Something

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I lie awake in a forest. I can feel the warm sun, see its shining grace through the gap between the leaves when I open my eyes. The orange sunlight is tinged with some purple. Blended a portion of it. A small breeze softly swipes across my face, as I take a deep breath. My name is John. I'm 21 years old and here I am, facing probably the greatest crisis in my life. I can only feel the wind caressing my face because I cannot move my body, or feel anything at all besides my face, and I have no idea why. "//I'm too young to die//," I thought to myself, as I smile nervously. Mustering the little strength that I have, I shift my eyes downwards to both my legs and apparently, bloods are gushing out of my knees like water fountains. There's also a faint scream that's increasing in both its ferocity and volume, desperately calling for help. It's getting louder and louder. Then, my heart skips a beat as I realise something. I am the one screaming. "Ahh... this is bad. This situation that I'm in, I couldn't help but to think of the colour.." [[Blood red]] [[Shiny silver]] [[Pure white]]

"Blood red." I can't believe it myself. Has the endorphin inside my body run wild? The dizziness wraps heavier and heavier around my head as I try to collect my thoughts. Maybe I'm hinting myself that I'm dying soon. I take a deep breath to calm myself down. And only now, I can see a hooded figure approaching me from my front. He is waving his hands around, like a conductor in an orchestra, cheerfully humming a lullaby. Left, right, left, right; he's enjoying himself. Then, he plants his feet next to my head, and whispers a word that I could barely hear. It sounds familiar, and warm, like what my mom used to say to me every night. "Good night." //SCH-LOOOK! schloook! schloook! schloook! schloook!// This sound... knives piercing through skins. Then, a loud thud follows it. The pain that I'm experiencing slowly leaves my body, as I regain my ability to feel. Is this what they call 'freedom after death'? "Yo, John." a young male's voice ceases my thought; it comes from my back. I try to roll my eyes upward so I can see the source of the sound but it's to no avail. I could only see the hooded figure lying beside me on my left, in a pool of his own blood. His footsteps close in on me from my back, but I still can't see his face. He clears his throat, "John, the effects of this paralysis will only wear off after a few minutes. Given that I've so graciously saved you, you're now in my debt. Haha. Kindly give back these stones to her; I have no use of it anymore." "Alright then... see you!" he throws the stones to my chest. But as his footsteps recedes away from me, I shout "Wait!" followed by, [["Your name is..?"]] [["Who the heck is 'her'?"]]

"Shiny silver." Silver? Am I expecting to be saved by a prince in silver armour riding a white horse? The dizziness wraps heavier and heavier around my head as I try to collect my thoughts. I take a deep breath to calm myself down. And only now, I can see a hooded figure approaching me from my front. He is waving his hands around, like a conductor in an orchestra, cheerfully humming a lullaby. Left, right, left, right; he's enjoying himself. Then, he plants his feet next to my head, and whispers a word that I could barely hear. It sounds familiar, and warm, like what my mom used to say to me every night. "Good night." //SCH-LOOOK! schloook! schloook! schloook! schloook!// This sound... knives piercing through skins. Then, a loud thud follows it. The pain that I'm experiencing slowly leaves my body, as I regain my ability to feel. Is this what they call 'freedom after death'? "Yo, John." a young male's voice ceases my thought; it comes from my back. I try to roll my eyes upward so I can see the source of the sound but it's to no avail. I could only see the hooded figure lying beside me on my left, in a pool of his own blood. His footsteps close in on me from my back, but I still can't see his face. He clears his throat, "John, the effects of this paralysis will only wear off after a few minutes. Given that I've so graciously saved you, you're now in my debt. Haha. Kindly give back these stones to her; I have no use of it anymore." "Alright then... see you!" he throws the stones to my chest. But as his footsteps recedes away from me, I shout "Wait!" followed by, [["Your name is..?"]] [["Who the heck is 'her'?"]]

"Pure white." I can't believe it myself. Am I just gonna give up and accept my fate? And wait for everything to turns white before my eyes? The dizziness wraps heavier and heavier around my head as I try to collect my thoughts. I take a deep breath to calm myself down. And only now, I can see a hooded figure approaching me from my front. He is waving his hands around, like a conductor in an orchestra, cheerfully humming a lullaby. Left, right, left, right; he's enjoying himself. Then, he plants his feet next to my head, and whispers a word that I could barely hear. It sounds familiar, and warm, like what my mom used to say to me every night. "Good night." //SCH-LOOOK! schloook! schloook! schloook! schloook!// This sound... knives piercing through skins. Then, a loud thud follows it. The pain that I'm experiencing slowly leaves my body, as I regain my ability to feel. Is this what they call 'freedom after death'? "Yo, John." a young male's voice ceases my thought; it comes from my back. I try to roll my eyes upward so I can see the source of the sound but it's to no avail. I could only see the hooded figure lying beside me on my left, in a pool of his own blood. His footsteps close in on me from my back, but I still can't see his face. He clears his throat, "John, the effects of this paralysis will only wear off after a few minutes. Given that I've so graciously saved you, you're now in my debt. Haha. Kindly give back these stones to her; I have no use of it anymore." "Alright then... see you!" he throws the stones to my chest. But as his footsteps recedes away from me, I shout "Wait!" followed by, [["Your name is..?"]] [["Who the heck is 'her'?"]]

"You'll know soon enough! I'm Jack by the way!" he shouts back, before his footsteps fade away. Left in a state of confusion, I slowly move my body upwards, and remain in a sitting posture for a few minutes. I examine the crystal stones he threw to me; they are goldish-orange and the darker cores inside them are dimly flashing. I gasp. "Am I going to be a superhero?" But I ignore my own silliness and try to access the situation. A ring on his pinkie: he's a mage. Everything I've just experienced was an illusion, dispelled after the Jack guy killed him. As for these stones, they are most likely power sources to something or some wizard– "Thief, give me back my crystals!" My thoughts come to a halt when the voice of a girl pierced my ears. I'm still half-sitting on the ground when a girl with apple-red curly short hair runs towards me. She seems to be around my age, wearing a pointy hat, and is dressed like a wizard. Without hesitation, I stand up, grab a branch on one hand, the crystal on the other and make a ready-to-fight swordsman posture. She stops and looks at me, seemingly alerted by my action. That, or the dead body beside me. She grasps both her hand together, making another posture herself. The black leather fingerless gloves she is wearing are now glowing as she says, with her crimson red eyes locked on me, "My crystals. Now." What should I do? [[Put my branch down.]] [[Say no.]]

"Jack!" after which his footsteps fade away. Left in a state of confusion, I slowly move my body upwards, and remain in a sitting posture for a few minutes. I examine the crystal stones he threw to me; they are goldish-orange and the darker cores inside them are dimly flashing. I gasp. "Am I going to be a superhero?" But I ignore my own silliness and try to access the situation. A ring on his pinkie: he's a mage. Everything I've just experienced was an illusion, dispelled after the Jack guy killed him. As for these stones, they are most likely power sources to something or some wizard– "Thief, give me back my crystals!" My thoughts come to a halt when the voice of a girl pierced my ears. I'm still half-sitting on the ground when a girl with red curly short hair runs towards me. She seems to be around my age, wearing a pointy hat, and is dressed like a wizard. Without hesitation, I stand up, grab a branch on one hand, the crystal on the other and make a ready-to-fight swordsman posture. She stops and looks at me, seemingly alerted by my action. That, or the dead body beside me. She grasps both her hand together, making another posture herself. The black leather fingerless gloves she is wearing are now glowing as she says, with her crimson red eyes locked on me, "My crystals. Now." What should I do? [[Put my branch down.]] [[Say no.]]

(if: (history:) contains "Put my branch down.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"I'm a pacifist."//) (set: $c1ach to $c1ach +1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"Wait! I mean no harm," I say, dropping the branch to the ground. "I didn't steal them. I meant to give this back to a girl—which I think is you anyway. Take them if you want. Could you at least explain what's going on here?" "The crystals first." she insists, as the glowing light in her hands subdues. I throw the crystals to her, and she stores them inside her dark brown pouch as soon as she receives them. "Head north, look for Olympia," she says. "And don't ever steal from me again." She snaps her finger and a wooden square cage made of tons of branches reinforce themselves around me. "Just a little precaution so you don't try to sneak up on me again." She then circles around me and the dead mage's body, and head towards the direction I last heard Jack's footsteps faded: North. Olympia. What's waiting them there? I grab the body through the hole between the branches of the cage, and and pull it closer, to try and find any salvagable items. I find a weird ring with 3-triangle-star decoration on top and 'PS' carved inside, some old Gibberish scripts, and some silver Nicos. Notably, the ring also looks like it's emitting some energy around it. Then, I knock on one side of the branch-cage every minute, counting and reseting every 60 seconds. 59. 60. 1, 2, 3, 4... until about 5 whole minutes where the strength holding the branches seems to grow weaker, and a punch managed to get me out. Before leaving, I drag the mage's body to the tree trunk of the largest tree I can find around me. Then, I gently close his eyes and rest his robe on him, covering his upper body filled with holes. This place is, despite how peaceful it might seem–very dangerous. This mage has a wicked look on his face that I'll never forget. He was smiling. [[Next page]]

(if: (history:) contains "Say no.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Thou shall not pass."//) (set: $totalach to $totalach + 1)(set: $c1ach to $c1ach +1) ]"No." I reject her, with a little uneasiness harbouring inside my heart. "Very well then," she says as she claps both her hands. I then feel a cold chill down my spine, as my hands lose their strength. Both the branch and the crystals are now dropped onto the ground. I could barely maintain my posture anymore. I check where the piercing pain comes from, which is when I notice a long tree branch has already punctured through my heart. It's dripping blood. I fall down to the ground and slowly loses my conciousness. I can only see a blurry view of the girl picking up the crystals in front of me, as I grasp for breath. Soon, the world surrounding me fades into pure darkness. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 1->Chapter 1]]

I pick up my bag–or what seems to be my bag–that is thrown a few feet away from my position. It's worn out to a certain degree, but is still intact. Food bars, bottles of water, a map marked 'The Other World', some herbs and a notebook that has the first few pages torn. Nothing else inside. The rest of the notebook are detailed wtih the strength, weaknesses and appearance of every monsters, creatures that I've ever come across–which I all remembered vividly. So was my childhood. But, not of how I ended up here, wherever this place is. But, there's no use struggling about it now, I have to move on first. So I put the old scripts and the ring inside, with the few silver Nicos into my pocket and start to head North. What is Olympia? A place, a person? Why can I remember everything but not how I got here? Who was the flamboyant mage that tried to kill me? What is the real identity of Jack? How does he know my name? Bamboozled with tons of question but no answers, I venture deeper into the forest. It's hot. Scorchingly hot. The sun has already risen on top of my head when I finally reach a kingdom. It has two big flags mounted on its fortified outpost, which resembles a barbican made of red stones. Surrounded by enormous walls as its rampart, guarded with armed knights on the walkway at its top, and fortified with a deep, broad ditch filled with water—it's like this kingdom is made to defend attack from titans. "Hello, Challenger." one of the two guards positioned at the entrance greets me. "Register your name here, leave your weapons and head towards the colosseum. Announcement by King of Olympiaa, Sage Thorn IV will begin shortly." I look at the name list, and sure enough—Jack is here. The weird thing is that there are a few spots here and there, left empty without names and has only ticks on it. After I'm done with it, the female guard ticks at the same row beside my name. "Welcome to Olympiaa." she says, with a gentle smile. [["Olympiaa, with double a?"->next page2]] [["Who is Sage Thorn the IV?"]] [["Thank you very much."]]

Strangely enough, this is the first question that came to my mind. "Yes, Challenger," the female guard affirms. "Olympiaa was the name given to this kingdom, built by our first king, Sage Thorn I about a few hundred years ago. We are a self-sufficient kingdom with our own farms and plantations that has feed everyone in this kingdom for centuries. Above all, we value harmony the most." As she searches my bag, I take a look around my surrounding. I turn back slightly, and see a gang of people standing in line behind me. Scars on their faces and arms—the most identifiable traits for bandits. I take a second peak, and notice one of them is wearing an eye-patch on his left eye, has a cape on, and is bigger, taller than the rest. My instinct instantly whispers to me that, "//He's the leader//." However, one thing has been bothering me since I step into this kingdom: only the guards and the civilians have apple-sized words 'NC' floating above their head. What are these? Just as she is finishing the search on my bag, one of the bandits with spiky hair threatens the other guard, "Huh? You want my boss' axes?" He moves towards the guard with his dagger, pressing it on his chin and asks, "Do you want mine too?" "Blaze." the one-eyed leader stops him, with a deep voice. "But bossman, he..." "Enough." the leader says. However, out of frustration, Blaze pushes the guard down. And at that instant, Blaze coughs and vomits blood. The other bandits immediately back away from him, watching him kneeling alone there, trying to breathe. The leader, however, walks to him and carry him up on his shoulder. And after placing both his big battleaxes down, he moves on to settle Blaze under an olive tree, that is right beside the walls of the rampart, inside the kingdom. "You're free to go now. Enjoy your stay.(text-style: "condense")[Yam u evah on sterger.]" says the female guard as she hands me my bag, snapping me off from my stunned state that I was in. I... [[Go towards the olive tree, and offer help.]] [[Head towards the colosseum, there's no time to waste.]]

After hesitating for a moment, I decide to go straight to the colosseum. After I arrive, I can see that there are already tons of people, more than one hundred I think, sitting scattered around the bleachers surrounding the glorious arena. I choose a seat not too far away from the entrance, yet able to get a whole view of my surrounding. There are all kinds of creatures and all classes of human sitting inside this colosseum. But, majority of them are either from Humania or Magica. There's also a floating counter in the center of arena, counting down from 5 minutes. The background of the counter is transparent and only the words are visible, which is quite an impressive feat in technology, even if they have magic. In my seat section, only a wizard with a pointy hat is reachable around me, sitting only a few steps in front of me. I take out some food bars to eat and drink some water, while waiting for things to happen. "That pointy hat, it looks familiar." I thought to myself. //thump// The entrance door closes with a loud sound. Then, the triumphant trumpets are suddenly played as all our eyes focus on the source of the sound. An old man wearing a red wizard robe, with a long long beard is walking out of the imperial box, holding a scroll. All those sitting in the colosseum, are now forced to stand by a strong spell, including me. "Ah," I thought. "The King of Olympiaa." (set: $ally to "no") [[Next page->next page3]]

(if: (history:) contains "Go towards the olive tree, and offer help.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"An unlikely ally."//) (set: $c1ach to $c1ach +1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]I can't believe I'm doing this. But here I walk, towards a dangerous group of people, planning to aid them who has taken many lives without blinking their eyes. I don't want to die yet. "Hey, you. IS HE OK?" I accidentally heighten my voice due to my nervousness, and now the bandits move closer to me with their menacing looks. "For now," the leader replies, with his back facing me and one of his legs kneeling in front of the unconcious Blaze. I couldn't see his face but I could hear that his voice has relatively softened compared to earlier, and that he's genuinely worried about him. With his underlings all eye-ing me, I slowly open my bag and take my only medicinal herbs out. "Chew on them. They ease pain, and reduce internal bleeding." I say, like a professional herbalist, while handing the leader the herbs. He looks at me, takes the herbs over from my hands, chews on a portion of it himself, before feeding the rest of it to Blaze. He points at the herb and says, "Name." to which I answer, "The Devil's Plaything." Then, I take my leave there and rush towards the colosseum. There are already tons of people, more than one hundred I think, sitting scattered around the bleachers surrounding the glorious arena. But, majority of them are either from Humania or Magica. I choose a seat not too far away from the entrance, yet able to get a whole view of my surrounding. The door closes as soon with a loud //thump// sound as I take my seat, and only a wizard with a pointy hat is reachable around me in my seat section, sitting only a few steps in front of me. The triumphant trumpets are suddenly played as all our eyes focus on the source of the sound. An old man wearing a red wizard robe, with a long long beard is walking out of the imperial box, holding a scroll. All those that were sitting in the colosseum, are now forced to stand by a strong spell, including me. "Ah," I thought. "The King of Olympiaa." [[Next page->next page3]]

"Greetings. Challengers. 'Tis I. Sage Thorn. King. Of Olympia. Sage. Of the North. Welcome to. Olympia. Congrats. On finishing. Your first. Challenge." his words echoes around the colosseum through his amplifier, likely another creation of his spells. "I hereby. Name. Your next. Challenge. Form. A Group. One Group. Three Challengers. Find. Violet Garden Berries. One Challenger Each. Five days. Show. In Pantheona. Before Noon. Of Last Day." he continues, as we stand. "100 entered. 84 present. New rule. **Second rule. No killing. Other Familia's members.** Or. Also. Executed. Instantly." "Begin. (text-style: "condense")[Yam u evah on sterger]." he chants as he throws his scroll into the air and it disperses into some shiny particles which prompted the entrance doors to open back. Only after he walks back into his imperial box, did our body relax as we fall back down to our initial sitting position. "What a thorn." I say. "Careful," the wizard in front of my seat says. This wizard's likely overheard my rants. "The knights who disrespected the Sage of West a few days ago died instantly of heart attack." "Oh," I chuckle nervously. But, taking the adventage of the momentum, I ask, "Do you happen to know the first rule?" "Why yes, stealer, it's **no causing any harm or killing the non-Challenger(NC)**." the wizard replies. The wizard then turns towards me, lifting her pointy hat up, showing her face. Red hair, red eyes, ridiculous hat, and still that unpleasant look on her face. Yup, it's her. The caster who almost killed me. She smiles at me and says, "You surprised me, adventurer, with that //heroic// posture that you had. Your action was somewhat nostalgic as well, and I didn't know humans can interact with our catalysts. Are you interested in an alliance?" There's only two reasons she would make this proposal: adventurers are better-equipped with knowledge on herbs, creatures and plants than wizards, and the second rule that was just announced. The world is categorized into four different continents designated for four Familia of living creature that are divided into different classes: * Humania –> Knights, Adventurers, Hunters, Bandits... * Beastia –> Elves, Goblins, Trolls, Golems, Dwarfs.. * Magica –> Sages, Mages, Wizards, Witches, Caster.. * Outcasts –> Demi-Humans, Berserkers, Shapeshifters 'Outcasts' is normally discarded and it's very rare to find any of them except Demi-humans that unofficially formed a kingdom to protect themselves from the prejudice from three other Familia. As for Berserkers, they are rare in existence and I've only read on them before of how hard it is to actually create one. While for Shapeshifters, there are records of only one appearing a few hundred years ago. And, those were it. Only one. So, either way, due to our distinct Familia, she can't kill me now. But in a way, I also need her offensive abilities and I have some questions that are still troubling me. "So...?" she asks again, probably noticing that I have a bit of reluctancy shown in my face. [["Ok, it's a win-win situation anyway."]] [["Sure, but promise you won't bite."]] [["Answer my few questions first, and then I'll decide."]]

"Great!" she exclaims. She seems more relaxed now, as she holds her fist out to me. I throw her a confused look, and she explains that it's her signature move of forming an alliance. "I'm Jane," she says. "John," I reply as I bump her fist lightly. "I have a few questions." "Yes?" "What was our first challenge?" "To reach here within 5 days, from the kingdom of Babylona. The Sage of West, Sage Twes briefed us on the days we arrive, and announced the first rule there." "The day we arrived? What is this place?" She looks at me funny. "Why are you here if you don't know? This is 'The Other World'—a hidden realm inside our world. And, it is directly under the control of The Four Cardinal Sages, with each of them having their own kingdom here. Once the Challengers are confirmed after this tournament has started, there are no more 'ins', only 'outs' which are either through death or with teleportation; the deaths are permanent and the teleportation are either through costly trinkets or advanced spells. 500 from four Familia registered, and only 100 were chosen." "Ok... then what is the purpose of this whole tournament thing?" "Either for the wealth and position of Sage of the East, or for the one wish that can be granted." "Wealth and wish?" She sighs at me. "Yes... although The Four Cardinal Sages only rule inside this realm, but they hold considerable power that can change the politics and technological advancement, and destroy our world if they unite together. There was a big war that broke out 300 years ago, that force three Familia and Demi-humans to unite against The Four Cardinal Sages. But even so, we barely won. In the end, the war ended only because of the sacrifice of a little girl that prompted The Four Cardinal Sages to make a peaceful pact with the leader of each Familia, declaring peacefulness amongst the Familia, which has lasted ever since." She pauses, before continuing. "However, during this period, The Four Cardinal Sages are said to have accumulated enough power to grant a wish, and enough wealth that can suffice a kingdom for a hundred years." "But, why would they hold a tournament to choose a new one now?" "Exactly. Sages are normally chosen from their own descendants, and not just anyone. But none of the Sages has ever lived past 100 years, maybe they are trying to break their fate by awarding the power to others and control them in the process. No one knows why, but we all joined anyway." I then take a glimpse at both her leather gloves. "And your gloves, didn't they take it away?" "No, apprently they only take away your weapons if they look dangerous. Plus, the members in Beastia and Magica are all put under a constraint that forbid us from using any spell upon entering." "The '//Yam u//' something, is that some sort of a blessing spell the locals like to use? I've heard it twice now." "(text-style: "condense")[Yam u evah on sterger.] It's an anagram, adapted from the old Gibberish language that the Sages use. They like to come up with these sort of things, even in their names as well. And apparently, the locals picked it up and started using it too. So now, it's just common to hear it even outside this kingdom." "I see, so what is your wish then?" Her mouth opens, but no voice comes out from it. She looks at me, seemingly taken aback by my question. [[Next page->next page4]]

"I won't," she states. She seems more relaxed now, as she holds her fist out to me. I throw her a confused look, and she explains that it's her signature move of forming an alliance. "I'm Jane," she says. "John," I reply as I bump her fist lightly. "I have a few questions." "Yes?" "What was our first challenge?" "To reach here within 5 days, from the kingdom of Babylona. The Sage of West, Sage Twes briefed us on the days we arrive, and announced the first rule there." "The day we arrived? What is this place?" She looks at me funny. "Why are you here if you don't know? This is 'The Other World'—a hidden realm inside our world. And, it is directly under the control of The Four Cardinal Sages, with each of them having their own kingdom here. Once the Challengers are confirmed after this tournament has started, there are no more 'ins', only 'outs' which are either through death or with teleportation; the deaths are permanent and the teleportation are either through costly trinkets or advanced spells. 500 from four Familia registered, and only 100 were chosen." "Ok... then what is the purpose of this whole tournament thing?" "Either for the wealth and position of Sage of the East, or for the one wish that can be granted." "Wealth and wish?" She sighs at me. "Yes... although The Four Cardinal Sages only rule inside this realm, but they hold considerable power that can change the politics and technological advancement, and destroy our world if they unite together. There was a big war that broke out 300 years ago, that force three Familia and Demi-humans to unite against The Four Cardinal Sages. But even so, we barely won. In the end, the war ended only because of the sacrifice of a little girl that prompted The Four Cardinal Sages to make a peaceful pact with the leader of each Familia, declaring peacefulness amongst the Familia, which has lasted ever since." She pauses, before continuing. "However, during this period, The Four Cardinal Sages are said to have accumulated enough power to grant a wish, and enough wealth that can suffice a kingdom for a hundred years." "But, why would they hold a tournament to choose a new one now?" "Exactly. Sages are normally chosen from their own descendants, and not just anyone. But none of the Sages has ever lived past 100 years, maybe they are trying to break their fate by awarding the power to others and control them in the process. No one knows why, but we all joined anyway." I then take a glimpse at both her leather gloves. "And your gloves, didn't they take it away?" "No, apprently they only take away your weapons if they look dangerous. Plus, the members in Beastia and Magica are all put under a constraint that forbid us from using any spell upon entering." "The '//Yam u//' something, is that some sort of a blessing spell the locals like to use? I've heard it twice now." "(text-style: "condense")[Yam u evah on sterger.] It's an anagram, adapted from the old Gibberish language that the Sages use. They like to come up with these sort of things, even in their names as well. And apparently, the locals picked it up and started using it too. So now, it's just common to hear it even outside this kingdom." "I see, so what is your wish then?" Her mouth opens, but no voice comes out from it. She looks at me, seemingly taken aback by my question. [[Next page->next page4]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 2**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"A Night to Remember"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 2 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c2ach to 0)] (set: $c1checkpoint to "yes") (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 2") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 2]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]] ((colour: "#65169e" )[**Checkpoint saved!**])]

"It's ok, you don't have to–" "Shut up Cliff! I don't want to hear your nonsense anymore!" Suddenly, a furious yell echoes around the colosseum. It comes from a group of knights standing in front of the entrance. The eldest-looking knight is shouting at one of their own, who is wearing the biggest armour among them. They are blocking the path of people that are about to leave the colosseum. "Go! You're out of this team." he shouts. Then, he and his group of knights walk out without looking back. The knight named 'Cliff' is still there, standing with his big silver shield, head facing the ground, as one by one, the other Challengers walk past him. "Them again." Jane says. She then looks at me, knowing that I would ask her to clarify, so she explains, "They are the knights that I mentioned, the ones that got in trouble on the first day." "Those pouches with white star on their waist, they are the Knights of Astra," I clarify. "It seems like their team's number are not in their favour. But... anyway, we should get going now. I have a few things that I need to buy from the market." "Sure," she replies, sounding a bit unwilling. As we walk towards the entrance, we pass by this Cliff and I sneakily steal a look at his face, beneath his short, gray hair. He's not crying. Not a single drop of tears, only a face of pure frustration. He is clenching his fist on one hand, and tightly grabbing his shield holder on the other. I stop walking, and stand in front of him. I need to put on a tough apperance. "Hey, you. Join our party." I say, out of nowhere. I can feel Jane staring at me from my side for not asking her beforehand, that or maybe she just wanted to be the one to ask him first. "I don't need your sympathy," he says. "Get lost." I exhale sharply. "Neither do I. I asked because we need a defense in our party, and you have a shield. Or is it just a decoration?" He lifts his head and takes a look at me and Jane. He chuckles, before bursting into laughter. Jane and I exhange a quick confused look. "Fine then," he says. "As long as we can win, I'll accept your offer." After cooling down from his laughter, his smile widens as he extends his hand to me. The deadly, dangerous fist that he clenched tightly a moment ago has turned into a straight, peaceful palm. How strange, human beings are. "Hill, Cliff Hill." he introduces himself. It's rude to not reply my full name to him in this case. So, I shake his hand, also introducing myself. [["Doe, John Doe."->Chapter 2 start]]

"What a kingdom." I say, in disbelief. The market of Olympiaa before my eyes. I've heard and read about 'The Other World' before but never thought that I'd somehow ended up here. Flags on every corner of the streets, bustling with humans, wizards, mages, ogres, goblins and pretty much every creatures within the three Familia. This is a rare scene where a common language is used by all to haggle the price of the items, and goods on display. However, there are no weapon shops to be seen. "Umm... you two can go take a look around, I'll wait at the water fountain there." Cliff says. His expression shows that he still needs some time along to process things over. "Ok, but first, does any of you have a map?" I ask. "Here," Jane hands me her map. "Didn't you bring one?" "Just a precaution." I say. I then head towards the sorcery shop that caught my eyes when I was on my way to colosseum earlier. It looks deserted compared to the shops around it, and the old blind shop owner was outside eerily smiling at me when I passed by. "Maybe that's why it's deserted. His smile scared all the customers away." the thought crossed my mind but I think there's more to it than that. //bump// I look down and see the heads of two little kids that bumped into me. "Big brother, do you want to play a game?" the boy asks me as he grabs my shirt. "Play, play!" the girl cheers, tugging my shirt back and forth. A sudden drownsiness hits me; I start to blink faster than usual, while trying to balance myself. My field of vision narrows as their laugh echoes around me. This is bad, I can only vaguely see what's in front of me; I'm falling into a trance state again. As the pulling gets harder and harder, I couldn't hold back the desire to accept their invitation anymore. I open my mouth and say, "ok, let's pla–" "Hazel, Grazel! Come back here!" A sharp woman's voice broke me out of my trance state. I shake my head a bit to recollect my thoughts. Everything around me slowly becomes less hazy and the kids are now standing beside a woman with an emerald green peacock-shaped brouch—a witch, about 10 feet away from me, looking up at her. "But Magissa..." they say. "No. killing. humans." she hits their head with her wand. "Go, and apologise." she points at me. They both run towards me and say together, "Sorrie, big brother." and then run back giggling. The witch, Magissa, then waves at me, and leave holding both their hands. I stand there like a white rat that is thrown away after being experimented on. "What a kingdom." I say, in disbelief. [[Next page->next page5]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 1**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"Adventurer, Caster, Knight"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 1 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c1ach to 0)(set: $totalach to 0)] (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 1") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 1]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]]]

"Yo, young man." the blind old man welcome me as I enter the shop. Wow, it looks like he is very much up to the trend. "Are you looking for anything in particular?" he asks, to which I reply, "Yes, three Violet Letteria potions and something against trance spells." "A moment." he says, before going into the back storage room. I take a few glimpse around the shop while waiting for him; there are all sorts of potions on the shelf, and also some weird specimens on red glowing eyes and snow beast paws' enclosed inside some cylinders. "Here you go. Three potions. One Silver Owl Amulet," he places them on the check-out table. I place Jane's map on it as well and ask him if he knows any safe zone in Leiden Forest. Now that I know where we are, it'd be easier to navigate on the map based on what I've read about this place. "Leiden Forest? That's a dangerous territory that you're going to, boy. The ancient spirits and guardian there do not treat any outsiders kindly. Not to mention how huge it is." "Yes, but it's also the only place where Violet Garden Berries grow and I remember there being small safe zones that keeps the monsters away; which comes to my question: do you know?" He nod, but with his finger making a universal signal for Nicos. "How much?" "For all these? How many do you have?" I checked earlier. I only have 5 silver Nicos left. I slam the table, "Four silver Nicos." "I'll take five then," the old man says. "Or you could trade the ring you have for this information." "Ring? How did you know?" "Let's say I have eyes for peculiar items. So, what would it be?" On one hand, I might need some Nicos along the journey; but on the other hand, his strong fixation on the ring that I picked up from the dead mage is weird. Unless he knew that I was lying about the amount of my Nicos, otherwise he's already anticipated that I'd have no choice but to give him the ring. After giving it some thought, I... [[Trade my Nicos for it.]] [[Trade the mage's ring for it.]]

