare to move so as not to attract anyone's attention, he just wanted to be alone without anyone or anything bothering him. But you don't always get what you want because a moment later someone approached him.
Kalen looked at Talika who was just about to put a wet cloth on his forehead, the young woman looked a little sad and tired, but she was still taking care of him.
As Talika went to put the wet cloth on his head, she noticed Kalen looking at her and took a few steps back in fright.
"Y-you're awake..."
Kalen started to sit up with some effort before nodding.
"Yeah..."
Talika quickly left to tell Elisabeth and they were back in half a minute.
"How are you feeling?"
Elisabeth looked quite surprised, even Talika.
Kalen's injuries were too severe, it was a miracle that he was alive... or so they thought, because Kalen was only too aware that he wasn't alive by any miracle or anything else.
Unconsciously, Kalen touched his chest and felt the strange gem embedded in his chest.
"I feel... good"
Elisabeth looked at him, not quite believing his words, she honestly couldn't believe that Kalen had survived the night, let alone woken up the next day.
"What happened?"
Kalen looked at Elisabeth, not knowing what to answer... he had nothing to say to her or Talika or anyone else.
There was only one person he needed to talk to.
"Where is he?"
Elisabeth opened her mouth but when she realized what was him talking about, she spoke slowly after a few seconds.
"Are you sure?"
Kalen nodded.
"Well..."
Talika stood silently beside him, helping him to his feet and then following him from behind. She hadn't looked into his eyes all that time.
They walked for a while until Elisabeth stopped and turned to look at Kalen.
"Before we go... take this"
Elisabeth walked over to the wall of the cave, which had a few beds and a bonfire in the middle.
She crouched down in front of what appeared to be her bed and took out two white scrolls before handing them to him.
Kalen took them with a solemn expression and stared at them for a few seconds without opening them, then he sighed and opened one at random.
[First Test: Kill Rodhlann Danneir]
[Conditions: You cannot directly or indirectly kill anyone else during the test period]
[Second Test: Rescue Talika Bon]
[Conditions: Talika Bon must survive until the end of the trial period]
[Third test: Find the golden firefly]
[Conditions: Catch the golden firefly alive before the end of the trial]]
The first scroll he opened turned out to be his own, nothing had changed since he lost it... it's not like anything would change.
He closed his scroll and turned to the other one.
With a deep sigh, Kalen opened it and began to read slowly.
[First Test: Kill Kalen Nohak]
[Conditions: You cannot directly or indirectly kill anyone else during the test period]
Kalen didn't even have to check the other proofs, they were neither important nor relevant, so he just concentrated on the first one... it was hard to ignore.
'It was a stupid game from the beginning...'
Kalen sighed and closed the parchment.
"Take it... do what you want with it"
Kalen handed Oliver's… Rodhlann's scroll back to Elisabeth and with a nod they walked on.
At the end of the cave, in the darkest area farthest from the center of the new makeshift base, Donovan sat on a stone looking down into the dimly lit tunnels.
At the sound of footsteps, he turned to look at the approaching group. When he saw Kalen among them, he stopped quickly, eyes wide.
"You're still alive?!"
Kalen sighed.
"Thanks for the support"
Donovan coughed to hide his embarrassment.
"Ahem... I mean, I'm glad you're OK... I just didn't expect, you know... you to recover"
Kalen put a hand on his shoulder and kept walking.
"Relax, I know what you mean"
Donovan nodded and glanced at Elisabeth.
"How did him...?"
Elisabeth shook her head.
"I don't know, don't ask"
Donovan sat down again, and Elisabeth glanced at Kalen's back, as did Talika, but didn't bother to follow.
They knew it was something he needed to do by his own.
A little further into the cave, Kalen came across a person kneeling and bound with makeshift ropes.
Hearing someone approaching, Rodhlann didn't bother to look up and just spoke in disgust.
"I'm not hungry, so you can go"
Kalen stopped and looked at him indifferently.
Seeing that the person didn't leave, Rodhlann looked up angrily and shouted again.
"¡I said I'm not... hungry"
His look of anger changed to one of surprise, and a few moments later to one of indignation.
In just a few seconds, Kalen saw Rodhlann's eyes lose all emotion and life.
They were eyes he had seen many times before, usually on his targets who, realizing they were about to be killed, resigned themselves to life.
"Just... How?"
Rodhlann looked down, and when he looked up again there were slight tears in his eyes.
"How?! Why?! ¡it doesn't make sense, you should be dead!"
Tears began to trickle down his cheeks.
"Why...? I-I can't understand!"
Kalen's expression didn't change as he watched Rodhlann begin to cry.
Unable to move his body, Rodhlann hung his head as the tears fell to the ground.
Only Rodhlann's soft whimpering and crying could be heard in the cave for a while.
"N-now what? ...am I going to die?"
Though his gaze didn't change, Kalen gritted his teeth so hard they might break.
He didn't want to feel anything... he'd never spoken to or lived with any of his assassination targets. They were always just strangers, people he had no sentimental attachment to.
It wasn't like Oliver was his best friend either... he couldn't even call him that. But they had survived together for more than half a month, which inevitably brought them closer.
Unwillingly, and with so much going on, Kalen had no choice but to trust Rodhlann with his back.
Which led to Rodhlann stabbing him in the back.
'…Fuck all'
Kalen sighed, closed his eyes, and looked up.
His clouded thoughts vanished and all that remained in his mind was a calm sea of pure silence.
Every emotion he felt and every disturbance in his heart disappeared.
It wasn't the first time he had been forced to suppress his unnecessary thoughts, years ago he had started to do it every time he had to kill someone... he just hadn't expected to have to do it now.
After a long, deep breath, Kalen lowered his head and opened his eyes to look at him again.
Rodhlann had stopped crying, but his head was still down.
Kalen tightened his grip on his new bone sword and brought it to Rodhlann's shoulder, forcing him to look up.
When Rodhlann raised his head and looked into Kalen's eyes, a shiver ran through his body. Kalen's eyes were simply terrifying, they were... almost inhuman.
Instead, Rodhlann's eyes were red, but there were no tears streaming down his face, he even had a small smile on his face.
Anger, hatred, pain, sadness, resentment. Too many kinds of feelings welled up inside Rodhlann, but in the end he realized they were not worth expressing.
He knew from the beginning that everything was going wrong for him, he used Kalen to survive long enough and then get rid of him, but he didn't wait for anyone to take his side... maybe he was too hasty, maybe if he hadn't been greedy and never tried to kill him, he would still be alive.
He would lose his Urasis test, but not his life.
Kalen simply fell silent as he did, and they both looked at each other for a few seconds until Rodhlann let out a sigh.
"I don't know if there's a God who gave us the trials... or maybe it's a fate thing. But..."
With some difficulty, Rodhlann managed the biggest smile he'd had since Kalen had met him and laughed happily.
"...maybe if we had met under different circumstances... we could have been really good friends"
'…'
With that, Kalen pointed the tip of his sword at the center of Rodhlann's chest and then plunged, piercing his heart.
Rodhlann groaned in pain but was able to bear it. With each passing second, he felt weaker and weaker, until he could no longer keep his balance and fell to the side.
Kalen took one last look at Rodhlann and turned before starting to walk away from the scene. Instead, Rodhlann looked straight ahead with the last of his strength and saw Kalen's back move away.
A last smile appeared on his face, which was extinguished as blood spurted from his mouth and chest, forming a pool of blood around him... and a few seconds later his eyes closed.
Forever.