Nameless King

After the fight between Gisle and Erza was over, everyone dispersed. Ern with Alas went out of town to fight someone, he needed to vent the emotions he had accumulated while watching. Aurora returned to her office, and Wain with Alice came to the spare room, or rather Wain brought her, holding her in his arms.

"Wain...? Why did we come here...?" Alice mumbled with a confused look.

Wain lowered her to the ground and with a serious look said, "I want to talk to you. You have to tell me about your world, everything you know."

"My world...?" Alice uttered as she touched her lips, "Right... I only told you about what happened to my city and how I was then captured by the Ashens..."

"Yeah. That's what I want to ask you about. The thing is, I'm not really from this world either." Wain said in a calm voice as he shook his hand.

Alice's eyes widened as her mouth went wide.

"Is it true?!" Alice exclaimed with a dazed look as she slapped the table.

"Sure. There's no point in me lying, for some reason you and I are in about the same situation. You ended up in this world because your city was teleported, but I came here through a portal. You're probably like me, the only survivor of your world, right?" Wain asked while holding his arms crossed.

His gaze was calm, but cold and frightening at the same time, so Alice could clearly feel the tension building.

"It's just like you said." Alice said in a quiet voice as she clenched her fists.

'Fine, now I've found the answer to one more question. There's more work ahead, but perhaps my world and Alice's are more alike than I expected.' Wain said inwardly with a slight nod.

"Alice, as I understand it, no one in your world had powers, did they?" Wain asked.

"Yeah. I learned about the fact that people here can summon fire, lightning, or wind with energy from you and Mr. Ern, before that I had only heard about it in fairy tales." Alice muttered as she tilted her head.

"Was there anything unusual in your world? Maybe there were monsters somewhere before teleportation or something like that?" Wain said in a curious voice.

"No." Alice answered quickly as she shook her head, "Before this happened I had a normal, peaceful life. I went to university, helped my parents with work, and chatted with friends. All the students, like me, liked to speculate about when the secret of Dark Wall would be revealed."

"Dark Wall...? What is it? Some kind of technology on the verge of discovery?" Wain asked with a puzzled look as he tilted his head.

"Hmm? You don't know?" Alice said in a confused manner as though it were strange, "I thought our worlds were identical, but it seems they were different after all. The Dark Wall is a massive wall of dark mist that was in the ocean, on the horizon."

'Dark Mist!' Wain inwardly exclaimed as his eyes went wide.

Alice didn't notice Wain's reaction as she continued, "Many scientists, for decades, have tried to figure out what it is, but not one of their theories has turned out to be correct, or rather they haven't been able to verify it."

​ "They couldn't verify...?" Wain muttered with a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"Are you really curious?" Alice asked in an uncertain manner.

"Yeah. Tell me everything you know. There was no Dark Wall in my world." Wain uttered in a calm voice as he nodded.

"Good! I know a lot about it!" Alice exclaimed in an excited manner as her eyes lit up.

'Well, looks like I'm in luck. She was definitely interested in it.'

Alice sighed, waved her hand, and began, "Scientists tried to fly to the Dark Wall in planes or helicopters, but as soon as they got close to it, the equipment malfunctioned and they fell into the ocean, after that no one else wanted to risk it. From space, it was also impossible to see anything as the dark fog as though it felt like someone was trying to uncover its secrets."

"Of course, they tried to attack Dark Wall with all sorts of weapons, scientists even used nukes a few times!" Alice said with a broad smile on her face.

"Huh, the scientists in your world had some pretty radical methods." Wain grinned.

"Yeah, but... they did it out of desperation since it was one of the last ideas that they had. Unfortunately, the missiles just lost speed and went out right before the Dark Wall, so there were several thousand different missiles at the bottom of the ocean that just failed for unknown reasons." Alice sighed with a frustrated look.

"Hmm... That's actually weird. The Dark Wall was just in the ocean? Maybe something unusual was going on with it?" Wain asked while rubbing his chin in a thoughtful manner.

"Nothing interesting. In fact, there have been many theories about the Dark Wall just because of its mystique, but it hasn't affected our world in any way." Alice shook her head.

"I see... Then, I have one last question for you." Wain uttered as he put his fingertips together and leaned forward, "Do you know how long ago the Dark Wall appeared?"

"Well... Scientists have argued about it many times, but the most popular version is that the Dark Wall appeared several thousand years ago. As evidence, scientists have found several drawings on caves where the Dark Wall was and several ancient scrolls left over from the Middle Ages." Alice muttered with a serious look as she tried not to misinterpret what she had said.

"Fine." Wain nodded, "That's enough. Thank you for your time."

Wain got up from the table, headed for the exit, and closed the door behind him.

"Damn, that guy always struck me as kind of creepy. You shouldn't get too close to him." Dormant Stalker uttered while looking at the door.

"Hmm? You're too untrusting! Wain is our friend!" Alice puffed her cheeks as she slapped Dormant Stalker.

"I'm just being cautious." Dormant Stalker muttered, "If he's your friend, then why didn't you tell him about THIS?"

Alice flinched, tilted her head, and touched her chest as though there was something hidden there.

"I don't know... He didn't ask, right?" Alice whispered.

'Next time you see him, tell him that. Maybe he knows what it is. After all, he's a human too."

"Sure." Alice nodded.