"He hasn't come out yet?" asked some people in front of Zrelekai's house. After the accident and the discovery under Zrelekai's house, the scientist had never come out; the windows and the door were completely closed, and no light came inside.
"Are we really sure he's doing alright? Maybe he got hurt…" said Stark.
"That could be possible too…" said another woman as she scratched her chin at the thought.
"No, that isn't possible!" said a child as he ran toward the crowd in front of Zrelekai's lab. Everyone looked at him, confused.
"I heard him talking to himself yesterday! It was late and I was returning home when suddenly I heard Zrelekai's voice… he was laughing weirdly," added the child. As everyone else heard his words, they felt a shiver run down their spines.
"Maybe he's just going through a bad moment?" The man in the wheelchair got closer to the door and tried what no one else had tried in these past few days: knocking on the door.
"Zrelekai?? Are you alright?" asked the man after knocking on the door. Everyone else watched him with both fear and excitement.
"Damn, they're louder than usual today…" whispered Zrelekai, annoyed, inside the dark laboratory.
With an annoyed walk, he reached the door and slowly opened it. 'Ouch, the light!' thought Zrelekai as he positioned his hands over his face to shield himself from the light.
"Zrelekai!" called out the old man happily, but soon his face contorted, and a horrified look appeared on his face.
In front of him wasn't the Zrelekai he used to know; this one was totally different. First, his hair was a complete mess. Everyone knew that Zrelekai wasn't the kind of person to take care of his body, but this felt like too much even for the others.
Under his eyes were huge bags. People were used to these kinds of bags, especially because it was common for people not to sleep much, but as they noticed Zrelekai's appearance, they couldn't help but gasp in surprise.
Zrelekai hadn't even cleaned his clothes over the past few days; in fact, there were multiple marks from his past experiments left on his outfit.
"What do you need? I was conducting some experiments," asked Zrelekai, annoyed. The old man, who could finally see inside the house, noticed that there were countless books scattered on the floor. Most of them were old and dirty, with titles he had never heard of.
"No, nothing… we were just wondering why you hadn't come out in the past few days…" pointed out the old man. Zrelekai gave him an annoyed look.
Over the past few days, Zrelekai had realized that when he had gone outside right before the incident, no one had seen him, as most of the people were distracted by the return of the Alterids.
"So it isn't anything important, right? I can't waste time…" Zrelekai nervously started to bite his nails. "I have to read and experiment… I can't get distracted," he said as he was about to close the door again, until they heard a voice.
"Ohh, finally the door is open!" Everyone recognized that voice. As they turned around, they noticed that the King was walking through the city, heading directly toward Zrelekai's door.
"Oh great… another pain in the ass," he said, annoyed, as he started to rub his left ear with his finger. As a child's eyes were caught by his movements, he noticed Zrelekai's ear was completely dirty, like he hadn't touched it in days.
Everyone, except Zrelekai, kneeled in front of the King. "Hello, sir!" shouted all of them in sync. Even the man in the wheelchair, who couldn't kneel down, arched his body forward.
"So, Zrelekai? How has your research been?" The King spoke with a happy tone. As the words came out of his mouth, he opened his hands wide as if he wanted to grab everyone's attention.
Giving him the slightest attention, Zrelekai cleaned his ear a bit, blew away the dirt, and only after that decided to speak.
"Yeah… I've made something," said Zrelekai, not even looking the King in the eyes.
The King, already annoyed that Zrelekai had neither kneeled down nor looked him in the eye, wanted to have him executed on the spot, but after hearing the news, his eyes lit up.
"That's great, Zrelekai! Where is it?" asked the King happily. He hadn't eaten anything yet, and soon it would be the time he usually ate, so he was feeling really hungry.
"It's inside…" he said as he turned around, his eyes never meeting the King's, and headed inside his laboratory.
"I had kept that for myself… but because your hungry ass can't stop eating for a moment, I'll have to give it to you," whispered Zrelekai, annoyed. The King, already surprised that he had to enter this dirty laboratory, clearly heard what Zrelekai was saying and gave him an angry look.
"Would you mind repeating that louder?" said the King in an almost commanding tone. "And still… you expect me to enter this shitty room?" The King glanced around, and as his nose caught multiple bad smells after placing one foot inside, he avoided taking another step.
"What is it? Are you deaf rather than a hungry, dumb, fat ass?" whispered Zrelekai, almost laughing to himself. Now, as the King gave all his attention to the foul smells, he couldn't hear him.
"So? Have you decided to answer me?" said the King angrily as he took a deep breath.
"Yeah, yeah… God, it's so annoying. Why can't I return to my experiments?" As Zrelekai spoke, his voice gradually lowered. When his eyes finally met the King's, he realized that this attitude wasn't the right one.
