3 Cause & Effect

Luke shook off a part of his anxiety as he thought about which questions he should ask first.

After organizing his thoughts, Luke started with his questioning.

"First of all, I would like to know where I am."

The old man sitting across from Luke closed his eyes for a moment while sighing with a hint of tiredness.

Opening his eyes, he made eye contact with Luke.

Luke, who was already pretty anxious about this whole situation, felt uncomfortable. It was the same gaze that he had received while he was thinking about whether or not he should agree to take the old man's life.

"You are in the forest of N'Gool, one of the monster overlords. This is one of the forbidden areas of the Exul Empire."

'A monster overlord? Exul Empire? Such things or places definitely do not exist on Earth. Could this be… a different world altogether?'

Still uncertain about the nature of this new world he found himself in, Luke asked a question that the old man had previously avoided completely.

"Who are you?"

Slightly amused, the old man scoffed and crossed his arms, with one corner of his lips twitching upwards.

"Why is that of any concern to you?"

'At least he didn't ignore the question completely like the previous two times… I should change the angle that I'm asking this from.'

Grinning from ear to ear, Luke answered.

"The answer is simple. Three dead monsters, and no signs of you carrying a weapon anywhere on you. Hell, even your robe is stainless. You can't seriously tell me that an ordinary man could perform such a feat unarmed, and at your age?"

Resting his head on his right hand, the old man was getting more and more amused by Luke's deductions.

"Also, you called yourself a lord earlier, yet you live in this tiny house in the middle of a dead forest. Seems odd, doesn't it?"

Luke observed the old man's expression as he presented his theory.

'His amused expression is as unmoving as stone, but I'm guessing that I got the majority, if not all, of what I've said correct, judging from the look in his eyes.'

The pair of blue eyes looked as if they were preparing to pierce straight through Luke for just an instant.

But instead, the old man relaxed his gaze, raised his hands as if surrendering to the police, and said with a grin:

"Heh, guess I was caught."

After a bit of a chuckle, he put his hands back on the table and, after letting out a small sigh, said in a serious tone.

"My name is -------. I am the holder of the ---- elemental as well as the wind elemental. But… I guess you can't even comprehend some of what I've told you just yet."

'He is right. I couldn't… But why is that?'

Luke could hear the words that the old man uttered, yet it was as if he suddenly spoke in a different language and then switched back to English.

'Wait… If this, in fact, is not Earth, how could this old man even understand English in the first place?'

"Old man… What language are we talking in right now?"

Disappointment surfaced from the depths of the old man's sharp blue eyes, as if caught off guard. He knew that something was off about Luke the moment he saw him, but he decided to ignore it. He did promise to answer any questions that Luke had, even if they were questions like these, which even little children would know the answer to.

"Well, the language itself doesn't matter. As you probably already know, we're all under the effect of the linguistic elemental anyways, just like all the other humans on the continent. Whatever language we speak, we will understand each other. With the exception of a few… let's just say, 'taboo' words… that will not be understood no matter what, at least not through the elemental."

Luke put a finger on his chin in contemplation.

'There's that word again. "Elemental". He has already mentioned that word multiple times in this short amount of time. I should definitely ask about what it is.'

"What are these "elementals" that you keep mentioning?"

He wasn't expecting such simple questions from Luke at the start, but the old man just chose to give up after hearing this question and the one before it and answered anyway.

"Simply put, elementals are amalgamations of untapped energy. That untapped energy is commonly referred to as "mana". Elementals are used as channels to access the mana that's all around us. There are various types of elementals, but the most important ones are the fire, water, wind, earth, and metal elementals, as they're the ones most often seen and used among humans. There are also the various rare types of elementals, such as thunder, magma, and sand elementals, to name a few. There's the unique types of elementals as well, which are said to possess a will of their own and are almost impossible to find, let alone to obtain as your own."

A smirk surfaced on the old man's face, replacing the previous disappointment that he had shown.

"You should consider yourself lucky, kid. Not only did you run into a person with a unique elemental, but you will also obtain it as your own. As soon as you kill me, that is."

The mood that was established in the small house crumbled as soon as the old man uttered such words.

Luke was reminded of the reality of his situation as the old man slowly raised himself up from the wooden chair he was sitting in.

