NoGift

The elf stared blankly at the dimly lit ceiling.  Those twin devils hadn"t came in the last two days.  But that didn"t really change anything.  He was still trapped in this place.  He wondered how many days had it been since that masked person brought him here.  He knew that person must be related to the Temple of Gaia, probably belonging to a group directly under the Pope.  As evidence of him being directly presented to the Pope himself after he was taken here.  

He hadn"t remembered how exactly he got out of Kievan.  He just knew that he was heavily injured.  The last thought of saving his mother was the only thing that probably kept him going.  Then when he woke up, he was already in a small village at some country in the Southwestern continent.  

An old priest was there to explain to him his situation.  According to the priest, he was found at the forest and was healed by the healers at the village.  He didn"t quite believe it.  How could he suddenly appear here when he clearly remembered that he pa.s.sed out at another continent?  So he chose to observe things first before taking any action.

He then later found out that the village was actually a place that housed orphans.  It was some kind of orphanage that was under the governance of the Temple of Gaia.  He didn"t expect that there"s actually a place like that.  A place that served as sanctuary for children that had nowhere to go.  Growing up the way he did, he was probably just surprised that there would be people who would take time to look after a group of orphans.  

The old priest took care of him.  He was very kind and gentle.  Not only him but also the other people who was allowed to interact with him.  They didn"t mind that he was different from them.  Because of that, he started to feel a bit hopeful.  Maybe if he asked the Temple for help, maybe, just maybe, they would give it unconditionally.  But soon, that hope was quickly dashed away.  

The place he thought as a sanctuary for orphans turned out to be just an illusion meticulously weaved by the Temple of Gaia.  The children were not being protected.  They were being brainwashed.  Using mental torture to make them obey and give their faith and loyalty to the Temple.  

He accidentaly saw some children locked up at a warehouse, being  deprived of food and water.  Then he heard the people talking that those batch of children were easier to brainwash compared with others.  More than being shocked, he was furious.  He couldn"t help but symphatized with those children.  It"s like he was seeing his own self.  

At that moment, all he wanted was to save those children.  So he used his Mana to subdue all the adult humans living in that village.  Because there"s no way that none of them were innocents.  It was not hard for him to do that.  After all, he was not being constrained by anything anymore.   

He encouraged the children to leave the village and just ran far away from there.  But instead, those children looked at him frightened and angry.  As if he was the enemy.  Only a handful of children followed his advice.  That"s when he realized that most of them had been completely brainwashed.  Which was truly sad.  Those children"s lives hadn"t started yet and it already ended without them even realizing it.

When he hadn"t thought of what he should do next, he heard the commotion outside the village.  He immediately thought of the children who just left.  He still remembered some of the knights who left the village much earlier.  He thought that they might pursue those kids.  So he immediately went to the forest to save those children.

But when he arrived at the source of the commotion, he found those knights dead.  Opposite them were some outsiders who looked really shaken and frightened.  Beside the dead knights was a masked man.  

He didn"t know who made the first move, but the next thing he knew, he was fighting with the man.  Obviously, he lost.  Because when he woke up, he was in front of the Pope and then was sent here in this prison.

He could feel that the darkness of this place was starting to affect him.  His resolve was slowly crumbling.  Everything just seemed hopeless.  He clenched his fist.  Light was slowly returning to his blank eyes, turning its green depth brighter.  

No, he couldn"t allow himself to think that the situation was completely hopeless.  Because once he did, then that"s when it truly would be.  His mother was still waiting for him.  So how could he just give up?

He slowly sat up, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep thought.  He couldn"t leave this prison cell because the bars were enchanted.  The moment he tried to touch it, he would be burned.  If he touched it for more than ten seconds, he would then be poisoned.  He had tried it and it didn"t really end well for him.  If he wasn"t healed immediately, he probably would have died quite a number of times already.  Then there was the chain attached to his ankle.  It could subdue his Mana.  With it around, he really couldn"t do anything. 

While he was deep in thought, he didn"t notice a foot that suddenly went through the cell behind him.  Then that foot continued and became a leg until a whole person pa.s.sed through inside the cell.  It was a plain looking boy who looked like he was only 12 or 13 years old.

Lynx sighed.  He finally managed to enter this stinky dungeon prison.  There was so much protection around this Apostolic Palace that it took awhile to find a single opening.  Even with that, he knew he couldn"t stay here for long.  Because his presence would definitely be discovered sooner or later.  So he had to move fast.

He looked at the elf who sat quietly with his eyes closed.  "Hey, are you asleep?"

The elf was startled.  He opened his eyes and unbelievably looked at the boy who suddenly appeared inside the cell.  The boy looked plain and unremarkable.  He thought that he might be like those twin devils but when he observed the boy carefully, he couldn"t feel any malisciousness from him.  But that didn"t mean that he wouldn"t be wary.

"Who are you?  What do you want?" he asked.

"I"m here to get you out.  We don"t have much time, so come on."

The elf"s brows furrowed.  "Why should I believe you?"

Lynx rolled his eyes.  "Do you really have any other choice other than to believe me?" 

Well, the boy had a point.  The elf really didn"t have any other choice.  "Why would you want to save me?" 

"I didn"t come here willingly out of the goodness of my heart.  I"m just here because I was asked to."  Lynx could still see the hesitation in the elf"s eyes.  "If you"re worried that I"m going to kill you then I"ll make a vow to you right now." 

The elf stared at the boy.  He could see that he was really not just playing around with him.  He stood up.  As the boy said, what other choice did he really have right now?  If, by a tiny chance, he could get out of this place, then he would grab it.  No matter the consequence. 

"No need.  If you can get me out of this chain, then I"ll go with you."

After he said that, the boy then held his hand.  Before he could react, something warm enclosed around his ankle - the one with the chain.  Then the chain just fell down, as if it pa.s.sed through his ankle.  He looked at the chain and then back at the boy.  "Was that your Gift?"

Instead of answering, that warm feeling now enveloped his whole body.  He now knew that this warm feeling was probably the boy"s Mana.  It was not only warm, it was also gentle.  With only those feeling, the elf could tell that this boy was really not vicious or hateful.  

Then the boy suddenly pulled him towards the wall.  Before he could express anything, the both of them already pa.s.sed through the wall.  Because of shock, he just let the boy pulled him, going through one wall to another.  He only managed to return to normal when the boy finally spoke again. 

"I"m going to bring you to an auction.  You"ll be the finale.  But don"t worry, that won"t last because I"ll immediately get you out of there."

He wanted to take his hand back when he heard about the auction but ummediately calmed down after the boy said the last part.  "Then what"s the point of getting me to that auction?"

"You don"t need to know.  You just have to accept that following what I said would be the best way for you to get out of this place alive."

The elf shook his head.  "Asking me to trust you when I couldn"t even tell if you"re a bad guy or not."   

"I"m a bad guy.  There"s no doubt on that," the boy admitted openly.  "But sometimes, bad guys are the only good guys you get."    

The elf couldn"t react for awhile and then he chuckled.  The boy truly had a point.  Because right now, he was indeed the only "good guy" he had.