Chapter 160

  Unlike that hall, devoid of Walkers and youths alike, Kaufman was closer than anyone would think. Not only was he still inside this building full of many secrets and corners, but he even walked down those close stairs. Pondering about something, his gleaming, pure white eyes looked around, trying to discern and trick nothing.

  He entered a different kind of realm, and he looked like it. The one named separate, distant, yet so close one could step out of it and still remain in Reality. He was thinking of what else he was missing with his daughter, and he couldn't fault his mind for running away from it.

  That went on, one step at a time, until he was no longer alone.

  Aside from him walked a ghostly visitor, washed and made of shadows that left mist scattering behind it like blurred film.

  It was nothing worse than the surroundings, which were nothing better, if not much more insane. Proposing clarity over a realm between Reality and Dreamscape wasn't very reasonable. There were things down here unlike anywhere else. It was an entirely different realm from imagination or nighrames, and it wasn’t an escape or a place for parades.

  Unless one was powerful, that is, or reasonably equipped to deal with its weight and spirit.

  Everything lacked color. Every step of wood and even light was white or gray, though the stairs and walls flowed and stood corrected, yet moving as if made of fog, water, and dust. Even Kaufman’s clothes were similar, but unlike the rest, his body had some colors besides white and gray, showing the force carried by his Emblem.

  A cloaked figure walked in similar steps as him down the stairs, looking like his equal. Both of them were descending to the lower levels, reaching infinitum if they were too careless about death.

  “Kaufman?” a figure beside him asked.

  “Richards?” Kaufman said indifferently and realized who had been watching, so he was expecting this visit.

  Both Walkers assumed each other without implying something big with their words. They knew each other, and making it more awkward was unnecessary after that terrible situation in Reality. Frankly, Heidi shouldn’t matter, but Kaufman knew Richards enough to mess with this topic.

  “What are you doing here?” Kaufman asked as if this man wasn’t on his left. After all, he was there in a flick of a moment and left or right was hardly like up or down. In this realm, things changed a lot or didn't look right. One step could lead to a leap until nothing resembled the Earth any longer.

  The flow was dreamy, slow, and huffed like being in the middle of the Mariana Trench or, far out there, in space made of water, or... well, the gravity of this situation was unnatural.

  “Visiting, seeing, haunting you. What do you think of that boy? You’ve been quicker yet oddly forceful for your age. You care about it, clearly, so consider me interested and also worried. I… no. We had been taken aback by you and reached this conclusion tonight. I was the closest, so the Principal asked me to involve myself.”

  “Principal? I think he is busy by the Sea and God knows what else is on his mind.”

  “Then be glad it isn’t about him. My position is broader, Kaufman. Not as yours, but still. What is that boy?” Richards requested.

  “Why do you ask? Is that a concern for your skin I am hearing? Were you spying on me for so long just to ask about a boy from Outside? Are you privy to something bigger, or is this about Examination?”

  “Sharp as ever, eh? Six weeks is nothing before that shall start with this new generation. The Federation and many organizations looks for recruits, Kaufman. Allways. Forever. We need fuel to this machine, and this one will be special, some say. Numerous youths wait for their chances and train like mad little demons; some more, others less.”

  “Poor little birds, I suppose.”

  “Academy plans a big move. Our assessment will be harsher than ever, and our big shots plan to compete and see to it. They want the biggest fishes and will give the usual great ones away, along with some concessions or alliances. You know all too well what it means, Kaufman. I don’t like to run too slow around you. I want to know the clearest pacts as law, and I shall do the same thing back to you. You were the quickest, I know. Academy is still fast. And immense!”

  “I already gave this place to my daughter. I can do whatever I can do now.”

  “You? Oh, don’t mistake me. I don’t think about this in the slightest. I would not call you a jokester even before the Gate of Death.”

  “Really? I thought I could make people laugh often. How depressing.” Kaufman replied in a sarcastic tone.

  “Is that your answer?” Richards insisted.

  “Well, for the start, he reached Rank 0 when he was five years old. I can guarantee the truth, but the further context isn’t as precise as my jokes. It needs more validity, and creating them is harmful to both points. Which, you ask? Should I say a joke next?”

  “In all seriousness? How old is he?”

  “He will turn sixteen in a month, according to the numbers and scents I am getting. It is a guess. Maybe.”

  “He is that old already?” Richards sounded surprised and didn't doubt his guess in the slightest. “And... ten years? That is… something. Very interesting, despite the lacking context being far too prominent. Luke Irwin is skin-tight about this whole matter. It is a mission developed by Song Mi-Yung, who is pushed to mend her own mess, so…. you took care of her like this? Behind her back.”

  “Something like that.”

  “I supposed we will get more answers tonight, whether from you or further, but... the cause is right in that room, so what if the Academy touches him?”

  Kaufman stopped in the middle of nowhere, jolting the mist and space of this dimension.

  “What is that boy to you?” Richards pondered, a white flowy cloak revealing part of his face, but his voice carried wonder, doubt, and curiosity. Not much respect was there, even if he was someone who couldn’t ever touch this old man.

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  “Why do you ask me? I doubt your job requires this much care for a single boy that already seems to have his mentor.” Kaufman demanded.

  “Mentor? Is that you? Ha!” Richards laughed, and whiteness flickered like most of his colors. His deep yellow eyes showed crackling white cracks, and his cloak flickered around him like dancing streams. Then they restarted the walk, going down, barren of gravity and flowing stairs that soon changed, and the space broadened to a whole endless spiral.

