ROTLE- Chapter 202- Anathema (Patreon)

“Aiden, what are we doing?” Ted asked, he sounded tense, apprehensive, a little scared. The last one was new. It made Aiden want to turn around.

The man remained on the window, watching with that friendly smile that Aiden knew hid a lot of love and cruelty. In truth, it wasn’t cruelty, Aiden could not justifiably call it that. It was just that the man in front of him could very easily kill an entire family and bloodline with that same smile on his face.

He had a stubble of auburn hair on his jaw that Aiden knew was false, not false in the way of a disguise, but false in the way that the man had made it grow and controlled it to be auburn. His medium length auburn hair on his head was also a false color. But his eerie look of someone in his early forties was real.

The man paused, looked up above him and smiled. “They still aren’t watching,” he barked a short intrigued laugh. “Haven’t had this kind of fresh air in forever.” He focused back on Aiden. “So… where were we?”

“Who are you?” Tanor asked, somehow sounding peaceful yet defiant.

“Ah,” the man turned his attention on Tanor. “Tanor. We’ve had our eyes on you for a while. Do you know that there’s an ongoing wager on how long it will take before you end up with us. I have my money on eight more years. An acquaintance says two.” He shrugged. “What do you think the answer is?”

“Who’s we?” Telma asked.

The man moved his eyes to her. “Lord Lacheart, these are really interesting and powerful protective scripts for someone of your… situation. Do you think I can replace them with mine. They’ll make me feel more at ease.”

“You may,” Aiden said simply.

Ted was quick to appear next to him, grabbing him by the upper arm quite firmly. “I don’t know who he is, but I am very certain that we should not trust him.”

Aiden already felt his entire enchantments scripts come undone. He felt the weight of his mana dissipate, only to be replaced by the soothing and familiar sensation of the mana of the man in front of him.

Even with time reset, it was still the same thing.

“You trusted me quite easily, Lord Lacheart,” the man pointed out.

Aiden shrugged, affecting disinterest, even though the room remained tense. “I wouldn’t call it trust.”

The man squatted comfortably on the windowsill and placed his face in his hands. “What would you call it?”

“If you are strong enough to be unbothered by my enchantments, you are strong enough to kill us at any time.”

“I will gladly disagree with that,” Melvet said, her face doing its best to conceal a scowl of displeasure.

The man looked at her. “Oh, hello there. Would you believe me if I say I didn’t see you there?”

“No.”

Aiden’s brows furrowed. Melvet knew the man, at least she knew of the man. That was never a good sign.

Melvet got up from her seat and another realization struck Aiden. While everyone had shot up to attention, Melvet had remained seated. Displeased but not alert.

“Why are you here?” she asked. “How are you here?”

“Teleportation,” he smiled, showing teeth. “I know this very good [Mage]. He—”

“Don’t play with me!” Melvet snapped, drawing shocked expressions from everyone. “How are you here?”

The man sighed. “I’m not lying. All I did was teleport, the end.”

“Impossible.” Melvet pointedly looked up. “They would’ve moved by now. There are rules.”

“With no one to enforce them,” the man shrugged. “These things happen. Even the lesser are… busy I guess.” He paused, tapped his cheek in show of dramatic thoughtfulness. “Although they have sent us a visitor, if my understanding is correct. I hunter, I would guess. Crafty one, too.”

Aiden did his best to keep his face neutral. What was he talking about? Melvet had looked up and spoken about agreements, which meant it had to be the gods that they were talking about. Judging by how high up in position she was in the church, he wouldn’t be surprised if she knew what she was talking about. That begged the question, if they had sent a visitor, did it mean that the gods had sent someone to Nastild?

Even with all the questions, Aiden still couldn’t wrap his head around the man being right in front of him. Up until the day he died, the man had never stepped outside. He had never discovered or been informed of the reason for his isolation, but nothing had been able to overturn it.

Has he been able to move around all this while? He wondered. Was he just being lazy?

If the answer was yes, then Aiden had every reason to be worried.

“Everyone,” he said, raising his hand carefully. Then he lowered it with the same amount of care. “Weapons down.”

He sensed everyone bringing their weapons down. Telma was the only one still armed, arrow nocked and bowstring drawn back to her cheek. Aiden had no doubt that her aim was impeccable.

