Quinn rubbed his chin.
“If a child doesn’t like their parents?”
He shrugged.
“It’s not like that’s anything strange. I suppose it would depend on what you refer to as not like, as practically every child has hated their parents at one point or another.”
Kairos closed his eyes, then thought about Ling. He was a kid that claimed to see his parents die in front of him and only felt empty afterwards. Kairos didn’t really understand how that felt, because his own parents were still alive, even if one was some sort of eldritch monster, and the other seemed to be half dead.
There was always a part of him that thought Ling might’ve been lying, or maybe Ling himself misinterpreted his own feelings. But then Kairos remembered how his eyes looked when he looked at him at their last meeting.
Ling dug into his own eye, but the entire time, his other eye was unflinching, just staring back at him like it was hollow. It almost seemed like he had already given up on his identity as a human, though Kairos wasn’t sure what that would make him.
Kairos tapped his chin a few times.
“I guess to put it simply, what I mean by a child not liking their parents, is when they saw their own parents die in front of them, but felt nothing from it.”
Tiana raised an eyebrow.
“Are you talking about yourself?”
Kairos smiled bitterly.
“My parents are still alive. The person I’m talking about… is a kid we met on the outside once. His name was Ling.”
Chase slowly turned to him with furrowed brows.
“…Ling? As in the child that ran off on his own?”
Kairos slowly nodded.
“Ah, right. He didn’t actually die.”
Chase blinked a few times.
“…Then why did you keep quiet about it? If he isn’t dead, then where in the world is he now?”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“He had no plans of going back. I imagine he didn’t want to see his grandfather’s face ever again.”
Chase raised an eyebrow.
“And he told you all of that?”
Kairos sighed.
“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to.”
Chase frowned.
“He’s just a child. If it wasn’t for us saving him, then he would’ve died when he ran off the first time. Yet you let him just run off like that? Chances are he’s dead now.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“Yeah, he’s probably dead.”
Chase gave him a glance.
“…You knew, but didn’t even try to stop him.”
Kairos nodded.
“Yeah.”
Chase fell silent, deciding not to speak anymore.
As for Quinn, he let out a soft sigh.
“Well anyway, if the kid himself said it, chances are it’s true. Feeling empty is much easier to tell then anger, love, sadness, or whatever. Emotions are usually not on their own, meaning the conflicting emotions can make one confused.”
He paused.
“However, if he truly felt nothing, then that’s something very hard to misinterpret. So I doubt his judgment was wrong.”
Quinn closed his eyes.
“…And that means several things.”
Kairos gave him a glance.
“Are you going to tell us?”
Quinn waved his hand dismissively.
“Yeah, just give me a second.”
After a few moments, he slowly lifted up one finger.
“One possibility is that he wasn’t actually taken care of by his parents, but by someone else. Though, that doesn’t make much sense. If he saw them die, then it’s very likely he had lived with them. On top of that, it was a notable enough event for him to bring up, meaning that feeling that way was at least somewhat surprising to him.”
Kairos furrowed his brow.
“I do think I remember him saying that he wasn’t expecting to feel that way or something like that.”
Quinn sighed.
“I can’t exactly say I know what the parents did to that child, but it must’ve been pretty bad.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“As in, how bad?”
Quinn blinked a few times.
“To be honest, I’m not so sure. Even if children are treated like animals, it’s too difficult for them to understand they are being mistreated, thus they will love their caretakers anyway.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“For a kid to feel nothing… it means they no longer see their parents as their parents, if that makes sense to you. They’ve become something like strangers to them, but that isn’t exactly the best analogy.”
He paused for a moment.
“Because if a kid saw a stranger get killed in front of them, even if horror is their primary emotion, they would probably still feel some pity for the person that had died. In other words, the kid sees their parents as something less than strangers.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“Really?”
Quinn rubbed the side of his face.
“I don’t know what else it could be.”
Chase laid down on the ground as well.
“…Kairos, you really weren’t lying about that?”
Kairos helplessly sighed.
“That’s what I heard. I can’t be for sure, because Ling might’ve lied to me, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here.”
Chase narrowed his eyes slightly.
“…Then did he tell you why he just left like that?”
Kairos slowly nodded.
“I’m not entirely sure, but I believe he wanted to make his own decisions. Even if they weren’t the best ones, or ones that would cause him harm. He just wanted to think for himself and take responsibility for it. That’s the gist.”
Tiana interjected.
“So basically, he became as stubborn as a rock.”
The corner of Kairos’ lip turned up.
“Basically, but is that really so bad?”
Tiana rolled her eyes.
“I guess he understood that working with others wasn’t going to fly with that kind of attitude. Sounds like a smart kid.”
Chase looked up into the sky with a complicated expression.
“Smart, huh?”
Quinn stretched.
“Well anyway, I told you about it. I’m going to try to sleep now.”
Hours continued to pass. It was currently night at this time, and the full moon was out, shining down upon them with a faint glow.
