There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 552 - 546. Raising Curtain

Chapter 552: Chapter 546. Raising Curtain

Zein did not really expect to get a vision from this fragment.

From the twelve fragments they got in the war, Zein did not receive anything significant. Some had no vision at all--perhaps erased during the subduing process by the shard. But even those with vision only showed him the preparation for the war. In short, it was just new memories that brought nothing to the table. Zein felt like those fragments were new ones made just for that war.

And so, he did not think much when he decided to destroy the fragment right away. Maybe because everything had been easy, he unknowingly became too relaxed and complacent.

That being said, this vision was also a new memory.

What Zein first saw was the sea. But wait, he could recognize it as the sea? Belatedly, Zein realized the place wasn’t as dark as the usual Deathzone.

Yes. Because there was a shard there.

Moored in the middle of an island, Zein realized it was the spot where the Fallen Star’s Fragment got rooted in the present.

Zein had no idea how long it had been, and how the Fragment could end up there--the vision seldom gave him a sense of time. But the Fragment spent quite a long time just staying still, staring at the shard without doing anything. It didn’t try to get closer, nor did it try to attack the shard like the tentacle Fragment with the twins.

It was like...the Fragment was waiting.

Zein tensed up, even though he had no corporeal body. Dreadfully, he had a feeling of what the Fragment was waiting for, because frankly...there could only be one answer, couldn’t it?

He had no idea how much time passed, but it felt like an eternity for Zein, wishing for his prediction not to come true.

But of course, that was not how life goes.

Just as he felt like he couldn’t take it anymore, he felt a mixed sense of dread and worship, which was extremely uncomfortable. His instinctual repulsion as someone who was a fragment of a Celestial Being was clashing against the Fragment’s instinctual reverence towards its creator.

If Zein had a real body there, he would have thrown up everything inside him--meal, blood, everything.

It was such a jarring sensation; his soul wanted to back away, but the ’body’ was scooting closer to the incoming figure with joy. Thanks to that, things were quite blurry for Zein, who was holding back from passing out due to the discrepancy.

How weird, since he felt alright during the vision of the celestial meeting. Was it because at that time, this Fallen Star was still a Celestial Being called the Chimera Master instead of an entity rejected by the cosmic energy?

Perhaps--Zein was feeling too sick to make further guesses. He tried his best to keep his consciousness intact and managed to see the Fallen Star...which didn’t look like a mountain of tentacles.

The figure looked like the other fragments, with a dark purple robe covering It from head to toe, made of swirling energy that bled black smoke. It was the size of a medium fragment, but felt so much more powerful--more than the clone. Perhaps the condensed size was to make it easier to access dungeons.

Zein realized something, however--It didn’t look too good. It was moving rather wobbly, like limping, and if he focused his vision, he could spot a small white fire burning the edge of its robe.

Could it be?!

Was this right after the war? The white fire did look like the wound inflicted by the elemental spirits.

Of course, the Fragment was not designed to question its Creator’s condition. It seemed that it was tasked to find a shard, and now that it succeeded, the Fallen Star gave another order;

To take the shard and deliver it to the Creator.

Zein could feel the Fragment’s momentary doubt--it knew it wasn’t strong enough to touch the shard itself. But that doubt only lasted for a second, before its obedience to the Creator was bigger than its sentient will.

And so it trudged forward to the island, getting disintegrated and reintegrated by the protective barrier in the process. But as much as it was cruel to the Fragment, it was even crueler to Zein.

It was there, the shard, feeling like it was within his reach. The ’body’s hand even stretched out, and Zein wanted nothing more than to leap out to grab the shard for himself, and take the child to safety. It was trembling as the Fragment kept on reviving and reviving, until the dark hand reached and grabbed it.

Zein wanted to shout--he was sure he was shouting, screaming, howling as the dark purple energy made a cocoon enveloping the trembling shard. But of course, nothing came out of his real mouth, and he could only watch helplessly as the robed figure took the cocoon from the Fragment’s hand, straight into Its hooded maw.

* * *

Zein threw up for real once he came back. The nauseating feeling he had inside the vision came back several folds, and he couldn’t hold back this time.

