The Murklin System: Rise of the Dark Hero

Chapter 6

“Is that important?” the woman asked before sitting beside him. She looked at the three graves in front of her and played with the flowers on top of them.

Finn sat back up again and looked at her. “Well, to answer your question, I’m Finn Erskin from Vad Tribe. At least I still believe I am.”

“Vad tribe, huh?” Efrelyn stopped from what she was doing before looking back at him. “What if I tell you that you're not from the Vad tribe?”

Finn blinked several times. “Not from the Vad tribe? Then, what? From the Lorn tribe? Verendous? Bestick?” 

For every tribe he mentioned, he couldn’t hide his anticipation, and most especially, hope. He was hoping to belong to the higher tribes, and not to this isolated and most hated one. He could accept anything aside from Vad.

The woman giggled. “Is it so good to belong to those tribes?”

“Of course!” he exclaimed. “Who wouldn’t want to belong to the Lorn tribe? Even though they’re the lowest before us, they’re still accepted by everyone. If I can go there, they will surely pay me fairly with the charcoal I’m selling. But here, they always pay me below average. Sometimes even lower.

“The Bestick tribe isn’t half bad. It’s the highest tribe, but I don’t really like it there. Aside from seeing the Tempest royal family, I can’t really do much there. I don’t like sitting in front of a desk, making who knows what. Verendous tribe isn’t that bad either. The scholars and priests are there. It was my dream to go here and become a katona. I want to serve my country.”

“Hmm… I’m surprised,” Efrelyn said while watching Finn smile from ear to ear just by mentioning the Verendous tribe.

Finn’s smile disappeared. “What?”

“You were born and raised here in Fract, the lowest, most isolated, most hated, filthiest, and all negative adjectives combined. People out there discriminate against you, and treat you like objects. I’m just surprised you still want to serve your country.”

Finn cleared his throat. “I just want to get back what my family deserves. When my great grandfather was kicked out of the elite army, our family lost the privilege we once had.”

Efrelyn nodded. “Well, that wasn’t surprising at all. But it looks like you already gave up on that one, huh?”

“What’s the use? My family’s gone. I’m the only one left now. I don’t need that privilege for myself.”

“Anyway, enough chit chat.” She stood and shook off the dirt from her cloak. “Unfortunately, you aren’t from the tribes you mentioned. Sorry to disappoint. But I have better news for you.” She grinned.

“What?”

“You’re not from those lowly tribes, Finn. You’re from a better tribe. My tribe.”

His eyebrows creased. “Your tribe? Where do you belong?”

She smirked. “The Murklin tribe.”

Finn waited for an explanation, but the woman just stared at him with a grin. When she didn’t speak, he asked, “And what tribe is that?”

Blinking rapidly, Efrelyn gasped loudly and held her chest. “I can’t believe it! You don’t know about our tribe? It’s quite famous, you know.” She fanned herself and paced back and forth. She was too flabbergasted to stay still.

“Yeah, well, not so famous if it didn’t reach our town.” He scratched the back of his head. “We’re isolated, remember? That means, no regular food supply, and no regular news from outside.”

Efrelyn stopped walking, and sat in front of him. “Don’t you feel it? That strange feeling in your chest?” She placed her palm on top of his chest. Finn stiffened. “Like you wanted something to get out of it?”

“I just lost my family today, and all of them in a day. What do you expect me to feel?”

“Of course, because that was the trigger. Your family’s death woke something inside you. Something that has been sleeping inside you for a long time.” She stopped grinning and looked at her hand that was still touching his chest.

“But it’s weird,” she added. “Lord Edward was right. You shouldn’t possess this thing. It doesn’t feel right. What exactly happened?” Efrelyn looked up and stared at his eyes, trying to read something in it, though it was futile.

“Can you get straight to the point? And you can take your hands off now.”

Sighing, Efrelyn stood and said, “I can’t explain everything to you now since I don’t have all the answers to your question. We need Lord Edward’s help.”

