"It's okay..."
The tone of her voice was gentle, but the depth of her sadness was vast, too vast for her gentle voice to be able to hide it.
Despite her trying her best to assure him, her tears still flow, her voice cracks, surging with insurmountable grief.
"You have to do it... please...!"
His body feels weak, he could only stare at her with grief, anger, and guilt.
Why was he feeling like this?
Who is that person in front of him?
"... Sirius ... I ... you..."
Her voice was fragmented, yet her lips moved, and he knew that she was trying to tell him something.
"What...? What? What is it?! What are you trying to say?!"
Sirius shouts, his cry a fragile, desperate, a pleading scream that tore from his throat.
"N-No, please! PLEASE!!! NO-"
"NO!"
Sirius jerks up from his sleep, his hands on the floor as he props himself up, eyes wide open.
His heart beats fast, thumping against his chest like a marching drum.
Sol's heart jumps to her throat and she quickly looks at Sirius with surprise etched on her face.
"Sirius? What's wrong?"
Sirius looks at her slowly, somehow, her face is blurry.
Well, everything is to be exact.
But, he could feel the wetness drooling down his cheeks as he quickly wipe the tears away.
He looks up to the sky, pushing the raging boiling emotions down.
His heart feels like it just got gripped and forced to stop beating, a deep well of sadness, one where he doesn't know came from.
"Mm. I'm... fine... I don't even know what I dreamt..."
Sirius says, his head tilting back down as he bring a palm up to his face, pressing against one eye.
'What is it...?'
Sirius asks to himself, trying his best to pick off that dream, his memories of the dream seem fractured.
Try as hard as he can, it was still not possible for him to decipher that dream, who that voice belonged to, and how she looked.
'Damn... I hate my brain... just remember it, what's so hard about remembering a goddamn dream?!'
A surge of annoyance boils within him, he feels like he want to snap at something, to punch something to rubbles.
But, he stop himself as he force himself to calm down, what is he? A kid going through puberty and having emotional turmoil? No, he's more than that.
"Okay... if you say so."
Sol's voice snaps him out of his trance as she looks at him with a gentle smile, as if soothing a child from a nightmare.
Sirius simply smiles awkwardly, cringing to himself upon remembering his tears.
'I cried from a dream? What the hell is wrong with me...'
Shaking those thoughts out of his mind, he looks around and notice everyone sitting around, chatting or just looking over the city.
It feels like a rooftop party, if that's the correct term that he heard.
He's never been to one though.
"So... what's the situation Sol?"
Sirius ask, tilting his head as he suddenly lets out a faint shiver, looking down to his body, he realised that he's naked aside from the boxers.
Sirius summons [Boidae Shell], the black suit of armor covering him from chin to toe as he lets out a hum of satisfaction.
"Well, everyone have rested up, Adam and the others came back around late at night, they discovered a path out of here."
"Ah... that's good I guess."
Sirius nods before standing up and stretching his body, feeling all fine and better now.
"Seriously, your Rune is a godsend Sol. Thank you."
Sirius smiles at Sol as she nods back with a smile.
"No problem."
Walking towards Thea and Adam who is talking together, Adam throws a hand up to the air as Sirius nudge his head in a gesture of reply.
"You guys talking about the plan?"
Sirius asks as Thea and Adam nods.
"We were thinking of moving as soon as possible, is your body fine now? What about your mana?"
Thea asks, as Sirius looks at Sol with a smile.
"Its great now, thanks to her. As for my mana, it's up and running."
Thea nods, satisfied before looking at Adam.
"Alright, we'll head out now, make sure that you don't forget about any belongings or such. I trust that we've all rested up now so let's get going."
Thea claps, getting the attention of everyone as they nod upon hearing her words.
But Sirius...
A flash of the dream appears in his mind, his mind stopping like a record scratching.
He shakes his head, the outside world seem to blur around him as his mind conflicts.
