A Man From The Past

Berry clung to Caelum as they walked back to the room. The guards were called to pick up the man and take him to the lab.

They tried to check the records, but no one knew where he was from, it was like he didn't even exist.

Berry still felt shaken up from what he witnessed, he remembered the man's bleeding mouth and he immediately became nauseous. He clasped his hands over his mouth and gagged, making Caelum stop and look at him with worry.

"Can I get to a bathroom please?"

They quickly headed to a stall just round the corner and Berry went in hurriedly, emptying his stomach in the sink.

He felt lightheaded as he did so and a bit drowsy. Caelum stood outside waiting for him, a look of worry in his face. The past few days had been quiet and he hoped it would stay that way but unfortunately…

"Are you done?" … "Do you need any help?" He received no response, only the sounds of groaning coming from inside.

Berry rinsed his mouth properly before wiping it with a dry towel. He looked at his reflection, still as porcelain as ever with hints of stress but nothing too visible.

He sighed and walked back outside, not wanting to keep Caelum waiting. "Sorry, I just felt sick", he said softly.

"It's okay, I understand, do you need Sepehr to check you?"

"No, I'm fine"

"Then let's go then"

They began walking back to the room, in a slower pace this time. Caelum spoke up, breaking the silence, "Have you ever seen that man before?".

"No but I did hear those words in my dream"

"I see, do you have any idea what it means?"

Berry shook his head, "They keep talking about a sacrifice, I don't understand".

Caelum sighed and reassured him, "we will get to the root of this, I promise".

Berry looked down at his feet,"Why are you helping me?" he asked curiously, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Because you intrigue me"

Berry raised his head to look at Caelum, "Intrigue?".

"Yes. I have never seen any Rune like you before and I have seen a lot of Runes"

He paused before continuing, "You're different, you alone can change a lot of things the world of Runes, you can make it better"

"Your power is unlike anything I have ever seen and I want to discover more of that"

Berry looked down at his feet, for some reason, he felt sad at that answer. Caelum only kept him around for his powers, probably to run tests and all that.

But what else would he even want with me? Tch! I'm just being stupid, I should be grateful that I am still alive.

Caelum noticed the shift in his demeanor but he didn't say anything about it, they just quietly walked side by side until they got to the door.

Caelum turned to Berry, gently nudging him into the room, "get some rest, I will go check in with Sepehr to see what we can find. Goodnight".

"Okay Goodnight"

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"Thank goodness you're here, we have some crazy news" Sepehr said, a sense of urgency in his voice.

"What is it?"

They walked to the front of a big screen with some documents and an ID displayed on it, the ID was that of a man and his picture was familiar.

"It's him!" Caelum exclaimed.

Sepehr nodded, "yes we found him but you're not going to believe this", he pointed to the ID, the date specifically.

"What's that?"

"Look at the date of birth"

Caelum squinted taking note of the date and then he saw it and his eyes widened, "What?? Fifty years ago?".

Sepehr nodded, "Specifically this ID was obtained fifty years ago when this man was Thirty! He got the ID as a staff in a company that got wiped out the day the Soul Eatrs came to earth"

Caelum placed a hand on his head, walking back to sit down, "wait wait wait, so you are saying that he got an ID when he was thirty as a staff in a new job"

"Yes"

"Fifty years ago?"

"Yes two weeks before the appearance of the Soul Eaters"

"Okay the ID was obtained, two weeks before the Soul Eaters came to earth?". Caelum was desperately trying to make sense of it.

"Yes"

"So the company where he worked got wiped out that day"

"Yes! And not just the company, the entire city got wiped out!"

"So how is he alive? And even if he is, why didn't he age?"

"I have no idea! A man from fifty years ago, who was supposed to be wiped out, came back here all of a sudden, and dies??"

Caelum felt like his head was going to burst, he rubbed it gently, trying to calm the raging headache he began to feel.

"What does this have to do with Berry? He said the man said the same thing he heard in this dream"

Sepehr sighed and gave a sympathetic look, "I wish I could tell you but I…I don't have the answers either".

Caelum groaned, feeling the headache grow, "okay, okay, how did you even get this information in the first place?".

"One of the women on the research team, apparently she is a newbie and a good hacker"

"A newbie?"

"Yes, she's human"

Caelum didn't say anything more, he just got up, "work with her and make sure to alert me when there's a new update".

Sepehr nodded and Caelum left the room.

His steps felt heavy as he walked down the hall, heading to the apartments area, what am I going to tell Berry?, he hated the fact that he had more questions that answers and he had no solid information that would soothe the Rune's mind.

Just then, a guard came running to him from the end of the hall, his voice urgent, "Your Majesty!!"

By the gods…

"Your Majesty!"

"I'm not around"

The guard paused, looking at him in confusion, "Your Majesty, it's the council of-"

"Tell them I am not around" He said firmly and walked past him. The guard spoke up nervously, "b…but you're right here".

Caelum glared at him and he instantly got the memo and ran back to where he came from.

The world of the star dragons had many sovereign bodies and law makers and they all did not miss a chance to make Caelum's life miserable.

Stupid pieces of- , they can't do half of what I do, yet they sit on their high chairs and make noise. 

"Burn in hell" he groaned out and walked even faster.

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Berry was sitting on the bed as usual, fiddling with one of Caelum's badges when they door opened and Caelum walked in.

He looked up with a furrowed brow, noticing the change in the atmosphere and the strange tension that came with his arrival.

"Is everything okay?"

Caelum froze as he heard Berry;s voice and he instinctively schooled his expression, trying to appear fine as usual, like he had everything under control, "Everything's fine, why aren't you resting?".

"I don't feel like sleeping"

He must still be shaken up, Caelum thought.

"But you should still try and rest, the following days might become hectic for you. I would like for us to continue your tests and try to at least find an answer to something" ,The statement came off harsher and colder than Caelum planned, and he bit his lip and closed his eyes in frustration.

"Oh…o-ok" Berry said softly, laying down on the bed, he didn't like the tone but there was nothing he could say, Caelum had the upper hand and he felt like if he made a fuss, he could be kicked out of the room.

However, Berry felt a flicker of hope when Caelum started talking"I didn't mean it like that, I-" he stopped himself from talking, "you know what? Just sleep, we continue tomorrow". Then the hope quickly vanished as the man became closed off once more.

I can't even tell what he is thinking, Berry thought.

"What about the man?"

Caelum froze up once more when he heard Berry's question, What do I tell him?, That the man was from the past and he was supposed to be dead? He was not supposed to be there? What the hell do I even say? .

"Caelum?"

"I don't know, we haven't found anything yet" he hated lying but until he found some answers, he was going to have to keep Berry in the dark, to keep him from stressing out even more.

"Oh…I see"

"Get some sleep Berry"

"Okay, goodnight"

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"Everything is going according to plan my lord, we are slowly infiltrating the private circle, a mysterious event happened today that caused us to have an opening" The servant said, bowing his head in reverence to his master.

The man on the couch chuckled darkly, "I see…Well Done, soon we shall have the upper hand".