Ringer

"Wait!" Zuriel says, showing his palms in submission. "He's lying to you," he says with a nervous grin.

"WHAT?!!" I exclaim as well as the All-Seer.

It was a surprisingly idiotic lie coming from him! No one is gonna believe that. He just made things worse for us!

"What the hell are you doing?" I whisper to him.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"You could've at least delivered it well!"

The boy asks the All-Seer, "You are?"

I can't believe he's buying it! What the hell?!

Zuriel is chuckling nervously and sighs. "Thank goodness he's a simpleton," he whispers to me.

The boy turns toward us, probably heard that. Oh, crap. . .

"Hey, I'm not!" he complains. His upper lips are reaching the bottom of his nose as he is upset.

"Yes, you are," Zuriel provokes him even more. "You're letting that pathetic guy fool you."

"What?!" the All-Seer reacts violently. "No, he's the enemy! Kill him!"

"That would be a foolish move, my boy."

"Don't listen to him!"

Oh, it looks like the boy is listening to him. What the hell?

He looks at us one by one and I couldn't help but look away for I might look like a threat to him. Then he looks to the side. It's like someone is whispering to him.

"Understood, Boss," he says and then faces the All-Seer. "Boss said you have to die."

With widened eyes, the All-Seer swallows in fear that turned into desperation a second later. "We still have a deal!"

"He said, the deal's off."

"No, I'll pay double! Just give me more time and I'll get the money!"

"The CTO doesn't make a deal with weak men."

Walking backward, the All-Seer shakes his head while saying, "No, no, no, NO!!!! ARGH!!!"

He runs away but the boy summons a red chain made out of magic. The chain wraps him and pulls him back. All the while, the boy already has his fist imbued with red-colored magic. He punches the All-Seer and the impact lets out a blinding flash of light.

. . .

Soon after that, I hear people screaming, glass shattering, and sirens wailing. I open my eyes and sit up only to see a huge wedge of the city up to the shore of the island reduced to nothing. It's as if a meteorite crashed in here. What exactly happened? I don't remember.

I look for Zuriel but my vision is still blurry. It clears up a little and I see his silhouette talking to the boy as the fire is raging behind them. I don't care to find out what they're talking about because I'm too tired to even stand up.

If I remember. . . this is the first time I failed a quest. But does it matter? A little bit. Because I came here to gain knowledge about my daughter's power. How am I going to tell her now? All I could say is sorry.

"We need an Anthropa like you in the CTO," says someone in front of me. I could only see his knees. I look up and see that it's the boy from earlier. "Join us."

He shows his hand to me. What do I do with that? Spit on it?

Anyway, I can't join him. That group sounds like a bunch of people doing shady dealings and atrocities such as this destruction. Thousands of people died. I can hear their cries of agony.

I shake my head.

"You will join us whether you like it or not!" He's pulling my shirt, almost tearing it apart.

"Are you sure that's what your boss wants?" Zuriel asks. "He's weak. I thought the CTO doesn't need weak men."

"But he's an Anthropa. We're gonna need him!"

"You better leave him here or risk being scolded by your boss for giving him a useless thing."

"Tch!"

He finally lets go of me. I can now breathe well. Zuriel helps me stand up and the boy is nowhere to be found now.

"Who was he?" I ask as we walk to a safer distance from the burning and collapsing buildings.

"One of the CTO collectors. He and others do the dirty jobs for that organization. I never expected one of them would show up." He chuckles. "Now, I personally witnessed what the Ringers are capable of." He gestures at the destruction behind us. "We'll need at least ten thousand years to get strong as them." Then he mutters, "This is like Queen Zaori's power."

"What happened to the All-Seer?"

"Apparently, they killed him because of a debt he can't pay. The worst part is that I failed to acquire his juicy memory. But the best part is that I managed to make a deal with that boy to acquire the grimoire that's related to your daughter's power." He summons it from his inventory. "Thank me later."

It's a very large book decorated with pink stones much like what Helena's powers look like. I can't open it.

"Only your daughter can open it," he says after I tried.

"I need to get back to her. How about you?"

"I have no idea where to go. I guess I'll stick around with you until I figure it out."

"Just don't cause me any more trouble."

