Edited by: Kuro and Lille
Grey didn’t know how long he slept because there was no clock or any windows to indicate the time. Hence he decided to go by his biological clock and call it day 2 mentally. Whenever he woke up, he would count it as the next day. It was the best he could do until System 225 came back.
He groggily looked around and noticed that the other kids were also awake, but they didn’t get up. Everyone was lying on the ground and their eyes looked dead.
Vincent still had his eyes closed but he was no longer in as much pain. He looked to be peacefully sleeping.
He looked around to see if there was any food or water, but there was nothing. Grey looked through Ren’s memories and saw that there was a long gap between meal times and very limited amounts of water.
Grey didn’t know when the next meal time was so he asked the spirits to help him create some water, drank it, and then gave some to Vincent who gulped down the water in his sleep. Vincent was so thirsty, he almost choked, but he still didn’t wake up.
Grey mumbled an apology and was about to go back to his mat but he heard footsteps approaching the door. The footsteps were loud, but he could tell they weren’t too far away. With how quiet the basement was most of the time, he could even hear a pin drop in another room.
He scurried back to his mat and laid down, closing his eyes. He pretended to sleep as he heard the slow but uniform footsteps come toward the room.
A key was put into the doorknob, unlocking the door. Standing at the door’s entrance, was a man in a black robe. It covered his whole body, not showing much. He also wore the hood of the robe to cover his hair, and his face was adorned with a pure white mask that covered his whole face except for his nostrils.
“Hmm… Which child should I pick today?” The masked man mumbled to himself but his voice echoed through the quiet room.
Most of the children shuddered on their mats, praying that they could make themselves disappear. Grey didn’t move, acting as if he was sleeping, but he heard the man loud and clear. His voice was not deep but it had a bit of a sultry feel to it. He almost had goosebumps hearing it.
“How about… you this time.”
Grey felt a tug on the back of his shirt and his body lifting off the mat. He opened his eyes, but he didn’t fight or scream against the masked man.
“Not screaming this time? You aren’t scared?” The man picked him up effortlessly, whispering into his ear like the devil.
He didn’t say anything nor did he move. He just stared into the emptiness of the darkness around him.
“You seem quite out of it. Don’t worry, I will wake you up so you can hear me loud and clear.”
Grey shouted in his mind, I don’t want to hear you though!
The masked man walked out of the room with him and down the hall. There were many doors in this basement but it seemed to be one large hallway. Who knew how big the place was…
The room he entered was close to the staircase. He didn’t rush and he never picked up or slowed down his pace. It took the masked man over a minute to walk there.
The man didn’t say anything else the entire time. He just chained Grey to the wall facing the exit. Apparently, it was to taunt the tortured children with the thoughts of someone opening the door to rescue them. It was quite cruel…
His hands were chained together and lifted above his head. His legs were free, but with how low he was chained to the ground, his legs had to be bent. It was an extremely uncomfortable position.
“The Lord said he wants to test out this new poison. It’s one you have to pour on the skin. It’s supposed to burn and spread with just a drop.”
The masked man finally said while picking up a glass test tube with a black substance in it.
“Do you want to know why he made this?”
Grey didn’t say anything. He didn’t even lift his head to look at the man. He felt like this guy only liked to hear himself talk.
“Well, I will tell you anyway. There are some monsters wreaking havoc along the border, so he wants to use this poison to change the tides of the war on monsters. If he plays his cards right, just a drop can kill a monster. As of now though, it probably won’t kill you… Hopefully.”
Grey couldn’t see the man’s face, but he could tell the other was talking with a smile on his face.
“Let’s see how long you can keep quiet, shall we?”
The masked man grabbed his left leg to straighten it out. He poured just a drop on Grey’s thigh. The first contact was not painful, but as it dripped down his leg, his leg was hit with a burning, tingling pain that only got worse the longer the poison stayed on his skin. If he moved, it felt like the poison would spread but if he stayed in one place, it would concentrate into one area, making him want to vomit.
He wanted to scream but he gritted his teeth and didn’t make a sound.
“I see… the first initial contact doesn’t do much. So the poison has to stay on the skin for a prolonged period of time…” The man mumbled to himself while writing it down in a notebook he took out of his cloak.
“Oh… he still hasn’t passed out…”
The man saw Grey writhing in pain, but he didn’t make a noise. He didn’t complain nor did he scream, but his face was scrunched up in pain.
“You are not fun anymore. If I put one more drop on you, would you finally scream?”
Grey didn’t have the strength to look at the person or even talk back. He could only curse in his heart and mentally cry for System 225 to come back.