(if: (history:) contains "Trade my Nicos for it.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Surprise."//) (set: $totalach to $totalach + 1)(set: $c2ach to $c2ach + 1) ]"Here. 5 silver Nicos." I say, as I place the Nicos on the table. He looks at me, a bit dumbfounded seeing that I actually have five Nicos. But he quickly hides it with a smile, "Well then, here are your items. Give me the map." as he slides the items across the table to me. "Here, here and here," he marks the three spots with a red pen. "No guarantee on it, might be some distance off. And that amulet, it will only work once, last 10 minutes, after you chant 'Glaukopis' three times." "Thank you," I pack the items up, readying to leave this somewhat shady-looking shop. But as I step at the shop's entrance, I realise something: he doesn't have a 'NC' above his head. And when I turn around to double-check, there is no one else in the shop but me. Goosebumps immediately crawls up my skin, as I rush out and head towards the water fountain. Jane is already waiting there, with her pouch looking stuffier than before. "What's with the necklace?" she asks as soon as she sees me. "It's not a necklace," I say. "This helps to keep me safe from the likes of you." "The likes of me? You'll be surprised, John." she says with a smirk on her face. "You know, Jane... smirking doesn't make you any cuter." I say. "Guys, guys, stop," Cliff cuts in between us, with his palms. Jane turns her back towards me. "Let's just go," she says. Her tone has turned cold, and hard. She didn't counter back my remarks. Cliff gives me a scolding look, before following Jane's footsteps. We walk in silence to the kingdom's entrance. After Cliff finishes picking up his longsword, I brief them on the forest that we're going to and the purpose of my potions. Then, we march toward Leiden Forest. One day's journey there, and three days to find the Berries, avoid the spirits, monsters lurking within and go to Pantheona. Left one day to spare. Yeah, I can see tons of ways for this to go wrong. But I decide to keep this thought to myself. We reach a small forest after a few hours walk and see that tens of other groups are already camping on a big plain field, in the middle of this forest. Now that a new rule has been announced, I imagine no one would dare to harm other Familia's members, that's why they let their guard down. But, we choose to move a little further more than them; luckily, we found a cave to camp in. After we set up the fire, Cliff asks, "So... who's taking the first shift?" His question slices across the awkward tension that's been swirling around the three of us since I last talked. [[Take the first shift.]] [[Take the second shift.]] [[Offer to stay up all night.]] (set: $path to "no-coins")

"Here. The ring." I say, as I place the ring on the table. He looks a bit surprised but his smile widen. "Here are your items. Give me the map," he says as he slides the items across the table to me. "Here, here and here," he marks the three spots with a red pen. "No guarantee on it, might be some distance off. And that amulet, it will only work once, last 10 minutes, after you chant 'Glaukopis' three times." "Thank you," I pack the items up, readying to leave this somewhat shady-looking shop. But as I step at the shop's entrance, I realise something: he doesn't have a 'NC' above his head. And when I turn around to double-check, there is no one else in the shop but me. Goosebumps immediately crawls up my skin, as I rush out and head towards the water fountain. Jane is already waiting there, with her pouch looking stuffier than before. "What's with the necklace?" she asks as soon as she sees me. "It's not a necklace," I say. "This helps to keep me safe from the likes of you." "The likes of me? You'll be surprised, John." she says with a smirk on her face. "You know, Jane... smirking doesn't make you any cuter." I say. "Guys, guys, stop," Cliff cuts in between us, with his palms. Jane turns her back towards me. "Let's just go," she says. Her tone has turned cold, and hard. She didn't counter back my remarks. Cliff gives me a scolding look, before following Jane's footsteps. We walk in silence to the kingdom's entrance. After Cliff finishes picking up his longsword, I brief them on the forest that we're going to and the purpose of my potions. Then, we march toward Leiden Forest. One day's journey there, and three days to find the Berries, avoid the spirits, monsters lurking within and go to Pantheona. Left one day to spare. Yeah, I can see tons of ways for this to go wrong. But I decide to keep this thought to myself. We reach a small forest after a few hours walk and see that tens of other groups are already camping on a big plain field, in the middle of this forest. Now that a new rule has been announced, I imagine no one would dare to harm other Familia's members, that's why they let their guard down. But, we choose to move a little further more than them; luckily, we found a cave to camp in. After we set up the fire, Cliff asks, "So... who's taking the first shift?" His question slices across the awkward tension that's been swirling around the three of us since I last talked. [[Take the first shift.]] [[Take the second shift.]] [[Offer to stay up all night.]] (set: $path to "no-ring")

"Sure!" she exclaims. She seems more relaxed now, as she holds her fist out to me. I throw her a confused look, and she explains that it's her signature move of forming an alliance. "I'm Jane," she says. "John," I reply as I bump her fist lightly. "Ok, so... what was our first challenge?" "To reach here within 5 days, from the kingdom of Babylona. The Sage of West, Sage Twes briefed us on the days we arrive, and announced the first rule there." "The day we arrived? What is this place?" She looks at me funny. "Why are you here if you don't know? This is 'The Other World'—a hidden realm inside our world. And, it is directly under the control of The Four Cardinal Sages, with each of them having their own kingdom here. Once the Challengers are confirmed after this tournament has started, there are no more 'ins', only 'outs' which are either through death or with teleportation; the deaths are permanent and the teleportation are either through costly trinkets or advanced spells. 500 four Familia registered, and only 100 were chosen." "Ok... then what is the purpose of this whole tournament thing?" "Either for the wealth and position of Sage of the East, or for the one wish that can be granted." "Wealth and wish?" She sighs at me. "Yes... although The Four Cardinal Sages only rule inside this realm, but they hold considerable power that can change the politics and technological advancement, and destroy our world if they unite together. There was a big war that broke out 300 years ago, that force three Familia and Demi-humans to unite against The Four Cardinal Sages. But even so, we barely won. In the end, the war ended only because of the sacrifice of a little girl that prompted The Four Cardinal Sages to make a peaceful pact with the leader of each Familia, declaring peacefulness amongst the Familia, which has lasted ever since." She pauses, before continuing. "However, during this period, The Four Cardinal Sages are said to have accumulated enough power to grant a wish, and enough wealth that can suffice a kingdom for a hundred years." "But, why would they hold a tournament to choose a new one now?" "Exactly. Sages are normally chosen from their own descendants, and not just anyone. But none of the Sages has ever lived past 100 years, maybe they are trying to break their fate by awarding the power to others and control them in the process. No one knows why, but we all joined anyway." I then take a glimpse at both her leather gloves. "And your gloves, didn't they take it away?" "No, apprently they only take away your weapons if they look dangerous. Plus, the members in Beastia and Magica are all put under a constraint that forbid us from using any spell upon entering." "The '//Yam u//' something, is that some sort of a blessing spell the locals like to use? I've heard it twice now." "(text-style: "condense")[Yam u evah on sterger.] It's an anagram, adapted from the old Gibberish language that the Sages use. They like to come up with these sort of things, even in their names as well. And apparently, the locals picked it up and started using it too. So now, it's just common to hear it even outside this kingdom." "I see, so what is your wish then?" Her mouth opens, but no voice comes out from it. She looks at me, seemingly taken aback by my question. [[Next page->next page4]]

"I'll take the first shift." "Ok then, Jane—is it? Are you fine with taking the second shift?" Cliff asks. Jane nods slightly. Then, the three of us sit idly around the small campfire. None of us has anything to talk about. Jane is leaning against the cave's walls, looking outside the cave, her minds has seemingly wandered off somewhere. Cliff is sitting with his legs crossed, polishing his large shield he placed in front of him. I am the only one standing. Struggling to come up with words to clear this awkward atmosphere, (set: $shift to "first-shift") [[I do some light streches.]] [["What a beautiful night."]] [["So Cliff, what's the shield's name?"]]

"I'll take the second shift." "Ok then—Jane is it? Are you fine with taking the first shift? I'll take the last one." Cliff asks. Jane nods slightly. Then, the three of us sit idly around the small campfire. None of us has anything to talk about. Jane is leaning against the cave's walls, looking outside the cave, her minds has seemingly wandered off somewhere. Cliff is sitting with his legs crossed, polishing his large shield he placed in front of him. I am the only one standing. Struggling to come up with words to clear this awkward atmosphere, (set: $shift to "second-shift") [[I do some light streches.]] [["What a beautiful night."]] [["So Cliff, what's the shield's name?"]]

Cliff stares at me like I'm sort of cannibalistic predator warming up before dancing with its prey. "What a quiet night for some exercise." I say, trying to cover my bizzare action. "Indeed,"—he continues—"but it's night like these that makes up a nightmare for us— //coughs// them, the knights." I glance at him, he has a somewhat sad face with a distant look in his eyes; looks like we are going for a trip down his memory lane. "The knights," he says. "They are used to the harsh changing weather in our kingdom, and has always trained and trained in the training ground, under the anticipation that anything could kill them anytime, anywhere." He continues, as he peers into the fire. "But once in a while, the captains will treat them to a deluxe meal. Roasted beef, pork, lamb, cakes spread with honey, grilled shellfish, huge shrimps—but none of them ever dare to eat first, they only deserve the remains of it. And under quiet, starry nights like now, they would be forced to sleep at the center of the training ground and are warned that beasts could be released anytime." He chuckles, "The funny thing is, they all know that there were never any beast. Yet, all of them endured these listless nights together—it's better than working as farmers anyways. Days after weeks after months after years of training, and I was...never even once, a part of it. My status gives me more privelleges than I could ever count. With only a few simple missions and only able to master my shield, I stood at the knighting ceremony beside them, receiving the same sword, the same pouch,"—he pauses himself—"some knight I am, right?" I am utterly and completely taken aback by Cliff's honest outburst. Jane is also now staring at him, with her eyes slightly widened. She looks like she couldn't find the right words in these situations. "Yes, you are terrible." I answer him. "All those years of feeling sorry for yourself, you could've forced your ways to join them if you really wanted to. Better yet, you should have taken the initiative to learn what's beyond you. Even if you need to sacrifice everything, to be able to save one more person. Rejecting sympathy is simply useless unless you can prove that you don't need it." I say, with a sudden rage that burns within me seeing people in states like this. "Stop these ridiculuos thoughts, and start thinking of what only you can do"—I continue—"because you're the only shield in our party now." Our conversation then falls into a deep silence, as the sound of crickets singing and crackling fire in front of us slowly creeps in. "...You know John, you sounded like my grandma when I ate one too many biscuits." Jane teases, as she turns her face towards us with a playful smile crafted on her face. "Pffhh—" Cliff tries to suppress himself but in the next moment he is convulsed with laughter. I can my feel my body warming up, even though I am more than a few feet away from the fire; I know they mean no harm, but my face redden a bit. [[Next page->next page6]]

(if: (history:) contains "\"So Cliff, what's the shield's name?\"")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Smooth talker."//) (set: $c2ach to $c2ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"Amber." he answers me. ... ... "Nah, I'm just playing with you. Sorry, peaceful nights like these just make me uncomfortable." I glance at him, he has a somewhat sad face with a distant look in his eyes; looks like we are going for a trip down his memory lane. "We— //coughs// they, the knights are used to the harsh changing weather in our kingdom, and has always trained and trained in the training ground, under the anticipation that anything could kill them anytime, anywhere." He continues, as he peers into the fire. "But once in a while, the captains will treat them to a deluxe meal. Roasted beef, pork, lamb, cakes spread with honey, grilled shellfish, huge shrimps—but none of them ever dare to eat first, they only deserve the remains of it. And under quiet, starry nights like now, they would be forced to sleep at the center of the training ground and are warned that beasts could be released anytime." He chuckles, "The funny thing is, they all know that there were never any beast. Yet, all of them endured these listless nights together—it's better than working as farmers anyways. Days after weeks after months after years of training, and I was...never even once, a part of it. My status gives me more privelleges than I could ever count. With only a few simple missions and only able to master my shield, I stood at the knighting ceremony beside them, receiving the same sword, the same pouch,"—he pauses himself—"some knight I am, right?" I am utterly and completely taken aback by Cliff's honest outburst. Jane is also now staring at him, with her eyes slightly widened. She looks like she couldn't find the right words in these situations. "Yes, you are terrible." I answer him. "All those years of feeling sorry for yourself, you could've forced your ways to join them if you really wanted to. Better yet, you should have taken the initiative to learn what's beyond you. Even if you need to sacrifice everything, to be able to save one more person. Rejecting sympathy is simply useless unless you can prove that you don't need it." I say, with a sudden rage that burns within me seeing people in states like this. "Stop these ridiculuos thoughts, and start thinking of what only you can do"—I continue—"because you're the only shield in our party now." Our conversation then falls into a deep silence, as the sound of crickets singing and crackling fire in front of us slowly creeps in. "...You know John, you sounded like my grandma when I ate one too many biscuits." Jane teases, as she turns her face towards us with a playful smile crafted on her face. "Pffhh—" Cliff tries to suppress himself but in the next moment he is convulsed with laughter. I can my feel my body warming up, even though I am more than a few feet away from the fire; I know they mean no harm, but my face redden a bit. [[Next page->next page6]]

"What a beautiful night," I say. "Oh, it's a full moon too." ... ... Yeah, that failed spectacularly. Jane's eyes are still fixed on the wild while Cliff only gave me a small smile, before he goes back to his shield business. "Yes, it is." Cliff says, just when I was about to sit down. "It's night like these that the knights get especially unsettled. We— //coughs// They are used to the harsh changing weather in our kingdom, and has always trained and trained in the training ground, under the anticipation that anything could kill them anytime, anywhere." He continues, as he peers into the fire. "But once in a while, the captains will treat them to a deluxe meal. Roasted beef, pork, lamb, cakes spread with honey, grilled shellfish, huge shrimps—but none of them ever dare to eat first, they only deserve the remains of it. And under quiet, starry nights like now, they would be forced to sleep at the center of the training ground and are warned that beasts could be released anytime." He chuckles, "The funny thing is, they all know that there were never any beast. Yet, all of them endured these listless nights together—it's better than working as farmers anyways. Days after weeks after months after years of training, and I was...never even once, a part of it. My status gives me more privelleges than I could ever count. With only a few simple missions and only able to master my shield, I stood at the knighting ceremony beside them, receiving the same sword, the same pouch,"—he pauses himself—"some knight I am, right?" I am utterly and completely taken aback by Cliff's honest outburst. Jane is also now staring at him, with her eyes slightly widened. She looks like she couldn't find the right words in these situations. "Yes, you are terrible." I answer him. "All those years of feeling sorry for yourself, you could've forced your ways to join them if you really wanted to. Better yet, you should have taken the initiative to learn what's beyond you. Even if you need to sacrifice everything, to be able to save one more person. Rejecting sympathy is simply useless unless you can prove that you don't need it." I say, with a sudden rage that burns within me seeing people in states like this. "Stop these ridiculuos thoughts, and start thinking of what only you can do"—I continue—"because you're the only shield in our party now." Our conversation then falls into a deep silence, as the sound of crickets singing and crackling fire in front of us slowly creeps in. "...You know John, you sounded like my grandma when I ate one too many biscuits." Jane teases, as she turns her face towards us with a playful smile crafted on her face. "Pffhh—" Cliff tries to suppress himself but in the next moment he is convulsed with laughter. I can my feel my body warming up, even though I am more than a few feet away from the fire; I know they mean no harm, but my face redden a bit. [[Next page->next page6]]

I then spend some time telling them my story—or at least what I can remember. My 5-days-memory-loss prior to meeting them, my near-death experience with the mage in the morning, and my //also// near-death experience with the witch accompanied by two kids in the afternoon. I didn't mention 'Jack' because I think there's much more to our relationship than it seems. Both of them listen attentively as I try my best to not leave out any details—I want to get as much as insights and information as possible—while narrating them. Jane did cut me halfway through because I was moving my hands too much. (if: $path is "no-ring" and $shift is "first-shift")["P.S., the worst of the worst among the mages." Jane says. "The Peace Squad," Cliff clarifies. "The squad itself is also on a hunt list for the United Knights Association. They are a team of three mages: an illusionist, a summoner and a duplicator. All of high caliber that can blend forbidden sorcery into their illusionary spells and curses. Their leader, however, is said to have an unique weapon as well." "Funny enough, their tricks only work with the element of surprise, with them being hidden. That's why they only prey on the people from Humania Familia that cannot cast spells—calling themselves the 'balancer' that kills the weak. But in the market, I overheard that one of them was found dead under a tree in a forest. So... it was you behind it.", he calmly explains and then rests his eyes on me, like he is trying to decide whether I'm lying or not. Jane adds, "And the ring, it must have fed on the negative emotions from all his victims, and his own bloodlust that makes it powerful enough to channel the forbidden spells. There should be some faint aura surrounding it with that much amount of negativity. Normal rings' aura are much more diminished. Hazel and Grazel probably sensed this. That's why they ran towards you." "Then the constraint spells you mentioned, why didn't it work on them?" I ask, trying to learn more about spells. "Do you even know how spells work? We need a tool or a catalyst as a medium to channel our spells; wizards and witches have wands, mages have rings, sages have scrolls and we, the caster have crystals. These gloves that I wear are made to harness the crystals' essence and store them to be used." Jane says, sounding a bit irritated. "Hazel and Grazel from your description however, don't seem to have anything to trigger their abilities,"— Jane lets out a small yawn, before she continues—"so maybe that's why the constraint didn't work." I pause for a while to absorb these information while Jane is sitting there, staring at me, and let out another small yawn. I avoid her stare and look over to Cliff; he has already fallen asleep, hugging his shield like a buffy teddy bear protecting his jar of honey. "You do look familiar...//yawns//... John. If there's nothing else, good night." Jane says, before crossing both her arms and closing her eyes. "Good night." I reply as I head outside for my first shift; what a warm and cozy word.](else-if: $path is "no-coins" and $shift is "first-shift")["P.S., the worst of the worst among the mages." Jane says. "The Peace Squad," Cliff clarifies. "The squad itself is also on a hunt list for the United Knights Association. They are a team of three mages: an illusionist, a summoner and a duplicator. All of high caliber that can blend forbidden sorcery into their illusionary spells and curses. Their leader, however, is said to have an unique weapon as well." "Funny enough, their tricks only work with the element of surprise, with them being hidden. That's why they only prey on the people from Humania Familia that cannot cast spells—calling themselves the 'balancer' that kills the weak. But in the market, I overheard that one of them was found dead under a tree in a forest. So... it was you behind it.", he calmly explains and then rests his eyes on me, like he is trying to decide whether I'm lying or not. Jane adds, "And the ring, it must have fed on the negative emotions from all his victims, and his own bloodlust that makes it powerful enough to channel the forbidden spells." I take the ring out from my bag and observe it. A net of energy is surrounding it. "There's a faint red aura on it." "I'm surprised you can see it—humans normally don't. Normal rings' aura is much more diminished than this. Hazel and Grazel probably sensed this stronger aura emitting from your ring. That's why they ran towards you." Jane says. "Then the constraint spells you mentioned, why didn't it work on them?" I ask, trying to learn more about spells. "Do you even know how spells work? We need a tool or a catalyst as a medium to channel our spells; wizards and witches have wands, mages have rings, sages have scrolls and we, the caster have crystals. These gloves that I wear are made to harness the crystals' essence and store them to be used." Jane says, sounding a bit irritated. "Hazel and Grazel from your description however, don't seem to have anything to trigger their abilities,"— Jane lets out a small yawn, before she continues—"so maybe that's why the constraint didn't work." I pause for a while to absorb these information while Jane is sitting there, staring at me, and let out another small yawn. I avoid her stare and look over to Cliff; he has already fallen asleep, hugging his shield like a buffy teddy bear protecting his jar of honey. "You do look familiar...//yawns//... John. If there's nothing else, good night." Jane says, before crossing both her arms and closing her eyes. "Good night." I reply as I head outside for my first shift; what a warm and cozy word.](else-if: $path is "no-coins" and $shift is "second-shift")["P.S., the worst of the worst among the mages." Jane says. "The Peace Squad," Cliff clarifies. "The squad itself is also on a hunt list for the United Knights Association. They are a team of three mages: an illusionist, a summoner and a duplicator. All of high caliber that can blend forbidden sorcery into their illusionary spells and curses. Their leader, however, is said to have an unique weapon as well." "Funny enough, their tricks only work with the element of surprise, with them being hidden. That's why they only prey on the people from Humania Familia that cannot cast spells—calling themselves the 'balancer' that kills the weak. But in the market, I overheard that one of them was found dead under a tree in a forest. So... it was you behind it.", he calmly explains and then rests his eyes on me, like he is trying to decide whether I'm lying or not. Jane adds, "And the ring, it must have fed on the negative emotions from all his victims, and his own bloodlust that makes it powerful enough to channel the forbidden spells." I take the ring out from my bag and observe it. A net of energy is surrounding it. "There's a faint red aura on it." "I'm surprised you can see it—humans normally don't. Normal rings' aura is much more diminished than this. Hazel and Grazel probably sensed this stronger aura emitting from your ring. That's why they ran towards you." Jane says. "Then the constraint spells you mentioned, why didn't it work on them?" I ask, trying to learn more about spells. "Do you even know how spells work? We need a tool or a catalyst as a medium to channel our spells; wizards and witches have wands, mages have rings, sages have scrolls and we, the caster have crystals. These gloves that I wear are made to harness the crystals' essence and store them to be used." Jane says, sounding a bit irritated. "Hazel and Grazel from your description however, don't seem to have anything to trigger their abilities,"—I let out a small yawn while she is explaining—"so maybe that's why the constraint didn't work." I close my eyes and pause for a while to absorb these information. When I open my eyes, Jane is sitting there, staring at me. I avoid her stare and look over to Cliff; he has already fallen asleep, hugging his shield like a buffy teddy bear protecting his jar of honey. Watching him asleep so soundly, I let out a second yawn. "Get some rest. If there's nothing else, good night." she says as she stands up and get ready for her shift. "Good night." I reply, as I lean my back against the cave's wall; what a warm and cozy word.](else:)["P.S., the worst of the worst among the mages." Jane says. "The Peace Squad," Cliff clarifies. "The squad itself is also on a hunt list for the United Knights Association. They are a team of three mages: an illusionist, a summoner and a duplicator. All of high caliber that can blend forbidden sorcery into their illusionary spells and curses. Their leader, however, is said to have an unique weapon as well." "Funny enough, their tricks only work with the element of surprise, with them being hidden. That's why they only prey on the people from Humania Familia that cannot cast spells—calling themselves the 'balancer' that kills the weak. But in the market, I overheard that one of them was found dead under a tree in a forest. So... it was you behind it.", he calmly explains and then rests his eyes on me, like he is trying to decide whether I'm lying or not. Jane adds, "And the ring, it must have fed on the negative emotions from all his victims, and his own bloodlust that makes it powerful enough to channel the forbidden spells. There should be some faint aura surrounding it with that much amount of negativity. Normal rings' aura are much more diminished. Hazel and Grazel probably sensed this. That's why they ran towards you." "Then the constraint spells you mentioned, why didn't it work on them?" I ask, trying to learn more about spells. "Do you even know how spells work? We need a tool or a catalyst as a medium to channel our spells; wizards and witches have wands, mages have rings, sages have scrolls and we, the caster have crystals. These gloves that I wear are made to harness the crystals' essence and store them to be used." Jane says, sounding a bit irritated. "Hazel and Grazel from your description however, don't seem to have anything to trigger their abilities,"—I let out a small yawn while she is explaining—"so maybe that's why the constraint didn't work." I close my eyes and pause for a while to absorb these information. When I open my eyes, Jane is sitting there, staring at me. I avoid her stare and look over to Cliff; he has already fallen asleep, hugging his shield like a buffy teddy bear protecting his jar of honey. Watching him asleep so soundly, I let out a second yawn. "Get some rest. If there's nothing else, good night." she says as she stands up and ready for her shift. "Good night." I reply, as I lean my back against the cave's wall; what a warm and cozy word.] [[Next page->next page7]]

(if: $shift is "first-shift")[I climb on top of one of trees that is high enough to view the cave's surrounding but low enough to see the entrance to the cave—the perfect vantage point. And then I spend a few hours embracing the wind that is blowing from my front, swiping across my face. The sky is overwhelmingly dark, like it's draped by a pitch-black curtain and what remains are a few stars and the moon, shining so brilliantly—almost as if they are trying to fill up the emptiness of the sky, sparkling in the darkness to give hopes. "//This is so nostalgic//," I thought. Gazing at this scene, I suddenly feel immense pain and sadness rushing into me: my tears dropped unnconciously. I didn't feel it until the tears have flowed to my chin. A brother, a sister and a mother—who are these people and why do I think of them now? Oh... right. We used to lie on our field and looked at the same dark sky. There were more stars back then, and I remember my mom would always prepare some blankets and bring it there, because my brother and sister always refuse to go inside until they fall asleep. Then, my mom and I had to carry them on our back and put them on their bed. She would always sit by their side afterwards, her hand on top of their blanket, like a mother bird protecting its child. I was always the one that put a blanket over her should after she falls asleep. It was a simple, but satisfying life. No, wait. But these memories... they aren't mine. //Thummmmp-// //thump thump// My shoulder shrugged. A sudden distant thumping sound distracted my thoughts. There are no lightning as far I can see but the wind picked up speed and the moon's light become tinted with pale purple. I look around, trying to locate the source of the sound. //THUMP THUMP// "IT'S COMING!" The same sound again. Now someone is shouting. I jump down the tree and try to identify where it comes from. "KILL. KILL THAT THING!" Another scream from the same direction, it's from the big field area where the other Challengers were camping. The sound is getting more and more mixed up and chaotic. We are at a safe distance from them, but if I ignore it, it might lead to a bigger trouble later. (set: $trip to "go-alone") [[Go to scout the area first to see what's happening.]] [[Wake Cliff and Jane up, go with them together.]]](else:)[Within a few minutes, with the gentle wind caressing my face, and with the soothing sound of fire crackling, I was already asleep. The sky is overwhelmingly dark, like it's draped by a pitch-black curtain and what remains are a few stars and the moon, shining so brilliantly—almost as if they are trying to fill up the emptiness of the sky, sparkling in the darkness to give hopes. "//This is so nostalgic//," I thought. Gazing at this scene, I suddenly feel immense pain and sadness rushing into me: my tears dropped unnconciously. I didn't feel it until the tears have flowed to my chin. A brother, a sister and a mother—who are these people and why do I think of them now? Oh... right. We used to lie on our field and looked at the same dark sky. There were more stars back then, and I remember my mom would always prepare some blankets and bring it there, because my brother and sister always refuse to go inside until they fall asleep. Then, my mom and I had to carry them on our back and put them on their bed. She would always sit by their side afterwards, her hand on top of their blanket, like a mother bird protecting its child. I was always the one that put a blanket over her should after she falls asleep. It was a simple, but satisfying life. No, wait. But these memories... they aren't mine. "John." A voice distracted my thoughts. "John!" There it goes again, I can feel something shaking my shoulder. "JOHN!" //SLAPS// I open my eyes, with my right hand touching my right cheek. There are some fluids on it. It hurts. "Wat iz it?" I ask, with my eyes trying to adjust to the brightness. "Why are you crying?" Jane asks back. "No I'm not—" I answer, as I rub both my eyes. There are indeed, some fluids on them. I wipe the fluids away and look at Jane. She has a concerned look on her face. "What's going on?" I ask, again. "Someone is screaming. Thumping sound, near the big field that we passed earlier. Come." she replies. Big field, there were many Challengers camping there. (set: $trip to "go-with-her") [[I stand up and follow her.->Go to scout the area first to see what's happening.]] [[I wake Cliff up first.->Wake Cliff and Jane up, go with them together.]]]