“I will be more than happy to let him kill you, Telma,” Aiden said matter-of-factly. “You will not be missed.”

Telma snorted. “Without me you won’t find the giants.”

“Oh, please.” Aiden looked the man pointedly in the eyes, his next words intentional. “I’ll just buy them off the man in front of me.”

The man’s eyes froze very slightly. It was the briefest thing. A similar expression crossed Melvet’s face.

The man grinned. “So you do know who I am.”

“Not who you are,” Aiden corrected. “But I know who we are.”

The man changed his position so that he now sat down on the window with his legs inside the room. “Would you like to enlighten everyone in the room so that they are adequately cautious?”

“Ladies and gentlemen, Valdan and Ted,” Aiden said flatly. “The man in front of me is a member of the Order.”

The man moved his legs playful, smiling as gasps went through the room.

“I thought they were nothing but a myth.” Feira stepped forward, her fear replaced by curiosity. “I thought they didn’t exist.”

The man smiled like a shy celebrity.

“I thought they weren’t meant to show up in front of people,” Telma frowned.

Valdan shrugged. “They’ve popped up in front of Aiden a few times,” he said. “I also suspected he was getting his information from them.”

“Nope.” The man popped the word. “Never done a deal with this specific breed of human. Although he has garnered the interest of one of us.” He smiled at Aiden. “I genuinely thank you for that. You are one of many reasons that have spurred him to growth.”

Torat was working hard on growing. That was good. He was an important member of the Order.

“So,” Aiden said, returning everyone’s attention to him. “To what do we owe the pleasure of a visit to the Order?”

“Would you believe if I said that I’ve come to bargain?” the man asked.

“No,” Aiden answered easily. “The Order doesn’t bargain.”

The man cocked his head to the side in intrigue. “For someone who hasn’t been around very long, you seem to know quite a lot about the Order.”

Aiden nodded very slowly. “My curiosity is in what relationship the Order has with the church.”

“The church?”

Aiden hooked a thumb at Melvet, not ready to look away from the man in front of him. “If she recognized you immediately, then I assume you have a relationship with the church.”

“Why didn’t you assume it was with her?” the man wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

The tip of a spear was suddenly at his neck. Aiden hadn’t even felt the wielder move. It was all he could do not to swallow visibly.

“Insinuate a possibility of infidelity in the presence of my lover again,” Melvet said very carefully, wrath in her eyes, “and I will die killing you.”

The man placed a casual finger on the blade of the hero relic and moved it aside. “I will apologize for that. But you should watch your temper, do not allow it to reveal your true identity when it brings you no good.”

“I am not a secret from my lover.”

“Really?” The man pushed off the windowsill, walked up to stand right in front of her.

The tip of Valdan’s sword was dangerously close to his neck in the blink of an eye. He was fast, but nowhere near as fast as Melvet had been. “Be careful,” he said. “She is not the only one willing to die for their love.”

Unsurprisingly, the man ignored him and looked Melvet in the eye. “Does it eat you alive to travel with someone that has killed a [Saint]?”

Melvet did not flinch.

The man smiled. “And what if I bestow upon him a title?”

“You are no [Monarch],” she opposed.

“Oh, please,” the man snorted. “You know what I mean.”

The thought of gaining a title bestowed by the man in front of him was… exhilarating. But Aiden kept his excitement from his face.

“You are not allowed,” Melvet said. “You know this.”

“I could make it tethered,” the man said. “Nothing stops me from doing that.”

Melvet lowered her spear and stepped into him. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Why?”

“Because there are consequences.”

The man laughed. “Oh, please. A fraction of myself? Your [Hierophant] does it all the time. You really think it is any skin off my bones?”

I’m sorry, what? Aiden’s jaw almost dropped. Tethered titles were fractions of the power of the person giving the title? The [Sage] of Nel Quan had given him a fraction of his power to be able to bear the benefits of [Knight Killer].

“I’ve got a question,” Aiden said.

The man ignored Melvet in the blink of an eye and was in front of Aiden. Aiden looked up at him in the way a person would when a child suddenly invaded their personal space.

“Yes, Lord Lacheart?” the man said.

Aiden took a tentative step back. “I may ask my question?”

“Are you sure we haven’t met somewhere before?” he mused. “Most people flinch away when I do this; they get scared. But you?” He leaned in, looked into Aiden’s eyes. “You look like you’re used to it, just tired of it… like people who know me. Do you know me, Aiden Lacheart?”

