Era of Madness

You're not a hero

In the spatial ship, Erica and John were silent as they were going about their regular duties. In surface, nothing had changed but to them, everything felt different. The ship didn't have the same atmosphere without Penny and Tyler, the two that made the atmosphere lighter.

And if there was still a chance that Penny could be brung back to life, the same couldn't be said for Tyler. Before dying, the only thing he could leave to them were his hermetic suit, along with a sufficient quantity of blood from the B-rank Nova beast he left to John. These were the only things, except for the things in his room... and the group picture they took upon their arrival on Londris.

How could things come to this? Why did that happen? And why to them, out of all people.

John knew just how unfair it was. It shouldn't have been Tyler and Penny. It should have been them instead. Eventually, he couldnt hold himself back. He called Erica in the piloting room.

"So, you said you wanted to talk about something important" Erica said upon arriving. "Come on, tell me big guy, what is the thing? You know you can tell me everything... Well, except if you want a therapy session. I mean, I can try, but I'll probably make things worse, you're war-"

John couldn't contain himself any more:

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" he screamed with a booming voice. "After all this, how can you still act like this, putting up a front as if you did nothing?"

Erica didn't react to this sudden snapping, except for raising an eyebrow:

"I'm sorry, I don't get what you mean" she replied.

"You know EXACTLY what I mean, stop acting as if you don't know anything"

"John, I didn't think about it since you got a treatment with fefnir technology after arriving on the ship, but do you retain brain injuries from Londris? I don't know what you're talking about, so please stop yelling at me-"

John grabbed her by the throat:

"Then let me ask more clearly" he said on a cold tone. "You're the one that made Tyler an apostle of the Silence cult, aren't you?"

This time, Erica actually showed surprise. Yet, she still tried to deny it, speaking despite the large hand around her neck:

"What do you mean? What makes you think I made Tyler an apostle?" she asked. "Actually, better question: does I look like a Silence cult's degenerate to you? Plus, since when was Tyler an apostle? I don't know for you, but I never saw him pray for the Devil to descend in our world to burn the galaxy down"

"At the very least, you do look like a degenerate" John retorted. "And you might not know it, but I already dealt with an apostle during my time with Cifer. I don't think he was like the others, this guy truly was otherworldly... He could have decimed our entire team back then, but chose not to as it would have been of no interest for his mission...from whoever could've given it to him. I think his name was Ethan? He was even kind enough to exchenge information instead of just extorting it from us, could you believe it? Well, these informations concerned apostles, would you like to hear about it?"

However, John didn't wait for a reply:

"Apostles are beings granted with Blessings, more precisely those coming from the Silent Ones. They grant the user supernatural powers, along with eyes switching to a deep grey color every time they use these same powers. From what I saw in Ghost London, I can already guess Mavarel was one of these apostles. As for Tyler... when he managed to beat an elite cyborg like Melia on his own, I already suspected that something was wrong, but when I saw the strange way he acted before facing Mavarel, and his eyes turning from their usual dark green to this disturbing grey, I had my confirmation"