“If I Die”

Inside the drawer there was a folded up note that read 'If I Die'. Khusus was happy to see that his cosmic energy reaction was actually useful and picked up the note. He unfolded it and read the message left by his dad.

—Khusus, this message will contain everything that I wanted to tell you, but didn't know how. You may not like it, but everything you are about to read is the truth.

Khusus paused to mentally prepare himself for whatever he had to read. He knew his father was a person who wouldn't hold back when a situation came to this. When he felt like he was ready he began reading.

—When you were born, you had a way below average life force and could possibly die at anytime. Your inability to absorb cosmic energy while you were in the womb was the cause of this. Your body had a reaction with the cosmic energy in the air and we really were worried we were going to lose you. I had to fetch my forced channeler and try to heal you. Your mother and I had activated the device the second your reaction ended causing your inability to control your cosmic energy. You may not like it, but it was our bad timing that caused you to be this way.

Khusus began to think about how his father always carried the forced channeler in his bag. He remembered his dad explaining to him how it works, but he never remembered his father actually using it. He was upset at his parents for causing this, but he held back his anger because his father had just died. He paused for a few seconds reflecting on what he just read before continuing.

—There were three things that I wanted to test to possibly give you your ability to control your cosmic energy back. 1. Use the forced channeler on you again and put the cosmic energy into your body(painful). 2. Use a high-level priest to use a healing skill on you to undo the effect(costly). 3. Give you a ^cosmic machine to help you control cosmic energy(dangerous). I couldn't bring myself to see you hurting yourself to complete 1 and 3 that is why I haven't told you. I wasn't able to pay the high priest and that is why I'm hoping you can.

This gave Khusus a little hope when he learned that there were things he would be able to try on his own in order to regain control over his cosmic energy. He was willing to do the dangerous things when he had a chance, but first he thought he should finish the letter.

--Since I'm no longer alive I might as well tell you the secret. Anyone can pick up Austėja's Sheath. There is actually nothing special about the darn thing, which makes me very disappointed. There is only one use: bashing people's heads in. If you swing that piece of garbage hard enough then it would definitely kill somebody. That is a hint I'm giving to you for use in the future. Please protect the artifact and find out the history behind it.

Khusus was already on the verge of giving up the family artifact. After learning that there wasn't anything special about it and that anyone could pick it up, he thought about selling it so he could pay the high-priest. He already knew that it was able to kill somebody by swinging it hard so that wasn't important to him. As he was thinking he angrily squeezed the paper slightly crumbling it. He mustered up some mental strength to continue reading.

—You should also know now that your mother is dead. You may have read in the books that I lacked in strength because of my infantry injury, but that is wrong. I was only weak because I used my cosmic energy to keep your mother alive. She suffered from an illness that was also a reason for your below average birth. It is a family illness because we are only supposed to have one child. After you were born I grew even weaker trying to keep her alive. It was hard for me to show you the old room because of that. ^Don't look for her body, it should be gone now.

Khusus was unaware of his mother's status. He was so focused on this letter and his father after he died that his mom hadn't even came to his mind. More tears came to Khusus' eyes as he started crying and wetting up the paper. He folded up the paper and put it in his pocket because he needed a break from the messages. He was confused by what he meant by don't look for her body, but he was too depressed after finding out his mother was dead to think about that. The wording of this message was weird as well, but he didn't think too much about it.

Khusus changed his focus and decided it was a good idea to see if there were any clues to what had happened. He was about to leave his father's bedroom when he saw an empty bottle of goblin gas lying on the bed. He wondered why it was here when his father was found awake in the kitchen. It was opened and not broken and the cork was missing. The thought of the gas being used in another room crossed his mind. He checked the room for the cork just to make sure it wasn't here. Khusus went and checked under the bed, sheets, and pillow, but the cork was nowhere to be found.

After confirming the cork wasn't in this room, Khusus left the room to search. He wanted to check all the rooms, but he decided to avoid the kitchen for emotional reasons. He checked the old room and the the central room, but found nothing. When he got to his bedroom he found the cork on the floor under his bed.

Khusus was confused by this because his father was the only one in his room before this happened. He didn't remember a killer or someone coming in his room. Even if he was zoning out, if someone came into his room and left he would've heard it. The door would've opened and closed which both make noise even if you tried to do it stealthily. He didn't hear Youchi leave, but if he had opened and closed the door he would have. His father was the only one who could've used the goblin gas on him though.

Confused and upset, Khusus sat on his bed. 'Would my father lock me in my room, and put me to sleep?' He thought to himself. Khusus was wondering if his dad was actually a bad person when he just found out a reason why his dad wasn't the culprit. He was locked in his room.

There were two ways to lock and open his door if it was locked. 1. You use the master key which can open and lock any door in the house. 2. You can lock the door from the inside with a knob lock, but this has no effect against the master key. If the door is locked by the master key then the knob lock would be useless.

This is important because if it was his father who used the gas bottle all he had to do was open the bottle and leave with the door closed and locked. When the bottle is opened the cork will shoot off. Both the noises of the cork and the door closing would've been enough to wake him before the gas kicked in. His father also didn't take Austėja's Sheath out of the room. Youchi knew the artifact was able to bash people's heads in so he would know it is strong enough to break a door. His dad would've taken the artifact out of the room so Khusus wouldn't leave, but he didn't.

