The Seeker | Volume 2

Before he could say anything else, Palsy approached him and picked him up off the floor, before turning him around and pinning him to the wall with a serious expression.

"So, you're the man who made the flesh thing? It appears my stay here wasn't that long after all." Palsy said in a low and predatory voice, his eyes narrowed upon Isaiah's figure.

Isaiah's eyes widened as he managed to break free and put his hands in as a symbol of innocence. 

"What the hell are you talking about? A flesh blob? Damn, I'm so damn confused!" 

This wasn't Isaiah Walls, but something inside me told me this was him. The artifact that he used made him look older, but wasn't Raymond under Isaiah's identity for his own personal benefits?

"Do you remember anything?" I asked, taking a slow and cautious step towards him. The man looked towards me, puzzled and frantic.

"Y-yeah. I was going to work at the craftsmen's shop with my accomplice; Aizawa, but I woke up in the middle of the street for no reason! Am I crazy? Am I losing control?" He replied, clutching his head with widened eyes.

Suddenly, my vision turned slightly hazy and blurry, and I could see something above Isaiah Walls, thin, illusory lines that drilled out of his body, colored a dark green color.

I suddenly turned my head and looked outside, only to see that almost everyone else in the kingdom had those same lines coming out of their bodies. When I looked back to my companions, I noticed they seemed more focused on Isaiah Walls than the strings.

"Can you see that?" I asked, pointing above at the strings. When Cattleya, Shinso, and Palsy looked up they gave me puzzled looks, as I was pointing at the ceiling to them.

"No, I don't know what you mean." Shinso said, crossing his arms with narrowed eyes. I sighed, looking down at the ground.

"Sorry, my mind is playing tricks on me." I replied.

Suddenly, I heard a low roar in my mind. It sounded young and pained, but also teeming with an inscrutable anger and a deep, boiling hatred. When I looked back outside, I noticed that everyone seemed to be in a trance, including Isaiah.

When I walked over to the window I looked into the sky, and saw a large, black, illusory hand holding all the strings in a cluster, tieng everyone's strings into a knot before clutching its fist, making everyone outside explode.

Blood, guts and brain matter were scattered across the kingdom, staining the walls and making the entire scene look like a bloody canvas.

But it wasn't before my mind went dark and I passed out from the sight of it, too scared and confused to keep myself conscious.

"The mad king…the mad king…" those words resounded in my mind even when I was unconscious.

When I woke up I was in a cold sweat, all my clothing was sticky and I couldn't breathe. My head was pounding and the sigil on my forehead was glowing an eerie red color tainted with some black.

Shinso, Cattleya, Palsy and the newly resurrected Isaiah were all looking over me with concerned faces, wondering about my current condition.

"Are you ok, dear?" Cattleya asked, her voice dripping with worry. Shinso sighed in relief and ran a hand through his mop of purple hair before breathing deeply.

Isaiah Walls, who seemed weirded out at the moment clutched his forehead with a pained expression, letting out tiny grunts.

I didn't respond to Cattleya's question. Instead I leaned up off the floor and shot a look at Isaiah, my eyes narrowed a tiny bit.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked. Cattleya turned around and looked at the man for a few seconds before looking back at me.

"Is your head alright? You just passed out." Shinso said suddenly.

I widened my eyes slightly as I instinctively stood up slowly and approached the bar window. Outside I saw that everyone was fully repaired, going about their daily lives.

"What? They all just…"

Sabestian left the shooting range room and entered the bar, a curious expression on his face when he saw everything that was transpiring.

"What happened here?" He asked, scoffing in amusement. Cattleya rolled her eyes and groaned at Sabestian's inappropriate mood.

"For some strange reason, Isaac just passed out. We also found this man who entered the bar looking all confused, and drinking invisible liquor." Cattleya explained.

In the corner of my eyes I saw a figure sitting at the bar, their features blurry and disfigured. They were clad in green and black armor, wore a green cape and had a mop of green hair on their head. They were similar to the figure I saw in my dream.

When I turned my head I didn't see anyone. It was like they suddenly disappeared.

"The mad king…the mad king…" the voices returned, whispering in my ears louder than before. As if he heard it too, Palsy suddenly widened his eyes and approached the telephone in the corner of the bar, before dialing a number.

"Mr. Ling. Come over to Tellies Bar and Grill, I believe I've found a possible connection to the flesh blob, or the possible ravings that Mrs. Hampshire said. Maybe even the reason her husband exploded." 

Before Ling could reply, Palsy put the telephone back into its holder and walked over to me with an unreadable expression. He suddenly knelt down and observed the dark energy emitting from the sigil on my forehead.

"Why isn't he dead?" I thought to myself as he observed the sigil. The leader of the cultists that I got the bullets from exploded after seeing my sigil.

A viable plan would be to openly discuss to the cult on how they were aware of such a thing. Perhaps those who only know about the Apocalypse explode upon contact if they're not powerful enough; which explains how Raymond is able to say my honorific name, look at my rune and even replicate its characteristics to a certain extent without dying on the spot.

"This energy of awfully similar to the one I observed emitting from Mr. Hampshire's sigil on his forehead. But shortly after I saw it he exploded on the spot." Palsy thought to himself as he stood up and continued to look at me.

Mr. Ling burst through the door and approached Palsy, speaking in a curious tone.

"I surmise you found a lead, officer?" Ling asked as he looked towards him with an expression matching his voice. The red haired man nodded before pointing to me who was kneeling on the ground.

Even as Palsy and Ling observed and noted my sigil, I couldn't help but continue to gaze at Isaiah, who was still clutching his head in pain, grunting as if he was having a terrible migraine.

"I suppose you're correct." Ling said as he placed a hand cautiously over the sigil, feeling my forehead which was slightly burning.

"He's giving explicit signs of a fever, but his reactions are quite interesting. He's not showing signs of sickness, but rather intermediate fatigue." Ling noted, jotting down inside of his notepad.

"Well, what do you think we should do?" Ling asked, looking towards Palsy. The man didn't respond for a while before he spoke in a cautious tone.

"I'm actually unaware, this may be similar to what happened back at Katshin, but this is dangerous territory we're wandering in, who knows what we'll find deep within the mystery we're unraveling."