Chapter 40: Darlus II
Morden knew better than to just stand there and watch, though he didn’t know who his enemy was; he knew that attack was enough to injure him greatly or even kill him.
’Bend your knees, no no no, show dominance, punch it.’
Having made a decision, Morden immediately put it into use; he activated a boost with a little bit of Vital Energy he had just regained and flooded his arms with Vital Energy.
[Strength +20 (Temp)]
Without wasting any more time, he swung his fist forward, towards the Icicle flying at him.
CRACK!
Thankfully, his fist was actually fast and strong enough to stop the attack; cracks appeared all over it before it finally shattered and fell to the ground.
"Ohhhh, this one is quite different." Morden heard the person speak again, but the icy fog all around the room still made it difficult.
"I always love those who can take a punch, you have earned the right to see me and speak to me," this time after he finished speaking the icy fog that was in their surroundings immediately started receding towards a particular point until they completely vanished allowing Morden to get a full view of who was actually in the room.
Sitting in a leisurely, confident pose not too far away was someone that seemed to be the same age as Morden, except he was a little bit more handsome. He had golden hair and even golden eyes, and when combined with his confidence, it gave him natural charisma.
’Is this person Mr. Xerxes?, Brenda spoke about. He seems really confident, overconfident even’
"Ohhh wait, you aren’t one of those guys," the man Morden guessed to be Xerxes said while rushing to his feet.
Morden: "..."
’He just attacked without even knowing who it was?’
"I really thought it was one of them, and then I must apologize," Xerxes said while approaching Morden.
Before he even got close enough to Morden, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and backed away again.
"If you aren’t one of them, then who are you?" He asked with a suspicious gaze.
"You guys almost got me, hahahahahaha. really great tactics; you can’t outsmart me though."
"Bro, just shut the hell up!" Morden suddenly shouted.
"I don’t know who the hell you are talking about; Mona sent me."
Hearing Morden suddenly shout at him, Xerxes was immediately taken aback; he took another step back before his expression changed again.
"Oh, really? You should have said that all along, hahahaha. Welcome welcome, Come have a seat," he suddenly said with a smile.
"I am Darlus, what about you?"
Feeling slightly strange by the sudden change in the tone, Morden, who had been previously approaching a seat, suddenly stopped and asked.
"Darlus? Aren’t you Xerxes?" he said with a questioning face.
"Haven’t you heard of Surnames? I am Darlus Xerxes, but just call me Darlus."
"Ohhh, okay, nice meeting you. I am Morden, Morden Tales, "
(Xerxes will now be referred to as Darlus.)
The two shook hands for weird reasons before finally seating. After the introduction, Morden and Darlus just sat there in silence, both of them locked in their own minds.
But Morden just couldn’t help it; he had questions, and he wanted answers as soon as possible.
"Can I ask a question?" He finally raised his voice to ask, breaking the silence.
"Sure, sure, ask away," Darlus responded in a strangely enthusiastic tone.
"You kept saying, you thought I was one of them,’ over and over, who the hell are the ’them’ you’re referring to?" Morden asked.
"Ohh, I thought you were one of those damn scientists, no offense, man," Darlus responded.
"Scientist, why would you attack a scientist like that?"
"Because they are cruel people, they come in here under the guise that they are trying to understand what’s special about me and then drain all my Vital energy, leaving me wasted," while he spoke, Darlus gashed his teeth together while clenching his fist tightly.
"If I see a single one of them again, they are getting an Icicle straight to the face," he added.
Morden sat there, observing the change in attitude of his acquaintance when it came to something involving the scientist, but he still had more questions to ask.
"Damn scientist, what makes them think there’s something special about you?" Morden asked in a mix of pretentious, exaggerated, and inquisitive tones.
"Because of my freaking innate ability and what happened immediately after I returned from my trial," Darlus said while his tone dropped into a very low one.
The more Darlus answered, the more questions Morden asked, and he didn’t let up; he asked immediately.
"You have an innate ability; that’s really cool, do you mind telling me what they are?"
"And what exactly happened after you came back from your first trial?"
"Whaatttt? what sort of Bearer are you? you don’t even know about Innate abilities."
"That’s really crazy."
"Since I am feeling quite generous today, why don’t I give you a lesson? This was something I have learned since I was young; it’s really strange that you don’t know."
"I bet you don’t even really know what a Genetic Tree is," Darlus said with a large smile.
Morden looked at the sight; he immediately began having some deductions, a little habit he was starting to pick up.
’He said he had learned about Bearer Knowledge since he was young, which can only mean one thing.’
’He is from a Bearer family or at least a rich family.’
’And seeing how confident he moves and speaks, I think it is the second option.’
’So this guy in front of me is probably a son of a rich family that has been cast away for some reason.’
’I can guess that it’s probably because of what happened immediately after he got back from his first trial since he avoided that topic when I asked, and he doesn’t seem willing to actually go into it.’
All while Morden’s thoughts were running wild, Darlus was still having his hearty laugh, and the moment he was done, he snapped Morden back to reality.
"Hey hey, don’t lose attention now."
"The great master is about to give you a full, comprehensive knowledge about Bearers," he said while standing up.
"It all begins with a genetic tree."