Chapter 41: Who Do You Think You Are Calling a Dog? Woof! Woof!
Mina zoomed through the forest, leaves and dust swirling in her wake. She found the campsite where Elias was most likely taken, but there was no sign of him or his captor—only a half-butchered bear, an abandoned vehicle, and some cut rope. She spotted what looked like Elias's lone footprints, but none from the captor—he must have erased his tracks.
Following a trail along the river that likely belonged to Elias after he escaped, she pressed on. Hours later, distant gunshots cracked through the air, several miles away. Her heart leapt into her throat.
"Oh no—Elias!" she shouted, unleashing energy into her legs. She shot forward, each step sending shockwaves that stripped the trees bare.
She reached an unattended campfire by the riverbank, its flames still flickering. The ground was scarred with scuffed earth, overturned stones, and streaks of blood—human blood. Her heart pounded as the sharp, metallic scent spread through her senses. The trail wound back into the forest. As she followed it, the smell thickened, clinging to her lungs and needling at her nerves. There was too much. It couldn't be… Was she too late?
She reached the spot where the scent was strongest. Stopping, she crept forward, dreading what she might see. Would she find her friend's lifeless body? Her breath came quick and shallow as her anxiety rose. 'Please, don't be dead.'
But the sight before her wasn't what she'd imagined. Elias was alive—battered and injured, but nothing that looked fatal.
His mind, however, was another matter. He knelt over a man, trembling as he pressed his hands to the stranger's chest. If not for the blood, the man could have passed for a sleeping fairytale prince. Tears streaked Elias's face, carving pale lines through the dirt and grime as he stared at him.
She could hear only one heartbeat. Since Elias was alive, that meant the man was dead.
Who was he? Another victim taken alongside Elias? Why else would Elias cry over his body? Her muscles tightened in vigilance. But… there was no other presence nearby. Where had the captor gone?
A twig snapped under her boot, breaking the silence. Elias's tear-streaked eyes lifted toward her.
"...Mina?" he mumbled. His other best friend—the one he hadn't seen for about a month—stood there in a clean leather jacket and a mostly neat shirt, her hair tidy. The sight felt out of place after the chaos of the last few days. Why was he seeing Mina here? Was this a hallucination born of grief? She should still be in Japan. And even if she wasn't, how could she possibly be here?
Mina sighed at his dazed look, already guessing his thoughts. She walked over and said, "Yeah, it's me. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense to you, but I'm really here," before pinching his uninjured cheek hard enough to make him wince.
Elias's pupils narrowed, his eyes filling again. "H-how are you here?" he asked, voice shaking.
She pointed to her nose. "I sniffed you out," she replied simply.
Questions crowded his mind as he tried to make sense of it all.
"L-like a dog?" he asked, confused. A sharp whack landed on his head. He winced, clutching it with a hiss of pain.
"Er… sorry," Mina said with an awkward chuckle, glancing at her fist. She'd gotten so annoyed by his question that she'd forgotten he was injured. Elias shot her a glare. It was rare to see him not respond with a joke, but after what he'd been through, she could understand. In the three years she'd known him, she had never once seen Elias cry, so seeing him like this was hard to get used to.
She cleared her throat. "I got back just yesterday. I was planning to surprise you guys… but then Sy told me everything. I couldn't just sit around, so I started searching for you on my own. Your sister helped the most by narrowing down the possible locations. Once I got here, I used my nose to guide me most of the way—but this place is huge, so it took a while to find you. I'm sorry."
'What kind of explanation is that?' Elias thought, speechless.
His thoughts churned. He had a guess about what this meant, but he was afraid to confirm it. "Mina… are you… are you an awakener?"
Mina's fists clenched. "Yeah, I am… So I was right. You do know about awakeners," she said with a bitter smile.
"Not much. I only found out by accident… and very recently. I never would've guessed you were one of them," he muttered, his expression complicated. He couldn't believe he'd been friends with an awakener for three years. Weren't awakeners supposed to be rare? Yet here was another one hiding in plain sight by his side. The shock was almost on par with learning the truth about his parents. Just what else didn't he know?
"Elias, I'm here to bring you home, but I need you to tell me where that piece of shit who took you is—so I can whoop his ass," she said, popping her knuckles and throwing a few punches and kicks at the air.
Elias lowered his head back to Chameleon's peaceful face. His throat tightened. "He's dead," he squeaked, tears falling again.
Mina froze mid–fight pose. "What? Dead?" She sniffed the air a few times to make sure. She didn't smell another human nearby. Had the guy covered his body with mirage pollen?
"Wait, if he's dead, where is he? Who killed him?" she asked. Was the dead man in Elias's arms the one who killed him?
Elias laid his head on Chameleon's chest, as if confirming one last time there was no heartbeat.
