Chương 22: Chapter 21 - Imposter

The day of departure finally arrived after their strange stay in the mansion. He ate what seemed to be caviar for dinner, along with several other fancy entrees and main courses. Lucid was completely turned upside down by how luxurious and high quality everything was. But before he slept, he could not stay idle. He spent hours in the study, reading through books, trying to grasp as much information as humanly possible until he passed out at the desk. He woke up stiff and still tired.

'Why did I have to pass out here,' he groaned internally.

'I will never get to use that king size bed now.' Lucid walked outside with two briefcases in each hand. Normally this was something to be carried by a maid, but he insisted that he pack his own things. He did not like when other people meddled with his affairs. A carriage sat waiting. Before he hopped on, he looked back at the mansion entrance. Where it was supposed to be empty, a few heads stood there instead.

'Is that his family?' He could not help but think about Karmen, about his tired face and how lonely he had seemed to Lucid. He never really seemed the type to even have a family. He seemed solitary, like he never even had one in the first place. Karmen's mother and father came up to him. His mother straightened his tie and smoothed his hair. Karmen's father was dressed impeccably well in a suit, clearly a man of importance. Though they smiled, tears were apparent on their faces.

"Look at him. I swear he was just five years old back in the day, playing with a sword in our garden," his father said.

"But look at him now. He is fifteen and off to study at one of the most prestigious universities in the whole of the scattered realms," his mother replied, gently pulling his cheeks. Then, Lucid felt his mouth move. He heard Karmen's voice come out, but he did not will it. He did not form the words. It was chilling.

"I will be alright, Mom and Pa."

'What the!' Lucid did not even open his mouth. Was this what Karmen had said in his place? Was the memory playing itself out? The front door burst open. It was his bigger brother.

"Hey! Caramel! You planning on just ditching me like that?!" He came running to Karmen. From the family book Lucid had read, this was his older brother, Lyle. He had graduated from the same university Karmen was going to, for something called 'science and engineering.' He was described as a genius. But Lucid could not recall anyone like him in the future town.

"Haven't even shown you my newest invention yet," Lyle said, his eyes bright.

"Well, improve it," Karmen's voice replied, bright and teasing.

"Then when I come back home, you can show it to me!" Again, the response was not Lucid's.

"He seems pretty bright," Alice's gentle voice cut in.

"Still, I hate this rascal," Lucid said in his mind to Alice. While the memory-Karmen was about to go up into the carriage, something interrupted. It was his mother again.

"Our father, your grandfather, has taken a turn for the worse in his health. It has deteriorated. But rest assured, we called in an individual that can heal with a divine trait. An Enlightened."

"So rest assured, study well, Karmen!" He nodded, smiling. Maybe Karmen was smiling, but on Lucid's side, he was scanning the area, taking note of everything. The mother's worried eyes, the forced cheer. Then the door shut, and the carriage began to move. Behind it, he could hear their calls, and someone running. His older brother.

"Make sure to eat three times a day!" his mother yelled.

"Practice the sword! Don't lose your edge, Karmen!" his father called. His brother was running toward the carriage at a slow pace, truly unfit for a human.

"I will be waiting, Karmen! My latest blueprint will blow your mind away and reshape the whole transit system of the scattered realms!"

'That's painfully specific,' he mused in his head. The carriage rolled on. The distant sounds grew weaker and weaker until they were muffled, and then nothing remained. He sat in the carriage alone, with his luggage at the side of his seat. The interior was plush and nice. The driver sat at the front, steering the horses. Lucid sat by the window, looking over the blue tinged, violet sky and the purple grass fields drifting by. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"It is mesmerizing," Alice said. Lucid nodded. Something caught his eye. An elegant individual, a female perhaps, walked along the side of the road. She wore a beautiful black robe and a mask covering her lower face. She carried a suit case in front of her body with both hands, in a polite, poised way. The way this person walked was suspicious, but strangely elegant.

'Huh. Why is such a noble looking woman walking on foot, on the dirt path, unaccompanied and alone?' This person was headed directly toward their mansion, the one he had just left. It could only mean one thing.

'That was the Enlightened healer. The one Karmen's parents mentioned.' He recalled the rules he understood upon entering the rift after the fight with the A grade Unfaithful. Nothing was particularly asked of him. But the penalty was much the same. Death. The carriage went on, covering a considerable distance from where he had come. He really was about to leave Tyriana. He was going to the Kingdom of Vex. That was not such a bad idea, he thought. He could look for clues there.

