Chapter 23 - The Crystal Ball

"Are you saying that the King that was in your story… is me?" Marcus raised an eyebrow after the sister finished speaking. He crossed his arms in disbelief.

"That is correct. You are the Gatekeeper. That was the title our King had often referred to himself as. You may be either his descendent or his reincarnation." She confirmed, nodding her head.

"And you believe this too?" Marcus turned to the brother.

"I have no reason to believe it's a lie." He shrugged in reply. "But even if you're not the King that we remember. You have still been bestowed the title and powers of the King, although you do seem a bit too weak to be able to lead us anywhere." He frowned, eyeing Marcus up.

"What if I refuse? What if I refuse to become your leader or 'King'." Marcus stated, glancing at their expressions, "I refuse to betray my friends and fami-"

He slightly hesitated as he suddenly remembered the reason he was here in the first place. His father. He was betrayed by his own father. He couldn't return back home even if he wanted to.

"I'll give you some time to think about it." The sister gave a slight bow before glancing over to her brother and giving him a small nod then making her way past the both of them.

"What my sister forgot to mention in that story of hers was that this dimension we're trapped in isn't just any separate dimension created by the King. It is the most secure one he made. The main control room. The King's Gate." The brother suddenly revealed, sitting down on one of the benches. "This dimension is only accessible to my sister and I, and the King himself."

"Why?" Marcus looked over at him, "What's so special about the Throne Room?"

The brother hesitated before crossing his arms, "You'll find that out once you've made up your mind." He replied, getting up from his seat and walking out the direction his sister had left.

'[Status Check]' Marcus cast the spell, directing it at the brother.

Status:-

Name: N/A

Age: 67,291

Occupation: Gate's Caretaker

Title: The Caretaker (Ranked: SS)

Class: Flame Manipulator

Level: 299

HP: 300,000/300,000

MP: 100,000/ 100,000

STR: 60,000

INT: 10,000

VIT: 30,000

AGI: 20,000

RES: 400

LUK: 100

Skills:-

Flame Manipulation: (Lvl MAX)

MP Cost: 10 MP

Mannequins's Soul: (Lvl 1)

MP Cost: None

His stats were almost identical to that of his sister, not that it surprised Marcus much.

Right now he had no idea what to do. Should he return back home where it was most likely he would either be locked up or killed on sight, or become the traitor his father and the rest of the officials had thought he was.

Neither seemed to be a viable option to him as he racked his brain.

While he could remain here until all the fire died down and is presumed dead, the responsibility and pressure of leading and commanding a group of non-human beings was quite daunting.

"Have you made up your mind?" A voice interrupted his thoughts, causing him to look up to see the sister standing before him with a large crystal ball held in her hands.

"This is a viewing crystal. When you cast your mind to a specific place you wish to see, you'd be able to view it live on this ball." She explained, carefully handing it over to Marcus. "If you wish to check up on your family, you should do it now."

Gratefully accepting the crystal ball, he hesitantly placed it before him, tapping the smooth glass surface nervously.

'My house,' He thought, casting his mind to the location of his house, and very quickly, the foggy white of the ball slowly become clear, the image of his apartment complex slowly formed before him, the view displaying from top-down.

'Go inside.' He commanded, allowing the screen to zoom into the house. However, the image displayed next shook him to his core, his fingers tensing as he tried to make out what he was seeing.

Inside the house, the sight of broken window shards and rocks littered the living room. The once clean and well-maintained walls had become black with graffiti. Hundreds of graffiti of threats, all screaming for the Elori family to kill themselves and how they were the traitors of the human race.

"What-?" Marcus exclaimed, roaming the camera around in dismay. His own bedroom had become boarded up while his sister's room was in complete disarray. The desk has been flipped upside down while the bed looked as if thrown across the room.

"There's a person." He was suddenly interrupted, the sister pointing at a figure standing in the bathroom.

"Mum!" Marcus saw his mother crying in front of the mirror, dressing in all-black formal attire.

"What in the world is going on?" Marcus muttered, before noticing a piece of paper crinkled on the bathroom counter. A letter. A divorce letter.

"No way," He muttered. His parents had been happily married for over 30 years. Why are they suddenly getting a divorce? He continued to roam the screen around, finally noticing the nail in the coffin. A framed picture sitting beside a small box of incense on the dining room table.

"No. There's no way. It can't be-" Marcus' eyes widened, his hands letting go of the crystal, causing it to drop to the ground and shatter into a thousand tiny pieces.

"What's wrong?" The white-haired girl's confused look appeared in his vision as tears began running down his eyes, that last image sinking in.

"S-she's dead…" He muttered, clenching his head.

"Who's dead?"

"M-My sister…S-Sarah…" Marcus stuttered out, "W-Why? She was only 20. H-How did she die?"

The girl pulled Marcus close, giving him a tight hug as he cried it out.

"Do you wish to find out her cause of death?" She whispered, patting Marcus on the back, her eyes staring ahead at her brother who stood emotionally by a distant pillar.

Marcus gave a small shivering nod, "How did she die? Was it my fault? Was I the reason she's dead?"

The girl let out a small sigh, "It's not your fault. All you have to do is simply command us. We are servants at your disposal. Anything requests, errands missions, we will follow your every word. All you have to do in return is remain and become our King. Is that a good deal?" She let out a small smile, as she finished speaking.

"I need to know. Tell me! Did she die because of me?" Marcus shouted in desperation, no longer caring about himself and glaring up at the sister sitting beside him, his eyes blurred and red from the tears.

"Do I take that as a deal?" She confirmed calmly.

"Yes. I'd do anything. Just tell me!" Marcus' patience exploded as the guilt trapped within him became too much for him to handle.

A slight frown appeared on the brother's lips as for a split second before he suddenly stepped forward.

"After her friends found out that her brother was a traitor to the human race, they confronted her about your whereabouts, but after receiving no reply, they had enough and drove a spear through her. What more, they refused to honour her death by giving her a proper burial, and instead disposed of her body at a landfill." He explained.

"S-So it was my fault?" Marcus muttered, his eyes slowly becoming lost and distant.

"No. It's not your fault." The brother suddenly interrupted, "Everything. Everything was the fault of those human friends of hers. They were the ones pressuring her, harassing her, and bullying her until she felt she could no longer take it anymore. They were the ones who trashed the home you lived in. Ruined your parent's relationship." He continued, pushing every single problem onto the friends of Sarah. "They were the ones who killed your sister, whilst everyone else just watched. Bystanders. They betrayed the trust she gave them. Turning their back on her the moment it convinced them."

"They killed my sister…." Marcus muttered, his mind desperately grasping onto any last hopes or reasonings to vent his sorrow and anger. "They were the ones who killed my sister."

Suddenly a cold chill blew past the group as Marcus' mind delve deeper and deeper into the darkness. His mind slowly becoming engulfed in the thoughts of revenge.

"I'll kill them." He gritted his teeth, raising his head up slowly, "I'll kill them all."

Unbeknownst to him, a rising smirk could be seen creeping up from the sibling's face as they watched him slowly surrendering to the darkness, to the tempting murmurous thoughts.

The sister glanced up at her brother once more, but this time silently mouthing two words - It's time.