Aegis: Pandora's Box

Greatest Regret

“What’s up him. My skin still crawls every time I think about what happened earlier. To think that there is an old man as crazy as him remain in this world.” He says to himself while riding the carriage.

His entire team is called back after a messenger disrupts them in the middle of the operation. None of them expects what will happen next.

“I’m fine with cancelling the operation but..” he turns to his side and sees the old man that he is about to eliminate earlier if not for the messenger stopping him. “…why is he supposed to come with us back to the headquarters?”

None of them knew the answer. The messenger that relayed the message immediately disappeared, and they are ordered to bring the old man with them.

He turns to his comrades and sees their reaction, they are uneasy to have him travel with them.

“Just as I suspect. I am not the only one feeling the same thing.”

The team leader shares their feelings towards the decision of their leaders.

“I wonder what made our leaders bring him to the headquarters. Do they have a past?” he can only guess.

The team leader observes the old man during their entire travel. He is surprised that the old man did not even ask them about their destination. The longer they travel with him, the more they are convinced that he has a connection to the leaders of their organization.

“Are you not curious of our destination.” The team leader asks.

Seeing as to how the old man remained calm the entire trip, the team leader finally speaks out as his curiosity bested him. That is also the question that the rest of his team are itching to ask the old man. But instead of answering him, he just looks back in pity and shakes his head with a smirk.

The team leader felt is blood boil for an instant after seeing his response. He feels infuriated and wants to end his life but at the same time, he feels that there is something that he is missing.

“I want to kill him. But why do I feel like he knows something that I don’t?” he thinks to himself and gestures his team to stand down after the old man displays a rude response.

“Its fine if you don’t answer me. I will find out sooner or later.” The team leader mutters, but the old man still doesn’t sow any interest.

And after a few hours of travel, they arrive in the city of Kaines in the east side of the kingdom of Ruom.

The city is surrounded by towering walls made of solid rocks with watch towers at each corner of the city. It is an impregnable fortress in the middle of the grasslands.

“We have arrived.” The team leader says and climbs down the carriage first before dragging the old man out. Because of his rude response, the other members suppress their fear for him and push him out of the carriage.

THUD!

“Carry your weight, old man.” One of them scorned. He smiles at the sight of that and turns to the old man. “Let’s go. We cannot keep our leaders waiting.” He points out and leads the way, to his surprise, he sees Squad One welcoming them.

“Squad One? What are they doing here? Shouldn’t they be out for a mission?” he asks himself.

He is not the only one that is confused, his team members are just as confused as he is. The usual cocky look on the Squad One member’s faces cannot be seen, and they even slightly bow their heads.

“What the hell is going on?” he felt it. At that moment, the team leader felt something strange as the old man continues to remain calm whilst they’re thoughts are in disarray.

“This place is still the same even after a long time has passed.” The old man finally spoke.

BUDUMP! BUDUMP! BUDUMP!

His words send chills down their spine. They did not expect those words to come out of his mouth, none of them did.

Every step they take feels like they are walking in the middle of the snowy road naked and the winter chills and cause their body to feel numb. That is what every one of them feel at the moment.

The team leader turns to the old man and sees that he is pissed compared to his previous expression before they arrived at the headquarters.

“What was that?” he mutters in complete confusion.

“I said this place didn’t change even after a long time. I expect that the people here remained the same just as this place.”

Unlike last time where the old man refuse to answer. This time, he answers the team leader’s question, but it only raises more questions.

“Wait…..what do you mean by that-“

“Master, we apologize for this.”

Before the team leader could ask the old man, a familiar voice reach their ears, and they instantly turn their heads only to see their leaders coming to greet the old man themselves.

“The leaders come out to greet him? Master?”

All of them have the same question. They all know that the leaders come out briefly only to deal with a problem and that only lasts for a few seconds, but what they are witnessing is far different than usual. Their anxiety only grew even larger when their leaders kneel before the old man just like an apprentice would to their master.

“WE GREET THE MASTER!”

Again, chills run down their entire body as they witness something none of them can even hope to see in their lifetime. And almost instantly, all of them did the same thing and kneels before the old man. Those that had been rude to him feel their lives flashing before their eyes as cold sweat slides to their noses.

“FUCK- we’ve been rude to the founder of all people. We’re done for.” He says to himself as he can already see their bodies being buried. Their body shakes in fear and regret for what they have done.