Chapter 58 - Burden

Titus smiled at Blue. "You are stubborn, a smartass, you put yourself in the most dangerous position in any room you enter. You refuse to accept that those around you can help you in any way, shape, or form. And most importantly, you are a fucking pain in my ass."

"Okay, Titus, I am not sure what the hell is going on, but is the berating really necessary?" Aaron looked at Blue. "Do you have any idea what is going on?"

"I... I have no idea." Blue tilted his head and squinted at Titus. "Do I get a turn now to shit all over your character? Because I have a few notes of my own."

Titus laughed as he stretched, put both hands behind his head, and kicked his feet onto the table. "Let me tell you a story."

"I hate stories." Aaron yawned.

"Fifteen years ago or so. Hell, I can't remember the exact date. I was sleeping like any other normal night. I was the commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment. A full-bird colonel. We were preparing for deployment during that time, so I was stressed to say the least. Anyways, the night it happened."

"The night what happened?" Aaron asked.

"I'm getting there. Let me tell my damn story. Anyways, the night it happened, I was asleep like normal, dreaming about me and Julia Roberts on a private island when a bright golden light shined through my window and woke me up."

Aaron nudged Blue with his elbow. "I do the same, but with Jessica Alba." He winked and smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. So I woke up and looked out of my window. I assumed some soldiers were playing a prank or doing stupid shit as soldiers do, but there was nothing outside. I turned to go back to bed, and there it was. A ball of glowing golden energy. Before I could do anything, it entered my body and I was sent somewhere else..."

"Somewhere else?" Blue leaned forward.

"Yeah, like physically somewhere else. I still can't explain it. Anyways, these two massive beings stood beside me and basically told me worlds were falling and soon my world would be next. They gave me power and a system. Told me I had to grow strong before the gates arrived and I couldn't tell anyone else about it because they had a mission for me. Years from then, a man would emerge from a golden gate, and I had to protect him from the god Hatred and his forces at all costs. He was the hope of the cosmos. They would protect him by stopping Hatred from reaching this world for the time being, but when the gates appeared on Earth, it would be the signal that it was my turn to protect him."

"Wait, are you saying..." Aaron looked between Blue and Titus a few times. "No fucking way."

"I watched every golden gate for years. They never told me the identity of the person I was meant to protect, only that he'd come through a golden gate. With the help of the previous president and a dear friend who was the mind behind the tech we see in the Association, I examined each person who resonated with a golden gate and felt nothing from any of them. Then a golden gate appeared here in Columbus. For a year, I spent every waking day trying to find the person they were talking about. Trying to find anyone who could resonate with that gate. Then one day, Aaron, you brought him into the Association."

"Are you saying you spoke to the Golden Gods? You saw them?" Blue asked.

"Are you saying you're the one they spoke about?" Titus smiled at Blue.

"Well, i suppose i can I tell you guys a story too." Blue sighed.

"At this point, I really can't say no, can I?" Aaron smiled at Blue and stuck his hand out. "Go on, let's hear it. Who do you dream about being on a private island with?"

Blue chuckled. "Mine's definitely Topanga."

"Good choice." Aaron laughed.

"So, fifteen years ago or so, I died."

Titus swung his feet off the table and leaned forward. Aaron sat up a little straighter.

"I was born in Murim. My name was Tang Jiung. These gates came to Murim, and that was the day I died. Then, out of nowhere, I woke up in this body with my memories intact. The person who inhabited this body had died at the age of five due to pneumonia, and I basically took it over. I didn't awaken when those same gates came here. Only when the golden gate appeared in front of me and I stepped through, back to my homeworld, did I awaken. My system is weird. Aaron, you know that. I am the Champion of the Golden Gods, as my system has told me."

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT? YOU REINCARNATED?" Aaron sighed deeply. "This just got waaaay deeper than I thought it would've."

Titus stared at Blue for a few seconds. "Wait. You said you died around fifteen years ago?"

"Yeah."

"That's around the same time that thing happened to me."

Blue stared back at him. "Yeah, i gathered that."