(if: $trip is "go-alone")[I decide to check the situation first before waking them up. I trace back the path we took and managed to reach the field. I hide behind a tree and observe. I can see four, no, five groups of wizards, witches, knights and even trolls, ogres, golems surrounding a huge, muscular creature, readying to launch an attack. A larger batch of groups of Challengers are standing behind them. That creature is about 25 feet tall, has a furry human body, but its face is shrouded in a dark mist. It is holding a small tree, and something dangles above its head whenever it moves. Only red eyes are seen on its face and a constant growling can be heard from its stomach. My eyes widen as a sharp coldness hits my core. I utter out with disbelief, "That's a Berserker." "A what?" a familiar voice comes from my back. It was Jane. She followed me out. I switch my glance back at the field. "A Berserker, created by forbidden spells and enhanced by negative emotions. It has incredible regenerative skills, enormous strength and pure madness; but, it needs a host with strong mental strength. Only one has appeared a hundred years ago, and was only annihilated by Sage of the East after it destroyed half his kingdom." I clarify.](else-if: $trip is "go-with-her")[We trace back the path we took and managed to reach the field. We then hide behind a tree and observe. There are four, no, five groups of wizards, witches, knights and even trolls, ogres, golems surrounding a huge, muscular creature, readying to launch an attack. A larger batch of groups of Challengers are standing behind them. That creature is about 25 feet tall, has a furry human body, but its face is shrouded in a dark mist. It is holding a small tree, and something dangles above its head whenever it moves. Only red eyes are seen on its face and a constant growling can be heard from its stomach. My eyes widen as a sharp coldness hits my core. I utter out with disbelief, "That's a Berserker." "A what?" Jane inquires. Without looking at her, I answer, "A Berserker, created by forbidden spells and enhanced by negative emotions. It has incredible regenerative skills, enormous strength and pure madness; but, it needs a host with strong mental strength. Only one has appeared a hundred years ago, and was only annihilated by Sage of the East after it destroyed half his kingdom."] "None of us would stand a chance against that beast." I say. Jane suddenly rushes forward. I managed to grab her hand and pull her back. "What are you doing? Didn't you hear what I said?" I interrogate her, bewildered by her action. "Let go or I'll cut your hand! If what you said is true, they'll die for nothing. We must aler—" "ATTACK!" a yell breaks our conversation. The Berserker lets out a huge roar as the spells rain down on it and the knights charges forward to slash it. Then, a loud boom followed by huge thick smoke envelopes them. Our eyes are set on the Berserker's figure, waiting for the smoke to dispel. And after a minute, it does. But the scene that unravels before us made us speachless. Jane slowly kneels down, her whole body seems to have numbed and she is breathing heavily—as if she if trying to remember how to breathe. Cliff that just reached where we are—presumable alerted by the bang—is standing, but completely stunned by the scene. The Berserker is alive—unharmed at all, and is thumping the golems, ogres lying beside it. The wizards, witches, mages, knights—they are all rolling on the ground, gripping their chest, vomitting piles and piles of blood. "This... doesn't make sense at all. Berserkers are not poisonous in nature, unless there are some spells surrounding it—" I pause. "Son of a goat." //PLACK// //plack plack// A small handful of pebbles are being thrown at me from my back. I turn around, and see a spiky hair sticking out of the bushes. [[Next page->next page8]]

(if: (history:) contains "Wake Cliff and Jane up, go with them together. ")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"I'm a team player!"//) (set: $c2ach to $c2ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ](if: $trip is "go-alone")[I go back to the cave to wake both of them up. Jane has already opened her eyes, while Cliff is still sleeping, and snoring. He only open his eyes, half-asleep after I shout his name a few times; I have to drag him out with us to the field.](else:)[I try to wake Cliff up. He is still sleeping, and snoring. Only after I shout his name a few times, he opened his eyes in a half-asleep state; I have to drag him with us.] I briefly tell them about the sound as we re-trace our path there. We then hide behind a tree to observe the field. There are four, no, five groups of wizards, witches, knights and even trolls, ogres, golems surrounding a huge, muscular creature, readying to launch an attack. A larger batch of groups of Challengers are standing behind them. That creature is about 25 feet tall, has a furry human body, and its face is shrouded in a dark mist. It is holding a small tree, and something dangles above its head whenever it moves. Only red eyes are seen on its face and a constant growling can be heard from its stomach. My eyes widen as a sharp coldness hits my core. I utter out with disbelief, "That's a Berserker." "A what?" Jane inquires. "A Berserker," I clarify. "Created by forbidden spells and enhanced by negative emotions. It has incredible regenerative skills, enormous strength and pure madness; but, it needs a host with strong mental strength. Only one has appeared a hundred years ago, and was only annihilated by Sage of the East after it destroyed half his kingdom." "None of us would stand a chance against that beast." I say. Jane suddenly rushes forward. I managed to grab her hand and pull her back. "What are you doing? Didn't you hear what I said?" I interrogate her, bewildered by her action. "Let go or I'll cut your hand! If what you said is true, they'll die for nothing. We must aler—" "ATTACK!" a yell breaks our conversation. The Berserker lets out a huge roar as the spells rain down on it and the knights charges forward to slash it. Then, a loud boom followed by huge thick smoke envelopes them. Our eyes are set on the Berserker's figure, waiting for the smoke to dispel. After a minute, it did. The scene that unravels before us made us speachless. Jane slowly kneels down, her whole body seems to have numbed and she is breathing heavily—as if she if trying to remember how to breathe. Cliff is still standing, but is completely stunned by the scene. The Berserker is alive—unharmed at all, and is thumping the golems, ogres lying beside it. The wizards, witches, mages, knights—they are all rolling on the ground, gripping their chest, vomitting piles and piles of blood. "This... doesn't make sense at all. Berserkers are not poisonous in nature, unless there are some spells surrounding it—" I pause. "Son of a goat." //PLACK// //plack plack// A small handful of pebbles are being thrown at me from my back. I turn around, and see a spiky hair sticking out of the bushes. [[Next page->next page8]]

"Blaze," I immediately thought. "You damn idiots! Come here!" he whispers loudly. I tap Cliff on his shoulder's armour, and pat Jane on her head to wake them up from their shocked state. They look at me, and I signal my hand for them to move back for a moment. Then, we meet up with them—the gang of bandits. There are 10 of them, accompanying the leader, with a carriage filled with barrels of wines, likely bought from the market. But there are two more people I hadn't seen before standing at the back of their group: an adventurer with a backpack, and a wizard with wand, both looking a bit reluctant. "Bandits!" Cliff shouts as he stands in front of Jane and I with his shield facing them, right after he snaps out of his blurry state. His other hand is about to sheathe out his longsword, while Blaze is pointing his dagger towards us. "Hello." the one-eyed leader greets. "John. Jane. Any of you know him?" Cliff asks. "No." Jane declines. (if: $ally is "no")["Hello." I greet back. "Could we start by putting down our weapons?" I propose.](else:)["Hello." I greet back, since I've dealt with them at the entrance before. "Could we start by putting down our weapons?"] "Blaze." the leader calls him, and sure enough, he relaxes his shoulder and lowers his hand. "Don't worry, Cliff; they mean no harm," I say. "Are you sure? Even though they didn't ambush us," he looks at them. "They don't seem like a nice bunch." "Yes," I answer with a calm yet serious tone. "We might need their help if we want to save the rest of the Challengers." He looks into my eyes before eventually conceeding. But, he stares at them again, "Ok, fine. But if they try anything weird, I'll slap them with this shield." "Ha! I'd love to see you try, Silver!" Blaze taunts him. "You little goa—" //ROARRRR// A large roar cuts off Cliff. We shift our focus back to the field, and can see the larger batch of the group is now approaching the Berserker, likely attempting to strike the beast with more manpower. Why aren't they running away from it? "There's a little girl behind them." Jane says as I look toward the direction of her pointing finger. "There's something... above her head: she's also an NC. That formation—are they... protecting her?" I say. The groups are now slowly forming a circle around the Berserker, while the ogres and the trolls are restricting its movements. "We must—no, I'm going to save them," Jane declares, before I could say anything. "Decide, are you with me or not?" Her crimson red eyes shift from the little girl to the Berserker, as they brim with fury, with her hands slightly clenched. This determined look on her face, she won't let me hold her back anymore. Not this time. And my next sentence will let her know whether she can trust me or not. "Let's just wait and see, normies." Blaze says, from our back. "What did you just say?" Cliff asks. Wait? Wait. Of course. The first rule is //"no causing any harm or killing the non-Challenger(NC)"//. If the Berserker were to kill the girl, it would be executed instantly. Against the Berserker, this might be the easy way out. While Blaze and Cliff are bickering on the background, after some hesitation and considering our resources, there are only two options: [[Save the girl.]] [[Don't do anything.]]

I stand up and declare, "Let's save the girl." "Jane, Cliff. Stop their attack. Buy some time. Cliff, focus on protecting the girl." I order, looking at both of them, waiting to see how they will react. They both nod at me and without any question, they rush to the Berserker. "The leader, I'd like to make a proposal," I say, as I extend my right hand to him. Upon closer inspection, he's huge and hairy, almost like a bear with thick mustaches. "I'm John," I say. "Bossman." he replies as he smacks my hand before shaking it. I signal him to go for a walk, putting a little distance from his men before I negotiate, "I need three things from you: six of your men, six barrels of wine, and the adventurer with the wizard. Trade for a map with safe zones in Leiden Forest." "Whaddaya' say? Safe zones? Ahh—he was talking about them," Blaze interrupts from behind. "Bossman can't talk much, Juice. I'll sort this out." He then takes some alone time to communicate with his boss. Their knowledge of the safe zones... it's likely given out by the adventurer in their group beforehand. "Four barrels. Four men. The adventurer and the wizard are picked up, so you can have them. The wines are important for motivation, so no more than that." Blaze says, after I finish my thoughts. "Deal." I say. Jane seems to specialize in long-range attack, and Cliff is much towards defense. So, they won't be able to help much here. "There's one more thing I need, can any of you harm, without harming?" "HUUUUHHHHH?" Blaze moves closer to my ear as he streches his word. Bossman seems to understand as he drags Blaze to the side and explain to him in hand signals. Blaze then returns, with a smile, "We can do that, Juice. (if: $ally is "no")[But, at the cost of two Violet—something potions." I glare at the adventurer in their group. He notices me and immediately turns his head to the side to avoid my glare. Geez, just how much has he told them? "Fine." I say. "I'll need you guys to inflict wounds—as much as you can—on the Berserker for at least 3 minutes."](else:)[No charge for that—a token of gratitude, Bossman insists." "Ok then," I cross my eyes with the both of them. "I'll need you guys to inflict wounds—as much as you can—on the Berserker for at least 3 minutes."] "Also," I urge Blaze. "Get four of the men to collect a pile of dry White Oak branches, and put it along with the barrel of wines at a safe distance, about 50 feet ahead of us facing the Berserker. For the branches, take the adventurer along." I then talk to the young wizard and as expected, he is an Earth manipulator, that's why he was left out by his original group—since Earth-related skills are not exactly appreciated. "I can only make holes, and harden, and soften ground only." he says. "How deep?" I want to confirm. "I don't know...10 feet?" he answers with a voice that's as soft as a squeak of a mouse. "That's more than enough. You'll be a great help." I say as I shake his hand. I then explain to him his role. He looks at me, a bit surprised but then answers me with a confident "Leave it to me!" I check back the situation with the Berserker, Jane and Cliff are still trying to convince the group: someone seems to be negotiating with them, but it appears majority of the group do no trust them. The Berserkers are still restrained by the ogres and trolls, even golems have joined in, but they won't last long. So, I shout and wave for Jane to come back. Then, I gather the rest of the bandits, along with Blaze, and Bossman, as I announce: [["Here's the plan."]]

(if: (history:) contains "Don't do anything.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"For the greater good."//) (set: $c2ach to $c2ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"We can kill it without risking our lives," I say. I pause, before explaining what I meant. "The girl is an NC. If the Berserker were to kill the girl, it would be executed instantly. That would solve this problem." After hearing my words, Cliff punches the ground furiously. "'Solve this problem?' Those are real lives we're talking about!" he shouts. But Jane, she has already rushed out after she hears my reply. As she runs, she launches numerous attack with sharpened branches from all direction, aiming on the Berserker. In a span of seconds, all the branches are firmly impaled on the Berserker's body: the Berserker is now bleeding, not moving an inch at all. But Jane falls down to the ground first, and vomits blood half-way to the Berserker. The Berserker gives out another large roar—but this time, fiercer and more furious than we've heard as it throws the small tree it is grabbing towards our direction. I didn't get to react in time, and the impact of the tree slams me backwards. My body lay on the ground unbudgeable. My sight is filled with red, as my view slowly becomes blurred and narrowed. I can't feel my whole body anymore. Cliff... his legs are being squashed by the tree, trapping him in front of me. But he's moving his hand, as if he's trying to reach out to something. My breath becomes heavier and heavier. All I can hear is someone desperately shouting my name; it's a familiar and warm voice. I'm sorry, Jane, Cliff. Soon, I lose my conciousness, the world surrounding me fades into pure darkness. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 2->Chapter 2]]

"Now!" I shout. While Cliff is still trying to distance the group by himself, Blaze and Bossman gloriously rush to the direction of the Berserker; Blaze, carrying his two daggers while Bossman, after untying his cape, is charging with his two battleaxes. "Bandits!" some of the Challengers yell as they see Blaze and Bossman storming towards them. They retreat a bit from the Berserker. "Yeaa—h! You normies better run!" Blaze laughs as he closes in on the Berserker. The advance group with knights, mages and wizards has withdrawn to a safe distance. Then, the show begins. Blaze and Bossman circle around the Berserker and land hit after hit: Blaze slices around the Berserker's leg and body while Bossman, throws both his axes and embeds them on the Berserker's body. Chains emerged from the end of the axes as he retracts them, propelling himself upwards towards its body. Their movement, it's like a dance choreographed elegantly. Then, Bossman lands a few powerful punches to the Berserker's heart that managed to tick it off. The Berserker gives out a colossal roar—bigger than any before—and swipes the small tree around before throwing it towards the group. The group managed to defend themselves from the flying tree, while Cliff shelters the little girl from the flying peblles, with his large shield. Bossman then lands another punch before jumping down from the Berserker's body. After so many punches and slices, the Berserker didn't seem to have been harmed at all, but more like annoyed. "Lez' dance, ugly!" another shout from Blaze, as he steps on a crystal. A line of raging fire then follows his slicing traces and set the Berserker on fire. What a blaze. But after a few seconds, the Berserker regenerates and its wounds are completely healed again. Yet, Blaze steps on another crystal and the flames ignite again, causing a few small explosions this time around and made the Berserker unstable. But again, the Berserker heals itself; however, it's taking a slightly longer time. Bossman clanks his battleaxes multiple times, and made the Berserker falls down on its knees. Blaze steps on yet another crystal, making the Berserker screams in excruitating pain. "BURN. BURN!" he shouts. Then, they both nod at each other and run back towards my direction. As the Berserker's wounds slowly bind themselves up, it stands back on its feet and continue to storm towards them. I counted. "Four minutes: what a fearsome duo." At right about 50 feet away from us, the Berserker falls into the hole made by the Earth Wizard. "Jane?" I ask. "With pleasure." she says as she snaps her both her hands' fingers, together. "More." I urge. She places the crystals on her glowing gloves and snaps her finger again. The cage that she locked me with, has now formed around the Berserker. The time limit might be lower, but it's much more heavily enforced. "Bandits," I say. The bandits then drop barrels of wine and piles of branches into the hole. The Berserker lets out another roar, struggling to break out of the cage, desperately punching inside it. [[Next page->next page9]]

Blaze and Bossman have just ran back and joined us. Jane mentioned that crystals work as medium to channel spells, so its effects are normally dealt by the casters. But these two inflict the harmless wounds first, before chaneeling their energy to the crystal to deliver the damage—a subtle but ingenious way to harm without harming. Is it even possible to reverse the order like this? "Lit it up, guys." Blaze declares and the bandits shoot arrows of fire into the hole. A loud bang followed by another, and another as the Berserker's roar pitches higher and higher. The hole itself, is now in a sea of fire. I half-grin. Blaze gently pats my shoulder, "To remain unusually calm and smile in life-threatening situation like this—you're a dangerous human, Juice." "Now for the finishing touch. Wizard!" I call out. The Earth Wizard begin chanting his spells and waving his wand as the dirts above the hole begins to shake. "What's... going on? You're going to bury him?" Jane asks, with a somewhat tired voice. "No, Red. Our wizard isn't that powerful. He's only gonna close the top of the hole by hardening the dirt that he dug up earlier. Though I have no idea why, and it's getting hotter here." Blaze says. "...Wait," Blaze says, pausing at me like he's discovered a new land. "Don't tell you're—are you trying to suffocate the Berserker to death?" The hole is slowly but steadily closing, and the terrifying roar of the Berserker gets weaker and weaker as the smokes accumulated inside thicken. Then, the hole is closed. After a minute or two, the roar stop. "Its regeneration has reached the limit," I say. "Son. Of. A. Goat." Blaze glares at me in disbelief. "This was your plan all along? No wonder you requested those extra minutes to wear his regeneration ability down. You sneaky littl—" "Thank you for you help," I say. "Couldn't have done it without you guys." "Really? Couldn't you?" Blaze says. Bossman then comes forward and extends his hand to me. "John," he says with a smile. "Bossman," I reply, with a smile back as I shake his hand. (if: $ally is "no")["No," he continues. "Map. Potions."](else:)["No," he continues. "Map."] "Oh," I say as I awkwardly hand him (if: $ally is "no")[two of my potions, and my map](else:)[my map] that I previously drew two marks of the safe zones on. He accepts it then makes a hand signal to leave, which prompts his men to pack things up. Before the gang leaves, he bids me and Jane farewell. The wizard also waves at me, while Blaze shouts, "Hope we never meet again, Juice! Bye Red!" I wave back. Jane also waves back but she's already half-asleep lying under the tree, so her hand is just sluggishly waving. She's probably too exhausted after using that much amount of energy—that Blaze himself is a monster too for being able to even walk after his performance, I didn't expect that he and Bossman are also caster. Just why are two casters hiding themselves amongst the bandits? "John! Where are you?" I hear Cliff shouting from a distance. [["Over here!"]] [["You're late!"]] [["Not behind this oak tree!"]]

I shout back, with a sense of relief. Then, I take a glance at Cliff who is walking towards us, holding the hand of the little girl, followed by a woman, no—a female mage behind him. The female mage is well-dressed and has her brown long hair curled and braided like a crown, almost making her looks like a princess. The sun casts its lights behind them. After the darkness of the night, it has finally rosen and bathe the whole forest in a rosy glow. Its orange hue once again illuminate the dark shades that had engulfed the forest, bringing lives back to the creatures, animals that reside here. I take a deep, deep breath, "This is so warm." "John, are you guys ok? What exactly happened just now? What did the bandits do? Did the Berserker really die?" Cliff asks. "Calm down, Cliff. I'll tell all about it later. But first—good job protecting her." I reply, as I turn to the little girl holding his hand. Cliff smiles proudly at me. "John, is it? Nice to meet you. I'm Elaine: the coordinator of the groups that you just helped." says the female mage as she extends her hand. "Cliff," Cliff states, as he takes over and shakes her hand in my stead. Elaine then gives him an awkward smile. "So, um... thanks for saving us! We didn't expect there'd be such a dangerous beast roaming around this forest." "It's a Berserker,"—I clarify—"and it won't just pop out of nowhere, someone must have used forbidden spell on a—" "Elaine! Come look at this!" shouts one of the knights from the groups that are now surrounding the hole. I didn't realise it but they have dug the hole open, and the smoke is slowly dispersing in the air. We run there and look at what remains inside—assuming that the Berserker is dead. It was a man in his 50-s, and as expected, his head has a 'NC' floating above. He is carrying a herb basket behind him. "Papa! Papa—! Papaa—!" the little girl suddenly cries out. "Papa?" A sudden realisation then hits me. It hits so deep that my heart immediately sank, and my breath taken away. Two NCs: a father, and a daughter. The father was likely searching for some special herbs with his daughter in the middle of the night. Then, he was threatened with the safety of his daughter, that's why he can withstand the mental pressure of being the host of Berserker. That's why he endured it. He wanted to protect her more than anything, and this emotion itself is manipulated. It was not hate, it was love; not a roar, but a scream... for help. "Pa-Papa—! No!! Papa!" the girl continues to yell, struggling to move out of Cliff's hug. "No—Papa!!" Cliff tightens his arms around her, embracing her little punches and her sadness. The rest of us stand there in silence, as her cry echoes throughout the forest. It was a... long, long cry. Powerful, and innocent. [[Next page->next page9.1]]

I shout playfully, but with a sense of relief. Then, I take a glance at Cliff who is walking towards us, holding the hand of the little girl, followed by a woman, no—a female mage behind him. The female mage is well-dressed and has her brown long hair curled and braided like a crown, almost making her looks like a princess. The sun casts its lights behind them. After the darkness of the night, it has finally rosen and bathe the whole forest in a rosy glow. Its orange hue once again illuminate the dark shades that had engulfed the forest, bringing lives back to the creatures, animals that reside here. I take a deep, deep breath, "This is so warm." "John, are you guys ok? What exactly happened just now? What did the bandits do? Did the Berserker really die?" Cliff asks. "Calm down, Cliff. I'll tell all about it later. But first—good job protecting her." I reply, as I turn to the little girl holding his hand. Cliff smiles proudly at me. "John, is it? Nice to meet you. I'm Elaine: the coordinator of the groups that you just helped." says the female mage as she extends her hand. "Cliff," Cliff states, as he takes over and shakes her hand in my stead. Elaine then gives him an awkward smile. "So, um... thanks for saving us! We didn't expect there'd be such a dangerous beast roaming around this forest." "It's a Berserker,"—I clarify—"and it won't just pop out of nowhere, someone must have used forbidden spell on a—" "Elaine! Come look at this!" shouts one of the knights from the groups that are now surrounding the hole. I didn't realise it but they have dug the hole open, and the smoke is slowly dispersing in the air. We run there and look at what remains inside—assuming that the Berserker is dead. It was a man in his 50-s, and as expected, his head has a 'NC' floating above. He is carrying a herb basket behind him. "Papa! Papa—! Papaa—!" the little girl suddenly cries out. "Papa?" A sudden realisation then hits me. It hits so deep that my heart immediately sank, and my breath taken away. Two NCs: a father, and a daughter. The father was likely searching for some special herbs with his daughter in the middle of the night. Then, he was threatened with the safety of his daughter, that's why he can withstand the mental pressure of being the host of Berserker. That's why he endured it. He wanted to protect her more than anything, and this emotion itself is manipulated. It was not hate, it was love; not a roar, but a scream... for help. "Pa-Papa—! No!! Papa!" the girl continues to yell, struggling to move out of Cliff's hug. "No—Papa!!" Cliff tightens his arms around her, embracing her little punches and her sadness. The rest of us stand there in silence, as her cry echoes throughout the forest. It was a... long, long cry. Powerful, and innocent. [[Next page->next page9.1]]

I shout, with a sense of relief. Then, I take a glance at Cliff who is walking towards us, holding the hand of the little girl, followed by a woman, no—a female mage behind him. The female mage is well-dressed and has her brown long hair curled and braided like a crown, almost making her looks like a princess. The sun casts its lights behind them. After the darkness of the night, it has finally rosen and bathe the whole forest in a rosy glow. Its orange hue once again illuminate the dark shades that had engulfed the forest, bringing lives back to the creatures, animals that reside here. I take a deep, deep breath, "This is so warm." "John, are you guys ok? What exactly happened just now? What did the bandits do? Did the Berserker really die?" Cliff asks. "Calm down, Cliff. I'll tell all about it later. But first—good job protecting her." I reply, as I turn to the little girl holding his hand. Cliff smiles proudly at me. "John, is it? Nice to meet you. I'm Elaine: the coordinator of the groups that you just helped." says the female mage as she extends her hand. "Cliff," Cliff states, as he takes over and shakes her hand in my stead. Elaine then gives him an awkward smile. "So, um... thanks for saving us! We didn't expect there'd be such a dangerous beast roaming around this forest." "It's a Berserker,"—I clarify—"and it won't just pop out of nowhere, someone must have used forbidden spell on a—" "Elaine! Come look at this!" shouts one of the knights from the groups that are now surrounding the hole. I didn't realise it but they have dug the hole open, and the smoke is slowly dispersing in the air. We run there and look at what remains inside—assuming that the Berserker is dead. It was a man in his 50-s, and as expected, his head has a 'NC' floating above. He is carrying a herb basket behind him. "Papa! Papa—! Papaa—!" the little girl suddenly cries out. "Papa?" A sudden realisation then hits me. It hits so deep that my heart immediately sank, and my breath taken away. Two NCs: a father, and a daughter. The father was likely searching for some special herbs with his daughter in the middle of the night. Then, he was threatened with the safety of his daughter, that's why he can withstand the mental pressure of being the host of Berserker. That's why he endured it. He wanted to protect her more than anything, and this emotion itself is manipulated. It was not hate, it was love; not a roar, but a scream... for help. "Pa-Papa—! No!! Papa!" the girl continues to yell, struggling to move out of Cliff's hug. "No—Papa!!" Cliff tightens his arms around her, embracing her little punches and her sadness. The rest of us stand there in silence, as her cry echoes throughout the forest. It was a... long, long cry. Powerful, and innocent. [[Next page->next page9.1]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 3**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"Leiden Forest"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 3 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c3ach to 0)] (set: $c2checkpoint to "yes") (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 3") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 3]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]] ((colour: "#65169e" )[**Checkpoint saved!**])]

"It's ok, I can stay up all night." I say. "That'd be too exhausting. You should just sleep first and take the second one, John. And—Jane is it? Are you fine with taking the first shift? I'll take the last one." Cliff asks. Jane nods slightly. Then, the three of us sit idly around the small campfire. None of us has anything to talk about. Jane is leaning against the cave's walls, looking outside the cave, her minds has seemingly wandered off somewhere. Cliff is sitting with his legs crossed, polishing his large shield he placed in front of him. I am the only one standing. Struggling to come up with words to clear this awkward atmosphere, (set: $shift to "second-shift") [[I do some light streches.]] [["What a beautiful night."]] [["So Cliff, what's the shield's name?"]]

Several hours have passed since we left the big field, now heading towards a big village near the Leiden Forest. "Whoa, whoa, calm down." I say. This is the sixth time Jane has struggled and kicked me in her sleep. (if: $shift is "first-shift")[I have not slept for an entire night.](else:)[I've only slept for a few hours myself.] Compared to my mental strength, my physical strength is almost at its limit. A few more shakes from her, and we'll fall down together. Suddenly, I hear a loud caw sound, as a crow flies across my face. It startles me and I almost drop her. "Wh—What are you doing? Let me down! Now!!" she shouts right beside my right ear. "Looks like our princess has awaken." Cliff teases, walking behind me. She is trying to climb down from my back. "Stop shaking," I say. "If I let you down now, my feet will give in and you'll be the one to carry me." "F—fine. Just don't drop me. Thanks," then she rests herself on my back and wraps her hands around my neck again. I've told Cliff what happened earlier, so now I brief the aftermath of the fight to Jane: the father inside the Berserker, and my suspicion of one of those Peace Squad mages being involved—since I've noticed a hint of purple in both the sun light when I woke up yesterday, and in the moon light last night. "Where's the girl now?" is the first thing she asks after hearing all my explanation. "Here," Cliff replies. "The Challengers trusted us with her." I can feel her turning her body backwards, before giving out a soft sigh of relief, loud enough to be caught by my ears. "These forbidden spells,"—Cliff says—"they were made possible by the mages' rings filled with hatred, right?" "Yes," Jane answers him. "But seeing how strong the Berserker is, it must have required insane amount of negative aura and energy. The mage responsible shouldn't be able to do something like that again." Sacrificing his ring to create a Berserker in a perfect time, a perfect place under perfect conditions; he could have wiped out half the Challengers if he succeeds, boosting the name of their squad even further. But a tingling feeling insides me deny it, things are too coincidental: there's something more to it. "Is that the village?" Jane asks as I raise my already-exhausted head, trying to look at what's in front of me. There's a girl—a villager in her 20's, with long brown hair, 'NC' abover her head—anxiously pondering in front of the big gate leading to the village. She notices us from afar. "jANNE!" she yells, running toward us. [["Jane? Is that the little girl's name?"]] [["Jane? Did you tell anyone we're coming?"]] [["Jane, looks like we found your long-lost sister."]]

