Chapter 91: The Old History of Charles

His playful treacherous distasteful plot had made her lose the only person who cared about her entire life, and the mission of bringing him back was really hard, if not impossible.

"Hi," she said, like she didn't notice James eyes when she came, befalling over her.

"What are you doing here?" James bleakley asked, as he caressed Dora's back, trying to silently console her, while she was shivering and a muffled voice of crying was hardly heard, even from his place.

His words made Eli hesitate, as she didn't imagine for him to be this cold with her. She swallowed the bitterness of this cold treatment, as she believed she deserved to be treated like this, at least he didn't ask her to leave the cruiser for good and be separated from him.

'At least you don't hate me,' she muttered to herself. "I'm trying to help," she simply replied, without showing her discomfort.

"Good," James said, "please don't try to do anything foolish again," he added, warningly.

"Sure," she nodded, with a calm smile that came from her pained heart. At least he wasn't that mad to her, and that was enough to make her feel some warmth inside.

"Have you finished your touching reunion?" Charles' distasteful voice came to interrupt this moment, "Let's go and find that guy before others do, shall we?"

"Wait a minute," Rigo stopped him from moving forward, "you didn't tell us who is this person? And why is he that important to those terases?"

"Why don't you go and ask them yourself?" Charles asked back with his rudeness before adding, "Or do you prefer to let them capture him?"

"Stop the act and tell us what you know, or my patience might run out," James coldly said, pointing to his heart in motion to remind Charles by the binding of the thread of life.

Charles' face changed slightly once he was reminded, as he didn't like the idea of being under control of anyone. He smiled, in a try to wash away all his embarrassment, and said:

"He is just an old acquaintance of your mother," he said to Dora, "as you know him as your master," his smile widened when he mentioned that.

"What? Master Anthony is here?" Dora raised her head, soaked with silent tears that turned her eyes into two red ones, as she demanded, "how the hell he ended up being here? and what does this have any relation to the terases race?"

Charles paused, intentionally, as he enjoyed being the centre of everything again. "That man isn't that simple, do you know he lived through the age of the previous terases empire? witnessed its demise?" he said slowly, while watching their faces.

"Do you mean he had something they wanted?" Dora pushed away James' hand, gently though, as she stood straight on her own.

"Yes, he has something very valuable, something they won't stop before getting it," he paused again before starting to walk, "have any of you ever heard of the terases heart?"

"You surely don't mean that terases tyrant heart, right?"

Rigo's words stopped Charles again, as he turned to look at Rigo with a new look. "Interesting, never thought you will be a remnant of that old empire, that's really surprising."

The words of Charles meant only one thing, he knew where Rigo came from, and that was even weirder.

"Do you know of my old empire?" Rigo asked, without even blinking.

"Old empire?" Charles asked, as he started to get more interested, "I only heard of the Rojedia's emperor's old obsession, destroying the old and building a new, hmm…" he paused, as this time he looked towards James, whose face was riddled with surprise and shock. "It makes sense now, so is he your new emperor? The one mentioned in that prophec…"

He was about to complete his words, when Rigo mercilessly activated the thread attached to Charles' heart. That forced him to stop amidst his words, with panicked face he hurried to say:

"Undo it, please hurry, stop it, I…" he felt a severe stabbing pain again, with his soul being sucked away step by step, like falling from a high mountain, watching earth coming fast to him. he grabbed his chest, just over the heart, as he continued with great difficulty, "I mean no harm to your emperor… he was one of my best buddies."

"Liar," Rigo didn't even think to stop the thread, and no one here volunteered to stop him, "I never saw you there," he added.

"It's because I changed my face," Charles said with a gasping voice, while his body couldn't take this pain anymore, falling on his knees, with his face turning pale as ice, "You know me back then by the name Frotelak."

He said these words and fell on the ground, motionless, with his body twitching slightly from time to time. James glanced at Rigo, to find a strange look over his face, a mix between shock and horror.

"Rigo," James awakened Rigo by his loud shout, "Do you know him?" he stressed, trying to push Rigo out of his trance.

"Oh," Rigo said, before he noticed Charles was about to die. Hesitantly he undone the mechanism, stopping what would have killed Charles, who stayed motionless on the ground for a moment, then his body twitched as he sneezed repeatedly then coughed a mouth full of blood.

The ground became tainted with his blood, but all he did was to roll over his back, lie there, trying to catch his breaths, enjoying this precious return to life again.

"What was all that for?" this was the first Charles said once he regained the strength to talk, "I recall you weren't this crazy back then."

"How can you still be alive?" Rigo ruthlessly asked, as he wasn't yet sure how this was even possible.

"You lived till now, why is it surprising for me to live too?" Charles replied back, as he started to move, "no time to waste, we already spoiled a lot. I won't be surprised if we went there and found the man was gone."

"Who are you?" James didn't buy this talk, as he asked, stepping his foot over Charles' chest, preventing him from moving a muscle.

"Rigo can tell you my story anytime later, not now," Charles hurried to say, but when James didn't blink, he glanced to Rigo, "Tell him that I'm no danger, reassure your new emperor."

James didn't move, or even look at his man, as his feet kept itself heavy on Charles' chest.

"C'mon, tell him," Charles, with some urgency, shouted at Rigo, who was yet hesitating about what to do.

"Let him go." it wasn't Rigo who said this, but Dora, who gently held James hands as she added, "his life is in your hands, so there is nothing to fear for."

Her words were true, and James knew it, but he wanted to press over this swindler and let him know how bad things might be if he decided to betray him.

Plus, he wanted to give Rigo time, to get over this intense encounter and regain his clarity again.

"Let him go, leader," Rigo's voice finally came, which was the thing James was waiting for.

James just gave Charles a last warning long glance before he left his foot and moved away. Dora offered her hand to help him stand, but he pushed her away. He was literally pissed off right now, as he revealed things he wanted to keep hidden, at least for now.

"So, lead the way, Mr. Mysterious person."

James' tone wasn't that polite as he mimicked his way of talk. Charles didn't mind that, as he moved, silently, to the front. James looked towards Rigo, who just walked beside him, as he muttered:

"Old story, good or bad?" he asked.

"Bits of both, I think," Rigo vaguely replied, which made James wary toward Charles even more.

"Dangerous?" he asked.

"No, not for you," Rigo replied, while he muttered to himself, 'only for me."

Charles moved in the lead, followed by the four walking side by side with each other. He was now exiled, more than before, feared, more than ever, and he didn't mind it. all he was thinking of right now was to hurry and find that Anthony, and save him.

"It's right there," after ten minutes of walk, Charles said, pointing to a right branch of a forked road, there lies the deadliest cells here, where the most cruel, or far important prisoners were kept, usually they were the latter."

Charles regained his sense of bitterness and humor, while he led them towards that road. It was colder than the rest, with few doors and few lights here. whoever built this section must have a sick mind.

"Why is this place deadly?" Eli asked, trying to open a conversation with Dora. She didn't like her, but as her main rival, she had to know her well, even better than knowing James.

"Because whoever touched this door in a try to break it, would be flushed over to the space, not only him, but the entire place would be flushed, so any single mistake meant everyone's death."