The Unrecorded Extra



The blackout disappeared immediately as he saw Ember, the bright lamp and LED light lit up the room once again.

Zio could capture Ember's pretty face clearly, but his mind playing a trick on him. He would occasionally see her changing appearance with Zia, making him frown until his eyebrow knitted.

Zio wasn't in his right mind, right now. So, he couldn't tell which was the truth. Eventually, his grip on his sword tightened when he thought that the person in front of him right now was Zia in disguise. 

"Heh. You think you can trick me?"

At that moment, in his eyes, Ember's figure was now completely changed to a still figure of a demonic human he had fought in Flash Dungeon. Nado.

"Calm down. It's me."

Ember tried to calm him down but it was futile. Zio's mind already recognized her as the demonic human, Nado. Her voice didn't reach him.

"I don't know how you come back alive but, it just means that you will die twice. Nice try for the illusion, though."

With a growl, Zio pulled his sword back and used the momentum to make a spin of his body and swung his sword at Ember.

In a quick motion, Ember sidestepped and grab the blade with her palm which was enhanced by beginner-level mana coating and her flame. She pulled the blade, disarming Zio.

Pulling him close, Ember whispered to Zio, "You need to sleep," then slammed him to the floor, locking him on the ground.

Zio's head was pressed against the floor. Sitting on Zio's back, Ember took out a small bag of powder from her storage cube and blew it toward Zio.

In an instant, Zio lost his consciousness and fell into a deep slumber.

"Huu… Sorry…"

Retrieving a bag of candy from the storage cube, Ember extracted one piece and removed its wrapper. With utmost care, Ember inserted the candy into Zio's mouth.

She sighed softly, feeling a mix of relief and sadness. She had only wanted to help him, to bring him back from his own delusions since a few months ago, it pained her to see him like this.

Carefully, she lifted herself off Zio's back and stood up, brushing off the dust from her clothes.

The room felt strangely quiet after the chaos that had just unfolded, was the chaos actually too quiet to make the neighbors come out from their room to check?

Leaning back against the wall, Ember allowed herself a moment of reflection. She thought about the times they had spent together back when they were kids, though it was short and not exactly comfortable to remember, the memories were deeply carved inside her mind even without her Eidetic Memory.

Focusing on her mind, she recalled the event from 3 years ago…

It was after she burned all of the villains inside the warehouse with her flame. She stood wobbly, her body marked with bruises and broken bones.

Despite her weakened state, she compelled herself to keep going, exerting effort to untie the rope that bound the black-haired boy, younger Zio's body.

"Thank you for coming…" the boy said weakly.

As little Ember tried to catch him from falling, she forgot that her body wasn't in a state that could support the burden of little Zio's body. In the end, they both were falling onto the cold concrete.

Ember chuckled, sounding exasperated.

They stayed still in that position for 10 minutes. Once they regained their energies to move their bodies, Zio rose up and leaned on the pillar to which he had been tied.

Following him, Ember also rose up and sat with crossed legs facing Zio. Their eyes met, examining and observing each other.

Searching through her hoodie, Ember retrieved an eagle origami from her pocket, unveiling it to Zio.

"Did you send me this?"

Zio nodded silently, but his smile widened as he was done observing Ember's face.

"Why…? I mean, how did you even send this to me? Have we ever met before? And…"

Ember looked around the warehouse, her eyes narrowed as he carefully scanned the interior. Except for the various tools and the burned bodies, the warehouse was empty.

"Who are you? Why did they kidnap and torture you as you'd stated in this origami message?"

Zio raised his hand, halting any potential onslaught of questions. Despite the smile still gracing his face, his black eyes bore into Ember's soul, peering into her memories through her own eyes.

Flashing memories flooded his head, but they were not his. It was Ember's.

Seemingly satisfied despite the pain that almost tore his head apart, Zio finally told her everything related to this event.

But, Ember seemed couldn't digest the explanation that Zio provided her.

"I mean, okay. You know me through your future sight. But, why me?"

"There's no one with a sense of justice as pure as you. I know that you won't abandon someone, especially a kid like me to his death. At least, that's what I see from you through my future sight…"

"You make me sound like I'm a pushover."

The corner of Zio's lips perked up as he heard that.

"You are."

Zio continued to explain what had happened before he got caught by the villains.

He had known that the villains were targeting him because of his future sight blessing, but as a child without anyone he could rely upon, his fate was to be ruled by them.

But, he didn't give up. He experimented with his blessing which took a toll on his brain and mind until he finally gained the sight of the future where he saw Ember as the sole survivor of humanity on Earth after the demon's invasion. It wasn't just a piece of memories, but the whole memories.

With his skill, Zio had successfully gained a whole memory of the future where Ember was the sole survivor on Earth as if he was the one that experienced them.

Not everything was free in this world. In exchange for that memory, Zio had to sacrifice some of the stats and skills he possessed.

With that knowledge, he decided to gamble with his fate by contacting Ember for help before he was caught.

As he was done telling her everything, Ember could only stare at the boy, she pitied the boy but couldn't shake the feeling that Zio wasn't telling him everything and might even lying to her right then.

Zio stared expectantly at the ceilings.

His behavior made Ember curious so she followed him to look at the ceilings.

A moment later, she could hear noise coming from the roof. It was the sound of someone's footsteps.

Hearing those, Ember rose to her feet and prepared for whatever coming from above. But, Zio stopped him, informing her that whoever was on the roof wasn't their enemy.

Smash—!

A loud voice reverberated around the warehouse as the roof was smashed and small debris was falling to the ground.

"You've come too…"

Strands of silver hair peeked from the hole in the roof for a moment before disappearing and being replaced by the human figure.

Ember was captivated by the view of the person bathed in the moonlight.

Standing on the rooftop, peeking inside the warehouse, was a figure dressed in a sleek black coat. Their piercing grey eyes seemed to glow with an otherworldly intensity as they scanned the surroundings.

Her eyes stopped at Zio. At that moment, her face suddenly looked pale and panicked.

Quickly, she jumped down and checked Zio's condition.

Ember tensed up as she saw the person whose features were hidden under the black coat.

"It's okay. I know this person."

"You know? But, you said you don't have anyone you can call upon for help. So you asked me instead."

Ember frowned, her eyebrows knitted, and suspicion toward Zio began to grow.

"Seems like your Eidetic Memory is broken," said Zio with a thin smile. "I know about her thanks to your memories."

Hearing both Zio and Ember bickering among themselves, the girl in the black robe pulled her mask down, revealing her beautiful face and hearty lips.

"I don't seem to follow what you guys are talking but…"

She stared at Zio, her eyes narrowed with mixed feelings of anger and concern after noticing the bruises and wounds covering his body.

"I'm sorry for being late…"

Zio waved his hand dismissively, trying to act cool. Though the sting of pain really made him want to scream and cry, he managed to endure it and controlled his expression.

"You're not supposed to apologize to me, Shannon. It's my sister who should do that for leaving me alone in the streets."

Shannon flinched as she heard her name, her real name was being called by Zio, someone who shouldn't have known about it.

She almost reached for her sword slung around her shoulder to decimate Zio, but she remembered that he was not someone she should kill, but someone she should protect. After all, that boy was her boss' little brother who was separated when he was 5 and the older sister was 12.

But still, having to know that someone knew about her real name which was supposed to be a secret when she was living as a guild shadow made her feel a bit cautious around Zio.

"I don't know how you know my name, but please refrain from calling me that. Call me Silver Hound instead. And, your sister didn't abandon you."