Unfortunately, throwing up did not make him feel any better. He was shivering, bitten by cold and burned with fever. Vaguely, he felt himself getting in and out of consciousness; one moment he was in Bassena’s arms, and then the bed, and back to Bassena’s arms. Probably. He wasn’t sure.

But he was sure it felt worse than a burnout. In fact, he had never felt worse before--and that included the time he had a fever, kidnapped, and fighting half-sick. When he was unconscious, he saw nothing but darkness, and when he was conscious, everything felt blurry and vague--he recalled hearing people talk, someone gave him some water, some...injection...

But then again, it might be a dream. He could no longer differentiate between them anymore.

When he finally regained enough consciousness and his vision cleared up, the one he saw for the first time was, once again, the man with scarlet eyes and deep red hair.

Felt like a deja vu. His body was still heavy, although he was no longer feverish. He had an IV drip attached to his hand, but instead of a medical station, he was in his personal tent.

"Can you speak?" Radia asked. He wasn’t peeling an apple this time, but there was a can of peach in his hand.

"Mm," Zein massaged his head and tried to move his stiff neck. Quite sensibly, Radia gave him a flask of water--which Zein found out was a silver needle water.

He felt the effect right away, lightening his heavy body as healing property circulating his body. He reckoned they also had been giving him silver needles every time he was slightly conscious.

"No healing could do anything to you--not even Han Shin’s," Radia explained stuff right away, as usual. "We have no choice but to wait and do things traditionally. Ah, it had four days since you fell unconscious."

"Bassena?" Zein asked while trying to sit up, although he couldn’t do much. In the end, Radia piled up some pillows behind him to lean on.

"Joon is taking care of him," the summoner said while pouring a can of peach into a bowl. "He kept stressing beside you, so I told him to cool off."

Zein nodded in agreement. "That’s good," he exhaled slowly, releasing the tension of his weak body.

He wouldn’t admit it to Bassena, but at that moment, he preffered Radia to be there. "Did he tell you?" he asked the summoner.

"Yes," Radia put the bowl of canned peaches in Zein’s hand, as if saying that the guide had no choice but to eat it. "I’d like to hear everything, but you better eat first. I’ll call Bas and Joon in the meantime."

Zein gripped the spoon and obediently put the sweet fruit into his mouth. He went through half of it and a glass of mineral water before the tent door opened to a frantic Bassena, who immediately scrambled toward Zein. Han Joon held the door open for Senan and Han Shin, before closing it while reassuring the flock of Zein’s kids that he’d let their Captain speak to them later.

"Zein--Ze..." Bassena couldn’t even speak properly as he scrambled to the other side of the bed, cupping the guide’s cheeks with trembling hands.

"I’m fine, now..." Zein paused, before adding with a sigh. "Well, mostly."

He was fine physically, just extremely exhausted. No wounds too, and after the initial shock of what he saw, he could think about this thing more calmly while eating the canned peach. Perhaps thanks to the sugar.

Also, they seemed to be more worried about him than the things he said before fainting. Senan was actually crouching down and mumbling prayers of gratitude.

"Was my condition that bad?" Zein asked.

"Of course--"

Zein placed his fingers on Bassena’s lips and turned toward the sensible couple beside the bed. "Technically, you only looked like you had a bad fever," Radia said calmly. "But we can’t improve your condition with medicine and healing spells, so it looked bad from that point."

"I see..." Zein nodded and patted Bassena’s head, who was burying his head in the crook of Zein’s neck.

"How are you feeling now? Are you alright?" Han Shin asked from the edge of the bed, looking guilty and frustrated because he couldn’t do anything as a healer.

"I’ll be fine soon," Zein clenched his fist. "It was just...nauseating...to be so close to that."

"Hmm," Radia leaned back on his chair and tapped his elbow in contemplation. But he decided it wasn’t the time to be considerate. "So, it was true?" he observed the guide’s face.

"Yes," Zein closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I saw the shard enter Its mouth."

Bassena stiffened, finally remembering that had something urgent to talk about. Well, for him, nothing was more urgent than Zein’s wellbeing after all. Even then, he wanted to argue that Zein should recuperate fully before having any discussion.

But the firmness in those blue eyes made him unable to speak, and he could only listen as Zein spoke with a glint in his eyes.

"We might still have a chance, but we need to hurry."