Etched It In Your Soul

[Aero Vermilion]

"*************?"

"*************?"

"Yes, administrator. Anyone with that title holds the highest authority over other Admins. At that point in time, I also did not know the significance of that title yet…"

—

"Administrator?" I tilted my head.

"Yes, administrator. Anyone with that title holds the highest authority over other Admins. Currently that title was owned by someone named Raphael. He controls how the world moves from the 10th world."

"The 10th world? You're kidding right? I thought the highest possible living world was the 5th world."

He knelt beside me, "There's so much that the masses did not know. I also want to know why he did this kind of thing."

He placed his hand on Jack's blueish forehead.

"There's no doubt that this is his work."

He then put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Aero…" with a solemn voice.

"What happened that day?" he asked. "I want you to recount what happened that day in the 5th world."

From how he was saying things, this Raphael guy was also responsible for my stranding here in The Mine. 'That day'' that Master asked must have referred to some dates one month back that happened before I came here. Unfortunately…

"I, myself, would like to know what happened too. I had hoped that you know a thing or two but from the looks of it you are also in the dark."

"You can't remember a thing? Not even anything? Something?!" Master pushed with urgency in his voice.

I could only helplessly shake my head in defeat. While he was still contemplating something with furrowed brows, I stood up and walked to the monolith.

Its exterior still shines albeit splashes of blood here and there. Cold to the touch. I thought this Raphael guy must have a hearth as cold as this monolith.

I do not think there would ever be a human ruthless enough to do things that he did. Then again, as Master said, there was so much the masses did not know.

Among those so called masses, I would be included without exception.

Heck, what I know now would be less than what normal people know. I did not know if I would ever get my memory back or if they were permanently lost.

The worst case scenario was, what if I didn't even have any memories to begin with. Like this place was my true beginning. But that was impossible, right? How could someone start his life out of nowhere? Each one of us had our own origin that we could call our beginning.

So what was my beginning?

"That's it!" Master exclaimed while slapping his forehead. It seemed like he had found something.

"What?"

"This is still The Mine. That's stupid. We won't get any job done as long as we remain here."

"What's that got to do with my memories?"

Out of nowhere, the ground around Jack's body shone with black light. I know black and light did not belong together but that was what happened.

"It has started it seems," Master said, taking a couple of step back.

"The burial?"

"You could call it that. But I should tell you now, what you call a burial is for humans or things with a fleshy body."

"You are saying that now Jack doesn't have a fleshy body, he doesn't deserve a proper burial," I asked while still looking ahead at Jack.

The black light seemed to crawl out of the ground, growing like branching trees.

"That's not for me to decide. I was just telling you who burial was meant for. The system will decide whether Jack's falls under that category or not and…"

Master pause was justified. Those branches of black light had fully emerged from the ground in the form of black shadowy hands. I couldn't even move from my place when those hands grabbed Jack's from below like some predator clenching his victim in his mouth.

They seemed… rough. And inhumane. They were swift. In just a blink of an eye, Jack was no more in front of us. Those hands had dragged him to who knows where.

But from Master's words, it wasn't someplace beautiful.

I could only clench my teeth and hands in silence.

'Why?'

"It wasn't your fault more than it wasn't mine. That is just how things were written to work. The system works as the Administrator wills it."

Master seemed to read my mind blaming myself again. Even so, what you feel cannot be overwritten by mere words. There weren't any misunderstandings. Master had said it again and again.

The main culprit is the Administrator.

Even so, the guilt gripping my heart won't let go. That bitter feeling clenching my stomach won't leave me. That hard saliva stuck between my throat. Watching a fellow human, a victim of the situation no less, being treated in such a way… it would be hard to forget them.

"Then, you don't have to forget them."

Master slowly walked towards me. His steps were heavy. I don't even need to look him in the eye to know what he feels right now. He would feel no sweater emotions than me.

"Remember this scene. Etched it in your soul," he arrived in front of me. He grabbed my hand and said, "These hands of yours that had taken his life, remember it. That sensation when you pushed that pickaxe through his body. The warmth of his blood as it dripped on your hands. The weight of his body as he falls on you. Remember them all."

Hearing Master describing the scene like he was there, something inside me broke. This guy must have had his fill of this kind of experience. While I do want to sympathize with what he had gone through, when he said those words, I couldn't help but to recount that moment myself.

Sobbing sounds were the only reply that I could offer him. My head faced the ground, my body flopped like a freshly cut string puppet. Master still had my hands in his. If not for his support, maybe I had kissed the earth long ago.

"As sad and heart wrenching as it may be, you should never forget them. You're the only one by his side in his last moment. You're the only one who will remember him for his tears instead of his bloody hands. Nobody and nobody else could carry this memory but you, Aero Vermilion."

Master was telling the truth. However bitter this memory is, only I could shoulder it. Only I could carry his last will. The will to live. The reluctance to die.

And so…

"I must… move on," I swallowed hard my last tears. "I will keep becoming stronger until I have that guy beneath my feet, regretting every single thing he has done to these people."

"Hahaha," Master chuckled as he knelt down and wiped my teary eyes with a handkerchief. "That's a Vermilion for you. Though you are too soft for your own good."

"..."

"That's a pair of good, strong eyes you got there. It could use a little less swelling though."

"Enough with the jokes. I'm okay."

"Of course you are. After all that tears you bawled out, it would be weird if you aren't," Master chuckled.

'This guy is really infuriating!'

"Okay, okay. That's enough for now. I already had my fill. It wasn't a waste coming here after all."

"You seemed to be enjoying others' sadness. Do you and the Administrator have the same personality or something?"

"Hahaha. It's not like I enjoyed others' sadness. It was such a rare occurrence you know. A Vermilion wailing in tears, grieving for the one who attacked him no less."

"I know that you come from the outside world. And you seem to know a whole lot about my family. Either way, earlier you said that we should get out of here first, right? Did it have anything to do with my memory?"

I had asked this question earlier and we were interrupted by Jack's 'sudden burial.'

"Of course. Say, do you want to know what happened that day? You have lost all your memories, right? You must be itching to know the truth."

I only nod to his barrage of questions.

"Then your quest must have tasked you to escape this place?"

"How do you know that?"

'Wait! Can this guy read other people's quest too?'

"Of course not. But it was only logical to think that your quest would have something along those lines. Escape, find a way out, or exit The Mine."

"Why so?" I tilted my head.

"Well, because your desire is to get your memory back," he said with a matter-of-fact tone.

"So you mean to say…"

'It can't be, right?"

"Yes. The Mine has the trait of blocking Outlander's memories."