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해고!
He and Aqua are walking down the main street of Shiirhuang, heading towards the teleportation spot. They are fluently speaking in Korean, or better, the other is, he barely gives a reply every now and then.
He is wearing his usual full black hanfu, his katana always with him.
Aqua is wearing totally scandalous clothes for Xuanghen standards and there is plenty of people looking at him in horror.
He is wearing a long-sleeve crop-top that uncovers his whole belly and sweatpants, so low one almost can see the top of his ass, from behind. He sure doesn't pass unnoticed.
He is wearing his usual full black hanfu, his katana always with him.
Aqua is wearing totally scandalous clothes for Xuanghen standards and there is plenty of people looking at him in horror.
He is wearing a long-sleeve crop-top that uncovers his whole belly and sweatpants, so low one almost can see the top of his ass, from behind. He sure doesn't pass unnoticed.
Meh.
After releasing the prisoners, he opens a portal to bring them all back to Xhuanghen, where they can safely return to their homes after the battle is over.
The prisoners sure saw him among their saviours, so in the end it's up to them to decide what they want to think about Tero. As he promised, he won't try to justify himself or lie to save himself.
He also teleports the people with him back to Shiinden, mostly to grace WonPil who still can't do it by himself.
The prisoners sure saw him among their saviours, so in the end it's up to them to decide what they want to think about Tero. As he promised, he won't try to justify himself or lie to save himself.
He also teleports the people with him back to Shiinden, mostly to grace WonPil who still can't do it by himself.
Visions of the Past: Tero.
{Everything is black.}
A disembodied, child voice screams desperately, echoing in the witness mind: "STOP! ABAMAMA...! JEBAL...! HELP!"
"Shut your mouth, filthy half-breed!"
~ Moments later, a scene starts to take shape in the darkness.
A woman is sat by a short table, calmly having tea. images.app.goo.gl/jThwahmRhEXhyRWP8
A child is there, in tears. He is 6 or 7 at most.
She says strictly: "A Crown Prince should know his place and duty. You will do as Jeonha commands."
"I don't want to!" sobs the child. "Eomamama, help me, juseyo..."
The Queen stands up with the help of a maid and approaches him, just to slap him on the face. "I won't repeat myself!"
The scene disappears and a new one replaces it.
Same child, a bit bigger, alone in a room, destroying everything in a blind rage attack. There are broken glasses everywhere, wounding him too, blood on his hands and face, his own.
He stops in front of a mirror and stares at it in a cold moment of quietness, just to start punching it over and over, breaking the surface and wounding himself more, with so much hate.
Some servants are staying aside, observing the scene but not intervening to stop the Prince.
The next moment is night. The child, now at the age of 10, is being carried by an armed man, wearing a military uniform.
The child is quiet in his arm, while being taken somewhere easily guessable. He is in night clothes.
Slowly, the child pulls something out of his sleeve, a big and sharp piece of broken ceramic. With a swift, single move, he thrusts the improvised weapon in the neck of the man carrying him, who is forced to drop him down.
It's a deadly blow.
The child remains to stare at the scene with a chilling calm. Blood sprayed all over him.
Servants and guards stare at him from afar, with horror and fear.
/ This is the only way... /
{Darkness.}
A baby crying in the background and a disembodied voice echoing: "It's a Prince! Jeonha, it's a prince!"
As the scene starts to appear, Tero is inside a palanquin, being carried somewhere out of the Royal Palace.
After an unknown time lapse, the scene changes again. Tero is 11 and in a new palace. He is on a bed and a girl several years older than him is on top of him, hitting him. "Are you even a man?! They explained you! You must give me a child!"
—> They are outside, still in the Palace. Tero is 13 and he grew up a lot. His sister is making a scene, in front of all the eunchs and guards there, calling him half man and an eunch, just until something snaps in him and he starts to beat her up, savagely. Nobody tries to stop him, they just stare at the scene.
/She will learn to stop. /
{Darkness.}
Hooves sounds, arrows being shot.
When the scene manifests, Tero is 14 but looks older than his age, at least 16. He is riding and being chased by many guards on horse, who are shooting their arrows at him.
He has been struck many times, he doesn't manage to use his left arm and lost his own bow.
As he gets closer to a village near the palace where he was sent to be, his horse gets killed and he falls off of it, rolling very close to the shore of the lake.
The men of the village, awakened by the noises at night came out to check what was going on. They are peasants and in a very miserable state, wielding some gardening tools and torches.
"Who is that?"
"Is that..."
"Omo! It's the Prince..."
"I heard he hunts people down like animals..."
"He defied the Buddha!"
"The cursed one... he caused the famine!"
"His birth was a plague to our country." And so on. Ignorant talking fed by rumors and mostly coming from the desperation of the people under a pitiful ruler.
/It's not true... I didn't do anything... help me.../
The guards who were chasing him stop at a distance, like to see what the people do.
A man approaches Tero. "These arrows are quality, they will be worth at least one Nyan each!" They start to take out the arrows and also to tear off parts of his clothing. When they are done robbing what could be taken, a man just pushes him into the lake.
After that, a choking feeling and weakness, too much. Drowning into total silence and darkness.
Until...
He suddenly emerges from the lake, breathing again. The temperature of the place changed, even the smell and the feeling. Before Tero could open his eyes, he realises that something is extremely off.
He can still feel the pain of his wounds, the weakness and dizziness, but he is alive. He hardly manages to drag himself outside the water, but he was already by the shore, no longer under the water.
With the help of his longsword, he stands up and walks for a few metres. The village disappeared, the sky is so blurry, the heat of summer quickly drying the water off of his hair.
Tero reaches a street, a highway. He has never seen anything similar in his whole life.
A car runs fast right in front of him and he recoils, just ending up in the path of another car, that almost hits him. He lets his sword fall and places both hands on the car, from which comes a man, well dressed, on his late 50s. "Geaenchanha?" gasps the man, but Tero just collapses in front of his eyes.
The man panics but brings Tero inside the back of his car and puts his sword in the trunk.
The man can be interacted with.
A disembodied, child voice screams desperately, echoing in the witness mind: "STOP! ABAMAMA...! JEBAL...! HELP!"
"Shut your mouth, filthy half-breed!"
~ Moments later, a scene starts to take shape in the darkness.
A woman is sat by a short table, calmly having tea. images.app.goo.gl/jThwahmRhEXhyRWP8
A child is there, in tears. He is 6 or 7 at most.
She says strictly: "A Crown Prince should know his place and duty. You will do as Jeonha commands."
"I don't want to!" sobs the child. "Eomamama, help me, juseyo..."
The Queen stands up with the help of a maid and approaches him, just to slap him on the face. "I won't repeat myself!"
The scene disappears and a new one replaces it.
Same child, a bit bigger, alone in a room, destroying everything in a blind rage attack. There are broken glasses everywhere, wounding him too, blood on his hands and face, his own.
He stops in front of a mirror and stares at it in a cold moment of quietness, just to start punching it over and over, breaking the surface and wounding himself more, with so much hate.
Some servants are staying aside, observing the scene but not intervening to stop the Prince.
The next moment is night. The child, now at the age of 10, is being carried by an armed man, wearing a military uniform.
The child is quiet in his arm, while being taken somewhere easily guessable. He is in night clothes.
Slowly, the child pulls something out of his sleeve, a big and sharp piece of broken ceramic. With a swift, single move, he thrusts the improvised weapon in the neck of the man carrying him, who is forced to drop him down.
It's a deadly blow.
The child remains to stare at the scene with a chilling calm. Blood sprayed all over him.
Servants and guards stare at him from afar, with horror and fear.
/ This is the only way... /
{Darkness.}
A baby crying in the background and a disembodied voice echoing: "It's a Prince! Jeonha, it's a prince!"
As the scene starts to appear, Tero is inside a palanquin, being carried somewhere out of the Royal Palace.
After an unknown time lapse, the scene changes again. Tero is 11 and in a new palace. He is on a bed and a girl several years older than him is on top of him, hitting him. "Are you even a man?! They explained you! You must give me a child!"
