Chapter 104 - The Rewritten World Burn : Part 2

Axel laid on the whole for quite some time. He started at the moon from the pit that he was in pathetically. He needed to get out of here alive and join the people up there.

But he felt like he could not move. It was too pathetic.

Axel could hear footsteps approaching him. Ah? Was someone alive down here? They must have been lucky.

The person quickly covered the moon from Axel's eyes, staring down at him with two worried eyes. She felt familiar.

Oh, wait.

Wasn't she the vice president? She might have fallen to the pit and bumped her head a little. There was faint blood oozing from her forehead. She needed treatment quickly.

"Are you okay?" She genuinely asked.

Ah. Was he okay? He got that a lot. He'd answer with him being alright all the time. He wondered if he ever felt okay.

A realization morphed in the woman's face as she cocked down her head at him a little. "You're..."

Ah, she must have realized that he was the mute murderer already. She'd probably run or try to ask for help from the people above. Or maybe she'd kill him, who knows?

"The young man from before!" She exclaimed, and it almost looked like she was happy to see him here. "Thank god you're okay."

"Ah?" Axel croaked as she continued to blabber, trying to ask if he was hurt anywhere. Someone saw him as himself, not the mute murderer. He chuckled at the thought and got a questioning look from the vice president in return.

"Thank you, ma'am. It is me. The young man. Just the young man." He smiled as tears started to fall from his eyes again.

Then Axel slowly got up with the vice president looming over him in worry. He brushed off her help and pointed at her forehead instead.

"You should treat your wound first, ma'am." He politely said and ripped the corner of his clothes off.

The woman quickly got silent when Axel started to wrap the cloth onto her forehead after wiping it. "This will stop the bleeding, at least. You should get help from the people up there."

'Maybe. If they didn't die from Kiaran's play' was left unsaid.

The woman kept staring at him with worry and looked right into his red eye. Axel smiled at her.

"You should probably go. It'll ruin your reputation if you stick with me. I'm the mute murderer, after all." He softly spoke.

The woman did not care about his sentence at all as she pointed his eye. "Your eyes-"

Axel came into realization quickly. "Ah, my eyes. Yeah. Actually-"

"It's sad."

That caused the boy to snap his mouth shut. He looked at her in disbelieve with mixed emotions. "What?"

"Your eyes are sad." She suddenly hugged him, and Axel just let her be. He was startled for a moment before finally realizing his position.

"Ah, I supposed so." He pretended not to hear the crack in his voice or notice the heavy lump in his throat. Then he sobbed, and he also pretended not to know that he cried on a stranger's shoulder. He just closed his eyes and ignored everything.

But then, suddenly, her hug became too tight. It was too tight to the point that he felt like he could not breathe.

He opened his eyes to check, and all he could see was black. He opened and closed them a couple of times but still could not see anything. It was as if a void swallowed him whole.

But then suddenly, a blinding light came, and he was in a whole new place. There were chains around him. He supposed that it was why everything suddenly felt too tight.

The first thing he did was look around for the woman. Was she okay? He didn't want her to die.

He widened his eyes when he noticed a familiar figure on the corner of the room. The blindfolded man was staring at him with triumph and madness.

The blindfolded man waved at him, and suddenly, one of the glasses in front of him unblurred, revealing Kiaran inside. His brother motioned him to shut his mouth, and so he did. He gestured back to him, trying to tell Kiaran that a blindfolded man was in the same room as Axel.

Then the man became two, and Axel did not know how to react to that. But it seemed like Kiaran was impressed by that.

His room was the widest room, unlike Kiaran's. Axel wondered what was happening, losing in his own train of thoughts to the point that he tuned down Kiaran and the blindfolded man's bickering.

"By the way, we meet again, Tithonus. The last time we met, I tried to kill you, remember?" The new blindfolded man happily exclaimed, and it made the train in his thoughts stop. Axel couldn't help but widen his eyes.

He remembered it clearly, of course.

"So, Axel. As you can see. Your family members are in three separate glasses." He clasped both of his hands and turned his back on Kiaran to face Axel.

The two other glasses became visible, revealing Adreanna who was staring at him with a quizzical look, and Cain who had just woken up from his unconscious.

"Choose one to sacrifice, and the other two shall live."

Ah. It was another moment where he had to choose. Another game to play. Another play to act. Axel's face did not show a surprised look or fear. He just dully stared at his three family members.

It was kind of tiring, really.

"Which one do you hate the most?" The blindfolded man who tried to kill him that day sang, trying to fish a reaction from him probably.

Ah, he should act like a boy who's helpless. A boy who's fell into another trap and got angry but could not do anything. A manipulated boy. A marrionette.

"...why." And yet that was the only thing that came out of his mouth.

"Hm?" The blindfolded man tilted his head. It seemed like he didn't get the reaction that he wanted.

Axel was just tired. Couldn't this man understand? He was the one who put him in this situation, in these chains.

"Why are you doing this to me?" The boy finally croaked, probably digging his grave by fishing out the continuation of the play.

It was not Kiaran's play anymore, though. Ironically.

Why did everyone try to do this to him? He never asked to be like this. He never asked to be born. Why did he have to do this? He just wanted to rest.

He did not want anyone to die. He just wanted to rest.

"I'm just helping you to go past denial." The man answered, smirking as if he knew everything.

He did not know that Axel wanted to rest, though. If he knew, he'd probably let him sleep for a moment and not bother him.

Or not. He probably would still do this. No one would care if he was tired or not.

"Release your anger to one of them, and you'll finally reach stage two of grieves." The counterpart continued as he spread his hands.

"I don't want to. I'm tired." His voice sounded like a whisper. He truly was tired.

"And that's why I'm here to help you, Tithonus." The man happily exclaimed. Axel wondered if he could ever be that happy?

"The glasses will open soon, and you just have to get in the room of people you want to 'save'."

Right. He needed to save them. He needed to save and kill and murder and save and protect and save-

He needed to obey.

Axel looked at Kiaran, Adreanna, and Cain. They all were looking at him. Their faces were too blurry, and the ringing in his head hadn't stopped since he fell down the hole.

Did he bump his head? He was sure he didn't because the demon power saved him.

"After you save the two, the last person's glass will close on itself and will die before your eyes. That's how you finally go past denial!"

Something clicked in his mind and snapped him out of his daze. "Only two that will be saved?" He repeated the statement and slowly looked over the blindfolded man.

"The last one that stayed in the room will die?" Axel asked again to make sure.

"Yes! But remember, don't try to pull anything. Right when two people have gone from the room, the glass will close itself." The man made a motion of a closing door with his hand.

"Can I-" Axel cringed a little at the chain that tied his wounded skin when he moved. "Can I at least talk to them?"

The two blindfolded men with their identical torn cloak looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure. Who do you want to start with?" One of them replied with a calculating aura.

Axel quickly diverted his gaze to Kiaran and stared at him with a knowing look. It was as if he was trying to talk with his eyes, and the older easily understood, sending him a knowing look back.

"My brother."

He would end this tiring play once and for all and finally rest.