Eunbin froze in place for a long moment before slowly looking around to see everyone else still doing their own thing; perhaps they didn't hear her. Yeah, that made sense. Even though their hearing was far superior to a mundane human's, they also had a feature that every human possessed.
Selective hearing-that was the only explanation as to why none of them reacted, probably because they were too afraid to acknowledge that their mother was infected with the dreamspawn's plague as well.
So, with that in mind, Eunbin decided to speak up and tackle the elephant in the room.
"Mother…..Mother, you said his name."
"Whose name?"
"His name."
Mother's eyes slightly widened in recognition of who she was referring to, and she suddenly frowned.
"Oh? Did I? I apologize, Eunbin; it was a slip of the tongue."
She was frowning, yet she was calm. Why was she being so calm about it? Why in the world was no one reacting to Mother saying the dreamspawn's name? What the hell was going on?
"Speaking of Asterion, Mother, when do you think he's coming back?" Hel asked excitedly.
"I'm not sure, but I look forward to seeing him again when he does return to the waking world. Vale and I aren't exactly on speaking terms, so it will be nice to see an old friend who is willing to put aside past disagreements and have a civil conversation. I have no doubt he has forgiven Vale and me for betraying him all those years; Aster has always been a forgiving and kind person. We were young and foolish for doing such a thing to our dear friend." Mother said with a soft and warm smile.
Eunbin hid her horror by plastering a light smile on her face.
'No, no, no'
How did this happen? When did this happen?! When did they become enthralled? How did she not notice? More importantly, how did it happen so fast?
"Are you all right, Bin?"
"Yes, I just remembered that I forgot something," Eunbin said, glancing out the window by her bed. She noticed something that made her freeze. Through the gray clouds, the sun tried and failed to break through the snowy weather and shine down on them. And that was the problem: the time of day.
'It's daytime; why is Revel here in my room when it's daytime? When did it become daytime? It was nighttime a second ago.'
"Don't worry about that, Bin. The fewer questions you ask, the better." Revel said, having stood up from the bed, looking at her with a friendly smile.
Revel read Eunbin's mind; no, he read her mind. It was him speaking through her; it had to be.
Her heart dropped to her stomach as she turned to see everyone staring at her with the same dead expression; it could've been the candlelight, but she could have sworn their eyes were golden, though when she blinked, they were normal.
Even if it was him, the best course of action was to play it cool and keep calm.
"I have to go."
"Go where? We aren't done playing yet."
"I want to check on Rain and Aiko. Sunny asked me to watch over them a few days before he left for whatever he needed to do."
"They're fine; my future husband's house can grow legs and teeth," Hel replied immediately.
"Well, I'm hungry too, and I want something to eat. Do you want anything? I'll pay for it."
"I want you to sit down and finish the game."
"I don't want to; I'll lose anyway."
"Sit."
"No, I said I don't-"
"Come on, Eunbin, you're sure that you're not up for another round?" An unfamiliar voice interrupted in a tone full of friendliness that sent a chill down Eunbin's spine.
She slowly turned to see that everyone else was somehow gone, and instead there was only an outrageously handsome man sitting next to her. The man had tan skin, long, disheveled black hair falling past his back, and golden eyes shining with mirth, as if he'd just been told the greatest news on earth. But the strangest of all, he wore an all-white space suit, with a shattered helmet beside him. He was chewing on something; each time he chewed, a crunching noise could be heard, as if he were chewing on a piece of bone. He began shuffling the cards for a while with an upbeat expression before swallowing whatever he was chewing and grabbing a glass of water out of nowhere and drinking it.
"Don't worry, Uncle Aster will go easy on you, unlike Vale and Ki Song. Those two were especially ruthless whenever we all played back in the day." He said, setting it down with a soft clink and smiling at her like she was a child showing him a drawing she had made.
"How are you here? Why are you here?" Eunbin asked, unable to keep the fear from reaching her voice
.
The dreamspawn smiled.
