Chapter 56: Messenger
The trio froze in their spot, not daring to move a single inch, everything the man in front of them had done and said since he had arrived was enough to raise alarms in their heads.
Seeing their reactions, the smile on the man’s face broadened as he walked forward a little more, bringing his full form into the light so Morden and the others could see.
Though the others didn’t show any reaction to what had just happened, Morden on the hand was in shock as his brain blasted into action.
’Is he the one, or not?’
’He can’t be the one, right?’
While those thoughts dominated Morden’s mind, the man in front of them sensed it and immediately turned to look at Morden specifically.
His honest smile morphed into a grin.
’Bastard, he is enjoying this,’
The other two also noticed the man that had just appeared in front of them focused on Morden, prompting thoughts in them too, Lisa’s especially.
’The Guardians of the Omnisphere and now this guy—why is everyone so focused on this guy?’
At first the man didn’t say anything, he just stood there staring at the Morden silently but a few more seconds later he finally opened his mouth to speak.
"Do not worry, I am not him," the man said in a low, steady voice.
"I am nothing but a messenger,"
Hearing that, Morden slowly calmed down a little, though in all honesty, the person in front of him didn’t look like the person he had in mind.
’But why are they wearing the exact same outfit, though?’
"Master Merlin sent me here to deliver a very short message."
"He said to tell you that he hopes you aren’t holding what he didn’t against him, that he was just following the instructions the world gave to him."
Morden wanted to flare up and curse the man in front of him but he couldn’t, the man in front of him was radiating a strange aura, a really scary one.
That aura created a subconscious fear in him, something that even Merlin didn’t do.
"Mr. Tales, I hope you heard the first message I delivered," The man who called himself a messenger said.
Morden wanted to respond, but before he could even say anything, the man was already speaking again.
"Master also sent me to deliver another message, he said to tell you that the next thing that will help you in your path can only be found in a place where only the Deaf can hear but the sightful can’t see,"
’Only the deaf can hear, but the sightful can’t see? isn’t the same thing the system told me when I asked about the location of the Golden Monkeys,’
’How does he know I am looking for the Golden Monkeys? Who the hell is that guy?’
After he finished delivering the message, the man gave a strangely deep bow towards Morden, and he even did the same towards the others then.
"I will be taking my leave now, Mr. Tales. And here’s a personal message from me: "Good luck surviving your current ordeal."
"May the world be with you," he shot a tiny glance at Dalrus, and then he was gone.
Those words hadn’t even fully landed in the air when the man that said it already vanished completely. No signs of him ever being there were present at all.
With his exit the relief of the trio who had been there had been in an agitated state ever since he had appeared and now that he was gone they felt lighter.
Morden turned to look at Lisa and Darlus when he noticed Darlus was still stuck looking at the spot where the man had been while he muttered something.
His gaze also drew Lisa’s attention to Darlus, and the two of them heard him mutter.
"He was there that night; he was definitely there."
"He disappeared just like this too,"
"He said those same words too."
"May the world be with you."
The more they heard what he was muttering, the deeper their eyebrows were furrowed. They didn’t understand what was going on with Darlus, but they knew it was important.
Though the messenger had come here looking for him in particular, he didn’t care about that anymore for now; he was more worried about Darlu’s condition.
Standing in one place and muttering continuously was definitely out of character for him just after he regained a little confidence from killing that Forest wolf.
At this point, icy mists were already slowly coming off of Darlus’s body and infiltrating the surroundings. The ground beneath his feet was already freezing over, and the plants were now covered in white.
’This is getting serious,’ he thought with a shocked face.
He wasn’t there the first time this happened; only Lisa was, so it made sense for him to show such a reaction when he saw this for the first time.
"Hey, you need to get yourself together," Lisa said from behind him, hoping to snap Darlus back, but he didn’t work. He just kept muttering some jumbled words.
Noticing that her words hadn’t managed to get through to Darlus at all, she turned to Morden as if asking for the next line of action.
But Morden didn’t know what to do. Just like in the cave with Layla, he doesn’t know how to help others out of situations like this.
So he decided to do the only thing that he could think of at that moment. Pat him on the shoulder.
Already feeling the cold emanating from his teammates, Morden knew he couldn’t just head straight like that, so he made preparations first.
[Durability +20(temp)]
With that, he began approaching Darlus, a step at a time, weathering the ever-growing cold spreading throughout the environment.
Morden could feel tiny ice shards growing all over his skin, but he didn’t care. In the end he finally arrived beside Darlus, and then he raised his hand to tap him on the shoulder.
In response, Darlus turned to look at him with reddened eyes and frozen tears.
"He was there, he was there when they all died."