The next day, Chris found the address of Marc's house. Nothing out of the ordinary jumped out at him. He'd rather have gone to Nathanaël's than to this poor guy's. Even if the poor guy had hit him so hard he'd ended up ko.
He rang the doorbell and it was Marc who opened it for him.
"Coming."
Marc ran down the stairs, opened the door and found himself face to face with the man he really didn't like.
"Oh. Hi Chris."
"Your tone of voice doesn't sound like you're happy to see me."
"I don't know you should ask it."
"Pitiful. I was just...coming by...to...well...you know."
"Spit it out. If you want us to fight over what I give you last time, just say so."
"No. I wanted to know how your investigation is going."
"Oh? Do you care?"
"Maybe? Who knows?"
"No. Impossible. You're here to dangle us in front of the world so everyone thinks we're nuts."
"Neither, so tell me how it goes."
"Pfff. Come on in."
Marc let Chris in despite the fact that he didn't trust him at all.
"Anyway, I could nag him into not saying anything."
They went up to the bedroom where Jin was already present. The two glared at each other as if they'd always been rivals.
"Master, why is he here?"
"Master?"
Chris couldn't believe it. Marc had no friends, but he did have servants whom he had subdued with the force of his fists.
"Did I make a mistake coming here?"
"Don't call me master when there's the others."
Chris couldn't believe it.
He was hiding the fact that he had slaves to surprise his enemies and jump down their throats.
"What's the matter, Chris? Sit down?"
"Okay."
For the moment, Chris had to keep a low profile if he hoped to get out of there alive.
"I'm not going to hide it from you, but it would take too long to explain everything in detail. We've been through too much to explain it all clearly. If you want to know what happened, we discovered another world, the man in black, a guy who became a writer in both worlds, another guy who wanted to organize a bloody descent to earth, aura and improved physical abilities thanks to the other world, white beings who protect the mysteries of the other world, a guy who controls time loops, churches that were used to organize the guy's descent, a guy who is known in our world and is called Mirades and Jin who is a mystery in his own right. "
"Really?"
Chris's expression had frozen. He hadn't swallowed half the information because he found it completely...
"Ridiculous."
"Huh?"
"Ridiculous. You've got to be kidding me."
"After what you've been through, it still doesn't make sense to you?"
"I'll call the emergency room about your case."
"I don't think that'll do the trick. Besides, you haven't seen the news."
"What news?"
"Look."
Chris looked at Marc's phone. He and his group were regrouping in Orio and they were with...
"The Emperor of Zvenne. You were with the Emperor of Zvenne?"
"Yes."
"It's a set-up. It can't be."
"Look on your phone."
Chris drew out his phone and hastily searched for articles about their meeting. No one was surprised when he saw it was all true.
"It's not true."
"Yes it is."
"It's not."
"Yes it is."
"It can't be."
"Obviously not."
Chris was crestfallen. He lost all emotion on the spot.
"What would have happened if I'd gone after him first? I'd be dead."
Chris imagined Zvenne's army descending on his home, destroying everything in their path.
"Convinced?"
"Not of the rest. I'm willing to believe that you've met the Emperor of Zvenne, even if it seems implausible. But the other world and all its blahs, I can't easily believe. You have to understand."
Chris may have been traumatized by his dream and the vision, but he found it hard to swallow that a being from another world wanted him dead.
"It's understandable. But unfortunately, there's nothing we can do to prove it to you."
"You can't go back to that other world, I suppose."
"No. We enter it at somewhat random times. It's as if the other world made us enter."
"And why not return to those passages?"
"They disappear after we pass through."
And Marc had no desire to return to the library or Zvenne's church.
"I see. That's even more far-fetched."
"It's up to you whether you want to believe us or not."
Chris didn't want to believe them, and he didn't want to hang out with them, but a certain something pushed him to think about it. An insatiable curiosity that was common to every human being. Hands gripped his head. He wanted to know and he wanted to become stronger than Marc, no matter how dangerous it was. In any case, Marc was alive. If he could survive everything he'd said, why couldn't he?
"I'm going to accompany you from now on to see if it's true. But don't get me wrong, we're not friends."
"I know, Chris. It's you who shouldn't make the mistake."
The two glared at each other.
"And you have information about a possible passage."
"I'm not too keen on going back, but if you want to kill yourself alone, go ahead."
Chris looked very uncomfortably at Marc. Decidedly, these two couldn't get along.
"Is it that dangerous?"
"Probably more dangerous than anything you know on earth."
"Really?"
"Just think, over there, some people have superpowers."
"Like time loops?
"Exactly."
Chris wondered if this wasn't a bad idea after all.
"Master, look at this."
"What's the matter? Huh?"
Marc seemed bewildered. The newspaper article Jin had shown him did not bode well. Chris noticed it too.
