CHAPTER 195: CHAPTER 195: STARK CONTRAST

Chapter 195 – Stark Contrast

What followed was a series of events that no one — on either world — could have begun to fathom.

A Warborn and a Cerveau, sitting side by side deep inside a lush green forest, a forest that looked like it had caught fire beneath the brilliance of the sun hanging high above, both of them perched atop a massive rock embedded within a pristine, endlessly flowing river.

Their appearances were in stark contrast.

The woman was older, with eyes that looked as though they had witnessed every profanity and cruelty the world had to offer. Her hair was blue but not the simple, sky-blue hue of childish innocence. No... her blue shimmered like cascading waterfalls lit by sunlight, mystical and elusive.

And her eyes...they were something else entirely.

They were otherworldly. Too beautiful, too alien, too divine to be described using the mundane language we know.

In simple terms, it felt like the very concept of blue had been born because of her eyes.

She wore a sleeveless white Victorian-style dress, embroidered with thin blue threads woven carefully to form intricate patterns of lotuses and watching eyes.

She was... ethereal.

The one beside her was quite the opposite.

He was younger, with no ancient wisdom swimming behind his gaze.

Instead, his blood-red eyes burned with something raw and consuming...a hunger to devour, a hunger to take, a hunger to harvest.

There was recklessness in them, yes, but also an unshakable resolve, the kind of fire that couldn’t be extinguished, only redirected.

His head was ignited with luxurious black hair, silky and light-absorbing, falling just past his shoulders. His clothing was a simple black tunic, unadorned and unremarkable.

They were, of couse...

Vaela Cerveau, also known to many as The Seer.

Kaden Warborn, also known to all as The Harvester.

One looked too immaculate to exist in this filthy world.

The other looked too profane, too monstrous to be allowed to roam freely within this already cursed reality.

They were two beings who had no business even acknowledging each other, let alone sitting together discussing the meaning of sugar mommy while laughing and chuckling every now and then like old friends from middle school reunited after experiencing the cruelty of the adult’s world.

It was truly a sight to behold.

Kaden averting his gaze, lips twitching, voice wavering as he awkwardly tried to explain the concept, while Vaela’s neon eyes shone with such unfiltered excitement you’d think she was being told the secrets of the eighth wonder of the world.

In the end, she stood proudly, eyes closed, a big, radiant smile spreading across her achingly beautiful face as she placed a hand to her chest and declared:

"I shall be your Sugar Mommy."

Kaden couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

Vaela was innocently twisted, a creature who could act like a child discovering joy one second, and in the very next, shift into something so terrifying, so maddened, it gave Kaden the kind of chills that made even his Warborn blood freeze.

She was an unpredictable mess.

A mess he was now tangled with.

After that little banter, they finally began their real discussion, about how to deal with the Cerveau.

That’s when Kaden shared his idea of creating an organization. An entity meant not only to gather information but also to handle the kind of tasks that needed to be done in the shadows, far from the light, in the forgotten corners of the world where no law reached and no mercy lived.

And it was then that Vaela proved she was still a Cerveau... and still The Seer.

She listened with unnerving focus, then proposed several ideas to make the organization more grounded, more functional, more real based directly on his raw vision.

First, she insisted on anonymity. The members must not know each other’s true identities. It was crucial, she explained, if they wanted to gather and trade information freely.

Then, she proposed the use of codenames, names they would call each other, and perhaps, names that the whole world would come to know them by.

At that point, Kaden — genuinely confused — paused and looked at her, asking plainly why she was including herself in his organization.

And gods... you should have seen the betrayed look on her face.

She threw a full-on fit.

Going off into an elaborate, dramatic explanation about how friends must do everything together and so how, obviously, she had to be a part of it.

She even went as far as choosing her own codename on the spot:

"The Harvester’s Friend."

Kaden refused immediately. Without hesitation. Without negotiation.

And from the fire in his eyes, Vaela knew he was ready to die before accepting that name.

Sulking, she finally gave up and told him to choose one for her and for the others as well.

Now, Kaden was a simple man. To not say he was bad at names would be generous. He was atrocious at naming things.

So he just picked the first things that came to mind for the three members.

For Nasari, the first thought that came was ironic considering his situation, it was Ruined Knight.

And so, that became his codename.

For Alea, what echoed in his head was Masked Abomination.

She had become beautiful, yes, but deep down, she was still a beast of death at her core.

And for Vaela... well, that was trickier.

Because if Kaden said the actual things that came to mind, he knew she’d spiral from sulking into something far worse.

He didn’t know exactly what would happen but he didn’t want to find out.

He didn’t mind death. But he’d rather have his mental stability remained intact.

So after a long, cautious moment of thought, he offered a name that was vague, mysterious, yet fitting.

The Oracle of Death.

And Vaela loved it.

Once all that was settled, there was still the matter of naming the organization itself.

Its symbol. Its motto.

Something that would define them.

At that point, Kaden was already very much exasperated. But he gritted his teeth and continued forcing his brain to work on what he called "useless details" though deep down, he knew they weren’t useless at all.

After some struggling, he came up with the name:

Crimson Veil.

The symbol was a pair of blood-red eyes, with tears of blood trickling down like tiny streams.

And as for the motto...

...well, that was the part that nearly made Kaden curse out loud in frustration.

Every time he proposed something, Vaela would shake her head slowly, her expression filled with pure, cold, unmistakable disappointment, as if watching someone fail a puzzle made for toddlers.

Finally, fed up, Kaden snapped at her to come up with one herself.

And as if she’d been waiting for that moment from the very beginning, her face instantly lit up into a wide, beaming smile.

She asked him about the nature of his power.

Kaden replied simply, without going into details, something tied to blood... and soul.

Vaela sat down on the ground right then and there, completely uncaring about her dress, and entered a long, deep silence.

She wanted to find something worthy.

Worthy of her one and only friend.

And after a time, her eyes began to glow.

A light flashed inside them—like she had been pierced by divine insight, like an old truth had returned to her from some past life or forgotten world.

She jumped to her feet with the joy of a child discovering something sacred and rushed toward Kaden, brimming with excitement.

"I have found one!" She said, giddy.

Then, without giving him time to react, she began to speak.

And her voice, once bubbly, turned solemn.

It dropped into a register so powerful, so haunting, that for a brief moment, Kaden’s breath was stolen from his lungs.

The air grew still. The world paused.

And her words echoed like the voice of a goddess through the fabric of reality, embedding themselves into something far beyond mere sound.

"He claims all blood. He steals all souls.

The Harvester steps through the veil...

and with him..."

She paused.

And in that pause, her eyes flared crimson, an eerie light blooming behind them like a drop of crimson blood splashed in a sea of blue.

"...and with him, an ocean of blood."

That day...

The Crimson Veil was born...from a Cerveau and a Warborn.

Fate, truly, was a mischievous one.

—End of Chapter 195—