Khusus still believed his dad was the only one who could've used the gas on him because there was no way for someone to get into his room. His dad's arm contained the key. He remembered that his room had a window. Khusus went over to look at his window and saw that it was in keen condition. His window isn't a hole and has glass, his window was not broken.

After confirming that his father was the one who trapped him in his room with the gas he angrily opened the door to leave. Khusus saw the gap under the door and recognized that he didn't consider the gas seeping out. If his father opened the bottle in his room then the gas seeping out would cause him to stay alive. Khusus was disappointed that he didn't survive the gas by his own strength. He was also upset that he didn't take the gap into consideration.

Khusus remembered that his father was a person who would take everything into consideration. Youchi would have remembered about Austėja's Sheath, the noise of the bottle and door, and the gap underneath the door. If Youchi wanted Khusus to fall asleep or die then he would've found a more efficient method. Khusus tried to remember the information in the books he read about the goblin gas.

*Goblin Gas: A almost invisible poisonous sleeping gas that powerful goblins make and put into weird shaped bottles. It is opened by breaking or forcefully opening. If you breathe in a little of this gas you will fall asleep. If you continue to breathe it in you'll die or become weakened(if your strong).

Khusus reached deep into his mind and was able to recall that it takes a lot of force to pry these bottles open. His dad was left-handed and his artificial arm was his right arm. Youchi wouldn't have had enough grip on the bottle to pry of the cork and there were no tools for removing the goblin's cork.

Youchi couldn't have possibly opened the Goblin Gas. He would've broken the bottle instead. Khusus was back to phase one. After thinking for a while Khusus began to give up on finding out who did this to him. Then it it hit him. Khusus thought he was an idiot for not thinking it.

Youchi locked Khusus in his room for protection. Khusus thought his father probably heard something and searched the house causing him to lock the door. Khusus was currently coming up with the Life Value Scale. When the culprit came to the door to possibly kill him he couldn't open it because it was locked. He probably was being stealthy and decided not to break the door. The culprit opened the bottle under the door and the cork shot off under the bed. The gas came from under door and out the bottle instantly.

Since the goblin gas was opened outside of the room it wasn't loud enough to wake Khusus, and he was also too zoned out that he thought he was just in deep thought all that time. When the gas left the bottle the culprit probably for multiple reasons left the empty container on his father's bed.

Khusus had to think it over twice before believing it. There was a high possibility that it wasn't his father. He cheered up knowing his dad wasn't a bad person and decided to go back into the kitchen to see if there was any more clues to who this person was.

Youchi was still slumped over the table his hand was lying on his side and there was a lot of blood. Khusus was disgusted at the sight of this, but decided he will check his father's body. Youchi's fake arm was scratched showing that he put up a fight, however, his eye was still perfect. Khusus looked at the note Youchi wrote that said "Drawer". He flipped it over and saw there was more writhing.

"Take my artificial arm and eye, people say they're useless, but they may help you in the future. Here are the instructions on how to remove them."

Khusus thought that it would be weird to carry around an arm and an eye, but it was his father's command. He grabbed the fake eye and twisted it like the instructions said. He did the same with the arm. Khusus didn't need to worry about blood because both of these items were clean(even the eye). Reading the instructions on this paper reminded Khusus of the "If I Die" note that was in his dad's drawer.

He realized that he had not finished it so he pulled it back out of his pocket and began reading.

—You probably guessed by now that you have a sibling. You have an older sister who is probably older than twenty. She was very talented with using cosmic energy, but she didn't want the responsibilities of the family. She ran away at a young age because we tried to force her. It was the first time it happened in our history and I didn't know what to do. She began refusing after you were born, she was twelve years old. You probably don't remember her because she ran away when you were three and she was fifteen. I'm so glad you accepted the responsibilities and I hope you follow through with them. I don't believe that you should look for her, but I pm did so I don't care. Her name is Alizarin Austėja.

Khusus was upset and confused, but was happy that he wasn't an only child. It was hard to believe this because his parents were so good at hiding it, but his father wouldn't lie in this note. Khusus thought he would find this person if he got stronger in the future.

—Lastly I want you to know what to do now that I'm gone. You have an aunt who was related to your mother who lives here in Er. Her name is Vilo. You should move in with her if you are not grown. She isn't that far and I left the location attached to this note. I'm not that good at signing off so I'll just tell you that I wish the best in your life. I'm sorry that I had to go.

Khusus finished reading the note silently. When he was done he had a tears in his eyes. Not because his father died, he already got over that. He was upset because would never hear anything from his dad again. Well I guess that's the same as his father dying, but still. He was happy that this note told him the truth though. Khusus decided that he would go to Aunt's house so he would have someone to take care of him. He was about to go when a book in the drawer caught his eye...

————————————————————————————

*Cosmic Machine: A tool used to store ^pure cosmic energy. The user would absorb the energy stored inside(to heal, to strengthen, etc.). Khusus' kidnappers were trying to turn him into one because he has almost no life force.

*Pure Cosmic Energy: Cosmic energy that is not mixed with human or monster life force. This cosmic energy is stronger than plain cosmic energy.

*Don't Look For Her Body: Youchi's cosmic energy was allowing Rei's body to exist. Her body will begin to wither away if Youchi died. There will be no trace of her body except for her clothes.