16:55

They now walk around the city while avoiding any attention as always. CHE5TER was already using His crevaator clothes, so He was lucky He got prepared in time. But because of the new wound made by the boy, He has hidden both of His arms under the long clothes so that He can keep trying to stop any kind of bleeding with His hand while also covering it with whatever He had on Him.

The boy though was losing His patience, still waiting for the ruler to talk. But all the ruler does is to continue walking, making Him think that maybe there is no destination and He just wants the boy to shut His mouth forever.

[X4NDER]-...Are you gonna talk or not?

[CHE5TER]-Does it seem as if we have arrived?

[X4NDER]-Well, it doesn't seem as you even know where we are going to begin with as well, if you are asking me. Why can't you just tell me already the answer and call it a day?

[CHE5TER]-Because my answer depends mostly on what you have to say on my question.

[X4NDER]-What question? Why I have told Leo about the city? Because He is my friend! There you go, your answer!

[CHE5TER]-Not that question.

[X4NDER]-Then which one?

The ruler doesn't say anything anymore, just looks around at the people passing by and makes sure that nobody hears their conversation, before speeding up His walking and continue the road. Again, this action annoys the boy, but He keeps following the Great Leader. Minutes later, they arrive at a specific building, entering it and waiting for the ruler to take out something that He seems to be searching for in His clothes. It takes Him some good time though, almost as if He lost whatever He was searching for, but manages in the end to find some old and rusty keys that belong to one of the apartments here, almost seeming as if they weren't used in ages. Then they went to that apartment, unlocking the door, entering it quickly and locking it back while CHE5TER remained to see if anybody saw them enter it through a small part of the door that allows Him to look through.

[X4NDER]-Now, are you gonna tell me?

When He is finally convinced that nobody saw them both entering the apartment, He enters the rooms in search of some bandages to use for His arm and other things that He might need in the future. Yet the apartment itself looks abandoned, all dusty and not taken care of at all in the past years. It's the LENKOV's family house, almost forgotten that it ever existed.

[CHE5TER]-...If you want your response, then answer me this. Are you truly the God of War, just like Leo called you?

[X4NDER]-Are you truly putting that question now after such a long time?

[CHE5TER]-Did it look like I ever had the right time to ask?

[X4NDER]-...Well, it depends now on how or where exactly did you get this information from? Because I know that only those that were close to me knew about it.

[CHE5TER]-What do you mean?

[X4NDER]-I mean that it is truly my title, but it was more of a mocking thing between my brothers. Nobody ever called me that besides them, so hearing you calling me this is rather amusing.

[CHE5TER]-...You are kidding, right?

[X4NDER]-No, I am not. In fact, I can tell you with all my confidence that there were only ten people in total that called me like this, Leo included.

[CHE5TER]-Then how did...

CHE5TER stops a bit perplexed at the boy, thinking maybe that He is a different God of War and not related to the one that He knows. But then He just starts covering His wound, simply giving up to ask a question that seemed rather unnecessary.

[CHE5TER]-...Okay then. Let's make the question a bit different. Are you truly the same man that Leo described? A warrior of the past who fought in the Great War between the C borns and M borns? THAT God of War?

[X4NDER]-So you know about me, liar.

The way the boy responds is rather insulting, as if He mocks the ruler Himself just because He wishes to get the answer faster.

[CHE5TER]-...Yes, I know about you, you son of a bitch. Quit that attitude already if you wish for me to help you in any way. You impress no one if you continue like this.

[X4NDER]-Then why aren't you answering my questions so we can get this done? If you helped me like I asked you all those past days, then I wouldn't b--

[CHE5TER]- --I'd say to consider yourself lucky enough that I want to help you out. Because I never wished to even meet you, let alone help you. Everybody praises you for nothing and called you a god. But you are not a god, so why don't you just behave if you wish to get an answer?

But it seems as the ruler got a bit pissed at the way this boy answers His questions and left a bit out of His mind through His mouth. Though He tolerated the boy for some time, because of His sudden change of behaviour and the attitude the stranger now gives just to get His own answer, it made the Great Leader annoyed and gave Him a reason to teach Him a lesson. Of course, His attitude changed and got a bit perplexed too, since He did not expect to actually get to the ruler's nerves so easily just from an answer.

[X4NDER]-...What do you mean to sa--

[CHE5TER]- --You want the story of the past? Then so be it. If you truly are the same man that I am talking about, then you are just a coward and a quitter. You abandoned your own kind when we needed you the most and left all your burdens on other's shoulders. Everyone who took your role has suffered because you chose to run away. I have suffered because of you! My family and many more before me also suffered, including the entire LENKOV bloodline that took over your own responsibilities! Everything because of you! So quit acting like a brat now just because you want an answer, understood!? 'Cause you are the very reason why everyone died those past two centuries! This is why I never wished to actually believe you ever existed!!

In fact, He got so mad to the point of getting His C colour to shine so bright and even created a black mist unconsciously, almost ready to kill the boy on His own. X4NDER only watched, looking at the pissed ruler without giving any kind of expression of word.

[CHE5TER]-...All this time, RY4N and everyone else in this entire city have praised you, believed that you will come back to save us or even believed that you watch over us. Everyone except me! I never believed in you, and just because of that I was seen as someone that does not belong here, someone different than my own kind! How funny is the fact that I should be the one stuck with you now, while nobody else knows that you actually came back, right!? Even now, when I am having my own troubles, I am put by fate to stay with you! Yet I would rather be anywhere else, even eaten by the demons, than stay with someone like you! I offered myself to help you, yet you just treat me like shit from the very moment you saw me! So just get your answer and go back to your Hell! ...Maybe you were the very reason why the war started anyway.

With that, CHE5TER just throws a few papers to the boy and leaves the apartment, deciding that it is better for Him to wait outside than to stay with the stranger for His own sake. So when the ruler left, X4NDER took the papers from the ground and started reading them. They were all related to the history that He wants to know, all told by different people of the city but saying the same thing. The God of War killed millions of people and one night He stood alone to think about His fate, only for the next day to simply disappear and make the C borns lose the war. Years later, a group of people took the action of taking the god's name as a reason to continue fighting, assassinating the M General and resulting in the leader of that group being killed. Only after that, an unknown person took the title and built the city that the leader started, forming a new bloodline of rulers that are now watching over the city.

This is pretty much the same story we already know as well. The fact that CHE5TER told Him the LENKOV bloodline is the one that took over His roles is a whole new story. Nowhere in the pages talk about the name of the descendant after all, so nobody actually knows who exactly is the Great Leader, including those that have worshiped Him. Only the Council knew the name of the descendant, but even they didn't see how He actually looks like before M4TTH3W showed His face. Funnily enough, even they don't actually know the true identity of the real ruler, which makes M4TTH3W the only Great Leader that showed His face ever. Even if the Council knows about CHE5TER.

It is such a mystery behind this only title that nobody actually manages to solve, including the current descendants. So the idea of a man that was lost in the past and came back, wanting to know what happened while He was away, and asking even the descendant Himself about the events of these two hundred years in hope that He will get an actual answer is rather amusing. It doesn't take long before He makes the connection of the name LENKOV with the descendant described in the papers, but again He has no idea who that LENKOV guy ever was. The only LENKOV He knows so far is the very man from which He tries to get an answer.

After reading the papers and seeing the partial answer of the past, He decides to go find the ruler which has left the apartment. Meanwhile, CHE5TER stood outside the building, sitting on the platform of the entrance of it and also seeming to have lit a cigarette to calm down. While doing so, He analised the state of the new wound, noticing the fact that it healed almost immediately because of His anger and was now covered by the black corrupted skin. Which also reminded Him of a different problem. He then looked the whole right hand which is covered by such skin, moving His fingers around and seeing how the condition gets rather worse, with the colour getting darker the more it takes over other parts of the body. Unfortunately, He has nothing else to do other than just observe how it progresses. Even if it were to cut the whole hand, the skin will get corrupted no matter how much He tries to get rid of the root. After all, the root has nothing to do with where the skin starts its progression. If it were to cut the root, He will have to behead Himself.

