Rune felt his head hurt. He remembered a light, something soft and enchanting and Knight and Rune followed it dazed into the darkness, where they left the cold light of Ishmael's light. The darkness of a tunnel. They passed out.
"You must be very tired." a familiar face, but different appearances. The face of Ain but not the looks. The Ain had short grey hair and a golden dangle earring. He wore a green shirt and a white and black coat. Fashion not part of Ishmael's rules. Knight knew that he was an runaway like them. He poured them tea in the dark tunnel they were in, with only a slowly dying lantern for light. "You must be so confused, I understand. But please one question at a time."
"Who are you?" asked Knight warily. He was protectively in front of the still weak Rune. His sharp scarlet eyes tried to see through the Ain's face. His face was a smile, a cat's smile. The smile when someone gives when they known something that you don't. It was supposed to be happy and welcoming, but all Knight could do was mistrust it.
"I am Ain. I ran away just like you did." he offered Rune and Knight a cup of tea with the teacup made out of some sort of clay. "It's a story for later. We have to keep to the questions you need to know now. We may die right now, so quickly ask the things you need to know."
"What will happen to Infinity?" asked Rune worriedly as he took a sip of the tea and then recoiled from it like poison. He whispered, "This stuff tasted terrible."
Ain's expression darkened, and his smile faded a bit. He bitterly laughed and replied, "I don't know. Once caught again you'll probably be executed or destroyed. Maybe brainwashed and sent back to the labs. We've never had anyone return."
"How many of us are there?" asked Knight.
"Not too many. We are few in number and very spread out." replied Ain while pouring more tea for himself. "We try our best to protect the runaways before they get caught. We even have insiders that give us information." Then staring at Rune he continued, "You should really drink the tea, it's good for you."
Rune scoffed and turned away. Knight however was troubled by Ain's reply. "What do you mean? That there are insiders? Under Ishmael's gaze?" Ain only smiled. "B-but-"
"Details later." Ain warned gently. Knight nodded, trembling.
"How will we live outside of Ishmael's light?" asked Rune. Ain fingered the teacup's rim, glancing at the brown liquid rather than Rune's face.
"That's a bit hard. The outside world is nothing. There is no life, no food. Demons wander aimlessly, and monsters lurk in the shadows. There is nothing outside of Ishmael's light, only never ending fog that will kill you if you stay in there too long." Ain meet eyes with the knight classes.
"So you'r saying there's nothing out there?! We did this all for nothing?! And Infinity is probably dead!" Rune screaming, slamming his hands on the makeshift table, eyes wide and teary. His voice hitched. Ain simply kept smiling and raised a finger to his lips. Rune started coughing, and Knight helped him sit down.
"There is hope. Solace comes around and picks up us stragglers. He has created a method to replace Ishmael's light and el so that we may live in peace without Ishmael." Ain says. Knight's eyes shines and he asks rapidly.
"Solace exists?" Ain nods and takes a sip of his tea. The two knight classes excitedly share glances. A hope, single ray of hope enough to end a lifetime.
"He may not be the answer that you're seeking, but he is the cause of it." smiles Ains, words ever so cryptic. He stands up and then gives the lantern to Knight as he destroyed the table and drinks the rest of the tea. "Follow me."
The cavern is dark and endless, made of steel and metal. The soft light only showed a feet ahead at a time, the mystery of the place so alluring, warning danger. In the dangerous quietness, Rune thinks. His helplessness caused Infinity's doom. While Rune and Infinity shared a strange bond, it wasn't like they were even close. Just allies until they weren't. Yet seeing him go made his heart hurt. After Knight had ran far enough, Rune could peer over his shoulder to see the blast of heavenly light and screamed Infinity's name. His end. Rune knew that if he wasn't so injured he would have ran away alongside Knight. Something sparked into them at the same time. Fear. It had been hiding, after restless hours of convincing himself to ready his death, Rune still wanted to live. He had been scared of death. But yet Infinity wasn't. And now he was dead.
As they had walked, panting and tired, Knight and Rune saw something. A lone golden light that trailed. They had followed it, and before they knew, they were walking into a secret passage way into the cavern where the Ain sat, preparing tea.
"We were useless to our comrade." whispered Knight, saying their worst sins out loud. His eyes were lit by the light of the lamp. "I ran because I was afraid, yet he stood there."
"Against an Lofty? Arme Thanumaturgy, right?" aked Ain, still ahead of them, his back to them.
"Lofty?" asked Rune curiously.
"Yes, it was our type name, like yours is knight." replied Ain knowingly. "Perhaps they had named him Ain because they thought he should be the only class." in a softer voice, muttering to himself, "They found us all faulty but him. What a pity."