  “Who said a thing about me? Haven’t you guessed that he already refused me, Richards?”

  “Oh!? Really? Someone dared to refuse you. How could it be…” Richards hummed. “That fact means you asked, and the refusal is more than innate. Interesting. Who is the other party?”

  “Mi-Yung has cleverly set her seeds and she doesn't even know of them. Either she knows, or I underestimate that boy.”

  “Songs are that quick? I thought….”

  “Indeed. She didn’t even need to meet the boy. Wrapped like usual, such are Songs.” Kaufman said regretfully.

  “South... well, there is that and that and those. Very well. She might not chew this one and let’s not pretend everything is equal. It isn’t. Someone showed interest in the news and some leaks already happened well outside of the box. Mi-Yung is the minor cause and her stability is granted, but the recent Sea was a much bigger deal for the Academy than anticipated.”

  “So what?”

  “Le'ts not pretend the elephant isn't flying in the room. That boy's parents means troubles for anyone and him being alive and here is extremely tricky! Don't try to parent you don't do it because of them.”

  “I don't. I just need one.”

  “Was it Viktor?”

  “Who knows.” Kaufman scoffed and didn't tell the truth.

  “No matter. This is sensitive since it touched on the Sea topic. I don’t recall that she has many chances to grab her attention, and later, she might still regret this timing. Why? She doesn't change.”

  “I don’t care about the Sea, but it is a shame she ended like me.”

  “She is still young. If we push her, she will let go.”

  “Oh, trust me; if she touched it, she won’t ever let go of it as long as she knows your kind is involved. In fact, why are you even talking to me, and what for? I don’t back down either, yet what can I not force? Fain? Don't make me laugh. Clair? Well, you think Mi-Yung will fail or accepts this?”

  “Pillar or not, she doesn't have rerords to prove herself crashing out Academy merits.”

  “Yet those merits still fought thought dust and pain and forced the boy's parents to a terrible path.”

  “Their chosen path, mind you,” Richards argued and felt the weakening grip of this dimension slipping because of Kaufman's sizzling aura around him. Someone was getting angry, it seemed.

  “Songs are so fucking out of their mind that I wouldn’t call them naive, even if they are all dead. And they aren't, so fuck off with this logic, Richards. Parents dead. His reality cold. His mind tricky. Emblem flinching and throbing like hearts of demons.”

  Richards didn’t refute it and nodded. “Right. It is about that boy. Gale. That name resonates within us, and that’s why you are here, like me. It isn’t entirely about that boy, right?”

  “Wasn’t. Now is.”

  “Oh, is he that interesting? I saw reports. Small. Insignificant. Intense. Fierce. Wild. I saw that boy myself and figured he lacks substance compared to other elite youths, and that contradicts the rumors or ideas some have. Still, that’s Outsider for you, right? But... the ten-year mark can change it. He lives rather decently. It is almost a sickening idea, I say. The reports are also worse, so what do you know about them? About that kid's past?”

  “Are you doubting something?”

  “Yes. Not sure what or who I shall do first. Perhaps Gales are always like that. Doubtful and supposedly better off dead, but they keep pestering the living and are actually really fucking good at it.”

  “Perhaps. So?”

  “Some people tasked me with recruitment. Surname Gale rings surprising weight and interest for a couple of big shots. I bet the Academy will send multiple details to the Assembly, but that’s my point. I am here with you today for something special, correct?”

  “Riiiichards... I am being seriouuuuusly askiiing you one true question.” Kaufman stopped walking and gazed at him between the unknown floors going on into infinity.

  Up or down, there were no longer possible floors or grounds, as there were hundreds of them all around them. They were lost in stretches of space and gravity, walking and drowning in layers that no humans had ever witnessed. Thousands of shadows were around them, resembling people, eyes, and faces.

  They did not dare to go closer.

  Kaufman pronounced Richard's name in increasing annoyance until even Richards couldn’t understand his emotions. But he knew Kaufmans enough and learned never to doubt him as the wrong one. He was the worst. Whether good or better, there were layers to the Madness and clarity of older Walkers.

  When truthful, it was better.

  “I am half truthful, alright. Only half a truth is expensive. It is not that much, so calm down.” Richards blurted out, nervous with Kaufman, whose tone meant danger.

  Almost every decent Walker knew this monster of a Walker. Every Rank 8 was like that, taunting and giving and processing the weight of this world, yet their space wasn’t always good. His legends were clearer the closer the gap lessened. It was about Ranks, and Richards could not even reach his knees, let alone change his words.

  “I am wondering why you showed, Richards. For real. I feel I am being used by others. It feels like a slap to my face and that something bad is about to happen to others.”

  “Please... don't. It is still a business and it doesn't matter what that kid is. His parents are out of the picture but some effects still remains even after all these years. It has been halted, brokenin anger, but returned in years.”

  Kaufman didn't care what Richards considered a threat or help.

  “I am not fond of spying, but there were so many of them that I thought I was somewhere else. Was it about Heidi or was I crazy? I though people were way too busy to care for some retired old man until the same retired man made a comeback that messes up with their meticulously forged status quo. How many of them hoped I’ve died off in Amazon, huh?” Kaufman kept his gaze on Richards, whose whiteness began to leak and change to nothingness as a couple of brazen entities grabbed onto them, slipping some part to theirs.