"Well, I wanted to visit an old friend to see how she and her daughters were doing. Is that a crime? Oh, I'm sorry, forgive me. Where are my manners? It's rude to eat in front of someone without asking if they want a piece; at least that's what my mother always told me as a child. Do you want one? Here, I didn't want to be greedy, so I saved a few for you. But be warned, they'll be gone soon; I get very hungry."
As he reached into his basket, his golden eyes shone with friendliness and warmth like the afternoon sun, and yet the wider he smiled, the deeper the pit in Eunbin's stomach grew. In it was a pale, feminine arm that had been severed from its body with clean, accurate precision. Grabbing a knife and a fork, he began cutting through one of the fingers with a sickeningly calm expression, like he was cutting through a steak at a restaurant and chatting it up with a friend. Once he cut through the bone, he stabbed the fork through the severed finger, lifted it to his mouth, and took a bite, resulting in a horrific sound of bone and muscle breaking. He began chewing calmly and nodded toward the arm with a questioning gaze, like a friend offering her a taste of food they liked.
'You sick, revolting, disgusting bastard.'
The dreamspawn shrugged.
"Now there's no need to be rude, Eunbin. A simple no would have sufficed. But I understand your reaction; in fact, I would have been more appalled than you are right now if you'd actually agreed to my offer. Ki Song and your real parents raised you right."
She wanted to scream, throw up, do anything, but found that she couldn't move or speak because something that the dreamspawn had done was preventing her from doing so.
So all she could do was watch as he reached into his basket once more and pulled out a severed head, Revel's head.
That was when Eunbin realized she could finally scream.
…
She shot up from her bed like a rocket taking off into orbit. It was dark; her clothes were damp from the sweat dripping off her body as she hyperventilated and frantically felt around where she was lying. Her eyes were wide as plates as they darted around the room for any golden eyes or man in a spacesuit, but her vision was blurry from what felt like tears. On top of that, dark spots permeated her vision as she felt dehydrated and like she was going to pass out at any given moment, so she couldn't make out her surroundings as she had hoped.
All she could discern were three blotches of what looked like human figures or creatures in the room, with her cautiously moving towards her. They moved slowly and carefully, as if she were a wild animal and any sudden movement would make her bolt out of the room or claw at them. She now knew she was in her bed from the feel of her sheets and the candle in her room. Which meant they couldn't have been enemies, but that didn't stop her from practically leaping out of her bed, running to the bathroom, locking the door, and tearing the toilet seat off its hinges before she began vomiting into the toilet.
She didn't hear the door open or when someone came in, but she did feel a hand gently pull her hair back so that it didn't get in the way of her face. In contrast, the other hand of presumably the same person gently rubbed her back and whispered words that Eunbin couldn't make out due to being so disoriented and terrified.
She tried to turn her head to see who it was and ended up blinking in the process and, as a result, images of her nightmare flashed through her mind. Images of Revel's-She couldn't finish the thought, and didn't want to. Feeling her stomach churn and bile rise from her throat once more, she leaned back over the toilet and hurled. Once more, the person held her hair up so nothing got in it.
"Are you okay?" The voice spoke; it was a man's, his voice calm, steady, as his hands held her shoulders.
"Get away from me, creature." Eunbin recoiled and tried to shake the person off, but her strength failed her, mostly because she was still in shock, and the person gripping her shoulders held firm. If the man was a vessel of the dreamspawn, then she was dead. She had no close-quarters memories to summon, at least none that could be in her hand in a moment or less. And that was all an enemy needed in the heat of battle: a moment, especially if the enemy was a supreme being who could rip you apart with his bare hands or his will alone.
"-bin," A masculine voice cut through her thoughts.
Someone was speaking to her.
"-nbin"
Who was it?
"Eunbin," the man repeated steadily.
"Eunbin, can you hear me? It's me, it's Dad. See? I'm no As- I mean, I'm not that guy." He said softly as he leaned over her shoulder and his face came into view.
"Are you okay?"
She scanned his eyes for a long moment before nodding shakily.
"It's nothing; I only had a nightmare," Eunbin said, attempting to stand up, but her legs wouldn't allow it.