"What?" Rune asked.
"Nothing." it was that smooth peaceful reply that Ain gave. "You wouldn't have stood a chance even if you all fought him. He probably had backup and you haven't even gained enough experience to stand against him and the fact that. . .it's nothing. You would have all died anyways against him. It was a noble sacrifice."
"No, we should have all left." argued Knight, words filled with anguish, words of self blame. "I just did that. We had all escaped together, but in the end, even that wasn't enough."
"It is a pain you must carry." a soft serene voice carrying such harsh words. "You must endure it for you know the truth."
"Why did this happen." sighed Rune. "This is our choice we choose, yet everything is the wrong choice. Staying, leaving it's all the same." With a cynical edge Rune and turned to face Knight, "Does it even matter? No one cares but us, to anyone else Infinity has to be a memory that must be forgotten otherwise then they'll know about us."
Knight stared at him, eyes wide. The words hurt. Even so much more than beautiful lies. They hurt. They traveled in silence.
They took a break where Ain offered more tea, which their hungering bodies accepted. Even Rune who wrinkled his nose at the taste swallowed it without too much of an complaint. They trudged till their feet grew weary and they slept with the dying lantern light, unease settling over them like a dream.
Rune had a strange dream that night. It was about him. They called him Elsword. Who were they? Rune didn't know. The name sounded familiar and wonderful. When Rune woke up, he was almost sorry to see the dream go. With his aching heart and feelings, he saw the Ain already awake. Rune didn't like the eternal darkness and the wandering with only the small lantern for company. It felt like they were being swallowed inside a beast. He shook Knight, who was grunting in his sleep, muttering darkly.
"Yo, Knight, wake up." he whispered urgently into Knight's ear. Knight wearily blinked his eyes open and looked around.
"W-where?" he spoke weakly.
"I see you're both awake." Ain's voice floated over to join them. The man was changing the lantern fuel. Rune's and Knight's stomachs growled. Knight looked down embarrassed, but Rune could care less. Ain smiled, the soft light making his smile menacing. "I see, you both are also hungry."
"Y-yeah." stammered Knight, looking away abashed. Rune shrugged ditching all politeness.
"Do you have any food?" asked Rune, Knight glared at him. Ain shook his head.
"I wasn't expected to pick up any runaways, the last few ate right through our stores." he said good naturedly. He picked up the lantern, and with a smile he told them, "The closer we are to base, the better. The base had food and shelter."
"Great!" cheered Rune, and Knight smiled lightly. So they walked some more. Rune had done el protector training, but he had never walked this long. It hurt everywhere. He wanted to curse. Ain was still smiley, and Rune started to wonder if all Ains were machine like monsters. Ain versus a jamming type would be terrifying.
It was henrir for walking. Everything hurt, Rune and Knight were thirsty, their feet hurt, heads swam in thick pain. The gash Rune pulsed with phantom pain as if it were complaining. Ain was still cheerful and smiling. Rune's thoughts wandered back to Infinity as time slowly ticked by. Talking wasted moisture and it hurt to talk, so nobody talked. Instead of complaining, Knight forced his words into footsteps, like he was using his words to push forward. Memories were useless in the el protector society. Willingly they gave away their memories over and over becoming 'clean' and 'blank'. Medicines that would eliminate useless memories. Knight could understand. The burden of Infinity's life rested upon them. Knight wanted to forget it. Stepping on his words, crunching them under foot, destroying them.
"You should calm down." Ain's soft voice echoed through the tunnel way. Ain stopped. Knight was snapped out of his trance, and both Knight and Rune stopped as well. "Your blood thirst is taking form. You should suppress that unless you want the el protectors to pick it up."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Knight replied miserably, and distracted, staring at Ain's back. Ain turned around, his face was empty. It was strange to see an always smiling man to have his smile stolen.
"I'm afraid," he gritted out, and forced a plastic smile, as he walked past Rune and Knight,"Our time is cut close. My show is over."
Ain handed Knight the lantern. Rune shouted, alarmed. "Wait! Where are you going?!"
"Shhh. A el beast was released. It will pick up on our trail." Ain told them. "Hurry and go, I'll stall."
"Wait, what about you?!" Knight remembered what Infinity did, his eyes were too wide, his heart beat too fast. Ain smiled, warmly. A sweet smile. Rune knew that smile. A lie.
"I'll be fine. I already contacted the Diceon. They'll be here, it doesn't matter where you run off too." Ain smiled and pushed him gently. "I know my way around here."
"Let's go." Rune urged Knight, something was taking over him. His words weren't his own, something yawned awake in him. Something ugly. "Didn't you hear him? He'll be fine. Let's go Knight."
