Chapter 108

A Boy and a Queen (I)

There was a strange expression hanging on Cain’s face, a mixture of awe, bewilderment, and sheer helplessness. A bit further down, a bitter smile hung while the corners of his lips twitched. I knew she was kinda nutty... he mused inwardly as he observed the ongoing, deadly battle from a safe distance. But...

He couldn’t quite comprehend it; he knew that kidnapping Rikur wouldn’t exactly go without consequences, but he, at best, expected some heads to fly as a form of retaliation. However, to kindle an entire war? Was he more important to her than I thought? It was either that, or Seribum was truly, unabashedly, methodically insane to go to war over something this small. Well, he rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. This fucks shit up...

He turned around and dipped into the alleyways, disinterested in the battle as he knew Seribum would win. She was, after all, one of the strongest people here, only matched by Yal'sha and Biyul. And since he already knew her skill set, there was little point in him sticking around since his time would better be spent trying to damage-control the entire situation as much as possible.

His first destination was Yal’sha as he wanted to hear the man’s opinion on the whole situation. The whole thing was unlikely to be solved overnight, but they may as well begin. By now, the group that was still out there, causing trouble for the city-natives, should have also realized that something was off and head back to their ‘hideout’ where Cain had already left them a message to stay there until he returns.

Increasing his pace, he headed toward Yal’sha’s residence rather than the Den as he suspected the man was there, similarly deliberating with his advisers over how he should react. It was a ghastly place, Cain mused as he reached it, one that looked like it was ripped straight out of a horror film and hadn’t been taken care of in years.

Lights were virtually nonexistent so he was forced to charge Body into his eyes to navigate the courtyard, heading toward the broken-down entrance. Just then he paused as he noticed a silhouette emerge from the darkness of the interior. Cain quickly recognized Yal’sha and stepped out, startling the man momentarily.

“Wow, for someone whose house looks like a tale to scare the children,” Cain said. “You sure are jumpy.”

“... Cain?” Yal’sha mumbled. “It’s funny. I was actually looking for you.”

“You were?” Cain tilted his head, realizing that Yal’sha would probably ask him whether he had something to do with the whole ‘war situation’. Should I tell him the truth?

“Yeah,” Yal’sha nodded, taking a deep breath. “I want you to meet someone?”

“Who?”

“Come with me.”

“That’s... suspicious.”

“It’s my Mother.” Yal’sha elaborated. His mother? Who the hell is his mother? Though Cain dug deep and far into his memories, he couldn’t recall Yal’sha’s mother ever coming up.

“Alright,” he shrugged, though stealthily charged some Mana into his Scroll of Teleportation if something went awry. “Lead the way.”

Yal'sha led him into the mansion and past the ruin he didn't even bother to hide. Holes riddled the walls and decorations were virtually nonexistent, but Cain said nothing; how pretty the house was... well, it wasn't exactly an important thing here, in Initiate Strata.

The man led him further left and down a narrow corridor that ended up with a latch-like opening that dipped underground. Yal’sha moved down without hesitation and Cain followed, dripped in silence. He was beginning to feel a bad premonition as the incredibly faint traces of Mana around him felt eerily familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint the source. They were too thin and scattered, but he definitely felt them before -- and they weren’t Yal’sha’s.

He still followed deeper down, nonetheless, simply increasing his guard. The trek downstairs wasn’t terribly long and it wound up leading into an incredibly spacious chamber that was woefully unlike the hell up above. It was clean and maintained, with strange nuggets visible everywhere. From pools of blood beneath the walls to the pipes and to the crystal at the center.

All of it, however, Cain understood -- this was simply a way for a member of Yal’sha’s race to artificially strengthen themselves or to rapidly restore their spent Vitality. He took a few steps in before his eyes veered on top of the crystal platform where he saw a diamond-laden chair... and a figure seated on top of it. He paused, eyes widening into saucers. Right around then, the pair of dazzling eyes looked over and met his, similarly widening until they almost popped out of their sockets.

