CHAPTER 242

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A quick reminder for everyone, Corn, your sexy writer, likes to misguide you all. So, who knows what theories are true, only that I like to toy around various threads only leaving one in the end.

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I looked at Ara and frowned, I barely knew him, and he was giving me nicknames? 

Seeing my face, he chuckled, tilting his head ponderously, "Not in the nickname stage I assume," he smiled, "No matter, we can work with that."

"Who are you?" I said, repeating my previous question, tired of this play and run, his constant jokes and other annoying habits.

"Hmm, well, that's a hard question to answer," Ara sighed, taking a seat on my desk, right hand on his chin.

Vest sighed, giving me a sad look, "It's not that we don't want to answer, we can't. Not entirely, at least, and that has nothing to do with you, believe me, there's nothing in this world that I wouldn't give to answer you, truthfully, but things are at play, and answering your question could… break the veil we are trying so hard to maintain, at least until we find a way to break it without shattering a part of what we seek to preserve."

A veil? Of what? 

I frowned, going over what she had said, trying to break down the information into something I could understand. There was a lot to unpack there, her words had been vague, but had a lot of meaning in them. 

"Long story short, we are not from here, if you catch my drift," Ara sighed, his hands running down his hair, and I think for the first time since I have met him, he didn't look overly happy, but instead looked concerned.

"Where are you from? Another timeline?" I asked, pushing the subject.

"You could say," He nodded.

Another vague answer.

"Is anything I know about you two even true?" I asked, taking a deep breath.

"Part of it," Vest replied, walking towards Ara, her shape changing to that of a woman.

I should've seen it coming.

"Our names are a lie," Ara chuckled, giving Vest a look that immediately gave away he wasn't her father.

"Why?" I asked.

"The veil we are trying not to break, it's quite fragile," Ara replied, "I mean, we want to break it, but not until we find a… safe way to remove certain things, because once that veil comes down, everything else comes down with it."

"What's the veil?" I asked, the subject having peaked my interest.

"We can't answer that kiddo," Ara sighed, giving a small smile, one that carried a lot of emotions.

I frowned.

"We really want to answer," Vest muttered, getting a hold of Ara's hand, "But, we have to avoid triggering any events that might lead to the veil breaking before it's time."

"And talking to me about it… will do just that?" I sighed.

"Yes, any talk too specific about it can fuck our entire operation," Ara nodded.

"Ad-Ara!" Vest scolded at him, for a moment, almost calling him something else.

"Ad-ara?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well… that's," Vest muttered, seemingly trying to find a way to fix something.

"My name," Ara smiled, giving Vest a warm look, "Adara, that's my name, for the time being that is."

I sighed, "What can I know about you two then?"

"That we mean no harm," Vest stated without a hint of a lie in her words.

"We are simply trying to fix something," Ara, or Adara, nodded, "Nothing more, you know it to be true, don't you?"

He was right, while I wasn't sure why I believed them, I did, their words carried a weight of honesty I simply couldn't ignore, even with all the secrecy behind it, I just couldn't help but trust their words.

"You are right," I nodded, creating a beer, "I don't know why, or how for that matter, but I believe the two of you. Maybe I'm just being manipulated, you two feel, or seem to be stronger than me, and considering the things I have seen in my life, no possibility it's too absurd, but even then… I choose to believe you are not playing with me, not in that way at the very least."

"We would never," Vest promised.

"Nonetheless, while I trust your words that you mean no harm, I will not allow you two to keep lying to my children," I stated, giving them a firm look, "Whatever your goal is, I respect it, but they will not be a part of your games, I hope that is absolutely clear."

"Crystal," Adara smiled, "In fact, we wanted to propose something."

A proposition?:

"What?" I asked, bringing my hands together.

"We can't interfere with anything in a… fundamental sense," Adara said, "We are not sure what can break the veil, or not. Yet, but, after a lot of trial and error, I have come to understand the limits of what I can do, without messing with my main objective."

"The point being?" I asked.

"We wish to protect your children," Vest replied, making me frown, "I know you don't trust us, at least not that much, you trust our intentions, but know nothing about us, but… we want to help, to the best of our abilities."

"Had we a choice, we would kill that little pest you are about to face," Adara chuckled, "But, like I said earlier, we have to keep our interference to a minimum, at least for now."

"But while we can't deal with Knull, for fear of damaging what we seek to preserve, we can protect what you love most," Vest said, her eyes gleaming with unwavering determination.

They considered Knull a little pest, which meant, my gut feeling was right on the money, these two were strong, very strong, that only made their motives all the more interesting.

They wanted to break a veil, yet preserve something, but what was that veil, and what did they seek to preserve, and how was I involved in it? I was no fool, I knew I had a part to play in their quest, yet, what part that was, eluded me.

Now, they were offering me the deal of the century, protection for those who I love the most, but at what cost?

Did I really trust them enough to put my treasures in their hands?

Or more importantly, did I really have a choice?

I could reject them. Face this problem on my own, find a way to keep them safe without any external dubious help. But would that actually keep them safe at all?

Even if I found a way to keep Knull away from them.

These two were on an entirely different level.

I had no means to stop them should they want to be around the girls.

Not now.

Meaning the real question was, did I want them to be around them with my permission, or without it?

I chuckled, no matter how I looked at their offer, even with all the downs it brought, it was too good to pass out on it, "Why would you do that?"

"Why would we not?" Adara replied, giving me a smile

I sighed returning the smile, inwardly chuckling at his response, after all, I had expected as much.

"We will keep them safe, no matter what," Vest stated, once again, using that tone that simply made me feel she was to be trusted.

"What if keeping them safe, eventually breaks your precious veil," I challenged, even if I trusted them for whatever reason, I had to ask the right questions, based on what little I had gathered about them, which was, their mission was to keep the veil.

A veil they seemed invested in keeping for the moment being for the sake of preserving something they wanted. So my question was, what if keeping Emily and Nat safe comprised their mission.

"That's a very good question kiddo. I like how you play around the edges of what we told you, very clever." Adara chuckled, a sad overtone lacing his entire body, "So to answer your question, if that came to happen, I suppose our mission would come to an end."

"While keeping the veil is our top priority right now, and there's nothing more that we would like than to avoid shattering it, we won't forsake your daughters for the sake of our mission," Vest smiled, the same sad overtone taking over her, just like Adara. "We promise you that much."

These two, no matter how much I played around what I knew about them, they kept putting me on a new loop.

"Very well then," I sighed, standing up. "I will entrust you two with my life, for in them, it lays my heart and soul, so don't betray me."

"We would never," Vest replied without a second thought.

I smiled, "I truly believe you wouldn't, but if you do, make sure to kill me first. Because I will stop at nothing to avenge them if push comes to shove."

"Edgy, but I respect it," Adara smiled.

"You really don't know when to joke, and when not, right?" I asked, giving him a tired look.

"Kid, I have one gear, and one gear only, deal with it," Adara winked.