It had been hours since I'd left the room and began navigating the hallways, most of which were either empty or lined with rooms filled with victims stuck in Time Prison. I'd shed all of their blood and nullified all of their Fractals. Every now and then I'd come across a group of Chrono lackeys hanging out in some halls, subduing them non-fatally before erasing their Fractals with the Null. Anyone besides Delfina and her husband were no longer on my list to kill. I wanted to spare as many lives as I could now that I knew the circumstances.
No trace left of Ian's influence imposed on my mind to direct me against my own morality like before.
I was back to who I was at heart, although changed rigidly through the friction until now.
"More?" I said to myself as I rounded another corner into yet another hall. To my surprise, this one had a dead-end to it, and at the end was a set of double doors guarded by two Chrono lackeys. They both looked at me in confusion as all the others did—most likely due to the lack of maroon robes I wore.
They seem to lack a means of communication here, besides word of mouth. Surely every guard should have known about my existence by now after all I've been doing.
I'd checked the bodies of most of my victims and they were either equipped with a knife, a Talitem, or both. No radios or walkie-talkies to communicate amongst themselves across the hideout.
How old-fashioned.
This meant that no one knew by now that I'd eradicated more than half this hideout's forces.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" One of the guards asked.
"Isn't that the guy Delfina was telling us about?"
"Oh, right. A man with no robes is the one who inherited the Null, I think."
I began to walk over, cautiously, surprised they hadn't attacked me yet like all the others.
These guys must have been the only ones informed directly by Delfina about my existence and role. They must not know about everything else I've done here already.
"Hey, who told you to come here? No one else is allowed here except for family."
"Also, didn't Delfina say that he would be accompanied by Rai and Vick?"
Their suspicions were beginning to grow the closer I got. I realized that I may have been in a place I shouldn't have been. They were guarding something behind those closed doors.
"Rai and Vick guided me to this hall before letting me go off on my own. They said they weren't allowed down this hall," I said, bluffing.
"But who told you to come here?" One of them asked.
Cold sweat dripped down the back of my neck. I continued my stride towards them, slowly as to avoid giving off any malicious intent.
I don't know what their Fractals are yet, and I'm still too far to shed their blood. I can't take a risk until I'm closer. I have to continue playing it off.
"One of the other guys in the hall passed us and said I was asked to come to this room. He didn't elaborate why."
"We weren't given any orders about you coming though." One of the guards looked at me with confusion. "Where did he come from?"
I made up something on the spot. "He said he came from that room." I immediately realized my blunder.
They both looked at me, then at each other, before looking back at me.
"But only family's allowed in this room. No one else."
I paused in place. We all went quiet for a moment, as tensions rose heavily in the air. I stared at them and they stared back at me.
"Who's blood is that?" One of them suddenly asked.
"Hm?"
"On your hand."
I looked at my hand. Blood from numerous Chrono lackeys lathered it along with my knife.
I'm still too far to shed their blood.
I looked back up at them.
"Pulse," one of them said. His open palm was pointed at me.
The hall suddenly resonated with force, as a wall of unforeseen pressure was sent flying towards me. As it connected with my body, I was sent flying backwards towards the end of the hall.
Slam!!
My back nearly broke upon the impact.
"Ough—!!" I coughed up blood. I tried to instinctively regather myself on my feet, but there were tremors throughout my body preventing me from doing so. The sheer power from the pulse wave itself plus the force from the impact with the wall inhibited my movements for a staggering moment.
"I hope he didn't feel the shockwave," one of them said to the other.
"I'll lower down the amp just in case. Wouldn't want to make him or Delfina angry," the other said.
"Sure. Doesn't seem like it'll take much to overpower this guy anyways."
The same guy pointed his palm at me again.
What the hell is this guy's Fractal?! A shockwave inducer!?
"Pulse."
Yet another wave of pressure fronted my body, forcing it into the wall and forming a crater the shape of it. Just as I was recovering from the tremors, this new attack re-imposed it all over again.