"Alright… I'll bring it outside. Just let me do my experiments after this." Zrelekai grabbed the plate with the meat from the table and walked outside. The King, who was waiting for him outside, received the plate from Zrelekai.
"Just a moment…" said Zrelekai, annoyed, speaking right before the King could say anything.
He created a small wooden table outside with a small stool. "Better than nothing…" said the King, annoyed by the fact that he couldn't have one of his huge chairs, but happy that he would be able to try new meat after the recent famine with the animals.
As he took the first bite, the excitement in his eyes soon disappeared, replaced by a disappointed look on his face.
"What is this? Why does it taste so…" The King was so disgusted that he could barely explain the flavor.
"My King, what happened? Is it bad?" asked one of the guards who came with him.
"No… but bleah! This doesn't even taste like real meat… it's like it has been made with only water and something else that is red…" The King noticed that inside the meat there were some small red parts. As the King touched them with his finger, he noticed that they were soft and liquid.
"What even is this? What am I eating?" the King asked, confused, unable to understand what it was or name the thing inside the meat. "Is this a fruit? It looks a lot like one…"
One of the guards turned his attention to the red marks inside the meat, and it was as if he understood something. "Hey, is this… watermelon?" The guard wanted to touch the fruit to prove he was right, but as he realized it was on the King's plate, he stopped himself.
"Watermelon? What even is that?" asked the King, confused.
"Oh, I've read about it in an old book… it was a fruit of the old world, made entirely of water and really sweet," answered the guard.
With his hands, the King grabbed a small piece of watermelon and put it inside his mouth. "This matches your description… and it isn't bad, I mean…" The King, who couldn't take it anymore, smashed his hands on the table. "But why the hell did you put it inside my meat?!" he shouted angrily.
Zrelekai, with an even more annoyed look on his face, answered the King, "Your meat?" Zrelekai was about to laugh right in front of the King's face, but he resisted. "Sorry to tell you… but that was what I wanted to make, so… just stick with it, man," he answered nonchalantly. The King, now visibly red, couldn't take it anymore.
With his hands under the table, he flipped it with all his strength. The meat and the plate flew to the ground; the stool below him fell to the ground, and like the table, both shattered into multiple pieces.
"What?!" shouted the King as he pointed his finger toward Zrelekai. The King was looking directly into his eyes, while the scientist was looking in a totally different direction.
"I gave you a damn order… and you decided to do what you believed was right?!" As the King shouted, some of his saliva flew directly toward Zrelekai's face, landing on his nose.
"Ew, gross… watch yourself, man." Zrelekai, without caring who was in front of him, wiped his nose.
"I… I swear I'll make you die tonight!!" Angrily, the King turned around and, followed by his guards, walked away.
"Yeah, yeah…" Zrelekai stuck out his tongue, pointing it at the King, who had turned around as he walked away. As the authority figure disappeared into an alley, the man in the wheelchair stopped Zrelekai.
"Ehh, Zrelekai, wait…" said the man. Zrelekai, before closing the door, stopped for a moment. "What is it?" he asked, annoyed.
A strange look appeared on the old man's face; it was like the person in front of him wasn't Zrelekai anymore, but a totally different person.
"What has happened to you? Why are you so…" The old man wanted to find the right words, but the more he tried to pronounce them, the less they came out.
"One life isn't enough. Soon I might end up like you, or even worse, I might die," said Zrelekai with a disgusted look. The old man looked at him, confused.
"What are you saying, Zrelekai? A life isn't enough? For what?" said the man, confused.
"How can you all be so dumb…" whispered Zrelekai as he positioned his fingers over his eyes, annoyed.
"You just don't get it… none of you understand anything." Zrelekai looked behind him at all the confused people.
"I'm just doing what I can to live my life in the best possible way… and it doesn't matter if I have to stop following orders… to reach the end of my own ideas, I will not be stopped by anyone." Without hesitation, Zrelekai closed the door, and the room turned dark once again.
'I don't want to end up like that person…' Zrelekai remembered the diary he had read some days ago, and the thought made him shake his head. 'I'll defend myself…' Zrelekai grabbed his pistol from his pocket.
Over these past few days, it had been upgraded. It still wasn't perfect, but now it had a better design and better firepower as well.
Zrelekai slammed his hands on the table in front of him. 'I don't have infinite time… I can't allow myself to slack off.' With that, the scientist returned to reading once again the countless books he had brought from below.
As the hours passed and night arrived, Zrelekai expected to find the King with multiple guards outside his home, but it hadn't happened yet.
