KINDNESS

At the back of the clinic, Celina had an escort vehicle ready. She explained that it was supposed to be for later after she was done healing all the people she could that day. It was a luxury vehicle, colored all white with no blemish. Kain squinted at the sight. The car seemed to reflect enough light to almost blind him. Rika too was shielding her eyes. Celina walked over to the back and opened the door, motioning them inside. “Come on, I’ll take you to my temporary estate. You all can stay there until the ceremony. Come!” Kain climbed inside, but before Rika could enter the vehicle, Celina rushed to sit beside Kain. Rika then climbed in and looked at Kain, who stared back at her with an uncomfortable expression. The inside of the car was extremely spacious, sporting much room for multiple people to sit comfortably. There was also a table in front of them, and compartments under their seat. Celina reached upward and pushed a button, setting the vehicle in motion. Celina noticed Kain and Rika’s confused expressions. She then exclaimed “Oh!” and told them, “This is just to notify my driver and tell him that we’d better start moving. Have you never seen something like this before?” Rika shook her head. “No, in the slums we don’t have anything like this. Most advanced thing around where I’m from was working lights in the enforcer office. Is stuff like that normal around here?” Celina looked confused. “Why, of course! Why wouldn’t it be?” “So,” Kain spoke up, getting Celina’s attention. “Can you tell me who I am now?” Celina looked uncomfortable and turned away. “I…I can’t tell you anything yet.” Kain furrowed his brow. “You said you knew who I was. Why aren’t you telling me?” Kain started to get angry. Why would she keep this from him? Even if it wasn’t much, it was a step closer to getting “Kain” back. Celina looked at Kain with a pleading expression. “I’m sorry, nobody here has the clearance to-” “Don’t give me that CRAP!” Kain stood up and slammed the table. Rika sported a angry look on her face as well. “WHY are you keeping this from me?! Why can’t you tell me who I am?!” Kain held his hand out in front of him, pleading. He was so close to even finding out even a bit of who he once was. Now, that hope was crushed by the girl right in front of him. Celina looked like she was about to cry. She stood up and tried to hold Kain, but he slapped her hand away. “You act like you care about me, so why don’t you TELL me who I am!” Celina started to speak, tears falling from her eyes. Rika then exclaimed, “Ya know, you really are a horrible person, ya know that? For someone who says that they are all about “Kindness”, ya really are cruel.” She sat and leaned back against the seat, glaring at Celina. “N-no, I would never try to hurt him! I’m keeping you all safe!” Celina was crying now. “If I tell you–both of you Kain’s past, they’ll have an excuse to banish me and kill you both!” Kain looked surprised, his feelings of anger subsiding. “You need to become like me and become a representative of a house to obtain the clearance. If you don’t, like I said, they’ll kill you both. Please, believe me!” Celina was wiping her tears on the hems of her robe. Now both Kain and Rika looked uncomfortable at the sight of the crying girl. Rika looked at Kain, jerking her head in the direction of Celina. Kain shook his head. Rika again gestured to Celina, an angry look on her face. Sighing, Kain awkwardly patted Celina on the shoulder, who took the minor physical contact as an excuse to jump toward Kain and hug him, crying into his shoulder. He awkwardly patted her back, Rika trying not to laugh at the spectacle. After Celina calmed down, they sat back onto the seat. They rode in silence, until Celina spoke up. “Do…do you hate me?” Celina turned to look at Kain with wide, teary eyes. Kain sighed. “No, I don’t hate you. I just got a little angry.” Celina smiled at Kain. “Even if you don’t remember much, you're still kind. I love that about you.” Rika cleared her throat, interrupting their conversation. “Well, that’s nice and all, but when are we gonna get to your penthouse or whatever?” Celina looked annoyed that Rika had interrupted their moment. “Well, we should be arriving at my…’penthouse’ around now, actually. Kain looked outside the window and saw a series of tall buildings, the car pulling into the lot of the closest one. Once the car stopped, the driver came and opened the door by Rika. After lingering on Rika and Kain, the driver looked to Celina and said, “Ma’m, right this way please.” Rika moved aside so Celina could get out first, then out moved Rika and then finally Kain. Celina led them into the large glass doors of the building. A large and spacious lobby presented itself, adorned with multiple eye-catching commodities. Pillars had gold streaks spiraling down them, the desks had neatly dressed receptionists servicing others, and marble floors with flecks of gold. Kain and Rika looked at each other in amazement. How many times would the Garden amaze them? They were not even in the capital, which was supposed to be millions of times more advanced than the Garden, yet they had seen things they have never dreamed of seeing before. Celina led them to an elevator, ushering them inside. The elevator was made of complete glass, which allowed them to look out into the city. Rika, who had her face pressed against the glass, was most impressed by the skyline view. Kain as well looked out in amazement. Celina saw both of their expressions and chuckled. “If your impressed with this, you should see Olympus Mons. It is absolutely delightful, it beats