Titus leaned back slightly, his eyes still fixed on Blue. "That's one hell of a coincidence. But, for the life of me, I still can't understand why they'd choose someone like you with your temperament."

"I don't know either. I also don't know why they'd choose a selfish asshole like you to protect their Champion. You're kind of a prick."

"Oh, you think so? Why is that?"

"You've been in my way this whole time. You've made it your purpose to halt or slow down everything I'm trying to do."

"Did you not fucking listen to my story? I was told I had to protect the person who came through the golden gate. When you appeared, my gut told me it was you. I could sense that same power from them coming from you. The test at the Association and those damned question marks confirmed it for me. Every decision I made was to help you grow and to keep you hidden."

"Even the first gate where my first team leader died?"

Aaron looked at Titus and raised his eyebrows at him. "Good question. I'd like to hear an answer to that."

Titus sighed. "I was trying to test you. It wasn't my intention for anyone to die. But I needed to know if you were capable of shouldering the responsibility of being the savior of the cosmos, or whatever shit they said about you. And yeah, I confirmed it, but I still didn't believe it." Titus hung his head. "Every decision I made was to shield you from Hatred and whatever forces he controls on this planet. To make sure you can grow into what you are supposed to be. You haven't made that fucking easy at all."

"So you've known about this Hatred god the whole time, Titus? You've known about Blue this whole time and kept it all to yourself? What else have you kept hidden?"

"Aaron, this is beyond you, me, even Blue right now. I didn't make this decision for myself. It was forced upon me, just as I imagine the Champion status was forced upon him. There are forces beyond our comprehension at play. I simply did what I was instructed to do. Honestly, after that incident, I didn't believe it until my system appeared the next day. It gave me ways to level up through my deployment to Afghanistan and various other things. So, yeah, I had no choice but to keep what I knew to myself."

"So, blocking the guild, stopping me from becoming a ranker, all of it was to protect me somehow?"

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold the fuck up. Explain his ranker exam then, Titus."

Blue looked at Aaron, who had suddenly become very serious.

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't? You made every decision to protect him. You issued that gate as his exam. You stood there with me and watched it disappear. You sent him into a fucking S-rank gate alone, and you call that protecting him?"

"I did send him to that gate, but believe me, it was A-rank when we gauged it. I had no idea it had evolved into S-rank. When I left that day, it was to investigate how that could happen. Even Grayson measured it beforehand and provided me the meter that showed it was A-rank hours before Blue ever stepped inside."

"This is a lot to take in right now." Blue leaned back in his chair. "We can probably go back and forth and argue and nitpick things all day. Trust me, I want to. The important thing is we are on the same side. So, you need to know, Titus, that I have my own mission here."

Aaron nodded and crossed his arms. Titus looked at Blue. "The pendant, right?"

"Yes, the pendant. And I've been training people to use qi and sending them through the golden gate to Murim to train and awaken. To gather strength for Murim and for Earth."

"So, you want me to shield you? Keep it hidden from the Association that you're training the unawakened?"

"That, and know I am going to be searching for the pendant. That is my priority right now."

"I know. How do you think Aaron got the map?"

"Wait, you?"

"Of course. Nothing happens in Columbus that I don't know about. You were asking around about jewelry and pendants in gates, so I made sure you got the information you needed."

"That doesn't explain you knowing it was for me, though." Blue looked confused as he stared at Titus.

"If your system tells you it's important, it tells me it's important. I am your guardian angel, Blue." Titus opened his system and showed Blue and Aaron.

[System Message]

[Help the Champion find the pendant. It is imperative to the survival of everything.]

"See? So it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together. This message and you specifically asking around about a pendant. Anyone could've guessed you knew Blue's status as Champion."

Aaron scratched his head and stood up. "Well, now my day is completely ruined. I am going to sleep for two days straight. Unless you have anything more for me?"

Titus nodded. "Go rest. You've earned it. Blue and I can handle the rest."

Aaron patted Blue on the back. "Good luck."

Aaron walked out of the tent. As he stepped outside, he stared at the sun as it beat down on him. He looked back at the tent one last time.

"Gods sure are cruel fucking things."