Chapter 4: Cedric Bonas

A man the splitting image of me walked into the room. He was 5’ 8” and had short-medium wavy brown hair. His face was well-groomed and contained a steady grin. I was perplexed because his lean muscles seemed to suggest that he had some weight behind his body, but his strides were light, almost making no sound whenever he took a step.

Compared to my plain beige cotton shirt and pants, he wore an ivory silk coat adorned with gold patterns of flowers over an ivory long-sleeved silk shirt that ended at his fingertips. The coat extended to the middle of his calves and had slits in the bottom front and back. From under his coat, I could see his ivory silk pants. For his shoes, he wore brown leather combat boots that stretched up to his calves.

When he noticed me sitting on the bed, I quivered with joy and shouted, “Cedric!”

Looking at Cog and then me, he replied, “Gratus! It’s been a while. I was surprised to hear that you have returned.”

‘Hm? How long have I been away?’

I looked at Cog, then back at Cedric before inquiring, “What do you mean? Cog did mention that I had left before, but I don’t remember such a thing, and to return?”

Cedric’s eyes drooped, but I knew that meant he was thinking.

…

“At any rate, I hear that you are in search of the Recorodor. Maybe after you get your memories back, you will remember?”

Cog and I both glanced at each other before Cog interjected, “Wait a minute, how do you know about this?”

Cedric laughed and pulled out an empty chair across from Cog and sat between us before replying, “Cogito, this is my domain. Everything that happens in my utopia is reported back to me. In a way, I can sense it all. It’s a part of me, so… Cogito.”

Cedric frowned a bit and stared at Cog, “I know you tried to kill Gratus.”

Cog looked away ashamed, “I know… I offer no excuses…”

“The world has changed. You’ve changed Cogito, but it’s not a bad thing to change. You’re no longer naïve, just a little too skeptical and uptight, for me at least. For Gratus’s sake, you should trust us a bit more.”

Cog showed his discomfort but kept silent and replied with a nod.

“But no matter, our business now is the Recorodor.” Turning to me, Cedric continued, “I can help you, Gratus.”

‘Hm… There’s something different about Cedric, too, and the way he talked about Otium… Well, I guess I’ll just take things one step at a time. If he is willing to help me, then so be it.’

“How can you help me?”

“Well, Cogito can come along too, but he may… become a burden to us.”

Offended, Cog stood up and blared, “And what do you mean by that?!”

…

Cedric lifted his right eyebrow and crossed his hands over his chest, “See? That’s why you’re gonna be a burden. You’re too emotional, too easy to tempt.”

Cog grimaced and retorted, “You’re just too carefree.”

Not wanting the tension to escalate any more, I interjected, “Cedric, you were saying? How can you help me get to the Recorodor?”

Cedric nodded and said, “That’s right. Well, as you may or may not remember, we have already ventured through Procella. In fact, we built the Recorodor, so it’s only natural that it would be easier to survive the dangers of Procella. This will be our second run through, or so to speak.” Grinning once again, he turned to Cog and said, “As for you, you may fall into a pit of darkness.”

Cog, agitated, reached for his dagger, but Cedric raised both of his hands in front of him and added, “But don’t worry. As long as you are with me, it should be fine.”

In response, Cog whipped out his dagger and threw it at Cedric.

‘What the heck!’

I was shocked, but Cedric emitted some sort of light from his hands that slowed the dagger down before catching the dagger in mid-air.

*Sigh*

“Cogito. Such a precious heirloom. Are you sure you want to be throwing it around like this? What if you lose it? Or worse, what if it melts?”

Cedric’s words were calm and light, but they carried a hint of contempt. A thin layer of light surrounded the dagger in his hand and the dagger grew bright red.

When steam rose from the dagger, Cedric exclaimed in surprise, “Oh, it’s melting! Ahhh!”

Cog crossed his hands over his chest and waited unamused, staring down at Cedric.

“Nah, just kidding. I can’t melt this piece of junk.”

Cedric shrugged and tossed the dagger back at Cog.