"Anne!" she shouts again as she runs closer to us. Oh, it's Anne. Cliff slowly let Anne down and the girl—likely her big sister—hugs Anne, with tears of relief flowing out of her eyes. She must have been worried sick about them since last night. Anne is still half-asleep, rubbing her eyes, "Alice?" Anne then starts sobbing again, "Papa—he—", she pauses. Alice didn't say another word, but only nods her head, seemingly understands that a tragedy has happened. Anne continues to sob, as Alice gently pats her head. Jane is still behind my back looking at them, "I—", she stammers, it looks like she's struggling to come up with words to console them. And, I couldn't as well. Because no matter what the reason is, an undeniable fact remains: we are the ones who killed their dad. And I, personally planned everything. It's a heavy weight burdening us. But, just as I try to say something, I can feel a weight being lifted off of me, afterwhich I fall down instantly; Jane is walking towards them. She kneels beside them, giving the two a big hug. Right... she's always been unable to find the right words in these situations. The sisters embrace her hugs, as she pats both their head, herself looks to be on the verge of tears too. Yet, she didn't cry. [[Next page->next page9.5]]

"No, I didn't." she says. "Anne!" she shouts again as she runs closer to us. Oh, it's Anne. Cliff slowly let Anne down and the girl—likely her big sister—hugs Anne, with tears of relief flowing out of her eyes. She must have been worried sick about them since last night. Anne is still half-asleep, rubbing her eyes, "Alice?" Anne then starts sobbing again, "Papa—he—", she pauses. Alice didn't say another word, but only nods her head, seemingly understands that a tragedy has happened. Anne continues to sob, as Alice gently pats her head. Jane is still behind my back looking at them, "I—", she stammers, it looks like she's struggling to come up with words to console them. And, I couldn't as well. Because no matter what the reason is, an undeniable fact remains: we are the ones who killed their dad. And I, personally planned everything. It's a heavy weight burdening us. But, just as I try to say something, I can feel a weight being lifted off of me, afterwhich I fall down instantly; Jane is walking towards them. She kneels beside them, giving the two a big hug. Right... she's always been unable to find the right words in these situations. The sisters embrace her hugs, as she pats both their head, herself looks to be on the verge of tears too. Yet, she didn't cry. [[Next page->next page9.5]]

"She's not," Jane says. "Anne!" she shouts again as she runs closer to us. Oh, it's Anne. Cliff slowly let Anne down and the girl—likely her big sister—hugs Anne, with tears of relief flowing out of her eyes. She must have been worried sick about them since last night. Anne is still half-asleep, rubbing her eyes, "Alice?" Anne then starts sobbing again, "Papa—he—", she pauses. Alice didn't say another word, but only nods her head, seemingly understands that a tragedy has happened. Anne continues to sob, as Alice gently pats her head. Jane is still behind my back looking at them, "I—", she stammers, it looks like she's struggling to come up with words to console them. And, I couldn't as well. Because no matter what the reason is, an undeniable fact remains: we are the ones who killed their dad. And I, personally planned everything. It's a heavy weight burdening us. But, just as I try to say something, I can feel a weight being lifted off of me, afterwhich I fall down instantly; Jane is walking towards them. She kneels beside them, giving the two a big hug. Right... she's always been unable to find the right words in these situations. The sisters embrace her hugs, as she pats both their head, herself looks to be on the verge of tears too. Yet, she didn't cry. [[Next page->next page9.5]]

"Come on in," Alice says. After walking for tens of minutes, we reached her house. It's a small house that has a small garden/farm outside, and the inside has this homey feeling to it. "Please, have a seat."—Alice says—"Anne, come help, I'm making lunch for our guests." "I'll help too," Jane and Cliff offer at the same time. But I'm just too tired to move anymore. "I'll sleep. Do you have any spare room?" I ask. "Umm.. yes. Take the last room at the end of the hallway." Alice replies. Cliff carries me there, and drops me on the bed after he opens the door. Poof! Sinking into the soft, fluffy bed, I close my eyes and is ready to dive into my dreams. Cliff says "Rest in peace" to me before closing the door; I hope he's joking. I can then hear distant voices of chopping and clanking sound in the kitchen, and that Jane and Alice are heading out to buy more ingredients. But their voices fade away in no time. //BAM!// //BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM...// There's a loud continuous bang on my door; I feel like my head is going to explode. I shout, but I can't hear my own voices. My whole body has numbed. Is this another one of the illusions? I try to calm myself but the pounding gets more and more deafening, like it's directly transmitting to my ears. I'm about to vomit. The chant word, what was it again? Gakloupis? Glakoupis? I take a few deep breaths: the pounding grows fainter. I take another deep breath: the pounding stops. A familiar woman is now sitting by my bed's side, looking at me, "John," she says, (text-style: "expand")["TAKE YOUR BROTHER AND RUN."] (text-style: "expand")["TAKE YOUR SISTER AND RUN."] My brother? My sister? The house that surrounds me then begins to collapse, engulfed in a fire that burns, and burns mercilessly before everything blacks out. Why is my heart ached with such nostalgia? My senses then gradually returns to me. I can feel someone poking my face. I open my eyes widely and look over to my right. Anne is there, tittering. Cliff is hiding behind the door but his ridiculously big armour exposed him. "Bwaaah!" I shout as I try to grab Anne's tiny finger. She runs out giggling. "The lunch is ready, Prince John." Cliff says. "Would you like to join me in this fine banquet?" "The pleasure is all mine, my silver knight," I reply. He pauses his glance at me for a while, before giving me a warm smile. I then shake off my hazy state, and walk out of the room to join them; Jane and him are helping in serving our lunch, while Anne is impatiently waiting at the table with one hand holding a fork, while the other, spoon. Alice is standing in the middle of the hallway. As she sees me walking to the dining table, she stops me, "Umm.. Mr.John? Could you come into my room? I have something to give you. It's... personal." [[Go into her room.]] [[Don't go into her room.]]

I simply nod and follow her into her room. "This... a young herbalist told me to give this to John," she hands me a folded note. "His name is Jack." "Jack?" I repeat after her. "Yes." I quickly fold open the note, hoping to get some clues as to who he really is and maybe, where did some parts of my memory has disappeared to. The letter only has two sentences on it, it looks like a riddle but is barely one: (align: "=><=")[ (text-style: "mirror")[**Up from the tree they flew, the bees stung one, and then there were two.**]] I place it in front of a small mirror in her room, and sure enough, these are mirrored text, likely created from some spells. What does these texts mean? Some sort of warning, hint to something? I need more information to piece it out. "This Jack, how do you know he's a herbalist?" I ask Alice who is curiously looking at me holding the notes front of the small mirror. She is standing a bit too close. "Oh... he's come to our village for a few times, always with a herb basket behind him, some herbs he takes out, we have never seen before." "When?" "He was here last night, and had a chat with my dad before handing me this note. After he left, my dad headed out to the forest. And Anne insisted to go along with dad." "Prince John! Your meal awaits," Cliff shouts from the dining table. I express my thanks to Alice and head out of her room. I'm not sure whether I should share this information with Cliff and Jane. [[Share with them.]] [[Don't share, gather more information first.]]

"Is something wrong?" I ask. "No, it's just... I have a note to give you," Alice says. "Please wait here." Alice then goes into her room and takes a folded note out from her drawer. "This... a young herbalist told me to give this to John," she hands me the note. "His name is Jack." "Jack?" I repeat after her. "Yes." Cliff and Jane join in our conversation suddenly. They are probably wondering why I stand in the middle of the hallway, reading a note. I quickly fold open the note, hoping to get some clues as to who Jack really is and maybe, to find out where did some parts of my memory have disappeared to. The letter only has two sentences on it, it looks like a riddle but is barely one: (align: "=><=")[ (text-style: "mirror")[**Up from the tree they flew, the bees stung one, and then there were two.**]] "They look... mirrored." Jane says. I place it in front of a small mirror in Alice's room, and sure enough, these are mirrored text, likely created from some spells. What does these texts mean? Some sort of warning, hint to something? I need more information to piece it out. "How do you know he's a herbalist?" I ask Alice, who is curiously looking at me holding the notes in front of the small mirror. She is standing a bit too close. "Oh... he's come to our village for a few times, always with a herb basket behind him, some herbs he takes out, we have never seen before." "When?" I ask. "He was here last night, and had a chat with my dad before handing me this note. After he left, dad headed out to the forest. And Anne insisted to go along with dad." "I see... well, we'll discuss this later," I say and after I express my thanks to Alice, and we all head out to the dining table. Anne is already sitting there, looking at us with a displeased face. (set: $secret to "out") [[Next page->next page12]]

Cliff then takes a small nap—actually it's a loud nap because I can hear his loud snores—while Jane and I spend the few hours talking to Alice to learn more about Leiden Forest and their life. Anne rests her head on Alice's lap the entire time. And, without us realising it, golden rays of light have already slipped into this small, warm house. It's already evening. We exchange our goodbyes. I feel a strong nostalgic feeling seeing Alice and Anne waving their hands at us: spending only half a day with them but it feels like I've already known them for a longer time than that. We wave back, and then we were already on our way to the entrance gate. (if: $path is "no-ring")[We pass by the market, so I buy a few potions that are enchanted with light spells with all my silver Nicos. With Cliff's bronze Nicos, I also manage to buy an analog counter that can be reset.](else:)[We pass by the market, I wanted to buy a few potions that are enchanted with light spells but I don't have any Nicos left. Still, I manage to borrow Cliff's bronze Nicos to get an analog counter that can be reset. ]It'll come in handy if I decide that I can't trust myself anymore in the forest. I also ask about Violet Letteria potions, but as expected, it's already out of stock. When we arrive at the entrance, 9 of the knights are already standing in front of it, idly chatting; the smallest knight among them, howeverm is standing alone, seems to be left out. There's another group standing a few feet apart from the knights: two hunters in their mid 20's and a 6-feet tall golem, with the presumably, big three. The female hunter has long black hair, that covers half her face; she is crossing her hand, looking impatient. The male hunter has his long hair tied up in a bun shape, with a pair of sharp eyes, and is discussing things with one of the knights—which I presume is Hugo since the two other knights are standing behind him. Igor and Sonia. Igor has this deadly aura on him with the way he stares, his menacing bow-cut hairstyle, and two longswords on his back, while Sonia has this cold expression but is nonetheless pretty. She has a slim figure, big rack, graceful standing posture and a short ponytail, with a metal bow behind her. "Oh, hellooo!" Hugo shouts as soon as he sees us, approaching us with Igor and Sonia behind him. "You must be John," he says. "Hugo Leviathan, at your service." He is about the same age as me, but equipped with a stylish quiff hairstyle and a warm smile. From his manner, I feel like I already know how Hugo got to his position—he is surprising friendly and charming, maybe too charming. He attempts to shake my hand but Cliff once again shakes it in my stead. "Cliff Hill," Cliff says. "Nice to meet you." "Ah... yes. The Silver Protector. So this should be our lady caster, Jane. My pleasure to meet you, 'm lady." he says, before briskly lifting Jane's right hand and kissing it. Jane is taken aback by his action and immediately retracts her hand. "It—It's a pleasure to meet you too." she says, as she moves slightly behind me. Hugo slightly raises his left eyebrow. "Oh... my bad for being so abrupt, 'm lady." He then clears his throat, "Now then, I shall introduce the three of you to our guides." He signals the hunters to come to us, then gestures at us, "These here are John, Jane and Cliff. And here we have two hunters that are very experienced in the nature of misty forest: Vincent and Valentina, with a golem healer. The golem can only answer //yes// and //no//. So... you know, phrase your questions." "So you guys are the Berserker killer, huh? A normal-looking adventurer, a red-haired caster and a... silver knight," Vincent says, giving Cliff's shoulder a tap. "Well, at least you'll be more useful than my stupid sister here." "Only stupid people call people stupid, stupid!" Valentina shouts at him. And now they are both trying to choke each other to death. Hugo is chuckling, it looks like he's enjoying this lively atmosphere. "Hugo," I call out. "Your party seems to be completed already, any reason you'd want us in?" "Why... the more the merrier!" he answers as he wraps his hand around Cliff and my shoulder. "Don't you think so?" I smile awkwardly. Despite not knowing his motive, it is better to have experienced guides inside the forest. We are then divided by him into three groups of six: positioned at front, middle and back. Hugo is taking the lead with Sonia, Vincent, and three other knights; I'm in the middle group with Jane, Cliff, Valentina, the golem and one knight; Igor leads the last group. "So Cliff, are knights allowed to date hunters?" Valentina asks, after we settle into our group. Cliff chuckles nervously. Yeah... this is going to be another long night. [[Next page->next page13]]

During our lunch, I share to them about my take on it, they did ask me why it is directed to me, but I brush it off with an "informant" excuse. I don't want to alert them. We then come to note two important words: "bee" and "two". But since we are lacking something else, our conversation leads to nowhere. I then change the topic and ask Cliff whther he recognise the knights that we passed at the market. "The three knights"-Cliff explains-"Hugo, the commander of Knights of Zestia and youngest director of United Knights Association; Igor, the strongest swordsman among the knights; Sonia, a skilled and beautiful archer—they are knights that are way beyond my level, in terms of skills and experience." I smile. "The big three." "A group did approach us,"—Jane says, shooting a glance at Alice—"when we were in the market. It's likely Sonia that's with them. She's inviting us to join them later in night, at the entrance gates, to go into the Leiden Forest together." "Yes, she mentioned something about an adventurer, a caster and a knight. But Jane's hand was glowing when they surrounded us without saying anything at first. She gripped my hand tighter, even though her hand is also trembli—" Jane covers Alice's mouth before she finishes her sentence. "No need to tell them that!" Jane's whispers to Alice, but is loud enough to be heard by the rest of us. Her face is a bit red. She looks at me. I give her a gentle smile: even though she has emphasized how important it is for her hands to be free, as a caster, she still chooses to prioritise Alice. It's a small act, but by holding her hand, she has given her a sense of comfort and protection. [[Next page->next page10.5]]

(if: (history:) contains "Share with them.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Honesty is the best policy."//) (set: $totalach to $totalach + 1)(Set: $c3ach to $c3ach + 1) ]During our lunch, I tell them about the notes, they did ask me how I get it and why it is directed to me, but I brush it off with an "informant" excuse. I don't want to alert them. We then come to note two important words: "bee" and "two". But since we are lacking something else, our conversation leads to nowhere. I then change the topic and ask Cliff whether he knows anything about the knights that we passed at the market. "The three knights"-Cliff explains-"Hugo, the commander of Knights of Zestia and youngest director of United Knights Association; Igor, the strongest swordsman among the knights; Sonia, a skilled and beautiful archer—they are knights that are way beyond my level, in terms of skills and experience." I smile. "The big three." "A group did approach us,"—Jane says, shooting a glance at Alice—"when we were in the market. It's likely Sonia that's with them. She's inviting us to join them later in night, at the entrance gates, to go into the Leiden Forest together." "Yes, she mentioned something about an adventurer, a caster and a knight. But Jane's hand was glowing when they surrounded us without saying anything at first. She gripped my hand tighter, even though her hand is also trembli—" Jane covers Alice's mouth before she finishes her sentence. "No need to tell them that!" Jane's whispers to Alice, but is loud enough to be heard by the rest of us. Her face is a bit red. She looks at me. I give her a gentle smile: even though she has emphasized how important it is for her hands to be free, as a caster, she still chooses to prioritise Alice. It's a small act, but by holding her hand, she has given her a sense of comfort and protection. (set: $secret to "out") [[Next page->next page10.5]]

I decide to gather more information first before sharing this with them. During our lunch, I ask Cliff whether he recognise the knights that we passed earlier at the market. "The three knights"-Cliff explains-"Hugo, the commander of Knights of Zestia and youngest director of United Knights Association; Igor, the strongest swordsman among the knights; Sonia, a skilled and beautiful archer—they are knights that are way beyond my level, in terms of skills and experience." I smile. "The big three." "A group did approach us,"—Jane says, shooting a glance at Alice—"when we were in the market. It's likely Sonia that's with them. She's inviting us to join them later in night, at the entrance gates, to go into the Leiden Forest together." "Yes, she mentioned something about an adventurer, a caster and a knight. But Jane's hand was glowing when they surrounded us without saying anything at first. She gripped my hand tighter, even though her hand is also trembli—" Jane covers Alice's mouth before she finishes her sentence. "No need to tell them that!" Jane's whispers to Alice, but is loud enough to be heard by the rest of us. Her face is a bit red. She looks at me. I give her a gentle smile: even though she has emphasized how important it is for her hands to be free, as a caster, she still chooses to prioritise Alice. It's a small act, but by holding her hand, she has given her a sense of comfort and protection. [[Next page->next page10.5]]

We are all now gathering in front of the forest. "Before we go in," Hugo emphasizes. "I'd like to brief you all about Leiden Forest. It's a sacred forest guarded by Guardian of Terbgil, the Keeper of Time. The reason being, is because of the extremely rare flowers and herbs that cannot be found in our world, and valuable, mystical creatures that roam inside; so, please refrain from picking anything directly—pour the potion on it first. The mists surrounding the forest will get thicker once we enter, so if there's anything, fire up a signal." "As for the mists," Vincent continues. "They will likely trap and eliminate intruders, by mainly, inducing hallucinations of all sorts once inhaled, but you will be fine if you can ignore the voices. And, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT stray away from your group. We take a bag of gold Nicos for the trip but not for your life. It'll take a few hours walk to get to the site of Violet Garden Berries, so just follow our lead. Also, my stupid sister only bought two long ropes, so John..." "YOU SAID TWO WERE MORE THAN ENOUGH," Valentina shouts. "There are long vines that can be stripped off of the trees," I reply. "We'll use that." "Oh... and we only have enough light-spells items for us," Hugo says. (if: $path is "no-ring")["Ah... no need to worry. We have our own items." I say.](else:)["Ah... no need to worry. We can make a fire torch." I say.] "Also also... we're planning to set a regular one-hour check in to indicate our status." he adds. "I have a counter so maybe we can make the subsequent check-ins thirty minutes apart, followed by— maybe fifteen as we get closer." "Great idea, and are you a-ok with the group arrangement?" "Perfect." "Then, let the hunt begins!" We then prepare the things we need and begin marching into the forest following our order. Sure enough, after only a few minutes, the mist has began to surround us. (if: $path is "no-ring")[I'm using one of the light-enchanced item, while another is given to the knight in our group, the sixth person.](else:)[I'm holding one fire torch in our group, while the knight in our group holds another one at the back.]The six of us are connected by the vines on our waist and are walking in a straight line. This idea—Hugo is just as smart as Cliff made him out to be. Golem is placed at the middle group since it can cover a wide range of healing, which can reach out to both the front and back group. Two hunters available, one to lead, one to backup; this means that he trusts Igor enough to make his own decision in case they got lost, or that Igor has his own ways to keep track of Hugo. The same reason why Sonia is with Hugo's group, she's enough to support him in terms of long-range combat alongside three other knights, and engage in our direction if necessary. Since he already heard of us, he probably deduces that Jane and Cliff are well-versed in covering both close-ranged defense and long-ranged attacks. In case his group is attacked, he expects Jane to help them. He added a knight here that can aid in face-to-face combat, as well as to spy on our conversation. Two lights illuminate the front group, two in middle, while other two shines the last group; this way, he minimized the visibility risk, the most important advantage in this situation for others to launch an unanticipated attack—which is also why he chose night, because it's easier to identify and differentiate between ally and enemy amidst the mist. Hugo... this guy is more cautious than I thought. [[Next page->next page14]]

One hour in, Hugo check in with our group and I do it with Igor's. Now, only a portion of the moon can be seen; some small whispers and voices have also started to emerge, followed by shrieks and screams accompanied with sounds of grass, leaves rustling. I can hear Jane's footsteps a bit clearer behind me, closer than they were before. According to our arrangement, right behind her is Cliff, followed by Valentina, the golem, and the knight as the sixth person. "You back there, what's your name?" Cliff asks, after we have walked an hour in silence. "Valentina. Are you missing me already?" Valentina answers him. "No, behind you, I meant the golem." Cliff says. "No." the golem replies in a dry tone. "No as in you don't have a name or you don't want to say it?" "No." "Right... then I'm gonna call you Noah." "You can call me whatever you want, Cliff." Valentina says. "No, I was not talking to you, let go of my hand!" "Glad you're bonding already, Cliff." I say. "No I'm not! And knight! What's your name?" "Uhh.. it's Leo, sir." the knight at the very back replies. "No need to address me as sir, Leo. Cliff would be just fine." "Ok, sir." "Do you want me to addressss you as //honey//, Cliff?" Valentina asks. "No, and stop sticking on me!" "Oh... don't be shy, //honey//! You know you want it." "Valentina,"—I call—"Answer my few questions and Cliff will be yours." "Ask away!" "JOHN!" [["Violet Garden Berries, where exactly do they grow?]] [["Are there any large trees with venomous bees in this forest?"]] [["Are there any hidden routes to pass through this forest?"]]

"Oh, the Berries grow just near the four safe zones in this forest. So I guess they are scattered around the four zones? No need to worry tho' because there should be enough for us all." Valentina answers. Four safe zones. That blind old man lied to me. "And the second question—is there any venomous bee in this forest?" "Of course! From the locals, we heard that there's one enormous tree in the center, the 'Vehibee Tree' because of the abundant beehives on it. We are bound to pass it when we leave this forest but the bees will only be attracted to slimes. So, we should be fine." "Now, the last question, do you or your brother know of any hidden passage through this forest?" "No, but we did hear rumours about it, something about solving a riddle, waterfalls and whatnot. Nothing solid. Enough with these... can I have Cliff now?" "No, I'm not a toy!" Cliff yells. "Yes, enjoy." I answer her. Then, Cliff and Valentina spend the next half an hour talking and sharing things with each other. However reluctant Cliff is, I think he feels a bit better to have found someone he can talk shields with: different shapes of shield, different usage of shields, different materials of shield, and the evolution of shield. Hugo checks in with us on time, and I repeat it with Igor's group. The mist has now accumulated dense enough that I'm only able to see one light and a figure from the front group even though we are only less than 15 feet apart. The voices around us have grown more and more intense since then, there are a few shakes affecting the vine from time-to-time that put our group to a halt. In some instances, I almost lose sight of the light. Sometimes, I can swear that I hear Jane and Cliff shouting my name but when I turn back and check—they didn't. Leo at the very back is also getting more and more uneasy as I can hear his shout to fend things off from him more frequently—or maybe it's all just inside my head. Jane hasn't spoken much since then, maybe she just doesn't feel comfortable in places like these. Neither does Noah, the golem; but, then again... Suddenly, my counter beep: it's been another 30 minutes. [[Next page->next page14.5]]

"Of course! There's one enormous tree in the center, the locals call it the 'Vehibee Tree' because of the abundant beehives on it. We are bound to pass it when we leave this forest but the bees will only be attracted to slimes. So, we should be fine." "Second question, where exactly can we find the Berries?" "Oh, the Berries grow just near the four safe zones in this forest. So I guess they are scattered around the four zones? No need to worry tho' because there should be enough for us all." Four safe zones. That blind old man lied to me. "Now, the last question, have you or your brother discovered any hidden passage through this forest before?" "No, but we did hear rumours about it, something about solving a riddle, waterfalls and whatnot. Nothing solid. Enough with these... can I have Cliff now?" "No, I'm not a toy!" Cliff yells. "Yes, enjoy." I answer her. Then, Cliff and Valentina spend the next half an hour talking and sharing things with each other. However reluctant Cliff is, I think he feels a bit better to have found someone he can talk shields with: different shapes of shield, different usage of shields, different materials of shield, and the evolution of shield. Hugo checks in with us on time, and I repeat it with Igor's group. The mist has now accumulated dense enough that I'm only able to see one light and a figure from the front group even though we are only less than 15 feet apart. The voices around us have grown more and more intense since then, there are a few shakes affecting the vine from time-to-time that put our group to a halt. In some instances, I almost lose sight of the light. Sometimes, I can swear that I hear Jane and Cliff shout my name but when I turn back and check—they didn't. Leo at the very back is also getting more and more uneasy as I can hear his shout to fend things off from him more frequently—or maybe it's all just inside my head. Jane hasn't spoken much since then, maybe she just doesn't feel comfotable in places like these. Neither does Noah, the golem. But then again... Suddenly, my counter beep: it's been another 30 minutes. [[Next page->next page14.5]]

"Vince and I haven't encountered any, but we did hear rumours about it, something about solving a riddle, waterfalls and whatnot. Nothing solid." "Second question, where exactly can we find the Berries?" "Oh, the Berries grow just near the four safe zones in this forest. So I guess they are scattered around the four zones? No need to worry tho' because there should be enough for us all." Valentina answers. Four safe zones. That blind old man lied to me. "Now, the last question, is there any venomous bee in this forest?" "Of course! There's one enormous tree in the center, the locals call it the 'Vehibee Tree' because of the abundant beehives on it. We are bound to pass it when we leave this forest but the bees will only be attracted to slimes. Enough with these, can I have Cliff now?" "No, I'm not a toy!" Cliff yells. "Yes, enjoy." I answer her. Then, Cliff and Valentina spend the next half an hour talking and sharing things with each other. However reluctant Cliff is, I think he feels a bit better to have found someone he can talk shields with: different shapes of shield, different usage of shields, different materials of shield, and the evolution of shield. Hugo checks in with us on time, and I repeat it with Igor's group. The mist has now accumulated dense enough that I'm only able to see one light and a figure from the front group even though we are only less than 15 feet apart. The voices around us have grown more and more intense since then, there are a few shakes affecting the vine from time-to-time that put our group to a halt. In some instances, I almost lost sighe of the light. Sometimes, I can swear that I hear Jane and Cliff shouting my name but when I turn back and check—they didn't. Leo at the very back is also getting more and more uneasy as I can hear his shout to fend things off from him more frequently—or maybe it's all just inside my head. Jane hasn't spoken much since then, maybe she just doesn't feel comfortable in places like these. Neither does Noah, the golem; but, then again... Suddenly, my counter beep: it's been another 30 minutes. [[Next page->next page14.5]]

I take a deep breath. I've underestimated this mist. And there's this strange deja vu that is lingering around me—like I've done this before. The map is updated real-time and yet there are only six of us here. We are being blinded by the mist, perhaps we inhaled too much of it that we are tricked to not be able to see others. But then again, it could be an hallucination that we're seeing on the map. Maybe we are the only group that is left behind. "Based on the map, I think we should stay still and wait for Vince to come find us. They should have noticed that something is wrong as well, and going deeper into wrong direction would only make it harder for them to track us." Valentina suggests. "But, wouldn't it be worse to just stay and do nothing? Even if we assume the map is genuine, they might be induced to believe that we are still following them, and John's shout is too simple to be mimicked." Cliff says. "Oh //honey//... you can trust the map. Just like you trust me." "No I don't, and stop poking my face!" "Maybe we should fire a signal first. Wait for a few minutes and see if any of them try to reach us or if any of them fire back. I don't think it's wise to move on unless we are certain, in these situations." Jane says. "Perhaps we can send someone to scout the location of Master Hugo's group first, sirs?" Leo suggests. "Yes." Noah says. Lots of options to choose from, but just as many as reasons to invalidate any of them. Whetever it is, one thing is for sure—we don't have much time. We'll only inhale more mist and even start to fight amongst ourselves at this rate: they are already starting to argue. Thinking and analysing each other option won't hold any significance if I can't differentiate what's true or false anymore. Either they find us, we find them, we ditch them or we get eaten in this process. Time, feels strangely distorted now. [[Listen to Valentina: stay put and wait for them to come.]] [[Listen to Cliff: move on, try to catch up with Hugo on the map.]] [[Listen to Jane: fire up a signal, and wait for response.]] [[Listen to Leo: send a few people to investigate first.]] [[Listen to myself: move on to the nearest safe spots directly.]]

