"Could you please give me something to eat? I haven't had a proper meal in a week… I had to do with just a bag of chips and a chocolate bar. Please… I'm really struggling here…"
A young man with shoulder-length dark hair, a deathly pale face, wrapped in strange black clothes all around his body, pleaded with teary eyes.
Officer Neal was dumbstruck and seemingly at a loss for words. He inadvertently let out a soft "agh" as a headache started, while facing the so-called anomaly he had anticipated. All his anxiety went out the window after this discovery.
Officer Neal had tried asking questions such as "How did you get beyond the walls?" or "Where did you come from?" But the only reply he got in return was:
"I can't remember."
Officer Neal let out a deep sigh and looked at the Young man with scornful eyes.
"Do you have any name?" he asked, his tone tinged with annoyance.
"Hmm…" the young man seemed a bit unsure.
'God! How can he be unsure about his own name?'
After some thought the young man raised his head, with a wide grin stretched across his face.
"You may address me as Lupin."
He declared with a strange expression and pose that made Officer Neal cringe slightly.
"..." Officer Neal was seemingly unable to elicit a proper reaction to that dramatic name reveal, letting an uncomfortable silence fall in its place.
"Koff.. koff.."
The young man, Lupin, coughed twice, breaking the shell of awkwardness.
"Lupin, my name is Lupin," he repeated, though in a more subdued voice than before.
"And.. Is there anything else that you can remember about yourself?" Officer Neal probed.
"No, hmmm… but I might. You see, I need something to eat or my head refuses to work with me," Lupin licked his evidently dry lips.
Officer Neal looked at the stubborn young man with exasperation.
'Who does he take me for? Agh… '
He groaned internally.
Then with a long sigh, Officer Neal instructed one of his subordinates to bring something to eat for this annoying young man, whose name was apparently Lupin.
…
Dorian found himself not in an actual interrogation room, but rather in a cramped office, sitting across from a man who appeared to be in his late twenties, or perhaps even older.
His hands were cuffed with what looked like tree bark. Honestly, Dorian thought he could easily break free from them, but he held back.
There were two main reasons for this restraint.
First, even if he did manage to tear off the cuffs and somehow escape this place, what then? This world was foreign to him, and he was completely clueless about it. Even if he were to make a break for it, he'd likely encounter something even worse out in a parallel world filled with gigantic worms and people capable of throwing spears made of pure light than in here.
Second, and perhaps most evident of the two, could he truly break free from these cuffs? These were the same people who could one-shot a gigantic worm with spears made of light. Would they really be foolish enough to use ordinary tree bark to restrain someone like him, a being from beyond the so-called [walls], who seemed increasingly suspicious by the minute?
In the end, all this pitiful little soul, Dorian Oriel, could do was bide his time, stand his ground and wait for the right opportunity to show itself, so that he could make good of it, just as he had done during the time he found himself sandwiched between those colossal worms.
To pull that off successfully, he would definitely need a new identity.
And that identity would be "Lupin"; a young man with a carefree and easygoing personality who didn't take life too seriously.
Of course, this new persona needed a bit more polishing, but that could wait until things settled down a notch.
And also, until his stomach stopped growling.
…
Dorian gazed at the bowl of ramen with tears in his eyes and his mouth watering.
He looked at the old man and then looked at the cuffs made of tree bark, trying to indicate that it was hard for him to eat like that.
"..."
Not finding a reaction coming from him, Dorian asked, feigning shyness.
"Then will you feed me? Oh, how embarrassing, I haven't been fed by someone else, since… forever."
The man grumbled as he got behind him and did some kind of strange hand movement. That seemed to be enough for the cuffs to fall off on their own.
With an exaggerated smile, he picked up the chopsticks and eagerly dug into the meal. The savoury broth and tender noodles sent a wave of satisfaction through him. This was his first satisfying meal after getting trapped in his room for so long. He cherished every slurp of the noodles and savoured the broth until it was all gone.
Leaning back in his chair, Dorian's hunger was finally appeased. Seeing that, the man in front of him began to speak, much calmer than before.
"Do you have anything you want to ask me?"
After thinking about it a bit, Officer Neal thought of taking a different approach this time.
Dorian cocked his brow and looked at him with a strange face.
"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"
"I don't mind helping you out a bit. Who knows, maybe you might remember something along the way as I answer you?"
"Hmm… is that so?" Dorian, seemingly puzzled by the logic, fumbled with his words as his mind started to think of something he could ask about.
