Tale of Vanguard

What stands between Kaelen and his mother is a tall grey-haired man with a handlebar moustache who looks to be in his mid fifties, wearing a full-on black robe covering his entire body. Soon after, the flickering lights in the room stops.

"Oho.. where are my manners, please allow me to introdu—"

"Wait! I'll listen to whatever you wanted to say later, but now, i just need to do one thing first"

Kaelen who seems to be in a distressed, slowly approached the mysterious man in front of him.

"Please step away from that woman behind you, and let me call a doctor first to check on her condition" 

The old man turned his head to see a woman lying frozen and still in the bed.

"You don't have to worry about that. I can guarantee you her condition is of no concern for now."

Displeased by the old man words, Kaelen snapped at him.

"No concern?! Can't you see old man?? the electrocardiogram that is attached to her didn't make a sound at all, do you even know what that means?!"

Kaelen knew he had to get help quickly, but he couldn't leave his mother with the mysterious old man who had appeared out of nowhere, not to mention the door behind him that wouldn't open at all.

"Forgive my impudence young man, i may not be an expert, but i'm pretty certain this fine piece of machinery would still produce a sound in the event of a lack of activity in the heart no?"

Hearing what the old man said, Kaelen suddenly realized that the old man isn't wrong, usually, when a patient's heartbeat stops, an electrocardiogram doesn't produce the same rhythmic sounds it does when a heartbeat is present. Instead, it may produce a flatline sound, indicating a lack of electrical activity in the heart. But Kaelen's worries got the better of him, so he couldn't think straight at the time.

'Come to think of it, why do i have this eerie feeling for a while, and what's with the absence of atmosphere around here...' Kaelen thought to himself.

"Why don't you take a peek outside first"

The old man gestured Kaelen to look outside the window on the other end of the room, the window itself is connected to the main road that leads to the hospital, and when Kaelen approaches it, the view outside is mind boggling.

"What the... what the hell happened?!"

Even from a relatively high floor of the hospital, Kaelen should still be able to see the bustling activities down the road—or rather, the absence of them. From the vehicles that should have been cruising on the highway and the people interacting below, nothing was moving. It was as if time had come to a halt. Does the same thing applied to his mother too? where she seems to look more soundly than before, not that it's a good thing.

"Who are you old man?" Kaelen asked curiously

"Ah yes.. please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Alaric Chronos of the Calaria kingdom."

"The what kingdom? And would you mind explaining all the strange things that have happened here?" 

Hearing Kaelen's question, the old man took the chair beside him and sat down.

"First and foremost, the things that happened around us is simply because of my existence here, don't worry, after i leave this place, everything will return back to normal."

Not waiting for a response, he added:

"Second, i came here because of an errand ordered by his Majesty"

After he process all the information he heard, Kaelen asked

"And what exactly is this errand of yours that you must do?"

The old man stands up from his seat.

"My job is to find all Seekers that inhabits the planet earth and to bring them to my world. But i never would have thought that i would also found a curse in here"

What shocked Kaelen the most is the latter half of the information that the old man said. A curse — already thinking of the worst case scenario, he immediately asked:

"A curse you said, surely you don't mean..." 

The old man gave Kaelen a nod

"Yes, i'm afraid you guessed correctly, that woman over there is affected by a curse that is often found in my homeworld too"

hearing those word from the old man, Kaelen's eye become lifeless, he slowly walked past the old man and headed to his bedridden mother. A curse -- out of all the things that could've befall him and his mother, something out of the ordinary happened, Kaelen didn't even bother to clarify this piece of information that the old man give to him, as soon as he heard the damn word, he fell into hopeless despair. He kneeled on both feet and lowered his head beside his mother bed frame, devoid of anything. 

"Forgive my rudeness young man, but who is that women that you seem to cared so much about?" The old man asked 

Kaelen is silent for a while, until he took a deep breath and responded with his head still lowered 

"She... is my only family in this world, someone I have known for my entire life."

For a while, the room was silent, Kaelen, who's still kneeled beside his mother, didn't even bother to pay any attention to the old man behind him. Until the old man voice filled the silence once again.

"Why do you act as if you believe every single word I've just said? What if those words are based on complete lies?"

"Tch!"

Kaelen quickly raised his head up and confront the old man behind him.

"What the hell do you want old man! First you came here uninvited and then you suddenly drop a bombshell saying that you're from another world to find these seekers or whatever it is that you're searching for and then telling me that my mother is cursed!! Sorry, but i can't help you, so i suggests you leave this room immediately!"

Not often does Kaelen scream to someone, but all the turn of events and information that he received from the last couple of minute from this old man has already pulled his last straw. After the outburst that he just had, Kaelen suddenly found both of his hand grabbing the collar of the old man's robe with his indifferent looks fixated on him. He immediately let go of it

"I'm sorry for that old man, but could you leave me alone now, i'm not interested in anything you have to offer"

"You've got it all wrong, young man. The real question is: what can you offer me?"

The old man's voice carried an odd mix of amusement and challenge, his eyes were glinting with mischief.

Kaelen frowned upon hearing his words. He couldn't shake the feeling that every sentence was designed to throw him off balance.

'What is up with this old man's way of twisting words?'

The old man leaned in closer, his smile was widening as he spoke in a low, conspiratorial tone.

"Come with me to my homeworld, young man, and perhaps I'll have what it takes to help your mother."

Kaelen blinked, his eyes narrowing in confusion.

"What?" 

The old man's smile didn't falter, as if Kaelen's disbelief only made him more certain of his own words.