Chapter 22 - The Sibling's Story

Marcus groaned as he sprung up in pain, his eyelids flickered open as he grabbed his head, "Gahh!" He groaned, wincing and slowly looking around,

"Where am I? Is this heaven?" He muttered, staring at the intricate and humungous cathedral-styled throne room around him. The tinted glass windows letting in a small amount of moonlight while a giant crystal chandelier hung above him on the ceiling.

"You're awake." He heard a voice beside him, causing him to turn around, coming face to face with the white-haired girl.

"Who? Who are you?" He instinctually shuffled back in surprise as he watched her give him a warm smile, holding out her hand to assist him to his feet.

"I do not have a name. Not yet anyway."

"Where am I?" Marcus looked around in amazement, the empty hall and the giant throne situated before him. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. A building this grandiose was definitely not found anywhere on his planet. "Is this heaven?" He asked, glancing at the nameless white-haired girl, standing a few feet away respectfully.

"This is the Throne Room." Another voice answered for him.

Coming into view, the white-haired brother could be seen walking down the long lavish red carpet laid down in the middle of the throne room, reaching from one end of the hall to the other. In his hand, he held a small glass of water. He handed it over to Marcus, offering it to him to drink.

However, instead of kindly receiving the drink, Marcus glanced around with caution. The eerie silence within the humongous chapel-sized room cast an intimidating pressure upon him.

"I don't understand. Where is this place? Where exactly am I?" He repeated his question, still extremely confused about the situation at hand.

The two siblings gave each other a glance before the sister stepped forward, raising her hand In front of her.

"We are currently in a world called Excesium." She drew a circle before her, creating a trail of light blue ice to float in midair, "An isolated plane separate from any dimension, and that is the way it has been since the beginning of time. Our ancestors lived here in peace, tending to our world's needs, caring for the residents which resided within our world. But everything changed during the First Gate War over 50,000 years ago. On that day, a rip in space. A giant portal, one twice the size of this building appeared," She explained, this time drawing out a giant gate-shaped image in midair.

"How is any of this related-" Marcus frowned, before being interrupted by the girl,

"I will get to it. When the rip opened up, it was the first time we made contact with humans. Hundreds and thousands of them. All pouring through the giant rip in space. Of course, we were unprepared. Millions of us were slaughtered, no matter our species. Our heads and body parts were torn apart, taken back as trophies. Our cores were robbed and sold for a large price. Reforged and created into weapons. Weapons which would be used to hunt and kill us in a constant cycle." She illustrated the scenes, recreating the killing, the massacres, everything right before him in extreme detail.

"Millions of us were slaughtered every day. We were helpless. No matter how we tried to defend ourselves, attack back, it was useless. They all saw us as fodder. Monsters to be killed. Monsters that could only be used to improve their own selfish needs."

The images began cracking as shards of ice slowly came loose, falling to the ground, instantly dissipating the moment it hit the carpet.

"Sister." The brother muttered with an uncomfortable look, his pained eyes hesitantly glancing at the ground, "Calm down."

Snapping her out of her daze, the sister flinched as she looked over at Marcus' shocked expression.

"I apologize for becoming so agitated." She gave a slight bow of embarrassment.

"If your race was being killed on a daily basis. How are you still alive?" Marcus frowned at the unbelievable story presented before him.

"Not our race. Our people." The sister corrected, "Our world consists of thousands of different species, and the reason we still live till this day, that's where our King comes in. After 100 years of torment and fear, a man stepped forward. An unknown man with great power. He wasn't human, but he wasn't one of us either. However, the one clear thing was that he stood with us and for us. With his power, he was able to gain control of the gates. Forcefully sealing them for 10,000 years. Within those 10,000 years, he was able to guide us into becoming stronger, allowed us to wield unspeakable power. You can use your Status Check skill if you wish for confirmation."

She gave a small demonstration, smoothly bending her ice powers around her with a smile, shocking Marcus slightly as he raised an eyebrow to ask how she knew he had that skill.

"Our last King had the same skill." She replied simply, raising her arm above her head and gathering all the ice above her, creating a small rain of light ice roses to slowly flow to the ground.

"[Status Check]"

Status:-

Name: N/A

Age: 67,291

Occupation: Gate's Caretaker

Title: The Caretaker (Ranked: SS)

Class: Ice Manipulator

Level: 299

HP: 100,000/100,000

MP: 600,000/ 600,000

STR: 1,000

INT: 60,000

VIT: 10,000

AGI: 40,000

RES: 400

LUK: 100

Skills:-

Ice Manipulation: (Lvl MAX)

MP Cost: 10 MP

Mannequins's Soul: (Lvl 1)

MP Cost: None

Marcus' eyes nearly burst out its socket the moment he saw the ridiculous numbers displayed before him.

"What the hell?" He rubbed his eyes to check if he saw it correctly.

"This was the power granted by the King. He bestowed upon us this power throughout the 10,000 years the gates were sealed, he trained us and guided us till we could confidently decimate the battlefield. So when he unsealed the gates, we were prepared this time. Confident in our victory, confident of our revenge. However, contrary to our expectations, we found ourselves in a completely different world when we reopened the gates. A world where the humans residing within it were ignorant of our existence. One where technology was not even a quarter as advanced as the last. However, blinded with the thirst for blood and revenge we began our slaughter. Killing indiscriminately. It was the Era of Bloodshed. For the first time in a long time were no longer the prey but the predator." She explained, the more she spoke the more the rage and anger in her voice dissipated, however, the look of sorrow and regret took its place.

"What happened then?" Marcus asked, slowly becoming more and more intrigued by the story.

"Nothing. By the time we came to our senses, nothing was left. The once peaceful and innocent world had become war-torn. No humans had survived. The clear blue skies of the planet had become blood-red, the water in their oceans contaminated by the toxins and poisons left behind by our people. But all this was not without consequences. Our King had not joined us in our conquest. Instead, during the 500 years of slaughter, he had simply watched. Watching our decisions. Watching our pathetic attempt at exacting revenge. By the end of it all, he vanished, but not before clearly expressing his disappointment. Before he left, he sealed away our dimension one last time. Separating and sealing each of his direct disciples in a separate dimension from each other, ordering us to reflect on our actions, and once he believes us to be ready, he will return to lead us once more. So this is where you are, a separate mini-dimension created by our King. The Throne Room."