I've decided to listen to Valentina's advice since she has the most experience inside this situation among us. "I think we shouldn't wander around first. Let's wait for a few minutes, like what Valentina suggested and see if there's anyone that is coming for us. If there are still no people, then we can choose another option." I say. "Alright, fine. But I think we shouldn't wait any longer than that." Cliff says. "Yeah," I say. A few minutes has passed and no one came. The situation has elevated considerably since the mist has now thicken. So, I announce, "Alright, time for plan B, based on—" "Wait, where's the big guy Noah?" Cliff interrupts me. "Noah!" I check the remaining members and notice that Jane has also gone missing. The few of us are only a few feet apart, so when did this happen? I need to calm down first: I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I shouldn't have done that, because after I re-open my eyes, I'm the only one standing in front of the map. //tap// A hand touched my left shoulder; I turn back and check. //tap// This time it's my right shoulder; I turn to the other side. A figure is standing beside me, covered by the mist. I try to reach out with my left hand, but before I manage to raise it, a hand grabs it and holds it down. Then, another grabs my right hand. The grip becomes stronger and stronger, and I yell in pain. The soreness of my muscle, the sounds of bone cracking, and my joints being twisted: this is definitely not an illusion, and I cannot endure it any longer. I'm literally choking in my own saliva. I cannot breathe. Tears are flowing out of my eyes, driven by my immense agony. I cannot die yet. [[Wake up!->Wake up]]

"I think Cliff is right, we have to catch up with Hugo or else we'll be deserted in this mist. Staying here any longer will just elevate our anxiety and create more unnecessary conflicts." I say. "Ok, ok, let me mark this place first." Valentina says, making a cross on her map. Then, we march towards Hugo's position in the map, with Valentina now taking the lead. It didn't take long before we manage to reach the red dot. Our dots are now overlapping, yet there's still no one around but us. The mist has thicken considerably now that we are deeper inside. The situation has worsen, so without hesitation, I announce, "Alright, we need a plan B, based on—" "Wait, where's the big guy Noah?" Cliff interrupts me. "Noah!" I check the remaining members and notice that Jane has also gone missing. The few of us are only a few feet apart, so when did this happen? I need to calm down first: I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I shouldn't have done that, because after I re-open my eyes, I'm the only one remained. //tap// A hand touched my left shoulder; I turn back and check. //tap// This time it's my right shoulder; I turn to the other side. A figure is standing beside me, covered by the mist. I try to reach out with my left hand, but before I manage to raise it, a hand grabs it and holds it down. Then, another grabs my right hand. The grip becomes stronger and stronger, and I yell in pain. The soreness of my muscle, the sounds of bone cracking, and my joints being twisted: this is definitely not an illusion, and I cannot endure it any longer. I'm literally choking in my own saliva. I cannot breathe. Tears are flowing out of my eyes, driven by my immense agony. I cannot die yet. [[Wake up!->Wake up]]

"Let's go with Jane's idea," I say. "Valentina, do you have anything that can send a signal to Hugo's group?" "Wait... lemme check." Valentina says as she goes through her large backpack. She then takes out a round-headed metal torch, "This should do the trick." She then places a potion shaped like a ball on it and raise it pointing to the moon. The ball dissolves into the torch, lighting the whole torch up before being shot to the sky. We waited for it. But there's no sound emitted or any colourful dispersal of the potion. "That's it?" Cliff asks. "Yes, //honey//. Do you want more? I can show you something more spectacular." Valentina answers, with a smirk on her face. "No thanks." Cliff says. Valentina now shows a sad face to Cliff, with her eyebrows curved downward. I then set my counter to 3 minutes. We waited. Then, it beeps. There were no other signals on the sky at all except ours. On the other note, the mist has thicken considerably. The situation has worsen, so I announce, "Alright, we need a plan B, based on—" A few minutes has passed and no one came. The situation has elevated considerably since the mist has now thicken. So, I announce, "Alright, time for plan B, based on—" "Wait, where's the big guy Noah?" Cliff interrupts me. "Noah!" I check the remaining members and notice that Jane has also gone missing. The few of us are only a few feet apart, so when did this happen? I need to calm down first: I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I shouldn't have done that, because after I re-open my eyes, I'm the only one standing in front of the map. //tap// A hand touched my left shoulder; I turn back and check. //tap// This time it's my right shoulder; I turn to the other side. A figure is standing beside me, covered by the mist. I try to reach out with my left hand, but before I manage to raise it, a hand grabs it and holds it down. Then, another grabs my right hand. The grip becomes stronger and stronger, and I yell in pain. The soreness of my muscle, the sounds of bone cracking, and my joints being twisted: this is definitely not an illusion, and I cannot endure it any longer. I'm literally choking in my own saliva. I cannot breathe. Tears are flowing out of my eyes, driven by my immense agony. I cannot die yet. [[Wake up!->Wake up]]

"Maybe we should go with Leo's idea: two people will go check in with Hugo's group while the rest of us can stay here first." I say. "So who do you think we should send?" Jane asks. "Cliff. Go with Valentina." I say. "What? Why?" Cliff asks. "Because she can trace back this route to us if you guys do manage to find the other group. And you can protect her." "Fine. FINE." "I'm ready to go, //honey//. Let's track my stupid brother down!" "Remember to fire a signal whether or not you guys managed to find them." I say. And off they go. About 5 minutes has passed, and no news from them. The mist, however, has considerably thicken. The situation has worsen, so without hesitation, I announce, "Alright, we need a plan B, based on—" "John, wait. Do you see Noah?" Jane interrupts me. I check the remaining members and notice that Leo has also gone missing. The few of us are only a few feet apart, so when did this happen? I need to calm down first: I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I shouldn't have done that, because after I re-open my eyes, I'm the only one remained. //tap// A hand touched my left shoulder; I turn back and check. //tap// This time it's my right shoulder; I turn to the other side. A figure is standing beside me, covered by the mist. I try to reach out with my left hand, but before I manage to raise it, a hand grabs it and holds it down. Then, another grabs my right hand. The grip becomes stronger and stronger, and I yell in pain. The soreness of my muscle, the sounds of bone cracking, and my joints being twisted: this is definitely not an illusion, and I cannot endure it any longer. I'm literally choking in my own saliva. I cannot breathe. Tears are flowing out of my eyes, driven by my immense agony. I cannot die yet. [[Wake up!->Wake up]]

(if: (history:) contains "Listen to myself: move on to the nearest safe spots directly.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"When in doubt, trust yourself."//) (set: $c3ach to $c3ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]Given the situation that we're in now, even if we can trust the map, regardless of whether we choose to stay still or pursue Hugo's group, the mist will still grow thicker and thicker. I kneel down beside Jane, opening up her map with the three spots and ask Valentina to help identify the nearest spot to us. "Are you sure we didn't derail from our original path?" I ask. "Yes, one unique thing about these forest is that you should never set a tree or a rock as your reference point. Because it's hard to differentiate them inside these conditions. Worse, if you are hallucinating. Vince and I have experienced this many times before. So we came to a conclusion to use light and shadow to estimate our position. Moon light is a bit fainter than sunlight, but inside here, its illumination is much stronger and is enough to deduce approximately how much we've travelled, based on the shadow it casts on us." Valentina answers. "That's amazing," I say. "Ok, now only one more thing left to do." I then move my face close to Jane's face. She immediately blushes and pushes me away, yelling, "Wha—What are you doing suddenly!" "Calm down," I say. "This wouldn't work if I don't do this." I move my face beside her again and whisper, "Close your eyes. Count down from 60." She then closes her eyes, her lips lightly shaking and her breath a bit quicker than before. I click on my counter. Others are now staring at us; I just found out that my position is somewhat awkward. Valentina is mimicking a kissing gesture at Cliff now, probably motivated by my position that is leaning forward towards Jane. "Stop, help! Leo!" Cliff yells, pushing Valentina's face away. "Good luck, sir." Leo says. "Get—Get off!" Cliff pushes Valentina and she falls down. Valentina now shows a sad face to Cliff, with her eyebrows curved downward. My counter beeps at this moment, Jane also open her eyes at the same time. "One minute. So now I can confirm that the reading of the counter is not, in any way affected by the mist around us. Ok, let's get moving. Valentina, can you lead us to the nearest safe zo—?" I interrupt myself after seeing Cliff holding his hand out to Valentina. "Sorry, it's just that... I don't like pushy women." Cliff says, as he waits to pull Valentina back up. She accepts his hand, only to pull him closer towards her. She stops in the middle. She has regained her smile and says to Cliff's face, "Oh, I'll make you like me." Surprisingly, Cliff's face turned a bit red. At the meantime, I also hold out my hand to help Jane stands up. She is looking somewhat displeased, like I betrayed her expectation or something. "May I?" I ask, folding my left hand on my back this time, and with my back a bit hunched forward. She stares at me for a moment. "You may... not," she only taps on my hand, as she stands herself up. "I'm fine," she says. So, with Valentina leading the group with her own marked map, we set out to the nearest safe zone. [[Next chapter->Chapter 4 start]]

(align: "=><=")[ **Scream, scream, scream out loud, Loudly in the mist. Cry, cry, cry, cry, You cannot escape.** ] [[Wake up!->next page15]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 4**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"Leiden Forest II"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 4 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c4ach to 0)] (set: $c3checkpoint to "yes") (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 4") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 4]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]] ((colour: "#65169e" )[**Checkpoint saved!**])]

"The mist, it's not just talking to us,"—I emphasize as I explain to them—"it's listening as well. From the moment we enter the forest, carry out our check-ins, right until now, it's been observing how we react and interact with each other: it created an illusion that looks like the light because it knows that's how we identify each other, it startles up Leo to try to break our formation because he looks the timidest among us and it disrupts my judgement by putting pressure on me as the who one lost track of the others." "I'm sorry, sir." Leo says. "No, I'm just making an example." I say. "But what about //honey// and I? Wait, ohhhhh, because we're keeping each other occupied?" Valentina asks. "Yes," I say. "Because both of you are in your own world, while Jane and Noah didn't talk much, so the four of you are not targeted." Jane suddenly pulls my backpack and drags me closer to her; she whispers to my ear, "But is it ok for you to just state these out loud?" "Yes," I say. "If we were to go in the wrong direction following the enchanted map, or had stayed back then, we might be trapped forever there or eaten by any carnivous beast waiting behind the bushes. But what really happened with the map, I think it has something to do with time spells." "Time Prison," Jane cuts in. "Based on what you mentioned, this likely the same old spell used back in the days when the Gibberish language is still relevant. All the scripts relating to it was gone in a big fire centuries ago. I'd only briefly read about it in our texts: it can alter one's sense of time, but it requires a catalyst, and only works on those mental strength that have been worn down. So, if this mist is the catalyst, then the map... what we were seeing is likely an afterimage!" "So it is," I say as I look back at her. "You should teach me a bit about these spells when you have time." "If I feel like it." she says, giving me a proud smug face. "We are heeeeere!" Valentina shouts. It looks like we managed to catch up with them, but three knights in Hugo's group are nowhere to be seen. "Hello, hello. Glad you all made it here. By the way—do you happen to see Igor on the way here?" Hugo asks. [[Next page->next page16]]

"No?" Valentina answers him, walking towards them. "Nevermind then, those are the Violet Garden Berries, help yourselves to it." Hugo says, pointing towards a bunch of them growing under the large bushes nearby. "Wait, aren't these flowers?" Cliff asks. "Yes. It's known as 'Berries' because it looks like it has little violet berries all strung together on the upper part of its stem. Plus, they normally grow abundantly, forming a little garden—thus, its name." I say. Cliff is looking at me with amazement and nod slightly, almost like he's forgotten that I'm an adventurer; Jane, on the other hand, is itchy to pour the potion already. (if: $ally is "no")[I have only one Violet Letteria potion, so I give it to Jane first. Then, I interrupt the chat Hugo was having with Sonia and Vincent, and ask for three more potions. Knowing how he thinks, he must have had spare prepared. He direct his attention to me, "Sure, John. But you'll owe me a favour, understand?" I have no choice now but to agree after coming this far. He then hands me the potion which I give one to Cliff and use two myself. One more flower, just in case.](else:)[I give one potion to Jane, and the other to Cliff. But after coming this far, I'd prefer to have one more flower as a backup. So, I interrupt the chat Hugo was having with Sonia and Vincent, and ask for one more potion. He gives it to me without any condition but knowing how he thinks, I would sooner or later needs to repay him in some way.] After obtaining the Berries and storing them, Hugo appears to have finished his conversation with them. "Well then, //chop chop//, off you go. 10 minutes." he says to both Vincent and Sonia. Sonia nods at him and Vincent starts to pack his things; they are likely going to venture into the mist once again. "Wait, where is she going?" Jane asks Hugo. "To retrieve Igor. From what Valentina told us, it appears that he's lost because of the time-enhanced potion." Hugo replies. Jane looks at Sonia and Vincent. "I'd like to join them." "Oh?" "There's no such need. Two is more than enough." Sonia says. This is the first time ever that I've heard she speaks, and her tone is just as cold as her expression. "If I do cause you any burden along the way, feel free to go without me," Jane says, crossing eyes with Sonia. "But I want to at least, help in any way." Sonia looks at Hugo: he shrugs. Then, she shifts her view back to Jane. "Fine. Stick close to me. You too, Vincent." Both Jane and Vincent nod at her. "Don't you dare to die, bun-head!" Valentina shouts to Vincent. "Not before you, ugly! I've got two beautiful ladies with me!" Vincent yells back to her. "Wait!" I say. "Jane, be careful." Jane then opens her pouch and throws me one of her crystals. I catch it with both my hands. She nods at me. I stand beside Cliff, a distance away from her; we both gives her an awkward thumbs up. Afterwards, they run into the mist, as it engulfs their figures, eliminating their trace. She'd seen the crystals react to me before, so throwing it to me is likely her way of saying, "Use this when you are in danger, stupid!" But I have no idea of how to extract the power. Hugo flashes me his eyebrows in a quick up-down manner. Looking at him, I [[Ask him what happened to his three knights.]] [[Share the information I have on this mist.]] [[Ask him about his relationship with Igor and Sonia.]]

"So Hugo, what happened to your group?" He pauses, and stares at me, like he's trying to guess whether I'm asking out of pure curiousity or that I'm mocking him. "In short—Edgar, Allan and Poe likely died," he says. "They started screaming one by one, and cut off the ropes tying them when we were on our way here; Sonia and Vincent reacted but didn't get to grab them in time. I'm afraid the mental pressure and the fear probably just... broke them." I dwell on his words for a while, before replying, "Maybe so... but right until the end, I think they still didn't forget their role as a knight: if they hadn't cut off their ropes, they'd have dragged you all, along with them. Wouldn't they?" Hugo chuckles. "You're really something, John. You look emotionless most of the time, and you sound detached but you are..." he then laughs before he pauses again. "Ok, enough about that, anything you'd like to add on this mist?" And so, I share with him the things I've learnt about it so far. "Time Prison, huh?" Hugo says. "I think there's one more catalyst that activates it. It has something to do with the number of people in a group: three." Three? Three! Of course! Then it'd only make sense why Sage Thorn made us form a group of three. Vincent and Valentina also did not seem to have experienced time trap like this before, because this spell is only native to this forest, iniside this realm; //The Other World//. If the spells are dispatched around this forest, then moving in large groups might be more dangerous as we are more likely to be forcibly seperated. Bu—"But is there more to it?" I ask. "Maybe yes, maybe no." Hugo says. "Then we'll only find out depending on whether they return or not," I say. "Wait, what's going on? Why are you two exchanging smiles? John, what went through your mind just now?" Cliff asks. A counter beeps at this moment: it wasn't mine. [[Next page->next page16.5]]

I share with him the things I've learnt so far. "Time Prison, huh?" Hugo says. "I think there's one more catalyst that activates it. It has something to do with the number of people in a group: three." Three? Three! Of course! Then it'd only make sense why Sage Thorn made us form a group of three. Vincent and Valentina also did not seem to have experienced time trap like this before, because this spell is only native to this forest, iniside this realm; //The Other World//. If the spells are dispatched around this forest, then moving in large groups might be more dangerous as we are more likely to be forcibly seperated. Bu—"But is there more to it?" I ask. "Maybe yes, maybe no." Hugo says. "Then we'll only find out depending on whether they return or not," I say. "Wait, what's going on? Why are you two exchanging smiles? John, what went through your mind just now?" Cliff asks. "I'll explain it to you, Cliff. Just a moment. Hugo, what happened to your group?" He looks at me, like he's trying to guess whether I'm asking out of pure curiousity or that I'm mocking him. "In short—Edgar, Allan and Poe likely died," he says. "They started screaming one by one, and cut off the ropes tying them when we were on our way here; Sonia and Vincent reacted but didn't get to grab them in time. I'm afraid the mental pressure and the fear probably just... broke them." I dwell on his words for a while, before replying, "Maybe so... but right until the end, I think they still didn't forget their role as a knight: if they hadn't cut off their ropes, they'd have dragged you all, along with them. Wouldn't they?" Hugo chuckles. "You're really something, John. You look detached, and you sound emotionless but you are..." he then laughs before a beeping sound comes out from his pocket. [[Next page->next page16.5]]

"So what's Igor and Sonia to you?" I ask. "Nah John, I don't want to bore you with the details." Hugo says. It seems that he doesn't trust me enough to expose his relationship with them. So, I switch to another question. "So... what happened to your group?" He looks at me, like he's trying to guess whether I'm asking out of pure curiousity or that I'm mocking him. "In short—Edgar, Allan and Poe likely died," he says. "They started screaming one by one, and cut off the ropes tying them when we were on our way here; Sonia and Vincent reacted but didn't get to grab them in time. I'm afraid the mental pressure and the fear probably just... broke them." I dwell on his words for a while, before replying, "Maybe so... but right until the end, I think they still didn't forget their role as a knight: if they hadn't cut off their ropes, they'd have dragged you all, along with them. Wouldn't they?" Hugo chuckles. "You're really something, John. You look emotionless at most times, and you sound detached but you are..." he then laughs before he pauses again. "Ok, enough about that, anything you'd like to add on this mist?" And so, I share with him the things I've learnt about it so far. "Time Prison, huh?" Hugo says. "I think there's one more catalyst that activates it. It has something to do with the number of people in a group: three." Three? Three! Of course! Then it'd only make sense why Sage Thorn made us form a group of three. Vincent and Valentina also did not seem to have experienced time trap like this before, because this spell is only native to this forest, iniside this realm; //The Other World//. If the spells are dispatched around this forest, then moving in large groups might be more dangerous as we are more likely to be forcibly seperated. Bu—"But is there more to it?" I ask. "Maybe yes, maybe no." Hugo says. "Then we'll only find out depending on whether they return or not," I say. "Wait, what's going on? Why are you two exchanging smiles? John, what went through your mind just now?" Cliff asks. A counter beeps at this moment: it wasn't mine. [[Next page->next page16.5]]

"Three of us now," I say. "We wait." he replies. The golem, Noah is now sitting in silence, looking at the both of us. If he has a face, I bet he'd show a confused look right now. A few moments after, a dark blue spell circle reveals beneath us and activates. I can see Hugo and Noah's body rapidly decompose into dust as my own legs disintegrates. Then, I black out. What happened afterwards was hazy and obnoxious; I almost vomit. After I wake up, my body has regained its original shape, so do Hugo's and Noah's. "Phew, this teleportation thing is fun. Wasn't that bad." Hugo says. "Wasn't that good either," I say, covering my mouth with my right hand. "I can barely taste my tongue now." "Anyway, glad you're a-ok too, big guy." he says as he smacks Noah's arm. It's probably because Noah's back is too high to be reached. "What a funny looking place"—he adds—"only one passage with nothing but walls around us. Ugh, what's this terrible stench?" "This looks like a dungeon, except that weird rotten smell. Have you not been to one?" "Classic. Then let's go hunt us some beasts." He then moves forward with a spring in his step, like we're having a vacation in Treasure Island. Without looking at us, he says "I'm gonna ditch you if you can't keep up, John." Noah turns his head to me. I nod. We then follow Hugo into a hallway filled with darkness, except that Hugo's actually using his light potion to light up the path, but he's moved much more further than us. I've only noticed now that Noah's pacing is a bit slower compared to us; his body is made up of stone-like material that seems to be strongly secured together to cover his inner core. His hands have green crystals embedded inside them, which I assume is what he uses to heal. After a while, the light stop in one place. Hugo is standing there. Our path has been diverged to three more paths. "Looks like we are in a pickle here. Pickles—"he then wheezes before bursting into laughter— "Those—Those are good." The first path has a sign on the top that reads: "No skeletons here." The second sign on second path reads: "No bees here." The third sign reads: "Nothing here." This looks awfully a lot like a playground created by a child than someone as wise as Sage Thorn to test us. Is he imagining some sort of ideas-crashing here? There must have tons of more dungeons hidden under scattered spell circles throughout the forest. But has they always been here? Did the Gaurdian of Terbgil partake in this tournament? Wait, does this being even exist in the first place? Only locals talked of it. "What are you doing, J? Choose one, let's go, let's go!" Hugo shouts at me, jumping up and down by himself. Ok, something is definitely wrong with him, it's like he's lost his maturity and reasoning ability. I walk to him, and slap him. Twice. His eyes look like he has regained his composure for a moment but it's been quickly switched away. "John, choose." he repeats again. This is bad, he might still have his skills to fight but he realises something is amiss too. He couldn't trust his own judgement anymore, and I couldn't trust his either. Son of a goat, none of us anticipated this. "Noah, can you try to heal him?" Noah raises and places his right hand on Hugo's head. "Don't pat me!" Hugo shouts, grabbing Noah's hand. The glowing green stones in Noah's hand shines for a moment but quickly fades away in the next. "No," he says. So now I only have one choice, no, three choices actually. [[Choose the 1st path.]] [[Choose the 2nd path.]] [[Choose the 3rd path.]]

"No skeletons here." I repeat after the sign. Skeletons would be hard to deal with given the formation of our current group, while bees might be easier to be avoided as long as we can run. But what if there are skeletons here instead of bees? That, the signs are opposite? Well... only one way to find out. "We'll go with the first one." I say. After hearing my decision, Hugo bolts across me, shouting "Weeeee!" that echoed around the whole dungeon. We swiftly follow him, targeting the light floating above his head. Suddenly, his cheerful scream stopped. And the answer is apparent as we approach him—there are a group of slimes wandering ahead. Nasty, huge, transparent slimes. "Hugo, can you slash past them?" I ask. He nods, without looking back. "Leave it to me!" "Noah, heal him from here if he sustains any damage." "Yes." Then, Hugo gracefully, steadily punches them with his brass knuckles. I thought that his weapon would be something deadlier like short sharp daggers, but apparently his knuckles are much more dangerous. All it takes is one punch from him and the slimes explode before our eyes, spraying their smelly mucus all over him, and us because he sent some of them our ways. "This smell will take a hard time getting rid of," I say. Then, we continue walking down the passage, which eventually cave out to the under of an enormous tree. "Oh, look. It's Vehibee tree, John." Hugo points at it. It looks like the euphoria efffect caused by the rotten smell is wearing off. But then, a sudden collective noises close in on us, as it made me of something—something important that Valentina said. Bees. The bees, they are attracted to slimes. "Run! Go! Bees!" I shout to Noah and Hugo. Then, I start to run myself. But I accidentally slipp on the dripping slimes and fell flat to the ground. The bees' buzzes are getting lounder and lounder, with Hugo's shout mixing in between. I can feel some fluid flowing down my head: it's red, I must have hit my head on a rock or something. A swarm of bees then march towards me, biting and stinging my face. I slowly lose my conciousness due to the unbearable amount of pain. Soon, my surrounding fades into pure darkness. Jack's message is the last thing that comes to my mind: (align: "=><=") [**Up from the tree they flew, the bees stung one, and then there were two.**] Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 4->Chapter 4]]

"No bees here." I repeat after the sign. Jack has sent me a message regarding bees, so maybe it's a sign that urges me to stay away from them? But what if there are in fact bees waiting us in this path, and the sign show otherwise? Either way, there's only one way to find out. Hugo has inhaled the smell around here that places one under euphoria, but only Noah and I are not affected by it. Am I secretly a golem too? I smack my head for my own silliness, and say, "Let's go with the second path." After hearing my decision, Hugo bolts across me, shouting "Weeeee!" that echoes throughout the whole dungeon. We swiftly follow him, targeting the light floating above his head. There were tons of traps that were activated by him, but his agile movement has somehow managed to dodge them all. At this point, Noah and I are just tracing his steps to walk pass the traps: sequenced jet of flames, barrels of arrows that activates upon steping on specific tiles, large unexpected pits with a bed of spikes waiting for us, and magical orbs that mimicks appearance and strength of those who get touched by them. Hugo passes them all with a breeze by simply ducking, jumping, leaping and punching his own self. It's like he has experience in anticipating and countering attacks by instinct, almost as if the traps are the ones that try to keep up with him. Noah charges through the first two traps, almost fall to pieces in the pit, and managed to win against himself by breaking both its duplicate's arm, disabling its healing abilities. I, on the other hand, pass through the first three traps with more efforts. And in the fourth one, my duplicate is trying to choke me to death with brute strength as I stare at him—my own face, which is weird. And, creepy. I search inside my pocket, and Jane's crystal comes in handy. Just a bash on his head and he's already unconcious and bleeding red blood. But I wasn't happy about it, knowing that I'm weak enough to get killed instantly by a stone. Ah... humans are so weak. [[Next page->next page18]]

(if: (history:) contains "Choose the 3rd path.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"No box to think outside of."//) (set: $totalach to $totalach + 1)(set: $c4ach to $c4ach + 1) ]"Nothing here." I repeat after the sign. "Why would anyone choose this path?" I murmur to myself. But then again, maybe doing the unexpected in these situation, however silly it maybe, is the right choice. "Alright, we'll go with the third path." I say. Hugo bolts across me, shouting "Weeeee!" that echoed around the whole dungeon. We swiftly follow him, targeting the light floating above his head. Suddenly, his cheerful scream stopped. And the answer is apparent as we approach him—it's a dead end. Nothing else is here. "Looks like there is nothing here. Should we go back?" I ask. "Yes." But Hugo is standing there, staring at the large wall. "Something here," he says. "This white note says //Don't touch.//" "Hugo... don't touch it." "HuUUGO!" I shout at him as I see his hand slowly approaches the note. "Pffft.... Fine." he says. Then, he takes a step back, and turns around to join us. That one step that he took triggered another trap: our floor collapses before us and we fell into it. We didn't die. In fact, the fall is taking longer than I think. I counted to a whole one minute and we are still in the middle of the air, filled with nothing but darkness around us. Noah is repeating himself for almost a minute now, whispering "No no no no no no.." while Hugo looks like he's fallen asleep with both his eyes closed. Another minute has passed, and I can see vaguely see shiny glints below us. Maybe this isn't a trap after all, it could be a reverse pitfall that takes us back the surface. But as we get closer to the light, I realised I was deeply mistaken. It's a bed of spikes, reflecting the light of torches of fire around it. The last thing I see is the colour black. I can't feel my body anymore. My breath becomes heavier and heavier, and my mouth is gulping with pools of blood. Soon, I lose the little conciousness that I have. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 4->Chapter 4]]

I take Jane's crystal out. Not knowing how to extract its energy, I take a deep breath and imagine creating a bridge between my hand and the crystal, allowing it to pass into me. Surprisingly, it flows quite fast and the darker orange core inside the crystal dimmed in an instant. Now, I have to channel these energy into spells. But, what spells? Jane didn't recite anything when she used them, only hand movements. So far, she's only shown one: finger-snapping. What happens if I clap my hand? A huge row of branches would manifest out of nowhere, sending the skeletons flying away from us... or so I thought. I clap and nothing happened. Is it because everyone has different medium to materialize the power? I try to stomp my feet, hit my own shoulder, wink my eye, shout something, make various other hand signs but still, nothing would come out. Noah is looking at me doing all these weird poses; he takes a step away from me. I'm missing something here.... Argh, they are getting closer. "Noah, please hold them off for now." "Yes." He then contracts and swings his large arms against them—left, right, left, right—sending them backwards, one wave followed by another. But these skeletons are still climbing out of the walls non-stop. "J! My hands are getting numb here," Hugo shouts. "I don't want to play anymore!" Think, think! They are undead, invulnerable to attacks. Then maybe some sort of defensive spells would work? What's the opposite of undead? Alive? To live. Son of a goat, I think I've got it. It's worth a try anyway. "Hugo!" I shout. "Draw them together!" "What do you mean draw on them?" "No! Uhh... keep them close!" "Alrighty!" Hugo then smacks another skeleton and grab the two bones of its leg and hit them together, producing a loud tapping sound that resonates in the room. He then screams and jumps around merrily inside his small circle. "Come and get me!" [[Next page->next page19]]

Even if I manage to channel the energy of the crystal to me, I still couldn't think of ways to materialise the power. I can only try to plan something else at this point. Argh, they are getting closer. "Noah, please hold them off for now." "Yes." He then contracts and swings his large arms against them—left, right, left, right—sending them backwards, one wave followed by another wave. These skeletons are still climbing out of the walls non-stop. "J! My hands are getting numb here," Hugo shouts. "I don't want to play anymore!" Think, think! They are undead, invulnerable to attacks. Then maybe some sort of defensive spells would work? What's the opposite of undead? Alive? To live. Son of a goat, I think I've got it. It's worth a try anyway. "Hugo!" I shout. "Draw them together!" "What do you mean draw on them?" "No! Uhh... keep them close!" "Alrighty!" Hugo then smacks another skeleton and grab the two bones of its leg and hit them together, producing a loud tapping sound that resonates in the room. He then screams and jumps around merrily inside his small circle. "Come and get me!" [[Next page->next page19]]

"The first group—I'm gonna enjoy torturing you three." A chilly voice wakes me up. Noah is standing beside me. Hugo has also already awaken, and is now trying to balance himself. The diziness is extra strong from the teleportation, like we have warped in time, and this blinding sunlight just made it worse. I try to cover it with my hand, only to notice that there's a hint of purple colour mixing in it. What was the chant again? "Glaukopis, Glaukopis, Glaukopis; Gluakopis, Gluakopis, Gluakopis; Glakoupis, Glakoupis, Glakoupis." I mumble all the possibilities I can think of to activate the amulet. "John. Stand up." Hugo says, his tone hints that there's something in front of us. It looks like the euphoria effect caused by the odour is gone. I bend one of my knees and with my opposite hand as a support, I slowly, steadily push myself up. I look towards where Hugo is staring at: a person is standing there, humming, wearing a necklace filled with baby-small skulls and waving his hand around with his pinky finger filled with different rings—almost like he's a conductor in an orchestra. "The Peace Squad." I say. "Oh? You can recognise me, boy?" the mage says. "I'm honoured. Now who should I deal with first? Hmmm..." "You can't kill us. You're a mage." I say. "Nahhh... I'm just gonna mutilate you guys and watch you all suffer. Some bandits ruined my plan two nights before. And I'm searching for someone to vent my frustration out." Two nights before? Is he talking about Blaze and Bossman with the Berserker? Two nights have passed since then? That'd mean that we'd been in that dungeon for one whole day. Today will be the fourth day already. And although it's true that he can't kill us, but there are no rules against harming other Familia's members. "Bandits? Are you perhaps talking about the Berserker incident?" Hugo asks. "Bingo, black-mask-with-red-armour knight. I didn't it'd be that easy to get someone with that much mental strength though. All I needed to do was to just show up in that forest as told and voila! I remember there being a little girl though, and oh boy, I just love her cries as she watches her daddy turned into a beast. It's not very often you get to watch scenes like that." He grins. "Oh, oh, and the dead Challengers,"—he laughs, pauses, and then laughs again—"stupid, I tell you. Their faces when they vomit blood and die without knowing why, just gold! I pinched myself to stop me from laughing but I just... oh... oh... the way they scream, I can't— I can't—" he then cackles, barely able to catch his breath. "I see." Hugo says. "So the one responsible was indeed one of the Peace Squad members, I thought I recognise your face from somewhere." This sick maniac. I'm on the edge of charging towards him and pummel his stupid face to the ground right now. "Yes, Mr. Knight. Are you gonna take me in?" "Don't worry, I won't kill you. United Knight Association has you on its hunt list." Hugo replies. "But on a second thought, maybe I'll just bring your head in and preserve it that way. Might lose my status as a knight, but who cares, right?" Now, there's a glimpse of fear in the mage's eyes. It's subtle but he's taken a small step back from Hugo. At this moment, I notice there are two Hellhounds approaching Hugo from two of his sides, preparing to jump at him. But, he doesn't seem to notice this. "Hugo! Left, right!" Hugo then kneels down, slightly tilt his body backwards and gives two heavy jab on the Hellhounds with his knuckles that jumped: one on his left, one on his right. "You're gonna do better than that." Hugo says. "Sure, Mr. Knight." The mage then snaps his fingers, one of his rings break at this time, but the Hellhounds are now biting into Hugo's hand, restricting his movement and holding him down. Three rings left. [[Next page->reducing rings]]

"Noah, assist Hugo." Noah prepares to clap his hand again. But the mage raises his pinkie with the rings, and points it to Noah, "Oh—hold it right there, big guy." I look over to Noah. His left hand... has been chopped off. "Let's balance it." A gush of wind then blows past Noah, chopping off his right leg. "Sit down, boy." Another huge whirl of wind lands an impact right on the protective stones that are housing Noah's core at the center. It sends Noah's large body back and crashes him into a tree. Another of the mage's rings break at this time. Two left. "As for you... adventurer is it? I'm not sensing any hostility from you, so you know, I'll save you for last." I pick up a stone and throws it at him. "Ouch, what are you gonna throw next? Your book?" He then waves his hand, and two more Hellhounds appear. "Let me finish Mr. Knight here first." Both of the Hellhounds are now directly storming towards Hugo. "John?" "Two at front! 10 steps!" //SPLAT// //SPLAT// "I have a secret weapon too," Hugo says. Unbelievable. Of course he wouldn't just choose a plain, normal-looking bare knuckles as his weapons. The claws popped out from his knuckles and went through the mouth of both the Hellhouds that are holding him down. These Hellhounds materialise afterwards and collaps beside him. He then stands up, readying a stance, //SNIKT// He made a x-crossed shape with his claws, slicing the two Hellhounds that lunged onto him into pieces, instantly changing himself from the prey to the predator. With the blood splattered on him, he walks towards the mage. "Looks like I have to deal with you after all, adventurer." The mage waves his hand again, causing one more of his rings to break. Two Hellhounds run past Hugo, and are coming towards me bearing their sharp, long fangs. I... [[Pick up a branch and fight on the ground.]] [[Climb up a tree and throw stones from above.]]

