Chapter 74: Ch113. Answers won’t find themselves
The fire crackled as Kurt put more wood in it.
It was a cold night, and even though his armor, [RIGHT HAND’S QUIETNESS], kept him warm, it wasn’t the same for Evellyn, who was shivering under the cold, so he decided to light up a small fire to give her some warmth.
The beasts were more active at night, but the basement of the old building Kurt found during one of his personal raids offered shelter enough.
Not only for the open night itself, but also for the beasts’ vision, but it still couldn’t protect them from the cold of the dead of night.
"So, what’s the prophecy about, and how do you know about the system?" Kurt asked again.
She didn’t answer when he asked it for the first time. Her only words about it were.
"Let’s head to somewhere safer, because if you really want to know about it, that’s gonna be a long talk."
So Kurt showed her his refuge, and was ready to listen to her, but instead of answering his question, she was more interested in something else.
"Before I answer it, how are you managing to eat? I mean... You probably noticed that food is absolutely scarce around here.
Kurt smirked.
He knew that it was a problem that K wanted him to face, just so he could go back with his tail between his legs, begging for food and for whatever else K thought he had to provide him.
But Kurt was a quick learner, and if there was one specific thing that the academy test had taught him, was that...
"There are various types of beasts, even more so around here." Kurt said, scratching his head. "And if you know how to sort them out, you’ll be able to find the edible ones."
Evellyn’s eyes shook.
"What? Really?"
"I’m surprised that the Red Oracle didn’t know that." Kurt chuckled. "Or is it because the beasts here aren’t part of this world?"
"The system told you this, I presume?"
Kurt crossed his legs, and his fingers under his chin.
"No. I assumed it because of other things that the system said... Which takes us to one of the questions I asked you. How do you know about it?"
Evellyn breathed in deep, she put her hands near the fire so she could get a bit more warmth to it, and began to speak.
"I assume you already know about the powers of the Oracle and how you and your other versions are inexorably entangled with me and my other versions, yes?" Kurt nodded. "So... I’ll try to not get too nerdy about it, so you don’t get any bored. But the thing is, time doesn’t flow the same way in every world-line. It’s more like a chaotic dance that allows knowledge of situations that happened, let’s say, in the future, to travel through the past version of our worlds."
"Okay, I can get the essence of it, more or less. But I still don’t get where you’re going to with all this."
"Oh, but you will, don’t worry. The point is, This world-line you’re experiencing right now, the stranger it may seem, is one of the first versions of the original world-line, and I myself didn’t know anything about the system until K and I turned nineteen and he told me about it.
However, even when he told me about the system, I didn’t know much, because he himself didn’t know much about it.
At the first moment that he understood that it wasn’t a friendly system... That it wasn’t a tool for him to grow stronger, he tried to use it as little as possible. So he came to hone his skills and develop new ones by sheer willpower.
It wasn’t until a few years ago, that I got that ’message’.
And by message, I mean the knowledge of another version of myself, living in another world-line.
She was younger, probably sixteen, yet not recently awakened.
She was looking as a slightly older version of you, and what she saw...
When she saw it, and I saw it too, it all made so much sense to me..."
Kurt had his eyes glued to Evellyn as she spoke, and he didn’t say a single word to interrupt her, even as she gave the perfectest, yet agonizing pauses.
She seemed like the most perfect storyteller, right there, telling Kurt things about her and him, about his past, and their future.
He couldn’t help but feel his heart racing fast.
"She saw two entities within that slightly older Kurt." Evellyn kept going. "One of them eating at the other, but both of them granting him enormous power.
Since I already knew about the existence of the system, I could understand that one of the two entities was actually trying to help Kurt, while the other was just a parasite, eager to feed on its host, as soon as it became powerful enough... And that’s what and how I know about your system."
Kurt’s mouth was agape as Evellyn finished telling the story, and even after she was done with it.
He couldn’t understand how his system could be two, but one thing made him wake up from his catatonia and ask her.
"Would you look into me, just once?"
Evellyn’s eyes went wide at Kurt’s request.
"But... I mean..." She fidgeted with her fingers, not knowing what to say or do.
"You said that when your other version peeked into that Kurt, she saw two entities." Evellyn nodded. "So, I have a theory I want to test out, and I can only do so with you looking into me, since you’re far more powerful than that other version, or even my version of you."
Evellyn’s cheeks got slightly red for a second, then she shook her head and looked seriously at him.
"I won’t take responsibility for whatever I end up seeing, okay?"
"Don’t worry, I trust you." Kurt smiled.
And in that smile, he looked more mature than Evellyn had ever seen.
Evellyn nodded, and got closer to him.
"Okay, I need you to give me your hands."
Kurt did as he was told, and when his hands touched Evellyn’s, her eyes glowed golden, energy crackling around her like electricity.
He felt his whole being warming up with the heat of a thousand suns, but he endured.
After what felt like hours, Evellyn finally let go of his hands, panting heavily.
"Wha-How did you manage to do it?" She asked him, her eyes wide, and her jaw dropped.
She looked at him like one would look at a monster, but not in a negative way.
"There’s only one entity inside me, right?" Kurt asked, panting heavily himself.
"Yes. And the fragment inside you... Its light doesn’t shine in that ominous bright red from your other versions... It glows in black! How? What did you-"
Kurt took a finger to his lips, and Evellyn stopped talking immediately.
Her senses weren’t as sharp as Kurt’s, but she did feel a strange presence.
But it was too small for her to feel any concern.
Only when Kurt asked silently for her to be quiet, that she understood.
It wasn’t that the presence she felt was small.
It was just too far away.
"K’s not gonna be happy about it, but here. Take it." were the only words Evellyn spelled towards Kurt, as she pulled a pair of finely crafted daggers from the inside of her cloak.
Kurt smiled, took the daggers, and silently told her to not leave the basement.
He still had his [CONCEAL] active, so he used the black of his armor to hide in the shadows.
Kurt left the building as silently as he could, and when he set foot on the outside, he could see that there was something very wrong with the beasts.
They were all running away from the town.
And something really powerful was coming towards it.