So when he cleared this trial, if he happened to cross there on his journey, he could figure things out. Or maybe even get a lead on going back to Earth. A sudden, sharp pain lanced through his temples.

Warning. Leaving the trial area will result in a time synchronization. An unchanged conclusion will result in a penalty.

The ominous message from that indifferent, system like voice made his head hurt. Lucid gripped his forehead, groaning in pain. A massive headache hammered at his skull.

"Are you alright, Young Master?" the driver called back, concerned.

Beginning time synchronization.

He closed his eyes against the pain. He blinked agian. The world snapped back into focus with a jarring solidity. Lucid was on the carriage, the very same carriage that had been headed toward the academy. But something was off. The driver was different, an older man with a grim set to his jaw. The outside view was much the same purple-hued landscape, but the light was wrong. It was the golden, fading light of late afternoon, not the morning light he had left with.

He looked around, then down at himself, inspecting Karmen's body. He seemed to be in a much better state physically. Though there were faint, silvery scars against his forearms, the body felt light, tall, and strong, as if strained to its bones from rigorous training. It felt like the body of a good swordsman. His receptiveness to Fate Essence also felt sharper, cleaner, not the sloppy, trickling feeling Lucid was used to.

Lucid guessed that this body, this state, was the result of Karmen's hard work and dedication at the academy over what must have been years. But that was not what put him on edge. That warning, that "time synchronization," he had never heard of it or seen it before. And the term 'unchanged conclusion' echoed in his mind like a death sentence.

"We have travelled to the future," Alice's voice said, calm but grave.

"To where the key event should happen."

"Yeah," Lucid thought back, his grip tightening on the carriage seat.

"The conclusion they don't want left unchanged." The mansion grew bigger with each passing moment. Lucid wasn't particularly sad or hungry for the fact that he wouldn't get to see the Kingdom of Vex now. But who cared? They were in a trial now, an Omega trial that was dangerous. As they approached the front of the mansion, a group of servants, butlers, and maids stood in a neat line, waiting for his arrival.

'Odd,' Lucid thought, a cold knot forming in his stomach.

'Where is his family?' The carriage arrived at the grand entrance. The driver hopped down and opened the door for him. Lucid, wearing Karmen's older, stronger body, stepped out. The air was still and quiet, save for the soft rustle of the servants' clothes as they bowed in unison. At the front of the line stood Gerald, the butler. But this was the older Gerald he knew from his own time, his hair more grey, his face more lined with a permanent, subdued sorrow.

"Young Master Karmen," Gerald said, his voice perfectly respectful but utterly empty of warmth.

"Welcome home." The other servants murmured the same greeting, their eyes cast down. There was no joy here. No mother rushing forward, no father clapping him on the back, no brother shouting a ridiculous greeting. The mansion, for all its grandeur, felt like a tomb.

"Thank you, Gerald," Lucid said, using Karmen's voice. It was deeper now, more resonant, but he could hear the strain of fatigue in it, the early echo of the sickness that would later consume this man.

"Where is everyone?" Gerald's eyes flickered, the only sign of emotion.

"The Master and Mistress are... indisposed, Young Master. They are resting. Your brother, Master Lyle, is in his workshop. He has been informed of your arrival."

'Indisposed. Resting.' The euphemisms were clear and chilling. The sickness his mother had mentioned years ago, the one an Enlightened was supposed to heal, had not been stopped. It had taken hold.

"Very well," Lucid said, falling into the role of the returning heir.

"I will go to my study. Have tea sent there."

"Of course, Young Master." Lucid walked into the mansion. It was the same, yet profoundly different. The vibrant life he had glimpsed in the earlier memory was gone. The halls felt hollow, the paintings on the walls seemed like portraits of ghosts. He could feel a heaviness in the air, a thick, sour note of illness and despair that no amount of polish could hide. He went straight to the study, the same one from both his memories. He closed the door and leaned against it, closing his eyes.

'They're already dying,' he thought.

'Or maybe some are already gone. This is the homecoming. This is the moment he returns to find his world falling apart.'

"The conclusion must be their deaths," Alice said softly.

"That is the unchanged path. The tragedy that defines the Karmen you know."

"So we have to stop it," Lucid replied, his mind racing.

"But how? We're in a memory. We can't give them medicine they didn't have. We can't fight a sickness with a sword."

"Perhaps the answer is not to cure the illness," Alice suggested.

"Perhaps the answer is to change Karmen's reaction to it. To keep him from the path of obsession and despair that leads him to become the man who tests you with violence." Before he could ponder further, a soft knock came at the door.

"Enter."