Chapter 70: To Know

"B-b-b–" stutters Dara as he rushes towards his brother, trying to hug him.

Yet, his arms pass right through Daki.

"B-bro–" holding back tears, he attempts to get ahold of Daki over and over again, yet his hands only pass through each time.

"Dara," calls Daki and Dara stops, looking at his brother's face.

"By the time you see this message . . . you will probably know what's become of me," Daki sits on nothing in that blank space, and clasps his hands together.

"I . . . I am sorry. I do not expect your forgiveness for breaking our promise . . . but I want you to know that . . . almost everything I did was to protect you, and to that end, I will march beyond death despite what you think. And what I am about to share with you is a piece of doing so, I will now instill within you my thoughts and give you greater context to what I think is going on,"

Dara sits cross-legged and pays attention, listening intently.

"First of all, the reason for resorting to this method of communication is because it seems that my connection with you has been cut or blocked by the game. So, instead, I'll encrypt a message till after the game is over. As for how this is happening, it's because of the powers of a pilot you don't know of. In fact, no one does, not even the team she is with. That's because . . . that's because during my years in service, I have assembled a team of pilots in secret that operate in the background. They have multiple disguises, paperwork, and names. And they ensure no trail of the role they played is left behind after the job is complete," Daki scratches his head.

"They don't even know about each other's original identities, powers, physical looks, or names. They refer to each other with code names if they ever meet on a mission and I ensure both parties are disguised if they meet. If you ever choose to utilize them, make sure it remains so, because the only two people that know such information about each and every one of them are Tahara and I,"

Dara raises an eyebrow, staring at his brother.

"However, now that I am gone, you will have to take the lead and operate them. The reason I am telling you all this is because I need you to deliver a message to Tahara. I suspect one . . . or perhaps multiple of them are . . . traitors. Memorize the names, looks, disguises, and codes I am about to say to heart, as I will mention them only once,"

. . .

"And finally," says Daki, "Code: 22, her real name is Ivy, and her powers, well . . . you are experiencing them right now, everyone has their own code given from her typewriter and then **********************************. Her powers are most vital right now. Her base of operations at the moment is with Tahara, in the garden of the Mother of Mercy,"

"I have fewer suspicions about her being the imposter because she is next to Tahara, and while Tahara doesn't control Mercy, if an enemy was this close to Tahara, I think Mercy would have done something about it by now. But . . . I am not sure . . . as Mercy operates in ways beyond what I comprehend many times. Furthermore, I don't think she has room to breathe if she was a traitor because of her position," Daki pauses, "However . . . still, remain vigilant."

"Now that you know about them . . . next up is the reason why I sent you on a solo flight," he sighs, his eyes filled with sorrow.

"The whole issue started with the supposed kidnapping of one of our brothers, my best friend . . . Sheehan. However, what confused me is that he hadn't built equipment for combat, but the event happened on the Rope which is the safest place. But if that was the case . . . then how is it possible because Sheehan disliked fighting and had never built a weapon with his knowledge, not even for his self-defense . . . so how? How did this happen? How is it that he just . . . disappeared?"

He shakes his head, "I got a report from several undercover agents in the Castle that witnessed him walking in the Castle with image and some video evidence . . . he seemed to be cuffed and surrounded by a group of people led by the person we have come to find out is named Zahtan . . . but they lost track of them! They just . . . disappeared, according to the reports. Where did this person come from? I had never heard of him!"

"And things just kept pilling on . . . I didn't even allow any kind of technological communication when it came to the regards of this secret mission, because I saw that they had advanced equipment and machines . . . the kind only someone like Sheehan could construct," he admits grimly, rubbing his neck.

"So, I couldn't risk them having something to detect our communication and our next step, the construction of a machine to detect the communicative powers of a pilot is impossible due to the lack of the existence of the materials. While I felt like it allowed me to make some progress. We later discovered the existence of level 0 which . . . is . . . where I am now . . . I think it was a trap . . . to lure me in . . . I think I was the target for all of this,"

"The entire experience has been unreal to me, I am left flabbergasted," Daki rubs his face, "Whoever this Zahtan person was, he turned out to be far more competent and prepared than what I have dealt with before. He parried every move I made perfectly, as if he saw it coming. And even when I felt like . . . never mind,"

"Anyways, then I came into this game, thinking my friend left me a way to reach him, that he had somehow slipped an end for me to hold onto to reach him . . . to save him . . . but no, things are far more out of my control and worse than I thought . . . when Zahtan came into the game himself, and we had the question game . . . he answered every single one. He didn't use any of his refusals, it's as if he was telling me, 'no matter what you know, you will never defeat me', he was rubbing it in my face, and don't even get me started about One," groaned Daki, "That's a whole another story I will tell you about in a bit, but this much is clear, that when I accepted it, the only flow of logic here is that . . . the only thing consistent . . . is the abnormal,"

"So, as I was having my last meal, I started thinking . . . disappeared out of nowhere?" he muses, rubbing his chin, "And also the person who can construct the weapons and the game. At first, I thought he is probably getting blackmailed and forced into the creations somehow . . . I admit I had purposefully blinded myself to that idea. I should have asked Zahtan the question . . . we had become so close and known each other for so long that it didn't even come to mind to ask . . . is Sheehan on Zahtan's side? Is Sheehan also an imposter? Was he always on the enemy's side? I had tested if teleportation was possible in game, and it was," he nodded. "As long as I used a device that was made in game,"

"But that got me thinking that if I could do this in game, certainly he could make it outside of it . . . it is a possible explanation for how he just disappeared from the Rope and reached the Castle, and how we lost track of them somewhere on this Castle. Is a teleportation device something that . . . they might use to get back to the Rope? Is their base of operations actually on the Rope? This is why I told Adora, and I am telling you to inform everyone you meet that knows of the mission, from now on, we treat Sheehan as an enemy and he is to be captured for investigation,"

Daki shakes his head, "Even saying these words, I am in disbelief . . . are these the rambles of a man driven mad as he nears death? I hope it is the case . . . I would rather that than Sheehan actually being a traitor,"

Dara sits in silence, absorbing all the new knowledge he's receiving.

Daki sighs, "Now, I would normally tell you to run away and stay out of danger. But it seems to be the scale of things is so big that my best bet is to give you the information so that you can stop this. I'll tell you about One, Zahtan, The shell of the First Pilot, The Author and . . . my only other encounter with someone other than you mentioning The Creator,"

Dara looks up in surprise at the mention of the last one.

. . .

"That's all I have for you . . . but make sure to not take what I am about to tell you as is, adapt it to a new perspective and ideas you find to be more fitting accordingly . . . I might be wrong," Daki shrugs.

He raises a finger, "One last request, if Adora failed her quest, please say to her . . . from me, and this is for you as well . . ." Daki's head lowers as he clasps his hands together, fiddling with his thumbs and fidgeting with his leg.

Drip, drip, drip.

Tears drip off Daki's downcast face, "I am sorry I–"

No longer able to hold back at his brother's words and state, Dara's self-control shatters and tears run down his face as the message ends.

Unlike him, only mere seconds have passed to those around him as Dara looks at Adora.

"I-I-I am s-sorry I-I-I failed y-you . . ." he says.

Adora stares at him as she understands what Daki's last words to her are.