Chapter 101: Kai's gift
18 hours to Mission End
Evening, in the sewers
Kai stared at it. He could make any notification reappear in front of him. But that privilege turned out to be a torture device. The thing in his eyes lured him, beckoning him, and only death lay behind it, he knew.
It was the impossible mission, as Kai had named it.
The Hidden Mission.
He read it, reread it, and then re-reread it again. Not a single word made him think of a way to go through with this mission. Torture. Yes, what else could it be? Under the mission lay Attribute Points, and now seeing a Title rewarding a Skill, a spark of hope had also flashed within him.
He wanted it.
'But how?' Kai thought, bitterly. 'Time… Time…'
Kai chanted the hint as if it would reveal its mystery to him. The book on royal Lineages lay beside him like a dead beast. It had fared the worst down here in the sewers. The humid and insect-festered environment had always been the killer of knowledge since yore. But Kai would never let it go out of his sight before the Mission End.
'In the morning,' Kai thought, nodding to himself. 'I will complete that Side Mission in the morning. What if some Contestant was to touch it like me? I can't afford to lose my Title Status now.'
It was another thing that pained him. Novice Collector. If Kai could, he would do anything, anything to invest his time entirely in search of Artifacts. But with a Time Limit of 7 days and the chaos he had spread like a disease throughout the capital, there was little he could do about it.
'At least not while sitting here in the filth,' Kai rebuked himself. 'Now I know the obvious strengths and weaknesses of group Missions. There is so much one can accomplish with a team of Contestants to watch over the Mission's proceedings. But being in a team also brings unnecessary risks.'
Kai didn't mind taking risks. As long as he knew there was the power behind the risk, then no matter how dangerous it was, Kai would at least give it a go. But he wouldn't even lift a finger for anyone else which teamwork expected of its Contestants.
'If I was Sparrow,' Kai thought, 'I would have killed Cuckoo, and then easily blame the Chaos' Contestant for her death. And what did that moron do? Underestimate me. Tried to look cool. Got fatally wounded to save someone else. What good is being powerful if you don't have the right heart to use it?'
Kai abhorred people like Sparrow, who thought only their actions were of supreme justice. 'Arlen, now that is a man I can respect,' he thought. 'I wonder where is he now, in which world? He should have ascended to the 4th floor by now.'
The night was coming, Kai could feel it in his bones. He wouldn't have felt it as strongly at other times if he didn't know that Cersei would wait for him tonight as well. Another night with her. Now that made him smile. He was becoming hard down there, just by thinking about her. There wasn't a thing he could do to her, that he hadn't already done yesterday. Still, repeating them won't be boring, even if he were to repeat them endlessly.
'I can't, though,' he reminded himself. 'I can't go to her.'
A rueful and awry smile rooted itself on his face. Kai had always known he wouldn't be going back to Cersei after spending that one night of carnal pleasures. It didn't matter if he would accept or reject the Hidden Mission, either. He just wouldn't go there.
'Death,' Kai remembered. 'Death is waiting for me there. No matter if I go with a positive or negative response to her, she will never let me come back. I know too much. I remind her of someone she couldn't have.'
"Aren't you happy?" Kai asked, nudging Jon Arryn's rotting feet. "You will go back to your life tomorrow."
The Hand didn't reply. His mouth parted, and then he closed it back. His eyes remained closed often now too, despite the flame by his side. The old man had lost something of himself in these last 6 days, and that something would remain a part of these sewers forever, Kai knew.
He just didn't care.
The old man had done nothing to Kai to deserve such a fate. In any other case, Kai would have never gone with the decision of kidnapping either. It was just the man trusted others too much.
'One should trust no one,' Kai told himself. 'There are predators like me everywhere, just waiting to prey on these holier-than-thou people.'
"I… I am," the old man replied sluggishly. "I will go back… to my family."
"Yes," Kai admitted. "What will you do after going back?"
What will you do after finding out your wife is in a dungeon, and your son is under the paw of a lion? This was the question Kai wanted to ask. But why torment an already dying man, he thought, smiling.
"I will shout," Jon Arryn said, his eyelids blinking as if he was dreaming while speaking. "I will shout… that I am not a rat just after leaving this wretched place. Just after... I will shout what a monster you are!"
"Just after," Kai said, matching his voice with the old man, his eyes narrowing. "Just after… Just after…"
Kai suddenly sat up. He spun and almost pounced on the old man, making him whimper. Kai held Jon Arryn's shriveled face and kissed his cheek. The Hand tried to swat Kai off, but couldn't. Then he turned Jon Arryn's face and kissed his other cheek, too.
"Haha!" Kai laughed demonically, the flame failing to hide the evil grin on his face. "Yes, my lord. Yes. You will do all these things. Just after leaving the sewer, I promise."
He brought up the Hidden Mission's notification again. But this time, his face wasn't sulking, nor were his eyes restless. Kai was beaming, his entire body trembling with pleasure. With realization!
"Yes," he proclaimed. "I accept this mission."
'Let this be a gift,' he thought, his heart going to the beauty waiting for him; to kill him. 'Let this be my last gift to you, Cersei, my love.'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
droopyauthor
droopyauthor Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Read Ahead
You can access extra chapters as Patrons
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone