After the reuniting of the four resulted in an outburst of emotional decree of information, they decided to set the goal of Qliphos Station aside, leaving Lyn and the others time to recuperate with all of the intricate details they discovered. The four separated from one another for space, but they remained close by enough for danger's worries. All of the information Lyn provided to them was considered volatile, for in it, they personally evaluated it to be a potential calamity.
Claire approached Ardine, who was waiting far away outside of Nia's hideout with his arms crossed and fixated on the influx of information tossed toward him and the rest of the group. She hesitated as she approached closer to him, nervously shuffling her hands behind her waist after being aware that the timing of her future conversation was inappropriate.
"Hi," Claire said. Her abrupt voice was almost like a bird's chirp; it came out of nowhere without anything to support it beyond her greeting. She swayed awkwardly, noticing Ardine didn't turn to face her or respond. "I know how you're feeling. I'm at a loss as well for what this all means for me and the others, too."
Ardine shifted his head to face Claire, giving up the process of piecing the puzzle of what Lyn had experienced. He tightly shut his eyes and shook his head in frustration, unable to even speak about the situation. "I've never seen Lyn like this before," He said, placing his hands on his hips. "Everything that she's seen, including you... I can't even put my finger on it."
As the two began to discuss the underlying situation, Lyn and Alfaic remained inside Nia's hideout, speaking about the same problem. Although their previous conversation about her ethereal experience had settled down, Alfaic knew that the experience was life-altering for Lyn.
He could tell. Studying Lyn from an outside perspective, he couldn't help but notice her eyes trailing off into the distance, zoning out from the thoughts of her arduous endeavor. The tapping of her feet and the increased speed of her blinking also contributed to that similar anxiety. All that she had been doing after the group's conversation was getting tangled in her own nightmares, void of all life and logic.
A rush of thoughts blanketed Alfaic's judgment. There was something that he wanted to say to Lyn that he believed would have strongly contributed to her comfort, but he decided not against it.
"I want to know everything about the Rot Mother," Lyn began, tapping her knees to demonstrate her impatience in the topic. "What does she want? What does it mean to be 'chosen?' What does this have to do with me?"
Alfaic hovered beside Lyn's head, unable to form a frivolous thought of persuasion to calm her down. At first, he wanted to speak, but he decided against it once more. But Lyn managed to catch on this hesitation, forcing her to shift her gaze to him with a suspicious glare.
"What are you hiding, Blade?" Lyn asked.
"I'm not hiding anything," Alfaic hastily spoke. "I'm in the same position as you."
"No," Lyn said, standing up from her seat while approaching Alfaic. "I'm not asking you to tell me the truth. I know you know the truth."
Alfaic turned away and headed for the doorway, overwhelmed by the antagonism of her threatening voice. "If you don't believe me, then I don't know what to say to you-"
"Does your father know?" Lyn's weighty and commanding voice stopped Alfaic in his tracks. Her voice had never sounded so strenuous before, nor demanding. He turned around to face Lyn, who was exasperated at his inability to speak the truth.
"Leave my father out of this." Alfaic coldly stated.
"Oh, and how can I?" Lyn continued, stepping forward. "He's waiting for us at the station. Or did you forget?"
"No, I didn't forget," Alfaic continued, hovering slowly toward Lyn. "You and the others forced me to come with you even when I wanted to go home. I never wanted any of this."
"What home, Blade?" Lyn asked. "The overseers want you for some reason. And once they acquire you, what next?"
"The Bountiful Sands isn't my home-"
"That is not the point," She interrupted. "Why can't you just tell me the truth? Why are you so scared to talk about Aldion?"
"Don't say his name anymore."
Lyn snatched Alfaic by the handle with her almighty power, gripping him until there was no leeway to escape or act nonchalant. The squeeze was so tight that even Alfaic was about to suffocate from her force. Although he had no visible face, Lyn pressed her head as close as possible to his edge, exhausted of the cat and mouse chase of information. There was no chance of him absconding.
"Then tell me why." Lyn's demand was afflicted with immense desperation and rage.
A hauntingly chilling silence paved through the hideout. There was nothing but the sound of crackling sparks in the walls, and the flickering of dim unmaintained lights. All of Lyn's pent up frustration throughout their adventures had finally run its course. No more games.
