Chapter 229: His Name

Vorden hearing about Quinn in class was, possibly, one of the worst times it could’ve happened. It wasn’t that Vorden was incapable of helping, but rather something else.

It was in fact that it wasn’t just him who heard it, but also the little one.

He rose up, tears falling from his eyes. If Vorden didn’t deal with this situation now, it could prove catastrophic.

The little one was special out of the three, as he had the unique capability of pushing anyone off the chair of control. No one else could take back control when he was in it. The problem was that he lacked any sense of restraint, acting often childish, which came with its own set of risks.

It wasn’t that Vorden didn’t want him to have a happy life and to one day have control over the chair in a safe way, but the little one simply didn’t have the social skills to maintain their secret.

Immediately, Vorden got off the chair, and ran over to the little one.

"Raten, take control!"

Raten was startled that Vorden was so willing to let him use the chair. Normally, Vorden held a pretty tight leash on its usage, but he

Taking the seat, Raten found himself in the classroom he saw Vorden was in, and heard the rest of the recorded message from the spider.

"We don’t have much time, but he told me that you could get him out of there using a teleportation ability."

With the message received, the spider hopped off his body, and made its way back to Erin.

’Teleportation, huh?’ Raten thought, then glanced around at his classmates, ’Well no one here has teleportation, so what am I going to do?’

Deeper in their shared mind, Vorden was trying to get the little one to calm down.

"Calm down— We can’t have you go out there, its too—"

The little one let out a guttural scream, and shoved Vorden to the floor. He ran over to the chair, but suddenly the light of his spiritual form flickered, and he tripped over his own feet.

"Hold on!" Vorden said as he scrambled to get up.

He stopped around the little one’s soul, and hugged him tightly. The little one tried to push away, but then his spirit flickered again, which worried Vorden.

Ever since they endured all the punishment from their grandfather, it seemed that the little one’s spirit broke somehow, and wasn’t as strong as it used to be. As a result, there were times when the little one’s form in their mind space flickered, and his strength would weaken.

Vorden didn’t know why since they were the ones to take the brunt of the training, but perhaps it was the same reason why the little one was able to use full control of the chair. He was more strongly connected to the body than the others.

The little one reached for the chair, and screamed, "WHY WON’T YOU LET ME SAVE HIM!?"

"Shhh shhhh, don’t worry a thing—"

"NOOO!" The little one screamed, "HE’S GOING TO DIE AGAI—"

The little one’s light flickered again, and he fell limp in his arms.

"I... He’s..." The little one weakly spoke before sobbing into Vorden’s chest.

Vorden held him there for a short period of time, conflicted on what to do. This was the most that the little one acted like his old self, but he couldn’t leave Raten on the chair forever.

’I knew his mind wasn’t always stable, it was like this since we were kids, but Quinn’s appearance is affecting him,’ Vorden thought.

The words ’He’s going to die again’ reminded Vorden of a gruesome memory that wasn’t his own, and he realized the full extent of what the little one was going through.

Taking in a deep breath, Vorden tucked a bit of hair behind the little one’s ear, and began singing.

"... It will be okay. I will make your worries go away. I am on your side. I will always be kind."

The little one’s body loosened up, and his sobs lessened.

"You don’t have to worry, we’re going to save Quinn for you, okay?" Vorden whispered, "Just stay put."

The little one weakly nodded, then fell asleep. Carefully, Vorden laid him on the floor as to not disturb him, and got up.

Vorden feared for his little brother’s condition, but he was going to set that problem aside. Checking up with Raten, he needed to know what the situation was.

"How is he?" Raten said.

"Asleep." Vorden firmly replied, "You didn’t burn anything down, right?"

"Of course not," Raten groaned, "I managed to get us a doppelganger ability from that one guy, remember him? Anyways, there’s a copy of us back in class."

Vorden remembered the student he was talking about. There was someone who had managed to gain access to an Original’s ability by working for their family. It was only level 2, so the most they could make was 1 other clone, but that was enough for now.

"Alright, let me take control. You can keep an eye on the little one."

Raten glanced over to the little one, then back to Vorden, "If he’s asleep, then we can call him by his actual name, you know."

He got up, and gestured for Vorden to take the seat. Once he took control, Vorden turned towards the little one.

"... Hold tight, Sil."

In the outside world, Vorden found himself running in the halls with Erin, wearing a hoodie with a medical mask. He didn’t know where these two clothing items came from, but it would obscure his appearance well.

’Somehow, he thought to do all of this,’ Vorden thought, then said out loud, "We need to find someone with a teleportation ability."

"You told me this already," Erin replied, "And I said there was one in my class."

Vorden mentally cursed. This was a small problem that the three of them shared, and it was that they didn’t always share memories whenever they took control.

Erin needed to head back to class anyways, as she was gone long enough to the point where it was starting to get suspicious. However, so long as Erin could use the influence skill on the person they needed, the rest should come easy enough.

The little spider bot jumped onto Vorden’s shoulder, and he remained outside in the halls. Meanwhile, Erin entered back inside of the classroom.

"You sure took a while," Del commented, to which Erin shot a nasty glare back at him.

’I forget, I can’t get on her bad side anymore because she has her ability back,’ Del bitterly thought.

Right when Del was about to continue his lesson, everyone’s watches lit up, and they all heard a beeping noise on it.

"That’s weird, I haven’t heard this sound before," A student noted, "What does it mean?"

Del recognized it as the sound that played before they would alert them of a school wide threat. If this meant what he thought it would mean, then he was going to have to work overtime.

"Warning: Student Quinn Talen is attempting to escape military base 2. If anyone is aware of his whereabouts, they are to alert the nearest military staff member of his location immediately!"