Fuck! Shit! How do I get myself out of this?!
None of the other lackeys I'd encountered in these halls had Fractals on par with the power of this one guard. Although, the second one had mentioned something about an 'amp.' My guess was that he may have had a supporting Fractal of some sort—maybe one that increased the energy of the other guard's Fractal somehow. Either way, the both of them combined were too much for me to handle. In a tight corridor like this with no room to dodge, and without Flow State to give me the reactive timing I needed to counter such a strong Fractal, I felt myself at a clear disadvantage.
They're most definitely protecting something important behind those doors.
If they placed the strongest lackeys at these doors, it meant that something quite exclusive must have been in that room.
I need to get inside there. I need to see what they're hiding.
"Had enough?" The pulse lackey said. "Knowing Rai, he'd never let an outsider like you out of his sights. For you to come here without him, covered in unknown blood, draws every suspicion possible we have of you, even if you're the supposed Null user."
"Plus, Delfina never told us you'd be coming this way. Like we'd said, it's family only," the amp lackey added-on.
"But did Delfina tell you to treat your Null user this way?" I spoke shakily, trying to suppress the painful tremors in my body. "I'm your only hope at bringing about the Shattering now. If you kill me, that dream is forever gone."
Those words tensed the guards. They looked at each other, realizing their mistakes.
"W-We were never trying to kill you. It's just that the blood on you made us suspicious…"
"Yeah, and we're supposed to protect everything behind these closed doors. Usually no one comes down this hall, so…"
So your immediate response is to attack whoever comes? You're both just power-hungry to use your Fractals on anyone you can.
Those were my thoughts, but simultaneously, I couldn't blame them. Not when a threat like Time Prison must have been hanging over their heads at any given moment. They must have been in constant fear at the thought, willing to do whatever it took to please someone like Delfina.
Wait a second...
What I didn't realize was that Time Prison was hanging over our heads in that moment. The double doors that they were guarding suddenly barged open, and out walked Delfina.
"What's with the ruckus?" Her eyes connected with mine, and she saw the state that I was in.
"Chronostasis: Time Prison."
Panic immediately ensued from within me, as I realized I'd failed to grasp the moment in time. I wasn't nearly close enough, nor expecting Delfina to make her appearance so suddenly. There was no way I could have stopped her from using her Fractal in time without having Flow State.
Shit..!
It was over for me. Time Prison would take effect, then I'd be stuck in limbo for who knew how long. I'd failed.
Huh…?
I looked down at my hands, opening and closing my fingers. I realized that I was still able to move them. I was able to look around. I glanced up confused that I wasn't frozen and saw that Delfina was walking towards me. Just past her were the two guards, standing motionless, staring off into nothingness.
I'm not affected by Time Prison? Only those two lackeys are?
"I'm sparing you right now so you can explain yourself, Klyson." Her hands pressed together in a praying stance. "Make your confessions."
"What…?"
"You've clearly sinned a lot to get here. That isn't your blood," she pointed at my stained skin and clothing. "What have you done?"
I couldn't let up my facade until the very end. I made up a response almost immediately. "Once both you and Vex left me alone with Rai and Vick, they tried me. Rai told me that he didn't care that I had the Null, and was willing to hurt me out of his own suspicions. If I'd been purged, the Null would have been purged along with me. Was it wrong for me to defend myself?"
Delfina looked at me, speechless at what she was hearing. "They attacked you even though they knew you had the Null…?"
I nodded, unaware of what to say.
"What did you do to them?" I could see her eyeing the blood stains on my hands.
"There was an exchange, but in the end I only subdued them" I lied, hiding the knife in my back holster. "I have lots of training in putting people under non-fatally. And to be honest with you, I did the same to many more members I came across in these halls when I left that room while looking for you, and it was all because they attacked me on sight assuming I was an outsider. None of them gave me the chance to explain myself. So I couldn't help but ensure my own safety knowing that I was the key to the Shattering."
She panned to the floor, seemingly pondering. I watched her intently, reading her face to see if she'd believed my bluff.
