Chapter 610 - 610: Taken
Seeing Eve look at him, Lucifer lowered his gaze. He noticed the key hanging on his neck.
"This key was there?" he asked.
"No, idiot! You were there!" Eve declared.
"Nonsense! How can I be there!" Lucifer fiercely responded.
"I'm not lying. Inside the room, there was a baby. And that baby was you," Eve answered.
"You were lying on the ground, crying. Also, there were two things with you at that time. One was the key that you have on your neck at the moment. And the second was a full-size golden chest," she further added.
"The crying which Clarisse heard was your crying. And that was the day your parents met you for the first time. You aren't their actual son, but just someone they adopted. And that's why I didn't want to tell you about it. It sucks telling people that they were adopted after so long," Eve sighed.
"But you can't blame me. You forced me to tell you."
"How can this be... I wasn't their son?" Lucifer muttered blankly.
"I mean, I'm sure you knew about it somewhere deep inside your heart. Isn't that why you were trying to find the stones? So you could find your real origins."
" It was your subconscious mind pushing you towards this goal since your conscious mind didn't want to believe the possibility of you being adopted," Eve explained.
"So I was really not their son? I was really the son of that person who the Dungeon Dwellers were after?" Lucifer asked.
"Even I'm not sure about that. I never personally saw that person. But from the way his characteristics are described, it would seem that way."
"And even if you aren't his son, you two are certainly related. Maybe you're his brother? Or just a person from the same species? There are infinite possibilities. Only he can answer that question."
Lucifer kept walking with Eve for half an hour without speaking anything. He had too many things to process.
It was after a long time that he spoke again. "What happened after that? What happened after they found me? They brought me home? What about that golden box?"
"They tried to get close to you, but there was a protective barrier around you. Maybe it was something to keep you safe. I'm not sure. But it was Clarisse who gave it her all to destroy the Barrier to get to you."
"She spent one month there, trying to use her decay on the barrier. The barrier which was around you... It was so powerful. Even with her decay, it lasted for a month. I'm sure it would have been unbreakable with other beasts," Eve commented.
"After that?" Lucifer asked.
"Clarisse walked to you and observed you. Watching you in such an odd place was certainly odd. And she was careful. But she couldn't control herself for long after watching you cry."
"She took you in her embrace and started calming you down by feeding you. I think her motherly instincts took over. I can't blame her. You were just so cute as a toddler," Eve commented. "Hey, no need to glare at me like that. I'm not mocking you.'
"Focus on the story," Lucifer said.
"Fine. Your father tried opening the golden chest after you were calm, but he needed a key. He took the key from your neck and opened the chest."
"And inside the chest was...?" Lucifer asked.
"There were two things inside the chest. One was that sword... The most beautiful sword with an aura that spread far and wide. Even your father was amazed by the sword and tried picking it up. But he couldn't even touch it."
"He told your mother that the sword was alive and resisted his touch. He also said that there was a possibility that this sword was for you and that only you could touch it. So she tried that. She made you touch the sword's hilt."
"What happened next?"
Eve started smiling wryly. "Next? You grabbed the sword and swung it. An arc of energy left the sword towards the sky. The entire dungeon was damaged. Your parents had to collect everything fast and run before the Dungeon could fall entirely. You were such a troublemaker."
"Anyway, your parents came out of the Dungeon with you and the Golden Chest."
"After seeing you handle the sword so easily, your father's theory was confirmed. And seeing your strength and your eyes, he also realized that you weren't an ordinary human. His theory was that you were related to the Inhuman on the other side of the world."
"He didn't kill me despite that?" Lucifer asked. "Or did he try and fail?"
"He didn't even try. Your mother was so attached to you; I don't think he could have suggested it. And I don't think he wanted to do that either. He didn't appear like the kind of person who could hurt a kid."
"They took you home and called a doctor there. And there, they planned to make up a story about you being born. Since your eyes were so reminiscent of the being on the other side, they didn't want people to come to kill you. So they thought it was better to make a story that you were born to them."
"With that story, no one could link you to the other side even if your eyes matched. And that's what they did. It was a pretty neat plan and fun to watch. A perfect setup!"
"Unfortunately, I don't think they needed to do that. Because the violet part of your eye started going away slowly. Your eyes turned blue completely. Don't ask me why it happens. Even I don't know. Apparently, your eye is again returning to its old color."
"Anyway, that's your story... The story of Lucifer Azarel." Eve finished the story.
Lucifer felt like Eve wasn't lying. Making up something so bizarre seemed unlikely. And this also made sense. But this raised more questions than it solved.
The Dungeon Dwellers hated the person on the other side. Then how did someone from that special end up in a dungeon? And why was he all alone as a toddler? And if he had the strength to raise a sword in his childhood, where did that strength go in later years?
If he had that strength, he could have been considered a Variant in his childhood. He wouldn't have suffered like this! Why was he powerless most of his life?
And there was one more question he needed an answer to.
"What was the second thing in the chest?" Lucifer asked. "And where is that chest and that sword of mine?"