She sat there in silence and hoped, even prayed to dead gods or whatever deity was still out there, that nothing would happen to them or anyone she cared about, not to any of her sisters, no matter how little she spoke to some of them. Not to Asterion or his little sister, Rain. Not to Mother or Eunbin's biological parents, not to Sunny's abnormally greedy short friend and assistant, Aiko. Hell, she even found herself including Mordret despite all his strangeness and the false acts he put on all the time, but mainly because he was dating her sister, Seishan, and she didn't want her to be sad if something happened to him.
Who was she kidding? Nothing would happen to a man like him; it couldn't. He was the only one who could take on the skinwalker, and she had a feeling he would kill the creature once he returned from wherever he was. He would succeed; he had to. After all, what's the worst that could happen?
"Come on, kiddo, up you get. Good gods, when did you get so heavy? You need to lay off the pancakes and waffles, sweetheart."
Eunbin mustered what little strength she had and slapped his arm lightly, giving her father a scathing look she didn't mean, because she knew this was his attempt to loosen her up and ease the tension in her body.
"Be quiet, I'm…. I'm not that heavy." Eunbin replied as he sat her back on the bed.
"Sure you're not."
"Father, what do you remember from today? I mean, recently, over the last few hours before I woke up."
"Well, we were playing a game of cards and talking about your love life."
Eunbin silently nodded with an intense expression.
That's why the dream felt so real, because it actually happened.
"And then?"
"Then, you suddenly fell asleep." Mother spoke up softly, answering for Father; only then did Eunbin realize that she and her mom were also in the room. They were both sitting in chairs by the foot of her bed.
Eunbin paused.
'What?'
"What? I fell asleep? Are you sure?" She asked, turning to him with a perplexed expression.
Her father nodded.
"Yeah, immediately after Jade told the joke about a fish is when you fell asleep. We tried waking you up multiple times, but nothing worked. So, Princess Asterion got off your bed and pulled off your covers while I picked you up and carried you here. Your mom, Ki Song, and I have been sitting here waiting for you to wake up."
"I didn't even realize. How long have I been asleep?" Eunbin asked, not wanting to mention the stares he was getting from both women for saying the dreamspawn's name without realizing it, or that he said it in the first place.
He checked the imaginary watch on his wrist for a few seconds before nodding to himself.
"Only an hour."
"It felt longer, much longer. Like it would never end."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Her mom asked quietly.
"No, just… just please sit here. I don't want to talk about anything else right now, but I do want someone around, anyone."
"Well, we're here whenever you feel ready."
"I know, thank you."
…
Sitting in the living room were Mordret and his false parents.
It had been an entire day since he was brought to his false family's home by the reflection of sister, and he wanted nothing more than to burn the place to the ground with everyone in it. And yet, he found himself holding back from doing that due to the sheer strangeness of it all. It was so strange to see a mother he had never met stare at him with such love and compassion. It was even stranger to see his father smile, let alone see him look at Mordret with warmth.
"-nd then your mother told Uncle Jest to start making jokes nonstop so that they would go away. It only took a minute before they walked away."
"Speaking of Jest. Where is he anyway? Have you seen him?"
"Yeah, the last time I saw him, he was heading towards Valor Industries to grab something from the basement level, and I haven't seen him since. He's probably off doing god knows what. You know how Uncle Jest is."
'The basement level.'
Mordret's intuition told him that the place held a significant meaning. It could have been the location of what Sunless came here for in the first place, another weave, more specifically, another fragment of Weaver's lineage. He had studied Sunless' runes through the [Handy Bracelet] that the young man had made for himself as a replacement for the nightmare spell for some reason.
"Well, I hope he's alright."
The older man waved her away with a smile.
"I'm sure he's fine; that old man is more dangerous than he looks."
"I know that, but still, the news has been saying that dozens of people have been reported missing over the last four days, that they just disappeared without a trace. I'm worried about him."
Mordret immediately knew the reason why so many 'people' were disappearing.
'We forgot to cover the three mirrors back up before stepping in.'