The person that transformed into a monster was still laying on the ground, while the red glow emanating from below became more distinct. Tiana narrowed her eyes and stared off into the distance.
“It seems like monsters from all over the place are doing the same thing.”
Kairos turned to her.
“Sprawled out on the floor like a fish?”
Tiana nodded.
“Yeah.”
Chase raised an eyebrow.
“That sounds like it would be quite easy to kill them then.”
Kairos turned to him.
“Perhaps you could take a shot from here?”
Chase didn’t speak for a moment.
“…I think I’ll pass.”
Kairos found it hard to respond.
“But you were the one that suggested it.”
Chase cracked his neck.
“I never suggested it. I simply thought of it.”
Kairos looked at him strangely.
“…Suddenly have sympathy for the monsters?”
Chase let out a scoff and smiled.
“It’s nothing like that.”
Tiana put a finger on her chin.
“Then what is it?”
Chase didn’t speak for a few moments.
“…Well, what if I end up hitting someone?”
Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.
“If you hit someone while they are on the ground, then you hit someone that was transforming into a monster anyway. How do the specifics even matter that much to you?”
Chase laughed.
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
Kairos gave him one last look before continuing to look off in the distance.
“I guess it can’t be helped then.”
Chase smiled bitterly.
“…Though if I had to put a finger on it, I guess I just don’t want to be the direct cause of a child’s death.”
Kairos rolled his eyes.
“Wow, you sound so noble. You do realize that killing them before they turn into a monster would probably only make them go through less pain?”
Chase nodded.
“Yeah. I don’t really care about what’s optimal for them. I just… don’t want any to die by my hand, even if they were going to anyway.”
Kairos chuckled.
“I don’t know if you’d be a good or bad parent at this point honestly. How you view treating children… is just so strange to me.”
Chase blinked a few times.
“I suppose it’s not really the child that I care about, but rather whether or not I can blame myself for their death.”
A moment of silence lingered between them.
Kairos shook his head with the corner of his lip turned up.
“Nevermind. You would be a terrible parent.”
Chase nodded.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Tiana looked between the two, clearly a little lost as to what their conversation even meant. Though, she was not curious enough to ask.
Nobody seemed to be in the mood for talking after that, so they just let time continue to pass. Quinn eventually began snoring at some point, while the group began to feel a bit of heat despite being so high up.
In the middle of the night, the red light became its strongest, becoming visible across the horizon. But from there, it gradually began to die down. After some time, the sun gradually began coming up.
And with that, the red light was beginning to disappear completely.
Chase clicked his tongue.
“Are these strange red light disasters just going to keep happening? I doubt there will be many more survivors if this becomes a regular thing.”
Kairos cracked his neck.
“For those people that evolved to D rank, they would probably be able to withstand the red energy for long enough until they got to somewhere safe.”
Chase narrowed his eyes.
“…So it may be better to raise your rank just for the sake of surviving the red energy.”
Kairos slowly nodded.
“Perhaps. But I’m guessing that even if they do retain their rationality, at least part of their body might be monsterized. In the end, the best measure is preventing contact in the first place.”
Tiana raised an eyebrow.
“What made you come to that conclusion?”
Kairos didn’t speak for a moment.
“…Intuition.”
Chase looked dumbfounded.
“Huh?”
Kairos cleared his throat.
“Anyways, do you think the potatoes will still be edible after all of that?”
Tiana frowned.
“…Probably not. They would be far too dangerous to try in my opinion.”
Chase took a deep breath.
“Then we can just get other people to try for us.”
Kairos smiled bitterly.
“So now we’re going to become the kidnappers that provide food. I wonder if any of them will get Stockholm syndrome.”
Tiana rolled her eyes.
“That’s only if they somehow survive and don’t turn into monsters.”
Kairos looked down at the ground intently.
“…Anyway, I think it’s finally over. We might as well check on things now.”
The sun was just barely peeking over the edge, casting its rays. As for the ground, the distinct red glow had left. With less hesitation than he should’ve had, he jumped off. Tiana did the same, and the two slammed onto the ground after falling for a bit.
The ground was still hot, like coals, but it wasn’t so hot that it would begin burning anything.
Kairos looked at Tiana.
“You check on the potatoes, I’ll see if the food is still fine.”
Tiana looked at him strangely.
“Don’t want to be with me?”
Kairos waved his hand dismissively.
“This is more efficient, isn’t it?”
Tiana sighed.
“Alright, alright. I’m still checking after you though.”
Kairos then walked over to Tiana’s room, and opened the door behind the closet. He was immediately greeted with large amounts of steam. The entire space had become uncomfortably humid, but Kairos ignored that.
He saw that the trapdoor was wide open despite being closed when he left it, and went down.
The heat was fairly strong here, but nothing unbearable. He then quickly went to the spot where he left the red prism and retrieved it.
It was glowing bright red when he saw it. Just from a glance, Kairos could tell it was fully charged.
He picked it up and sighed.
“…Now, are the food supplies still good?”