"I knew... all along... about the Rot Mother." Alfaic confessed.
Lyn silently lamented about the truth, but she held her resolve. She released Alfaic upon his sudden confession.
"I knew all along, and I didn't want to tell you about it because I wanted to protect you." He said.
"Protect me from what?" Lyn asked, shaking her head in disappointment. "I don't need protection!"
"You don't understand."
"Then make me understand," Lyn continued to pressure him. "Just say it, already."
Alfaic turned away from her and huffed a great sigh, losing himself in the ensuing pressure. But Lyn's adamancy prevailed. "Do you remember... when we defeated Elaina... the tree that prospered from the aftermath?"
"Of course I do," Lyn said. The bad memories circled around her mind. "It was the first time I had ever lost you."
"That fragment that you picked up from the tree was one out of many fragments of the Rot Mother. The Krins were so hyper fixated on it because they're not just any random shards. They reveal a clue to where she is. And once all of the fragments are gathered, her true position will be revealed once all of the fragments are gathered. That's what they want."
Lyn looked down at her right palm, lost in thought. "You knew all this time?" She said.
"I-"
She ejected her foot forward, brutally eviscerating one of Nia's rusted chairs into utter fragments after it collided with the wall. She pressed forward with her index finger pointed up to her nose, approaching Alfaic with a vicious glare. "Was there... ever... any Lords of METIS?" She voiced out, opposed by the lack of communication.
Alfaic refused to answer. "Lyn..."
"Was there, or not!?" Her voice rattled the surrounding environment.
"No. There wasn't."
Lyn blinked rapidly, looking from side to side at the unfathomable information that surged through her mind. Ever since her birth and awakening from the disc housed in the middle of METIS, the call to eliminate the Lords of METIS was her entire purpose. Now that she knew that all of it had been a lie from the beginning as bidding for the Rot Mother's machinations, Lyn had little to no patience to further converse.
"Tell me... the truth." Lyn pressed on.
Alfaic responded immediately. "I am."
"No," Lyn interrupted. "If you lie to me one more time... I will never speak to you again. You will never see me again. And you'll... you'll be on your own. No longer my Blade. No longer my friend. Just... no longer."
Alfaic remained still.
"So... I'm going to give you one last chance. All those people that I killed. Elaina. Kaiden. All of the Rot, who are supposedly the humans of the previous generation, I don't even KNOW. Was there... ever a reason... to do all that?"
"There wasn't."
"Then, what is my purpose?" Lyn questioned. "Why was I even created?"
Alfaic remained silent and still. The most dreadful silence followed. The feeble sound of heartbeat from Lyn's chest could almost be heard following her demand. But she pushed onward, staring down upon Alfaic's figure with eyes of fire, nearly burning from the ferocity of her statement. Seconds passed where they held the same position, until the smallest movement from Alfaic made him cave in.
"You… are a construct," He whispered in the lowest tone possible, wishing he had been dreaming. "Created and design by the Rot Mother to wipe out all of humanity for her. To clean the slate. You were never meant to be… like this. You were never meant to have any emotions, or even a single conscience. You were meant to destroy everything."
Upon hearing the truth, Lyn visibly attempted to contemplate it by trying to voice it out through any string of words possible. But she couldn't. Her mouth was left agape, and her frail hands trembled trying to pick up the pieces of what was left in her injured soul. For a mere instance, she could not breathe. The idea of being lied to, including her true purpose as a harbinger of death for humanity. She was the antithesis of her upbringing.
And she could not deal with it. But there was something that still didn't make sense to her.
"How..." Lyn's voice faltered. "How could you possibly know all this?"
There was no response. Instead, the hideout dimmed and darkened. The length of Alfaic's blade extended itself all the way to the ground until he pierced the cold floors, denting them with his magical force. It had been the first time Lyn had ever witnessed him using an ability of that status, and the threatening nature of it made her cower slightly. She had no idea what to expect, or what he was planning on doing.
Then, it happened. Alfaic glowed intensely with a bright golden aura; one that was the brightest he had ever been since their encounter with each other. Following the glow, sections of Alfaic's edge and hilt began to meld together, forming an unusual shape as the pieces began to expand and form. None of the act made much sense to Lyn until the moving pieces created an outline of a familiar figure.
