Chapter 148 - Tophet#7

MARCEL'S POV:-

Fight….a fight…is going on, on the other side of the gate? And not just a normal one but…a few people are fighting against 1000s of Guardians on their own. They are using a combination of spells and trying their best to keep hold of the ground they have established in this sea of Guardians.

A FEW MOMENTS EARLIER

"So, how are we going to cross this gate? Should we just break in or is there a mechanism through which we can enter the other side?" Morpheus asks as he looks at the massive gate. After all the Guardians were defeated, the area became dead silent, with only us being the walking-breathing people. After waiting for another 10 minutes, no new guards came to check on this side.

Morpheus even questioned if these were all the Guardians present in this world at which I shook my head and explained that if I hadn't seen the 'real' number of Guardians by my own two eyes, I wouldn't be so sure about the no..of Guardians.

"Hmmm…well let me try looking into it for a few moments," He says before jumping towards the gate. 

After he jumps there, my friends come closer to me and one of them, Ozlo, asks,

"What do you think about him?"

I look at Ozlo for a few moments while pondering at his question and then answering,

"I don't know. All I know is that we are alive, even though we should have been dead by now, all thanks to him and there is a chance that we might be able to see those f*ckers dead and get out of here. Even at worst, we will only be dead and nothing else."

Ozlo looks at me before sighing,

"True. There is little that would change in our situation if he turned out to be like those Gods or something. We can only hope for the best, I guess. I wonder if this was the miracle that guy always spoke about."

"Haha…that guy, huh? He sure was one heck of a believer, I guess. Though I doubt even he would have thought of a possibility like this current situation," I answer him, and right after that, I see the gate opening slowly and slowly after Morpheus returns.

"I found some sort of mechanism and solved it. It was a form of keys and puzzles, so it was easy. Glad it wasn't a lock system or something," he speaks casually, as if breaking a child's defense mechanism.

I look at him for a few moments before I stop looking at him and focus on the gate in front of me. I haven't looked at the expressions of my friends but I'm pretty sure they too must be having the same expression as me.

After that we keep on walking and walking and reaching inside the gate and a large corridor comes into view. Observing the never ending corridor, all of us had a bit of an amazed look before Morpheus did something and the view changed and a wide variety of traps and monsters started oozing out from walls and the floor of the corridor.

After that, it was simply walking and walking while Morpheus was killing those monsters and disarming the traps as we walked along with us.

After a long while, we reached the other side of the corridor as a wide desert came into our view and what it contained was..

``Sea of Guardians …fighting against a half a dozen people,' I think as I observe the scenario and the fact that was most shocking here was…

"The ones who are winning are the half-dozen people," Arlin says with a look of disbelief on his face. Just how many more monsters are present in the outside world?

"It's a war of sorts. Well, an enemy of an enemy is a friend, I suppose. So let's meet our new 'friends' , shall we?" Morpheus speaks as he jumps on the fray and what happens next shocks all of us. We knew…we knew that Morpheus is strong…he is very strong all right, but…what the heck is that?!!!

I think as I see a large scar appearing in between the sea of Guardians and start attracting all the Guardians into it. The Guardians start getting absorbed by the scar at a tremendous speed before no Guardians are left on the scene. It happened in a moment. It wasn't even a few seconds…just like a scar opened and the Guardians were taken out even before they could respond. 

Honestly, it sent a chill down my spine thinking just what kind of…just what kind of monster are we travelling with? Are we even safe here?

"Come," he says with a smile at which our body instinctively moves towards him. We followed him slowly towards the group of people who were fighting against the Guardians.

On getting closer, I found a few familiar faces in the groups and my eyes widened as I realised that they were one of the people who were caught by the Guardians before. 

"Clementine? Elric?" I mutter as I look at them with a bit of shocked expression before tears consume my eyes and I run towards them. After getting closer to them, they too seem to be shocked at our arrival before they let us in and we hug each other as tight as we can.

"Hey! Marcel. What are you doing here? Don't tell me you got caught by the Guardians as well? And more importantly….who is he?" Clementine looks at Morpheus with a glare and cautious look before she looks back at me for answers.

"Ummm…all right. It would be better if I explain everything from the beginning..so what happened is…" not trying to make a mess and create more confusion, I tried explaining each and every possible detail related to Morpheus. Though the more I explained, the more Clementine looked at Morpheus, as if she would kill him in a moment. After explaining everything that we have been through, Clementine looks at me before sighing and speaking.

"He is a God."

'Eh? When did she reach that conclusion?' I was a bit stupefied before realizing that him being a God will also fill most of the things that he did. Though, based on how he treated us versus how we were treated in this world by the Gods, I doubt he is anything related to a God. 

'Now, how do we resolve this misunderstanding?!' I ponder and try to speak something to lighten the mood, but Clementine just walks towards Morpheus and speaks,

"What is it that you want?"

"Just want to research on what the Gods ar-"

Morpheus speaks, but he is cut off by Clementine as she shouts at Morpheus,

"Not that bullshit. I have the eyes of the truth and I can see the lies within a second. Tell me, why are you in this place?"

Morpheus looks at her for a few moments before he gives a sad smile and answers with a slightly tired face,

"I am looking for my wife and daughter. I don't know where they are…I have honestly no idea. It's just a feeling that maybe I could find them here, and I don't want to regret not checking this place. Honestly, after watching this place, my heartbeat has been increased for quite a while and it's difficult to keep calm and not make any unnecessary mistakes, but I am trying my best. I just hope that they  never arrived here, I guess." He speaks, and the surrounding gets quiet. Really quite….he…he is…suffering… I don't know how, but somehow I can feel that. A guy like him who was always smiling at us and keeping himself composed all the time. Someone as smart and strong as him can suffer too, huh?

I look at Clementine, making an indescribable face as she looks at Morpheus before asking,

"Are you a God?"

This time, her face was really itching to get this answer. I don't know whether she wanted the answer to be yes or no, but when Morpheus answered, "No." She smiled like she had never done before, and hugged Morpheus tightly for a while as she spoke.

"It's okay. You are going to find them in the best condition. I believe everything is going to be fine."

I look at her with slight worry, even though Morpheus is not a God; he is….something far scarier than that. Though my worries were unnecessary as Morpheus spoke with a slightly sad smile,

"Thank you. Can I ask you to spare some of your time and tell me what is going on here?"

Clementine looks at Morpheus before pondering over it then asking another question,

"Are you an enemy or friend?"

Morpheus looks at Clementine before answering.

"I am against the Gods right now."

At this answer, Clementine narrows her eyes on Morpheus before smiling and speaking.

"Well, that should be enough to trust you, I guess. Given especially our condition here 

," She speaks as she yawns a bit before looking back at the rest of her party members.

"I guess we should begin with the introduction."