76 Memories From Another Time (1/2)

”Well, if you ask me, you don't look a day over twenty-five, Ma. I'm jealous of gramps — he sure knows how to pick 'em,” said Reed.

Ma laughed and said, ”Has Vel' been teaching you his old tricks? That sounds like something he'd say whenever he got into trouble. I can see why he likes you so much…”

”For now though, why don't we move someplace else? My home is just up ahead — I wouldn't want to keep out here in the Woods… Shall we?”

Reed had no reason to reject the offer and he preferred not to get on the bad side of his benefactor's wife, so he did as she asked. He also deeply interested about her and the knowledge she possessed.

The only other person he'd heard of living before the Unification Era was the Holy Pope, but know he'd learned that there were another two people!

Of course, he sure that the Four Sovereigns likely lived before the Unification Era too, but what were the chances he'd able to speak to them on any given day?

Reed needed other valuable sources of information to cross-check what Lu'um and Lacrima had told him about Mulia and its history. Not only that, but the dreams, the knowledge that had been imparted on him by the hooded man...

He trusted Lu'um and Lacrima… to a certain extent.

He just needed to make sure that they weren't lying. That was it. So he could continue believing that one day…

They both had multiple opportunities to harm or even kill him, but they never did. He also had to admit that they both have done nothing but help him in whatever he wanted to do. Teaching him, training him, assisting him in his endeavors... they were, practically, his own angels.

But even from the beginning, he knew how unnatural, how forced it all felt.

Nothing is for free. There is always a price. Always.

It was the ultimate truth of Reed's life and it formed the person that he was today. All things in his world were subject to this one truth and twisted under the weight of it.

He could trust people to a certain extent, but he never to the fullest extent. That was a price he was terrified of paying. The price, in his opinion, was too much to even consider.

Being lied to was part of the price.

Being betrayed was part of the price.

Being rejected was part of the price.

Being exploited was part of the price.

This was what Reed had come to conclude about trust — that the benefits of trust could not outweigh the possible cost it could incur.

As much as he wanted, desperately wanted to believe in them, he could not force himself to do it. To make the jump. He wanted the strength to pay the price, but...

Kindness is the sweetest lie.

Selflessness is a purely theoretical construct.

Justice is a slave to relativity.

Whenever Reed thought about even trespassing into its territory, he felt the hot, painful burn of the tattoo on his chest. The brand itself perhaps punishing him for his recklessness…

”Is something the matter, son? You spaced out there for a minute…”

Reed looked up and said, ”What? Oh, I was just thinking about how strange this place is…” He stared at the tea cup in his hands and took a small sip.

Light, fragrant tones that reminded him of the flower fields of Citlai. A strange connection, one that made him smile a bit.

Ma smiled and said, ”That's a secret… If I told you, I'd lose one of my special weapons. In any case, it's not something you'd be able to make because the flower I used for this tea can't be found on Mulia anymore…”

”The flowers don't exist anymore? How did that happen?”

”The Great Barrier War happened. We fought desperately with the Ancient Mulians during the chaos until they abandoned us, or rather the main fleets did. The rest of us, Ancient Mulian and Otherworlder, had been left to die. After that, we fought like hell to hold back the Infestation while the remaining Ancient Mulians set up the Great Barrier,” said Ma.