The last kind of figure she would ever want to see.
Pieces began to form a fully-fledged arm, along with legs wrapped with jet-black leather pants and leather boots. The blade and edge of Alfaic had completely turned into the bottom half of a human's body. As it gradually progressed through the middle, the body was formed, revealing a sturdy and muscular slim physique, reminiscent of a iron sculpture. And as the golden aura began to steadily fade away, it began to reveal the face of the most familiar man Lyn had ever witnessed before.
It was Krin.
Lyn's mouth remained agape, utterly shocked and stunned by what she had witnessed. He had the same curly snow white quaffed hairstyle with his side hair cut, but this time, his face was one more innocent and pure instead of dreadful evil. His eyes were dark yellow instead of red, and his face appeared much more younger than the other Krins. He stood in front of Lyn shirtless, witnessing her dazed complexion remain permanently.
He turned his head to the side and looked away in regret.
"You..." Lyn breathed out, for she could not utter a single word.
"I'm sorry," Alfaic's voice was no longer filtered through what seemed like a muffled wall. It was now clear as day. "To answer your question... this is how I know. I couldn't show you before... because I know how much you hated him."
"This entire time..." Lyn trailed off again, still stunned with her shocked expression. "Krin... at the fire station. He wanted you... because you're his brother."
"Yeah..." Alfaic closed his eyes entirely and shook his head. He then remained silent, guilty by his sudden reveal.
Lyn's bewildered expression began to slowly transform into utter fury. Her eyes never left Alfaic's. Wrinkles formed across her forehead and above her slim nostrils. Sweat began to form and permeate on her forehead, and the breathing through her nostrils was now loudly audible. "You..." Lyn repeated with a gritty tone, believing that he was a beacon for the other Krins to find her. "Did they know... you were here this whole time...?"
"No, Lyn, I-" Alfaic extended his forearm out.
"No." She interrupted.
"But I-"
"Get out." Lyn uttered almost silently through her nose.
Alfaic's eyes slightly widened with his mouth opened in stupor. He blinked in quick succession before turning his gaze to the ground, lost in suspended thought. No amount of words could describe how melancholy his heart was in moment, for it had been broken.
"Lyn... you're the only one that I have," Alfaic spoke. His glistening eyes locked with Lyn's furious and futile gaze. "Please, just-"
"I'm done," Lyn interjected, exhaling a sharp breath. "Get. Out."
The silence between them nearly killed Alfaic. Instead of continuing to clash with Lyn, Alfaic relaxed his tense shoulders and looked away. He then stood up straight, and in the blink of an eye, his body reverted back into his sword form, leaving him floating in mid-air with all sense of Krin put away into nothingness. He then hovered out of the hideout, never to be seen again.
The moment all presence of Alfaic had completely vanished, Lyn collapsed to the ground on her knees, almost twisting them into a pile of jumbled bones. She took a huge exhale out of her mouth before she covered her face with her sweaty palms, shrouding the outburst of her first stream of tears she had ever experienced before. The dull and temporary pain of her bloodshot eyes impacted her more than she had thought it would. As her first emotional sensation, it hurt more than any physical wound from any Rot or supernatural tension.
It was a near-permanent wound, unexplainable by all account. As she audibly sobbed through the lack of vigilance, she eventually gave up her heart and dropped all signs of life. She was devoid of her tether, and the outburst eventually made her emotionless once. But this was not a true reattachment of her tether. She was desperately trying to forget it all, and to move on with it.
Twenty minutes passed. Ardine and Claire, who did not know Alfaic left the premises, approached the side of Nia's hideout with the intention to check on her status. But right before they could enter, Lyn exited the door, nearly bumping Ardine's shoulder in the process.
"Hey," Ardine called, extending his hand. "You okay, Lyn?"
Lyn didn't speak.
"Lyn?" Ardine called again.
"I'm fine," Her dark voice was more horrid than anyone had ever heard. But it was so obviously bothered, that Ardine immediately knew it was a lie. "Let's go."
"Wait," He said. Claire watched his demeanor change as well from Lyn's brash response. "Where's Alfaic?"
