Chapter 7: Dreams Are a Blissful Insanity Known Only to You

Chapter 7:
Dreams Are a Blissful Insanity Known Only to You

 

SATILS MOVED AWAY so quickly, it was like she’d never seen Flum and Milkit at all. They stood there in stunned silence for a few moments before Flum finally came to her senses. She couldn’t let Satils just get away like that.

“We’re heading after her!”

“O-okay!”

Shortly after they picked up the trail, it quickly became evident that Satils was making the rounds of the shops she operated within the Central District. After dropping in on several stores, she walked straight past the church and made her way back to her home in the East District.

Flum wanted to confront her then and there, and figure out what was going on, but she was all too aware it could be a trap. She stopped at the street corner and eyed the entrance.

“I should probably talk to Eterna about this.” She turned back to Milkit, who was white as a sheet, and patted her head. What awful timing, considering she just helped Milkit get over her nightmares… “This is a real head-scratcher. Wealth alone shouldn’t be able to bring you back from the dead.”

“That’s…really her, isn’t it? I wanted to think that it’s just an impostor, but it doesn’t seem so.”

“Well, we don’t have any proof yet, but she looked like the real thing to me. What did you think, Milkit?”

“She seemed real to me, too. Everything about her, even the way her skin clung to her body, gave me the same awful feeling she did.”

They only had that gut instinct to go off of, but that was exactly what was the hardest to duplicate about a person. It was nearly impossible for an imposter to give off the very same vibe as the real deal.

“There’s no way she could’ve survived after what I did to her.”

“Do you think an Origin core might be involved?”

There were three research teams operated by the church. Assuming they were involved, the most likely one would be…

“Necromancy.”

“Bingo, lady.”

Just as Flum reached her conclusion, the two heard a young voice speak up from behind them. She spun around with the Souleater drawn and swiped at her target.

“Whoa, that’s quite an aggressive greeting!”

Milkit let out a small gasp as soon as she saw the boy’s face. “Nekt!!”

“Heh, so you remember my name. How sweet of you.”

The preteen boy standing before them, dressed in a white shirt, was named Nekt Lyncage. He was one of the Spiral Children.

Nekt chuckled to himself, unfazed by Flum’s attempt to murder him.

“You sure are confident, aren’t you?” Flum snarled. “Showing up out here in the open like this, even while Gadhio is fast on your trail.”

“Fast on my trail? Gimme a break. Mother’s research is carrying on just fine, thank you very much. I’m helping! Everything’s easier now that we don’t gotta haul Ink’s dead weight around, actually.”

“You little punk!” Flum stepped between Nekt and Milkit and prepared to face off.

However, he showed no sign of preparing to attack. “Whoa, hey, don’t bark at me like a rabid dog. I’m just here to talk, so chill out. Seriously, I’m not here to fight today.”

“You don’t strike me as someone who’s going to be swayed by words.”

“Don’t lump me together with the other teams’ creatures, okay? We Children became one with our cores from our earliest days. We’re used to them. I’m my own person, not a mere puppet of Papa Origin.”

That much was true. He even talked like a bratty little kid. What’s more, Flum knew that even with all her equipment, she would be no match for Nekt, who had nearly killed Gadhio in their last encounter. Even less so while trying to protect Milkit. Now was no time to let her emotions get the best of her.

Flum slowly lowered her blade.

“Glad to see you’re willing to listen to reason.”

“Cut the fluff and get to the point.”

“All right, we’ll keep it simple then. I want to join forces.”

Flum hesitated. That was completely unexpected.

“I’m just going to tell you right now, I’m totally serious about this,” Nekt continued. “Everything I’m about to say is under the assumption that you already know about the Chimera and Necromancy projects.”

Flum glared, unblinking. “Well, I’ll at least hear you out.”

Nekt shrugged. “I guess that’s a start. So anyway, you know that there are three teams within the church performing research on Origin cores, right? But do you know why they aren’t all a part of the same team?”

“To make them compete?”

“Bingo! Wow, you’re smarter than I thought. I had you pegged for the type who tries to solve all her problems with force. Anyway, we don’t really get along with the other teams. I guess that makes sense, but it means that two of the teams are destined to be cut off in the future.”

“So you want to join forces to crush the Necromancy team.”

“Wow, you’re on fire today. So, what do you think? Pretty tempting, huh?”

Flum launched straight into her refusal as soon as he was done talking. “No thanks. There’s no way I’d team up with the people who kidnapped Milkit!”

She would never forget the terror of losing Milkit. Flum could only imagine that Milkit was even more afraid of Nekt than she was. The idea of working together with him was absolutely ludicrous.

