Chapter 57: Forgotten City [7]
Aegon stared at Chrome with a displeased expression, then it turned into a straight expression, and he walked past him.
"Save the others..." he uttered and walked away.
But Chrome wasn’t going to let him leave, he wasn’t going to let him just pass by.
"You have the return stone," he yelled. "Let’s use it and find the others."
He said this but Aegon paid no attention to him, so he walked fast enough, caught up to Aegon and blocked his way.
’I was abducted against my own will. After you left us, we were supposed to go back to the real world and see our guild master but we were ambushed by these monsters."
Aegon halted for a moment and listened to Chrome while he spoke.
"The others, Nyra, Sheila, Natsu, Sinon and the last guy. We were supposed to go home together."
"Now we are separated, and I want to go and find them, I cannot leave them alone."
Aegon stared at him with a cold expression after he had finished talking, then he spoke:
"And you think, what? They are in the real world?"
Chrome had a puzzled expression as the words came out of Aegon’s lips, so he asked, puzzled.
"W... What do you mean? I don’t understand."
Then Aegon continued.
"You said you were ambushed and abducted, isn’t that right?"
"Yes."
"And what of the others? Did they get abducted too?"
Chrome was startled as he heard this, he looked like he had no answer to the question, yet Aegon had an expression that wanted answers.
’I don’t know." He said, with a low tone.
"Exactly. You don’t know and you want to go to the real world? What makes you sure they are there, huh?"
"What affirmations do you think, they were not also brought here?"
As the question left Aegon’s lips, Chrome’s eyes widened, he had never thought of this before.
Seeing this, Aegon added.
"You are a smart guy, Chrome. Don’t tell me you never thought of that, or you did, but never wanted to believe it actually happened, am I right?"
For a moment there was brief silence as the other Awakeners watched in their cages.
Their eyes were fixed on Aegon and Chrome and watched as these two people conversed like it their first time in a while.
"I... I did think of it. But I never saw them here, they were never brought here. Look at these people..."
Chrome gestured to the Awakeners that were in their cages.
"They have all been here longer than I, and most of them that were here have already been taken away..."
"And you think Nyra and the others weren’t one of those people?" Aegon asked, and Chrome responded.
"No, it’s not possible. If they had been taken, it would have been the same time as I, so they should have been brought here at least."
"But what if they have another place just like this, where they keep more of their prey?"
The words left Aegon’s lips and Chrome’s eyes were even more widened, as he put his head down. Again, he had never thought of this.
Seeing this, Aegon thought in his heart.
’Did the monsters really do something to them? Chrome is a brilliant man, how come he didn’t think of all these?’
While he was thinking of these, his gaze shifted, scanning all the other Awakeners that were here, and he noticed one thing.
’They all looked dead, lifeless. Like their spirits have been broken, and Chrome.’
He turned back to Chrome and it became clear to him, but just for more clearance he asked Chrome.
"How long have you been here?"
Chrome raised his head to answer, his eyes were watery almost to the point of tears pouring, but he stayed strong.
"I don’t know, a day, a week, maybe weeks, or a month, even months. The sun never rises here so I can’t tell for sure. But it was a long time."
Hearing this, Aegon thought inwardly.
’The Abyss and the real world operate on different time spaces. For me it hasn’t been up to a week since our last encounter, but to him.... Damn.’
It was at this moment that it truly hit him. Chrome had said he was here for a very long time, and the other even longer than him.
’That would explain it. With no mana in them, they are beginning to lose sense of who they are. This explains it.’
’A person’s mana is held by their mana core, which can also act as their soul or heart, and if there is no energy to charge it, it begins to lose its form and weakings.’
Aegon stared at Chrome and knew this was exactly why he wasn’t thinking straight; why he was unable to think of these normal things.
"Let’s go... " Aegon said.
But Chrome didn’t want to move, he didn’t want to explore any of these places, he didn’t want to believe the others were being held captive, so he spoke, trying to convince Aegon.
"Back up. Let’s use the return stone, go back to the real world and call for backup. We would be able to cover much ground with more manpower."
Hearing this, Aegon stared in disbelief, but he didn’t keep him waiting and spoke.
"I do not have the return stone. If I did, I wouldn’t be here, and if I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have found you."
Chrome’s eyes widened in shock as he said this, but Aegon continued.
"Even if I had it, and we somehow go back to the real world, what makes you think they would listen to you and back up would be sent?"
"Is it today that awakeners began to disappear in the Abyss? They always declare them dead, and even when the number of missing Awakeners increased, did they do anything about it? No!"
"Just to let you know, there are many people who sign up to become Awakeners everyday, so the ones who are lost in the Abyss are not going to be missed."
After Aegon had said all these, Chrome knew that he spoke the truth, there were a lot of missing Awakeners, yet the higher ups did nothing.
"I know that." Chrome uttered, his voice as though he was crying. "I know that more than anyone. For it was for this reason that we last entered the Abyss. We had lost a very precious group in our guild and when we asked the higher-ups they refused to assist us in a search."
"Nyra and I had to beg our guild master to send us instead. It wasn’t easy but we had to do it, even though he was taking a great risk, and yet it didn’t even work out."
"So what’s the point? What’s the point of all these if we are all going to die at the end?!"
The words came out of Chrome’s lips as he raised his head. Tears dropped down, his face full with water as he was crying.
"Why?"
Aegon saw the pain he was feeling and knew how relatable it was, so he moved to Chrome, held his shoulder and with a cold expression, he said.
"Don’t worry, I will make things right."
"Now, let’s go."