"What's the matter? What's going on?"
Marc looked at the window. His gaze had changed.
"They're here."
"Who?"
"The beings from the other world."
Marc and Jin tried to make calls, but the phone wouldn't pick up. Their worried faces didn't reassure Chris at all.
"Who are you trying to call?"
"Wait a minute."
Marc was stressing enormously. They were already there. He didn't know why, but they were already there. The phone finally picked up.
"Exorian, is that you?"
"Yes. I suppose if you're calling me, it's because you saw the news."
"There aren't many articles on it because no one takes it seriously, but we wanted to make sure. Is it really them?"
Exorian took a while to answer.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Sh.t."
Marc began to sweat. One of these white beings had been found lifeless in a town not far from Orio. The locals mistook him for a cosplayer so no one had panicked, but law enforcement had quickly fenced off the spot where he'd been reported. People had begun to wonder when the Emperor had arrived on the scene.
"There's no other?"
"No. So far, it's the only one we've found and it seems to be inactive. The Emperor asked me to tell you not to come. He's taking care of the situation."
"But..."
"Dear Marc, we like you and are grateful for what you've contributed to the investigation, but don't underestimate us. The Emperor is powerful enough to handle things here. Besides, if it happened to you, you'd have to be in your own country to intervene. Don't let your emotions get the better of you. Do you understand?"
Marc didn't answer. Exorian was right. He needed to think more wisely.
"On that note, I'll leave you to it. I'm needed. Good-bye, dear Marc."
"Goodbye, Exorian."
The bell rang in the void. Tension rose in the room. Marc was stressing. If these beings were already here, how was he going to be able to protect the world with his current level. Could he even challenge them with his level?
"Marc?"
"Master?"
His aura rose slightly with his stress. The situation was getting out of hand. By the way, he'd never been in control of the situation.
"Jin."
"Yes."
"We'll double the search. If we find the slightest passage or strange site, we go in."
"Good. I'll let the others know."
"What about me?"
"Chris. You're much too late in the adventure. I wouldn't want you to die on me, but if you really want to help us, you're going to have to follow me around and get better."
Marc's gaze was determined. Those black eyes seemed to come from the abyss. Chris was startled by the monstrous intensity.
"Marc. Did you see the article?"
Elie had just entered the room.
"I saw it."
"We'll all die if they come down now."
"No. I won't let that happen."
"How?"
"I don't know, but in any case, you won't die. I promise."
Nathanael arrived about ten minutes later.
"Well? Chris is here."
"Hi, Nath."
"Hi. I guess we're meeting for the article."
"I called Exorian who confirmed the events. It all seems to be true."
"If those guys come down now, we're dead."
"I know. But we're not sure what they'll do. For now, let's look for info wherever there might be some. We need to figure out how to stop the descent like Lavoisi did back then."
Marc looked at the book he'd taken from the library.
"If only that's what he did."
Night came quickly. The search had turned up nothing special. Marc and Jin had searched all day in vain. Even Lavoisi's book hadn't written since the ruin of the other world.
"It's not true. Nothing came of it."
"It seems no one knows anything about this world. As if we're the only ones who've been shown some of the revelations."
"I despair. Even Lavoisi's book doesn't write the sequel, and in these novels there's nothing to indicate a prior descent."
"I think we should rest, master."
Marc's gaze was growing tired. Dark circles were beginning to mark his face.
"You're right. Let's take a break. See you tomorrow."
Jin returned to his room. The moon let a thin ray of light into the house, but Marc closed the window.
"I need to sleep."
Marc closed his eyes slowly. Sleep struck directly at him. But just as he had dreaded it that day. As he hadn't wanted to do since he'd dreamed it. Since that day, Marc had noticed that he no longer dreamed. He was no longer capable of it. The only times he dreamed....
"What's this?"
was to dream of this other, strange world. An enormous hourglass stood before him. A huge luminous vapor stood above it while a black fog slumbered beneath it. In the middle of the hourglass was a very bright light that prevented Marc from seeing the middle. Very white sand lay at the top, but as soon as it began to fall towards the bottom, it turned black. A very dark black that swallowed up all light. Time was running out.
"Time? Is this...the time we have left?"
Marc gazed at the enormous hourglass. It floated in the air like a divine being. Its edges seemed to be made of gold and it seemed to be made of crystal. It was reflected in Marc's eyes, and he could only watch. The falling grains of sand couldn't let go of his attention. Suddenly, the darkness began to spread. Marc was waking up. He hadn't realized that time here was completely disproportionate. A nervous smile spread across his face.
"Damn."
In a flash, he was sent back to the real world. He was sweating in his bed. He put his head in his hands and wiped his face.
"Damn. It's tight."