Chapter 38: Chapter 38
His breath came out warm and heavily, labored and painful as he gazed upon Yelena’s face. The pain he felt was immense and difficult to bear. it almost caused him to faint, and saliva dripped from his mouth because the agony was so great he couldn’t control himself.
And now, he was still face to face with the sole cause of his agony, Yelena, who didn’t seem like she was done tutoring him. For a moment, he watched her silently, terrified and still engrossed in the suffering.
"Seems you still choose death than to give up information," Yelena spoke coldly, finding Brygo’s silence to her question annoying and time wasting.
"Fine. I’ll give it to you... slow. Like I promised." Yelena added, grabbing the hilt of the blade, which was still stabbed into Brygo’s lap, as she sat directly in front of him.
And then she slowly began to twist the blade, causing another round of unimaginable pain to Brygo. His screams erupted once more, loud and disturbing, as Eric and Jimmy watched the gruesome event unfold in front of them, slightly unable to bear the sight.
"Valera Vol!!!, Velera Vol!!!" Brygo spoke loudly in pain within his scream, finally letting out a piece of information.
Hearing him, Yelena immediately loosened her grip on the blade and withdrew her arm, resting it back on her lap as she awaited a further response from him.
"The Nebulux, Val... Valera Vol," Brygo struggled to speak, gasping to regain his breath, slowly recovering from the latest wave of pain as he bowed his head in agony.
"What’s that?" Yelena asked, her voice and expressions cold as she awaited his next response.
At this point, the excruciating amount of pain and heavy blood loss was slowly drifting Brygo toward unconsciousness. His eyes and head slowly began to spin.
"It’s where the Nebulux Core is being kept, until he officially comes to retrieve it," Brygo replied almost calmly as he began to lose control of himself, his voice fading.
"Where exactly?!" Yelena said loudly, a light frown crossing her cold face as she spoke.
"I... I don’t... know... exactly where," Brygo said, his voice now weak and losing touch with reality.
Frustrated by his hesitant and slow lack of feedback, Yelena grew colder, silently annoyed. She stretched out her hand, grabbing the blade once again, preparing to twist it.
"E851, Valera Vol. It’s a constellation at the far side of the cosmos. Fifty galaxies west from Earth," Jimmy stepped forward boldly, slightly wary. His sudden input instantly halted another round of torture from Yelena before she could finally twist the blade once again.
"It’s an isolated cosmic space left unchecked after the Serebian War in year 2245," Jimmy added, stepping closer but standing a little behind Yelena.
"The aftermath of the war caused a lot of regions and some partially surviving planets to be completely uninhabitable for any living organisms whatsoever, which caused E851 to be ruled out from the stellar map," he concluded.
Yelena was actively listening, sitting quietly still, maintaining her unfazed gaze at Brygo in front of her.
Eric was totally stunned and surprised by Jimmy’s sudden courage and confidence to speak up, purposefully halting the heartless torture from Yelena. He was also impressed by how much Jimmy knew, some of these details even he did not know unless it was strictly required.
"A perfect hiding spot to go completely undetected," Eric said loudly with realization, audible enough for everyone in the room to hear as he walked up to Jimmy, impressed by his input and knowledge.
"Wait, how do you even know all these?" Eric asked, turning his head to Jimmy as he now stood beside him.
"My dad had a lot of historical documentaries of different life changing events. Some of those documentaries included you, Eric," Jimmy replied softly, turning his head to Eric without moving his body, radiating a calm and confident look.
"I watched and studied every single one I could when I was a kid. It’s also what got me interested in science."
"But some of those documentaries were burnt before I could learn them. I figured it had something to do with why people of this generation don’t know who you are. That’s why I came looking for you after I miraculously saw you in person," Jimmy added, now turning his face away from Eric and looking at Yelena in front of him.
Eric, looking at Jimmy, finally understood the true purpose of why he and Jimmy met in the first place, why Jimmy knew so much about him even when everyone else struggled or failed to recognize him. Deep down, Eric knew Jimmy was right, the reason why only a few knew about Eric Blackmoor was tied to the devastating event that happened eighteen years ago.
Before Eric could sink deeper into his thoughts, he immediately snapped out of it and walked toward Yelena.
"That’s enough bleeding for one day. He’s told us what we need, NEXUS will back the sweep, and search Valera Vol" Eric said boldly, a serious frown on his face as he walked up to Yelena, trying to persuade her to stop her brutal process of getting information.