I'm teetering on the edge here. One doubt from her and it's over for me.
She finally looked back up at me. "I am ashamed of my brethren and sisters. I am sorry that they have all done that to you, Klyson. I repent on behalf of their sins, and I pray that they are forgiven by MONA once we release Her."
I sighed out of relief.
She took the bait.
She suddenly looked behind her, back towards the double doors that the two guards had been protecting.
"There isn't time to dwell on what's happened, but rather, focus on what's to come. I'll deal with my followers doings towards you after we've cleared your introductions with my husband. Vex had left you alone because he came searching for his father and I. He has not yet been able to accept that he will no longer wield the Null. I hope you understand."
I nodded slowly. "I do."
She motioned for me to follow her. "Normally this room is off-limits, accessible only by family. But considering your role with us now, I permit you entry. Come with me."
My heart paced forwards, racing with unease at what laid behind these doors that was so important to protect. Somehow, I'd found myself able to enter without having to use force. I had to continue playing along with this Chrono-driven mindset to close the gap between Delfina and I even further. This was the only way I could surpass Time Prison. We walked past the Time Prison imprisoned guards, through the double doors, entering a short hall that led to another set of double doors.
"This is where Vex came to find us," Delfina said.
We continued forwards, opening the final set of double doors into the long-awaited, heavily-protected room.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The sharp scent of isopropyl alcohol in the air pierced my nose. The constant monotone beeps of a cardiac monitor by the bedside. Dim lighting from a white lamp in the corner. In front of me, a hospital bed propped-up with a man laying in it, covered by a blanket.
This is…?
"This is my husband," Delfina said. We stood in a space that mimicked a hospital room. To her left, Vex stood bedside, shocked to see me.
"What the hell is he doing here?" He whined.
"You left him alone with Rai and Vick, and you know how impulsive Rai can be."
"Tsk…" Vex crossed his arms.
I was led further into the room, and before I knew it, I was standing bedside by the man in the hospital bed. He was supposedly Delfina's husband, meaning that he was Vex's father.
So that's what they meant when they said only 'family' is allowed in here.
The man looked at me. The oxygen mask on his face made his voice muffled.
"So you're the one who has the Null…?"
I nodded nervously.
"You're Ian's weapon…" He said.
I hesitated to nod, and shook my head instead. "Not anymore…" I tried to say something that would please everyone in the room.
"No longer erasing. No more…" His voice was coarse and faint. It sounded like he was very ill.
I'm not sure what happened to him, but Delfina did say he could 'no longer lead,' which is why she took over as leader.
"I will reverse it, the Null…"
I recalled that this was the man who harbored that Fractal, Reversal.
"But dad…!" Vex snapped out of his silence.
"No, Vex," Delfina interrupted. "We went over this already."
"But I've been the one waiting to fulfill this role… I'm the one who's been preparing!"
"But Klyson has the Null already," Delfina said.
"How do you even know that for sure?" Vex retorted. "Have you ever seen him erase a Fractal yourself? He could be bluffing for all we know! Then dad would waste his last use of Reversal!"
'Last use'?
Delfina looked at me, realizing that possibility. "I can't deny my son's concerns, Klyson. My husband does have only one use left of Reversal, so I must know truthfully whether you possess the Null or not."
"What do you mean 'only one use left of Reversal'?" I asked.
At first, Delfina hesitated with her response, to which Vex revealed promptly. He grabbed his father's blanket and pulled it off of him. What was revealed truly came as a shock.
The man's body was simply, just a torso. He had no arms, and no legs. A torso and a head were all that made this man physically.
It wasn't anything I'd expected. I could draw no words, so Delfina filled-in the silence for me. "My husband's Fractal, Reversal, has a cost. It's had costs."
I looked at his body in horror. "What happened?"
"The ability to reverse any existing phenomenon of his choosing—the ability to rewrite reality—does not come without its costs. Reality has laws that only few can surpass, but he wasn't one of them. That majority of people must always pay the price for breaking the rules of reality." She sighed. "For every phenomenon he reversed, reality took a limb in return."