I decide to climb up a tree, so that I can keep my distance from the Hellhounds first. But about halfway climbing up, a crow that flies across my face startle me. On reflex, I let go of my hand and hit my head on the ground. I quickly grab the branch beside me to fend off the Hellhounds coming at me. I only managed to land a hit, but it's too light and was futile. One of the Hellhounds is now biting my hand holding the branch; I scream in pain, trying to grab a stone with my other hand. But in one swoop, the second Hellhound lunged at me and bit my neck. I—I can't move anymore. The last thing I see is the Hellhound chewing on my neck, and the cracking sounds of my bones being eaten. I slowly lose my conciousness due to the unbearable amount of pain. Soon, my surrounding fades into pure darkness. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 4->Chapter 4]]

I pick up a branch and make a ready-to-fight swordsman posture. One of the Hellhounds directly lunges at me, but I manage to deflect it to my right. The branch that I'm holding has now snapped into half due to the impact. Another Hellhound then thrusts at me from my left side, trying to catch me off guard. I charge towards it at the same time, driving the broken branch into its lungs. I can sense that the other Hellhound is now repeating its steps at my back, eye-ing me, waiting to attack. I quickly turn around and pull out the branch impaled on the body of the Hellhound, dropping the bleeding Hellhound to the ground. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then, in a split second, it lunges at me. I manage to react to it in time, but because it jumped sideways, targeting my neck instead, I was only able to land a blow at it after it bites a chunk of meat from my left shoulder. I got him, but my left arm has been completely paralysed: I can't feel my fingers nor move my shoulder anymore. Covering the bitten part of my shoulder, and grinding my teeth, I walk back to where Hugo was. What unfolds before my eyes, I have no words. A three-headed Hellhound is lying liveless in its own pool of blood, four of its leg are sent seperated ways, and three of its head are barely attached anymore. The mage must not have expected that after he summons this monster, the purple mist would also fade away, revealing its presence to Hugo. I walk closer, and the mage had already fallen to his knees before Hugo. "You b—beast! That Hellhoud can kill an army of knights! What are you!" the mage shouts. "Oh... I apologise for my rudeness. Sometimes I forget these little things. Let's see... I'm a knight. The director of the United Knights Association. The head commander of Knights of Zestia. Also, I'm your—" he then moves his face closer to the mage's and whispers something in his ear. The mage's face turns pale cold instantly; all his confidence and his pride has been stripped away after hearing Hugo's words. He couldn't do anything but just furiously shaking his head, like he's denying everything. Hugo then inserts his claws into both of his arms and swipes them away. "Just a precaution." What follows is his shriek and him twitching his body on the ground, writhing in pain. Bloods gush out from both his arm, fountain by fountain. "I do not regret anything!" he yells. "They are weak, weak!" then he laughs until tears flow out of his eyes, and he starts to sob; he's been completely broken. "John,"—Hugo calls me, only showing me a small part of his face—"any last word to him?" (if: $path is "no-ring")[If I have the dead mage's ring that I picked up a few days ago now, I might have been able to give him one hell of a goodbye but I didn't. So instead, I walk up to him, bearing the life of a father that we took, Anne and Alice's pain, with the Challengers that died, as I quietly whisper in his ear, "His name... was Arthur."](else:)[I take out the dead mage ring, wear it and point it to his forehead, imagining the release of all hatred, sorrowness and grief of their past victims into him. I knock at his forehead as he raises his head and looks at me, "May the memory be as pleasant as you are." The piled up negative emotions shot inside his brain has fully overwhelmed him: his hair turned white and he looks like his life has been sucked away. Yet, he's still laughing. So, I move my face close to his, bearing the life of a father that I took, Anne and Alice's pain, with the Challengers that died, as I quietly whisper in his ear, "His name... was Arthur."] He looks up at me, eyes widened, yelling, "NO. NO. NO, NOO!!!" Hugo then places a trinket on his head and activates it, afterwhich the mage's body disintegrates and he gets teleported away. "There. My knights back in Zestia will take care of him now. But you... let's get you healed first, John. John? John!..." [[Next page->next page20]]

...Three figures standing in front of a burning house. They are arguing about something, "Woman... child... two..." only bits and pieces can be heard. I try to move my body, and only then I realise I'm watching them through a tiny hole in the bushes. I'm carrying a little girl on my back, and holding a little boy's hand: they are important to me, but I'm the only child in family, are they—my brother and my sister? Either way, I must get out of here. Holding my brother's hand, I turn my back from the house and run. As fast as I can. As quiet as I can. My sister seems to be asleep. But I can feel a tight grip from my brother's hand, almost as if his fingers are pierching through my palm. When I look at him, I can see him sobbing; an immense sadness then floods into my heart. "They're here!" I look to my front and see a hooded figure standing at a distance away from us. I slow down and then stop. The figure throws a scroll into the sky, looking at us, chanting something. My brother's grip tightened. We might not be able to escape if he's already chanting a spell. What can I do? What should I do? Someone please tell me. Anyone. Help us. Before I remember, I'm already charging towards the figure, leaving my sister with my brother. The chant gets louder and louder as I get closer to his face, and our surrounding becomes brighter and brighter. Just a few steps in front of him, I let go of my punch, embracing an emotion that I have never felt before—//regrets//. "NO!" The voice slices the air surrounding us at that moment, and a scene flashes before my eyes: I'm kneeling at the center of a yellowish flower field, the sky is blue and the soft blowing wind is dancing the sunflowers. But I dont feel anything. I'm sobbing and crying my eyes out, desperately yelling for a help that never came. How stupid. How... pathetic. Are these my memories? [[Next page->next page20.5]]

(if: (history:) contains "Confide, and tell her what happened.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Faith."//) (set: $c4ach to $c4ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"I had... an unpleasant dream." And then I tell her what had happened inside, the fire, the figures, and seemingly my brother, sister. She had her eyes locked on me the entire time I spoke, listening attentively to what I'd got to say. "It's possible that these aren't just dreams, but your memories of the past that has something to do with the first five days where your memory was erased of," she says after I finish my story. "And the figures?" "Sages, remember what I told you about them? Only they can use spells through scrolls though I don't know what are their relation to you either. We'll be meeting one of them tomorrow either way, so maybe we'll ask then." I simply nod at her. "Thanks." She looks a bit taken aback, but smiles, "So Mr. John can thank people." I chuckle. And then we stand up, only to notice that we are still holding hands. She lets go of her hand immediately, saying "Let's go meet up with them." with her back turned on me. She picks up her gloves as we walk out of the cave, and leads me to the camp Sonia was talking about. Sonia is already standing in front of the camp, waiting for us. "Oh-ho? Are you two lovey-dovey bird approaching me?" Hugo asks as soon as he sees us coming. Jane blushes and hides behind Sonia. Sonia then goes up to Hugo and smacks him on his back, "Stop teasing her!" That impact is large enough to resonate a //piank// sound on Hugo's armour and pushes him forward. [[Next page->next page21.5]]

"I'm fine." I say. "Just a lttle shaken up." "Ok. I won't force you. Just tell me whenever you feel like it." I look at her and nod. "Thanks." She looks a bit taken aback, but smiles, "So Mr. John can thank people." I chuckle. And then we stand up, only to notice that we are still holding hands. She lets go of her hand immediately, saying "Let's go meet up with them." with her back turned on me. She picks up her gloves as we walk out of the cave, and leads me to the camp Sonia was talking about. Sonia is already standing in front of the camp, waiting for us. "Oh-ho? Are you two lovey-dovey bird approaching me?" Hugo says as soon as he sees us coming. Jane blushes and hides behind Sonia. Sonia then goes up to Hugo and smacks him on his back, "Stop teasing her!" That impact is large enough to resonate a //piank// sound on Hugo's armour and pushes him forward. "You're much more daring now, Miss Sonia. I didn't know you and Jane go along this well." "Let's say life-and-death situation can change someone, Lev. But I'm sure you already know it." Hugo pauses for a while and laughs. He looks back at me, "Come and eat, John. Let me tell you what you have missed out when you were soundly sleeping." I look around and can only count three other people besides us: Sonia, Jane, and Vincent. Vincent is lying under a tree, staring at us, like his whole body has been paralysed or something. Noah has healed himself, and is sitting beside Hugo around the campfire, eating their share of stew. This means that the three of them were together when they were sent to dungeon, which also means Cliff, Valentina and Leo are in a group as well, and they have not finished their challenge yet. Igor should be stuck with two other knights in a group as well. "Come, J!" Hugo repeats, as he pats the empty ground beside him. I sit beside Noah, which is across from Hugo. Noah hands me his bowl of stew with his large stone hand; I decline. Hugo is looking at me, somewhat disappointed. I grab my own bowl of stew and begin sipping on it. The first thing Hugo says to me is, "Vincent got stung by a bee. On his buttcheek." I snortle out the soup. Glaring at him, I say, "Thanks, Hugo." He then adds, "Sonia had to princess-carry him." I snortle again; whatever's left in my mouth has definitely all poured out through my nose. He grins at me. "My pleasure." As I stand up to clean myself, I can vaguely hear a distant shout. We become alerted to our surrounding, trying to trace the source of the voice. "Anyone? ANYONE HERE. JOHN. JANE." a voice sounds like Cliff is shouting for attention. [[Next page->next page21]]

"Sonia." Hugo calls out. She stops what she was doing and rushes out to the voice. Jane and I exchange look, before following her, or at least we tried to. She was way too fast for us to keep up with. When we arrive at the scene, she's already attending to a dark, poisonous wound inflicted on Valentina's shoulder, while Cliff and Leo are standing beside her, with some small scratches and light wounds. "John!" Cliff calls out, as soon as he sees me. His voice trembled a bit, and it looks like he's worried about Valentina. But then, a grunting sound slips into my ears. This sound is approaching us. I peep behind the large bushes at our sides and see a red-armour knight dragging two other knights, while walking toward us. This knight looks terribly exhausted, and heavily wounded. There's also something about his menacing bow-cut hairstyle... Ig— "Master Igor!" Leo shouts, charging towards him. And just when Leo's about to reach him, he collapses. "John!" Cliff calls out again. I got distracted. I turn back to him. Sonia is almost done sucking out the poison. "Cliff, take Valentina back to our camp. Follow Jane. Sonia, come with me." Jane and Cliff nod at me. I then take Sonia to where Igor is. I carry Igor on my back, while Sonia and Leo instinctly carry the other two knights. It was already the middle of noon after Noah finish healing them one by one. Afterwards, he goes to the tree where Vincent is lying at, and just sit down beside Vincent; both of them are recovering physically. For Vincent, perhaps emotionally as well. Jane is helping out Sonia, Leo is guarding beside Igor, while Cliff joins us beside the campfire, and tells us what befell them inside. I also exchange mine, because Hugo didn't remember much of what happened, but he did share us Jane's group's. Apparently, both Vincent and Valentina have potions to dispel the rotten stench that causes euphoria, so the six of them were still able to make clear, rational decisions and act on them. According to Cliff, his group took the wrong path on their first try and almost fell into a large pit with a bed of spikes. Then, they faced wolves and lastly, a huge black Tarantulaa with scorpion's stinger. Valentina managed to distract the scorpion for them to kill it, but was unfortunately stung by it. According to Hugo, Jane's group took the right path at first try. Their path had traps and numerous slimes blocking, which were killed by their long-range attacks. (if: $secret is "out")[Jane specifically reminded them to not get too close to the slimes.](else:)[Luckily, they weren't affected by the slimes.] Then, they were lead to the Vehibee Tree where one of the bees stung Vincent. They wandered around before Hugo called out to them, afterwhich Jane went checking on me in that cave. Igor, on the other hand, must have faced those monsters under a dozy state with only two other knights with him. He really is the strongest swordsman, to be able to survive and managed to drag his knights out with him under such harsh condition. "You look like you're processing through a lot of things, J." Hugo says. "How about this—let's trade questions." [[Next page->next page22]]

Trade questions? I don't have anything specific in particular. Hmmm.. "What's one secret that you hide from us?" "I feel like you're just randomly making up questions—aren't you? Ok. I'll pretend to fall into your trap. Inside Outcasts, the fourth Familia, there are not only three classes, but four. The fourth one is known as 'Blank'. The little girl that changed the flow of the war 300 years ago was one of it. Now, my turn. The name of the two bandits with you." So that's the reason he showed interest in us: Bossman and Blaze. He's likely caught up with the information that they are actually caster. "One of them is Blaze." I say, before changing the subject. "What are these Blanks?" "It's.." Hugo then looks at Cliff. Cliff seems to have understood something, because he hass this disatisfied look on him, and is about to stand up. "He's with me." I say. Hugo shifts his eyes back to me. "Ok then. 'Blank' is an omnipotent entity that transcend logic and time, having power even more supreme than The Four Cardinal Sages combined. But they can only live for a few years once their power is activated, given that they can control it. There are rumours of the possibility in artifically activating one but since it takes hundreds of years to do so, no one has ever lived long enough to try it. Now... describe Blaze." "He has a spiky hair, about the same height as you, scars on his arms and face, earrings on both his ears, and a fiesty behaviour. Why does Sonia calls you 'Lev'?" "Out of so many question that you could've ended with,"—he chuckles—"Leviathan is my last name as you've already known, so to differentiate Igor and Sonia from other knights, only they are allowed to call me by 'Lev'. Not everyone gets to have a last name though, only nobles." He then shoots a glance at Cliff. Right, Cliff's last name is Hill. But why do I have a last name as well? "Enough about that," Cliff says, sounding a bit frustrated. "Since we all have the Berries now, I assume we only need to wait for them to recover and then we go to the Kingdom of Pantheona?" "Nah. I'll be taking my leave here with Sonia. I have some important matters to attend to in Patheona, and I'm actually running late. So, J, I'll save the last question." "You're gonna leave them all here? After what they've went through? Are those matters really that important?" Cliff comfronts him. Hugo then slowly stands up, walk up on him before answering him literally face-to-face, "Yes, yes, and yes. I'm not in the position to give any details, but it's an issue concerning all the knights. Plus, we've got you here looking over them, buddy." He then taps Cliff's shoulder. "Igor will know where to find us, just tell him we went on ahead. Are you a-ok with that?" Cliff looks like he's about to punch him. I raise my hand to get Hugo's attention and switch to an ok signal. He smiles at me. After calling out for Sonia that was chatting with Jane, they leave the forest. Before they disappear from our sight, I can hear a faint shout from Hugo, "See you all in Pantheona, ciaoooo!" [[Next chapter->Chapter 5 start]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 5**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"Matryoshka"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 5 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c5ach to 0)] (set: $c4checkpoint to "yes") (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 5") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 5]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]] ((colour: "#65169e" )[**Checkpoint saved!**])]

"Stop. Eating. The. Stew!" Jane shouts to Cliff, as he gulps down his fifth bowl of stew. "But this is only my second bowl~" Cliff says. "John can testify, right, John?" "Yes." I say. "That is definitely not his fifth bowl." Jane snatches away his bowl after he finishes it. He screams "No, no, nooooo!" as he reaches his hand out to her, like his shield has been confiscated away. Now, he is glaring at me, with one of his hands swirling his stomach. "Here." I say, giving him my second bowl of stew. He takes it from me, and with a pair of grateful eyes, "You're a good man, John. May the force of Astra be with you." "Force of Astra?" "Hey! STOP spoiling him! There aren't much left. Now, I have to make more." Jane says. Cliff stands up and bows at her. "Thank you for everything, Miss Jane!" Jane sighs. But, she then scoops a bowl of stew for Leo who is sitting beside Igor, and tells Cliff to give one to Vincent. Since I don't have anything to do, I help to prepare the ingredients for her to cook a new pot of stew. After Cliff has finished feeding Vincent, he crouches beside him and pokes his face. With each poke, Vincent would groan once. Cliff turns to me. "John, I've discovered a new toy." "Stop. Poking. Vincent!" Jane smacks Cliff's head. Cliff is then dragged to help us cook the stew but because his skill is so terrible that Jane had to kick him out. Now he's just sitting beside Valentina, ranting by himself. [[Next page->next page22.5]]

Along the journey, Cliff has been asking Noah a lot of questions about golems, and different classes of members in Beastia after we leave our camp. And Noah has been patiently answering him every single one with either a //yes// or //no//. I check the map: we still have one hour left. I look at Jane, and remember something. "So Jane, what's your wish?" She glances at me as we walk. Maybe she's forgotten about this one question which was left unanswered a few days ago. Maybe she's deciding whether she can trust me or not. But from her expression, she doesn't look that surprised as she was anymore. Her mouth then slightly opens, and with a keen conviction in her voice—"To be strong." She then glimpses at me, likely checking my reaction, before she countines. "I... had three brothers. Since I was small, my Pop P— //coughs// Pa would always stress the importance of learning, discovering, and improving our basic skills. But I was the only girl in my family, so my brothers would pamper me with love, telling me that they'd protect me, saying that such a //cute// girl I am, shouldn't dabble with dangerous stuffs like practicing spells. And I... listened to them. They are much stronger, and experienced than me after all. They'd keep me safe from anything after all." She stops for a brief moment. "Until the day we went exploring inside a cave. There was a cute cub that I wanted to see, so three of my brothers accompanied me. It was only after I hug the cub, that we saw its mother walking into the cave. The mother bear let out a huge roar, and charged towards us. Only my two elder brothers were carrying crystals at that time, so they tried to chase the bear away from us. But the bear slammed its paws on them before they could react... they screamed in pain: My eldest brother was slammed to the cave walls, and bled out of his head. My second brother pressed his leg, and let out a huge cry." "My Pa... he came in time to rescue us, and killed the mother bear. But, I—I cried: seeing my eldest brother lying liveless, thinking how my second brother would lose his leg, and how the cub is going to grow up without a mother. My Pa... he didn't scold me that day, he only mourned over the death of one of his sons, and how his other son will need a crutch for the rest of his life. None of my brothers blamed me, and it hurted. It hurted more than any pain that I had ever experienced. But it made me realised the meaning behind my father's teachings that day—I swore to never do stupid things that make myself cry again, and that I'll become stronger. Enough to protect everyone that I love." I stop walking. She realises, and stop too. Now we're both gazing at each other. A soft wind blew past us under the starry night sky. I thought that she'd be on the verge of tears right now, but no, she has a determined look on her face. More powerful than any face that I've ever seen. So strikingly beautiful. "You can be both strong... and cute, Jane; as fierce as a lion, and as gentle as a sheep." I say, looking at her crimson red eyes. "It must have been hard making it this far by yourself—you've done well." "John." Cliff calls out. "Why are you patting Jane's head?" Then, I realise I'm patting her head and her face has turned considerably red. I retract my hand immediately and apologize to her. "Sorry, I..umm.." She only shakes her head before turning away from me. "Umm.. Cliff! What's your wish?" I ask as we continue to walk. [[Next page->next page23.5]]

"Yes, Challenger. This is the rules for all that seek to step foot into our kingdom." I touch my pockets. Right... I don't have any Nico left. I then turn towards Cliff. He shakes his head. We turn towards Jane. She shifts her eyes between the both of us, and sighs. "I've only got three." she says. I walk towards Vincent and check his backpack. I've almost forgotten that he bragged about receiving a bag of gold Nicos from Hugo until I see a stuffed small pouch inside. I then take one gold Nico out from it. He groans when he sees me holding it. "Consider this a payment for carrying you two." I say. He groans. "Also, thank you both for risking your lives out there." He groans again. I hand the gold Nico to the guard on duty. "This should be more than enough for the six of us, right?" "Yes, yes. Thank you, Challengers." he quickly accepts it with both his hand. He and the guards behind him then stare at the Nico with awe, as we walk past them. After walking deeper inside, we realise that the kingdom of Pantheona is almost the exact opposite of Olympiaa. It's snowing here, but it doesn't seem to affect us. The snow only covered this half of the kingdom, with only a few light lit up from houses that are in good condition. The rest of the houses are just covered in pure darkness—it's almost like a ghost town. The guard that accepted the Nico then urges us to go to the other side of the kingdom, where the Sage of the South, Sage Houst will meet us tomorrow. After another short walk, we reach a large 20 feet tall steel gate within the kingdom. The guards here, wearing a much better uniform welcome us with a smile and didn't request any Nico from us. The ambience inside here is totally on the other side of Nico. It's lit up with lanterns, fire torches, and overall just warm and festive, draping the cold night. The folks here are wearing dresses, three-piece suits and dancing around with each other, accompanied by a small band playing Celtic music. Lords are getting drunk, drinking boozes and gambling right outside the streets. "What a horrible place." Jane says. "It is," Cliff says. "I've heard about corruption in one of the Sages' kingdom but it runs deeper than I thought here; nobles and elites get to enjoy their time of lives while those who are underprivileged are forced to suffer intentionally in coldness and work as labour forces. This way, Sage Houst get full support from the rich, while making sure the poors won't have the ability nor energy to oppose them." "Anyway, worrying about this won't help. We should choose an inn to stay first." I suggest. There are a ton of grand inns here with majestic exterior and alluring services, but we choose a standard and normal-looking one. The lady innkeeper is surprisingly humble, and even has a large storage room for Noah to sleep outside. Jane pays 3 silver Nicos for our one-night stay: room 102 for Valentina and her, while Cliff, Vincent and I share room 103. Vincent has already regained his ability to move, but it looks like he still hold grudges to me for //stealing// his gold Nico. As for Valentina, after being healed for the third time, the paleness on her face has subdued but she still hasn't waken up yet. After exchanging goodnight's with us, Jane went to sleep. So did Cliff, snoring soundly. Vincent is going through some notes of his, likely planning for tomorrow or something. So, with a bit of energy to spare, I go for a walk, hoping to uncover more about this kingdom and maybe, earn some Nicos. [[Next page->next page24.5]]

"Yes, Challengers. Those who entered can only say the truth, no matter what. Now, please. One silver coin each." the guard says. 'Can only say the truth'—it's likely a constraint spell that will be casted on us upon entering. I touch my pockets. Right... I don't have any Nico left. I then turn towards Cliff. He shakes his head. We turn towards Jane. She shifts her eyes between the both of us, and sighs. "I've only got three." she says. I walk towards Vincent and check his backpack. I've almost forgotten that he bragged about receiving a bag of gold Nicos from Hugo until I see a stuffed small pouch inside. I then takes one gold Nico out from it. He groans when he sees me holding it. "Consider this a payment for carrying you two." I say. He groans. "Also, thank you both for risking your lives out there." He groans again. I hand the gold Nico to the guard on duty. "This should be more than enough for the six of us, right?" "Yes, yes. Thank you, Challengers." he quickly accepts it with both his hand. He and the guards behind him then stare at the Nico with awe, as we walk past them. After walking deeper inside, we realise that the kingdom of Pantheona is almost the exact opposite of Olympiaa. It's snowing here, but it doesn't seem to affect us. The snow only covered this half of the kingdom, with only a few light lit up from houses that are in good condition. The rest of the houses are just covered in pure darkness—it's almost like a ghost town. The guard that accepted the Nico then urges us to go to the other side of the kingdom, where the Sage of the South, Sage Houst will meet us tomorrow. After another short walk, we reach a large 20 feet tall steel gate within the kingdom. The guards here, wearing a much better uniform welcome us with a smile and didn't request any Nico from us. The ambience inside here is totally on the other side of Nico. It's lit up with lanterns, fire torches, and overall just warm and festive, draping the cold night. The folks here are wearing dresses, three-piece suits and dancing around with each other, accompanied by a small band playing Celtic music. Lords are getting drunk, drinking boozes and gambling right outside the streets. "What a horrible place." Jane says. "It is," Cliff says. "I've heard about corruption in one of the Sages' kingdom but it runs deeper than I thought here; nobles and elites get to enjoy their time of lives while those who are underprivileged are forced to suffer intentionally in coldness and work as labour forces. This way, Sage Houst get full support from the rich, while making sure the poors won't have the ability nor energy to oppose them." "Anyway, worrying about this won't help. We should choose an inn to stay first." I suggest. There are a ton of grand inns here with majestic exterior and alluring services, but we choose a standard and normal-looking one. The lady innkeeper is surprisingly humble, and even has a large storage room for Noah to sleep outside. Jane pays 3 silver Nicos for our one-night stay: room 102 for Valentina and her, while Cliff, Vincent and I share room 103. Vincent has already regained his ability to move, but it looks like he still hold grudges to me for //stealing// his gold Nico. As for Valentina, after being healed for the third time, the paleness on her face has subdued but she still hasn't waken up yet. After exchanging goodnight's with us, Jane went to sleep. So did Cliff, snoring soundly. Vincent is going through some notes of his, likely planning for tomorrow or something. So, with a bit of energy to spare, I go for a walk, hoping to uncover more about this kingdom and maybe, earn some Nicos. [[Next page->next page24.5]]

(if: (history:) contains "Try to lie to get in.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Smooth talker (II)"//) (set: $totalach to $totalach + 1)(set: $c5ach to $c5ach + 1) ]"How dare you peasants try to obstruct us! We are the royal representatives from the kingdom of Olympiaa, invited by Sage Thorn himself to be here for tomorrow's event. If you lots wish to not die an ugly, horrible death, get your stupid faces out of our sight now!" I shout at them. They now look a bit frightened. The guard that requested the Nico from us has a much softer voice now, "But Sire, Madam... it is the Sage of the South, Sage Houst that rules this kingdom and will be hosting the challenge tomorrow." "YOU IMBECILES!" Cliff cuts in. "You dare to disrespect my Master? Let us in now, or I'll chop your heads and slap those sorry faces using this shield!" Jane sighs. "Actually, we're just—" "ARE. YOU. DEAF?" I ask, moving one step closer to the guard's already petrified body, staring into his terrified eyes. Ok, now I'm feeling a bit sorry for him but the show must goes on. Most of the guards have backed up by now, but he still remains standing in front of us. "But, Sire, Madam.. we.. we just..." "NOW." I demand. He looks more startled than before and finally gives in, standing to the sides with other guards. He then urges us to go to the other side of the kingdom, saying that it's safer and warmer there. It looks like the //truth spell// only works inside the kingdom, which are only casted on us after we stepped in. But the guards didn't realise this, so that's why we were able to lie our way through easily. That was lucky. After walking deeper inside, we realise that the kingdom of Pantheona is almost the exact opposite of Olympiaa. It's snowing here, but it doesn't seem to affect us. The snow only covered this half of the kingdom, with only a few light lit up from houses that are in good condition. The rest of the houses are just covered in pure darkness—it's almost like a ghost town. After another short walk, we reach a large 20 feet tall steel gate within the kingdom. The guards here, wearing a much better uniform welcome us with a smile and didn't request any Nico from us. The ambience inside here is totally on the other side of Nico. It's lit up with lanterns, fire torches, and overall just warm and festive, draping the cold night. The folks here are wearing dresses, three-piece suits and dancing around with each other, accompanied by a small band playing Celtic music. Lords are getting drunk, drinking boozes and gambling right outside the streets. "What a horrible place." Jane says. "It is," Cliff says. "I've heard about corruption in one of the Sages' kingdom but it runs deeper than I thought here; nobles and elites get to enjoy their time of lives while those who are underprivileged are forced to suffer intentionally in coldness and work as labour forces. This way, Sage Houst get full support from the rich, while making sure the poors won't have the ability nor energy to oppose them." "Anyway, worrying about this won't help. We should choose an inn to stay first." I suggest. There are a ton of grand inns here with majestic exterior and alluring services, but we choose a standard and normal-looking one. The lady innkeeper is surprisingly humble, and even has a large storage room for Noah to sleep outside. Jane pays 3 silver Nicos for our one-night stay: room 102 for Valentina and her, while Cliff, Vincent and I share room 103. Vincent has already regained his ability to move, but it looks like he still hold grudges to me for //stealing// his gold Nico. As for Valentina, after being healed for the third time, the paleness on her face has subdued but she still hasn't waken up yet. After exchanging goodnight's with us, Jane went to sleep. So did Cliff, snoring soundly. Vincent is going through some notes of his, likely planning for tomorrow or something. So, with a bit of energy to spare, I go for a walk, hoping to uncover more about this kingdom and maybe, earn some Nicos. [[Next page->next page24.5]]