"I'd never!" He sounds sarcastic.

"I'm serious. You'll put Zaori's daughter in danger."

"What did you say?" he asks, sounding serious and a bit surprised.

"You'll put my daughter in danger."

"I mean, who's her mother?"

"Zaori, of course."

"WHAT?!!!" he exclaims at my face, hurting my ears. He grabs the sides of my shoulders and shakes me back and forth. "Tell me you're kidding!"

"I'm not! And. . . stop that!" I remove his hands away from me.

"No. . .," he mutters, sounding defeated. . On the ground he kneels. "I lost. . . to you?" He's in tears as he looks up at me and grabs onto my pants.

"What are you doing? Let me go and stand up!"

"No one has ever done that! Not even us—her husbands! How did you tame her?"

"I don't know! It just happened. Now, let go of me!" I'm out of his clutches now. *Sigh* I leave him there on my way to the apartment.

"I will never forget this!" he cries like an upset child as he runs away.

What the hell? Why is he so upset about this? I know I wouldn't even care a single bit if he's the one Zaori chose to be the father of her child.

Later, I'm dumbfounded as I'm in the middle of the decimated part of the island. As I recall, this is where the apartment we rented stood. Now, everything is gone. I'm among those who are searching through the debris. Some of them are searching for their loved ones like me and some of them are scavenging things that they can still use.

"No. . .," is all I could mutter as I sit on a broken wall. "I should've been here. If I was, I could've saved them."

As soon as a tear sheds from my eye, pink rays of light burst out of the ground beneath me. Then out it comes—the barrier that Helena can summon. I'm on top of it and my tears just gush out as I see Helena inside it as well as Nisha. They're fine!

"HELENA!!!" I cry out. "NISHA!!! You're both fine!"

"Papa!" Helena calls me with a wide smile on her face.

"Cancer!" Nisha says worryingly.

Helena disables the barrier and I fall face-first on the debris-ridden ground. Both of them hug me. I hold them tight.

"I thought I lost both of you," I tell them but wish I could say more meaningful words than that.

"Where have you gone?" Nisha asks. "What happened?"

"It's a long story."

"Very long, actually. You've been gone for almost a week, you know!" She's upset, pinching my ear.

"Ow!" I cry out in pain but couldn't help but feel glad that she's worried about me.

But, "I'm sorry if I worried both of you." I put my hand on their cheeks. "My girls."

Nisha gasps, looking to the side while Helena jumps on me.

"You're unusually cheerful, Helena," I remark. "What's up?"

"I had fun in a playground!"

"Playground? Oh, uh, I'm sorry if it got destroyed after—"

Nisha is shaking her head. "We were in a domain the entire time," she explains. "I don't even know how she did it. It started when someone sent her toys that looked suspicious."

"Zuriel. . .," I mutter.

"Who?"

"Never mind, I'll explain to you later. Let's get out of here."

I carry Helena as we walk. She's playing with her dolls and talks to me about how fun it was inside that "domain". Thank goodness it wasn't dangerous. That Zuriel really is pulling my leg with everything he does.

"So," says Nisha. "have you found anything about Helena's powers?"

"I'm sorry. I failed."

"Why?"

I tell her everything that happened until we are finally out of the large wedge crater. My feet finally can rest on this firm solid ground.

"I can't believe you did all of that!" she exclaims in worry. "You could've asked for my help."

"What about Helena then? Who will watch over her? It was very dangerous, Nisha. There were times that I nearly died."

"And you didn't even send a message to at least let me know."

"I forgot, okay? Besides, I didn't want you to worry."

"Whatever. . ." She rolls her eyes.

Helena fell asleep because of boredom. We find a new place to stay and the rewards I reaped from that failed quest are instantly spent on this small apartment. *Sigh* How am I gonna buy new weapons and upgrade my skills now?

While Helena is asleep, I let Nisha drink my blood. I'm behind her as we sit on the floor. I rest my face against her back. She smells so feminine unlike me that always has a sweaty smell.

She's moving sensually, rubbing her skin against my nose and lips. Then my face ended up on the side of her neck. I can't help but taste her there. My chest is beating fast, I can't calm my breath. She's breathing hard too, excited as I am.