Rasmus watched Aider's skill at cleaning the faces and skin that he took from the people's bodies near the river. He didn't say a word and observed and learned because he had never seen anyone do that back on Earth. Aider on the other hand, he was fine being watched, casually cleaning the skin from the blood as he hummed a song like it was a daily chore to him.
"You're a man who could manipulate the air, kill a person with a gaze, and have both an Orthias and a Dark Spirit by your side, and yet here you are, watching a man doing something less, fascinating..." Aider said with an eerie chuckle as he dipped the human skin into the river, carefully not to ruin its body hair.
"Where did you learn to do this?" Rasmus asked, watching all the faces that Aider had collected, spreading on the rock after Aider had washed them.
"I didn't learn this from anyone, I was a farmer, Count," Aider said as he pulled the human skin from the water, staring at it with his narrowing eyes and sharp gaze. "I skinned cows, chickens, deer, and all kinds of animals. I processed their hides, and I knew how to preserve the quality and how to maintain the furs. So, I thought, what if I did it with human skin? All skins are the same, and I realized that I could use a human face, a human skin to hide my... appearance..." He explained and slowly wiped the skin with a clean cloth.
"Every job that a human did with such expertise, and given them a reason to hate the world, they would be a genius in their own way to make sure the world burns by their hands," Rasmus muttered as he stared into Aider's eyes.
"Do you need more time to adjust?" Rasmus asked with his brows raised.
"Yes, I need time to adjust..." Aider answered as he removed Krus' face and looked at it in his hands. "I need a time alone, at least for three days if that's alright with you, Count," he glanced at Rasmus with a cold and sharp glance.
"Take your time. We aren't in a rush," Rasmus nodded with understanding. "Ayla will bring your foods in the next few days. If you need anything, ask her and she will give you what you need. When you're ready, come and find me," he said and walked into the forest.
Aider stared at Rasmus's back with cold and killing intent, but then he giggled mischievously before he continued to wash the skin and faces in the river.
Three days had passed, Rasmus was sitting on a log in front of a campfire with Erglade's journal in his hands. He read about how both their parents began to feel the growing intimacy between them. He had been trying to understand his mother, Aristoria and why she seemed unique compared to the other Orthias. He had shared the journal with Aris about Aristoria, but she also found her predecessor weird in her behavior.
"Does Orthias really don't feel emotion or something like that?" Rasmus asked Aris, who sat across from the campfire.
"We do, but we aren't attached to it and we don't dwell on it either. It's like a steel surface trying to absorb water. It's impossible and the water can be easily removed by tilting the surface until the water drops. Unlike humans that they're more like a piece of cloth and absorb water if you let it sit for too long," Aris explained as she stared at the campfire.
"So that means Aristoria did love Erglade, and she clung to it, making sure that droplet of water stayed on that steel surface. Or perhaps she just pretend that she was," Rasmus tilted his head as he looked at the book in his hands.
"I don't know, and that might apply to you as well. She might use both Erglade and you as a tool, to make sure things go to what she wished for even though she was no longer alive," Aris responded, staring into Rasmus' eyes. "That also applies to me too. Who knows that she's still influencing my very existence since I'm made from her essence," she added.
Rasmus hummed and noticed that Aris had changed quite a lot from the first time he met her. He remembered that Aris wasn't the type who spoke her mind, not the type that cared much about what was going on. However, lately, her silence was filled with weight compared to before that seemed hollow.
"You're starting to question yourself," Rasmus said, staring into Aris's blue eyes that mirrored his. "There are so many questions with no answers, isn't it? Do you want to go and meet her again?" He asked.
Aris hesitated to speak, something that she had never done before. She never considered anything at first since she always knew what she wanted, but at that moment, she didn't know what she wanted. She glanced at the spatial ring that Rasmus wore, and knew how to reach Aristoria, and that was through the Dragon's Breath.
"I don't know if she will give you the answer you want to believe or the answer she wants you to believe," Rasmus said as he pulled out the Dragon's Breath from the spatial ring, staring at the frozen breath in a glowing sphere. "To trust means to let yourself be fooled in a way. Do you want to accept that or do you want to keep feeling the void in your head?" He asked as he offered the Dragon's Breath to her.
Aris looked at the glowing sphere in Rasmus' hand and there was something that made her think that she shouldn't do it. She listened to Rasmus and she knew that he had been nothing but truthful to her. There was no trust between the two, respect and honesty, something that was worth more than anything she could ever know. She knew that she couldn't trust Aristoria or prove Aristoria's honesty, after all, they were the same being but a different mind.
"As long as the void doesn't bother you, why are you so bothered looking back at it?" Rullein asked as she sat down beside Aris.
Aris and Rasmus looked at Rullein, and then Rasmus looked at Aris, finding that question to be a good question for her.
"It's not that it does bother me, but I want to know what Aristoria's plan is. For what reason do you exist, why she sacrificed herself for you and Rasmus. I know that it's because of the threat that killed hundreds of True Dragons, but why us, what made her see that the solution to that problem is in our hands?" Aris asked as she looked up at the stars. "Did she predict the future? Is that even possible?" She added.
Rasmus had that same question, especially when he awakened his Orthias' bloodline. He was brought to the past, to his baby self where Aristoria spoke to him, knowing that he was from the far future. Something bothered him, and wondered how many times or moments where Aristoria realized that her child was from the future, and until at what point that she stopped seeing her son from the future. All those questions, he had no answer to that, but it didn't bother him because he had only one goal and that was to turn this world upside down, a challenge by God himself.
They heard a snap behind them, but none of them bothered to turn around since they already knew that Aider was listening to them in the past few minutes.
"You look great in those, Aider," Rasmus said as he stored the journal and the Dragon's Breath.
They heard a soft giggle that would give chills to anyone that listened to it, but not them. Aider then moved aside from the tree he was hiding behind it, revealing the all-black attire with gold ornaments that decorated his attire. He looked exactly like Krus and Rasmus couldn't believe that what he saw was the skin of a dead man being worn by someone else.
"I believe it's time for me to do my job," Aider said as he held his chin high with the gaze of someone that held authority. "Where to, Count?" He smirked as he twirled his mustache.
"To meet with the remaining ringleaders..." Rasmus answered as he got up. "Let's move."
Aris and Rullein got up then Yur hooted on the tree branch before Yur flew away to be the eye in the sky.