I try to flinch my muscle in my arm. My counciousness is clear, but I cannot move an inch of my body. Is someone attacking me? Or is it another dreadful illusion? "hi mister john." One of the hooded figure lifts her hood down, greeting me. Then the other one also lifts her hood down, complaining, "Hmph! Why do we have to talk to mortals like him?" She then grabs Kenzo's hand-paw. Kenzo instantly got freed out his frozen state. The three of them are now staring at me. "My apologise, John. This here holding my hand is Ivy, while the shy one staring at you is Iris. They are—as you might have already guessed—half-elves. Iris is a half light-elf, while Ivy is half dark-elf. And they— we, mean no harm." Kenzo explains. Half elves are already rare enough but both dark and light elf as twin sisters? That's a fearful combination. Half-elves are rumoured to have outstanding magical abilities, such as teleportation, time manipulation, invisibility and strong defensive spells. Dark elves have a special ability to shroud people in darkness, also claimed as //dark magic//; light elves have the ability to activate divine spells, such as healing or breaking curses. However, their skills are more to defense than attack, and once their energy are depleted, they can be easily killed like any human. I snap out of my thoughts when someone holds my hand. It was Iris, the relatively shy light-elf. I am able to move again. "thank you for saving us." she says to me, in a voice almost sounded like a whisper. "Saving you?" I ask. "Duh, are you too old to remember recent things?" Ivy says. She has a light brown skin, darker than Iris'; both of them have pointy ears, and are about one feet shorter than me. They also look several years younger than me; but then again, in their life years, they would be around 1600 years old now. Upon closer look, Iris has a white short hair with black butterfly hairpin, and cylindrical doll-like capsule hanging on her waist-belt; Ivy has a double ponytails, with white butterfly hairpin, and is wearing a star-shaped locket. "What are you looking at, pervert!" Ivy shouts at me. "At your body," I say. Wait, that came out wrong. //PIAK// I didn't mean to phrase it like that. Is this because of the truth spell thing that the guards mentioned? Ok then, let me test something; I add, "It's not that impressive." Yeah, this might become a problem. //PIAK// "Perv!" "Those came out wrong. I apologise." I say, because now Ivy—I meant, Iris is looking at me with fear that I might do something to her because she's holding my hand. [[Next page->next page25]]

"Ok," I say. "But I have a condition." After hearing my words, Ivy clicks her tongue with a //tsk//. Kenzo then asks me, "And what would that be?" "I just need a little something that can temporarily dispel the truth spell casted on me." "that can be done." Iris says. "Then we have a deal." I say. "Let's talk this over a meal, shall we?" Iris and Kenzo agree, but Ivy is still glaring at me, like she's trying to deduce of the reasons that I would accept so easily. The twins raise their hood back up, and at the moment they release our hand, the world around us unfroze. Back to what it was. "//This is one powerful ability in the wrong hand,//" I thought. We chose a table at the corner and order some foods, drinks. But before Kenzo goes into the details, Ivy hands me a contract. "Give me your hand," she says. I refuse. But she forcibly pulls my hand over, bites on my thumb until it bleeds, and stamps it on the contract. She also did the same with her thumb. "Any disobedience to this contract will lead to the death of the offender." she chants. Then the contract burns and reduces itself to ashes. "There. Now you can't try anything funny." Geez. Demi-humans are no joke. I then turn towards Kenzo, he smiles at me. I'm starting to doubt whether this is a good idea. As Iris patch my thumb with a piece of cloth—I don't know why she doesn't just heal me—Kenzo gives me a map of the warehouse's layout and briefs me on his original plan that they thought of after finished surveying. The idea is simple: 30 guards, 5 at each four corners, 10 at the entrance standing by to receive the goods—lure them out group by group, knock them unconcious before focusing on the main group. Yes, //that simple.// I look at the three of them; only Kenzo is capable of being in the offensive team, while Ivy and Iris are just support at best to get him in. The guards, as I've noticed at the entrance, don't seem to have any tools to communicate so eliminating them like this would be a great choice. However, there are things that they overlooked. "This won't work." I say. [[Next page->next page26.5]]

(if: (history:) contains "Stall them first, try to get help from Jane or Cliff.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"A team player (II)"//) (set: $c5ach to $c5ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"Wait, could you let me think through this first? I need some help with this." I say. "Help? What kind of help?" Ivy asks. "They— I trust them the most. Let me just go back to the inn for a while and call either of them here." "How would we know if you're not just gonna run away and inform them of our intentions?" Ivy says. "This is the Land of the Truth, right? So what I'm saying here can't be fake. You can send Kenzo back with me to check if you want." I suggest to them. "Enough. Decide first, are you in or not?" "But I—" "Last chance!" she shouts. "Ok, ok. Fine. I agree." "Alright then. Ivy, Iris, can you unfreeze us first?" Kenzo says. Ivy and Iris nod at him, before raising their hood back up with a single hand. At the moment they release our hand, the world around us unfroze. Back to what it was. "This is one powerful ability in the wrong hand," I say. Kenzo smiles at me. He then follows me back to the inn. I go to my room 103 first, but the key doesn't open it. I try to knock on the door, but there's no response either. I then knock room 102. Same thing: no response. "Kenzo, kick down the door of room 103." I say. He then busts it down with a single kick on the area above the lock. The door swings backward and hits the walls with a loud thump. There's no one inside this room—in fact, this room is squeaky clean; no trace of anyone's ever been here. What's going on here? "Looks like you had us fooled, John," he says, with his tone changing to a much deeper and menacing one. "Didn't expect that." Iris and Ivy then appear out of nowhere from Kenzo's back. "Bad move, John." Ivy says. I then feel myself warped into an abyss. My surrounding is filled with nothing but blackness, I can feel myself floating, like gravity doesn't affect me anymore. Nothing does. Time is irrelevant here. This is bad. I might just stay here... forever. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 5->Chapter 5]]

"No, I can't help," I say. "I don't have a meeting with one of my friends soon." "Oh... don't you? Then what's holding you up?" Ivy asks. Curse that truth spell curse. Now I can't lie to get out of this predicament. "Uhh.. Schataron." "Who's Schataron? Your friend?" Kenzo asks. I nod at him. Since we are only compelled to //say// the truth, there are no restrictions on writing or just showing signs to convey our thoughts. And this is a loophole that I can exploit. "Oh? Let me guess.. she's a philosopher who excels in Greek language." Ivy says. I nod again: a stupid mistake. "You've disappointed me, John," Kenzo suddenly says, with his tone changing to a deeper and menacing one. "Didn't expect that." "bye" Iris says. I then feel myself warped into an abyss. My surrounding is filled with nothing but blackness, I can feel myself floating, like gravity doesn't affect me anymore. Nothing does. Time is irrelevant here. This is bad. I might just stay here... forever. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 5->Chapter 5]]

Just as we leave the tavern, I see Vincent walking towards us. What a coincidence. I call out to him. He doesn't seem to hear it. I call his name again. He turns his back towards me, and walk away. I chase up to him, and taps his shoulder. "Oh, John? What are you doing out here?" he asks, as if he doesn't know that I was calling him just now. "Vincent," I say. "Do you happen to have the small bag of Nicos with you right now?" Those gold Nicos that Hugo gave him, it's unlikely that he'll just leave it at the inn. But, he shakes his head in denial. "Come on, Vincent. I just need it for one small thing." I say. "And what's in it for me?" he asks. "Umm..." I look at the three of them, standing behind me, looking at me back. "How about two kisses from two cute half-elves?" I can hear Iris let out a small half-gasp, while Ivy grabs my collar, "You little mortal, just what do you think—" "Are you serious? They are rare breed." Vincent says. "Yes," I say, trying to peel off Ivy's hand from me. I direct my attention to the three of them again, "We'll need his help if we want to save them." "Maybe you don't know, John, but kisses for half-elves are..." Kenzo says before Ivy interrupts her. "We'll do it, is that good enough? As long as we can save them, I won't mind." "me neither." Ivy says. "But if you're lying to us John, I'll take you down on the spot without regards to the rules," Kenzo says, as he shines his sharp claws to me. They look much more dangerous than Hugo's. Demi-humans really are no joke. Ok, so Vincent is now on our team for kisses. I have a plan but it's still flawed, some more pieces are still missing. As we walk towards the warehouse, I ask Kenzo, [["Is that all the information you have?"]] [["Where did you get these information from?"]] [["Is your sole reason of joining this tournament to save them?"]]

"No," Kenzo says. "I wanted to tell you more but you stood up when you mentioned this friend of friend, so I didn't get to." "Friend of friend?" Vincent asks. "Umm... back to the topic. So what else do we have?" "The warehouse didn't have any windows installed and the walls are supposed to be built from soundproof material to avoid eavesdropping. Our commander emphasized that once the seller and buyer have met, they will move the chi— //coughs// goods inside and seal the doors. Since one Sage will hold one challenge in this tournament, we waited to reach this kingdom, at this specific night. Our commander told us that the buyer is known as Mr. Wick, and he is the biggest mechant of these goods, also one of the most influential Lord inside this kingdom. All the sellers trust him, and he prides on it. He's said to be close to Sage Houst as well." "Your commander? Why is he not here by himself then?" I ask. "Don't you dare disrecpect him! Our commander is the leader of The Minority and has lead countless mission to protect the demi-humans scattered around the world and save the... goods"—Ivy grips her right hand—"that are taken away. We discovered more and more villages with demi-human a few years ago outside our kingdom, and how they were treated badly by both humans and pure-blooded beasts. Our commander united them, and fought for our rights. He's even on par with the director of the United Knights Association." "Hugo?" I say. "how did you know?" "Oh, just some silly rumours." I smile. That sneaky Hugo has a wider network of allies than I thought. I continue, "But can't you just teleport them away once you see them, or freeze the time to take them away? Or just think up of a better plan?" "Unfortunately John, most of the plans are created by our commander. He only gave us some information about this place and where the deal would be happening before sending us to join this tournament. It was our only way to reach here since these kingdoms are normally hidden and inaccessible. The plan was solely thought by us, and as for teleportation and time freezing..." Kenzo looks at Ivy. "In short, they only cover a small range and require ridiculuos amount of energy. Once disrupted, we won't have a way to go back to our kingdom but to stay here." Ivy says. "yes, commander also said this will be the largest trade-off involving this kingdom because they will take this tournament as a chance to sneak in as much goods as they can." Iris adds. I then stop asking. I take a deep breath and think for a while as I walk, head facing the ground. In a few instances I almost slip but Iris managed to catch my hand. And every time Iris has to pull me up, Ivy would shout "Walk properly!" "We're almost there." Kenzo says, after we walk for about 30 minutes, he's likely hinting at me that I will need to rush my thoughts a bit. Vincent slaps my arm with the back of his right hand. "Don't think too much, John. What is the plan?" I take another deep breath, before looking at the four of them. [["Ok, here's the plan."]]

"From our commander," Kenzo says. "He sent us here knowing that one Sage will hold one challenge in this tournament, so we waited to reach this kingdom, at this specific night. He mentioned that the buyer is known as Mr. Wick, the biggest merchant of these chil— //coughs// goods and one of the most influential Lord, inside this kingdom. All the sellers trust him, and he prides on it. He's said to be close to Sage Houst as well." Kenzo then adds, "After we went surveying, the warehouse doesn't appear to have any windows installed and the walls are built from soundproof material to avoid eavesdropping. Our commander emphasized that once the seller and buyer have met, they will move the goods inside and seal the doors." "Your commander? Why is he not here by himself then?" I ask. "Don't you dare disrecpect him! Our commander is the leader of The Minority and has lead countless mission to protect the demi-humans scattered around the world and save the... goods"—Ivy grips her right hand—"that are taken away. We discovered more and more villages with demi-human a few years ago outside our kingdom, and how they were treated badly by both humans and pure-blooded beasts. Our commander united them, and fought for our rights. He's even on par with the director of the United Knights Association." "Hugo?" I say. "how did you know?" "Oh, just some silly rumours." I smile. That sneaky Hugo has a wider network of allies than I thought. I continue, "But can't you just teleport them away once you see them, or freeze the time to take them away? Or just think up of a better plan?" "Unfortunately John, most of the plans are created by our commander. He only gave us some information about this place and where the deal would be happening before sending us to join this tournament. It was our only way to reach here since these kingdoms are normally hidden and inaccessible. The plan was solely thought by us, and as for teleportation and time freezing..." Kenzo looks at Ivy. "In short, they only cover a small range and require ridiculuos amount of energy. Once disrupted, we won't have a way to go back to our kingdom but to stay here." Ivy says. "yes, commander also said this will be the largest trade-off involving this kingdom because they will take this tournament as a chance to sneak in as much goods as they can." Iris adds. I then stop asking. I take a deep breath and think for a while as I walk, head facing the ground. In a few instances I almost slip but Iris managed to catch my hand. And every time Iris has to pull me up, Ivy would shout "Walk properly!" "We're almost there." Kenzo says, after we walk for about 30 minutes, he's likely hinting at me that I will need to rush my thoughts a bit. Vincent slaps my arm with the back of his right hand. "Don't think too much, John. What is the plan?" I take another deep breath, before looking at the four of them. [["Ok, here's the plan."]]

"Yes." the three of them say, in unison. "All this way to get your hands on some goods? You guys are admirable." Vincent says. "It's not just some //goods//, mortal. They are just as important as our lives." Ivy replies to his comment. I couldn't exactly tell Vincent what's going on because of the contract that binded me. So, I can just tell him bits and pieces of what he needs to do. After that, I turn back facing Kenzo, walking backwards, "What about the structure inside the warehouse, the buyer or the seller?" "The warehouse didn't have any windows installed and the walls are supposed to be built from soundproof material to avoid eavesdropping. Our commander emphasized that once the seller and buyer have met, they will move the chi— //coughs// goods inside and seal the doors. He also mentioned that one Sage will hold one challenge in this tournament, so we waited to reach this kingdom, at this specific night. The buyer is known as Mr. Wick, and he is the biggest mechant of these goods, also one of the most influential Lord inside this kingdom. All the sellers trust him, and he prides on it. He's said to be close to Sage Houst as well." "Your commander? Why is he not here by himself then?" I ask. "Don't you dare disrecpect him! Our commander is the leader of The Minority and has lead countless mission to protect the demi-humans scattered around the world and save the... goods"—Ivy grips her right hand—"that are taken away. We discovered more and more villages with demi-human a few years ago outside our kingdom, and how they were treated badly by both humans and pure-blooded beasts. Our commander united them, and fought for our rights. He's even on par with the director of the United Knights Association." "Hugo?" I say. "how did you know?" "Oh, just some silly rumours." I smile. That sneaky Hugo has a wider network of allies than I thought. I continue, "But can't you just teleport them away once you see them, or freeze the time to take them away? Or just think up of a better plan?" "Unfortunately John, most of the plans are created by our commander. He only gave us some information about this place and where the deal would be happening before sending us to join this tournament. It was our only way to reach here since these kingdoms are normally hidden and inaccessible. The plan was solely thought by us, and as for teleportation and time freezing..." Kenzo looks at Ivy. "In short, they only cover a small range and require ridiculuos amount of energy. Once disrupted, we won't have a way to go back to our kingdom but to stay here." Ivy says. "yes, commander also said this will be the largest trade-off involving this kingdom because they will take this tournament as a chance to sneak in as much goods as they can." Iris adds. I then stop asking. I take a deep breath and think for a while as I walk, head facing the ground. In a few instances I almost slip but Iris managed to catch my hand. And every time Iris has to pull me up, Ivy would shout "Walk properly!" "We're almost there." Kenzo says, after we walk for about 30 minutes, he's likely hinting at me that I will need to rush my thoughts a bit. Vincent slaps my arm with the back of his right hand. "Don't think too much, John. What is the plan?" I take another deep breath, before looking at the four of them. [["Ok, here's the plan."]]

"Howdy' mates!" I can hear Vincent's weird accent, from a distance here. The warehouse is luckily surrounded by a few houses, some of which are vacant, so we are able to observe it from here. Vincent is posing himself as another buyer that caught wind of the news, with Kenzo as his //bodyguard//; they are now trying to negotiate with the sellers—knights with green armour, likely Challengers from Cecylonia. I reminded him beforehand to stuff a few more pebbles inside to make the small pouch looks more bountiful. So, all he had to do was to just show a few gold Nicos to them and fool Mr. Wick to thinking that he has sufficient fund to compete in Mr. Wick's own ground. Ivy suddenly tugs my shirt. "Another group is marching towards them." I look at the group: they are also knights with green armour. Why are there such a large group of knights out here? There are at least 20 of them now, with some pushing the cages on wheeled-platforms, covered with large black sheets. What's going on here? Why and how are they smuggling these children? Even though it's fine to harm Challengers but not kill them, the stakes are much higher if their number keep increasing. A minute has passed. It looks like Vincent managed to convince them; Mr. Wick and 10 of his guards, 8 of the Cecylonia Knights, along with Vincent and Kenzo are going into the warehouse. Right before the sliding doors are closed, I hope that Iris managed to slip in. She is to support Kenzo by masking her presence and boosting him with defensive barrier as he knocks the knights unconcious. The plan is to trick the rest of them waiting with the goods outside into thinking that Mr. Wick laid an ambush, hence cancelling the deal or starting a conflict amongst them. If it doesn't work, then we'll have to concentrate the defensive spells on Kenzo to beat them all. Ivy tugs my shirt, again. "Why can't we just kill them all?" "Because you're in a different Familia; trading lives with lives would not worth it, against scums like them." She pauses for a while before tugging my shirt for the third time, saying, "Two knights are knocking their door." I turn over to check: the guards inside are opening the doors for two extra knights to join them. These two are also in green armour but something is familiar about them. Those bow-cut and short ponytail—Igor and Sonia! What are they doing here now? Wait, I didn't expect this. They'll be able to expose Vincent in seconds once the doors are shut. This is bad. But I can't— ARGH. What's Hugo planning now? This is— URGMH. What should I do next? My hands are twitching: should I abort it or just wait a little longer to see how it turns out? [[Abort the mission.]] [[Observe just a little longer first.]]

"We can't do this," I say. "The situation has changed." "What? Nothing has changed. Just two new knights joining." Ivy says. "No, they are not just //knights//. They are the elite bodyguards with Hugo, and even though I'm not sure they are there for the best or the worst, this might spiral out of my control soon." "Shut up! I don't want to hear you whine now. Can you continue to do it or not?" "This is not a matter of continuing anymore. The moment they open back that door, they will have the knights tracking us down, and securing the children. If it happens that way, then this whole thing will be just—" "That's it. I've had enough of you, human. Since we have knowledge of your plan already—//you're no longer needed here//." I then feel myself warped into an abyss. My surrounding is filled with nothing but blackness, I can feel myself floating, like gravity doesn't affect me anymore. Nothing does. Time is irrelevant here. This is bad. I might just stay here... forever. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 5->Chapter 5]]

I take a deep breath. I need to calm down first. For whatever reason, they are there for matters concerning the goods. And given that it's highly likely that Hugo sent them here, they are either to infiltrate this deal as well, or to actually buy the goods. Knowing Hugo, it's likely the former, but it's possible to be the latter as well—there are just too many things he's hiding from us. I re-evaluate the situation in front of the doors to the warehouse. Things have taken yet another unexpected turn: there are some ruckus going on, and from their faint shout, it sounds like the knights were harassing some of the female guards in the 'NC' group. I cannot confirm what they say but if it's true, these knights are just a bunch of scoundrels wearing armour at this point. The other guards from all fours corners have also gathered together; yet another turn of event. Now, they have all gathered together and are divided to two sides. This will be a full-blown fight and the knights will definitely die first if this persist. They are already eager to show off their sword, threatening each other. If I save the knights, we could always handle them later, provided that Igor and Sonia are on our side. But if I don't do anything, then the knights will die... but then again, maybe it's for the best. [[Save the knights.]] [[Don't do anything first.]]

However reluctant I am, I need to save them. We can always deal with them later on, and they might be of some help to us. I turn over to Ivy and say, "Change of plan, ignore the knights, attack the guards, be quick." She nods and rushes out to them. I step out of the house and move closer to them to get a better look, hiding beside the closest house to the warehouse. A guard falls down unconcious first. Then, two, three, four. The rest of the guards are frightened and accuse the knights of doing something to them. Some of them charge towards the knights, and the knights react by countering them. There are now casualties on both side, but mainly on the guards' because Ivy still keeps knocking them down even amidst the chaos. Within a minute, almost all of them have been wiped out. I think Ivy is now approaching the last guard standing, who is swinging his knife around to hold the knights back. One of the knights picks up a crossbow and aims at the guard. He shoots once, it hits the guard on his heart, but before the guard collapses, he managed to fire another shot and it looks like it hit Ivy because she reveals herself in front of them. Her left leg is bleeding and she's now crouching, trying to bear with the pain. "Half-elf!" one of the knights shouts. The remaining knights standing, 6 of them are slowly approaching her. I run towards her immediately and stop myself in between them. [[Persuade them into thinking that we mean no harm.]] [[Make a T-pose and emphasize that I will not back off no matter what.]]

I choose not to do anything first and let the events unfold before me. Sure enough, the knights are foolish enough to attack and harm the guards—as if they have no knowledge of the rules. And one by one, the knights all fall down and vomit blood. There are still a few of them standing around, but the guards charge towards them and slay them on the spot. This has turned into a difficult situation. The guards are now securing the goods and are moving them away from the warehouse; yet another twist. Did they already expect that the knights will attack them, or did they provoke them to do so? If so, they must have known of the rules and took advantage of it. Either way, Ivy should not just— I turn towards her but she's already gone. She must have ran towards the cages, trying to stop them. I check back at the guards, one of them is lying on the ground. "Intruder!" a guard shouts. And then two, three more are down. She's fast. The guards are now frantically swing their spears in the darkness, hoping to land a lucky hit. One of them did, as Ivy falls down to the groud, revealing herself. She tries to form a defensive barrier around her, but another guard shoots her with a crossbow. She screams in pain. Then, a spear is driven through her heart and she coughs out blood. In the next second, she seems to have moved from her initial position but only a few feet away. One of the guards lands another direct strike to her head with a spear; she then lays down unconcious. At this moment, I cough up blood myself. I cannot feel my heart beating anymore. I fall down to the ground. My field of vision narrow down to one small slit. Soon, the world surrounding me fades into pure darkness. Right... that contract. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 5->Chapter 5]]

(if: (history:) contains "Persuade them into thinking that we mean no harm.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"I'm a pacifist (II)"//) (set: $c5ach to $c5ach +1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"Wait! STOP." I stand between in front of Ivy, holding my right palm out against the knights. "We mean no harm." "What are you doing here, Challenger?" a knight with slanted eyes asks. Right... I don't have my backpack, so they couldn't deduce what class I'm in. "I'm... also a..." I point at him. "A knight?" I nod. "Kingdom of Zestia." "Why are you defending a lowly half-elf then?" "This half-elf is... with me. Lay a finger on her, and you will be," I demonstrate a throat-slitting gesture to him, from my left ear to my right. "Really?" "Yes, she just so happened to be caught in between your fights. What? You don't believe me? Or do you perhaps want to speak with Hugo Leviathan himself?" He looks taken aback at first, but he sniggers. "Ok... if you're really a knight, state your United Knight Association's code." I don't think there's one. "There isn't one." "Ah... so you were really not lying then. But it just so happened that I have a friend that is from Kingdom of Zestia"—he says, raising his sword—"and their commander do not simply hire any random people to work for them." He swings his sword across my neck. I can feel my vision being turned 360 degree. My head twists round, and round. Then, it thumps to the ground as my surrounding fades into pure darkness. The last thing I see is my headless body with blood splurting out of my neck. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 5->Chapter 5]]

"Stay away from her!" I shout, before standing in front of Ivy with a T-pose. "What are you doing here, Challenger?" a knight with slanted eyes asks. "I don't care. I will not back off." "I didn't even ask that. Why are you protecting this lowly half-elf?" "You're the one that is low, you scum!" "You dare speak to knights like that, peasant?" another knight from his back screams at me. I catch a glimpse of the knight holding a crossbow, preparing to shoot Ivy again. Followed by the sound of friction between an arrow's tail, with the crossbow, I curl and hug Ivy in attempt to cover her from the arrow; and as expected, the arrow hit me. Right in my shoulder. "Kill the male, spare the half-elf, we could sell her at a //very// high price." the knight with the slanted eyes says. The knights then attempt to drag me away; but, a defensive barrier is formed around us. "You stupid half-elf, what did you do?" one of the knights asks, I couldn't differentiate anymore because they are surrounding our barrier and I already feel a bit dizzy. The arrow—it's poisoned. "Stand back or I'll kill you all, humans!" Ivy shouts. "Fierce, huh? Maybe we'll torture you first before selling you!" The knights then engage on attacking the shield, stomping on it and hitting it with their longswords. I can feel numerous and consistent light hits on it—they are trying to wear it down. "Come out here, HALF ELV!" "Like to be a hero, huh? I'll make you taste how weak you are!" "Anyone home? ANYONE! COME OUT AND PLAY." "Cry, while you still have the chance to!" "Stay back! Stay back!" Ivy shouts; she is clenching her teeth and trying to struggle out of my hug, rejecting it—pushing away a human's kindness. But, I wouldn't let go. I couldn't. She's shedding tears, not crying for help, but of frustration and immense anger. Her eyes, I am enraged seeing this sight. My breath becomes heavier, and my blood starts to boil. My fists tighten, and my body muscles are all tensed up. Are humans this hideous to others? At this rate, I'll not be able to hold back. I might kill them all. Crush their skulls. But then, Ivy stops moving. She gently embraces her hands around my waist and hugs me back. Her warm tears touch my face: I snap out of my dreadful thoughts. If I do anything reckless now, the barrier will be forcibly torn down and Ivy will definitely gets hit first before I can do anything. This barrier, it doesn't seem to be able to hold on any longer. Ivy looks more and more desperate. I... what can I do? ...Vincent. [[Call Vincent->next page28]]

"Vincent!" I shout once. No response. "VIN—CENT!" I shout again. Still no response. The barrier will collapse any second now, and if that happens, Ivy will not be able to activate any other ability in such a small amount of time. I'll need to bear the strike and cover her until then. The hits are closing in, and getting more painful. Just a few more strikes and... //BAM// Someone slides the doors open, clashing them against the wall. It was Vincent. Sonia, Igor, and Kenzo are standing behind him. Vincent looks at my direction and shouts, "The cavalry has arrived!" Sonia, Igor, and Kenzo were stunned for a moment. But a second later, they charge towards us. With his two longswords, Igor slices across two of the knights closest to him. Sonia, who is unarmed, jumps on top of one of the knights' head and snaps it while Kenzo just slams a few knights with his hand-paw towards the houses. The barrier has broken down with another hit, and as the last knight standing hammers his sword down on me, I retracts my legs and extends them, kicking him away from us, afterwhich Igor swings the sword at him. I sigh in relief: finally, it's over. To have made it this far through twist after twist after twist, I must have been very lucky. Kenzo, Sonia and Igor then go to open the cages. Two cages. There are at least 10 children, demi-humans of different types inside each cage; they look scared and are curling together in corner. Ivy then comes to us. She opens the ugly and weird doll she has on her waist. I think it's known as 'nested doll'. She looks at me staring at her doll, and says, "this is known as matryoshka, there are many twists that I have to go through before reaching the center." She then opens it twist by twist. One after another. And at its core, are some trinkets. She grabs one and after pulling the arrow out from my shoulder—which I let out a scream—she heals me with it. "ivy, stop hugging mister john, i need to heal you too." she says. Ivy is still clinging onto me, I can feel her body still trembling, as if she had been scarred by a traumatic experience like this before. A scar deeper than I could ever imagine. "It's ok now," I say. "Your sister is here. No one can hurt you now." She then lifts her head a bit, seemingly awoke from her nightmare, and she pushes me back. Her eyes are still a bit red and teary. "P—Perv! What were you doing to me?" she shouts. "Nothing, just feeling your body." Ok, that came out wrong. //PIAK// I hate this spell. After Iris attends to her injury, she holds my Silver Owl Amulet that is nothing more than a decoration now, and chants a magic spell into it. Crossing eyes with me, she says, "say my name three times to activate it." "Your name?" "no, my name." "Iris?" "yes?" "What? So is it your name or not?" "yes it's my name." "Iris." "no, it's..." she pauses, and raises two fingers from both her hands. "//my name//." [["Oh... ok, got it. Thanks."->next page29]] [["So it's 'my name', not Iris, right?"->next page29.2]] [["Why do you have to make it so confusing?"->next page29.4]]

She gives me a cute chuckle. "Fancy meeting you here, Jane's //friend//." Sonia says as she approaches me, alongside Igor. "My name is John." I say. Then, we discuss and state our roles here. Apparently, Hugo sent them here to infiltrate and bring back the Cecylonia knights responsible, while he's snoring in his inn. They mentioned he's been receiving news from an informant about corrupted knights inside United Knights Association for a while now, but couldn't pinpoint them until now. They have two teleportation trinkets prepared, one to send the knights back to kingdom of Zestia for punishment, and the other for the children to Deminia where Hugo had already coordinated with The Minority. Hugo... what a crafty guy he is. "John! Where are my kisses?" Vincent shouts as he also approaches me. Igor and Sonia then head back to the warehouse to handle the knights. With a fatal blow like this, Mr. Wick's reputation must have been harmed to an extent, whether or not he will do any illegal trade-off in the future again, I do not know. As for Vincent, he must have briefed Igor and Sonia of our plan, to make this work; he's done well. "John?" he asks again. I look at the twins. "Fine," they say, lifting their hoods down. "They are REALLY HALF-ELVES!" "yes, please close your eyes, mister vincent." And he did. But they didn't approach him or anything, they literally just send //flying kisses// to him. The kisses rest on his face for a while and he smiles, widely so. Well, I'm just glad that he's happy. But as I get ready to stand and check over the children, Iris kneels down beside me and whispers into my ears, "thank you for protecting my sister." before leaving a gentle kiss on my left cheek. "Iris! Why do you kiss him? That's not fair!" Ivy says. I close my eyes, expecting it to be another slap, but she kisses me softly on my right cheek. The cheek that she slapped earlier. I glance at her. "What are you looking at, stupid mortal? Be grateful I didn't send you down the abyss, hmph!" Yeah... these pair of twins are too much for me to handle. Demi-humans are no joke. "Aww.. lucky you." Kenzo teases, as he walks towards me. "Thanks!" Vincent replies, his eyes are still closed, he's likely still relishing the moment. Now I feel bad for him. Kenzo lends his hand to me and pulls me up. "I'm glad we found you, John," he shakes my hand. "Trading with that dwarf was worth it after all." [[Next page->next page 29.5]]

