Corrupted Civilization

Chapter 23

Kronii hid herself in Mumei's secret room in the council library, she was catching her breath, since her energy wasn't restored yet. The warden sat down, thinking about the one long dream she had before waking up. Kronii thought how the illusion she created of Mumei mentioned the regret of the kiss. The warden wondered why, but no matter how she looked at it, it was only a matter of time for her to find out. After she rested for almost an hour in silence, she realized something...fear rose up and she looked around herself.

"Oh no...where's my armor ? Where's my stuff ?", Kronii asked to herself panicky, someone removed everything from her, which meant...everything was gone and she had to face everyone. It was a hard decision, since she heard Fauna's aggressive voice from the room she was at hours ago, so the keeper of nature was surely very mad at the warden. It took Kronii a good time to think about her next decision, and yet she decided with the most simple decision of them all...going back and ask, avoiding Fauna at all cost. Even if Kronii felt better, she still was weak from the insufficient energy she had inside her body. As she walked outside the library, she tried so hard to not make any noise on the hallways of the council place...but failed. Suddenly Kronii fell as she saw how plant strings were around her feet.

"Found you, Kronii", said Fauna behind the warden, her face showed the smug grin, but the eyes of a psychopath. Kronii feared this side of Fauna, the keeper was always scared whenever Fauna had those eyes in front of everyone, but she feared the most when that smug smile was on her lips.

"I want you to stop time, so we can talk in private", ordered Fauna, calling for help wouldn't be any use as she could isolate both of them without anyone hindering her. Kronii did as Fauna commanded and so did time stop for as long as the warden could endure with her low energy.

"Now, we can chat in the meantime", Fauna thought, only when time stopped, thoughts could be heard by everyone alive in it, since voice wouldn't work as vibrations from the voice, any sound couldn't been heard in a void as physics explained.

"What do you want Fauna ?", thought Kronii, her eyes turned from fear to highly serious. Her wrists were tied too, no way for the warden to escape.

"So first thing, why did you leave without talking to us ?"

"Can't someone like me have privacy ?"

"Well yes, but you are still not fully recovered and you know that"

"Yeah, but why do you care so much ?"

"...well second thing is-"

"No Fauna, answer me now, why do you care so much ?", Kronii stared at Fauna's yellow orbs, the tension between them grew as the stern looks from both of them got more irritated.

"The reason has to do with the second thing I wanted to confront you..."

"Confront me with what huh ?", Kronii thought as her hands turned into fists, she was using so much force, the knuckles turned white. Fauna showed a smug on her lips again as she revealed something that made Kronii freeze in place.

"So Kronii, I was checking your armor and your bag...what is this book about huh ?", thought Fauna in the process of revealing a familiar book to the warden of time. Yet Kronii's head was empty as per usual, Fauna couldn't listen to the warden's thoughts.

"So no answer ?", Fauna added, she tried to provoke the woman tied up tightly by her plant strings. Kronii let her head hung down, she was lost inside her mind, it was completely empty, like a void dominated her mind. Suddenly Fauna could hear Kronii's random thoughts...

"It's Mumei's, give it back please"

"And why should I give it back to you ?"

"Because it's Mumei's book..."

"And so what ? It's Mumei's, this isn't yours Kronii"

"But it was surely to me from Mumei"

"No Kronii, I read it, this isn't about you...are you planning on stealing this from her ?"

"No...I'm borrowing it..."

"Silly you...she's probably that miserable, god killer monster you fool"

"Stop saying that about Mumei, what has she ever done to you ?", Kronii's thoughts rang loudly as Fauna heard them. What she heard frustrated her more, to the point where she was crying in front of Kronii like a silly child.

"What she has done to me ? To me ? Kronii, Mumei almost destroyed earth with her sudden powers at the last minute, nature got destroyed and so did people, many of them died by their own race, our hard work as the council, our daily duties came to fail all because of her...Kronii, you won't choose a mere worthless human over me right ?", Kronii looked confusedly at Fauna, who couldn't stop her tears from running down her cheeks. Kronii just shook her head in mere disappointment and disagreement as she saw those tears coming out of her eyes. Without second thoughts, Kronii let time flow again, making the present back to reality. She was breathing heavily, as if Kronii was in pain...but it was the lack of energy. Fauna immediately released the strings on Kronii's feet and wrists, marks were visible from the strong entanglement she caused on the weak warden in front of her.

"Stop those goddamn tears right now...put me inside the library and give me the book back...we'll talk further when we are there..", huffed Kronii as she couldn't endure the weak state she was at any longer, Fauna had to do something before someone would notice her. After almost an hour, Fauna was able to put Kronii on the comfy chair in the council library, she also put the book down on the table next to the warden.

"H-how you feeling ?", stuttered Fauna, the tables had turned and seemed to Fauna that she should be now the one in fear and Kronii would kill her in an instant if she was irrelevant.

"I'm feeling like total shit Fauna, stop with your stupid questions and tell me what you meant earlier", Kronii wasn't kidding, Fauna could hear the furious tone in her voice, the deadly stare she saw too.

"What you mean ?", Fauna said, playing dumb, her voice lowered as she felt chills running down her spine. Kronii facepalmed to the keeper's stupid answer, how could she say that out of all times ?

"How I could choose a mere worthless human over you, what you mean with that ? Fauna, I'm not dumb and not forgetful, I want to hear it out from you to avoid misunderstandings", Kronii clarified clearly as Fauna made the conflict harder to solve. It took her some good long minutes to confess everything to the warden near her.

"There's something I have kept a secret about, but I haven't said anything yet, and I thought one day, I will be able to tell you everything..."

"What do you mean by everything ?"

"Kronii...I love you...I love you so much...but I know you will reject me...", Fauna started crying again, covering her face with her hands from the confession she just admitted to the woman in front of her.

"But how do you know I will reject you ?", Kronii asked, why was Fauna so sure about the rejection ? It confused the warden more. However, as Fauna spoke out her broken sentence, Kronii's eyes widened, she realized why her main goal to find Mumei was so important to the point her goal was her main priority...

"Kronii...you love Mumei...you are deeply in love with...her..."