After the meeting was done, Karin used the Ether without holding back, every step brought her closer to the one she could see with her own special vision. The Ether was guiding her to Ismael, and the pressure he could feel in his brain was linked to her ability directly, thr pain surged from his eyes, being the only non-human traits about him physically.
She gets closer, and finally, even without a gun, she could slice him off. Not even with her hands, but the way she does it, is kept to herself. Ismael could see her by focusing on her, because he could visualize her in his mind, he could also see her from a distance, his angel eyes targeting her among many.
So he warns the band of a threat and leaves the premice slowly but surely. A trail, she's leaving a trail, dangerous and ravenous, like a predator chasing a prey in the murkiest swamps of the south, vowing to kill.
He sees her on the grass and nods his head to signal a place. They walk alongside each other for a while and reach a close-by forest where the leaves deepen the obscurity hy obstructing lights in lonely rays.
"How sick are you? How demented are you exactly? Give me one reason not to end you right here right now."
"What do you mean?"
"Ismael? Hello? Stop playing dumb, I kept my memories from the old world. I know you've pulled a hard reset. I remember Awane, Grant, John, Geulsang Zhao and Ambroise Ler. I remember the fights, the blood, the difficulty. You've changed everything, and for what?"
"I did what I had to do", he replied after a pause. "I don't know what happened aftee I left for Paradise. I had to come to a conclusion, make a choice. I was seeing Awane suffering and now look, she's happy."
"You sick pervert, that's not her. That's apalo copy. And I hate you so much for making me say that about her. Ask whatever deity hides up there to fix this shit right now. Because I CANNOT live on these conditions, you've put responsabilities on me, responsabilities that I will never overcome, expectationsI will never amount to. Now we have parents who expect good grades from us? I had a LIFE. You and I could have just lived happy moments in nighttime duty with Awane. It was...it was peaceful..."
"Awane...what do you find in her, really? I mean I saw a strong woman, I thought she could lead me somewhere, but I guess I was thinking wrong. She could have been more but...I don't know, I think I just don't care. Because I know I've made the right choice. The pain and the useless suffering, I mean look at Capucine. Look at her! She was the demented one! She went from a deranged person to a complete demonic entity! I've held this power, the one you receive once you become the ruler of Paradise, and trust me, this is more than one can take. I've made sure that Efalis would at least be at peace before I pulled the lever on the old world. So yes. I did it. And if you people don't behave on this second trial, I'll do it again. And again. Until you learn."
"You know what? Ismael. You know what? I hate you. I hate your guts. I had a LIFE. You erased me. And the fact that I remember everything seriously hurts my heart. You've put a heavy burden on me, how do I lift it?"
"Stop complaining first. Then, I'll tell you. The Dragon God told me I had a purpose. I have to kill the Forgotten Cardinal Sins."
"What even is that? What are we even doing? I thought we were a bunch of snipers or whatever, what the hell is this?"
"From my understanding so far, it looks like this entire cosmos is rigged with parasytes of some sort, and those sins are one of them. You and I can kill those and maybe, just maybe, come back home."
"Fine. We'll look for clues at the librairies or whatever. Problem is, I've told a bunch of people what you did."
"Seriously? We just got here, Karin."
"You didn't even ask before cutting it short, so consider us even."
"Fine. We'll tell them it was a fake story or whatever."
"Listen, dumb dumb. I don't want to be an enemy, I want to feel safe, secure and comfortable like I was at Kenza. I'll fight for that too, be sure of it."
"Understandable, don't worry. We have to find a place with books."
On the way back, Karin's classmates were already blocking the path.
"You two are weird, what was that, Karin?"
Karin took a long sigh, looked aboce at the rays of sunlight and stared into Capucine's eyes. After a moment, she explained every minute detail under the sun, everything she had maintained memory of.
"That's...too much, that can't be true."
"I assire you, it is. But if you're looking for a culprit, look at the sins."
"I'm looking at you", Capucine said with an ounce of comedy.
"Look, I was the victim of this world too."
"So, all we have to do, is to kill those things whatever they are, and we'll be able to come back?" Ariane asked.
"Pretty much. That's taking into consideration that the Dragon God can't really interact with the world we're in here, but he can sense that they exist, I was under the impression that they emitted some sort of evil force, and if we kill them, he'll know that and we'll be able to get in touch, I guess."
"It's worth a try, but knowing that we had this kind of relationship, Ismael, now that we're kids again...let's put all of that aside for now. We need to get to the library and find something. And remember. Play the part. We're kids, now. Act like it."
They ran away, and a dark figure hiding behind a tree stopped looking and curled back into itself. "They know. They know about us. You were right, High Marquis, they know about us, and now they will know what we are and what we have done. They arrived, the Suffered have arrived."
"Good work, Ashnael. Come back home."