The Sound Of Chains (2)

We were walking on the road, making our way towards Dragons Hollow.

The girls told me that it was a bigger city as opposed to the town we had been in.

I’m not really sure what to expect there, but for some reason I get this feeling that something good will happen there. Like I should be going to that city… I think it might have something to do with ending the special quest I’m contracted to, but it feels like a different sort of feeling then when I’m reminded of the limitations put on me from the contract.

Speaking of that contract, what exactly am I supposed to do after all that? Will they recall me to Lavaland or something? Assuming everything goes to plan and Marion gets into this school, I don’t remember if I was ever told what to do after the fact. Maybe I’ll just be free to go?

Probably not.

But whatever happens I’ll probably need to take Tyler with me, won’t I? Having to watch him all the time is gonna be a pain in the ass…

“Oliver,” Marion called out to me, “I have that book you were asking about earlier.”

“Oh, thanks!” I said as she handed me a book that’s title read ~Earth: The History of the Great Decay and the End of the Other World~.

After all this time I finally got my hands on it again…

I opened the book randomly and saw the strange characters replace the english letters again. Troublesome as ever…

I flipped through a couple of pages at random before a certain image showed up.

The top of the page read ~Tyler Ward and Fenrir~, but the only words on the page I could read were their names and the word “wolf”, along with a part where it said “Great Wolf Kaiju”.

There were multiple pictures showing both Fenrir and Tyler. In the pictures Tyler would be holding two swords, and he had some sort of weird gear on him, but I can’t tell what it is. Although he didn’t have a tail like he does now.

“Did you find something interesting?”

I instantly snapped the book shut using Accelerate and looked up towards where the voice had come from.

“Oh, it’s just you, Marion…” I sighed. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Of course it’s me,” she responded. “I haven’t gone anywhere since I gave you that book.”

For a moment I thought it might’ve been Canvas. It would be her style to interrupt me whenever I start learning anything remotely interesting about my past.

But more importantly, Tyler has his own two pages in this book. It’s a history book! That means during whatever happened on earth he somehow must’ve made a name for himself.

Did I do the same? Did anyone else I know do the same? And if Tyler’s in history books why hadn’t Marion and Jessica reacted at all when they met him?

It couldn’t possibly just be because they’re teenagers who don’t know anything about this because it happened two thousand years ago, right? Whatever happened to respecting history!?

Although, them not knowing might end up being better for me… If they found out something and said it around me, Canvas would probably use that as an excuse to do something annoying…

What if she took my powers away? Even if she took just one, I haven’t been able to survive a single day in this new world without having to rely on both Accelerate and Miracle!

I’m not sure if Canvas could even take my powers away, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she could. It’s better not to take any unnecessary chances.

Despite the fact that they know I’m from earth, around the time period of the Great Decay, which I still don’t know what that is but anyway… I doubt they’d be looking at any history books because of me…

But I’ll definitely try to keep this on the down low.

…

\\\ Marion ///

It really is strange.

Just earlier today, when Oliver was yelling at all of us for causing trouble, I had started to feel like I began to finally understand him. But just now, that weird disconnect came back.

It’s weird, he barely said anything to me but I feel like I wasn’t even talking to him.

Although I guess it doesn’t really matter right now, there’s something else I need to focus on. It shouldn’t be too much trouble if I try to contact the kaiju while we move through the forest, just need to make sure to spare enough attention to know where I’m going…

This is something I need to do.

I focused inward, calling on the being I now knew rested within me…

I want to talk, I thought. Right now I need to talk with you, so please answer…

I felt a strange rousing of mana within me, and then I was met with an answer.

My, my, my… A feminin voice said from within me. I didn’t expect you would ever try to contact me, Marion…

“…”

Now we’re here, I’ve made contact. But I have no idea what to say…

So… you’re the demon kaiju inside of me? I asked. I’m not sure why I asked, I already knew. I just don’t know how to talk to something that’s inside of me.

Even so, it still answered.

Yes, Marion, I am, it said. And for the record, my name is Sellovua. It’d do you well not to forget it…

So, Sellovua… What do you want? I asked.

That’s strange, Sellovua said. You’re the one who contacted me. And unless you’ve undergone some sort of massive, unwarranted change of character between now and when that wolf kaiju syphoned off my energy, I can’t see that being a reality.

I just want to know what it is you want, I said.

Well, one thing I want is freedom… You could just surrender your body over to me so that I can finally-

And how many people would you kill if I did that?

Depends, how many people could I reach before someone like the DreamWalker came to stop me? I feel like I could at least take out two cities before someone like that came to-

Is that supposed to be some sort of joke?! I scolded.

We all want things, Marion, Sellouva said indifferently.

What you want is wrong! You can’t just go around killing-!

And right now what you want is to leash me up and control me like that wolf and his boy, Sellouva interrupted. I honestly don’t understand how you come up with these things half the time… What could possibly make me want to play friendly with you?

If you cooperate them I’m sure-

Don’t give me that brushstain, she interrupted. Besides, we’ve run out of time for this little chat…

What are you talking about? I asked. We’re still nowhere near our destination, meaning we have plenty of time-

You’re not exactly a kaiju like myself, so I’m at least not surprised you can’t sense the impending presence… but it gives off an aura so strong even a baby should be able to tell something’s coming. In fact, that wolf boy just noticed it too.

