Inverse System

"Well, you know the rest. I did just as she told me," Core finally finished retelling the story as Rein stood in the corner of the room with tear-filled eyes.

"She… told you to kill her? Why… that idiot…"

"It's obvious why. Melina Alister needs a sacrifice for the inception of the completed curse. Now, she's the only woman of Alister blood left in the continent. I still don't know what the curse does, but Leona used its power to open a rift in time. If it has power of that magnitude, we can't let it get into the wrong hands," Core explained as Rein grit his teeth.

"What the hell was the future me doing?! There's no way I would've let any of that stuff happen…" Rein yelled at Core, staring him in the eyes, Core not flinching at his words.

"You're in denial, Rein. I know you figured it out from the story. In the timeline I'm from, you and every other villager died in the Lifah incident. Leona was the only survivor, as outlined by your aunt's orders," Core revealed, Rein's breath getting caught in his throat from shock.

"Impossible… There's no way Leona would allow that… She'd sacrifice herself for everyone else's sake… She wouldn't let all the other villagers die…"

"I think you forget how lenient we were when we attacked. We didn't kill anyone in the ambush. Now imagine if we aimed to kill all the villagers and destroy the town instead of aiming for the homes? The only survivor left would be the resilient 9th prestige Ranger. You're underestimating the power of Crypt. They destroyed your home while both you and Leona were still in it, and in the rubble, you were found dead. At the same time, all the other villagers were being slaughtered by the countless soldiers. Before Leona even realized the situation, the troops had already begun fleeing the scene, leaving her as the lone survivor in a blood-filled city," Core explained the story that Leona had told him in the future.

"No way… So my aunt's orders said to kill everyone except for Leona..? But you said that you were only following orders back then… You lied to me," Rein gripped his swords tightly as he began trembling.

"I didn't lie to you. I was telling the truth. I was only following orders. That was a job only I could do. And that job was given to me by none other than Leona Alister herself. I imagine your aunt sent in soldiers when she heard what had happened, and I imagine she wasn't too happy to hear that you and Emria were the only survivors instead of Leona. But that was all according to Leona's plan."

Rein couldn't stop himself from shaking, the fear and confusion in his heart growing exponentially as Core revealed to him the truth of the situation, the incident that he'd held a grudge over for the past 6 years.

"So then why… Why'd my aunt even order the attack? If she wanted Leona to live, then what was the point?" Rein asked.

"You already forgot her main goal? She needed a way to instigate a war, otherwise, the cursed Springs wouldn't appear. These Springs are by-products of the conflict spawned by the war."

"But that doesn't make any sense. If that's the case, then why'd your curse appear in the year 1216? 16 years after the war began?"

"Curses only appear 3 at a time. Once one disappears, the next one appears. Right now, Xenia is occupying one of the slots, and so after the one in aquifa disappeared, another one reappeared here in Hakah. The 7th curse, my curse, only appears after all other curses have been purged. 

I'm not exactly sure about the exact details as to why it took so long, but I assume it had something to do with a series of suicides and abortions across the continent. From my understanding, from the year 1207 to the year 1216, some parents would mysteriously kill their newborn children inexplicably. There was also a rise in suicide, the ones that weren't killed suffocated themselves as babies. 

That was due to the 7th curse, one that only appears once all the others have been captured. Each time a child was killed, another one would appear with a different cursed Spring under the title of the '7th curse'. This continued happening for 9 years until it reached my parents. Unfortunately for them, my curse included immortality, so I never died. After that, the mysterious killings stopped, and I held the 7th curse as I drifted at the bottom of the sea," Core explained.

"So that's why then… Haha… hahaha… hahahahahahahahaha…" Rein hysterically laughed as his tears dried off his eyes, a red glow appearing in his eyes he grew a twisted smile.

"My role is pretty much over. If you want to kill me now, you can go ahead. Maybe, I'll finally be able to apologize to this timeline's Leona in the afterlife… But who am I kidding? I'm going straight to hell," Core put his hands up in surrender as he saw Rein recall his swords back into his weapon rings.