Please come back soon, System 225!
*****
It took 20 minutes for Grey to pass out from the pain. When he did, he was hit by a bright, shining white light. He thought it was going to be System 225, but when he saw the beings in front of him, he was immediately disappointed.
“I apologize for not being your friend who brought you to our world.” The older man in the center of the group spoke out first. He had long white hair and a large beard. He only wore a white long dress with a gold, braided belt around his waist. “My name is Xepherim, the God of Creation, it is a pleasure to meet you.”
Grey nodded and took a step back. “It is a pleasure to meet you too…” He was a bit wary when it came to the Gods of the worlds or universes he went into.
“We are the Gods of this world. The UniOrb assigned us to this world, making sure that we govern over life and death.”
Even though Grey was a bit cautious, he decided to hear them out.
A younger God, with a similar outfit, that stood to the right of the older interrupted. “If we let Xepherim continue to talk, it will go on forever, so I will take over. I am the God of Knowledge and Nature. You can call me Wyrmis.” He had long, sandy blonde hair and gold eyes. He looked youthful and full of energy.
“Your friend… What did you call him? It was System 225? Yeah, he won’t be coming back for a couple of more months. He’s been blocked out for a bit, but that’s normal for a S-ranked world like ours. It’s actually quite quick in comparison to the other wait times. You aren’t the first Host to come to our world.”
It was the first time he heard someone else talking about Hosts and Systems, so unconsciously, he let his guard down a bit.
“Yeah, we called you here to make a deal with you.”
If Grey was drinking water, he would probably spit and choke on his water. “A deal? Gods want to make a deal with me?”
Wyrmis nodded. The other four Gods didn’t say anything so he continued talking.
“You know how unstable S-ranked worlds are, right? We are now in the third cycle of this world plot. If you, the Host, fail this time, all of us and the people living in this world will be eradicated by the UniOrb. Not even a soul would be left. The UniOrb does not like it when Gods go above the maximum amount of energy given to us.
“That’s why, we want to make a deal with you. If you help us, not only will we help you survive until your friend, System 225 comes around, but we will give you and System 225 something valuable. It will help you in your fight against the Villain System.”
“You know about the Villain System?” It was the first time he heard about this.
“Of course we do. All the Gods do. Some are powerless, some don’t care, and some are like us… Too powerful for the Villain System to approach. Once it consumes the entirety of the UniOrb, it will absorb us next. It is in our best interest to help you, no?”
“That’s true. Since we have a common enemy, I don’t see why I shouldn’t hear you all out on what you need help with.”
“Straightforward. I like that.” Wyrmis grinned, looking more like a Demon King than a God.
“Stop making that ugly face.” A Goddess smacked him with her fan and finally looked over at Grey.
She opened the fan and brought it up to her mouth to hide her smile. “My name is Myneas, the Goddess of Time and Space. The two quiet ones who don’t want to talk are the God of Justice and War, Udis. He may look like a gruff old man, but he’s the youngest. As for that Goddess over there, her name is Ethenea, the Goddess of Love and Fertility. Believe it or not, she’s the second oldest.”
Everyone was wearing the same outfit. It seemed it was a popular clothing item for the Gods of this world.
The two quiet Gods greeted him and then observed. They didn’t seem to like to talk much.
“Anyway, have you heard of Demon Kings and Heroes?”
Grey nodded and said nonchalantly, “Of course, I once teamed up with a Demon King and Hero of that generation and took down the Gods of that world.”
“Please don’t do that to our world…” Xepherim immediately responded.
Grey paused and then smiled. “I won’t do that again... That was a lot of work and I died after killing the Gods.”
“That must have been quite the battle… A relief that you won’t try that again.”
“Anyway,” Wyrmis rolled his eyes, “As I was saying, we need you to help the Hero. They are not strong enough in this generation…”
Grey couldn’t help but put his hand on his forehead, as though he was thinking too hard.
“Another hero helping?” He couldn’t help but mumble in disbelief.
Grandpa Marky: Hello my lovely grandchildren! I'm exhausted and honestly, I want to run away from this place but I can't urgh. Two siblings I reaaaalllllyyy dislike are here and taking up so much space and making a mess everywhere and they expect me and my little sister to clean up after them like bro wtf T_T go away. wish they left already but they seem like they are gonna be here for a while. Depression. Sadness.
Yeah, that's stressing me out on top of everything else I'm going through. Truly a fucking struggle. Anyway, that's it from me. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all next week! (Or earlier if ya pay for the ko-fi goal lol)
