Chapter 62: Rescued

"Jin! Jin, get up!" a familiar voice sounded, and entered Jin's ears.

Jin slowly opened his eyes, squinching. He was in a vehicle. Having taken this into account, he started to quickly look around. His pupils darted, roving at his surroundings. Where was he? He needed to fight.

Ashton, and Dobby were at his sides, left and right. Tristan steered the vehicle, and a strange man occupied the front passenger seat.

Ashton peered at him. "It's okay, Jin. We're fine now …"

Jin's eyes widened. "Where are we? Are you guys okay!?" He quickly looked at Dobby. His arm was there—the arm Krod had torn off his body. "I … I thought—"

Ashton placed a hand upon his shoulder. "We're okay now. You see the guy in the front seat, he saved us. He used some kind of stone, and we were all healed for some reason."

"It's called a Healstone," said Cliff, "they're rare—and you weak little punks made me use my last one."

Jin looked at Ashton. "Healstone?"

"Yeah," Ashton responded, "he healed all of us … except Dobby…"

Jin grimaced. "What do you mean?" Clearly Dobby was the one who would've needed the most aid.

Ashton looked ahead again. "Dobby's arm was healed before the man used the healstone."

Cliff looked in the mirror. "As much as this man likes to hear his virility being called upon; I think he has a name."

Ashton bowed his head. "I'm sorry …"

Jin scowled at the man in the front seat though he couldn't his face. "Ashton," his eyes darkened, "don't say sorry to strangers. I'm not gonna just trust this guy just because he healed us. No way I'm going down that road again …"

Tristan hadn't said anything until this moment. Jin could see his furious eyes in the mirror, piercing into his soul. "Jin, unlike you, we clearly know who to trust and who not to!" he yelled in the most aggressive way.

Jin was about to fire back, but relented. Tristan was obviously mad because he was informed about what happened earlier this morning, to his friends.

Jin shook his head. Then, he shot a glimpse at Dobby. The elf hadn't said a single word, his eyes were impenetrable. Was this some sort of trauma after the incident? Jin immediately flooded with guilt.

Ashton adjusted his glasses. "I'm not gonna say I told you so, Jin … because I technically just did a second ago. What got into you? Couldn't you tell how fishy those Ability Runners," he quickly amended, "demons were?"

A nuance grew on Jin's face. He leaned back in the seat unblinkingly. His eyes were reddening. He started clenching his fists together tightly. "Revenge," slipped his mouth.

Ashton shook his head. "Haven't you seen fiction overuse the theme of revenge? Aren't you tired of seeing it? That's why you're not going to seek revenge. And we're going to make sure you don't."

"But—"

"The kid knows what he's talking about," added Cliff, "revenge sucks cow nipples. A real man doesn't think about revenge. He lets revenge avenge itself."

"What?"

Jin furrowed his brows. "What the fuck do you know!? You're just some stranger who might betray us as well! You probably saved us because you have something to gain from it—you're no friend—"

Cliff interjected. "Friend…? Who said I was your friend? Kid, if I had sentimental stuff in me, I'd cry to lament how weak you three were back there. And you're right, I do have something to gain from you." his tone: too calm to be true.

Jin grew silent. Maybe seeking revenge really wasn't the right thing to do. Of course it wasn't right but it wasn't smart either. To him, maybe he needed to just use the asset to become stronger now … so that something like the incident doesn't happen again.

He frowned. "Guys, I'm really sorry. I was so … stupid. You three tried to warn me about those people. But I didn't listen, I was blinded by—"

Dobby finally uttered, "By what, Jin? By what? You're always trying to blame things on other things as opposed to yourself. You can't acknowledge how naive you are, can you?"

Jin averted his eyes. "I'm …" he heaved.

Dobby glared. "Yeah, that's right. Don't let another sorry slip your mouth. I'm tired of that word from you. It doesn't mean a thing when you say it … it doesn't make a difference."

Jin sighed again. "You're right … I'm tired of the word as well. And you're right again, I really need to stop blaming things on others. It's me. I'm the asshole here. I don't …" he didn't finish.

It became quiet for a while.

Cliff then said, "Nobody gives a damn about people being assholes. We all have and are assholes, don't we? Some people just are bigger ones.

"You gotta man up. Train. Fight. Work hard. Unless you do these things, you're gonna continue being a naive asshole. All of you kids are incredibly weak. When thousands of those demons attack the world, you won't last a day out there …"

Ashton raised a brow. "Demons? They're gonna attack the world?"

"In exactly four months…" he replied, calmed.

"How do you know about that?"

"Nyx said it himself, didn't he? I should be using the 'it' pronoun there, but whatever."

"He did?"

"Look, Nerd, people like me don't repeat ourselves … assuming that I'm not one of a kind." he smirked.

"That's insane," Ashton placed a hand on his chin. "I wonder what would happen to the world if creatures as strong as Nyx and the others try besieging us. I'm pretty sure the Government would take action.

"But … the Government are the ones who said they took out all the hostile races. They wouldn't spare the demons, right? Unless they view demons as nice, loving creatures."

Tristan then added. "The Government's been covering up a lot of things. Like the systems. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew that the demons weren't extinct."

Ashton grimaced. "You brought up the 'system' thing again. Flint wanted it from Jin, didn't he? What exactly is the system? I'm really sorry we didn't believe you guys before…"

Tristan responded, "It's like a user interface that the user alone could see. It grants him power when he completes objectives. It can take away power if he fails.

"It isn't an Ability. Though, it actually rewards you with skills, weapons, and increased vitality. From what I can tell, there are about thirteen Successors."

"Thirteen?"

"You heard me."

"So those systems are like games then? I can't help but imagine a video game having heard you mention 'skills, weapons, and increased vitality'." Ashton leaned in.

"Yeah, I thought it was a game when I first activated it."

It became silent for a few minutes.

"Jin, are you okay?" asked Ashton.

Jin heaved. "I am."

"You don't look like you are."

Jin then looked at him. "Where are we going?"

Ashton looked back at him, cocking his head. Then he smiled softly. "Home…"