I Guard The Book That Slays Gods

"That's not possible!"

Dainty's casual tone pushed Raiden over the edge, and he found himself voicing what seemed painfully clear: the Elusive, the Lost Child, had murdered his comrades. The revelation struck Dainty like lightning. Her cheerful mask cracked, eyes going wide with horror.

"He's prideful, sure. But that's not the Lost Child."

"Inside his Absolute Domain, he's basically unbeatable if you don't know his weakness." Dainty said, scowling. "He would have killed you all."

Raiden's fist squeezed tight. Freya's sacrifice. The helplessness. Sharp, cutting pain. Thoughts that wouldn't end. Emotions like a prison. And now—she said what exactly?

Before Raiden could explode again, Noelle stirred from whatever trance she'd been in, leaning back against her blue sofa as she spoke.

"That won't help… you trust him, but you haven't given us a single reason to."

Dainty's attention shifted to Noelle's raw tone. She stared for about a minute, her quietness echoing louder, before she finally exhaled. Then, wore her usual charming expression.

She flipped her cascading white hair behind her and leaned into the sofa. Whatever words she was preparing would clearly be painful to deliver.

"How long have we been alive? 200? 220? Long enough to see the world rot."

A scowl crossed Raiden's face as he blinked frantically, anger giving way to stunned disbelief. Dainty looked barely twenty-eight, the others younger—only the Lost Child seemed different. But 220 years? What exactly were they?

"That's how long I've known the Lost Child. And trust me, he hasn't changed." She adjusted herself, fighting the urge to reveal beyond what she already had.

"What are you? A god or something?"

"Ha… ha. We aren't gods—we are humans, like you." Dainty said with an awkward tinge.

Raiden waited in silence as her laughter faded. His instincts screamed that something was amiss. The longevity defied human limits, but that was only part of it. The Elusive harbored greater mysteries—truths Dainty couldn't bring herself to speak.

"Don't fuck around with us… we aren't kids, got it?" Noelle's words cut through the silence.

Raiden couldn't help but appreciate Noelle's presence. He couldn't bring himself to utter a word, only thoughts, bewildered ones at that.

The problem wasn't Dainty; in fact, he was certain she was nothing but a child at heart. Her struggles to contain herself spoke louder—two centuries old… she could have done better. It was rather what they were involved with, something the Elusive themselves couldn't fully grasp.

"I know that…" Dainty began fidgeting with her fingers. Then, sighed. "I don't know…"

She grimaced and held her head up. "Yes, I don't know."

Noelle also seemed to be catching up. Her eyes traced Dainty carefully, nodding in steady understanding with her expression darkening.

"The Elusive… can you tell us about them? And how exactly did you end up with the twenty-eight pages?" Noelle's tone was steady and gentle, as though she were speaking to a child.

Dainty's demeanor shifted once more, a soft smile playing on her lips like usual. "No one had ever cared enough to know."

Noelle smiled. "I do."

Certainly, Noelle Ardit, the Rulekeeper, knew how to be cunning when necessary. Raiden had never witnessed her being so contemplative. Typically, she chose violence or silence. He smirked to himself. Their recent trials had changed more than just him, it seemed.

"Strange how long ages always seem to bring amnesia." Dainty said with a little humor. "But you're in luck; I remember… well, most of it anyway."

She propped her chin on her hand, eyes drifting to the ceiling in thought. "Ah. The Elusive? They were created to pull the four kingdoms together, and, well, to keep order."

"I was then the Rulekeeper… fourteen, I think?" She paused for a moment and shrugged.

"It was Klein el Seer who chose me, stripped me of my duty, and handed me a new position."

Raiden's eyes squinted in concentration. So Klein wasn't merely a member but the founder of the Elusive? He could glimpse the future, possibly the past and concealed truths as well.

If Raiden's memory served him, Klein had said that wasn't all he perceived. Could these visions come to him spontaneously, like prophecy?

"We were the strongest each Kingdom could offer… or so they said." Dainty's expression dropped. "But that wasn't the case… there were stronger people. Much stronger."

"Okay… but how did everything come about? You were only a child."

Dainty's eyes darted in Noelle's direction, and she smiled. "We did nothing. El Seer never asked a damn thing of us. Wake up. Train. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Like machines."

"So… the pages?" Words finally found Raiden.

"…well, until then."

"When?"

"Until he showed up," her eyes glanced at their faces. "Let me say… uhm, until Aaron showed up."

Confusion struck at her words. Noelle and Raiden mirrored each other's bewildered faces perfectly. She didn't seem confident in what she'd said. Had she lost that piece of her memory?

"You don't sound sure," Noelle voiced her concern.

"Well, because I'm not." She took a deep breath. "None of us remembers what he looked like… not even his true name."

She scoffed. "Even the mysterious el Seer…"

Raiden's throat tightened as Aaron's pages came flooding back. If he were the world's only transmigrator, the only person capable of reading English, then perhaps he alone possessed Aaron's secret—that his real name was Milo. Yet could even that be trusted?

"He just walked into our quarters one day. Calm. Gentle. I think." The instant she spoke, her eyes sparkled with excitement as she snapped her fingers.

"Uh-huh, he was a yellow crest bearer. I am certain."

Her explanation was enough for Raiden at the moment, but Noelle, who obviously had other ideas, couldn't stop herself from seeking more details.

"Wait… you let a stranger walk into your quarters? You sure you're really Elusive?"

Dainty smirked. "Well, I did just welcome you into my home, didn't I?"

An awkward silence followed her question, but not long after, Dainty spoke again:

"I think he really was a good person back then. He brought the Elusive together, drew on our strength, and shared in our knowledge."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't have much to offer… other than what I knew about aether. The Reader and the Lost Child had plenty to say, though."

"And all the knowledge he gathered from elsewhere… he wrote it down in his book. What we now call the Book of Aaron."

Raiden frowned, her words hitting him like a brick. He recalled the last page in the book that his comrade Leo had given him.

Aaron had written about his potential fate—madness or return to their world. But Dainty described him as if he'd already fallen to darkness. Could that be what happened?

"He's… a villain?"