A Story of Evil

A lot of drastic changes began in Ether right after the Monarchs finished their meeting. The biggest one, although not that surprising, was the fact that the Void Domain was already hailed as the champion for that year. Although this in itself was not surprising, the people were shocked to learn that, this came through a unanimous voting of all the monarchs.

But the surprises didn't end there. Far from it, there were multiple surprises that Jubilee and the monarchs had in store. The next one being the fact that, the Culling will be abolished. The Church in particular didn't like this.

They gathered up their believers and, began preaching about the evil that was coming to Ether. Deep believers took everything spoken by the bishops and priests at face value. Disregarding the use of their own reasoning and, hating the current monarchy. Because according to these same holy men, abolishing the Culling was "blasphemous" "defiling" and "heretical".

"How can we allow this desecration! We are unlike the monsters that thrive on the chaos areas! We are men and women, gifted and loved by the heavens itself! If we take away the only thing connecting us to the divine, our only means of sacrifice, then a great plague would befall us!" This is only one of the many sermons given throughout that day.

The believers were deep in prayer. Gathering on places of worship. With candles lit and beads on their hands, praying for the death of all the monarchs and those that support them.

Yet since they were a peaceful faction, they didn't have arms nor weaponry. The soldiers were enough to keep them at bay but, this wouldn't last forever. Jubilee knew that even within the ranks of soldiers, there are strong believers and, a total turnover could happen if nothing is done at that point. In fact, on the second day after these announcements, a huge crowd has already gathered in front of the king's castle.

That is why he decided to show results on the third day. The king was making the final adjustments to the machineries he would hand to the other domains. And, while he was at it, Solomon finally woke up.

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"What…where am I?" Sol slowly opened his eyes from his deep slumber. His body seemingly foreign to him as it slowly adjusted to being voluntarily ordered again.

The room had dim lights all around, making it easier for his eyes to adjust. Everything was a big blur at first. With streaks of light created by his adjusting eyes. He tried moving his hand but it simply didn't respond the way it was supposed to. Yet since the numb feeling washed away a bit, he felt something warm and familiar on top of it.

He turned his head. Slowly. With much pain and effort. Seeing a person lay her head on the side of his bed. Making him smile with relief. It was Alice.

"Is she supposed to be my nurse? She's doing a fairly bad job at it." Sol thought to himself.

He wanted to tease her and poke her cheek. But, his whole body was still oddly refusing to listen to him. Aside from this was a painful feeling on his chest whenever he tried to breath.

"Well, this is certainly strange." He said, finally waking up Alice who's face immediately brightened up after seeing Sol make a wide grin.

"Did you sleep well?" Sol sarcastically asked. Yet, instead of getting an answer, Alice hugged the boy and said nothing else for a whole five seconds.

"I must've been gone for a while huh."

"You were idiot! Do you know how scared I was!" Alice's voice was trembling and, somehow this made Sol feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He wasn't supposed to because of [Cold Blooded] but, it seems that, even passives knew when they weren't needed. Relieving Sol who thought that, he was still human after all.

"I'm sorry for making you worry." Sol said, not knowing how he could comfort Alice nor did he have time because, he heard the door open up and, heard another familiar voice right away.

"Ehhhhh…What do we have here." Alice backed away immediately, wiping away her tears as Cain entered the room.

"She was just happy I woke up." Sol said, watching Cain carefully. The expression on his face was enough for him to understand the dirty things that went on inside it.

"Right. Happy. Can I happily beat you up then?" Alice gave a deadly glare to Cain, making him raise his hands in surrender.

"I'm kidding. Chill girl."

This was enough to make Sol laugh. A carefree one which he wasn't able to do for a while. But it was painful on some parts of his body so, he stopped it right away – nevertheless enjoying himself.

"Alice, can you leave us for a moment?"

"Are you sure? He doesn't look that trustworthy to me."

"You know I can hear you right?" Alice gave Cain a look of suspicion. Her eyes showing a glare; like a mother protecting her child from that old shut-in uncle.

"If anything happens to Sol, you're gonna get it."

Things were heating up at that moment. Up until Alice left the room, until the very last moment when there was still a small gap for her to see through, Cain could feel her glare. Making shivers run down his spine as it finally closed and, the two were left to themselves.

"So did you pick up your crazy girlfriend from the Culling?"

"What the hell man, we're only twelve."

The two began laughing again. It felt like forever already; the amount of time they spent not seeing each other and, not having each other's company.

"How's your mother and your sister?"

"They're fine. All of us were transferred to Pentagon a few days after the fight finished you know. Sir Onyx said that we needed to move again and, we're basically used to understanding what that meant."

"You were in danger?" Sol asked, understanding what Cain meant with his words.

"Yeah, the people from the Church were making their believers spy on us while implanting the idea that we practice witchcraft. Crazy right?"

"I mean, Eve would definitely fit that criteria. Seeing how she gave both of us a braided bracelet."

"Hahahaha. Well you're not entirely wrong."

The mood immediately lightened up. There was no tension in that room and, a strange sense of nostalgia filled them both. Like they were back to their shenanigans and crazy antics within the slums.

The two talked about what happened on their respective ends. Cain told Sol of his new job as an assistant blacksmith. Saying that he actually wanted to be on the weapon making business if he couldn't be a knight. Eve was finally eating decent meals regularly and, miss Olivia was employed on the sewing factory.

"I know that this may sound cheesy but, thanks man. All of this was only possible because of you. It's like we're the orphans at this point, seeing how much you've helped us with."

"Hey don't sweat it. I'm not repaying a debt. You guys are family to me and, I'd never abandon you."

"You know I kinda noticed something. You sound like an old man now and, you feel like one too."

"Really now, is that a way to address your benefactor?" Sol and Alice didn't notice it themselves actually. But they have matured even more due to the experiences they had to go through. Sol was more so, having activated [S.W.], he was far from any regular young boy.

After this, it was Sol's turn to tell his story. He said some basic stuff about his training and, how things went in the Culling. All of which excited Cain as much as it made him nervous. Yet Sol also left out a lot of things; all because of the information's confidentiality.

Sol knew that King Jubilee wouldn't let things like this slide. Not even after all he has done for Sol and the Bloodbournes. But Cain caught up to this of course. He knew Sol all his life and, was also the one who taught the boy the skill of wordplay.

"Aren't you forgetting about something?" He asked, staring at Sol who was still very much bedridden.

"You want to know about my powers?"

"Well what else would I be asking about right? You owe an explanation to me at least."

"Cain, as much as I want to tell you, I'm not in a position to do so."

"Not in a position, what do you mean?"

"You should wait for the king. I'm sure he has all of this planned. Just know that it is in my best interest that I am leaving you out of it for the moment."

"Best interest huh." As soon as Cain said this, Sol's stomach grumbled. Making him smirk and brush his head.

"Well you are my best friend so I should trust you on this right? Come on you should get something to eat."

Cain transferred Sol to a wheelchair deigned for that moment. Try as he might he just couldn't move so he left everything to his friend. Carrying him to his seat as he assisted Sol out of the room. There Alice was waiting for the two and another air of tension was shared between Sol's friends.

They were deciding who would push the wheelchair. It was taking a lot of time because neither wanted to give up that position. So they decided to hold one handle each. With Sol sighing as they finally made their way. With Sol giving one last comment in a lighthearted tone.

"Honestly, you two are too much to deal with."