Then, suddenly an unknown term came to mind.
"What's a [Curse]?"
As Dorian asked that, the man before him became bewildered, his brows furrowing slightly.
As if Dorian had just asked, "What's an eye or a nose or a hand?"
"What? You said you'd answer anything." Dorian shrugged off his sense of unease with this retort.
Then as explaining something for the sole purpose of explaining and not for making someone understand something, the man before Dorian began.
"The [Curse] is something that the Angels bestowed upon all living beings. It comes in many different forms and ways. While the [Curse] takes something from us, it also gives something in return, which is [Authority]. The crueller the [Curse], the more powerful and wondrous the [Authority]; An equivalent exchange. This shows us the extent of kindness the Angels had shown us mortals, by bestowing us authorities over godly Domains."
Dorian looked stunned as many thoughts crossed his mind.
He calmed himself down and asked casually, "How do you know that this [Curse] & [Authority] stuff was given to you by Angels ?"
"It was foretold in the scripture bestowed upon us, after the great catastrophe took place a millennium ago. The Angels helped us mortals with godly powers, so that we may defend and defeat the vile entities beyond the wall."
"And you wholeheartedly believed them, not a shred of doubt?"
"Yes. Why wouldn't I?"
"..." Dorian paused for a brief moment and then pointed out, "Then should I assume that the entities outside the walls don't have a [Curses], yes?"
"Yes." The man answered honestly.
"So, you mean to say they don't fall in the 'all living beings' category in your… uh, in those Angels' eyes?" Dorian paused, "In the first place, who are the angels?"
"We… I don't know. Nobody does. They are wondrous. A mystery of the Universe, I suppose."
Dorian looked exasperated at that seemingly pious reply.
He shook his head and said after some deliberation, "Yes, I get it. I get the logic. Wondrous things are wondrous as long as they are left for the wondering. Also, Mysterious things will be mysterious as long as they stay a mystery. So, no one doubted whether the scriptures were true or not, just because they were a wonder; a forever mystery?"
After that somewhat philosophical remark, Dorian started getting rather listless, his eyes becoming unfocused as he looked at the ceiling.
A sad, deep, long sigh escaped his lips.
'Ah… generic dogshit. Seriously, Mr. Author, do better. Whoever you are.'
Dorian was disappointed at how fantasy-like this setting was. And it seemed that he himself had one of those so-called bestowments from the great Angels. The translucent membrane that covered a wildly beating heart, wrapped around with fleshy tendrils.
Well, it wasn't as though he was unhappy that he got roped into something like this, it's just that he was thinking of a question any Main Character of a web novel would.
"Why me?"
Also, there was a hint of expectation bubbling inside Dorian, as he thought of what kind of superpower or in this case, what kind of [Authority], he got from the [Curse]. Though he was also worried about the price he had to pay for it.
'Hmm…'
Should he go out and try some experiments? What if this superpower or [Authority] of his is so overpowered that no enemy can stand against him?
'Ah…' but that would also mean the [Curse] part would be just as dreadful. It was an equivalent exchange after all.
As these thoughts were flooding Dorian's mind, something else was running amok inside Officer Neal's head.
'This… this man, Lupin. He is beyond my wildest expectations.'
While talking to him, Officer Neal had come to several conclusions of his own.
1. He is clever, deceitful, and a liar. But most of his front is easily noticeable. Which also begs the question, is his truth a lie, or is the fact that they are a lie also a lie? A total controversy. A dangerous man.
2. His inquiries are all too elementary; any human inside the walls knows about them. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that he was found outside the wall. Which also elicits a question; Are there humans living outside the walls? And the fact that he knows so little about such simple matters, could he be one of the people living outside the walls?
3. His name was definitely not Lupin. What could his real name be? Why did he not reveal his true name? He is a mystery.
4. The most jarring of them all. He had no belief in the Angels!
…
As both of them were having their own, silent understandings, the room suddenly started to tremble violently, making both of them jolt in shock!
'Hah? What is happening?!' Just as those thoughts formed in Officer Neal's head, the communication Crow started to buzz.
"What!" Officer Neal gasped, fear and confusion evident in his eyes.
However, with a deep breath, he steadied himself and asked.
"How many, how many Dead Walkers are there?"
But what the voice from the other end said, made Officer Neal's blood run cold.
The room trembled once again as the person on the other end said:
All colour drained from His face.
Officer Neal gnashed his molars as he looked at Dorian with pure animosity.
He made a grave mistake bringing this anomaly inside the walls!