Alma 111 The Weight of His Karma

Velvund. Haydn. Violett. Sebastian. Astor. Horatio. Ophelia.

They had been instructed by Reed to gather in the abandoned ruins of an Ancient Mulian city in the North that had been lost to time.

It'd been one of the many cities that had fallen during the Great Barrier War in defense of the continent thousands of years ago. Soon after, what little remained of the former metropolis had been buried under an eternal layer of ice and snow for millennia... until now.

Reed felt his stomach churn in dread when he noticed their arrival and took a long, deep breath.

You have to tell them. You have to do it. You owe it to them. Do it.

Lu'um tightly grasped one of Reed's hands and said, "You can do it, Ka'an. I will be beside you the entire time. …Come, let us go and greet them."

When Reed saw Astor, Horatio, and Ophelia he nearly lost the will to step forward.

An eye-patch covered Horatio's right eye along with a jagged scar on his face. Astor had fared better in the sense that he had only suffered a broken arm and shoulder. Ophelia seemed the least hurt of the trio, even though her arms had been completely covered in gauze.

From what he could tell, the blessing he had given them had worked as intended. Reed had purposely cast it for this purpose — to ensure that the contenders who survived the battle would not end up crippled. 

Conquerors — if they reacted fast enough — could purify and heal the toxic wounds they had sustained in battle. Contenders could do it as well… but not at the same speed as their superiors. A wound that a conqueror could heal in seconds would take minutes for a contender to heal themselves with their abilities.

During a real fight against the Infestation — against the endless hordes of Infested — wounds that like that were common. That was why contenders were usually forbidden from participating in large-scale operations.

In fast-paced and extremely chaotic fights such as those — like the battle at the Reef — contenders were all but guaranteed to a painful death.

Were it not for Reed's blessing, nearly every contender that survived the fight would have likely died not too long after from their wounds or poisoning. He knew that the continent would not have been able to afford losing its future pillars of support, so he had intervened for the sake of the future...

When Reed and Lu'um dispelled the obfuscating veil they had cast upon themselves, their guests noticed the Anima ripple it had created in the air.

They turned toward the disturbance and finally saw the one who had summoned all of them here. He had a weary, solemn expression on his face as he walked toward them in tow with his ever-enigmatic partner.

"It's good to see that you're all alive. I'll get straight to the point. I've assembled all of you here because there's a lot I need to tell you and… get off my chest. But before I begin, we need to go somewhere secure where no one will be able to listen in on our discussion…"

It seems that a couple of fellas have followed them here, huh. They seem like bodyguards from the look of their uniforms. Why bring them here?

Reed snapped his fingers and then… everyone vanished in an instant.

The hidden squad of conquerors hurriedly rushed onto the scene, frightened by what they'd just seen happen. It'd happened so fast.

Needless to say, everyone present had been stunned speechless. Never before had they seen, nor heard of someone performing such a feat before. They'd been dragged into the void with a single snap of his fingers.

His figure seemed to blend in well with the empty void, as if he'd become a part of it. He suddenly seemed much more distant to them all.

"There's no need to worry about the negative effects of the void. I have anchored your souls to mine. You will not fade away so as long as you remain under my protection," said Reed.

"It'd be rude of me not to offer all of you a proper place to relax. Come with me..."

As soon as he finished his sentence, the void trembled and a colossal sphere of light descended onto the empty landscape.

"Into the Reef."

A secluded courtyard filled with soft, golden light and old, blossoming trees awaited them. It was the place of peace where the departed had been laid to rest. They would forever be allowed to sleep here, undisturbed until the end of time...

At first, Reed found it hard to speak. He knew what he needed to say, but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth, so he started from the beginning and recounted his way from there.

The fight that he and Lu'um had gotten themselves into against the Holy Church.

Little by little, he continued regaling what he had gotten himself into, what he had done.

Their desperate struggle against the Grand Swarm to fix what they had caused and… the consequences of their actions. Lei-den.

Slowly but surely he was making his way down. A slow descent into the truth.

About Xibalba and what the Ancient Mulians had done in the bowels of Hell. The Devil that they had caught and sealed in secret.

What the Ashborn and Dragoncrest families had discovered long ago. The forbidden pact that they had made along with the Holy Church with the abominable entity.

Again and again. Digging out the words he needed to say, piece by piece.

The miserable fate of the Twilight Children had been born with and the reason they'd been created for — the Reef.

What the sealed devil had been planning to do from the very beginning. How it had blackmailed him to get what it wanted and...

And then, he reached the very bottom.

How he had used the Four Empires for his personal reasons. Used them all as bait. His selfish desire to play the hero. The price he had paid to end the fight and…

What had been lost in the process.

Most did not know what to say to what they'd heard. They'd been left without words.

But one of them did. He knew exactly what he wanted to say.

Reed had seen it coming. He could have dodged it but had chosen not to.

A fist struck Reed square in the face and knocked him clean off his seat. Sharp pain assaulted him in waves as he cradled his bruised face. The all too familiar taste of iron filled his mouth but he didn't care.

"…I know why you did what you did. I get it. And I, too, equally am to blame… but I still can't forgive you... Nor will I ever..! Because of you, I have NOTHING left!"

Reed lifted himself off the ground and said, "...I'm sorry, Sebastian."

"I don't need your goddamned apology!! Just…! Give me my sister and never bother me again. Please."

"I understand." He flicked his hands and a large, silver door opened in the distance far away from the courtyard near the edge of a small forest. It was the resting vault where he had placed her to rest.

"She's in there. I've also placed an exit inside the vault for you to use. You'll end up in a small town in the East that has a working altar so you can—"

Sebastian had not even waited for Reed to finish his explanation. He simply brushed past Reed, not even deigning to look at him and walked toward the resting vault in silence.

Reed gazed at Sebastian's shrinking, lonely figure and then looked away. He couldn't bear looking at him anymore, otherwise, the sight would forever become scarred in his mind.

Lu'um stood up and put one of her hands on Reed's swollen cheek, but Reed stopped her before she could begin healing the wound. He grabbed her hand and softly shook his head…

"That's the whole, real truth. I, alone, am responsible for the tragic events that have beset this previously peaceful world as of late. I have recklessly endangered the continent and… caused an untold amount of suffering…"

Reed stared at Velvund and Haydn with a serious expression and said, "Suffice to say, I have committed too many crimes to not be punished. I took the lives of your citizens, your Chosen, and even a part of the land itself. By all rights, I should be probably the worst criminal in history, only below the likes of the deranged Holy Pope, the Ashborn and Dragoncrest families..."

"…and the Infestation."

He picked up his fallen chair with a bitter smile and said, "Everything that has happened has been my fault. The result of me trying to half-assedly fix what I had messed up previously. A chain of failures and mistakes that, in the end, created a tragedy — one that could have been prevented had I listened to the counsel of my betters, people wiser than I…!"

Reed took a deep breath and said, "So I have gathered all of you here to decide what I should be done."

"What should I do to atone for what I have done? What punishment should be given to someone such as myself? What would the North and the East have done to me in return for what I have done to them?"

He had asked the questions he wanted answered to the wisest people he knew. The same people he had let down with his actions. It hurt him the most knowing that he had betrayed their expectations. 

Reed waited for an answer. His judgment. What he desired most, but could not obtain himself.  

The courtyard remained silent for what seemed like an eternity for Reed, but eventually...

Chapter end