Chapter 29- Lava Mansion (Part 6)
*Creack* *Creack*
Taking one step at a time, Rin walked in between the rows of shelves with a warily look plastered on his handsome face. His violet eyes shone lightly in the darkness and his black hair fluttered left and right with small gushes of air coming from the outside.
His hand was tightly holding into his dagger, waiting for anything to bounce on him. The fact that the place he was in was a library made it even more stressful. There were barely any good view angles for him. So, in case anything tries to sneakily attack him from above or behind, he won't have enough room to move or escape.
However, his only hope was relying on the fact that this room could possibly be similar to the room before it.
After that, as if luck was smiling at him, when he reached the end of the first row, he found a similar table to the one he saw in the lounge room. On top of that table, there was a piece of paper that looked eerily identical to the other piece of paper.
Walking closer to it, he picked the letter up. Then, he made sure to look around him one last time.
'It seems to be another letter from the same man to his brother Nile.' Rin thought as he saw the names on the letter and the date.
'February 2nd? This one is right after the other one.'
He was actually interested in seeing what this story could end up being. Rin was sure this thing wasn't here as a coincidence. It definitely has some kind of link to the dungeon and how he could finish it.
"It's me again, brother. I sent you a letter a few weeks ago and waited for your response… It never came. I thought that I may have written the address wrongly or maybe because you changed your residence. But, no matter how much I asked around, they always tell me that you were still living in that city. I wanted to travel to that city and meet you personally but because of the wedding preparations, I didn't have the time to take such a long journey. I really don't know what's happening."
Rin frowned slightly and went silent for a few seconds.
[Is everything fine, host?]
'No, it's nothing. I will continue reading.' He shook his head as he replied with a weak tone.
"Do you still hate me, brother? I really tried to fix everything… to fix us. But, was our fight that big? What did we even fight about in the first place? What was it again, I can remember at all? It has been at least 20 years since the last time you came back home. Is your heart still filled with anger even after two decades? We are older now, Nile. We can't keep acting on impulse just because of a small mistake. We must not become the things we swore to never be… We must be better. Anyway, I hope this letter will reach you and you will finally answer me. This is my single only wish."
After reading the letter, Rin's mind was slightly messy. The tone of the letter, the words, and even the handwriting… It all screamed 'despair' 'regret' and 'hope'. It was a weird mix he had never seen before. The sender was clearly in a dilemma between two things.
Rin guessed that he was trying to fix ties with his brother not only because he wanted to but because of another reason. There was something that was pushing him to do this and be this persistent.
As Rin was about to put the letter back, the same thing occurred again. That wretched sound of boiling along with the appearance of lava. At this point, he wasn't even that surprised by it. He just jumped on top of the table and threw the letter into the hot liquid.
After that, just like before, the lava ate the letter, the sound of faint screaming echoed in his head and the lava soon disappeared.
Landing on the ground again, Rin looked around him carefully. He was waiting for something else. Then, surely enough, the person he was waiting for finally appeared.
In one of the rows of the library, he heard a small sound. Rin quickly walked there to check it out and found the woman that he met before standing there with a book in her hand.
The only problem with such a sight was that the book she was reading… was empty. There was not even a single word in it. Besides, she was blind so she couldn't even see so the whole thing was wrong from head to toe.
"Lina?" He muttered.
The woman closed the book and looked back at him before contorting her face into a horrible smile.
"Where you here, honey? I didn't hear you. I was engrossed in this book. Do you want to read it?"
"Maybe later."
"Oh! Fine by me. So, any response from Nile?" She asked.
'From how she asked it, the answer should be pretty clear.'
"No… Not yet." He replied.
"Sigh, he really doesn't want to talk with us again. I can feel your fear and uncertainty, honey. Don't worry, I'm sure this is the right thing to do."
"What if he doesn't want to?" Rin asked.
"He's your brother and my childhood friend. We were destined to stay close forever. How can we let such simple matter cut this everlasting bond?"
'What a weird situation. It's really fishy and I'm more than certain about that now.'
[Why do you think so, host?]
'I don't know. I can't quite grasp the whole story yet. Maybe if we read more letters we can understand what happened."
"Honey, our wedding would be a memorial, a piece of precious history for us. We can't tarnish it with regret. I want our love to be free from any malicious feelings."
'She really does love this man, huh? It's sweet yet twisted at the same time. I feel pity for her.'
[Isn't she a monster, host?]
'She is but she didn't try to attack me or harm me. I could only feel sad for her. She was a human at some point but because of something she turned into this wicked creature living in endless darkness inside a mansion… All alone, trying to create a dream out of whatever memories she still had with her. That's horrible.'
Rin could feel his heart ache with pain just from trying to imagine himself in her place. She was somehow like him, they both shared that feeling of loneliness. The feeling of despair as it slowly ate away from their sanity.
He knew how horrible it was for someone to be all alone with no one to rely on, no friends, no family, and nothing to live for.
"I know we will, Lina," Rin replied.
He didn't imagine himself in her husband's place, but, he still wanted to ease her worries, and the only way he could do that was through words. Now, whether that worked or not, it was a whole different matter.
"Mm, good, honey. I love you so much."
After saying that, Lina started vanishing, leaving Rin alone inside the room. The latter shook his head and quickly walked to the door before Lava filled the room again.
'Sigh, this turned from scary to sad really quick.'
[You can't change that, host. What happened had already happened.]
'I know. But, I can only sigh at how cruel this world could be. Fate loves tormenting people while giving others privileges just for the fun of it. I don't get why this world is so twisted like that.'
[I don't have the answer for that, host.]
'Neither do I, system. It's the kind of question that we will never be able to answer.'
Looking to the side, there were only two rooms left on the second floor. He could feel a heavy weight on his heart as he imagined himself continuing this story. His mind even forgot that he was inside a dungeon… a D-Rank one at that.
Dungeons were usually a shithole filled with monsters that seek his death. They were supposed to be places where he could gain strength. Yet, this dungeon had a story, it had a past where it was not like this.
How did it change? How did it turn into this kind of place?
'I will make sure to finish this place. I can't just leave like that.' Rin thought to himself.
His determination didn't change, he wanted to leave. But, before doing that, he had to find out what the fuck is going on here.
(A//N: Slowly yet surely, things are getting fleshed out. It will be worth your while to finish this arc. I wanted to find a way to make dungeons more interesting rather than being these dark places filled with goblins and orcs. I wanted it to have a part in deepening Rin's character. You can give me your opinion on whether this is a good idea or not.)
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Thanks for reading. Any support you give me is always appreciated no matter how small it is. Let's all keep it up :)