Yal’sha quickly noted the strange atmosphere as he glanced back and noticed that Cain had stopped moving and that he was staring at his Mother. Similarly, she even seemed to have stopped breathing, staring right back at him.

“Mother--”

“Leave us.” the woman spoke in a hurried and somewhat chaotic tone, surprising Yal’sha. She must have seen it too! He exclaimed inwardly, jubilant that him betting on Cain paid off.

“Yes, Mother!!” Yal’sha replied happily as he ran past Cain, patting the latter on the shoulders and thanking him silently.

Cain, however, didn’t even realize that Yal’sha had left -- his eyes had never left the woman’s, as they were too familiar, too close, too painful. He’d never consider he’d see her here of all places... and, from the look on her face, it wasn’t just him recognizing her. She knew... she knew who he was.

“... so,” Cain forced himself out of his stupor and coughed a few times. “You’re... you’re Yal’sha’s mother. Didn’t know that.”

“It’s really you,” the woman mumbled in a hazy tone, her cheeks suddenly flushing. “I...”

“Sheyla--”

“Don’t,” she interrupted hastily. “I don’t want your excuses. Or, worse, your admittance that you just used me.”

“...” Cain sighed, a pained expression emerging on his face. The regrets he thought he had buried by traveling into the past... at least one of them had resurfaced, stronger than ever.

“A Time Thief... of all the people, I never thought it would actually be you.” the woman said. “So... that’s why you approached me. You needed the key. Heh.”

“Sheyla--”

“I said--”

“I don’t care what you said!!” Cain interrupted her with a roar. “I’m sorry!”

“H-huh?”

“... I... I never got to apologize before.”

“Don’t apologize, Cain,” she spoke in a bitter tone. “Don’t, please. Don’t destroy the last thread that’s keeping it real for me.”

“It was real...” Cain mustered a lie, uncertain as to what to say.

“... I’m not that woman anymore, I’m afraid, willing to buy the silver lies of your pretty tongue,” she smiled gently as she tilted her head. “Or, at least, I’d like to believe I’m not. I have a family now. And, I presume... you have one, too. Unless that was also a lie.”

“... it wasn’t,” Cain replied. “Nothing was... some things weren’t lies.”

“...”

“...” heavy silence fell between the two as Cain struggled to avoid her eyes. He couldn’t look directly at her, and couldn’t even speak properly, guilt and regret gnawing away at his heart and soul. It was the cruel dice of fate, he realized, at play once again, dealing him cards he had no chance of winning with.

“Let’s have a drink,” Sheyla spoke out nearly five minutes into the silence, standing up from the chair and tossing a simple, silken robe onto herself, covering up her top. “You at least owe me that much.”

She led him to the far end of the chamber and into a smaller, adjacent one. Cain quickly recognized it as her bedroom, the fumes of countless perfumes nearly causing him to pass out. Her tastes were still the same, Cain mused; the room was scarcely decorated, walls dull and gray, with a simple, wooden bed standing in one corner and an even simpler table and a pair of chairs she quickly fashioned through Mana in another.

Cain sat down slowly as she took out a pair of glasses and a bottle full of blood-red liquid. He sighed as he bit his lower lip.

“No.” he said.

“... really?” she asked.

“I don’t deserve it.”

"... have some wine, then." she said, taking out another bottle and pouring his glass full of silver-dyed liquid before sitting down across from him, her eyes quickly finding his. "Take that damned mask off... and let me see how you looked young." Cain sighed and slowly took off the mask, pulling the strands of hair that fell toward his eyes over. "As I suspected--awful."

“Hah, thanks.”

“You’re the only man that ever both dared to as well as succeeded in playing with me, Cain,” she said, taking a sip of the dark-red liquid. “And to think you would return... so quickly.”

“... what the hell are you doing here anyway?” Cain asked. “Even with Yal’sha here, couldn’t you just send someone to check up on him?”

