Chapter 8: Red Light
Still hanging on to hope about the girl’s return, Morden’s eyes remained locked on the path she had disappeared into.
"She better come back," he said out loud but also low enough to prevent the other people from hearing him.
About thirty minutes after the girl had vanished, there was still no sign of her, causing Morden to slowly give up hope, but just as he was about to fall asleep from boredom and waiting so long.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaa!" a loud, thin scream suddenly sounded from somewhere not too far.
Everyone in the surrounding areas was immediately alerted; they looked at one another in fear, and with a clean, precise, somewhat practiced movement, they all headed into their tents, and no one came back out.
While still locked in the cage, Morden confusedly scanned his surroundings, hoping to see the guards or something, but there was no one.
"That voice, it belongs to that girl," Morden muttered.
"She believed I could help her, should I actually go out there," he wondered while pacing in the little space he had.
While he moved around in the cage, his eyes suddenly caught sight of something moving in the corner of his eyes.
It was something red.
It appeared like a red light, which immediately made Morden freeze in place. That light was oddly familiar; it was too familiar.
It was the same one he saw that night.
Morden’s mind immediately became an absolute mess, filled with questions that he had no way of getting answers to in that cage.
"How is it in the Omnisphere? What the hell is going on? Aren’t I in the Omnisphere? Do I go for the Chase?"
The last question suddenly switched from a question to more of an instruction. Morden closed the distance between him and the door, and with a stretch of his hands between the gaps in the frame, he could feel the lock on the cage.
With all the power he could Summon Morden squeezed the lock, hoping to destroy it in one clean attempt.
But the lock seemed tougher than he had ever expected; he couldn’t destroy it no matter how hard he tried.
"Haaaa, what do I do? I need to get out of this freaking cage," he thought.
And then he remembered. He was now a Bearer, and he could try checking to see what his recorded Gene was actually about.
[Boost- allows the user to increase a specific part of their stats based on the vital energy output and control]
[Common grade: at maximum level allows for a total temporary increase of about 10 stat points]
[Uncommon grade: at maximum level allows for a total temporary increase of about 20 stat points]
Morden hurriedly read through the information in front of him, and a smile formed on his face despite his current situation.
He had made the right choice, and now that was exactly what he needed.
Morden didn’t hesitate further before activating the Boost ability. He noticed Vital energy currently flowing through his body immediately grew more aggressive and rushed towards his hands.
Morden noticed a significant change in his strength, and that increase was all he needed to actually break the camel’s back.
With a firm squeeze this time, Morden was able to destroy the lock to his cage, regaining his Freedom but it didn’t come without a cost; Morden could already feel his vital energy significantly drained.
The instant he got outside, Morden turned towards the direction he noticed the red light vanish towards, which coincidentally or uncoincidentally turned out to be where the scream came from.
With his gaze sharp and his heart steady, Morden charged forward with all he’s got without using any extra ability. He had decided to save boost for special or urgent situations.
Thankfully the village wasn’t that big, and Morden finally arrived at his destination; it was a tent that was at the edge of the village, and Morden knew it was his destination because of the faint red light peeking out from the space between the entrances.
Making sure he wasn’t acting too brazen, he moved towards the tent, and in one fluid motion, he opened the entrance and barged in.
Inside the tent was a sight that gave Morden a sense of déjà vu but also raised another question.
"Where was the source of the red-light?" it was as if it had slipped away like some sort of shadow.
Instead of the red light in front of Morden was the familiar blonde-haired girl standing above two corpses.
Morden could observe the features of those people and realized they seemed really similar to the girl, so he guessed they were her parents.
"She killed her parents," Morden said while staring at the blood dripping from the weapon in her hand.
Before he could even process further, the girl had raised the weapon once more, but this time it was pointed straight at herself.
"Ohh no no, you can’t freaking die now," Morden shouted.
He didn’t think too much before activating the boost again, but this time he focused it on his leg, increasing his speed. He dashed towards the lady.
His new speed was much faster than an ordinary human’s, so he was able to arrive beside the lady before she could do anything, and with a flick of his wrist, he slapped the weapon away.
Being this close to the girl, Morden was now able to get a full view of some details he had missed earlier when he had just arrived.
The girl’s eyes were muddy and listless, like she wasn’t in control. Morden tried tapping her awake, but there was no response, so he did the next most logical thing that came to mind.
With all his power, Morden sent a jab at the girl’s neck, completely knocking her unconscious immediately.
"You will be giving me answers when you regain yourself, but before then let’s get the hell out of here," he said while picking up her unconscious body.
She wasn’t too heavy for the current Morden, so he was able to carry her without any pressure while he proceeded to leave.
Before completely leaving the tent, Morden stared back at the corpses on the ground for the last time before shaking his head with a mix of emotions.
"Did I also do the same?"