Then, X4NDER manages to leave the building, finding the ruler standing down alone and watching His own corruption take over the body. He sits down next to Him, watching the ground and feeling a bit guilty about the way He has behaved towards the very person that tried to redeem His title.

[X4NDER]-...Is it true? Your bloodline is the one that took my own promises at hand?

The ruler didn't say anything, He just continued looking at His own corruption while moving His fingers around, almost as if He can move them but can't feel the movement itself.

[X4NDER]-If it is true, then how is it possible for you to not know what happened to me? Maybe your ancestors knew something and you would've understand tha--

[CHE5TER]- --I don't even know my own ancestors, how do you wish for me to know about the truth behind a god that I do not believe in? If I knew the truth, I wasn't blaming the god that stands right besides me in this very moment of what happened those years. But I do not know, so all I do is to make the same assumption that everyone did: that you have left us behind.

[X4NDER]-...

[CHE5TER]-You are not the only one who seeks for the truth of the past after all. You came to the wrong person to ask what truly happened because all I know is the same as what everyone else knows in this whole city. The only difference is that I know the names of the descendants and I am also one of the people to live their fate.

[X4NDER]-...This is why you wanted to see my village?

[CHE5TER]-Sorted it out in the end? What's a disappointment is the fact that this village you talk about seems to be the past version of my city. So no matter what I do, I cannot find my answer as I intended, nor can you find out what happened to your own people.

[X4NDER]-But there has to be a way, right?

[CHE5TER]-If there is, maybe it is not destined for us to find it. Too many years of waiting and trying to reveal the truth only led to my final conclusion that I am only another future ancestor of the actual descendant that has the fate of bringing peace. Though I never wished to have a successor...

The boy was rather disappointed at the response of the ruler. To think that CHE5TER is meant to be His descendant is even more amusing, especially when He doesn't even believe in this god. But this is what time causes: changes that have no explanation behind or are forgotten by the people of the present.

[X4NDER]-...My master once told me that when you are ready to give up on what you have tried to build is the very moment when you will be able to achieve your goal. That whenever I feel like there is nothing else I can do, fate will make sure to let me gain a victory. And he knew everything.

[CHE5TER]-Was he aware that the war will start then?

[X4NDER]-To be honest... I think he was.

CHE5TER was rather confused on the answer, His facial expression giving a rather doubtful feeling.

[X4NDER]-I mean, don't get me wrong, he never mentioned that it will come nor he ever talked about a war throughout the time I stood with him. But the way he was talking to all the others some months before the war came... and the way he knew that his time will come...

[CHE5TER]-I think it was just a coincidence.

[X4NDER]-No, really! The last months he was alive, he was talking to me like he never did before! He has even giving things out to the others, including my own friends!

[CHE5TER]-He died by old age? ...Or maybe suicide?

[X4NDER]-None of these! He was killed by his own friend!

Now, the ruler was even shocked at the response, looking at the boy for the first time since they left the apartment in such a way that simply couldn't explain what the hell this boy talks about.

[CHE5TER]-Are you--

[X4NDER]- --Yes! I am serious! So it can't be just a coincidence! He knew that he will die! That is why everyone talked about him knowing everything! And that is why I always believed his words! No matter how hard the times were!

[CHE5TER]-But maybe he told his friend to kill him?

[X4NDER]-No, he never did that! It was something that nobody expected because none of them ever spoke about such thing! I'm telling you the truth!

He stood a bit to think, maybe because He didn't believe the boy since it sounds like He just made up a story to try and make Him not give up. But whether it is the truth or not, He has good intentions this time. Maybe because the boy also wishes to know what happened.

[CHE5TER]-...*sigh* Okay then. You win. But how do you propose for us to find out what happened anyway? Nobody knows who even are the ancestors of the LENKOV name, remember? Not to mention that your memories are also altered and we don't know what to trust when it comes to what you know.

[X4NDER]-I don't know, maybe we can try and ask someone that lived those moments?

His suggestion wasn't really helping, but the ruler already started thinking who exactly was able to give even the smallest information on their question already.

[CHE5TER]-...You said you know what crevaators are, right?

[X4NDER]-Yes? They are a clan. Why do you ask?