Cale blinked his eyes open as the cold enveloped every part of his body. His eyes widened as he saw snow falling from the sky. He remembered the last time he was back at the hotel.
"Am I not in the hotel? Or is it an illusion?"
As he stood up and looked around, his heart began to beat rapidly in his chest at the familiar sight. Two years ago, before he came to this world, Cale had almost died in the black temple across from him.
He wondered why he had come here again, but no matter how much he thought about it, he could not find an answer.
The wind howled in his ears as he walked towards the temple. The black temple had a majestic appearance but also an eerie aura.
Once inside, Cale went to the altar. As the wind outside increased, Cale instinctively knew what he had to do.
With the energy of chaos, he made a cut in his hand and clenched his fist, dripping blood onto the altar. Cale's blood evaporated as the black altar began to glow.
Cale took a step back and a man in shadows appeared on the altar. Cale had not seen the man's face when he first came here, but now he could see it clearly.
His face was handsome enough to make anyone jealous, with long red hair and silver eyes that shone like the moon.
Cale frowned when he smiled and said, "You finally answered my summons, my child."
"Did you bring me here?"
"It was the only way to save you from death," his voice echoed in the air like a calm melody.
"Was I... dying?"
"Almost. Luckily your friends are taking care of you now," and Cale remembered the four people he had seen before he fainted.
'So they didn't turn their backs on me after I fainted'
"What are you?" Cale asked, seeing his silver eyes squint as he smiled.
"I am your contractor."
"Contractor?"
"Yes, you get your power from me."
"Are you talking about chaos energy?" he asked and the shadow shook its head from side to side.
"No, I'm talking about the skill I gave you. Since your body was filled with chaos energy, it was the only power that could help you deal with it."
"Can the Limitless Void deal with chaos energy?" he asked with a frown. "Fine, but when I used the ability, the chaos energy pierced it."
"That's because you haven't improved in the skill. You are still incapable of using Limitless Void and Chaos energy. When you become stronger in both, the two powers will be in harmony with each other. That way, when you use the Limitless Void skill, you can even fend off chaos energy."
"I see," he murmured thoughtfully.
"We don't have much time, so I'm going to give you another useful skill," he said and stopped right in front of Cale.
"Wait," he said, taking a step back and looking at her suspiciously.
"Don't worry," he smiled and placed his palm in front of her forehead. "You'll be grateful to me when you get this."
In the shadow's palm, the black energy glowed more beautifully than in Cale's. When the black crescent on Cale's forehead appeared and lit up, the black-purple energy flowing from his palm began to enter the crescent.
Cale staggered in place, breathless and dizzy, as the shadow finished its work.
"Goodbye for now, child," Cale shouted, holding out his hand to him as his silhouette slowly disappeared.
"Wait! What's your name?" the smile on the shadow's face grew.
"Heathcliff," he said and disappeared.
Cale felt his body being pulled as he was left alone in the deserted area. When he opened his eyes and saw the white ceiling, he sat up, gasping for breath.
His head was spinning and his eyes could not focus. The aches and pains in his body were still there. Cale looked at his body and saw that they were still healing.
When he saw the potion bottles next to the bed, he thought at first that it was the potions that were healing him, but no, it was the chaos energy that was healing him, albeit slowly.
Cale was trying to go to his room to get some potions but he could feel in his body that it was chaos that was healing him.
"Cale, can you hear me?" he heard a worried voice and his unfocused eyes turned to the owner of the voice.
Cale immediately suppressed the bloodlust rising in his body as the things he had been through came back to him one by one.
"Cale, are you okay?" Cale blinked as the owner of the voice calmly called out to him again and frowned as he recognized Dante.
"The Black King, you know him, right?"
"What?"
When Dante looked at him in surprise, Cale looked him in the eye for an answer. He didn't have much time. They would come for him and Cale would be in front of the whole world.
He had tried so hard to hide himself, but now he understood. The man with the scarred face had never come to kill him or take him from the beginning. His goal was to bring Cale out of hiding and make him the prey.
He wanted Cale to take refuge with the Black King, the one the scarred man had told him about, and stand with them while everyone attacked him. His plan was foolproof, but Cale was no fool. So Cale had to get information from the only person who knew about the Black King.
"How do you know that name?"
"You said it in the dungeon, don't you remember?" he heard Amaris' voice.
"Wait..." he looked at Dante. He saw the fire of anger burning in his eyes. "Is he the reason you're like this?"
"I need to know what you know about him before they come to get me!" he frowned, putting a hand on Dante's shoulder and shaking him.
"Who's picking you up?" Hope asked curiously, and as she finished her question, they heard a knock at the door.
As the five of them looked at the door, Cale's calm voice drew the others' gaze to him.
"They're here."
When Cale got out of bed, the doorbell rang again and Felix went to open the door. When he opened the door he saw Jessica and Giles.
"Felix, do you know where Cale Rayne is?" Jessica asked with a serious expression as Felix turned around and Jessica and Giles followed his gaze.
They saw the red-haired man standing in the room, wearing only a pair of pants and with scars on his body.
When they passed Felix and entered, he closed the door and followed them in.
"Cale Rayne," Jessica said, her face serious in a way they had never seen before. They wondered why she was so serious, even though she sometimes got angry, but they always saw a smile on her face.
"The Union is here to pick you up," Jessica saw Cale nod as if he had been expecting it.
Giles nodded when he said, "I'd like to change, if I have time," and showed how miserable he looked.
"Let's go," he said as they headed towards Cale's room, Cale in the lead and Giles behind him.
When Cale entered his room, he immediately went to the bathroom. After a short shower he washed off the blood. He put on black pants and a black sweatshirt.
He pulled the top of his hair up into a ponytail so that his long hair wouldn't get in the way. When he came out of the bathroom, Giles, who had been watching out the window in silence, turned to him.
"Are you ready?" he asked, and Cale couldn't tell what he was thinking from his expressionless face.
"Yeah," he answered shortly.
"You seem to know what they called you for," he said, and Cale's calm eyes turned to him. When Cale didn't answer him, Giles walked to the door. "Let's go."
As they opened the door and stepped out, the crowd in the hallway made Cale uncomfortable, but the calm expression on his face didn't change.
Cale saw Jessica, Dante and the others waiting by the door. He followed Giles and Jessica as he closed and opened his eyes and told Dante that everything was fine.
When they got into the elevator and went downstairs, Cale saw that it was much more crowded. Through the window he could see a lot of cars outside.
When he locked eyes with Amy, he crossed her arms over her chest and stared blankly into her mocking gaze. Veronica looked at him with disdain while Sylvie and Elliot looked at him with curiosity in their eyes. Damien frowned and looked him up and down, as if questioning how the man who had been bleeding to death only an hour ago was doing so well.
Cale took his eyes off them and walked out amidst the curious stares. He was surprised that five cars had come just to pick him up.
Giles stopped in front of a handsome man with long green hair. The green haired man's same color eyes looked at him coldly over his round glasses.
"Cale Rayne, I'm Union agent Fredrich Wild," he said and held out his hand.
Cale nodded as he shook his hand. "If you're ready, let's go," he said and opened the car door for him. Fredrich sat next to him as Cale got into the car under his gaze.
"Let's go," the driver in the front started the car.
Five cars left the hotel, two in front and two in the back, and headed for the Union base in the city of Armageddon.