"I don't know." Lyn replied without even looking at him. They stood in the dark hallway, wanting to descend the same way they had found her; through a back-up elevator that took complex steps to reach. Knowing that it would have been the only possible route for Nia to escape to, Lyn was determined to find her to know more about the Rot Mother and the fragments leading to her.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Ardine asked. "He was with you earlier."
Claire was utterly speechless. She idlily stood by, too soft-spoken in the moment to interject or intervene.
"So?" Lyn asked.
"The hell..." Ardine sped up to Lyn and snatched her shoulder, pulling her back with a violent jerk. Lyn appeared expressionless, staring down at the ground to avoid all eye contact with him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Hey, stop." Claire finally spoke out.
"Where is he?" Ardine asked, looking down upon Lyn's black bangs on her forehead from his tall stature and height. It was impossible to read her mind in the moment.
"It doesn't matter anymore," Lyn's low voice spoke out. "He decided to leave."
"What...?" Ardine voiced out. "That doesn't even make sense. He's your sword. Why would he even leave? Unless... you're lying to me."
"Lyn..." Claire called.
"This is pointless," Lyn interjected, turning her body around to approach the elevator. "I'm going to the station."
"No, you're not," Ardine said, snatching her forearm and pulling her back. Claire approached the two from a distance, but she was too scared to collide in between them. "Not unless you tell us where he went."
Lyn finally changed glances with Ardine. Her pupils shrunk as the two of them glared at each other with contempt. As she was unable to hold in the lies any longer, she finally caved in and spoke the truth, dulled down as much as possible. "I sent him away. That's all." She said.
"What!?" Ardine gasped, releasing Lyn. He powerwalked the opposite direction of the hallway but stopped after moving beside Claire. He realized that he couldn't grasp the sense of time he had left. He turned back around and walked toward Lyn with his lips pursed angrily, snatching Lyn's arm and pulling her close. "What the fuck do you mean you sent him away?"
"Hey, that's enough." Claire voiced out.
"You don't get to do that," Ardine said, witnessing Lyn turning her head to the side to ignore him. "You don't do that to people. And he was our only way to the station safely. What the hell did you do to him?"
"I told you, I sent him away-"
"Cut the bullshit, Lyn, and stop speaking in riddles," Ardine pointed out. "Just because you have a working brain now that can feel doesn't mean you have to be such an asshole."
"Stop it." Claire continued.
"Let me go." Lyn commanded.
"Not until you tell me-"
"He lied to us, OKAY?" Lyn exploded in rage, shoving him back a few inches away until Claire was beside him; she caught him gently, trying to fathom what was happening in front of her. "He knew about me all this time. He knew where I came from, who I was, and my purpose... because he's a Krin. He's one of them. He transformed into him right in front of me. He betrayed me. Lied to me. And I want nothing to do with him anymore."
She finished off her decree by turning her back, walking sluggishly to the entrance to the elevator. Although she didn't get far.
"No," Ardine said. "That's not true."
Lyn turned around, patience run amok. "What?" She asked.
"Alfaic is a friend of ours. He's a friend of yours, and you did that to him? What kind of person are you? Are you not the same person that would do anything to save humanity and its people?"
"None of that has to do with Blade." Lyn immediately stated.
"Oh, yeah? So what does it have to do with, then?" Ardine said, taking a pause in his statement. "You said he was Krin. Looked like him. Right?"
"Yes!" Lyn's voice rose in frustration. "And he never told me!"
"Well, did you ever think about how he would be afraid of how you would react? This is someone who's torturedyou ever since the beginning of your time, Lyn. He was there for you. He fought with you, dedicated his life to protecting you, fucking... gave his life for you. And YOU did too. He helped rebuild the Wastes into the Bounti-fucking-Sands in that month, all because he wanted to do it out of his heart. Let's not forget. He wanted to be with you. And you did this to him?!"
Lyn's rage seethed through her nostrils, pointing her finger until it shoved against Ardine's collarbone. Claire pushed herself away, frightened by her only friends battling each other for victory.
"You don't understand!" Lyn said.
Ardine scoffed. "Sure, like that's so fucking hard to understand," He continued. "He was there to comfort you when you learned the truth, and so were we. You know what, maybe you're not the person I made out to be. I treated you like some kind of hero, but in reality, when you even find yourself in a tight spot like this, you put yourself through hell or highwater-"
"He KNEW this whole time, that I was the Rot Mother's daughter!" Lyn exclaimed at the top of her lungs. Her voice echoed and trembled the entire corridor. "He lied to me! He KNEW that my purpose in life was to wipe out all of humanity!"