“My son is a dud, Cain,” Sheyla said, sighing. “The exact opposite of who you were when we met. He dreams and dreams endlessly, always jotting down stories in his head that make him a king. He fancies himself a clever player of the game... but, really, he’s just a coward unwilling to even try and escape my shadow. He tossed himself all the way down to this hell because he believed he could prove himself by climbing back up... but he found comfort here. Nobody was comparing him to me, and nobody was lamenting how insecure he was and how the Clan would be in jeopardy once he became the leader.”

“And yet... you love him.” Cain said, smiling faintly.

“We love our children,” she said. “No matter what. If he’d just ask, I’d let him do whatever he wants with his life. But... he doesn’t dare to. He can’t even ask me not to be a future leader of the Clan because he believes he would betray me. Somehow. Someway. What’s your kid like?”

“Young,” Cain replied. “Still too dumb to plan on how to match up to me and surpass me.”

“Your wife?”

“Sheyla--”

“Tell me, Cain,” she interrupted. “I deserve to know.”

"... she..." Cain mumbled, sighing and downing the entire glass before continuing. "She's a lot like you. Headstrong, unabashedly herself, never willing to give an inch. Though, well... lacking that air of yours that makes every man go limp at the sight of you, where, somehow, you manage to override the primal 'horny' brain with the 'fear for my life' one."

“... do you remember Karbell’s Crater?” she asked suddenly, surprising him.

“Of course,” he replied.

“That wasn’t an act, Cain,” she added. “You could have died that day. So... why did you stay?”

“... I did care for you, Sheyla,” he said. “I still do. There was no way I could have left you like that.”

"... you were the one that once again made me believe in the magic of life, Cain," she said, taking a sip of her drink. "Even though I knew you were more akin to a snake or a rat... ever so often, you'd burst out of your shell and roar like a lion."

“A lion for a lioness, eh?” he said, grinning.

“The fact that you somehow managed to actually surprise A’tesh and have him acknowledge you... tells me you’ve changed,” she said. “Cain I knew would have never been able to do that.”

“Oh, wow, thanks. That felt good.”

"I preferred that Cain," she said, smiling brilliantly. "The one who snuck out in the middle of the night to steal herbs from my garden, the one who would lead a group of people into a battle just so they would become his meat-shields... the one who had given up on humanity, but still believed in potential."

“I see you’re still fucked up.” he chuckled, relaxing somewhat.

“And you... you are not. You are mellow, like those feathery pillows in whorehouses. Can you afford it, Cain? This place forced you to the depths of anguish once. What makes you think it won’t happen again?”

“... I’d rather die than become that man again, Sheyla,” Cain said in a melancholy tone. “That... waste. I’ll fight this place until my lungs give out... and then... and then I’ll die.”

“I suspect you won’t get to die that easily,” she chuckled coquettishly. “I have made a decision.”

“You have?”

"Yes." she nodded. "I'll wait for you on the 71st floor.”

“... huh?”

“As a Guardian.”

“Weren’t you stronger than even the Guardian of the 99th floor but just didn’t want the hassle?”

“Yes.”

“... and you expect me to defeat you?!”

“I’ll go easy on you,” she smirked. “For old times’ sake.”

“Is that even allowed?!!”

“Strength makes the law here,” she said. “If you think you’re strong enough, protest.”

“By beating you?”

“By beating me.”

“I knew you wouldn’t just up and forgive me,” he looked at her hatefully. “But this is some really bitter shit.”

“Eh, a scorned woman and all that,” she chuckled. “Should be a good lesson for you.”

“...” Cain grumbled lowly, downing the remainder of the glass and looking hatefully at her. Inside, however, he was happy and relieved; seeing her there, sitting on top of that chair... and seeing that she had recognized him... he expected many things to happen. After all, what he had done to her wasn’t merely just a betrayal, but much, much, much worse. He’d likely have condemned her for all eternity... to never be able to climb past the 99th floor, no matter what she did.