Chapter 37 Chapter 37 - Beyond Tomorrow (2/2)
”Reassuring.”
”Things are much worse than we've thought,” the old man said, sighing lightly. ”We hadn't noticed it before entering the capital, but the concentration of Devil Qi is substantially higher than we'd imagined. Whatever is going on here... it's much larger than a simple Demonic invasion. There's a high chance that all of us will have to flee.”
”So I keep hearing.” Lino mumbled in his jaw to himself. ”That's on your end. I'll see what I can do on mine. Let's limit our contact to as little as possible.”
”... very well. Stay safe.”
”Likewise.”
Lino got up and walked away before his drinks arrived, glancing back at the old man with complex expression. Though he understood just a few things from the last night's events, he did take a gleam at a very important news: whether today, tomorrow, a month later, or even years in the future, the old man - and all those standing by his side - and him would be fielding two sides. The whole of world - not just Umbra Kingdom and its surroundings - is about to face chaos, one instigated by Devils, one everyone will see as a mass invasion of opposites. Only a few, perhaps, may notice the underlying currents. While millions throw themselves in the flames of the war, feeding and fueling the state of chaos, Lino feared the consequences of ever letting them know it serves no purpose. It's a battle far larger than them; far bigger than that old man sitting over there, or his friends sitting on the opposite end. Demons in Umbra Kingdoms were pawns of a world-scale chessboard, if even that, and all events that will take place here will be for naught in the grand scheme of things. It's an event among many bound to set a stage... stage for him, Lino realized. Or, perhaps, if he dies, someone who will no doubt come after him.
Leaving the inn, he felt short of breath. He didn't know what to do. He felt lost. The thought that he'd slowly carve out his place in the world now shattered, given that his place in the world was already solidified before he'd even understood the world itself. He's a soldier of ideologies he couldn't hope to understand, a sword of a mind beyond his notion, a wall guarding something that may not even exist in the first place.
”Are you afraid?” a robotic voice jolted him from his stupor, startling him slightly. Lino smiled bitterly and shook his head, moving forward for a stroll through the city streets, taking everything in.
”Should I be?” Lino replied in a low voice.
”Yes.” was a simple and short answer he got.
”Then I am.” Lino said, glancing at a brick building to his left, its chimney billowing out gray smoke while a smell of fresh bread spread out from it.
”Good,” the voice said. ”It means you haven't broken down.”
”... why'd you choose me?” Lino asked, taking a left turn into a rundown alley with a motionless body lying cold on the street, its eyes rolled far back into its skull.
”... for the same reason you've chosen to trust me.” the voice said. ”There's hardly a logical reason for it. Isn't every fiber of your being telling you to lay low and just live out your life in silence, far-removed from the world?”
”...” Lino said nothing, merely glancing at the body while passing by it, quite familiar with the sight.
”You see the world around you through your own lens, and I am the same,” the voice said, still as robotic as ever, seemingly lacking any emotional weight behind it. ”You shelter your own purpose within you, just as I do mine. I am every bit a person you are, yet, I was never able to make choices you can make. Perhaps I know no fear because I've never had anything to lose, but I will not project my purpose on you. You can always stop this battle.”
”... hm,” Lino nodded faintly, walking over a bridge, glancing toward the riverbank where several dozen kids were currently playing. ”I hardly know what a purpose is,” he said, empty-faced. ”And can't exactly understand yours, either. However, if you had chosen me, you must've had your own reason, however opaque that reason may be. I'll do my best for as long as I can. One day, if I'm on my knees, defeated, I'll think back to this day and curse you into oblivion, just so you know.”
”... do you know what all those who came before you had in common?” the voice asked.
”They were all batshit insane like me?” Lino asked, chuckling lightly.
”They all had kind hearts birthed from reality's cruelty. Even I, with all my knowledge, never understood it, not until this day. But, what I do know is that without souls like you, my fight would have ended a long time ago.”
”Why do you even fight? Is it worth it?” Lino asked, moving on toward the other side. ”Don't you ever get tired?”
”... always.”
”...”
The city was hardly a dreamlike one Lino was led to believe. Anything outside of the immediate center was like walking into another world, into another reality. Filthy streets, dispirited eyes, broken postures, silent footsteps, full of a downcast, suffocating air. Lino realized that this was the reality everywhere; parts of the diamonds-cast city are glorified, trotted over to the eyes of the onlookers, while the cast shadow behind it is hid. Only a few of many ever get to bathe in light, while most forever remain battered in the shadows, left to their own devices to live out their lives to the best of their abilities. How should I go about this? Lino pondered in silence as he came to the edge, standing next to the riverbank, surrounding a river much filthier than on the other side. Take a side? Pretend I haven't learned anything? Escape? Warn them and then escape? Or just... wait it out? Is there even the right choice, or just lesser of two evils as per usual? He realized, then, that it never hurt more to know less, or even nothing.