Kanjori

Chapter 16: Sin of the Son

"You know Rin, maybe it's best for you to leave the forest and let me handle this cloaked person. Though you said you were also holding back during that fight, I truly don't believe that you should put yourself at risk like this."

If I could count how many times people have felt the need to protect me despite me knowing I was more than capable of protecting myself, I'd probably be able to move out and live a stable life.

It has been 4 days since our encounter with the cloaked person, and we haven't been able to find a single sign of them ever since. It's possible that they might've been scared off by the combined strengths of both Romeo and myself, however, I doubt that they're the kind to shy away from a fight.

Romeo and I continued to train and work towards getting the Heart of Crystal, while remaining alert of our surroundings, and keeping a watchful eye for the cloaked person. Things had been slightly awkward between us after that kiss, but it didn't stop him from helping me improve with my combat.

"Hey Romeo, do you think we can just forget about the cloaked person and just finished the Crystal quest?" I impatiently asked.

Romeo looked at me and frowned. "You know that I can't just do that. It's my mission assigned from my father to get rid of this threat."

"Honestly, what's the big deal about this all? I understand you guys want to protect people, but I haven't seen you guys do anything when it comes to people like Krueger."

The frown on his face quickly turned to a look of disgust, then he looked forward. "This person is far more dangerous. Sure the others cause issues with players as well, but we know exactly why they do what they do. The person we're dealing with is spontaneous and seems to have no clear goal."

I was going to reply, but I began to feel some sort of aura building up nearby. Romeo also seemed to have noticed, because he stopped walking and turned back at me.

The sun that shined so brightly above us was instantly blocked by fog that formed around us. The lifeless trees seemingly came to life as they slowly turned around, revealing faces of the damned that were filled with anguish and pain.

Romeo and I backed up into each other as the fog thickened, and we began to hear whispers.

The words "We know the sin of the son" slowly filled our ears. An overwhelming force of aura began to weigh us down, causing us to be  unable to draw our swords.

"The son who's only goal in mind was to get attention from his father. The son who's mother was the piece that he was willing to barter. The son who wanted to die a death knowing that he was a martyr."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT" Romeo yelled into the distance.

His body was visibly shaking and he trembled under the ever increasing pressure of the aura.

The whispers continued to get louder and faster, and Romeo continued to lose his cool. Phantoms emerged from within the trees and began to fly around us, also repeating the whispers we had already heard before.

The fog became darker and darker, and the air slowly became damp, and wreaked of blood. The trees began to walk in front of Romeo, and when they finally did stand before him, they'd fall over and begin to rot.

The whispers soon became screams and the aura's pressure was so heavy that I could no longer stay on my knees.

A woman walked out from underneath the rotting trees, and embraced Romeo.

"You've grown so much" she said while holding onto him.

Life drained from his skin as he began to scream in agony. His eyes shed tears of blood as the woman continued to hug him.

"PLEASE STOP THIS. PLEASE STOP THIS. YOU ARE NOT HERE. YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE HERE. YOU ARE DEAD" Romeo yelled.

Roots emerged from underneath the two of them, and began to stab the two of them, spilling blood on the ground. The lady began to laugh as the phantoms closed in on Romeo, chanting the same line over and over again.

Romeo's gut-wrenching scream filled my ears, and I began to shake as well. He was in trouble, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

The phantoms spun around faster and faster as he continued to scream. The scene before me was no longer recognizable, as the fog became so dense that I could no longer see properly. Laughter from the woman intensified, and I could hear the sound of the roots continuously stabbing into her and Romeo.

Then it all disappeared.

The laughter. The phantoms. The damned trees. The fog. The aura. The pressure. The woman. Everything was gone, except Romeo's scream.

2 cloaked people jumped out from behind a tree. One of them was holding a mage's staff, while the other crouched down with the Lazarus Dagger. All this time, there was more than one cloaked person. Everything we saw was an illusion, but the damage had already been done to Romeo.

The mage walked up to me, and looked me in the eye. Their eyes were a scarlet red, and filled with hatred.

The other cloaked person dashed towards Romeo with the Lazarus Dagger in their hand, attacking with the intent to kill........