"I was an experiment."
With those words, a strange silence fell over the room. All I could do was observe her expression and reaction.
And I saw it.
A slight widening of her eyelids, as if she had guessed something. Even the atmosphere around us changed; instead of the previous tension, it became... curiosity.
"What kind of experiments were you subjected to?" she asked, her tone curious, while I answered without intending to:
"Experiments aimed at creating a human doll elite to serve them."
That was the goal of that mad doctor.
After those two questions, I noticed something.
This artifact didn’t force me to speak every truth, only those I clearly thought about, as long as they were enough to answer the question, of course.
So I tried to push the least important things to the surface of my mind, while avoiding thinking about the other truths... like:
being the vessel of the devourer,and my earliest memories.
"You don’t look like a doll... so why did they send you here?" she asked again.
"They didn’t send me," I replied as briefly as possible.
She tilted her head slightly, her white hair swaying with it."So how are you here now?"
I smiled widely."Because I escaped... I escaped and left death behind them."
Her eyes widened in shock... but not at my success in escaping... no.
It was different, like when you connect many thoughts together to finally reach the truth.
But it didn’t last long; her expression soon returned to its usual calm.
"You escaped and killed everyone behind you?"
I nodded."To be precise, I detonated the entire place by triggering the reactor core with a timed bomb... so maybe everything turned to dust when I left."
She rested her chin on her hand, studying me with her stunning crimson eyes... perhaps if we were in another situation, I would have enjoyed this sight.
A tense silence filled the room while I still held the artifact in my hands. I waited calmly for her next question.
Perhaps it would be about how I managed to escape, or why I came to the hub... or something else.
But it seemed this woman had come today to shatter all my expectations and add more chaos to my thoughts.
"You can move as you like now."
When she said this, I was able to move my body as I wanted once again, while the artifact disappeared from my hands somehow.
I looked at Alicia in surprise."You won’t ask more?"
"No."
I don’t understand... I really don’t understand her.
But for me now, there was something more important."So what’s going to happen to me now?"
She didn’t answer immediately; instead, she seemed to sink into deep thought.
With each passing moment, my heart beat faster,and I began imagining myself in a dark underground room... all my plans and desires breaking apart again.
But for the first time, this life seemed to smile at me.
Her beautiful lips moved as she spoke words that brought comfort once again."Nothing... you can continue being a student here."
"What..." the words escaped my mouth automatically.
Is she pitying me now, or what?
Alicia adjusted herself on the couch."As I said, you can stay... but there’s a condition."
"What is it?" I asked.
"You will become my assistant."
...No idea. I really had no idea.
"Why?" the question slipped from my mouth again.
Alicia raised her eyebrow."It’s to keep you close... and being my assistant will give you a better position than just being a student."
With those words, she stood up from the couch and faced me.
"Why... why are you helping me?"I wasn’t stupid. It was obvious she had hidden motives behind her actions, especially when I remembered her previous reactions... it seemed she knew everything even before I said it.
As if reading my thoughts, she answered my doubts:"I have my own motives, but don’t worry... it won’t harm you as long as you stay free."
Without waiting for my response, she continued:"Come to my office tomorrow after your classes... and don’t make me come to you again."
In the next moment, she vanished from my sight.
I no longer felt her presence... but just to be safe, I activated my power, and it seemed she had truly left.
I relaxed my stiff body and let it sink into the soft couch.
Without realizing, I was already sweating.
I lifted my head and looked at the ceiling.Suddenly, a loud laugh escaped from my mouth:"Hahaha... hahahaha..."
I kept laughing like a madman for a while before rubbing my face with my hands.
"What the hell just happened..."
I tried to organize my thoughts to make sense of everything.
In short, Alicia suspected I was one of the Void System members, so she came to interrogate me. When she realized I was just an escaped experiment, she stopped and decided to let me stay... and even more, to assist me.
It seemed the world was finally starting to smile at me, and by chance, things began to go better.
"Pfft..." another laugh escaped from my mouth.
Better... by chance...
There’s no such thing as chance in this world, only threads of fate... and plans running for thousands of years by beings above us.
First, the memories I recalled at the right time, and this conversation a while ago... no matter how I think about it, these things don’t happen by chance.
Especially the look of awareness on Alicia’s face, as if she knew something about me.
"It seems someone wants me to move along a certain path."
I laughed.
I placed my hand on my face as my laughter echoed in the room.
"Interesting."
...
In a luxurious and beautiful office, Alicia suddenly appeared. She stood there, staring at piles of papers stacked on her desk.
She sighed and walked behind it before sitting on the chair. She leaned on its back, her eyes looking forward... lost in deep thought.
Of course, it was about the conversation with Caius a while ago.
She rested her head on the chair and looked at the ceiling, muttering a few words:
"Is this what that thing meant?"
She recalled some things she had tested years ago... before reaching Rank 7... things she hadn’t told anyone.
"The ancient ages... will return."