Chapter 1316 Internal Wrath
Chapter 1316 Internal Wrath
Oren could feel the wrath around him, enveloping him like a blanket of warmth that turned to boiling lava in an instant. He knew the heat was coming from his boiling blood, affected by the wrath. Thus, he endured, but at some point, he somehow stopped falling and found himself standing.
"If it breaks, you'll pay for it your entire life!" a harsh voice echoed in his ears, confusing Oren, who thought he was diving to save his brother. As he turned around in the darkness, he saw a sight that confused him even further. In the middle of the darkness, something akin to a holographic video was playing out.
Inside the scene, which seemed like a dungeon, Oren saw several people carrying rare minerals out of the dungeon. He stepped toward the scene to see a middle-aged man screaming at the men carrying the items out. Then, he froze in place.
Among the men was Arthur, carrying a large mineral over his back, too big to be carried with just his arms. He was carrying the metal under the harsh barks of the middle-aged man, who threatened to make him pay every penny if the crystal got damaged.
Oren's hand trembled as he read the words on the man's uniform: Lime Agency. This was not reality but a scene playing out from Arthur's own memories inside the dome of darkness. This actually happened to him, and it kept happening inside his memories.
Arthur's legs betrayed him the next moment, and he fell backward with the crystal on his back. As he fell to the ground, he barely managed to let the crystal land without damaging it. But at the same time, he caused the one behind him to trip and fall, damaging a large ancient shield.
"Silvera!" roared the middle-aged man as he rushed forward. "How useless can you be?!" shouted the man before he sent a kick to Arthur, who was barely leaning on the ground, sending him flying. Then, he continued to beat him against the dungeon's wall until others rushed to stop him.
Oren was boiling now. He reached toward his sword, which morphed to a darker shade of red. As he swung toward the memory, it disappeared like smoke, reminding him that what was happening was nothing but an illusion.
"I didn't know about this," said Oren as a different memory resurfaced in his mind. At that time, when Arthur was working in the Lime Agency, Oren himself was being a handful. He wanted to go to a private school specialized in helping people awaken. Everyone was talking about it, and he was influenced by the news glorifying awakeners.
Oren lowered the sword as he remembered the hurtful words he told Arthur when he said he couldn't pay the money for school. At that time, an immature Oren blurted out that he didn't want to be like Arthur, who failed to awaken even at eighteen years of age.
The mist that leaked from the dissipating scene created another. Oren could not look away and witnessed Arthur's struggles against life one after the other. He saw him falling through the dungeon's floor while saving Yuran. Then, he witnessed him being stabbed in the back, hunted down by the seven families, and assuming a different identity before being thrown into another world.
Oren didn't know what this was. Arthur had never disappeared, but in his memories, he went to Alka. The sole reason he could think of was the alternate timeline that Arthur had once mentioned. In that timeline, his brother was a slave, tossed around and used, amputated and tortured.
The events were too much for him to watch, even until the end, making him cry the more he watched. Arthur kept losing whatever he cared about time and time again. He witnessed the fight against his father and the fight against his brother. Oren never knew that Arthur had lived this cruel life before disagreeing with him.
Oren believed that this wrath did not belong to Arthur, and that's why he embarked on a journey to save his brother from this curse. Arthur wanted to attack the rulers and make them submit to him, to fight the world and beat it, but Oren didn't think this was Arthur speaking, but his wrath.
He was wrong.
The wrath was not external. It was always there. Arthur was fighting against life and his cruel destiny for his entire life, alone and outcast. Oren lived in a bubble of normalcy before he began his journey and fought countless monsters. But monsters weren't scary; humans were.
Arthur showed him that in his memories. Everyone tried to use him, and those who did not understand him fought against him. Miko turned against him once Arthur lost his memories from the other life, and it cut deeper into Arthur's heart than any wound could.
Oren walked through the tragedies of his brother until he found himself in some underground ruins. The entire place was covered with ice, but the ground was filled with flowers. The trail led him through the ruins until he reached a clearing where the last scene played out.
Arthur was standing, covered in black lightning, with his back facing Oren. In front of him was a smooth rectangular platform with someone asleep atop it. Seeing his brother and the figure of someone on the bed, Oren could not advance further, but he had to push through.
"Art," he called, his voice a little hoarse from crying. "Arthur," he called again when he received no answer. But a moment later, his brother turned to him, different from what he always looked like. His black hair was tall now. His skin was as dark as night, and his eyes were white instead of golden. "It's me, Oren."
"What are you here for?" asked his brother, surprising Oren. He never thought that his brother would be sensible enough. Last time, he was a mindless monster. "I don't need you here."
"What happened, Arthur?" asked Oren as he stepped forward. Arthur looked back toward the injured person on the platform, his black lightning flaring again.
"They hurt her," he answered, his voice hoarse. "I will never forgive them."