97 Candidate (1/2)

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”Hi there, Partner.”

Raven's brain almost since functioning by then.

In front of him was an outline of a man, aside from his piercing golden eyes and the outline of his lips, the rest of his facial features are pretty blurry. He stood about six foot and some inches tall, judging from the outline of his body, it seems that he was wearing an armor as well. There is a sword hanging by his waist and it seems that he was holding a scepter on his left hand.

Did this man just called me Partner? Who is he? Is he related to the crown? Is he the previous owner of the crown or the so called 'artifact-spirit' of the crown?

These are just few of his numerous questions, he stood there gobsmacked, seemingly forgetting that the supression of the palace was still pressing down his body. There is a visible expression of confusion on his face which made the man in front of him chuckle.

”Let's get you back a couple of steps so that we could talk…”

With a gentle wave of his hand, Raven felt his body sway and by the time he realized this, he was already standing back to the place where he was before. His body visibly relaxed and his breathing eased up, but Raven failed to notice any of this since his attention was fixed at the man in front of him.

”You might wanna do something about your injuries, I'm afraid you pushed yourself a little too hard earlier.”

The man mentioned casually, it was only this time that Raven's attention went back to his body and the pain came after that. He felt every piece of his body groaned in pain, he felt waves of throbbing and it was specially strong on his legs. He paled and tasted something metallic on his mouth, he forcefully swallowed and fought back the urge to spit out blood. With shaking hands, he reached out for a pill inside his spatial ring and consumed it quickly. He then sat down and started recovering, leaving him vulnerable.

He wasn't afraid that this entity would attack him during his recovery. In Raven's mind, he already knew that this man held no malice towards him, and if he really wants him dead, then he should've already attack him when he was weak and injured earlier. And because he already calmed down for a bit, he could now deduce some hints from the words of this man earlier.

He recovered for an hour, after which he opened his eyes and breathed a mouthful of foul air.

With an earnest expression on his face, he searched for the man and saw him sitting in front of him and seems to be smiling at the moment.

”You…” Raven uttered with hesitation, ”Called me Partner earlier. I've always talked treated the crown as my partner but it never spoke even once throughout the time that it's been with me. I'm mostly doing that because I've no one to talk to and to express my gratitude to the help it gave me throughout my life. So…are you the spirit of the crown?”

The man was silent for a while before chuckling, this chuckle then became louder and louder until it turned into an uproarious laughter. At this point, Raven's confusion shot up as he thought if he said something funny.

”Don't think too much.” The man said after seeing his confused expression, ”I'm just feeling a little bit emotional. It's been eras since I've had a face to face talk with a fellow human. Being trapped here is quite lonely you know?”

”Trapped?” Raven's brow raised as he heard this.

The man in front of him nodded and said: ”But not the kind of trap that you're thinking of. It was my choice to do so, I am willing to endure loneliness and be trapped here. Plus, I could sleep it off anyway so no worries there.”

”Wait…” Raven traced his temples and continued, ”So, since you said that you trapped yourself here, that means that you aren't the spirit of the crown. Who are you really?”

”Ah right! I haven't introduced myself yet, my bad haha!” Raven's shoulder involuntarily dropped when he heard him say this. Before he could think too much, he heard the man cleared his throat and say…