—> They are outside, still in the Palace. Tero is 13 and he grew up a lot. His sister is making a scene, in front of all the eunchs and guards there, calling him half man and an eunch, just until something snaps in him and he starts to beat her up, savagely. Nobody tries to stop him, they just stare at the scene.
/She will learn to stop. /
{Darkness.}
Hooves sounds, arrows being shot.
When the scene manifests, Tero is 14 but looks older than his age, at least 16. He is riding and being chased by many guards on horse, who are shooting their arrows at him.
He has been struck many times, he doesn't manage to use his left arm and lost his own bow.
As he gets closer to a village near the palace where he was sent to be, his horse gets killed and he falls off of it, rolling very close to the shore of the lake.
The men of the village, awakened by the noises at night came out to check what was going on. They are peasants and in a very miserable state, wielding some gardening tools and torches.
"Who is that?"
"Is that..."
"Omo! It's the Prince..."
"I heard he hunts people down like animals..."
"He defied the Buddha!"
"The cursed one... he caused the famine!"
"His birth was a plague to our country." And so on. Ignorant talking fed by rumors and mostly coming from the desperation of the people under a pitiful ruler.
/It's not true... I didn't do anything... help me.../
The guards who were chasing him stop at a distance, like to see what the people do.
A man approaches Tero. "These arrows are quality, they will be worth at least one Nyan each!" They start to take out the arrows and also to tear off parts of his clothing. When they are done robbing what could be taken, a man just pushes him into the lake.
After that, a choking feeling and weakness, too much. Drowning into total silence and darkness.
Until...
He suddenly emerges from the lake, breathing again. The temperature of the place changed, even the smell and the feeling. Before Tero could open his eyes, he realises that something is extremely off.
He can still feel the pain of his wounds, the weakness and dizziness, but he is alive. He hardly manages to drag himself outside the water, but he was already by the shore, no longer under the water.
With the help of his longsword, he stands up and walks for a few metres. The village disappeared, the sky is so blurry, the heat of summer quickly drying the water off of his hair.
Tero reaches a street, a highway. He has never seen anything similar in his whole life.
A car runs fast right in front of him and he recoils, just ending up in the path of another car, that almost hits him. He lets his sword fall and places both hands on the car, from which comes a man, well dressed, on his late 50s. "Geaenchanha?" gasps the man, but Tero just collapses in front of his eyes.
The man panics but brings Tero inside the back of his car and puts his sword in the trunk.
The man can be interacted with.
Yi WooDan – HwiPyeong – GongPo – Tero
{Early life.}
He was born on the 7th December 1381, in early Joseon era. His mother was a concubine of Japanese origins, while his father was the second King of Joseon.
As it often happened, the Queen, unable to get a male child, swapped her own newborn daughter with be son the concubine gave life to, without even her to know.
The Queen never showed any love to WooDan, she only needed him to ensure her authority and strengthen her influence.
He was appointed Crown Prince right after birth, as his father was already old for the standards of the time. The fact the King chose the name HwiPyeong as his official name was the clear proof of the absolute cruelty of that man.
The abuses started when he was 5. An unloved child, with a rebel temper, completely alone, amongst people who would rather look at the other side than help a defenceless child.
Tero had no one by his side.
He struggled and fought, receiving the harshest punishments possible, but only turning more stubborn, feral and cruel.
He was 10 when he killed for the first time. The King's loyal commandant, the man whom, at night, came to take him to his father's quarters. He hid a sharp piece of ceramic in his sleeve and when the man picked him him, he stabbed him in the jugular with it, causing his unavoidable death.
The way people reacted to that event, how they looked at him with horror and terror... for the first time in his early life, he felt powerful.
Servants started to get scared of him, even palace women and the Queen herself. The King suddenly stopped summoning him to his quarters. It felt as if he had finally managed to end the nightmare.
Less than a month after, he was sent to a faraway palace, with the excuse that his health was weak and he needed to recover there. It was a lie to keep him far, but at first he didn't mind.
Things almost seemed to have taken a better turn, until, one day, his sister was sent there. He had just turned 11, she was 19. The King decided they'd get married and so it was. He didn't have the chance to oppose, as usual.
