I Guard The Book That Slays Gods

"He's… a villain?"

His words echoed in the stillness. Raiden's vengeful purpose was absolute, but this represented his only route home. He'd accepted the risk of failure, but not the guarantee of it.

Both Dainty and Noelle gazed after him with bewildered frowns. Raiden's relationship with Aaron remained hidden from nearly everyone—except possibly Klein, whose future sight might have revealed it. His sudden concern seemed oddly misplaced, given what he should know.

"Uhm… I don't know about that." Dainty's words came in hesitation, her azure eyes locked into Raiden's golden ones.

Relief flooded through Raiden, his exhale carrying away some of the tension as he smiled. His quest for revenge would have continued no matter what, but discovering Aaron retained some humanity lifted a weight from his shoulders.

"Oh, right…"

A flicker crossed Noelle's lips as she visibly fought against saying something. Raiden's gaze found her, and his face clouded over with suspicion.

An awkward strain settled between them, growing heavier by the moment. Raiden would typically brush off interpersonal drama, but something about the Queen of Viscount's power within him was making him achingly aware of every emotional undercurrent.

"I don't know. But that doesn't make him a good guy." Dainty's words cut through their daze, forcing Raiden's attention to her.

"What?" Noelle asked.

"Well… for some reason, none of us can remember a thing about him." She shrugged her shoulders briefly. "He somehow erased our memories of him. I just don't think someone with nothing to hide would go that far."

Raiden shared the others' confusion about Aaron's motivations. Aaron had wandered endlessly, accumulating knowledge in his single-minded pursuit of home—a yearning Raiden understood intimately. But the memory loss was troubling. Was amnesia the cost of escape, was it or something darker?

"What do you mean?" Noelle spoke, maintaining her scowling expression. "You've got everything Aaron wrote down; you're its guardians… can't you figure it out and break the curse?"

Dainty fell silent for a moment, Noelle's question settling in as her mind wandered. Before long, her savory voice cut through the silence.

"Klein gave us the pages to guard. Four went to the Lost Child, ten to me, fourteen to the Reader… and we weren't even allowed to read them."

Identical looks of confusion crossed both their faces. Klein el Seer's dominance was undeniable—every member of the Elusive knew better than to defy him. But the pages themselves were their true chains.

The Lost Child's pages were taken right under his nose, and the Reader met his end within his own absolute domain. Eighteen of the twenty pages had already vanished. This wasn't just a blow to the Elusive's pride—all their sacrifices would be worthless if they failed to secure the last ten.

Studying their faces, Dainty knew precisely what they were thinking. She slipped back into her typical manner, bright and self-assured. Then she spoke:

"The pages aren't yours. They aren't mine either." she said with a smile, confusing Raiden even more.

She rose to her feet, her long white hair stretching on her shoulders. "Klein didn't bring you here by chance. He wants something else from you."

The moment she spoke, she began leaving the room.

Raiden's eyes squinted, taking in her words. Nothing made sense to him at that moment. The last time he spoke to el Seer, he mentioned he couldn't see his future anymore because of the Huntress, an unbreakable force that sought to eliminate potential future threats. And now Dainty claimed what exactly?

"Wait a minute…" Noelle spoke, prompting Dainty to halt and turn in her direction. "If the Lost Child wouldn't kill Freya, then she's somewhere… and you know where."

Dainty glanced at her, her smile slowly widening. "Who knows?" She shrugged and continued to walk away.

A trace of hope lit Noelle's gaze, accompanied by a tender smile. She and Freya had their moments, but her selfless sacrifice appeared to have changed something fundamental within Noelle.

Raiden, however, found no such peace. His thoughts arrived in jumbled pieces, and he realized only Klein himself could provide the answers he needed.

As the two sat there, absorbed in their respective musings, Levi appeared in the doorway, rubbing his sleepy eyes while his feet scraped drowsily along the ground.

"Have you seen Aeris? I'll be needing her." His lazy tone cut through the haze, grabbing Noelle's attention.

"No, I haven't." She responded, and they both began leaving the room.

But Raiden found himself falling deeper into his confusion.

He needed the twenty-eight pages to return to his world, and when he first heard of the Huntress coming after him, this had been his fear. Perhaps his desire was an abomination—one the unbreakable force couldn't allow.

And if Klein had encouraged him so strongly, and not for his journey back home, then what was the reason? But this was only the beginning of his bewilderment… why exactly was the Huntress pursuing him?

This was his solitary abyss. None of his comrades knew his reasons for seeking the pages, and this wasn't knowledge he was willing to divulge. He had to navigate this isolation alone.

He could feel his brain throbbing against his skull, his hands tangling through his hair in frustration as he searched for something to cling to. Something to offer him, even a shred of hope.

The room felt silent, his head leaning back against the sofa, his eyes darting across the ceiling above as he tried to absorb the warmth in the quietness and ease his mind.

However, not long after, a nerve-wracking sound broke from the stone gate behind Raiden, cutting through the silence, and his head jerked in its direction.

Behind it was Noelle, panting as she gripped her knee. Raiden's expression darkened from seeing her alone. An uneasiness swept through him as her condition seemed strange given the carefree expression she'd carried moments before.

"Th—

Raiden's confusion began melting away, consumed by the puzzle before him. Noelle hadn't spoken to him in days, and with that panic threading her voice, something was definitely wrong.

"The pages… they are gone!" The words rushed through her heavy throat.