Aiden met his gaze. “May I ask my question?”

“Are you good with a sword, Lord Lacheart?” The man asked instead. Melvet dropped her face in her hand.

Ted remained tense.

“I’m passable,” Aiden said.

“Passable enough to survive the Immortal?”

“I beat him without a sword.”

The man grinned. “I want to ask how you beat him, exactly. But, alas,” his eyes glanced over to Melvet, “I am not allowed. Anyway, I just wanted to come and see the one person that has been taking the world by storm and also ask why you are going to see the giants.”

Ted remained by Aiden’s side, grip firm. It reminded Aiden of what Ted had said to him in the last timeline, telling him to tell the master of the Order to meet the giants.

When you’re out, Ted had said, tell the Order. Tell your leader that the demon king found the way, he’ll understand. Tell him to look to the frost mountain. The giants have the key.

If Ted had met the master of the Order in his past life, then perhaps the massive levels of caution that Ted was feeling was déjà vu from his past life.

Then perhaps…

Aiden took a step forward. For all his caution, Ted had trusted the master of the Order’s skill enough to entrust him with information that Aiden was certain was very important.

So, maybe…

The man gave him a very odd look, taking a step back as Aiden took another step forward. If it was his past life, he would’ve trusted the man in front of him. But it was still the same man. Nothing had changed about him. Aiden pressed his lips in a thin line, faced with a decision to make.

And he made it.

His hand shot out and he grabbed the man by the arm with his normal hand, knowing very well that the man had let him.

“Look to the frost mountains,” he said, searching the man’s eyes for any sign of recognition.

There.

He saw it, a flash of recognition, then confusion.

“You do not know what you are doing,” Melvet barked, rushing to stand between them, separating them immediately.

The man could not care less. “What is in the frost mountains?”

“Aiden,” Melvet said insistently. “No. You don’t know who he is.”

But Aiden knew who he was.

“He is a member of the Order,” Valdan said.

Melvet shook her head, hesitant. “He is not just a member of the Order.”

“Mel,” Valdan said very carefully.

Now Aiden was intrigued. It looked like the man’s identity was supposed to be a secret that Melvet was supposed to keep. What happened now would let Aiden know if he could trust her or not.

“Val,” Melvet said, her tone hesitant.

The man ignored the both of them. “Lord Lacheart, the frost mountain.”

“Who is he?” Valdan asked.

“Look there,” Aiden said, this time speaking only to press Melvet. “That is where—”

Melvet left Valdan’s side, pulled Aiden away from the man and stood between them. “He’s the master of the Order,” she said with some touch of regret. “He is the Order. He is not a member, they all answer to him.” She looked at Aiden, a touch of sadness in her eyes. “You cannot trust him with any real information, especially some secret that you know that he doesn’t.”

The master of the Order let out a tired sigh. “And he’s supposed to trust you, [Thirteenth]? Is that it?”

Everyone in the room looked confused. Even Valdan. But definitely not Estabel. Estabel turned her attention from the drama going on and looked at Melvet. Her mouth hung open in horror.

“You’re the [Thirteenth],” she said, her voice accusatory, and equally terrified.

The others looked at each other, trying to confirm whether any of them had an answer to the unasked question. They all met equally confused expressions.

Fjord’s mouth moved but no words came out. Then he tried again. “What’s the [Thirteenth]?”

“The [Thirteenth],” Estabel said carefully, with some level of awe and horror compounded by disbelief. “Or, alternately known as…”

“… The Apostle to the Heretics,” Melvet said in defeat. Then she frowned at the master of the Order. “It was not your place.”

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. It was not yours either.”

“You,” Estabel said, jaw still slackened. It was a moment before Aiden realized that the [Mage] was placing herself between him and Melvet. “What was the plan.”

Valdan looked from her to Melvet, then back. “What’s going on?”

Melvet sighed. “It is the job of those of my position to protect the Apostles and the children of the gods, to govern them—”

“To avenge them,” Estabel said. Now she was in front of Aiden, between Melvet and Aiden.

The master of the Order cocked a brow at that. “Usually, I’m the center of attention here. I feel kind of left out.”