'That's just a dream. We should just go back right now. Why stay here any longer?'
He ask to himself, chuckling inside his head.
'But... won't going out right now be dangerous? We'll be out there trekking into the unknown, while here? We know what to expect and what to not do.'
'Plus... Thea said she was close to being a Usurper, so... why not pick off the Fallens and make her become a Ruler?'
'Yea... that should work. It's not wise to go in blind, plus having a Ruler in the group would be good...'
"Sirius? You fine?"
A voice snaps him out of his thoughts as he looks up.
"Hm?"
Sirius looks at Thea who is looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"If you feel like you're not okay just tell us. We can wait for a while before we move."
Sirius' brow furrows as he shakes his head and opens his mouth.
"You know..."
Sirius wasn't even sure why he was going to suggest this, but...
"Why don't we kill the Fallens and Seeds?"
An awkward silence ensues, leaving the others looking at him, bewildered.
Sirius blinks, looking at the others who is looking at him like they just found something alien.
"I half-heartedly expected Thea to be the one saying that, but somehow you're the one that said that."
Sol mutters in surprise.
"... I mean look, hear me out for a second."
"You know, I just had the biggest deja vu ever and only now do I sort of get why you reacted the way you did when I proposed to clear out the whole Abyss and the Usurper."
Thea adds, looking at him with surprised before shaking her head.
"But go on, what were you going to say?"
Sirius lets out a sigh before finally speaking.
"As much as I want to go as quickly as possible, don't you think it's better to stay here and slowly get stronger?"
Seeing the others look at him with silence, Sirius continues.
"If we go now to another area, we don't know what we will encounter there. While here? We know."
Sirius adds, before looking at Thea.
"Thea, didn't you say that you feel like you're close to ascending? Didn't you say you want to get stronger? Is this not a good chance for you to do so?"
Thea's eyes widen upon hearing his words, her eyes drift off to look to the side as a notification window pops up, only visible to her.
Status: [Blessed]
Name: Thea
Class: [Evoker]
Soul Purity: [5/6]
Body: [Tainted]
Blessings: [Silver Light] [Winter's Ember] [Silk Breeze] [Alloy Frame]
Runes:
[Plasma Core]: [Lightning's Blessing] [Conduction]
[Heatstorm]: [Burst] [Flowing Heat]
"You know what? Sure."
Thea agrees, a smile painting her face as she grins at Sirius.
Sol looks at Thea with concern before shaking her head.
"You two... Thea, you didn't even ask about the other's opinion."
Thea stops on her track as she look back at Sol before coughing.
"Rght, of course. Um, so what do you guys think about it?"
Thea ask, clapping her hands as she then place her hands on her waist, waiting for the others.
"Well, what Sirius said made sense I guess. But it's risky too. I assume you're basing this on the worst-case scenario that we ended up with another Usurper on the road?"
Sirius nods upon hearing Adam's words, confirming his suspicion as Adam nods back a few times before looking at Thea.
"Sure, let's go with it. In case, at the worst-case scenario the gorilla or the minotaur found us while we are killing their underlings, we retreat to the path we found to the border and get out of this city."
Thea nods, her face happy as she lets a grin paint her face.
"Okay, okay… I can't wait to ascend into a Ruler."
Thea close her eyes, her heart beating wild in her chest.
"Alright, as we all know, the bats are at the weakest right now."
Sirius suddenly speaks up, heads turning in his direction as he continues.
"Like how we planned back in the Abyss, I will be the bait while you guys clear up the bats. Also, you guys are fine with letting Thea consume the Souls first right?"
Everyone nods, not displeased. After all, Thea is currently the strongest in the team right now. Not only does she have 2 Runes, she is close to ascending into a Ruler.
The reason why she didn't use her second Rune was simple, it was flames.
Fire against fire, Thea was afraid that her mana would only be wasted instead firing an attack that would clearly be useless.
Second of all…
She couldn't control her flames.