He was a traumatized child, whose puberty had not yet even started, and she claimed to get a son from Tero, although it was impossible for him. She hit and mistreated him in every possible way, humiliated him in front of guards and eunuchs.
All that until, one day, a couple of years later, he had grown big enough. And started to beat her up. She didn't have anything to complain about anymore, then, she stopped visiting and inviting him.
If there was a lesson he always confirmed in his life, if was that violence is the answer to every problem.
Growing up in that environment certainly didn't lead to a stable and positive individual. He kept getting more violent and brutal, but also power-thirsty. He needed the power to decide, he had to become King.
One thing that always bothered him was mortality. He kept meeting with shamans and far from recommendable kind of individuals, even from far lands, following their suggestions, performing their rituals and whatnot, with the purpose to make himself immortal.
He bathed in blood, quite regularly, he even drank some. Plus 'potions' full of hallucinogenic substances. He performed sacrifices and even tried human's flesh, once. He would do anything to become immortal.
His plans were soon obstacled, though, as the King had a new son from another concubine. Nobody would have thought it possible, seen the old age of the man, but there that damned kid was.
And as Tero feared, his father didn't waste the chance to get rid of him, now that he had no need to keep him anymore.
He was 14 and it was night. From his residence in the palace, he heard weird sounds that set him on guard. Something was up, he could sense it. He left his bed and hurried to grab his longsword, before going to check.
Thanks to the fact he was always paranoid, he had a way out of his quarters and the palace itself, despite being surrounded.
He managed to reach his horse and his emergency bow with quiver. He mounted and left the palace from a secret gate only he knew of.
He rode towards the nearby village, but he wasn't unnoticed and many guards from the Palace came after him, shooting arrows. He shot back, he managed to kill a few, but also got shot, over and over.
They hunted him down like a best and kept shooting arrows at him. Eventually, his horse collapsed under the wounds and he was left on the ground, crawling like a wurm.
The house awoke the people of the village, who came out to see, with their torches. He was near a lake, struggling to stand up, but really close to die.
As the people recognized who he was, rather than helping him, they started attacking him too. And some men simply pulled him inside the lake, while the people were exulting at the deed.
No, he had never caused them any trouble. They hated him because of the rumors about him and because his father was a pitiful ruler who let his people starve.
He fought against the water filling his lungs, but he couldn't get out of the lake. He lost his consciousness and knew that it was the end. Nothing and nobody would save him.
{Time travel.}
He felt like awakening from a very deep slumber. He struggled to open his eyes.
At first, he couldn't move his body, it was like paralysed. His breath was weak and he felt like choking.
But then, the awareness: he wasn't in the water. The air was hot and damp, pleasurable on the skin, after the contact with the freezing water of that lake.
He finally opened his eyes and looked at the sky. The stars seemed blurry and less in number than what he was used to, but it was the last of his problem.
Pushing himself against his own instincts he stood up, with the help of his sword. He started to walk. Nothing looked the same anymore. The village was gone and so was the lake.
He saw some light at short distance and followed it, till reaching a grey platform, like a road, but wider than any he had ever seen. Strange things moved fast near him, that startled him beyond measure. Noisy and big.
Suddenly, a car stopped right in front of him, so close to slightly hit him.
He fell with his hands on that thing, shaking in shock.
An old man in weird clothes came out of the vehicle and approached him. Tero heard him speak, but his voice sounded distant and confusing. Before he could even realise, he was unconscious again.
He was born on the 7th December 1381, in early Joseon era. His mother was a concubine of Japanese origins, while his father was the second King of Joseon.
As it often happened, the Queen, unable to get a male child, swapped her own newborn daughter with be son the concubine gave life to, without even her to know.
The Queen never showed any love to WooDan, she only needed him to ensure her authority and strengthen her influence.
He was appointed Crown Prince right after birth, as his father was already old for the standards of the time. The fact the King chose the name HwiPyeong as his official name was the clear proof of the absolute cruelty of that man.