And that meant there was a gap in this place, a gap where the others were escaping into the real world and likely causing all kinds of death and destruction, not that Mordret cared about humanity in the first place. But it might be concerning news for his allies. Then again, if they had covered it after they stepped inside, they would have no way out of this place and would be trapped here. But Mordret digressed: if fate were somehow on his side for once, the others would kill his real sister for him, but even Mordret could admit that even if they tried, they would have a difficult time doing so; she was a legacy, after all, and a far better combatant.
"Mordret?"
'Speak of the devil, and she shall appear.'
"Sister, how are you doing?"
"I should be asking you that. Are you feeling any better since yesterday?"
"I am! Thank you for finding me when you did; I'm not sure what would've happened if you didn't."
"Someone would have robbed you, and that's the best-case scenario. Come, I want to talk to you."
Getting up from his spot, Mordret followed Morgan upstairs to her room. Once there, Morgan opened the door, went straight to the bathroom, and grabbed cosmetic supplies from the cabinet.
"Take a seat somewhere."
Mordret did as he was told and took a seat on the edge of her bed with a lazy expression and looked around the room with little interest, that is, until he spotted a small spider expertly weaving a web in the corner of the ceiling. He had always been fascinated by these small creatures since before he could even read. But his interest grew when Old Man Jest noticed and began showing Mordret pictures of them on his communicator, telling him many facts about them.
The strange thing was its legs; one of them appeared to be a different color from the rest. It was white, almost porcelain. It looked as if the leg had been replaced, but that was impossible. However, he had seen stranger creatures with much less flattering anomalies on their bodies. So with that in mind, he didn't dwell on it. The spider paid no mind to the occupants of the room; it was as if it saw him as nothing more than an insect, or rather, it didn't bother acknowledging him, too busy with its task at hand.
"What are you doing?" Morgan asked, still doing her makeup but presumably looking at him with her peripheral vision.
"Killing the spider." He replied innocently,
remembering that the real Morgan liked spiders as well, so her reflection would hate them. "I thought you hated spiders; I would be doing you a favor, would I not?"
"I may not like spiders, but I do not want you to kill them. Do you want to know why?" She asked, stopping what she was doing to look at him fully.
'Not really, I'd rather listen to Jest make jokes all day than listen to you.'
"Yes, I do. Why don't you like spiders?"
"They remind me of someone I was once close with, and that someone abandoned me at a dire time for their own reasons," Morgan said as she stepped out of the bathroom for a moment, her eyes drifting to the little spider still sitting in the corner, and she stared at it with a distant expression. Mordret followed her gaze and saw the spider had stopped what it was doing and was staring back at her with strange intelligence in its unmoving black eyes, as if it were listening to their conversation.
"I had hated them for a long time for it, but I have recently come to believe that they were right to run away from everything. We were acting like fools after all. All thirteen of us were at each other's throats while they were the only ones who had any sense left in them."
"Who were they? The one that left you?" He asked, his gaze returning to her.
"You've already met them."
"Have I now?"
Mordret had no idea what she meant. In fact, he hadn't known what she was talking about ever since she found him earlier after his encounter with the abomination. The more she spoke, the less sense she made, and the more Mordret began to suspect something was deeply wrong with his sister's reflection. But he still had no idea what it was.
"Yes, you have." Morgan nodded, her gaze never leaving the corner of the ceiling. Mordret followed her gaze once more but found the little spider nowhere to be seen; not even the web it was weaving was there. It was as if the spider was never there in the first place.
"Why am I here, Morgan?" He asked, tearing his eyes away from the corner where the spider was.
"I told you, I wanted to talk." She replied, stepping back into the bathroom and looking at her progress in the mirror.
"You've barely said anything."
"Does there need to be a reason to spend time with my family?"
Mordret had no answer; he didn't know, and he barely had a family to begin with. The very fact that he was actually having a somewhat normal conversation with his younger sister while they weren't trying to kill each other was odd; it felt out of place, really, even though he knew it was her reflection. He should have felt joy but didn't, not only because he was no longer capable of feeling it, but because he didn't know what to feel, as he knew this would never be possible with the real Morgan.
