Inverse System

"You have finally arrived, father," Saphrilla said as Voron entered the room, sweating and breathing heavily out of exhaustion.

"Saphrilla, what do you think you're doing here?! I thought I told you to never come to the Orthlys capital! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you here?!" He ranted as Rein entered the room behind him and closed the door so that the rest of the group don't listen in.

"Calm down Voron, I'm here too. You know I wouldn't let anything happen, right?" Rein tried calming Voron's temper, which only made him turn his rage onto Rein.

"And I've got a bone to pick with you too, kid! I told you to keep her away from Naji at all costs! Don't tell me you've forgotten!" He scolded.

"No, no, I remember," Rein said carelessly.

"Well, that's even worse! You knowingly disobeyed me?" He shouted angrily.

"It's good to see you again though. Even if Ii's only been about 2 weeks," Rein cheerfully greeted him, which caught him off guard for a second.

"Ah, yes! It's good to see you both as well. And how's Emria doi— Wait! Don't try distracting me. Tell me what you're doing here, much less conversing with Alen!" He returned to his angry way of speech as more tears began running down Alen's face.

"I'm sorry Voron! It's all my fault! I don't expect you to ever forgive me for all the shit I've put you through, but please just let me apologize… For everything," Alen bowed down as he sat in his bed, Voron sighing as he looked at him.

"So it was you who brought them to the capital then, Alen?" Voron turned his attention to him.

"It was all the doing of the Echo company, and on their behalf, I apologize! Also… I have to apologize on my own behalf… For what I did all those years ago," Alen regretfully spoke.

"Look Alen… How many times do I have to tell you, I've never blamed you for Uriel's death. There are some things I still haven't forgiven myself for, and that's one of the reasons why I haven't talked to you," Voron revealed.

"Huh? If so, then that's no excuse to ignore me for 8 years! I've been sending you letters every week you know!" Alen angrily stated.

"I know! And it's annoying, so stop! Look, I've chosen to follow the path Uriel's left for me. I've no intention of getting myself or my daughter involved with the Echo company again," he exclaimed, which made Alen look downwards, dejected.

"And that is why I told you about my coming here, father. I wanted you to come and see my invention for yourself. But then, I learned something about mother…" She said as Rein motioned to walk out of the room to give the 3 space while they conversed.

"Wait Rein… Please stay. I would feel better with you here," she requested, to which he smiled, then stayed in the room and sat in a corner as Voron took a seat beside Saphrilla.

"About your mother..?" Alen uttered in disbelief.

"What… I've already told you what happened to her though. What else is there to know?" Voron inquired curiously.

"Something even you don't know about, father."

Saphrilla took out a red ring from her pocket and began explaining what she had learned to her father and Alen. As she retold the story, her voice would begin shivering at certain parts, and her body would tremble, but then she would look over at Rein in the corner who continued to wear a smile on his face, which gave her the courage to continue talking.

As she finished recounting the story, both Voron and Alen were in tears, weeping alongside each other.

"No way… This whole time, your mother… She's been used even after her death…" Voron clenched his fist in anger as he wept, Alen, doing the same thing.

"I'm so sorry… This is all my fault," Alen continued, to which Voron put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be. None of it was your fault in the slightest," he consoled as Rein sat in the corner watching the two men cry, Saphrilla sitting between them in discomfort.

"Voron… Saphrilla… If there's anything I or the Echo company could do for you, please don't hesitate to ask. Us elves have to stick together, you know?" He proposed, to which Voron scoffed.

"You know elves are friends with nature, right? I don't think anything about what you do fits that mold," Voron laughed through his tears, meaning to joke with him, but making him raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"What are you talking about? We grow our own herbs in the garden, I grew a tree out of my house to provide fresher air in the neighborhood, and the house runs on sustainable, Echo company mined glow stones," Alen stated.

"There it is! How many times do I have to tell you, that stuff isn't sustainable! What happened to wanting to get rid of glow stones? Last I left you, you told me that you're gonna stop the mining of these rocks," Voron claimed.

"What? Why would I want to do that? And what's all that talk about it being unsustainable?"

"Seriously? Did you hit your head or something? These glow stones are what hold our continent together. When you mine them, it causes immense natural disasters. You know how many people have moved from their homes because of that?" Voron revealed, to which Alen's pupils shrunk, his face in a state of distraught.

"No way… But I thought—!" Suddenly he grunted and held his head in pain, Voron springing up in concern.

"Alen? What's wrong?" He asked the heavy breathing man, who after a few seconds returned to normal as if nothing had just happened.

"What's up? Look's like you're about to say something," Alen said in a calm voice, contrary to the one he spoke with a few seconds prior.

Rein stood up in confusion as he felt an ominous aura surround Alen as he held his head, then the aura disappeared suddenly.

"We were just talking about the glow stones and how they're a detriment to nature. Are you okay to continue, or should we let you rest?" Rein asked as Alen turned his head to him in the same confused look that he had given Voron earlier.

"Detriment? What do you mean? They only do good things for society!" Alen stated, which surprised everyone in the room unpleasantly.

"You forgot again?! This is the same thing that happened after Uriel died!" Voron yelled.

"Calm down Voron. It doesn't seem like he forgot of his own volition. Some weird power hovered over him when we told him that, and when it disappeared, his mind was altered somehow. There's something off going on here," Rein explained as Voron calmed himself.

"Well then, that's a problem. You think you can get rid of it Rein?" Voron asked as Alen sat there, confused.

"Yeah, but the power actually has to be active. Let me try something," Rein said as he looked Alen in the eyes.

"Those glow stones, they destroy nature. Everything you've been working for is a lie. You're being deceived. Countless people have been forced out of their homes, the cause being the mining of these stones," Rein said to Alen while staring at him, making him develop the same distraught face he had before.

"No way… All this time? But I thought—!" Again he held his head in pain.

"Now!" Rein thought as he activated STO, his eyes turning red and his hair black.

What he saw was the same as when he flew into the Echo company building earlier, when he saw that the walls were affected by a Spring. A red aura clouded Alen's head as Rein observed, that being the reason his mind was being altered every time he gained information about the glow stones.

Rein suddenly grabbed the top of Alen's head, and activated warped touch, holding onto him for 3 seconds. At the same time, he copied the Spring that clouded him, registering it into his system. As he did that, he felt a sense of familiarity arrive into his unconscious, which piqued his interest but was interrupted by the effect of the Spring.

Normal effect:

Perfect control

Allows the user to set a seed of mind alteration on any Springless life form just by looking them in the eye. This is perfect control, so it is impossible for the afflicted to somehow break through the mind control.

Inverted effect:

Perfect freedom

Allows the user to rid the mind of any Springless life form afflicted with mind-altering effects by looking them in the eye. This is perfect freedom, so it is impossible for the afflicted to somehow negate this effect.

"That's one frightening ability… It's good to have, but I can just invert the effect on his mind here and negate it with warped touch," Rein said as he exhaled, causing Alen to snap out of his painful outbreak with tears in his eyes, as if he had just unlocked some hidden memories that had been locked away.

"What have I done… What have I been doing this entire time…" He wept as tears fell down his face, the mind alteration that had been set on him now gone.

"What was that Rein? Your hair turned black. Did you dye your hair while I was gone..?" Voron whispered, to which Rein wore a blank face at Voron's ridiculous notion.

"Does it look like I dyed my hair to you?" He replied, his hair turning back to normal.

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