Cog caught it and sheathed it before plopping back onto his chair and sighing, “Disagreeable, I can’t get along with you Cedric. I can trust Gratus but not you.”

Drooping his eyes, Cedric stared at Cog before bowing his head in apology, “Sorry Cogito. I had to let off some steam. Gratus may overlook your shortcomings, but I won’t.” After pausing for a moment and looking to the side, he muttered, “You have to grow well.”

‘Uh, am I missing something here? What kind of relationship do these two have? From what I can recall, they both worked in the royal palace. As a Militis, Cog was one of Clautz’s personal knights, and Cedric was a Caelestis like me, but I don’t remember them talking to each other much… Ah, forget it! I want to know more about the Recorodor.’

*Cough*

“Cog, I hope you can be patient with my brother. He seems like the happy-go-lucky type, but he considers a lot before he acts. He was upset because you tried to attack me, but even if so, Cedric, you shouldn’t go too far. I can understand Cog’s worries. The situation is dire. I don’t know the details, but we should learn to support each other if we’re going to the Recorodor together.”

Cog and Cedric both looked at me and then glanced at each other before sighing and nodding.

“Great, now that we’re on the same page, I have a question, Cedric. You mentioned that we created the Recorodor?”

“Ah, yes, we did. It was for situations such as these. You had been forgetting your memories so as an emergency measure, we created the Recorodor.”

Voicing my thoughts, I questioned, “I had been forgetting?”

“Yes, but this time, it seems like your memories were erased.”

Cog glanced at me and said, “Kyrie.”

Cedric looked at Cog, then glanced at the ball of light hovering around me, “Yes, it seems like this Kyrie did something to you, but I’ve never heard of a person named Kyrie before either.”

Taking some time to think, I asked, “Hm… If I had forgotten stuff in the past, have I used the Recorodor before?

“Well, err… No… but that’s because it’ll blow up after it is used.”

“What?!” Cog and I blurted out flabbergasted.

Cedric chuckled and replied, “Well, you see… that’s why we created it in Procella. If anyone found it and used it, we agreed that it would become a huge threat to you, so it’s a one-time use thing.”

…

Cog and I stared at Cedric dumbfounded.

“What? Why are you guys so surprised? I’m sure it’ll be okay.”

Still shocked, Cogito asked, “But how can you be so sure?”

Now smiling, Cedric replied, “I’m not, but don’t fret. We’ll see after we get Gratus to the Recorodor.”

Before we could object, he cast a spell, “Eo ire itum,” and in an instant we were warped into a dimension of nothingness and then back, but now we were in a different place, a place of remoteness and death.

Looking around in amazement, Cog tried to comprehend what just happened to him, “Wha-What d-did you do? Where are we?!”

Looking at Cog, Cedric smiled and laughed, “Look around closely, we are in Attero. As for how, well, let’s just call it teleportation.”

Objecting, I asked, “But what about Otium? Something could happen if you just leave it unattended.”

“Ah, it should be fine. As long as they don’t know I’ve gone, they won’t panic,” but seeing Cog’s unconvinced look, he changed the subject, “At any rate, our first goal is to reach Procella, but before we move on, a word of advice: Don’t get caught.”

Confused, I asked, “What does that mean?”

This time, Cog replied, “I believe you have experienced it before. Attero is alive, and if you get caught in its grasp, you will fall into despair so be careful.”

Looking at us both, Cedric braced himself and energetically said, “All right gentlemen, I’m ready when you are!”

Cog stared at Cedric in disbelief, “W-wait a minute, you don’t plan to travel through Attero without a plan do you?”

“Huh? I thought the plan was simple. Get to Procella. And as you can see from here, Procella is that gigantic forest way over yonder.”

“You’re crazy! Th—“

But before he could finish, I interrupted him, “Let’s just forget about it and go.”

Cedric smiled and then pointed to the gigantic forest, “Well then, if all complaints are settled, let’s head out!”

Cog looked at Cedric once again and shook his head before sighing and mumbling behind.