The abuses started when he was 5. An unloved child, with a rebel temper, completely alone, amongst people who would rather look at the other side than help a defenceless child.
Tero had no one by his side.
He struggled and fought, receiving the harshest punishments possible, but only turning more stubborn, feral and cruel.
He was 10 when he killed for the first time. The King's loyal commandant, the man whom, at night, came to take him to his father's quarters. He hid a sharp piece of ceramic in his sleeve and when the man picked him him, he stabbed him in the jugular with it, causing his unavoidable death.
The way people reacted to that event, how they looked at him with horror and terror... for the first time in his early life, he felt powerful.
Servants started to get scared of him, even palace women and the Queen herself. The King suddenly stopped summoning him to his quarters. It felt as if he had finally managed to end the nightmare.
Less than a month after, he was sent to a faraway palace, with the excuse that his health was weak and he needed to recover there. It was a lie to keep him far, but at first he didn't mind.
Things almost seemed to have taken a better turn, until, one day, his sister was sent there. He had just turned 11, she was 19. The King decided they'd get married and so it was. He didn't have the chance to oppose, as usual.
He was a traumatized child, whose puberty had not yet even started, and she claimed to get a son from Tero, although it was impossible for him. She hit and mistreated him in every possible way, humiliated him in front of guards and eunuchs.
All that until, one day, a couple of years later, he had grown big enough. And started to beat her up. She didn't have anything to complain about anymore, then, she stopped visiting and inviting him.
If there was a lesson he always confirmed in his life, if was that violence is the answer to every problem.
Growing up in that environment certainly didn't lead to a stable and positive individual. He kept getting more violent and brutal, but also power-thirsty. He needed the power to decide, he had to become King.
One thing that always bothered him was mortality. He kept meeting with shamans and far from recommendable kind of individuals, even from far lands, following their suggestions, performing their rituals and whatnot, with the purpose to make himself immortal.
He bathed in blood, quite regularly, he even drank some. Plus 'potions' full of hallucinogenic substances. He performed sacrifices and even tried human's flesh, once. He would do anything to become immortal.
His plans were soon obstacled, though, as the King had a new son from another concubine. Nobody would have thought it possible, seen the old age of the man, but there that damned kid was.
And as Tero feared, his father didn't waste the chance to get rid of him, now that he had no need to keep him anymore.
He was 14 and it was night. From his residence in the palace, he heard weird sounds that set him on guard. Something was up, he could sense it. He left his bed and hurried to grab his longsword, before going to check.
Thanks to the fact he was always paranoid, he had a way out of his quarters and the palace itself, despite being surrounded.
He managed to reach his horse and his emergency bow with quiver. He mounted and left the palace from a secret gate only he knew of.
He rode towards the nearby village, but he wasn't unnoticed and many guards from the Palace came after him, shooting arrows. He shot back, he managed to kill a few, but also got shot, over and over.
They hunted him down like a best and kept shooting arrows at him. Eventually, his horse collapsed under the wounds and he was left on the ground, crawling like a wurm.
The house awoke the people of the village, who came out to see, with their torches. He was near a lake, struggling to stand up, but really close to die.
As the people recognized who he was, rather than helping him, they started attacking him too. And some men simply pulled him inside the lake, while the people were exulting at the deed.
No, he had never caused them any trouble. They hated him because of the rumors about him and because his father was a pitiful ruler who let his people starve.
He fought against the water filling his lungs, but he couldn't get out of the lake. He lost his consciousness and knew that it was the end. Nothing and nobody would save him.
{Time travel.}
He felt like awakening from a very deep slumber. He struggled to open his eyes.
At first, he couldn't move his body, it was like paralysed. His breath was weak and he felt like choking.
But then, the awareness: he wasn't in the water. The air was hot and damp, pleasurable on the skin, after the contact with the freezing water of that lake.
He finally opened his eyes and looked at the sky. The stars seemed blurry and less in number than what he was used to, but it was the last of his problem.
Pushing himself against his own instincts he stood up, with the help of his sword. He started to walk. Nothing looked the same anymore. The village was gone and so was the lake.