*

“Welcome back, commander!” a drunk man beamed. “Here’s to celebrate your return.” He handed Gideon a barrel of beer, which the commander refused.

“It’s six in the morning, Pete. Let me wake up first.” He sat on one of the tables before ordering a set meal for him and for Kento, who was quietly sitting in front of him.

“Of course you’ll refuse me anytime of the day.” Pete faced Kento. “My man! Surely you won’t decline a drink from an old friend, right?”

Kento grinned. “Of course I will.”

Instead of feeling offended, Pete laughed heartily. “As expected from the cold duo. Aren’t you cold?”

Kento shook his head before eating their breakfast. He was too tired to do anything, but he needed to eat. He wanted to sleep so bad, but he didn’t want to leave Gideon now. He had a lot of questions to ask him.

He waited until they were both done eating. Kento wanted to ask the commander first before they went to the headquarters to report about their investigation. He was still confused about what had transpired in Fract.

“What exactly happened back there, commander?” Kento asked.

Gideon didn’t answer right away. Kento thought he wasn’t going to reply, but he did. “That man was being protected by the stone.”

“What? But that was a myth. No one has really seen one and proved it.”

“Remember what I told you a while ago—that the royal family and the higher-ups might be hiding something from us? I think this is it. At least this is a part of the hidden truth.” Gideon pulled his chair near Kento. He didn’t want anyone else to hear what they were talking about. If this wasn’t proven true, he could be charged for treason for this.

Gideon whispered, “I know what I saw. It was hard for me to accept it a while ago, but I couldn’t think of any reasonable explanation aside from this. The murklin was blinded by the light that emanated from the stone. I saw the light too. But like in the myth, the stone could only hurt immortals, not us mortals. It didn’t affect me at all.”

Gideon pulled back and went back to his original seat like nothing happened. He watched as the information processed inside Kento’s head. And the sergeant couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“If this is indeed true, this is big news,” he whispered back. “We need to go back to Fract and retrieve the stone. If we managed to prove its existence, there would be no doubt, this would secure our promotion.”

“You said it right out of my mouth.” Gideon grinned before they decided to go to the headquarters. There was no way they would mention the stone to their major. At least not until they proved its existence.

But aside from that, he was also starting to wonder where the stone came from. There was no way the murklin owned it. If she did own it, it was just a matter of time before that creature died. After all, the stone was made to injure and k-ll immortals.

According to the myth, the stone was made by a mortal wizard. There were four types of the stone: the Eagle of the East, the Cow of the North, the Lion of the West, and the Hermit of the South. And just like the name presented, they were shaped as animals. The Stone was said to be a weapon against immortals. The wizard created them to protect the mortals from Murklins, Caelums, Cerises, and Mauves.

But several decades ago, the war between immortals and mortals started. The immortals were threatened by the creation of the stones, so they planned to get it from the mortals, and had it destroyed. In the end, they succeeded in destroying it.

Although it wasn’t entirely destroyed.

The four stones broke into tiny pieces, and scattered around the world. Years later, when immortals and mortals began to co-exist, a piece of the stone was found inside a cave. A murklin was enticed by the mesmerizing stone that she made into a necklace. Months later, she di-ed of an unknown disease.

Everyone heard about the news of the immortal dy-ing, that even the lords from different countries came to investigate it. Only then they realized that the stone had emerged once again to threaten the existence of the immortals’ lives.

After that incident, everyone tried to look for the remaining stones around the world. But to their dismay, nothing was found again ever since then. In the present, the stone was forgotten once again, and became a myth passed down from generation to generation.

But right at this moment, Gideon was reminded of the myth again. There was part of him saying that this was just an illusion, a false hope that might just make him look stupid in the eyes of people. And yet, there was also a part of him saying that there was no harm in digging deeper into this.

He wanted to prove that the stone was more than a myth.