The phoenix will be the end of Kassiel? No, how can that be? Even if it was a being like the phoenix, the 'hero' is here, so how could it be destroyed? Plus, wouldn't Esper be able to stop it? She's a Goddes, so it should be possible right?
"Felix, Esper won't save Kassiel," said Wren as if she was reading my thoughts.
What? But Kassiel is her nation; the nation that she had built. "I don't understand Wren. Why would she not save her nation- her people?"
"It's because the Kascis family are using her name. She's angered that the royal family are using the fact that they are her descendants to rise up and abuse their power," replied Wren.
"We're here Wren," the coachman said.
I got out of the carriage after Wren and took in my surroundings. There was a small village in front of us and a wall of stone at the back of it.
"Here we are, welcome to 'Lianne village'. What do ya' think? I built it myself after buying a bit of land," Wren smiled brightly. "Come on, follow me."
"Ok, let me thank the coachman fir-" before I could say anything to the coachman, Wren grabbed my shoulder.
"Don't say anything," she said sternly, "you shouldn't interact with each other." Wren's words made me confused.
I turned to look back at the coachman, but he just moved his hood down and walked away however, I could see the scars on his hands and one on his cheek.
"Let's go," urged Wren. I followed her. We walk inside the village and the people there looked dazed. Some waved at us while some just looked at me with hope in their eyes. I found that strange.
"Wren, is this the person you're talking about?" a boy with beige hair and peach coloured eyes asked, looking at me up and down.
"Yes, this is Felix. Do you mind getting him a change of clothes and showing him around?" asked Wren.
"Not at all!" the boy said cheerfully before grabbing my wrist and dragging me away. I have to be honest, his grip is very strong however, his iron grip only felt heavy and didn't cause me any pain since I had been training with swords in this point of time.
We then arrived at a small house where he threw me a plain white shirt and black pants, "you can change in the other room," he said, no longer acting or sounding as cheerful as before.
"Thanks," I said before changing and going back to the room he was in. "Do you mind answering some questions?"
"Go ahead."
"Do you know the coachman who drove the carriage that Wren and I was in? Why didn't Wren let me to talk to him?" I asked.
"You're probably talking about Kelan. The reason why Wren didn't want you talking to him is probably because you don't know who summoned the phoenix right?" he said making me surprised.
"How do you? Did Wren tell you?"
"Of course not. She would never tell anyone in this village. Kelan told me. Just like the guy who built this village with Wren, he can see parts of the future." What? Are the amount of people with powers better than Eason more than I thought? It's quite unbelievable since he has the hero's halo.
"Can I go see him?"
"Can't. Wren wouldn't allow that. He lives on the other side of that wall," the beige haired boy pointed at the window where the stone wall could be seen.
"Is there no way to go there? But earlier Kelan must've went there after he took Wren and I here," I said. There has to be a way to go there. I have to see Kelan. Maybe he can tell me a bit of the future and I'll be able to put the pieces of my memories together to remember who summoned the phoenix.
"There's no way to go on the other side without Wren knowing but, there is a way to communicate with the people on the other side without Wren knowing if you're sneaky," he answered.
"You know quite a lot, what's your name?"
"Obviously I know a lot, I live here idiot. I'm William."
"So William, has anyone here ever tried to go on the other side of the wall?" In full honesty, that's probably a dumb question. Surely multiple people have tried right? After all, they'd want to know about the people on the other side and see what's there.
"One person."
"Sorry?" I furrowed my eyes in disbelief.
"Only one person has tried, and that's me," William crossed his arms. "No one else even wants to go there."
"Why?" Perhaps the situation there isn't good? Is it dangerous there? Kelan did have scars so maybe that's why the people here don't want to go on the other side of the wall.
"One, because they know what's there, and two, because Wren forbids it."
"What? Just because Wren forbids it?" I receive a nod. "Do the people here not have any independence?"
"No, it's because they all admire Wren here. You might as well call Wren the 'queen' of this village. Everyone living in this village listens to Wren because Wren saved all of us. She's our saviour and we trust her. But either way, I believe the people here should not interact with the ones on the other side. The wall must never be taken down either."
"What? Why?" I asked.
"I'll show you why."
I followed William to the centre of the village and saw all the villagers that I saw before gathered there.
"This is Felix, the kid who awakened the power of Cyrus," William motioned to me.
"Wren really wasn't giving us false hope when she said a villain would awaken the power of Cyrus today! He'll be able to help us win against the heroes right?" a girl said happily.
"How great is that! A villain finally gets a power they deserve!" a male shouted; my eyes widened. What? How did he know I'm a villain?
"Yes! Yes! How great!" the villagers cheered.
"Oi, leave my sister out of it though," said William "If you want to kill those heroes then go ahead but my sister did nothing wrong."
What… kill? And 'heroes'? What is he talking about. There's- there's only one Eason and how did they know about that too?
"Why? Do you want to be behind her shadow forever?" said a girl, "aren't you angered by the fact that she will be acknowledged but you won't? Don't you think it's unacceptable?"
"Right! It's unacceptable that those heroes will get everything once people outside this village finds them while we will only get shit!" a boy shouted.
"Look at my scar!" another boy pointed at a scar on his neck, "look at what that motherfucker did to me as soon as he found out he'd get glory if I was dead!"
Seeing the scar on the boy's neck, I unconsciously touched mine, getting memories of my decapitated head rolling off the stage and stopping at my- Eason's feet. I felt sick, terribly sick.
"Awakener of Cyrus," the boy with the scar on his neck grabbed my hand, "you have to avenge me!"
"And me!" a girl pointed at a scar on her arm.
"And me!" a boy pointed at the scar on his face.
"And me!"
"Me too!"
"Avenge us!" they shouted.
Once again, I was getting flashbacks to the execution. Although the shouts were quieter and there were much less people, I was reminded of the crowd of citizens cheering because of my death.
"What the hell are you guys talking about?" I asked them in confusion. In full honesty, I felt scared of them. These people knew the roles of the hero and the villain. They wanted me to avenge them and kill who they called the 'heroes' but, isn't Eason the hero? And they were saying things about 'if' outsiders 'find' the people on the other side of the wall, so does that mean no one outside this village knows of their existence? And the glory that they said the other side would get for killing them, why does that sound familiar… why?
"Did Wren not tell you?" questioned a girl. I shook my head. Tell me what? What exactly is Wren hiding from me? "Oh, then you must be new. You are the 12th villain to come to this world."
I felt like my world shattered. Everything that I've known until now was only a small part of the full story. The 'world' I was living in wasn't the real one, it was more like a false world where I believed there was only one villain and one hero: me, Felix Infermel, and Eason Jarle. What the girl just told me had given me a new reality.
"What? So everyone here is…" I counted everyone in my sight, one… two…five…seven… ten! There's only ten in front of me and with me included, there's only eleven! The girl is lying but it doesn't seem like she's a good liar since she can't even count properly.
"Nice joke, but you added an extra number. There's only eleven people here in total, not twelve."
"I know," said the girl, "Wren's not here."
"What the hell are you talking about-" my eyes then widened in realisation. Even without the girl saying the next few words, I've already realised what she meant.
"Wren's a villain too."