91 The Sinner (2/2)
When Reed heard her muffled screams of horror, he cackled in delight.
Eventually, she managed to clawed her way out of the comforter and gasped for fresh air as she recollected herself.
”Oh? What's the matter? I thought you wanted to stay warm,” said Reed as he combed Lu'um's frazzled hair with his hands.
He wanted to reflect some more on his past failures, but…
…For now, he'd push his troubling thoughts away and focus on the matter at hand. He understood that there was nothing to be gained by tormenting himself. It wasn't productive, it was just pathetic.
Punishing himself — feeling sorry about his failures would not amend what he'd done.
There'd be a time to answer for his crimes, after he finished what he'd set out do. Astrid and Sebastian were almost out of time…
The missing pair enjoyed their calm night in the middle of nowhere. Well, one enjoyed it more than the other, but that was par for the course when it came to them…
Unfortunately, other people had not spent their night as comfortably as them.
Two people had not seen the light of day in the longest. In fact, it'd been so long since they'd seen light that they'd forgotten how it looked like.
They'd been brought down into the depths of a pit, an ancient tomb buried kilometers underneath the ground. It was a secret ruin that a joint Dragoncrest-Ashborn expedition had discovered several millennia ago when they had first resettled in the East.
It was an expansive labyrinth that had been sealed centuries before the Great Barrier War, predating even the arrival of the First Generation of Otherworlders, when the Ancient Mulians still occupied the majority of the continent.
Xibalba — that was what their scholars said the tomb was called.
That was where they had been taken, deep into the bowels of the earth where the sun did not shine… a place where shadows ruled supreme.
He had lost track of time. He no longer knew how long he'd been kept trapped in the room. There was no way to tell how much time had passed when there were no windows, let alone even light in the room.
He'd been shackled with Anima-sealing restraints that constantly siphoned Anima when he tried gathering it. A novel solution, since they could not remove his ability to manipulate Anima aside from straight up killing him.
An Alma could not removed with conventional means. It was beyond anyone's ability to accomplish a feat like that…
Without Anima, he'd become a mortal again. An imprisoned mortal.
The silence was deafening. He'd been left alone to his thoughts.
It was as if he'd died. Sealed in a pitch-black room — a coffin. Trapped in his mind.
A part of him had already accepted his death, but was fine with that.
He'd gladly take the fall if meant that she'd survive. That was more than enough for him to endure.
It wasn't supposed to be like this… we accomplished our mission!
They had done what their elders had commanded, so why had they been punished?
Why? He knew what he was, but even so, he had strived to become someone worthy of the family name. Labored for so long to not disappoint the elders, only for them to have done… this to him.
More than a decade of diligent service had amounted to nothing.
He'd spent unknown amount time denying the truth. After all, he'd spent so much time and effort into trying to become someone of value to the family.
…Eventually though, he broke. He had to accept that he'd been discarded.
In the end, he came to the conclusion that this was deserved, especially considering what he'd done.
A befitting punishment for a betrayer who'd sold out a friend.
Sebastian weakly laughed at himself in derision.
What am I even good for? For what purpose was even kept alive?
He closed his eyes and tried his best to remember when it all had first started. Long before he had even realized that he'd been allowed to live…