Not that he had anything to say to her. She was still the mascot of his former clan and therefore had to die; it was nothing personal. She was just collateral damage in his quest to destroy everything his father built and, eventually, him. He would have included Cassia as well, as she was a high-ranking member and valuable asset of Clan Valor, but he needed all the allies he could get, so he held off for now.
"No, I suppose there doesn't need to be one."
"Then you have your answer."
As they sat in silence, Mordret turned his gaze to his reflection and stared at the eyes that used to be vermillion before his first nightmare. In fact, he knew that was one reason Morgan was convinced Mordret was one of the others and had replaced her real brother at some point, and it irked him to no end. Alas, there was nothing he could do about that, but there was something he could do about his strength, or rather, his aspect.
Mordret could reflect a person's powers with the unique part of him that entered their soul, and he could reflect a person's aspects, attributes, and lineage with his reflections. He also discovered he could possess and control his reflections; he had experimented with it for a while during his time in Antarctica, but only truly mastered, or more accurately, explored it three years ago.
But his main body couldn't reflect anything, at least that's what he thought for most of his life. But what if he was wrong? What if he could? If his soul cores could make reflections and his soul could reflect a person's abilities when he attempted to take their body, then who was to say that he himself couldn't reflect someone? Who's to say that he couldn't have his real body reflect his soul and therefore reflect someone's abilities?
'Questions, questions. So many questions.'
Pulling a mirror shard out of his pocket, he turned it in his hand and stared at his reflection with an empty expression.
He could already change his reflections into whoever he had laid eyes on at any time, as his ability to turn his soul cores into reflections had evolved after he became a saint. He had learned to possess his reflections three years ago. But what if he could do more than that? What if he could turn his reflections back into their most basic form, which was nothing, and then use that to his advantage? What if he did that and was therefore able to use nothing wherever he wanted without having to go to a location where nothingness was everywhere? Perhaps locations like the hollow mountains or the frozen wastelands in Ravenheart, where nothingness was spread across the land as well?
His other attribute, [Nobody], granted him complete immunity to the erasure that happened when one went into nothingness, as the creatures of nothing saw him as their kin. Not only that, when he was surrounded by nothing, he was able to use it to rapidly form new cores without having to hunt for fragments from nightmare creatures or humans.
He could also use nothing to augment himself so that his body could actually reflect the strength of however many soul cores he had at the moment. It was similar to how Sunless wrapped his strangely lively shadows around himself, or how Changing Star wrapped her soul flames around herself, except they could do it whenever they wanted. Whereas Mordret had to go to places like the hollow mountains to do so, as nothingness wasn't in many places throughout the dream realm.
And on top of that, the hollow mountains were the only place in two worlds he felt comfortable going to because any great or cursed nightmare creatures that dwelled there always ceased to exist, fading out of existence before a heart could beat. He didn't dare go to the frozen wastelands, as even the Raven Queen didn't set foot in such a place. In fact, it terrified her so much that she even warned Mordret, of all people, not to go there under any circumstances. Mordret had no idea what was over there that terrified the Raven Queen so much, and he had no intention of finding out anytime soon.
But he digressed; the hollow mountains were also where he constantly went to feed and grow his reflections quickly whenever he was told Ki Song was sending him on any mission. So, if he were able to learn how to turn his reflections back into nothing, then he would be able to augment himself wherever and whenever he wanted while also using it to erase nightmare creatures without having to lift a finger.
Or he could theoretically erase an entire nightmare gate if he had enough of nothingness around him, but to do such a thing on that scale would likely require the use of will, which he didn't have, or rather, he hadn't mastered it yet.
And not only that, what if he could do more than that?
He could already possess and control his own reflections, so why not be able to have the others or the creatures of nothing follow him? After all, the two species were similar beings, except one was born from nothingness. In contrast, the others were originally nobodies but were trapped by the daemon he had met in his first nightmare, the daemon of illusions, Mirage, and made into something. And that something was the first reflection or reflections. At least, that's the story she told him when he asked how she made her first reflections, or his siblings, as she always referred to them when he was around.