Aiden could understand. Everyone was aware of the Order. It was only obvious that it had a master. As for what scale of power the master would be, no one really cared. They simply knew that he would be strong. But the [Thirteenth] was first a mystery, that piqued their interest. In this current situation, it garnered more attention because it was one of theirs.

Now?

Well, everyone had a level to scale it to. And Estabel was not even done.

“The [Thirteenth],” she said. “Is rumored to be stronger than even the [Hierophant].” Her eyes were accusatory now. “When did you plan to avenge Clerent?”

Melvet rubbed her forehead with thumb and forefinger. “I am my own person, damn it,” her voice was tired. “I’m not going to kill my beloved’s friend just because he killed a [Saint] that was most likely asking for it.”

Aiden felt tension slip from the room. He wasn’t sure if it was from everyone or just a select few. But he was happy that the tension was gone now.

All eyes were suddenly on Aiden.

He looked around. “What?”

“No idea,” Ted said, knowing very well that he wasn’t asking him.

“How do you feel about this?” Valdan asked.

The master of the Order nodded sagely, his elbow resting on Aiden’s shoulder. “That is a very good question, young Lacheart. How do you feel?”

Everyone jumped, shocked by his sudden position beside Aiden.

Aiden shrugged. There was really no surprise to be had for him. He’d already suspected. Also, that she’d revealed the master’s identity to protect them meant that she was on their side. As for vengeance, she could’ve killed him anytime if she wanted to.

“I’m fine with it,” he answered. “[Thirteenth], Apostle to the Heretic to me she’s Melvet, beloved to Valdan.” He shrugged again. “That’s fine enough by me.”

It was interesting that Ted had likely met with the master of the Order in his past life but not the [Thirteenth], though.

The master clapped, holding everyone’s attention. “Now that we’ve dealt with that, we can move on to more important matters.”

Everybody looked at him.

“The frost mountains, of course,” he clarified, then turned to Aiden. “What’s in the frost mountains.”

Ted’s eyes narrowed in uncertainty but not distrust. It was more like looking at an ally that while they would not stab you in the back might use the information you’ve given to them to defeat you in the future.

“The giants,” Aiden said, hesitant now that Melvet still didn’t trust the master. “The giants are there.”

“I know that the giants are there,” the master said dismissively yet curious now. “What is going on with the giants in the frost mountain that you know about that has made a god send a child to guide you to them.”

That was a very interesting question.

“Lord Lacheart,” Feira said carefully, “maybe we should—”

“Everyone that this does not concern should return to their rooms,” the master said with a friendly smile. “Please.”

Everyone was immediately alert again, weapons leveled.

“We,” Tanor began, “will—”

He disappeared and gasps went around the room. Aiden and Melvet were immune to it. The master looked at everyone still standing shocked.

“What? Don’t look at me like that,” he complained. “He’s still alive, just in his room. That said,” he raised his hand. “The same goes for all of you.”

He flicked his wrist and the others disappeared.

Aiden stood alone with Melvet and Ted in the room.

“Now,” the master repeated. “What about the giants in the frost mountains, lord Lacheart?”

Melvet shook her head at him. “Don’t tell him.”

“And how sure is he that I won’t just take it from him?” the master asked.

Valdan’s sword remained drawn. He moved it. Aiden placed two fingers on the blade of the weapon and pushed it aside gently.

“He won’t,” he said calmly.

The master tilted his head to the side. “And what makes you so confident in that?”

“Because the others are still alive,” he answered. Aiden had seen the skill in action more than a few times. It was an impossible level of teleportation that teleported everyone to whatever location he pleased. “Teleported, but alive.”

The master chuckled. “I like this one. But you haven’t answered my question.”

Aiden looked at him, studied the master he had served for years. If this had happened in the absence of Melvet, he would’ve probably told him everything. But it happened in front of Melvet, and Melvet had said a lot. With a thought in mind, he did something that according to the history of the Order, had only been done once before. He said words, that no one had dared to ask the master of the Order in almost forever.

He stepped forward, into the master’s space. The master watched him. Aiden could see the man’s confusion hidden behind his curious eyes.

“Order,” Aiden said, drawing the words from his memory of the history of the Order.

The master smiled. “Yes, Lord Lacheart.”

Aiden felt very defiant uttering the next words for in the Order they were anathema.

“I’ve come to bargain.”