Chapter 234: The Gift of [Regret]
‘Shut up, now is arguably the best time to do it.’
=Devil schtick?=
=Ooooh. Like Luc*fer?=
‘Enough pop culture, I need to be demonic.’
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This child of the Zhen Clan was some kind of ancient monster.
That was the only logical conclusion Telana could wrap her head around after realizing the beings holding her hostage were definitely not puppets.
She could feel that all three of these monstrous brings had the power of Aether Masters, but there was something…more to them.
It was unfathomable, unknowable and absolutely unpredictable. This was arguably her worst nightmare, and the cause was the young man smiling like a villain from some kind of folktale.
“You know, Miss Corrada, I was actually content with just keeping your secret as long as you kept your end of the deal. Scout’s honor,” Zhen Liu said condescendingly while holding one hand up and the other on his chest, a smile on his face that seemed a little too wide. The smile on Zhen Liu’s face then turned into an angry frown before he spoke again.
“But then you had to go and do something so…stupid.”
“I-”
“Shhhh,” Zhen Liu hushed Telana while placing his fingers to her lips, before she could say anything further. For some reason, this uneased her more than if he had raised his voice.
“Excuses are for the guilty, children and guilty children. And frankly, you seem to be the latter,” Zhen Liu informed Telana. She was tempted to yell back and call him a stupid child, but the monsters holding her back deterred that idea.
One wrong move or statement, and she was done for.
“Now then, I suppose I should go about telling you the…third condition for me keeping your little secret. Hurricroak, can you please switch places with Frosttusk? I need him to have freedom of movement for this next part.”
“No problemo, maestro,” Hurricroak said as she took over Frosttusk’s place in holding Telana in place.
For a brief moment, Telana realized that the frog monster was a tad weaker then the mammoth-like warrior that was holding her moments prior and thought of using that moment to break loose. Unfortunately for her, Hurricroak’s arm suddenly turned into that of a crab’s and held her in a literal vice grip. It was even tighter than the mammoth’s hold.
‘By the heavens…it’s a giant!,’ Telana thought to herself as she saw this so-called “Frosttusk” walk in front of her and stand next to Zhen Liu. She could feel the coldness of a glacier radiating off of him.
“Right, Telana, meet Frosttusk. He is the kaijin of ice, revenge and regret. Oh wait, you don’t know what a kaijin is…oh no matter, it won’t be important for this next part,” Zhen Liu continued to say as if he was having the time of his life, walking around as if he a showman. After a couple steps he turned around and leveled his eyes to meet Telana’s, a manical look in them.
“Now what was it again that you did that was just so awful again? Would you mind telling my friends here?”
Judging from the look of Telana’s face, she wasn’t going to say a word at this point.
“Kaijin, do you know what she did that was just so awful?,” Zhen Liu asked his kaijin like a teacher.
“Made her mother’s life the price, in exchange for taking another,” the kaijin answered in almost perfect unison.
“Right,” Zhen Liu smiled, “now I’m sure you’re not a completely heartless monster as to do something so cold and cruel, without having a little…doubt about having done so? Perhaps you…regret, killing your mother in such a fashion?”
With her patience now at the limit, Telana looked right into Zhen Liu’s eyes before answering.
“I regret nothing you little brat. I have propelled my family to the upper echelons of this city, and I would do it again if given the chance,” she answered coldly.
Zhen Liu merely smiled at the woman’s cold response. He half expected this answer.
“A shame. If you had, perhaps you could handle this next part better. Frosttusk?”
“Aye…”
Zhen Liu walked away, allowing Frosttusk to take his place and stand before Telana.
The mammoth kaijin then proceeded to take a deep breath, the ground beneath him freezing and the air around him getting cold.
Telana could feel some weird energy rising inside of Frosttusk as he did, but she couldn’t identify what that energy was.
“What on Valresta are you-”
*Puff!*
Then, the mammoth man breathed it into her face…and thing started to get weird.
“What…the…why does it…burn…?,” Telana slowly muttered as Frosttusk breath hit her face.
Strangely, the burning sensation she was feeling on her face was not actually happening on her face. Frosttusk didn’t use a lethally cold breath when he breathed in her face, instead, he infused his breath a bit of [Chaos] and the innate [Regret] that made up his very being.
With Telana no throughly disoriented, Hurricroak and Nepherage saw no need to hold her back any further and proceeded to let her go, dropping her to the ground.
She attempted to get up, but her limbs felt frozen as her head swirled.
“Now my final condition…,” Zhen Liu said to the vaguely conscious Telana in a voice that sounded distorted and wrong, “Try not to lose yourself in the madness of [Regret]. Hahahahahahaha!”
As the last vestiges of her conciouness faded, she swore Zhen Liu and his kaijin disappeared like dust in the wind. Leaving naught but footprints as proof of their existence that night, and in their place, she began to see a familiar shadow.
She began to hear, a very familiar voice asking a single question.
{Telana…why?}
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What actually happened as soon as Telana passed out.
Zhen Liu, Hurricroak, Frosttusk and Nepherage stood there for a minute, watching as Telana Corrada convulsed there like a dying trout inflicted with madness.
When they came up with the plan to implant concentrated [Regret] inside of Telana, they assumed it was gonna be quick and relatively…mundane to witness, not something out of horror film.
Once she was done flailing about, and muttering about something about her mother, Zhen Liu and the others took that as a sign to get the hell out of the area.
The four of them proceeded to leisurely stroll to the wall closest to the city, silent as they didn’t really have much to talk about it/trying to digest the sight they had witnessed.
“Milord? Why didn’t we just…kill her?,” Nepherage asked, breaking the silence, “Like…why go through all this effort?”
“Two reasons,” Zhe Liu began to explain, “First, I am not a big fan of cold blood murdering people, even if it’s kind of justified…I’m a bigger fan of having someone live long enough that the regret from such actions would haunt them until the end of time, and maybe they seek out ways to earn forgiveness. It’s fucked up, but some of the biggest philanthropist were once the greatest of sinners.”
“Ah…dark,” Nepherage nodded. Frosttusk on the other hand sorta gave Zhen Liu a funny look, and a feeling of judgement through their shared bond.
“Alright that I understand, but what’s reason number two?,” Hurricroak followed up.
At this point, the four of them had reached the wall they came in from and proceeded to climb back over it.
“You guys already heard me say it earlier,” Zhen Liu answered, “You know how fucking awkward it is to court someone when your families have blood spilt between them? I ain’t dealing with any Shakespearean level bullshit and/or G*me of Thr*nes shit.”
With his answer now given, the four of them proceeded to get the hell out of dodge and return to the Zhen Clan compound.
‘So…what is she about to go through exactly?’