Rune knew his words were empty, filled with darkness and something that wasn't his. Just like when he was running away from Infinity and Ain. Knight glanced back nervously, and then nodded. They ran, the little lantern dangling. Rune could see the figure left behind in the darkness slowly being eaten up. After awhile of running, they paused in the middle of nowhere. Running away from their destiny it seemed, the monsters, everything. All they did was run and run and run. Rune hated it. Knight hated it. Rune felt like crying but he quickly swallowed his emotions down. He was running because there was no other way. It was too tiring. Rune collapsed while Knight keeled over panting.
"It happened again." gasped Rune, eyes close to teary. "We left someone behind, but why do I get the feeling. . .something else was involved. . .yet it's still our fault again! After what happened to Infinity we just abandoned him like we had done to Infinity before."
"I don't understand Knight," continued Rune his usually cheerful personality was wrecked with a guilty one of loneliness and despair, "Why is everyone leaving us!?"
"I-i don't know either." Knight replied, his eyes downcast. "I guess the best we can do is continue on."
"Because we're always being abandoned! By Infinity, by that Ain!" Rune leapt up and grabbed Knight's hands suddenly, desperate eyes and face thrust into his. Startled Knight flinched bach, but Rune held on tightly, "Promise me Knight, swear to me that you'll never abandon me!"
Such hysteria and fear in his eyes, madness, desperation. Knight flinched away from it all, his newfound terror created by Ishmael and her world. "Y-yes, I promise."
Rune searched his eyes, before letting him go with a sigh. "Thank you Knight." He smiled weakly, "I don't know, I felt something and I took it out on you. Sorry."
"Yeah." Knight lamely responded.
"What are a pair of el protectors doing in this tunnel." a sharp clear voice. It was another code type. Another code walked into the dimly lit area from a distance.
You could make out from the shadows long wavy white hair, honey yellow eyes, and a black short dress. She had a blue orb on her forehead. Her black dress seemed to be made of metal. Her honey eyes were too wide to be a human's and far to reflective. Pale skin, and a slight unnatural statue like sheen. Her ears were in the Code Nemesis class shape. It looked to be a Code Nemesis class.
"You must be the Diceon group that Ain mentioned!" cheered Rune happily, however Knight was still hesitant, the Code Nemesis had a sword drawn out, trailing behind her.
"How do you know the name." asked, well more like ordered the Code Nemesis, Rune blinked, surprised.
"We heard it from Ain, he said he contacted you guys." Rune explained, confused. Code Nemesis seemed to freeze for a moment before reply.
"You two are wearing el protector clothes and are suspiciously wandering around the tunnels. Extermination task in work." the Code Nemesis's eyes flashed dangerously as she hefted the sword up. Knight and Rune both took a step back. She jumped at Knight, her sword almost hit him, a few more slahes, and she turned around and throw electric balls at Rune who blocked them and sent runes at her. Code Nemesis then jumped out of the way of the runes and sent threw a sword down in Knight's direction. Spikes stabbed into his leg.
Knight screamed, in pain. Rune glanced over and saw red blood running down his legs. Rune narrowed his eyes and summoned the largest and sharpest rune sword, grabbed it and tried to thrust the sword at the code type. She dodged last second, the sword tearing her clothes. Her eyes narrowed. They parried, Nemesis dashing in and out, throwing electron balls and nasod spears. Rune felt his mana draining and tiring, and Knight was in pain. He had been shocked several times and now he ached everywhere. It hurt. Yet something in him drove him to attack harder and slash harder. Then his stomach disappeared when Nemesis summoned a giant nasod spear.
It threw him across the tunnel, and while he had dodged the sharp part, the blunt force of it hurt. He was in pain, moaning and gasping. Blood dripped down everywhere. They never had a chance. They had been on the run, hungry, tired, and now against a nasod which never tired and never felt hungry? Rune knew who was going to win. He was smashed against the wall. It hurt to breath or even talk. Every breath he took was a bolt of pain in his ribs and arms and left leg.
He crowed in victory as he saw his rune swords impaling her stomach. Three in fact, there was one cleaving her thigh in half, on vertical to stomach in the middle and another right next to it. Rune strained his ears to hear.
"Backup requested. Error. Error. Error. Unable to access backup storage tank. Start operation Shut down." while Nemesis said that, her eyes turned dull and faded to black. The spear deconstructed itself and turned to scraps of metal that retreated to Nemesis, removing the rune swords that promptly faded away after being removed, and covered the damaged areas.
Rune's eyes gave out, the pain was too much and he fell back into the lull of sleep. Sweet dreamless sleep.