the Garden in every way!” After riding in the elevator for quite the while, they arrived at their destination. Doors opened, and Celina directed them out. A large marble hallway greeted them, with a large set of double doors at the end. “You all should be fine here. My Father is out tending to matters regarding the selection, and my Mother is accompanying my Father. They should be gone for the remainder of the time until the Holy Selection. You see, all of the non-combative houses participate in events like these. It makes us look better, more virtuous.” Celina gestured toward a large living room, white sofas making up the middle, a round marble table in the center of the room, a shelf with various tomes of literature in the corner, and a window offering a view of the city below. “Make yourselves home! I myself am tired, so feel free to join me in the resting area.” Rika turned over to look at Kain, raising her eyebrows and sporting a devious smirk. “She doesn’t have to tell me twice!” Rika sprinted past Celina and performed a swan dive onto one of the sofas. Once landed, she spread herself out on the couch and threw her cap onto the table. “Ah, I haven’t rested on something this comfortable in my entire life!” Celina covered her mouth with one hand to suppress a chuckle, and Kain smirked at the spectacle in front of him. Kain walked and joined Rika on the couch, and Celina sat across from them. Kain widened his eyes. The couch was comfortable, extremely so. Leaning back into the couch, Kain put his hands behind his head and sighed in contentment. “I hope you like my place so far. After dinner, I’ll show the two of you your rooms. We’ll discuss later arrangements in the morning, I think you two have suffered enough exhaustion.” Celina looked over at Rika, who was passed out on the couch loudly snoring. Celina went to stand up, but was stopped by Kain. “Hey, can I ask you a question? It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.” Celina sat back down on the couch. “Yes, go ahead. What is it that you want to ask?” “Well, what makes you virtue born so special?” Celina gave him a confused look. “Don’t you know?” Then she realized and looked ashamed. “Oh…you lost your memory…well, I’ll do my utmost best to tell you!” She took a deep breath and clapped her hands together. “What makes a person Virtue Born is if they have a specific genome that aligns with one of seven different parameters, allowing the person to slightly use some power relating to all seven groups. These genomes rarely develop in anybody, but it is even more rare to even have a set genome. Those are if you have an affinity for one specific trait of the seven. Usually, those people are born into the houses like me, or sponsored by the corresponding house. It will be exceedingly hard to tell you and have you believe me about what we do, so I’ll just show you what I can do.” Celina brought her finger up to her mouth and bit down on it. Blood rushed out of the wound, a stark contrast to her fair white skin. Kain jumped forward. “Hey, why did you do that! You just hurt yourself!” Celina shook her head. “I’m fine, truly. Now, watch this.” Celina put her other hand onto the bite wound. A faint aurora like glow illuminated her finger, causing the wound to close. Kain’s eyes widened in shock. How was this possible? Celina laughed slightly. “I know, amazing right? I’ve been able to help many people with this power. But keep watching now, there's more.” Celina moved her hand and placed it onto the table. Suddenly, a small but noticeable crack appeared where her hand was. “You see Kain, my injury was not ‘healed’ in the traditional sense, but my body was reverted back to the point where there was no damage. What my power does, the power of ‘Kindness’, is it takes the damage from something living and reverts that thing back to its original state.” Celina sighed and closed her eyes. “Although there is only so much damage I can absorb before it has to be released. If I don’t let it out, it’ll wreak havoc on my body. I’ll essentially be a lump of bloody meat if proper precautions are not taken.” Kain stuttered out a reply. “I know your power can help people, but why risk yourself like that?” Celina looked at Kain with a sad look. “This is the duty of those born in House Kindness. We are told to put others first, and that is what we do, nothing more, nothing less. Besides, I like helping people. I know you don’t remember, but I helped you with this same power once in the past.” Kain looked at Celina intently. “Remember, I can’t tell you anything right now. But I promise on my name that I will tell you what I know one day, and help you recover who you once were.” Celina reached a tentative hand out to Kain, but retracted it. Standing up, Celina tried to walk away. “It seems I have gotten sidetracked. I’ll work on dinner now, don’t you worry.” Before Celina was gone, Kain yelled out to her. “Hey Celina, can you do me a favor?” She turned to face Kain. “What may you ask of me?” Kain looked down at his hands, then looked back up at a confused Celina. “If it does become a matter of you or another person, could you choose yourself? If not for you, for me.” Celina smiled a sad smile, tears building up in her eyes. “I’ll see what I can do.” She turned and walked away, seemingly into the kitchen. Kain leaned back his head and sighed. He did not want anything harmful to befall Celina. No, not anything at all. After all, he could not just let a valuable piece of information like her be lost. Kain shook his head. No, he simply could not.

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