"Well, that's FUCKING GREAT THEN, ISN'T IT?" Ardine shouted and rebelled back, turning his back against her before dangling his head down under pure stress. "Well then? GO ON, THEN! What, you think just because you were made out to be something pre-determined like this gives you a single right to pledge yourself to it like some fucking charity?! Well, if that's what you want, then be my FUCKING GUEST!"
Lyn's anger began to dial down after watching Ardine lose control of his temper.
"What, you don't think you have a will of your own? That you're some kind of puppet that was meant to be controlled?!" Ardine continued. "You KNOW that's not true, Lyn. Because you felt compassion yourself! You're the one lying to yourself, not Alfaic!"
After looking away one last time, Lyn's breathing began to slow down.
"You know what, fine," Ardine continued, moving past Lyn until he shoved shoulders with her. "If you want to go to the station so badly without him, then do it. I don't even care. I'm finding Alfaic and bringing him back-"
"It's too late." Lyn voiced out.
"No, it's not," Ardine said, stopping in his tracks and turning back to Lyn. "You're just lazy and selfish. He risked his life, thick and thin for you, and you turn him away just because of a little grudge you have? You're pathetic, Lyn. Fucking get over it. You know what, go find him yourself. I'm going to that station to find the truth about all this," His wobbly eyes began to shift between Lyn's guilty-stricken face, and Claire's fearful trance. "I'm going there with or without any of you. I got nothing left to live for. My wife and daughter are dead. I have nothing."
"That's not true." Claire peeped out.
Ardine shook his head and turned his shoulder around to face the elevator. He slammed the button, opening it immediately and heading in, still faced away. "What a fucking joke." He muttered under his mouth.
As the elevator closed, Lyn's face devolved and shriveled like a raisin, ensnared with regret written on her face. She keeled over on her knees and held herself tightly like an orphan while Claire watched. She began sobbing once more, knowing that everything Ardine said was correct. He didn't judge anyone by appearance, ever, despite knowing that Krin was their mortal enemy. She was almost jealous how Ardine could distinguish the two easily, and she could not. The wake-up call to it all from his words managed to break her even further, causing her to lose all inch of hope.
"Lyn?" Claire called, kneeling and pressing her right palm on her left shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"No..." Lyn's voice nearly cracked, hiding her eyes. "I made a mistake..."
"I know," Claire said in agreement. "I think you already knew this whole time, too."
Lyn nodded.
"It's not too late," Claire continued. "While I don't necessarily agree with what he's doing with me about his father... he still is your friend. He's our friend, and at the end of the day, he deserves better."
"I..." Lyn sobbed.
Claire leaned into her ear; her accented voice almost serenaded Lyn. "He's the only one you truly have, Lyn," She confessed, repeating what Alfaic had said earlier. "But now he has nothing and nowhere to go. You have to find him, Lyn. You can't let him go."
The distinction between Krin and Alfaic was one of the most petty emotions that Lyn had ever witnessed in that moment, but in that same exact moment, NOTHING else even matter or paled in comparison to the loss of Alfaic's presence. There was a void in her heart that no one else could replace, and she had completely lost it as a result of her failure to separate her hatred with the truth. She despised herself in that moment, and there was nothing more she wanted than to punish herself for her foolishness.
"I know," Lyn said, standing up from her curled and cowardly position. She gazed beyond the hallway, envisioning the darkness Alfaic pushed himself toward in the moment. It had upset her. It had upset her even more than anything. "I'm going to find him. Go to Ardine. He needs you more than you think."
Claire chuckled. "I know." She said, touching Lyn's forearm to give her good faith. "You know, what I learned after everything that's happened to me... is that we should be lucky to have any sign of hope or love from anything. And that's what I felt... when you three reached out to me. I'll never forget it."
Lyn nodded, placing her palm on Claire's head to comfort her. With a low, yet slightly hopeful smile, Lyn moved away past the entrance with a new untainted perspective. She was to fix it all, and to change it for the better.
But it may have already been too late. She hurried for the only possible exit she knew of, and when she noticed he was not present, all hope was lost.