Mordret knew why she called them his siblings, and it was because he considered a divine reflection of Mirage because of his aspect [Nobody's Reflection], so what if he could be a prince of reflections? A prince of the others? A prince of the nobodies that dwelled in nothing? Were the others and creatures of nothing his domain? Had it been right in front of him this entire time?
And what if that was what his mirror realm was for? To house the others and creatures of nothing instead of his vessels, like he had been doing? Or what if he could use his mirror to act as a mirror to the palace of imagination and keep the others there and summon them whenever he wanted? After all, his mirror realm was in the realm of reflections, and so was the kingdom of Mirage. Could that be his ascended ability's true purpose, to act as a gateway to the kingdom of imagination, and he was using it wrong this entire time?
He had no idea.
He had many more questions about what he could accomplish with his abilities if they were to expand beyond what he could currently do while only being a saint. Mordret knew that he was on the cusp of something extraordinary, something glorious, something that he had never thought possible in his life. He could feel it in his very soul, that he was close to achieving something, that he was close to understanding what his aspect was truly capable of. He was starting to understand how much he had been limiting himself by not exploring his aspect and only looking at its surface.
But he had no way of knowing where to even begin with any of those things, let alone the steps to take to reflect a person with his main body or how he would even learn to have his body reflect the true part of himself that entered someone's soul. He wasn't even sure it was physically possible. Yes, he was considered a reflection because of his aspect along with his attribute, [The Other], but he wasn't actually a reflection. Mordret was still human at the end of the day, no matter how much he himself, the nightmare spell, his wretched father, Jest, and little sister thought otherwise.
And this was all without even considering his circumstances. He wasn't whole, so he was essentially a broken mirror, and as the reflection of Morgan told him, a broken mirror couldn't properly reflect anything or fulfill its true purpose; that meant he couldn't use his aspect to its fullest potential, or use it correctly, even if Mordret had no idea how he would even use his abilities in any other way than he had been doing for the past two decades.
Or had he already guessed it? Did using his aspect correctly mean reflecting the world?
Truthfully, though, it didn't matter if he was right about all of the things he had thought of, because even if he was, he first had to figure out which was the step to take in the right direction to unlock his aspect legacy. Even if he did figure out which was the first step, he would still have no idea how to take the steps to actually achieve the first step or any of them, for that matter.
Despite having 'allies' now, he was still alone; none of them could help him achieve what he wanted, even if they tried. It wasn't like a guide would appear out of nowhere and help him unlock his aspect legacy.
"What are you thinking about?" Morgan asked, her voice piercing a hole through his thoughts like a knife cutting through room-temperature butter or a sword slicing through the flesh and bone of a pathetic excuse for a father who gave his son away to a monster. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't realize that she had taken a spot beside him. He didn't even see or hear her move.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Mordret replied, sending her a practiced, polite smile.
Morgan's reflection made an expression that Mordret couldn't name; despite being able to identify most feelings through facial expressions, he still struggled with the ones his br- Other. He still struggled with the ones the other hadn't taught him when they were still with the abomination. But luckily, fate seemed to be on Mordret's side for once in his life, as over the past few months Seishan had taken the liberty of teaching him to replicate empathy and compassion; he didn't understand why she did it, but he went along with it anyway.
"Nothing? That concentrated expression on your face is saying otherwise. So tell me, what's on your mind, Mordret?"
"I will later." He replied, standing up and walking into the hallway.
"Where are you going?" She asked, following him out of her room into the hallway and downstairs to the living room.
"I have a meeting with some people; it's about time I head out and go meet them. I'm already running late." Mordret said, making sure to smile innocently. They were likely looking for him as well.
Hearing this, his mo- false mother looked over with a worried expression.
"Alright, please be safe, Mordret. I don't want you to end up like those other poor souls. I'll have Sebastian drive you there. Where is the meeting taking place? Who are they? Are you closing a deal? Who do they work for? Do we know them? What are their names? How old are they?"
