Chapter 198 - Listen To Me Carefully

His mind was foggy. He couldn't think, but thoughts kept flooding into his mind. 

He thought he was having a dream. 

"Ren... It will be alright. I will not let them take you away... Trust me okay? Trust your big brother for once, okay? Don't worry, everything is going to be alright! I'm with you!"

It was a mixed-up dream. 

"Becoming an agent is not allowed! Never! Don't ever talk about it again! I won't let you get yourself killed! There are a lot of other jobs for a mage! Think of another carrier!"

Rather than a dream, it felt more like a fraction of the past memories.

"Look there, brother. That thing! That one star over there! Isn't that the pole star? And those bunch of shiny stars over there, they are that constellation that looks like a bear! Then, the constellation that looked like a man must be somewhere behind that tall building! Also, the little upside-down bear is right there! I said them all true, right, brother? Right? I will learn them all! I will learn everything there is about the sky! So, even if our father is not here to watch the sky with you, I can watch the stars with you instead! So don't cry, okay? Don't cry anymore!"

Some of them were old memories. Too old that he had already forgotten about them. And some were new.

"Asking me to take care of your baby if you are not around? That is not what you are supposed to ask a teenager. That is also not how you should welcome your son to this world. Thinking about the kid's fate after you are gone? Did you suddenly become a coward on the day of your son's birth? Is this the kind of father you want to be? Someone who left his kid to someone else's care? Do you think that makes you a good father? Don't you think it is too late to think about such a thing? No, you won't become a father this way, you will only look like a selfish coward to me."

And some didn't even belong to him.

"Why do you like the stars so much?"

Some were too unfamiliar to be his memories.

"... I don't know. I feel like I used to watch them with someone else before... but I don't know who that person was."

Or maybe they were?

-Why don't you rest a little bit?

-You will wake up once the sun rises tomorrow...

The voice of someone echoed in his mind, pushing away the blurry memories and clearing his hazy mind.

He felt that he could think better now that the things clouding his mind were gone.

Not only the memories he kept seeing, he felt the thick fog slowly going away from his mind as well. The thinner the fog got, the more alien he felt to his thought and his feelings. It felt as if they weren't his, but also belonged to him at the same time. His chest felt heavy the more he thought about those alien emotions.

Creak

He heard the sound of a door opening at that moment, followed by some footsteps.

"Mr. Steyton, are you awake?"

He was awake. 

He was awake but he didn't want to open his eyes or move around. He only wanted to focus on his foggy mind.

"Mr. Steyton!"

Someone tapped his shoulder.

"Please get up and get ready. I will be back in ten minutes and bring your breakfast."

He heard some footsteps again, then the door was closed.

"...."

Kairen moved his eyelids a little bit and peeked at the door through the small gap in them.

'He is gone...'

"Hah!"

With a sigh, he completely opened his eyes and looked around. He was a little bit annoyed that he was woken up from his... sleep? Maybe not sleep... then what was he doing just now? 

Anyway, that wasn't important. The important thing was that on a normal day, he had to be woken up by a cute kid jumping on his stomach, not by a huge bulky man!

'I god kidnapped... by the country's most powerful organization's commander!'

Wasn't this a crime if it was done by the commander of the military?

Kairen looked around. He was in a fairly large room. He was in a soft bed, the temperature of the room was just fine, there was water on the table beside his bed and some cookies on a plate. 

But there were no windows. The walls were thick and black and looked to be made out of stone and the door was a large metal door.

Overall, it looked like a luxurious jail to him.

In addition to that, there were strange thingies wrapped around his wrists and neck. There was something strange about these thin chain-like bands. Kairen could feel his mana being sucked by them, but it wasn't to the point that he would run out of mana. As if they were there only to lower his mana to a certain point.

'Get ready...'

Kairen looked at a set of clothes that were neatly packed and placed on top of the small table beside his bed. Was he supposed to wear them? He was still in hospital clothes so he thought they were prepared for him. 

'Hm... They look to be new... And expensive. Can I take them home when I leave this place... If I ever leave this place?'

Ten minutes later, after he was done wearing his clothes and was debating whether he had to sleep again or not, the door opened again and a bulky man entered the room with a trail of food in his hand. 

"I'll come back in 20 minutes."

He placed the food on the bed and turned around.

"...Yes."

Kairen picked up his spoon while looking at the man's back who was leaving the room. 

'Seriously, I still want to sleep.'

. . . . . 

In the large and empty training room, two people were sitting on the ground and were staring at each other in silence. After a long while of silence, finally, one of them started to talk.

"So? Why did you drag me to the training ground?"

Kain glared at the man in front of him with a fierce gaze. 

Last night, after that fool of a brother of his, was dragged away by the commander's men, he had rushed at unit 5's team leader. There were no proper reasons for his actions he was simply angry. But before he could even say anything, he was hit by this man who was sitting in front of his face and was knocked unconscious. 

Then once he woke up in the morning he was dragged to this place before he could even do his regular call to his son and hear his usual naggings!

This man was going on his nerves!

Looking at his annoyed face, Alan chuckled and shook his head.

"Look, brat-"

"Stop calling me a brat!"

"Haaah!"

Alan took a deep breath before nodding his head.

"Alright. I guess I can remove you from the list of brats as you have a brat for yourself. Ah, no. Two brats!"

Alan looked at Kain with pity.

"Look here, boy. I don't want to beat around the bush, and there is no time for it either. The things that I want to tell him are really important so listen carefully."

"...."

Kain frowned even more, but didn't say anything to Alan and silently waited for his words.

"First of all, I won't answer any of your questions about myself. I'm just here to tell you the things you need to know as the owner of that thing."

Alan looked at the bracelet while saying that. 

Kain just nodded while frowning even more.

"First, never use it."

"...."

"Second, if you ever think that you need to use it, think twice. Then you will see that there is no need to use it so you won't' use it."

"...."

"And third, consider all of the outcomes before using it."

Alan stopped talking after that and looked at Kain, waiting for him to ask him the question in his mind.

"What do you mean by 'using' this? You talk about it as if it's some kind of a weapon."

Alan smiled at the expected question.

"You are not going to use the bracelet itself, but the power inside."

He looked around. The training room was completely empty but he still lowered his voice.

"You've sensed it as well, haven't you? The power inside it. The power that had somehow found its way to your soul."

Alan was staring right into Kain's eyes while saying that.

"The power that is so similar to your own power but at the same time, different. The strong energy, the endless source of nature, and the violent desire to swallow the hosting soul."

"....."

Kain's eyes got wider and wider the more he listened to the man's words.

"I'll teach you how to use the power of that artifact without getting eaten by it."