A limb per reversal?
"It started with his left arm. Then his right leg. Followed by his left leg, and lastly, his right arm.
"So he's made four total reversals…?" If he missed both of his arms and both of his legs, then that was four limbs total.
Delfina nodded. "We assume that he only has one reversal left. The next use of his Fractal might take either his head, or his torso. Either way, it will be fatal and end his life. He's survived until now without any limbs, but without a brain or a heart? It wouldn't be possible."
Vex turned away from the scene, grunting in frustration in the corner of the room. He seemed clearly upset.
"With this, I hope you understand both my and my son's concerns. We wouldn't want my husband's final reversal to be wasted. It's his sacrifice—the end of his life. He's been saving his last use of Reversal specifically for the Null so that his dream could be realized—the Shattering—even if he were no longer here to witness it."
I stared at the floor, astonished at the lengths everyone in Chrono was willing to go for this unreasonable Shattering event. It was absolutely unbelievable.
"Do you truly have the Null?" Delfina asked.
I nodded. "I do."
"How do we know that you aren't lying?"
I was suddenly instilled with an unreachable itch from deep within me.
Blood.
That horrid craving was back. I'd arrived at Chrono's core, and I was surrounded by its founder, its leader, and its Fractless. All of the key components that built the foundation for this cult were within blood-shedding distance of me. The potential couldn't have been higher than that moment. The Null was salivating for my initiative.
What are the odds I am able to get out of this alive?
I pondered for a moment, lagging on my response to Delfina.
"I can prove it to you. I can demonstrate it."
Vex furrowed his eyebrows, but Delfina looked at me with curiosity. After thinking for some time, she made an offer to me. "The guards outside. Choose one."
Vex was shocked. "Mom? You're seriously going to let him erase one of our brethren's Fractals?"
"To prove to you that he has the Null. To prove to dad that he has the Null. To prove that the Shattering is still an event coming to effect. For a time as grand as Her re-emergence, sacrifices are always willing to be made. And this will permit the final sacrifice of dad's final use of Reversal in passing."
My head tensed. I realized that Delfina was desperate enough to stop at nothing for Chrono's end goal. Her drive and never-ending strive for the Shattering, with the lack of concern for the repercussions as a result and along the way were a separate breed from Ian. Whereas Ian was careful and calculating, Delfina was naive and blinded by the potential for greater heights.
This made her easier to manipulate to my advantage.
"Listen to her, Vex…" the man in the bed said. "You. Him. Whoever brings it about, the Shattering is all the same, and great…"
This delusion all started with you.
I realized it there and then. The image for Chrono, for the Shattering, was imagined pure-heartedly by the man who laid in this bed. Delfina adapted that image, painting it passionately on a canvas for everyone to see.
I looked at Vex. He looked disturbed.
Their Fractless son… He's just another piece in their game.
Suddenly I felt pinched. There was hurt, not in me, but for him.
Does Vex even know he's being used? Or was he raised to believe that he was a saint?
Ian took me in when I was at my most vulnerable, and gave me hope with an image larger than anything I'd ever been. I was led to believe in a purpose greater than I could fathom and understand. Because of that, I just never questioned it and did as I was told.
Delfina and her husband, Vex's parents, are doing the same thing to him as Ian had done to me…
My sympathy grew.
You're just another Fractless victim, like me.
"Come, Klyson," Delfina snapped me out of my thoughts. "Those two guards who attacked you earlier are currently in Time Prison. I'll let you choose one to use the Null on, then I will release them from Time Prison to see if you've truly erased their Fractal."
"You're okay with me doing this?"
"If it establishes truth for a greater purpose, then one Fractal won't hurt. His sacrifice will be returned tenfold once She is released through the Shattering."
She walked out of the room and I followed behind her, realizing a crucial thing.
Delfina will now be isolated, unguarded, and within blood-shedding distance of me.
The potential for my Null had never been higher than now.