Leaning over the table and looking down at Luke, the old man declared:

"Alright, time's up."

'This old snake…'

But Luke couldn't let his frustration show on his face.

He looked up at the old man with a slightly sour expression.

"We had a deal! You said that you'd answer all of my questions!"

Still looking down at him, the old man snorted.

"I changed my mind. You should be grateful that you're still alive in the first place. If the ---- elemental hadn't chosen you, I never would've bothered with going out of my way to save you in the first place."

Trying to keep his calm, Luke tried questioning the old man even further.

"An elemental chose me? What does that mean?"

The old man rolled his eyes. He found this whole situation bothersome. But it would all soon be over, so he chose to just bear with it.

"…The only way to transfer this unique elemental and its accumulated power is for its holder to die at the hands of someone who the elemental chooses as a suitable holder. Transferring other types of elementals willingly is not possible."

A frown surfaced on the man's wrinkled face.

"Besides, I want to get rid of this accursed elemental, even if it means that I have to die at your hands."

'But what's the point of getting rid of the elemental if you just end up dead? Isn't he contradicting himself?'

The true nature of this contradiction would be revealed to Luke, whether he wished for it or not.

Reaching for the inside of his silver robe, the man took out a small glass vial full to the brim with a semi-transparent green liquid.

He then placed the vial at the center of the wooden table and looked towards Luke.

"This is a very potent poison. I'm sure you understand where this is going."

The old man smiled bitterly, his blue eyes containing an unknown depth.

"You have two options. Drink the contents of this vial and begone."

He sharply glared at Luke as he said so.

"Try running away, and you will die. Try fighting me, and you will die. Refuse to kill me of your own volition, and you will die. All of these fall under the first option."

The old wooden planks creaked as the old man walked around the table towards Luke.

Luke could no longer keep looking at the old man but was looking at the poison vial instead.

"As for option number two, I'm sure you have figured it out by now."

As if in a trance, Luke grasped the glass vial and stood up to face the old man.

Large beads of sweat started to drip down his forehead as he did so.

Face to face with the man he had to kill for the sake of his own survival, every muscle in Luke's body tensed up.

'Do I really have to do this?'

Easily reading Luke's feeble state of mind, the old man urged him.

"You must uphold your end of the bargain."

'That's just hypocritical… You only answered a couple of my questions, not all of them.'

Of course, the old man couldn't actually hear his thoughts, so Luke once again faced the pair of blue eyes along with the loudest silence of his life.

Maybe it was because of what he was about to do, but Luke focused on each and every part of the old man's face.

'…A slightly crooked nose with a birthmark on one side of it, bushy eyebrows, and a sharp jawline with a little beard stub on the bottom of his chin. He must've been a handsome man during his youth, just like a certain someone I know…'

Breaking Luke's trance, the old man spoke in a semi-monotone voice.

"Go ahead."

Not even seeking his agreement, the old man opened his mouth, waiting for Luke to pour the poison in.

Slowly uncorking the vial, Luke knew that it was time. He could still turn back, but he'd end up dying in that case.

'…I have to do this. I have to do this. I have to do this.'

Luke kept repeating to himself as he mustered up all the resolve he had and started emptying the contents of the vial into the old man's mouth.

While emptying the vial, Luke started feeling nauseous and lightheaded, as if his innards were mixed up and out of place.

Seconds turned into hours for Luke.

Not even comprehending that the vial was now completely empty, the old man had to lower Luke's unmoving hand himself, after which he grinned at the shaken youth.

"Thank you. I am finally free of this curse. It is yours to bear now, kid."

Even in his daze, Luke still made sure to pay attention to the old man's last words.

'A curse…'

Luke's heart kept beating faster and faster.

Within the next minute, the old man collapsed, and white foam started coming out of his orifices.

It was at this moment that two balls made out of unknown light started swirling around the old man's chest area. A silver light, no bigger than a child's fist, floated above the old man with a blue hue. It looked sharp yet warm.

A white light that was around five times larger than the previous ball also floated up next to it, but slowly dispersed into the surroundings.

The silver light started making its way toward Luke's chest. As if mesmerized, Luke stared at the ball of light entering his body.

Luke would later understand that it was at this point in time that his misery had truly begun.