He saw some light at short distance and followed it, till reaching a grey platform, like a road, but wider than any he had ever seen. Strange things moved fast near him, that startled him beyond measure. Noisy and big.
Suddenly, a car stopped right in front of him, so close to slightly hit him.
He fell with his hands on that thing, shaking in shock.
An old man in weird clothes came out of the vehicle and approached him. Tero heard him speak, but his voice sounded distant and confusing. Before he could even realise, he was unconscious again.
Betrayal.
He keeps living like an outcast vagabond, not because he likes that kind of life, but because he doesn't have other options. He'll die rather than 'beg' for help.
People think he doesn't accept help, but it's kind of different. They should just do it, not offer it. In the moment someone says the magic words 'I will help you/let me help you/you need help' it triggers him the 'they are just pitying me, they don't give a f***/they want to show to be better than me' processes.
Normally this isn't a big issue, because what does it change to others? He is just there and even comes when they call. But in the particular situation they are into, one like him can be useful for many reasons, starting from the fact he was around for long, that he is one of the few who comes from the close future who actually participated in every battle and would even know who their enemy exactly is.
This is something the good ones probably don't even know yet, or aren't considering, but that the enemy isn't ignoring.
In one of the few moments he manages to sleep a few hours, inside Khai-Ming's empty hut on the tree, he is suddenly awakened as his senses warn him someone is there.
In less than a second he is sat up with his sword at the neck of the intruder.
He looks at the other with a frown. He recognizes him and is surprised, but doesn't show it. He approached him while sleeping, that's like a crime to him.
Jae raises his hands. "Mianhamnida, I didn't mean to disturb your sleep, lord Tero!" www.roleplay.me/photo/2991267
"You are dead."
"Ye... it's what I thought too. Until I opened my eyes again."
For him it's really hard to tell what is real and what not, especially in moments like this. Is he just the nth hallucination?
"It took me... so long to find you. It hasn't been easy at all."
"Why would you look for me?" he says through teeth.
"Could you please take your weapon away? Jebal... it scares me... I'm unharmed and alone."
Tero slowly lowers after realising that it's true, the other has no weapons and he can't sense anyone else nearby. "You must be crazy to approach me."
Jae looks at him so deeply and sadly. "Oh Tero... how could this happen to you? How could you end up like this..."
He is caught off guard by his statements. He has a feeling he doesn't mean how he ended up living on a tree.
"Did they all really abandon you like this...?" he murmurs.
Tero doesn't know if the other is being honest, but he surely managed to get his full attention. "Why are you here?!" he asks angrily.
Jae looks down. "I've been searching for old friends. From our time. There is really few of us left and the others almost seem to have forgotten about what we went through..."
"Get to the point. I don't care about all your useless blabbing! Tell me what the f*** you came to ask him! But know that before I'll raise a finger, I want to see the gold with my own eyes, every single piece. I won't do anything for anyone without being paid first."
Jae looks down, wrapping his arms around himself and looking kind of disappointed and sad at the same time. "I haven't come to find you to ask for something. I only wanted to see you. I thought... you could have been glad to see me."
"Why would I be?"
"I sacrificed my life for yours. For all of yours. Has there been anyone who did or would do so much for you?"
This time it's Tero to lower his gaze, but not showing any emotion. "Just say what you have to say and leave me alone."
"I have a plan I'm working towards."
There he goes – thinks Tero.
"But in order to make it possible, I had to do some things. Things that made many people angry and hateful at me. I don't have anyone by my side, only people I have forced to be or paid to be."
"So?"
"I hoped that maybe you would understand me. And be by my side. Just this... you were there too, you have lived through all that. You remember for sure..."
Long silence from both sides.
"Please, come with me. I am weak and vulnerable, I have no way to force you to stay. You can leave any time, if you think I'm not being honest with you or if you don't like what I do", restarts Jae. "I hate to know you living like this, all alone. Can we not... help each others to be less alone?"
"I am fine alone."
"Then... you could just abuse my kindness to move somewhere more comfortable, with enchanted water and good food? You could always leave if you got tired or suspicious. As I said, there is nothing I can do to force you. You have nobody I could take and use against you, with your powers you could destroy me and my 'helpers' without us to notice. Or help your Avatar 'colleagues' to escape from me."
