256 Freak
It was finally the day of the mission.
Early in the morning, Kairen left the sleeping Ariyan and went to work. He still couldn’t forget the glow he saw in the kid’s eyes, but there was no way to find out what it was. He even tried asking Ariyan, but the kid knew nothing about it.
‘Does he have a unique skill?’
That was the only answer he could come up with, and also the most probable one.
Ariyan’s parents were both unique skill holders. According to the things he had studied in the academy, a kid born from two unique skill holders had a bigger chance of having unique skills than the others.
It was also said that if both parents had one kind of unique skill, the kid would probably have the same one.
‘So, is it possible that he also has a power related to nature? An attribute user?’
But Kairen had never heard of an attribute that would make your eyes glow...
“Step into the teleportation circle.”
.....
Kairen snapped out of his thought and followed the orders, walking into the teleportation circle that was ready to move them to the borders of their country.
They couldn’t teleport to the temple directly. There were protective devices, barriers, shields, defensive spells, and any kind of thing that you can imagine that prevented outsiders from entering another country. As a result, the farthest they could teleport was the borders of their own country. They had to go to find another way to go to Bordkly from there.
How would they pass? Well, the same way they passed the borders to infiltrate Bordkly’s commanders’ camps and other bases. They would use the war that was going on to move into the country. From there on, they could use a vehicle to move towards the temple, which was not too far away from the place where they intended to enter Bordkly.
They could also teleport, but decided not to as that might cause some troubles. They didn’t know how the defensive system of this country worked and feared that teleporting might reveal them. After all, what they used to teleport themselves was a device, the teleportation device that belonged to SMF. There was no way that their enemy country has done anything to prevent those devices from working on its land and detecting their location.
And they did as they had planned. Passing the border using the chaos of the war, finding a vehicle, and riding towards their destination.
“It has been hours since we started to move, are you sure we are not lost?”
Asa said as she mounched some cookies.
“We are not lost, I’m sure of it.”
Answered Darren, the driver of the car.
“But do you really know where you are driving? We are in Bordkly, not our own country. Do you know the ways around here?”
“Why is there a need for me to know? This device here tells us where to go!”
“I just hope we won’t get lost...”
Asa mumbled as she took out another packet of cookies from her bag.
“Hey, Reyan.”
Kairen, finally deciding to ask his questions about Ariyan from someone who knows almost everything, tapped on Reyan’s shoulder. As he did, Asa’s eyes started to shine for some unknown reasons. No one paid her any mind.
“Do you know of any powers that might make the holder’s eye glow?”
“Make the holder’s eyes glow?”
Reyan made a confused face.
“Yeah. Like, the eyes start to shine for a second.”
“Hmm...”
Reyan tilted his head and touched his chin, thinking about Kairen’s question.
“I’ve heard that sometimes when a sword master reaches a certain level, their eyes glow when they use their symbolic attack.”
“....”
Ariyan? A swordmaster? A little kid of 5?
Kairen shook his head.
“Isn’t there something else?”
“Something else...”
Reyan thought again.
“Hmm, I’ve heard that the power of Law can also cause different effects when it’s in use. I have not directly seen any eyes glowing when using that power, but that might be possible.”
“Hmm...”
Law.
Kairen thought about that.
Was it possible? He didn’t know much about that power. The people having such power were so rare that there was little information on how the power would first awaken, work, or the ways to train it.
‘But Ariyan? Power of law?’
Why did that sound kinda wrong? Something inside Kairen was saying that it wasn’t true.
‘Didn’t my eyes also glow when I used that huge amount of power back in that temple?’
Kairen had heard from Kain that he looked like a freak with his blank eyes glowing.
‘But Ariyan can’t have my power!’
Kairen sighed. There really was no use thinking about that. Even if Ariyan had any kind of power, Kairen didn’t plan on revealing it. He would never ruin that kid’s childhood by forcing him to train his power or studying the things he had struggled with.
“But why do you ask?”
“Nothing. Just curious.”
Kairen brushed off Reyan’s question. Reyan didn’t seem too satisfied but he didn’t bring up the subject anymore.
They continued to drive for a little bit more. It was really hard not to gather attention to themselves, a group wearing strange clothes driving in a car in a remote place, but they somehow managed to pass all of the checkpoints and the police.
“We are almost there.”
Said Darren as he slowed the car.
“We are?”
Elsie poked her head out of the window, accompanied by Serria. Far in the distance, they could see an old, crumbled structure. It was the temple that they were going to visit.
“Should I stop the car here?”
“No!”
Asa answered the question that was directed to team leader Dains.
“It’s too far away. I can’t walk all the way to there.”
“Yes! Me too!”
Elsie also agreed with her.
“Come on!”
Serria protested.
“Have you forgotten? We are taking Kairen with us! KAIREN!”
She said while poking Kairen’s back.
“Any kind of crazy stuff can happen when did dude is around, especially in one of these temples!”
Everyone listened to her as if she was the team leader.
“What if some monsters appear out of nowhere again like last time and crush our car? How are we going to go home then?”
Nod Nod Nod
The majority of the team nodded their heads in unison in agreement.
“It’s not that far away. If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you on my back!”
She said to Asa.
“Gah, you are right!”
Asa agreed with her. She nodded her head with disappointment.
“Then, I’ll park it here.”
Said Darren as he stopped the car. The unit members stepped out of the car one by one.
“Do you want me to carry you?”
“No. Even if I get tired, I’ll ask big sister for help, not you!”
“Wha-”
Serria looked at the teenage girl in disbelief. Really, why does she hate me so much? She was like this from the first day!
.....
As Serria was still looking at Asa, she could see the teenage girl turn somewhere and stare at there with sparkling eyes. When Serria turned that way she could see Kairen and Reyan walking side by side while cahttering.
“What the...”
Serria looked at her two friends, then Asa, then her friends, then Asa again.
‘I don’t understand.’
She thought as she distanced herself from Asa.
‘And I don’t want to understand.’
That girl was weird. Serria knew that she had to distance herself from her from the beginning.
“Wait for me!”
She glanced at Asa one last time before running to join Kairen and Reyan.
. . .
“Oh, it’s really damaged...”
Said Rai as he looked at the temple.
“It’s in a worse state than the others we’ve visited...”
That was true. The temple had almost crumbled completely. There were only a few walls and pillars that were half broken and even that half was barely standing.
“Let’s go in.”
Team leader Dains ordered. But before they went in, the team leader stopped, glanced at Kairen, and spoke again.
“Be careful that anything can happen at any moment. Don’t let your guards down.”
Because we are taking a trouble maker with us. Kairen really wanted to stay out and avoid any possible accident. He didn’t really want to awaken some red eyes statues or activate a mechanism that leads to an ancient artifact. But they were actually here for that. To find artifacts or any other hidden thing in this temple.
“And Kairen, don’t use your mana. Even if we are under attack, don’t interfere.”
Because we don’t want another ancient artifact to pop up and stick to one of the team members.
They had agreed that Kairen would use his mana once only after they had examined the whole place and all of the unit members had left to a faraway place.
He would only use his mana when he was alone. So if any mechanism was activated, he would be alone in the area. That way no one would get hurt.
That was at least what they hoped for.