"It was me. I killed him," Elias sobbed, clutching Chameleon's clothes in anger. There really wasn't a heartbeat.
Mina's brain short-circuited. Huh? Did she hear that right? Her normal friend… killed a trained criminal? She turned her gaze to the man under Elias's head. Something clicked in her mind, like the last piece of a puzzle sliding into place.
"Wait… are you saying that fairy-looking guy is your kidnapper?" she choked out, before breaking into a coughing fit. 'Get yourself together, Mina! It's not right to bring up your friend's captor's beauty right in front of him!'
"Yeah… Mina. What should I do? I-I killed someone. I didn't mean to. I didn't want him to die. I just…" Elias's voice broke apart, the words shaking like his hands.
Memories of the fight flooded back in jagged flashes—the moment the dagger slid into Chameleon's chest, the resistance of flesh giving way, the hot spray of blood striking his face. A trace of copper reached his tongue as the metallic stench filled his lungs. He could still see the shock in Chameleon's eyes, wide with disbelief, and hear the ragged choking as blood filled his lungs.
It was like watching a mini-horror movie where someone else controlled his body… except he felt everything, not just the sights and sounds.
Mina paused, taking a moment to find the right words to comfort her friend.
"Elias, it's okay. That douche kidnapped you and probably almost killed you. You don't have to feel bad for killing him," she said, eyeing the wounds on his body.
"Don't call him a douche! His name is Bellamy!" Elias snapped, making Mina freeze. She hadn't expected him to yell at her. Elias dug his fingers into his hair.
"I-I'm sorry. I d-didn't— I shouldn't have yelled at you," he muttered. He'd actually yelled at Mina, who was only trying to help. He was the worst.
Mina tried to process what was happening. She'd never seen Elias direct anger at her before. She was here to rescue him—so why was he crying over his captor's corpse and yelling at her for insulting him?
Her gaze drifted to Bellamy's beautiful face. Could he have seduced her friend? Even if he was gorgeous, he was still clearly a guy—and Elias was straight. She'd confirmed that herself through a few experiments and observations to ensure he didn't have feelings for Syler—'ahem, beside the point.'
She snapped from her thoughts before her imagination ran wild.
"I-it's okay. I guess I said something without trying to understand the situation," Mina backtracked.
Her brain raced, trying to decide what to do. She paused. 'Shit.' Elias had just killed someone for the first time. She planted her palm against her forehead. She was so stupid.
She'd grown up in the awakener's world, where killing wasn't rare or unusual. She'd taken a life herself not long after awakening, at the ripe age of twelve, and had killed a number of criminals during missions. Her first kill had haunted her for a while, but as her body count rose, the feeling dulled. It had to, otherwise she wouldn't have survived. Somewhere along the way, she'd almost forgotten that for regular people like Elias, killing wasn't normal.
How had she felt during her first kill? It might not have been as intense as what Elias was going through—thanks to her family's training and preparation—but she still remembered the months of nightmares, haunted by the image of that man's dying face.
"I'm sorry. I was being too insensitive before, not thinking about the situation. Elias, you did what you had to do. This isn't your fault. It was his life or yours. But I'm sure it wasn't easy, right? I'm sorry you had to make such a hard choice," she said, kneeling to meet his eyes and pulling him into a tight hug.
Elias buried his face in her shoulder, his body trembling as his hands continued to cling to Chameleon's clothes.
'You're wrong, Mina. I didn't get a choice at all.' He couldn't tell her that the system had forcibly shut down his emotions.
"Explain it to me so I can understand," Mina said, trying to mimic the soothing tone her mother used to use on her.
"I… a lot has happened. About a month ago, I found out my mom and dad are Awakeners after reading my dad's old journal. He st—found something strange that this group called the Crimson Pact wanted, and he hid it from them. I think that's why they disappeared…it's probably the reason I was kidnapped," he said, his words muffled against her shoulder.
Mina's whole body stiffened. The Crimson Pact? There were plenty of awakened criminal organizations, but they were the biggest and most feared of them all. And Elias and his family had actually gotten tangled up with such a terrifying entity?
"Elias, don't panic. I'm not trying to disrespect his body. I just need to check something," she said, pushing him aside before flipping Chameleon's body over.
"What are you—" Elias began, irritation rising, but stopped short as Mina brushed Chameleon's hair away from his neck and tugged down his collar. She channeled her energy into the exposed skin, revealing a glowing brand on his nape—a red crescent encircling the image of a flower, with the likeness of a chameleon pressed over it and a knife positioned beneath it all.
"W-what is this?" Elias asked, furrowing his brows.
Mina pursed her lips. "So he's from the Assassin's Branch of the Crimson Pact," she sighed, flipping him back onto his back.
"This is their special branding for members. It can only be seen if an awakener channels energy through it," she explained. "Geez, your family really knows how to pick their enemies, dude." She rubbed her forehead in frustration. She was only an iron-ranked awakener. How was she supposed to protect her friend with such limited power?