'Strange…' Zrelekai remained silent for a moment, and outside he heard multiple screams. At first, they were far away, but soon they grew louder, as if they were coming toward him.
"What even is happe—" Zrelekai was about to get closer to the window to open it and get a better view of what was going on when suddenly the body of a city guard was thrown directly toward his house with a force imaginable for humans. The body crashed against multiple walls, creating holes in at least five houses before stopping.
"AHHH, WHAT WAS THAT?!" shouted Zrelekai in fear. As a hole was created, he realized that everything around his house was full of blood, and humans were being slaughtered like ants.
Zrelekai slowly took a step outside the hole that had just been created out of curiosity, and the moment he looked around, his mouth stayed open. Around him, the whole city was in flames; buildings were falling like nothing, and everywhere you turned, there was the body of a dead human.
"Ahhhh, I'll kill you!!" shouted a person. Zrelekai could only hear the voice; in fact, the moment he tilted his head toward the sound, he noticed that his view was blocked by a building.
But after only a few seconds, that building was cut down too, and with that, the person's body was completely destroyed as well.
Zrelekai noticed something he had never seen before: a creature with powerful red and black armor, holding a spear in its hands, was standing around the bodies of multiple city soldiers.
"What is that thing…?" Zrelekai could only look at that creature before it destroyed another building with almost no effort.
"Ahhh, someone help me!!!!" Zrelekai soon realized that the building that had just been destroyed was Stark's house, and he was falling.
As Stark hit the ground, blood splattered everywhere. Out of fear, Zrelekai placed his hand over his mouth, terrified. 'What even is that thing… is it coming for us?' Scared, Zrelekai didn't know what to think.
"It… it hurts…" Stark tried to get up. As he fell face-first onto the ground, his nose was completely destroyed, and he had lost most of his teeth.
The creature in the armor walked toward him, and with a clean strike, the spear pierced right through his head, killing the old man.
"I… I have to escape…" Zrelekai tried to run away, but in the panic of the moment, he stumbled, and some books fell to the ground. Hearing that sound, the black creature tilted its head and began to walk toward the source of the noise.
"There are a lot of things I want to discover… I can't die now…" Zrelekai, now crawling on the ground, tried to reach the trapdoor that would take him underground. But right before he was about to open it, the walls of his house were sliced open so perfectly that it at first surprised Zrelekai, though that expression soon turned into a horrified one.
"Please, I haven't done anything… don't kill me…" Zrelekai tried to crawl backward, but the creature in front of him, Ashikunz, the Ninth Black Defender, didn't stop. As the Krukin slashed his spear toward the human, the blood already on the weapon splattered onto Zrelekai's dirty book before reaching his stomach.
"Sorry, human… but you all have to pay." With the spear now piercing Zrelekai's stomach, Ashikunz spoke in a cold tone.
"It… it can't end like this…" In a last resort, Zrelekai grabbed his pistol and shot at Ashikunz. The Krukin didn't even feel the hit, but he felt surprised to see that attack.
"Is that a… pistol?" he whispered, confused, as he kneeled down to check the weapon. Zrelekai shot another bullet at Ashikunz's hand, but like before, the bullet simply bounced off his armor.
"Interesting… it's been 200 years since you humans stopped using them, right? How do you still have one?" asked Ashikunz.
"I… I simply created it…" answered Zrelekai while breathing heavily and holding his injury with his hands.
"You made it? From what he has told me, you humans should have lost all this technology," answered Ashikunz, slightly surprised.
"Take this, you damn fucker!!!!" shouted a voice from behind Ashikunz. Zrelekai recognized it immediately: it was one of the two Alterids who had returned to Karyuz recently.
His power allowed him to place a ritual beneath the enemy that would create a pillar of strange, corrosive acid.
His name was Anthony, and he was currently missing an arm. His body was bleeding, and he was transparent, as he had reached the last stage of his soul.
"You can't escape anym—" The Alterid couldn't even finish his sentence before Ashikunz, with a clean cut, completely sent his head flying, and the spell disappeared.
"Tch… I can't even have a normal conversation with your friends." Ashikunz, annoyed, returned to Zrelekai, who was currently covering his injury with some bandages he had just created.
"Hey, where did you get those bandages? There weren't any nearby," asked Ashikunz, curious. Zrelekai answered while gritting his teeth.
"I created them…" After answering, Zrelekai coughed up some blood. "I can create everything I know…"
"Woah, that's great… well, I'm sorry that I have to kill you… but you humans all deserve it." Ashikunz slashed his spear again across Zrelekai's stomach, creating a huge gash across his chest.
"If only…" Zrelekai stretched out his arm as he tried to reach the stars above him.
"If only I had more time…"