Mordret was once again strangely grateful he didn't have Sunless's flaw and forced a pleasant smile as he watched his father's reflection shake his head.
"Goodness, are you going to let the boy answer at least one question?"
"Well, these are things we have to know, especially in a time like this. Now, where is the meeting taking place?" She asked, turning in her spot to look at Mordret.
"You already asked that, honey."
"I know that; now hush." She said, waving him away while keeping her eyes on Mordret.
"There's no need for anyone to drive me, as I'm sure they're not far. As for the other questions, I can't tell you anything else yet, not until everything is sorted
out."
"Are you sure?" His false father raised an eyebrow.
Mordret nodded.
"Yes, I am."
"Okay, just make sure to text me, your mother, or your sister when you get there, okay?"
Mordret nodded once more.
"I will, I promise."
"Good, be safe. I hope your meeting goes well. Oh! And if you happen to see Uncle Jest, ask him where he's been and tell him to call us. But that's only if you see him; you don't have to go actively looking for him, understand?"
"I understand," Mordret said, nodding while taking hold of the doorknob and turning it.
"And-" His father started.
"Anvil, let our son leave; he's already running late." The woman interrupted. "Sorry, Mordret, your father likes to ramble when he's nervous."
"She's right. I do, and I'm just trying to stall you. Have fun, kid. I love you."
"I-" He began, and paused as he found himself trying to register what his father's reflection had just said to him.
As he told himself earlier, when Morgan brought him here after his strange encounter and ending with the abomination, the more time he spent here, the more he hated it because this place mocked him. It told him things he would never hear. It showed him people he would never see, looks he would never receive, and what could have been if the other wasn't such a spineless coward and had killed Mordret like he demanded the bastard do. And he hated it. He hated all of it.
That last thought made him pause, and he took a moment to calm the nasty storm brewing in his mind to consider something. And it was whether his father felt the same way about this place in the past as Mordret was feeling about it now, and whether this place could have been one of the reasons his father became so bitter and hateful towards everything, because he always saw what he would never have.
'Impossible.'
He couldn't have known about this place.
"Yes, yes, I will have fun, fath- dad," Mordret said, nodding with a smile so forced that it hurt his cheekbones, and walked out of the house.
Closing the door behind him, he took a deep breath and made his way towards the mansion gates. Once he was past the gates, he began to walk in no particular direction, but with hopes that if he did encounter Sunless and the daughter of Nether again, they would both be lucid for their sake.
The harsh sound of vehicles running on a long-depleted resource filled his ears as people went to and from their jobs, pedestrians walking alongside one another, each with their own destination in mind. Not one of them had a care that the person next to them could be a deranged lunatic. It was strange; they were strange. Yes, he knew these weren't real people, but they still reflected the real world. Mundane humans did the same thing these reflections were doing right now, and they did it every day without pause, as if it were normal to them. Wake up, work, eat, sleep- they repeated this process until the day they died. How did it not drive them mad?
As Mordret continued walking and observing the others, he spotted an odd encounter: two thugs in a filthy alley were holding two tall men at gunpoint. From what he could see, one victim wore expensive red silk garments, while the other wore what looked like a red-and-black suit. He paid it no mind and went on about his day, looking for his allies, since he had no doubt they were looking for him too. They had wasted too much time already.
His thoughts were put to a screeching halt when the thug moved the gun closer to one of the victims' faces, and that was when he caught a glimpse of their features, more specifically of him. He stared at the helpless wretch for a long time, an empty expression on his face, before sighing deeply and letting his breath fog in the cold evening air as he reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his mirror shard.
"Damnation,"
Hello! :) I am back again… for the third time now, I think. It's funny how the first arc I've written for this fanfic has been the longest because I've been lazy. That's the entire reason I've gone months without updating; I didn't abandon it- I've just been lazy. Anyway, there will be no chapter next week, as I will be busy waiting and eventually playing GTA 6, but there will be one the week after that, I promise. My New Year's resolution will be to finish this damn arc if I haven't by the end of the year.