Tero snorts. "I'll see if the place is of my likings, first."
Jae smiles softly. "I think it's exactly the kind of place you can appreciate", he says in an amused tone.
People think he doesn't accept help, but it's kind of different. They should just do it, not offer it. In the moment someone says the magic words 'I will help you/let me help you/you need help' it triggers him the 'they are just pitying me, they don't give a f***/they want to show to be better than me' processes.
Normally this isn't a big issue, because what does it change to others? He is just there and even comes when they call. But in the particular situation they are into, one like him can be useful for many reasons, starting from the fact he was around for long, that he is one of the few who comes from the close future who actually participated in every battle and would even know who their enemy exactly is.
This is something the good ones probably don't even know yet, or aren't considering, but that the enemy isn't ignoring.
In one of the few moments he manages to sleep a few hours, inside Khai-Ming's empty hut on the tree, he is suddenly awakened as his senses warn him someone is there.
In less than a second he is sat up with his sword at the neck of the intruder.
He looks at the other with a frown. He recognizes him and is surprised, but doesn't show it. He approached him while sleeping, that's like a crime to him.
Jae raises his hands. "Mianhamnida, I didn't mean to disturb your sleep, lord Tero!" www.roleplay.me/photo/2991267
"You are dead."
"Ye... it's what I thought too. Until I opened my eyes again."
For him it's really hard to tell what is real and what not, especially in moments like this. Is he just the nth hallucination?
"It took me... so long to find you. It hasn't been easy at all."
"Why would you look for me?" he says through teeth.
"Could you please take your weapon away? Jebal... it scares me... I'm unharmed and alone."
Tero slowly lowers after realising that it's true, the other has no weapons and he can't sense anyone else nearby. "You must be crazy to approach me."
Jae looks at him so deeply and sadly. "Oh Tero... how could this happen to you? How could you end up like this..."
He is caught off guard by his statements. He has a feeling he doesn't mean how he ended up living on a tree.
"Did they all really abandon you like this...?" he murmurs.
Tero doesn't know if the other is being honest, but he surely managed to get his full attention. "Why are you here?!" he asks angrily.
Jae looks down. "I've been searching for old friends. From our time. There is really few of us left and the others almost seem to have forgotten about what we went through..."
"Get to the point. I don't care about all your useless blabbing! Tell me what the f*** you came to ask him! But know that before I'll raise a finger, I want to see the gold with my own eyes, every single piece. I won't do anything for anyone without being paid first."
Jae looks down, wrapping his arms around himself and looking kind of disappointed and sad at the same time. "I haven't come to find you to ask for something. I only wanted to see you. I thought... you could have been glad to see me."
"Why would I be?"
"I sacrificed my life for yours. For all of yours. Has there been anyone who did or would do so much for you?"
This time it's Tero to lower his gaze, but not showing any emotion. "Just say what you have to say and leave me alone."
"I have a plan I'm working towards."
There he goes – thinks Tero.
"But in order to make it possible, I had to do some things. Things that made many people angry and hateful at me. I don't have anyone by my side, only people I have forced to be or paid to be."
"So?"
"I hoped that maybe you would understand me. And be by my side. Just this... you were there too, you have lived through all that. You remember for sure..."
Long silence from both sides.
"Please, come with me. I am weak and vulnerable, I have no way to force you to stay. You can leave any time, if you think I'm not being honest with you or if you don't like what I do", restarts Jae. "I hate to know you living like this, all alone. Can we not... help each others to be less alone?"
"I am fine alone."
"Then... you could just abuse my kindness to move somewhere more comfortable, with enchanted water and good food? You could always leave if you got tired or suspicious. As I said, there is nothing I can do to force you. You have nobody I could take and use against you, with your powers you could destroy me and my 'helpers' without us to notice. Or help your Avatar 'colleagues' to escape from me."
Tero snorts. "I'll see if the place is of my likings, first."
Jae smiles softly. "I think it's exactly the kind of place you can appreciate", he says in an amused tone.