"I'd be a complete moron if I killed you now. The reason you set up this teleportation device in here is that you knew something like this would happen. The reason you told us to take the Haka commission is that you knew it had a curse in it. With this overwhelming proof, I have no choice but to accept your words as the truth. If that's the case, then I can't blame you for what happened. The only thing left now is to look towards the future," Rein heaved a huge breath as he stretched as if a crushing weight had just been lifted from his shoulders.

"You mean it this time..? I promise you can trust me… I'll do everything in my power to support you," Core promised as he extended his arm to Rein, who took it earnestly, finally forgiving him for the incident that happened 6 years ago.

Meanwhile, outside the barrier…

"So that's it then… Rein told you guys already?" Chloe confirmed as Xenia finished explaining why she knew about her relationship with Rein.

"Well, he only told me directly. I don't think anyone else that was with us knows. Why do you want to hide it in the first place? I think it's great!"

Chloe looked down at the ground, an agonizing smile growing on her face.

"If I were him, I wouldn't want to be seen with me. I'm already being selfish enough, I don't want to ruin his image while doing it…" She explained.

"Chloe…"

Suddenly, the 2 saw Rein and Core emerge from the chief's home, coming out as they waved their hands to the two outside the barrier. Rein's eyes looked slightly swollen, with light-red highlights under his eyes.

"Rein!" Chloe jumped up from her seat and yelled out his name, despite knowing that he wouldn't be able to hear her.

"Alright, now that we've shown them that we're safe, Chloe should calm down a bit. Lead the way Core. You know where the chief and her niece are hiding, right?" Rein said as he put his arm down after finishing waving, following Core back into the house.

"Right. According to the paper Leona and Saphrilla left me, there should be a long tunnel leading downwards under the chief's home in Haka. We have to hurry though. I don't know how accurate this information is in this altered timeline, but an agent from your aunt's side should becoming to retrieve the cursed Spring soon," Core explained as the two looked around the living room for some sort of secret entrance.

"An agent, huh? What is this curse? Though, I guess you wouldn't know," Rein asked.

"I don't really know the details, but… in my timeline, the captured villagers were never found after the incident. The Rangers from the future were too late to investigate this place while the incident was actually happening, so your aunt got to it before they could. When they did come to investigate though, they saw that the chief's home had been destroyed, and there was a large tunnel leading to a basement underneath. There should be some sort of mechanism in the living room. If we can't find it, we can always destroy the house and go down like that, but I'd like to keep the scene of the crime intact if at all possible," Core described as he and Rein rummaged through the bookshelves.

"They weren't found? But I thought you told them to get captured because you knew it'd be safe," Rein retorted.

"I do know. The future didn't have you. Anything that happens can just be reversed using your Spring," Core exclaimed as Rein facepalmed on the inside.

"... I'll keep searching then. But hey, about the future… you said there were some Rangers that I know. Who were they?" Rein inquired, the 2 talking to each other while searching.

"Oh, you want to know about your classmates? The only ones that you know that became Rangers… out everyone you've befriended so far, only Quint, Reggie, Lance, and Elaine actually became Rangers. All of them were always really nice to me in the future, and whenever I saw them around the Ranger guild headquarters, we'd always talk to each other. It was kinda funny seeing them again in their teenage days. Lance is the same as he was when you first met him, now he's kinda different. Quint actually surprised me the most. In the future, he's this cool vigilante who got the nickname 'the Roaring Tiger'. His goal was to save his sister, who was captured due to her cursed Spring. In the present, he's just an angry loser. It kinda makes me laugh," Core joked, laughing at his own remark as Rein stayed quiet, catching Core's attention.

"Hm? Looks like that isn't what you meant then? You want to know about somebody else?"

"Yeah… Clyde was with Crypt, right..? So he was with the group who attacked my village?"

"Yes. According to Leona, a black-haired boy the same age as you killed you before destroying your house. He suddenly appeared in your home and ended your life while your guards were down. In my timeline, Clyde never left Crypt."