“Well, you sure don’t seem to like me all that much. Y’know, I only did it because that Dein guy asked me to. I had no interest in that bandaged lady over there.”

“And I hate that. Call it Origin’s voice, or your own will—you still don’t have a moral bone in your body!”

“Huh, I guess I can’t argue with you there. I haven’t really talked to a lotta people outside of the research team, so I can’t really say whether I’m immoral or not.”

“Well, I’m glad you agree! Anyway, I’m out of here.” Flum cut the conversation off there and clasped her hand around Milkit’s to make her exit.

Nekt watched as they turned to go and raised his voice just a tad louder than necessary as he called out to them. “I don’t suppose you’re going to ask Eterna Rinebow for advice, are you? I’d recommend against that.”

“What are you going on about?”

“Now remember, we didn’t actually do anything. But think this through. That Satils lady was given a core and brought back to life, yeah? Obviously, Necromancy is involved. They worked hard for years to keep their work under wraps, and now they throw it all right in your face. What d’you reckon are the chances they’d try something similar with the other heroes, too?”

“Hnng…! Hold on tight, Milkit!”

“Okay!”

Flum wrapped an arm around Milkit and took off toward their house at full speed.

Nekt waved to them as they ran off until they were out of sight. The smile immediately disappeared from his face as he let out a heavy sigh.

“Haaah… I guess this is how it’s gonna be for now. Or maybe they saw through my little ruse. Maybe I am missing my moral compass.” He turned in the opposite direction and grinned. “But nothing I said was untrue. They’ve gotta be going after the other heroes as well.”

He didn’t need to lie to Flum to sow the seeds that would bring her over to his side.

 

***

 

Gadhio finished up his administrative work at the guild earlier than he anticipated, so he decided to head home. He’d taken over his role as guild master in the hopes of finding out more about the church from his guildmates, but thus far, his efforts proved fruitless. The group he was looking into had its fingers in every pie in the kingdom, and even though he knew it would be difficult to unearth any meaningful information about them, he still felt like he was fighting an uphill battle.

He decided to go home early and spend the rest of the evening with Kleyna and Hallom.

“I’m really not good at stuff like this…” Gadhio muttered under his breath as he gently swung a boxed cake back and forth in his hand.

Just the thought of their excited faces made him tense up. The last time he’d been so overcome with shyness over giving someone a present was with Tia.

“Well, I certainly hope Kleyna and Hallom enjoy this.”

He knew he couldn’t hang on to his lost wife and best friend forever. Gadhio had loved Tia and Sohma more than anything, and as long as he continued to blame himself for their deaths, he would never be able to move forward. At the same time, a part of him wanted to live up to Kleyna and Hallom’s expectations. Buying this cake for them was his first step in that direction.

The cake shop Gadhio chose was one Flum recommended to him.

“Cyrill and I went there once. Their cakes are so good!” Despite all the hardships she suffered, her eyes still shone brightly as she spoke. He could only wonder what had possessed her to recommend a cake shop to the last person you’d expect to see in line at such an establishment.

As these thoughts ran through his mind, he finally found himself standing at the manor entrance. Before he had a chance to grab the doorknob, the door came flying open in front of him.

“Haah…haah… G-Gadhio! You’re finally back!” Kleyna panted.

“Oh, hi, Kleyna. I was out picking up a cake for Hallom.”

“Th-thanks. But, but…now’s not the time for that!”

She looked fine. Did that mean something happened to Hallom?

Kleyna took Gadhio’s arm and started to drag him before stopping in her tracks. Gadhio’s eyes fixed on the figure that appeared in front of them, and he froze up as well.

“Welcome back. Or, hang on, shouldn’t you be saying that to me?” The woman spoke in a warm, cheerful tone. “I’m home, Gaddy.”

The bright smile gracing her face was no different than it was six years ago.

“T-tia…?”

Standing before him was the woman who had given her life for him. The woman he loved more than anything else. The woman who had once been his wife.

“In the flesh! It’s me, your adoring wife, Tia Lathcutt!”

He should have been filled with pure bliss, but instead his mind was completely blank.

“That’s… There’s no way in hell…”

He’d seen her die with his own two eyes. And yet here she was, standing right in front of him, very much alive. Alarm bells were ringing in his head, warning the well-trained adventurer to keep his distance, but the feeling of exhilaration quickly took hold and blew those thoughts away, filling every crevice of his mind.

The cake box fell from his hand and dropped unceremoniously to the floor as he stepped forward to pull Tia into a tight embrace.