'Screw it all. Let's see them come! I'll just keep swinging at 'em. If worse comes to worst, we'll throw whatever thing they're looking for and run,' she gritted her teeth, picturing a wave of enemies charging at her. Then a question struck her.
"Elias, how did you beat this guy?" she asked, suspicion laced her voice as she pointed to the body. Even if he wasn't an awakener, Elias shouldn't have been able to take him down.
Elias bit his lip. "The thing my dad found… or the thing they're looking for… I-I accidentally absorbed it," he said, his voice small as he drew his knees up to hide his face. "And… well… I've gained some strange abilities because of it. It wasn't on purpose; it just happened." His words grew quieter toward the end.
Mina's jaw dropped as his words sank in. The forest fell into heavy silence for several minutes.
"You a-absorbed it?" She asked, trying to clarify what she heard. Elias gave a weak nod.
'Oh god, we're so screwed!' her mind screamed.
She smacked her cheeks with her palms. 'Calm down, Mina. Think clearly. Something that could give a normal person like Elias powerful abilities wouldn't be fetched by some unawakened henchman. Most likely, the main branch didn't know about it—maybe not even the entire Assassin's Branch.' She gripped her chin in deep thought. 'Yeah, if they all knew, Elias would've been swarmed with attacks by now. Whoever wants this probably planned to keep it under wraps and take it for themselves.'
She couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Maybe she wouldn't have to fight off a tidal wave of enemies, after all.
"Did your captor say anything about who wanted you captured?" she asked, patting her chest for being smart.
Elias lifted his head, showing only his eyes. "He never mentioned a name. He just called him 'the boss'," he said, gripping his pants.
'The boss? So, perhaps someone from the top brass? But which one? It wasn't that guy… right?' Her thoughts drifted to the leader of the guild: Sable. She felt confident she'd hold her own against most other high ranks in the branch, but not him. He was a peak iron-tier awakener with over thirty years of experience, while she was just a sixteen-year-old high-rank iron-tier. There was a reason he'd held his position for so long, despite constant attacks from both enemies and fellow guild members.
Elias sneezed, snapping her out of her thoughts. Right, it was autumn. He must be cold, especially
since he'd torn his sleeves off in an attempt to save Chameleon. She hadn't noticed the chill herself, thanks to her strengthened body and energy.
"We should get out of here," she said, slipping off her leather jacket and draping it over his shoulders. Elias felt the lingering warmth and pulled it tighter around his shivering body. It was a little small for him, though, and didn't offer much protection.
"Wait," he said, catching her arm. "I need to burn his body."
Mina raised a brow. "We can just let the police take care of it. You won't get in trouble. I'll even tell them I did it, so your… unusual skills don't raise suspicion. Besides, they're pretty forgiving toward Awakeners."
She didn't dare report to Aegis that her friend's parents were unregistered Awakeners or that he had absorbed something so valuable. She didn't believe Aegis was above dissecting a teenager "for the greater good."
Elias shook his head. "That's not it. I promised Bellamy I'd burn his body after he died… it was his last request," he croaked, fighting back another round of tears.
"You're honoring his last request after everything he did to you?" she asked, bewildered.
"You weren't here. You won't understand," Elias said, wiping away another tear. "Let's just say I got away, and… I don't know what happened to him after."
Mina clenched her teeth. She didn't understand what kind of hold this man had over her friend, but she didn't argue. She was afraid Elias might break if she refused.
Besides, even if she hated to admit it, didn't she understand better than anyone what it was like to care about someone she should hate?
"Fine, fine," she huffed. "Let me at least help you, okay?"
She found two sticks and rubbed them together with vicious strokes until they ignited.
"Do whatever you need to do, Elias," she said, holding the flaming sticks. She used her energy to keep the fire from burning her fingers or spreading prematurely.
Elias's eyes widened. Was this what an awakener was truly capable of? His gaze shifted back to Chameleon—no, Bellamy. A swirl of emotions churned inside him. Hate? Pity? Loss? He couldn't help but wonder, if Bellamy had grown up a normal kid his age, could they have been real friends? It was a question with no answer.
"Goodbye," he whispered, nodding to Mina.
She tossed the burning sticks onto the body, along with several leaves and twigs, then boosted the flames with her energy, making them burn hotter and spread faster. While she wasn't skilled enough to create fire on her own, she could still accelerate its heat and intensity. Within seconds, Bellamy's body was reduced to ash—his beauty and charm gone forever, leaving only memories. Whatever he had been in life, he could finally rest in peace, knowing no one could ever lay hands on him again.
Mina watched her friend for a while. It seemed he had no more tears left to shed, yet the look of loss still lingered on his face.
"Let's go home, Elias," she said, taking his hand and leading him back through the forest.