I turned my head and saw as Tyler stopped walking. He then put both of his hands on the hilts of his blades.

…

\\\ Oliver ///

“Tyler? Is something wrong?”

Tyler had suddenly stopped moving and grabbed the hilts of his swords.

Normally, Tyler doing something strange wouldn’t bother me, but after what he said before we re-entered the forest… something just doesn’t seem to sit right with me…

It was completely silent. All was still.

I then heard a sound like jostling chains coming closer.

The sound of chains, that’s what Tyler had warned me about earlier… What’s about to happen?

The sound then disappeared for a moment, but by now we were all aware something was wrong.

A pink chain then shot out of the nearby brush. Tyler pulled out a sword and deflected it, but the chain wrapped around the blade and pulled until the chain straightened out.

I grabbed my blade and faced where the chain had come from as it began to slowly lose the tension that was holding it up. Whoever this was is coming closer.

“Tyler Ward…” A voice said, it sounded strangely calm and dispassionate. “You’ve inconvenienced me greatly. I have an important job to do and yet you’ve kept me up for three nights hunting you down. You’re a very slippery beast, you know that?”

A man stepped out onto the road where we could see him.

He was wearing a black cloak that covered most of his body, but his exposed legs and feet revealed an armor he was wearing underneath. The armor didn’t look medieval, but rather it looked like a high tech space armor… if I had to compare its looks to another type of armor I knew.

I mean, it wasn’t glowing or anything, and it didn’t seem like it was connected to any technology either. It just looked more like that than it did medieval armor.

The man’s face was dark skinned, well, more like the darker side of the mixed spectrum. His eyes looked as uninterested as his voice sounded. They were barely halfway open and there were bags under them that made it clear he really had stayed up for a long time.

His black hair was in messy bangs, and it seemed like he’d only ever bother messing with it if the hair went over his eyes.

So all in all he looked like an armored hobo.

“But I guess you’re travelling with people now,” he said as he looked over our group. He paused when he saw Marion.

“Huh?” he said as his eyelids went up a sixteenth of an inch. “Marion Blazebane, what a coincidence…”

“Please tell me this guy knowing who you are isn’t bad for us…” I asked Marion, but I’m already fully aware that won’t be the case.

“I’m sorry, Oliver…” she said. “But this probably couldn’t be any worse…”

“Heh?” What did she mean by that? Why couldn’t this be any worse? Who is this guy?

Marion wasn’t the only one who was spooked either. Both Jessica and Tyler looked scared out of their wits. I know Tyler had said some ominous warning earlier, but I’m still at a loss for why everyone’s so scared.

Actually, it makes me kinda scared being the only one ignorant of this situation…

“Do you know who this guy is?” I asked.

“Oliver, just- just stay back…” Marion said as she went in front of me. She then bowed down to the ground.

“Please… just- just take me,” she begged. “I’ll go willingly, so just leave them out of this…”

What could I possibly be missing right now? Last night we took down a kaiju together, this was just one guy. If worse comes to worst we could definitely beat one guy. What’s she so scared of?

“Unfortunately that won’t do,” the man said.

“Wh-why!?” Marion pleaded as she looked up.

“Cause I was already hunting him,” he said while pointing to Tyler. “So I can’t let him go. Plus, that thing that hunting him was preventing me from doing was actually hunting you down.

“And on top of that,” the man said as he turned his head and looked me straight in the eyes. “This boy doesn’t seem like he’ll just sit back and let that happen…”

His eyes then opened another sixteenth of an inch and I immediately felt an overwhelming pressure. My limbs started to shake and my breathing staggered.

The force of this halfhearted stare felt exponentially more dangerous than when Marion had focused the full force of her demonic bloodlust at me.

Suddenly I’m not feeling so confident about this situation…

“Good…” the man said as his eyelids went back down a sixteenth of an inch, hiding the force of his overwhelming stare. “You didn’t break eye contact…

“Listen up!” he suddenly yelled, actually, it was more like he put more of his breath into his voice. “Judging by how those two girls reacted, they already know who I am. Tyler here knows who I am because he made us exchange names before challenging me to a battle. But it’s obvious to me that you don’t know who I am, and I’m not sure I want to continue without at least telling you, so I’m going to.

“My name is Valentine. I don’t have a surname because my father was a horrible bastard and I refuse to associate myself with him. I’m a Crusader rank adventurer who specializes in the Jäger, Bounty-Hunter, and Anti-Hero classes. My codename is Slayer. Know that I didn’t pick it out, it’s just the only thing my classmates called me back when I attended FuzzyCoats.

“Now tell me, what’s your name?” Valentine asked. “Although don’t give a lame speech about yourself like I just did. I got caught up in the moment is all…”

Even though that insane pressure isn’t there anymore, it’s effects still are. And now he wants me to tell him my name? It almost feels like this is some sort of joke…

“M-my name is Oliver Sean. I guess I’m a novice rank adventurer and my class is apparently Anti-Hero. My codename is Captain Miracle. I guess that’s all you need to know about me, right?”

“A little too much,” Valentine said. “But I guess I’m the last person who should be talking…”