Yelena sat calmly, gazing at the softly breathing and almost unconscious Brygo as she awaited Eric’s approach.
"This... This is too much. Even for you, Yelena." Eric said, stepping on a blood pool as he now stood side by side with Yelena.
"We’ve got what we came for. Let’s move, before this whole bloody thing turns into a more complicated shitshow."
Yelena, still sitting calm and still, heard Eric’s words clearly but maintained her silence for a while without turning to face him.
"Seems you didn’t clearly catch the part where he said ’*until he officially comes to retrieve it*’," Yelena replied, her tone cutting cold and sharp.
At Yelena’s words, Eric instantly paused in sharp realization. He remembered he heard Brygo say something similar, but at that time, he was too distracted and disturbed by Yelena’s torture to focus.
"That alone should tell you the High Monarch doesn’t have the Nebulux," Yelena said, as she now straightened up on her seat and turned her face to Eric.
Eric and Jimmy instantly sparked with the realization of her words, finding it a little hard to believe as their facial expressions changed immediately.
"Wait. So that means—" Jimmy spoke out with dawning realization, still standing behind them.
"The Monarch’s not the one who stole the Nebulux, and he hasn’t gotten it yet even when the location is known," Yelena said, cutting Jimmy halfway from finishing his words.
"Which means it’s a trade," Eric said loudly but softly, his tone laced with newly found realization and discovery.
"Someone took the Nebulux to him instead. A third party."
"Probably someone from the inside," Yelena said, a grim, cold expression on her face, well accompanied by a frown of bitter realization.
The whole room went into complete silence under the weight of their new discovery. All gathered clues pointed to a spy within NEXUS, possibly a traitor lurking amongst them.
"Shit!!" Eric said out loud, the full weight of the discovery finally sinking in.
Yelena stood up from her seat, grabbing Brygo by the jaw and staring intently at him. Eric, noticing this, glanced sharply at the Harald.
"We need to take him to a hospital," Eric said, heavily concerned about the blood loss.
"There’s no need. He’s already dead," Yelena replied, finally letting go of Brygo and walking away.
The two men in the room suddenly fell silent as they both now noticed Brygo’s lifeless body. Yelena had left his presence. They were truly disturbed by how far she took things into her own hands.
Unsettled by her actions, Eric walked away and approached Yelena with an unsettled look on his face.
"Was killing him really necessary?" Eric spoke, once again blocking Yelena’s path.
She gazed at him, a look with little to no remorse on her face.
"It was what he wanted," Yelena replied, her tone cold and unshaken as she focused her gaze on Eric.
Her reply instantly filled Eric with frustration. He could not come to understand why Yelena would do such a thing and just brush it off while saying something so disturbing.
"I don’t give a toss what he wanted. We don’t kill people just to make a bloody point, not even for answers. Yelena!!" Eric sparked, his voice laced with frustration as he motioned with his hands.
"His death wasn’t intentional, but there was a reason to go that far," Yelena replied, her tone and expression perfectly normal.
"What?... what the hell might that be?" Eric launched back immediately, giving no space between her reply and his.
"He was close to killing you," Yelena said calmly, her voice sharp and direct as she stood in front of Eric.
Her reply stunned Eric immediately. He was shocked and surprised, trying to understand if she really meant what she said, that she went that far because someone threatened his life. He stood still in silence, wondering if she had grown a soft side for him during their time together or if it was for a different, unstated reason.
"Jimmy could have died today, Eric, just the way Kaldala did," Yelena spoke, her gaze fixed coldly at Eric.
Her follow up reply now stunned Jimmy too. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard from her all of a sudden.
"Kaldala’s dead?" Jimmy asked, his eyes wide open in shock.
"Yes," Yelena replied, slightly adjusting her face to Jimmy as the weight of her words was accompanied by a long silence.
"He killed people and now plans the same fate for everyone else, the universe included. So tell me if someone like that doesn’t deserve death," Yelena said, breaking the silence as she turned her face back to Jimmy.
And once again, the room went into deep silence. Too much was going on all at once for everyone. They were tense, shocked, tired, and mixed with emotions that made it impossible to keep their heads straight.
After a while, Eric finally broke the silence.
"Never was close to the guy, but even I know Kaldala got dealt a raw hand. Deserved more than this mess." Eric said, breaking the silence, his voice and expression calm, a note of sadness in his tone.