~Stuck on the seventh floor-V~

"Huh, Daniel?"

Eden was a little surprised as he didn't expect to see Heather's older brother out this late in the night. This didn't last long though as he quickly raised his momentarily let down guard and returned to his cold self.

"Why were you watching me?" He asked coldly. By now, Eden's eyes had turned to slits as he was suspicious of the man. His question was rewarded with silence as the blonde haired young man just stared at him, obviously not intent on offering any explanation whatsoever regarding his earlier actions.

Eden wasn't going to settle for that though as he initiated a glare and began releasing some of that his menacing aura. After his Reincarnation, Eden developed a cold and uncaring personality. He had a purpose and in his eyes every other thing was either a hindrance, a useful tool or simply irrelevant. He decided not to bother himself with trivialities such as friends or love and the like as he had resolved himself to accomplish his goals, maybe due to pure revenge and contempt towards the Sovereigns and monarchs or as a form of redemption for his past failures, maybe even both.

He had built a wall around himself and socializing with him had become a next to impossible task. He had developed a spiteful personality and had become the type of person to ask questions and expect propmpt answers, but not bother to reply a good will morning greeting or a simple 'hello'.

Eden had become a living testament to what betrayal could do to people.

"Why were you watching me?!" He raised his voice, his powerful aura was already pressing down on the silent Daniel. He needed answers and wasn't a patient enough person to talk it out with someone else, if a person refused to behave themselves he had no qualms beating the individual to his senses.

Daniel grit his teeth, the aura was definitely weighing down on him. Eden's grip was tight and as such he couldn't escape where he had been pinned down.

"I'll ask one more time. WHY WERE YOU WATCHING ME?!" He roared as he increased his output and dumped it all on the defenseless Daniel.

It didn't take long before Daniel started having problems breathing and a few more seconds after that, he gave in. The poor boy held his throat while shouting:

"I-i'll talk!"

"Good". Eden replied. He retracted his aura, but he didn't get down from Daniel's body, neither did he release his grip.

"Start talking". He added.

"But-". Daniel tried to complain, but was cut off.

"Start. Talking."

"Alright, alright I'll talk. The reason why I was stalking you is because I was told to do so".

"By who?". Eden quickly interjected.

"Would you let me finish. You see, in there is a reason why we don't do guard shifts in the night. It's because of uncle Darius's stigmata. He can create a powerful barrier that is almost impregnable from the outside, but easy to get out from. When someone or something leaves or tries attacking the barrier, uncle Darius is alerted almost immediately afterwards.

He noticed you left the camp site and went off into the woods, so he lent me this <stealth cloak> and told me to keep track of you. Which I did, and now we are here".

"Ok. If that's the case, then why did you run away when I noticed you".

"Why? Are you seriously asking why I ran away?!"

"Yes". Eden didn't react to Daniel's change of tone and just bluntly replied.

"Oh excuse me for just wanting to stay alive. Mind you, even after figuring out my identity and my purpose who still haven't let me go. I can only imagine what you would do someone who you caught watching you at the time".

His words made sense to Eden, and after giving Daniel a long hard look. He decided to realese his grip and come off the dudes body.

Daniel sat up as soon as he was free and looked at Kim for some time before letting out a sarcastic, "Thank you". To which Kim made no reply.

"....!"

There was a silence for some time as the two sat down on the grass, the place they sat on was similar to the meadow's where Eden first woke up in but this place was an elevated land and below they could see the entire forest in all it's splendour. The numerous trees and grass seemed so cover every inch of the forest below, the only place still visible from above was the huge dormant volcano that sat in the centre.

The volcano was inactive and didn't pose any threat, but there was a much bigger problem living underneath it and that was the adult obsidian centipede, the zone boss and the strongest karmic beast in the entire zone. They had both encountered the creature so they both knew what dangers the beast posed to them. The long silence continued for some time, before Daniel interrupted by asking.

"Hey. It's a little strange, the way you poped up in this zone out of no where. You mind sharing some info".

Eden kept silent again for a while, he was trying to find a reason to answer the boys question, and he did. It didn't take him two seconds to formulate a lie before saying.

"I don't know, the last thing I remember was being killed alongside my colleagues by the zone boss. I thought for sure that I'd died, but I somehow managed to survive. When I woke up and realized that all my colleagues had died, I became mad and challenged the boss once more. As you can probably guess, I failed horribly". Eden lied. The words came out so naturally that it was hard to think it a lie, but it was. After all, although extremely it was possible for two groups of people to end up in the same zone on the same floor.

He only answered because he felt the need to keep Daniel and his teammates as acquaintances, not because he liked them but because he deemed them necessary if he ever wanted to kill the zone boss and clear the sub quest. Apparently, Daniel fell for the lie hook, line and sinker.

"I see". It made sense to Daniel. Why else would a person be so cold if he hadn't experienced the death of his loved ones. He sympathized with Eden, but still decided to ask one more question.

"May I ask a question, this is the last".

Eden turned his head and stared into Daniel sparkling blue eyes. All he needed to do was look him in the eyes, and he could already guess what sort of person Daniel was

'sociable and probably still a bit naive, but dependable, calm and observant. He also has a good head on his shoulders, probably because he's an older brother. It isn't guaranteed, but it's highly likely that he is the first born'.

It was scary just how easily Eden could read people, but it was expected. He had experienced a lot of people during his time as king, and although his downfall was as a result of his naivete, he was still a wise leader. His entire experience with the monarchs and Asura had only served to sharpen his intuition and by now, it had reached monstrous degrees.

"I cannot guarantee that I would be able to answer that question, keep that in mind. You may ask".

"Thank you". Daniel could sense that Eden wasn't a very patient person and so he didn't wait for a reply and decided to quickly ask his question.

"If I may, I would like to know how you managed to get your right leg healed. If I remember correctly, it was clearly detached from your body when we rescued you, no?"

Eden's eyes went wide at this question. He had forgotten that it was a boy like him that lifted him off the ground and carried him on his shoulders and as such, he didn't expect such a question. Silence reigned again as Daniel eagerly waited for an answer while Eden struggled a bit to push down the shock.

"....."

"....."

After a long thought, Eden decided to speak. He took another glance at his questioner and noticed that his eyes shone with expectancy. He then opened his mouth,

"I...."