Chapter 57 - Between Us : Part 3

A disaster, really.

It was such a big disaster that one could not comprehend. The feeling of loss, sadness, of hopelessness, watching your younger brother sleeping without you knowing when he would wake up.

Valerian smiled weakly at Aster, brushing the younger's blond hair from his forehead as he picked some of the tangled locks within the root of his head. His red eyes softly stared at his little brother's closed eyes, hoping that he would someday see the bright red pupils full of life again.

The incident a few days ago made Valerian realize how weak he was against the Vergessene. He was the only one within the Madevil city- within the world that could face off the anarchist.

When the anarchist destroyed the kingdom's buildings and took all the cursed arrows, he could not fight him because he was holding Aster.

The feeling of how helpless he was, facing his sworn enemy as he could not use his own wind power to block the enchantments, made him realize that the Vergessene had found his weakness.

Aster.

To block the sound had to increase the wind within him, causing him to hurt himself the more he used his power to block sounds. With him holding Aster in his hand, he could not do anything but watch the Vergessene destroy everything. He could not risk blocking his enemy's sound with a little brother that could get hurt when he used it.

And it made him really really mad. With a leftover feeling of how he failed to be the kingdom's knight, how he failed to live off people's expectations because he was 'gifted' at such young age.

He and the Vergessene had been dancing around with each other for so long, two years to be exact. The dance was still going. The music was not stopping as they kept being at each other's throats for god knows how long.

Valerian sighed, messing his neat blond hair in frustration. He took a glance toward Aster for the last time before kissing the boy's forehead. He closed his eyes for a while and left the room.

His office was already being rebuilt back. The demons here were a pretty hard workers. They had trained enough to build around everything that the Vergessene family destroyed as they wished.

And that's why he should have saved everyone from the anarchists.

The blond sighed again as he stopped in front of the office and put a hand on the doorknob.

He turned the doorknob to the right and quickly got inside with red eyes tiredly stared at the floor.

Though he was not expecting someone to be standing right beside his table, looking at the files on top of it. The person was wearing a navy cloth over his eyes with a torn navy cloak covering his whole body and hair, only revealing his lips.

That made Valerian wonder how the guy could even see the files.

"Who are you?" The knight spat, completely on guard as he relished some wind circling him and the guy.

"Someone who'll make you outsmart the Vergessene." The mysterious man answered, fiddling with the files with his fingerless gloved hand with an ominous smile formed on his lips.

Valerian stayed silent for a while as he warily stared at the man. He tilted his head down, narrowing his red eyes at the blindfolded figure, trying to find a scheme within him.

"Elaborate." Said him. His pointed ears twitched when the cloaked man finally looked over at him.

Valerian could see the man's smile grow at his word. It was as if he managed to catch a dog's attention. A kind of smile that was hidden with so many plays and plans.

"You see, Edelweiss." Valerian's last name came out of the man easily as the blindfolded man began to speak.

The knight was sure that the man was staring at him behind that cloth over his eyes. Even though he could not see the eyes himself, he could feel the gaze piercing into his soul, watching all of his secrets being revealed just by the stare.

"Everything in the world has fifty percent chance of anything." The cloaked figure explained, still smiling schemingly at the knight. "You'll either win or lose. Succeed or fail-"

"-live or die." The man asserted with a haunting tone.

"Say," The figure continued, taking his time to explain as he danced with his words in front of the knight. "What if I give you a fifty percent chance to catch the guy.'

"A fifty percent chance to outsmart your sworn enemy." The man proposed, finally putting down the files in his hand to the table.

"Or kill him, even."

Valerian showed a slight frown at the mention of killing the Vergessene. He never thought of actually murdering the anarchist every time they faced each other.

The thought of killing him overrode his brain and made a slightly uneasy feeling within him that he desperately tried to ignore.

"What's in it for you?" Valerian asked again, ears twitching from how grim the atmosphere was.

The cloaked figure paused for a moment. The edge of his navy cloak swayed with the wind of Valerian's power a little, getting along with the air.

He chuckled lightly, almost friendly. "Getting rid of the obstacles for my plan."

Valerian raised an eyebrow. "Kiaran Vergessene is your obstacle?"

"Mmm-hmm." The cloaked figure hummed in agreement, still staring at the knight from behind the navy cloth over his eyes.

"What plan?" Valerian pushed his luck as he asked the question, trying to pry a piece of information off the man.

The cloaked figure took a pen on the table and spun it around, fiddling with his gloveless finger. "Careful, Edelweiss." He darted as he stuck the pen into the table, causing a loud noise as if reminding the knight to know his place. "Curiosity killed the cat."

The blond stared at the pen that the half of it stuck onto the table in a calculating gaze. He moved his gaze to the figure again, tilting his head up to show that he was not scared with him at all.

"How do I beat him?" Valerian diverted his question, slowly calming the wind that was surrounding both of them.

"Well first," The blindfolded man snapped his finger. "-meet your counterpart from another world."

There was a footstep behind Valerian that caused him to look back. He could not hide the surprise on his face when he saw his own face, his own being standing right in front of him.

It seemed like both of them was surprised with each other as the two's eyes widened. The knight felt like he was looking at a mirror but slightly different. His counterpart's eyes were green instead of red, and his ears were round.

Just like the Aster he saw that day. The green and the round ears matched with his counterpart. How lucky this version of him to have a brother that was still awake and well.

"I've talked to him first before talking to you. And he agreed to take down his sworn enemy. Therefore I brought him here." The figure walked toward the knight and stood beside him.

"The person your counterpart wanted to beat will be here in a few days, probably sitting on this chair ominously while greeting you with two manipulative smiling eyes." The mysterious guy uttered at ease as the smile never wavered from his face.

"The mercenary was his name, right?" He moved his head and faced the lieutenant.

Human Valerian sighed. "Yes. Just get to the point. I don't want to waste any more time."

The knight looked between the cloaked figure and his counterpart with a frown. There was something that screamed dangerous near Vergessene level from this guy.

What flooded his brain more was how his counterpart got here. As far as he knew, all the arrows were taken by the Vergessene, and the rest of them were already missing a long time ago.

"How does he get here, then?" The knight began, red eyes carefully looked at the figure beside him. "The arrows were all taken away by the Vergessene. For all I know, you could be him in disguise who's just messing with me right now, thinking that it's a hilarious joke."

The mysterious figure clicked his tongue as he walked past the two counterparts toward the door. "There are five arrows in each world."

He stopped at the entrance and turned his head back at the two counterparts. "But have you ever asked who owned the bow?"

Like getting struck by lightning, the lieutenant and the knight froze in their place at the mention of a bow. As far as the legend said, the bow was never there. Only five arrows were found in each world.

"You lost every fight with him because you never think of killing your enemy." He stated coldly, so cold that it caused a shiver running down the two. "You only wanted to bring him down."

"If you face someone, you should be prepared to kill them." The blindfolded man continued as his smile completely disappeared from his mouth. "Try overcome your own idea of bringing him down into killing him."

He finally got out of the room with a hand on the doorknob. Though before he completely shut the door, he opened his mouth to speak again.

"If you two have the guts, that is."