"You did—WHAT?" Jane and Cliff interrogates me as I explain to them on our walk to the designated area, which is in front of Sage Houst's castle; all the Challengers are also heading there. Valentina has woken up after a night's sleep, and is walking alongside Noah and Vincent on our back, while questioning Vincent's weird grin. Cliff and Jane continue to confront me for not seeking their help, as their overlapping voices blend together, "What were you thinking, John?" "That was dangerous, you should've called us." "You MET two half-elves?" "They KISSED you after just one night?" "John!" "John!" Only after I promise them that I would rely more on them, that they stop lecturing me. And after a few more minutes of walk, we reach the castle. But none of us dare to approach it any closer than 15 feet; there are ten small dragons with their mouth gauged, five minatours with big axes, two nine-headed hydra locked in a cage in front of the castle. Sage Houst is standing on the semi-circle-shaped balcony in his castle, with two hooded small servants behind him, holding a tray of scrolls. He waves at us. "//'ellooo// Challengers! There are about 60 of you remaining, I planned to check your Berries and release these beasts now so you could all fight them to death, but well..." he throws one of his scrolls up and the moment it vanishes, all the creatures in the cages are beheaded, while the Hydras burn to death. "Things happened." He looks down at us, his eyes shifting between each and every one of us, as if he's searching for something or someone. He stops at my direction, and points at me. "You! What's your name?" I have a bad feeling about this. So, I chant 'my name' three times and shout "Cliff!". The sage then says, while pointing at me, "Ok, I heard you loud and clear. Now, two new rules to add: **'The latter rule is abolished.'** and **'The latter rule is only true if the objective is reached.'**"—he grins at me—"The objective will be—to bring Cliff's head to me after the next 24 hours. Any group of three that bring it first will have passed this challenge." He then chants "(text-style: "condense")[Yam u evah on sterger]" before throwing another scroll into the air, which dispersed into some glitters. I check the rest of the Challengers' reaction: all of them are now staring at me in awe, and apparent bloodlust. Son of a goat. A twist after twist after twist, this is almost like a... I smile. "Matryoshka." [[Next chapter->Chapter 6 start]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 6**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"Branches and Stones"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 6 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c6ach to 0)] (set: $c5checkpoint to "yes") (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 6") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 6]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]] ((colour: "#65169e" )[**Checkpoint saved!**])]

Before we realize it, Jane, Cliff and I are teleported inside what looks like a maze. We are surrounded by 150-feet-tall stones walls, almost as tall as a colossal titan. Some are even covered with tree vines that hanged from the top. There is, quite frankly, no way to climb to the top of these walls. We are likely teleported here by the Sage of Houst, all 60+ Challengers, which must have cost a large portion of his energy. Changing the rules and objectvies at the last second—he intends to play me like a toy. "John, what have you done?" Cliff grabs my shoulder. "I know, I shouldn't shout your name but I couldn't think of—" "No! I'm not talking about that. Why did Sage Houst target you?" "I don't know... maybe I humilated one of his favourite pawn?" Jane and Cliff sigh. "Let's go through what we have first," Jane speaks up. "We'll need every resources we can find to protect you for the next 24 hours." "You guys aren't gonna lea—" "Shut up! Just do your smiling-planning thing already!" Jane says. "I'll slap you later if we make it out alive." Cliff says. I sigh—they are so... //hopeless//. Hopelessly in need of me, just as I am in need of them. Just what did I do to deserve them? I smile. "Stop that weird grin, and talk already!" "Ok, ok, how many crystals do you still have with you? Any potion or other things that may be useful?" Jane checks her pouch, and counts the potions hanging on her waist-belt. "Seven crystals. Two Black Mist, Three Random Squeaky Pink, and a carving knife." "Random Squeaky Pink?" She blushes. "Shut up! They were pink, and there was a limited offer!" She then continues, "The Black Mist are potions that produce mists made up of black ashes, it covers a wide area but only hinders visibility partially, so it can't really be used to mask presences, only to act as a temporarily cover. As for Random—Pink, each of them emit one random scream from one mystical beast." "Pfft—" Cliff tries to suppress his laughter but fails miserably. Jane is now glaring at him. "Ok then... Cliff?" "I"—he clears his throat—"have this large silver shield, a longsword, a potion that temporarily remove all traces, and a blade knife. Oh! I also have some chocolate with me." "Give me." I say. "No, the chocolates are mine." "I meant the blade knife, I don't have any weapons with me now," I open up my backpack and take the items out: the old scripts that I've totally forgotten about, bottles of water, a map, and one of Jane's crystals. "That's all? You made it this far with these junks?" Cliff asks, handing me his blade knife. I lightly nod at him. Jane glares again at Cliff, "My crystal is not a junk." Then she looks back at me and my items, "But still John.... You're really something." Suddenly, the ground around us starts to shake violently. I quickly pack back my things and stand up. But I stop at Jane's crystal. Should I put it into my pockets just to be safe or keep it inside my backpack in case I ended up being searched? [[Put it into my pockets.]] [[Keep it inside my backpack.]]

"Hold still," Jane says. "What are you doing?" I ask her. "The ritual to sign you a contract with God of Magica. That way you can cast magic with my crystals. Now, don't move," she says as she approaches my face with hers. I close my eyes. She then chants in front of me, "Fire. Wood. Water. Metal. Earth. Reverse thyself. Bring forth the power to destroy and protect." And she kissess my forehead. I open back my eyes, her face is only a few inches away from me. And upon crossing eyes with me, her eyes widened and redness slowly fades into her face. She backs away from me instantly. "Umm.... Try not to vomit." A sudden heat then aches my heart, pounding it louder and louder; then it strikes through my lung, stealing away my breath; then it punctures my pancreas, invoking the horrible flavour of bitter bile. I feel dehydrated and full at the same time. This doesn't taste good. So... I puke. Twice. "You ok?" Jane asks. With my head still facing my pile of vomit, I give her a thumbs up. "I'm impressed you went through this as a child." "This is just the first stage for you to chant basic spells. It gets a lot more nastier afterwards." "Wait... is John from Magica Familia? Why is he able to sign a contract with God of Magica?" Cliff asks—at least, I guess it's him from his voice, because I'm still trying to recover from the dizziness. "I'm—not sure as well. He reacted to my crystals the first day I met him, so he's either a half-blooded or maybe just rare? Maybe we'll have more clues if he at least knows how he gets here." "...Anyway, I'm glad that you get three kisses in one day, John," Cliff says, slapping my back. "Shut up! It's not a kiss! It's just a... ritual. Yes—//just a ritual//." Jane looks a bit flustered now and is looking away from us. I take a deep breath and slowly lift my head back up, all the way up until I can see a Griffin soaring on the blue clear sky. Wait... a Griffin? I turn my head again to check but it's gone. I take another breath; I might have been imagining things, there's not a lot of mystical creatures that I've read about so I'm probably just too eager to actually meet one. I then give them an ok with "Much better now." which continues our journey—our survival, to be more precise. We reach a 4-way intersection, including our path, after the long passageway. "Middle. Straight and forward." Cliff says. "Wouldn't left be a better choice in mazes?" Jane asks. [[Go left.]] [[Go right.]] [[Go middle.]]

"I say we go left." "Oh come on, John! You always side with Jane," Cliff complains. "It's a maze, there's no right or wrong here. Plus, middle tends to lead nowhere." I explain. And now he's showing his pounting face to me like a baby. "Alright, fine. We'll go the middle first, but if it's a dead end, I'm going to hit you for wasting our time." "Nah, you can trust me." he says. I pick up a small pebble under the stone walls and carve a star-shaped symbol at the bottom corner of both the walls leading to the middle path. As long as the sliding doesn't happen yet, the marks will still be there. We then continue to walk, as Jane teaches me some basic spells that I should remember, and chant it in my heart instead of reading it out loud to proudly alert others of my intentions. Cliff is walking alongside us the entire way, reading my notes that I've collected. Somehow, I feel like we are more to exploring a maze rather than escaping from 57 other Challengers that are trying to get my head. After a while, we reach a dead end. I lightly punch Cliff's shoulder. "My bad," he says. As both of us turn back, we see Jane taking a few steps closer to it. She's now standing right in front of it, without turning her face towards us, she asks, "Can either of you bust through this wall?" [[Next page->next page35]]

(if: (history:) contains "Go right.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Rock, paper, scissors!"//) (set: $totalach to $totalach + 1)(set: $c6ach to $c6ach + 1) ]But I choose to go right. So, since the three of us have different ideas—we decide to play rock-paper-scissors. Cliff tells me that he'll use scissors. Jane says she's using rock. I don't know why they would announce it out loud, but knowing Cliff, he'll stick to his words. As for Jane, she might try to counter me for countering Cliff. But then again— "3... 2, 1!" Jane shouts. And at the moment we show our hand, the three of us chuckle. Cliff is using scissors, but Jane and I use paper. I was planning to counter Jane's rock, just as she is at countering me countering Cliff. So, to that end, we lose sight that Cliff, who remains neutral and staying true to his words, wins the game. "Middle it is." I say. "Yes." Jane adds. "Nice one, Cliff," I say. "You're really a valuable member in our party." "Huh?" he says. "Nevermind," I tap his shoulder. "Let's go." I pick up a small pebble under the stone walls and carve a star-shaped symbol at the bottom corner of both the walls leading to the middle path. As long as the sliding doesn't happen yet, the marks will still be there. We then continue to walk, as Jane teaches me some basic spells that I should remember, and chant it in my heart instead of reading it out loud to proudly alert others of my intentions. Cliff is walking alongside us the entire way, reading my notes that I've collected. Somehow, I feel like we are more to exploring a maze rather than escaping from 57 other Challengers that are trying to get my head. After a while, we reach a dead end. I lightly punch Cliff's shoulder. "My bad," he says. As both of us turn back, we see Jane taking a few steps closer to it. She's now standing right in front of it, without turning her face towards us, she asks, "Can either of you bust through this wall?" [[Next page->next page35]]

I agree with Cliff and so we choose the middle path. I pick up a small pebble under the stone walls and carve a star-shaped symbol at the edge of both the walls leading to the middle path. As long as the sliding doesn't happen yet, the marks will still be there. We then continue to walk, as Jane teaches me some basic spells that I should remember, and chant it in my heart instead of reading it out loud to proudly alert others of my intentions. Cliff is walking alongside us the entire way, reading my notes that I've collected. Somehow, I feel like we are more to exploring a maze rather than escaping from 57 other Challengers that are trying to get my head. After a while, we reach a dead end. I lightly punch Cliff's shoulder. "My bad," he says. As both of us turn back, we see Jane taking a few steps closer to it. She's now standing right in front of it, without turning her face towards us, she asks, "Can either of you bust through this wall?" "No." Cliff and I answer. "There's a slight grey aura surrounding this small area," she circles it with her finger for us to see. "I think there's something behind it." "Fine. Are you sure about this?" Cliff asks. Jane nods, and without wasting another second, Cliff slams the wall with his shield: a tiny crack is formed at that spot. He hits it again: the crack disperse and develops into a bigger one. He takes a few steps back before charging towards it, smashing open a hollow hole; there's a wooden box inside it. I open it, and a brown note inside reads: (align: "=><=")[ To whomever this may find, I hope you get out alive.] followed by a list of Gibberish language and their corresponding alphabets in our common tongue. At the corner of the note, there's a relatively paler ink there—like a mark left by a drop of water. As I finish reading it, I feel that there are two heads close to my shoulder, so I slightly shift my eyes to peek at them. Jane and Cliff's eyes are glued on the paper that I'm holding. "This might be of some use to translating the old scripts I have. Good job, both of you." I turn to Cliff; he shows me his usual proud and wide smile. I then turn to Jane; she's squinting her eyebrows, focusing on the note, likely trying to learn it straight away. I hand the note to her, and she takes it without any hesitation. I heard that she proudly mentioned something about being the top caster among her peers but didn't know her curiosity is this intense—but then again, I haven't really tried to learn more about them. Not Jane. Not Cliff. After exchanging looks, Cliff and I are ready to leave. We call out to Jane. She wouldn't budge; she's still holding the note with one of her hands, and her eyes are locked on it, her lips slightly muttering something. We've been here long enough for someone to lay an ambush, there's not much time to waste. So I hold her other idle hand, dragging her along with us. And as we head back, I ask Cliff about his life in kingdom of Astra. "Oh? This is the first time you've ever started a talk with me. That's rare. Did one of the flying stones hit your head just now?" "No," I say. "I just wanted to give you the pleasure of ranting about your own kingdom. But no shield talk though." He chuckles. "Then I shall gladly accept your offer." He then starts to talk about his master who taught him the arts of using shield, his sister that would sometimes annoys and hits him—much like Jane—and the folks he met when he dressed as a peasant, while he snuck out of the castle for more days than he can count. Before long, we reach back the 4-way intersection. The marks are still there, but our direction is flipped now. Cliff votes to go right. [[Next page->Jungle]]

I pick up a stone: I just notice how silly I would look without context. I hide the stone inside my palm. As expected, just when Jane is finishing closing the wounds of the Griffin, a few figures walk out from the bushes. Two figures, wearing a belt of red crystals, stand in front of us, hiding an old wizard behind them. Two more wizards that pop up behind our back are pointing at us with their wands. The numbers... they don't add up; some are still hiding, observing us. "An adventurer, a caster and a knight," the old wizard says. "What a funny combination. Mr. Cliff. No any sudden movement or you'll die on the spot." Right... I'm Cliff to them. "Can I help you, old man?" "Hey, watch your mouth! You are in the presence of Oddie the Cold, the strongest ice wizard in this century!" one of the casters in front of him suddenly shouts at me. I turn to Jane; she nods; so this old wizard is a real deal. "Say, Mr. Cliff, would you mind telling your friends to drop their thingies?" Oddie says, and already there are honed ice cones with its tip swirling formed close to our foreheads, ready to dig inside it. I hear a sound of shield being dropped, and Jane, from the corner of my eyes, is slowly putting her pouch down and taking her gloves off. "Good. Now you can leave us and Mr. Cliff. Off you go." he says. I take a closer look at him, he's lifting his wrinkly left hand up, holding a small wand. "Nope. We are staying," Cliff says. "You can't kill me yet," I add. "Not so early." "Did you just taunt us, Cliff? Do you want to die that badly?" one of the casters says, as he approaches me. I chuckle. "What's so funny, Cliff?" He's now standing in front of me with his hand, holding his crystal and poking it on my face. I chuckle again. [[Next page->end0.52]]

I pick up a branch: I just notice how silly I would look without context. I tuck the branch behind me. As expected, just when Jane is finishing closing the wounds of the Griffin, a few figures walk out from the bushes. Two figures, wearing a belt of red crystals, stand in front of us, hiding an old wizard behind them. Two more wizards that pop up behind our back are pointing at us with their wands. The numbers... they don't add up; some are still hiding, observing us. "An adventurer, a caster and a knight," the old wizard says. "What a funny combination. Mr. Cliff. No any sudden movement or you'll die on the spot." Right... I'm Cliff to them. "Can I help you, old man?" "Hey, watch your mouth! You are in the presence of Oddie the Cold, the strongest ice wizard in this century!" one of the casters in front of him suddenly shouts at me. I turn to Jane; she nods; so this old wizard is a real deal. "Say, Mr. Cliff, would you mind telling your friends to drop their thingies?" Oddie says, and already there are honed ice cones with its tip swirling formed close to our foreheads, ready to dig inside it. I hear a sound of shield being dropped, and Jane, from the corner of my eyes, is slowly putting her pouch down and taking her gloves off. "Good. Now you can leave us and Mr. Cliff. Off you go." he says. I take a closer look at him, he's lifting his wrinkly left hand up, holding a small wand. "Nope. We are staying," Cliff says. "You can't kill me yet," I add. "Not so early." "Did you just taunt us, Cliff? Do you want to die that badly?" one of the casters says, as he approaches me. I chuckle. "What's so funny, Cliff?" He's now standing in front of me with his hand, holding his crystal and poking it on my face. I chuckle again. [[Next page->end0.5]]

And so did I. After a few minutes walk, we reach a jungle—which surprised us both. There's also another path leading here from the right, seemingly originated from our previous intersection. But still, a jungle in the middle of a maze; just where has Sage Houst teleported us to? Suddenly, a loud eagle-like shriek bursts deep inside the jungle. A flock of birds flies away from that direction. I exhange a quick look with Cliff; with him taking the lead, we slowly approach the source of the sound. Jane is still reading the note. I whisper to her, "Jane. Stop being a nerd." But she shushes me. I then attempt to slowly take the note away. She struggles, "No! Let go!". I snatch it from her, but she snatches it back and keep it to herself. "What is this place?" she asks. "Welcome to the jungle." I say, in a low voice. She tries to move her hands but realises I'm holding one of it. "Why are you holding my hand? Let go!" she says with a low but loud voice, swinging it. Based on her tone, she likely also notices that we're approaching something. "Wait," I say. Cliff puts a hand signal to stop us from moving forward. His eyes are paused at what's in front of him. We stealthily walk closer to him, with our body in a hunched posture. I let go of Jane's hand, as both of us kneel on each of Cliff's sides. There's a lake in front of us, surrounded by this jungle. It's enormous—big and deep enough to supply water to the folks in a kingdom for a whole year. But, what caught Cliff's attention was not this sight. [[Next page->next page31.5]]

I pick up a branch and a stone: I just notice how silly I would look without context. I tuck the branch behind me, and hide the stone inside my palm. As expected, just when Jane is finishing closing the wounds of the Griffin, a few figures walk out from the bushes. Two figures, wearing a belt of red crystals, stand in front of us, hiding an old wizard behind them. Two more wizards that pop up behind our back are pointing at us with their wands. The numbers... they don't add up; some are still hiding, observing us. "An adventurer, a caster and a knight," the old wizard says. "What a funny combination. Mr. Cliff. No any sudden movement or you'll die on the spot." Right... I'm Cliff to them. "Can I help you, old man?" "Hey, watch your mouth! You are in the presence of Oddie the Cold, the strongest ice wizard in this century!" one of the casters in front of him suddenly shouts at me. I turn to Jane; she nods; so this old wizard is a real deal. "Say, Mr. Cliff, would you mind telling your friends to drop their thingies?" Oddie says, and already there are honed ice cones with its tip swirling formed close to our foreheads, ready to dig inside it. I hear a sound of shield being dropped, and Jane, from the corner of my eyes, is slowly putting her pouch down and taking her gloves off. "Good. Now you can leave us and Mr. Cliff. Off you go." he says. I take a closer look at him, he's lifting his wrinkly left hand up, holding a small wand. "Nope. We are staying," Cliff says. "You can't kill me yet," I add. "Not so early." "Did you just taunt us, Cliff? Do you want to die that badly?" one of the casters says, as he approaches me. I chuckle. "What's so funny, Cliff?" He's now standing in front of me with his hand, holding his crystal and poking it on my face. I chuckle again. [[Next page->end3]]

I throw my branch at the old man. He reacts in time, directing his power to erecting an ice shield in front of him. The ice cones pointing at us have dissolved. "Now!" I shout. I can hear Cliff yelling and probably charging towards the two wizards behind us. Some tree branches are shot from the top of tree, puncturing the hands of the casters. They let out a loud yell in pain. And swiftly, I slide between between them and when I'm close enough to the icy barrier, I stop myself using my left shoulder as a cushion. But without any other weapon, I leap to the side and swing my hand to punch the old wizard. He shifts his wand to me, piercing a sharp ice blade into my heart. I muster the strength that I still have and punch him in his face. Then, I kneel down, spitting out blood, trying to grasp for air. "Knowledge can't beat experience, Mr. Cliff," he says. "It's a shame I have to kill your friends now." He swings his wand again, and ice cones are sent straight towards Cliff and Jane. Cliff is holding back the two wizards with his shield. Multiple ice cones shot to his back, penetrating his armour. It makes him puke a pile of blood, but he's still standing with his shield. He makes one last swing with his shield, which knocks one wizard away; he then charges towards the other. Jane manages to form a wooden shield that blocks the ice cones but Oscar grabs one of his crystals and shot a few fireballs that blast Jane's back. She claps her hand, and a few more branches are shot through Oscar and the other mage's skull. They then collapse onto the ground. I glower at Odie; because I can no longer move. My body has reached it limit. He kneels beside me, "So touching." Then, my vision begins to blur and narrow. Looking at Jane and Cliff's lifeless body, my surrounding fades into pure darkness. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a few steps back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 6->Chapter 6]]

I throw my stone at the old man. He reacts in time, directing his power to erecting an ice shield in front of him. The ice cones pointing at us have dissolved. "Now!" I shout. I can hear Cliff yelling and probably charging towards the two wizards behind us. Some tree branches are shot from the top of tree, puncturing the hands of the casters. They let out a loud yell in pain. And swiftly, I slide between between them and when I'm close enough to the icy barrier, I stop myself using my left shoulder as a cushion. But without any other weapon, I leap to the side and swing my hand to punch the old wizard. He shifts his wand to me, piercing a sharp ice blade into my heart. I muster the strength that I still have and punch him in his face. Then, I kneel down, spitting out blood, trying to grasp for air. "Knowledge can't beat experience, Mr. Cliff," he says. "It's a shame I have to kill your friends now." He swings his wand again, and ice cones are sent straight towards Cliff and Jane. Cliff is holding back the two wizards with his shield. Multiple ice cones shot to his back, penetrating his armour. It makes him puke a pile of blood, but he's still standing with his shield. He makes one last swing with his shield, which knocks one wizard away; he then charges towards the other. Jane manages to form a wooden shield that blocks the ice cones but Oscar grabs one of his crystals and shot a few fireballs that blast Jane's back. She claps her hand, and a few more branches are shot through Oscar and the other mage's skull. They then collapse onto the ground. I glower at Odie; because I can no longer move. My body has reached it limit. He kneels beside me, "So touching." Then, my vision begins to blur and narrow. Looking at Jane and Cliff's lifeless body, my surrounding fades into pure darkness. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a few steps back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 6->Chapter 6]]

I throw my stone at the old man. He reacts in time, directing his power to erecting an ice shield in front of him. The ice cones pointing at us have dissolved. "Now!" I shout. I can hear Cliff yelling and probably charging towards the two wizards behind us. Some tree branches are shot from the top of tree, puncturing the hands of the casters. They let out a loud yell in pain. And swiftly, I slide between between them and when I'm close enough to the icy barrier, I stop myself using my left shoulder as a cushion. I then leap to the side, and in one quick movement, I take out the sharp branch and insert it into the wrist of his hand holding the wand. He lets out a long, but muffled groan. "Knowledge can't beat experience, Mr. Cliff." He smiles at me; I look at his other hand, he's rotating it. Son of a goat: that was just a diversion, he has another tiny wand hidden. But before I manage to step away from him, I feel two consequent ice blades being shot into my right shoulder. The impact pushes me closer to him. "John!" Jane shouts. I spit out blood. Odie is grinning at me, standing right in front of my face. I take another step close to him. "They certainly can," before headbutting him. It is a wise and stupid move that I'd never thought I need to resort to. The impact of the collision manage to make him faints and bleeds through his nose. He's physically weaker than the casters— given his age—so one hit is enough to induce concussion and put him down for now. But consequently, that hard blow also makes me giddy and blurry. I was about to black out but a scream keeps me awake, "You red hair! Curse you, you stupid bitc-" //CRACK// I lower my body and take a few deep breaths. But of course, when I lift my head again, I see a pair of feet in front of me. "Not hiding anymore?" I ask. "Umm... hey John." I look up; it's a woman—a female mage maybe? Elaine. The sun is blinding and she is barely perceptible, but I'm sure that it's her—because a few groups of Challengers are standing behind her. She is saying something to me and I'm listening, but I cannot process what she says. I turn to check Jane and Cliff; the casters are impaled with branches and the two wizards are already taken care of but there are now new people approaching them. They are not resisting, but are staring at me. They look... worried. I turn back to Elaine. She is resting her ring at my forehead. "So... John, what says you—//yes// or //no//?" [["Yes."]] [["No."]]

"Yes." "Oh... didn't expect that. Thought they are just tools to you. Ok then," Elaine said. "Boys, take them away!" "No, wait...I didn't mean—" Her lips mumbled something, and an electric jolted into my body right afterwards. My body thumped to the ground. "You're too kind, John. You... and your friends." she whispered to me. I slowly lose my conciousness, unable to react or do anything else but to stare at the cold, lifeless ground before me. "John!" I heard Jane's shout. "Stay back from them!" then there's Cliff's shout. But their shouts slowly fade away as I drift off. [[Next page->next page32]]

"No." "Oh... you're a strong one, John. I'll give you that," Elaine says. "Finish them off!" "No! Wait...don't—" Her lips mumbles something, and an electric jolt into my body right afterwards. My body thumps to the ground. "You're too kind, John. You... and your friends." she whispers to me. I slowly loses my conciousness, unable to react or do anything else. "John!" I hear Jane's shout. "Stay back from them!" then there's Cliff's shout. But their shouts slowly fade away as I drift off. [[Next page->next page33]]

Something tingles my nose. There it is, again. I open my eyes, curiously. A gentle breeze blows past my face, resting on it a few seconds before moving away. The sun is warm. The sky is blue. The clouds are white. The sunflowers are yellow. Their leaves are green. Everything seems to be in perfect order, as perfect as it can be. A sunflower is then softly swiped across my nose; a little girl is holding it; a little boy is watching her. They are both giggling until I scare them away with a "Bwah!" Their laughter fades away as they run, but after a few moments, their giggles become louder again. They are both now standing straightly beside me, with a cute smile on their face, "Let's go home, John." "John." "John." "JOHN!" I open my eyes again. My surrounding has transitioned into a dark, windless night. I'm still inside that jungle. I can hear the sound of fire crackling nearby, and see a Vincent standing in front of me. "Why are you upside down?" I ask. "No, you are." "Huh?" I look (text-style:"strike")[down] up to my legs, they are tied together by a rope to a thick tree branch. I'm now hanging only a few feet apart from the ground. My hands are dangling. My blood's pressure increasing, as it pools in my head. My eyes feel like they are about to pop out. But, I take a deep breath, "Cliff and Jane." "Taken away. We were watching you guys from afar, and picked you up after they ditched you, the Griffin also..." I try to take a look around while he was talking, but the position that I'm in makes me hard to breathe, much less to focus. All I can see is that there's a knight with black mask under the tree that I'm tied with, and he has a bow-cut. So—Hugo's group has kidnapped me. "...Then, we hung you up." "Vince! Let's go, let's go! I want to meet //honey//!" a voice slips into our conversation—Valentina. "Oooo... hey Jamie! How's it hanging?" I smile at her, politely. Vincent then bye'd me and leaves with Valentina. Igor stands up and approaches me, holding one of his longsword. He slashes at me in one clean swoop and the rope snaps, sending the back of my head to kiss the ground, dearly so. "Lev will be back in a moment," he says. After stabilising myself, I check our surrounding again—he's the only one here. Hugo, Sonia, Leo, Noah and other knights are nowhere to be seen. Now is the ideal time to escape. "I wouldn't try to escape if I were you," Igor says. "You won't get far by yourself in this hour." He then sits beside the bonfire and makes a hand signal that looks like he's inviting me. I sit a few feet away from him in silence. He did not start to make a conversation or explain things to me at all. He just peers into the fire as it glints on his bowl cut hair. Knights are all strangely attached to fire; perhaps it gives them a somewhat warm and nostalgic feeling. Well, I'm dying to know why I was tied up there or what their plan is but knowing Igor, maybe I need to take a different approach. "So... umm... how did you meet Hugo?" He doesn't seem to react to my question in away, his eyes are still glued to the fire. "Are you really interested or just want to lower my guard?" I chuckle, nervously. [["Of course I'm interested!"]] [["Umm... a little bit of both."]] [["To lower your guard, of course!"]]

(if: (history:) contains "next page33")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"50-50"//) (set: $c6ach to $c6ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]I then wake up lying beside a bonfire; my hands and legs are tied up. Its heat is scorching and unbearable. I try to look around—no sign of Cliff and Jane. Are they really... //dead//? No, they won't just die like that. She must be lying to attack me emotionally; a classic and effective tactic used by many before. Yes, it's not true. Just a trick. Can't be true. "I see you've woken up, John." Elaine says, looking down at me, holding a drink on her hand. "What did you do to Cliff and Jane?" "Oh... that was a shame. But it was your choice. So, you can't really blame—" "Choice? What did you ask me?" "//Do you want to save your friend over yourself?//" She smiles. "And thus, we only bring you here. Don't worry, I made sure they didn't suffer a bit. We still have their heads, just in case." "You son of a—" I lung my body forwards, but she evades it with ease, spiralling away like a ballet dancer. My palms ball into fists; I snap, "ELAINE!" "Yes?" she approaches me again. "It's nothing personal, John. Really. I just need your head for the sake of my people in Tevania. Things have not been well in our kingdom, and as a princess, I need to spice things up a bit. Well, think of this as me protecting my kingdom, much like your friends that protected you." I lung my body forward again as a feint, and as she jumps back, I trip her with my stuck-together-legs. She falls down, dropping her drinks. My whole body soon becomes paralysed, as she falls, like someone casts a spell on me. The other Challengers near the bonfire are now staring at her. I then feel an intense pain at my ankles: they are twisting. I clench my teeth and groan. "Bad move, John." she says, cleaning herself while standing up. Two female wizards are now standing behind her. "You're normally calm and composed, not the type to get emotional over a few dead bodies." She sighs. "John, I'm... ummm... what's that word again?" She pauses for a while, before snapping her finger and pointing it at me, "Disappointed." A strong gust of wind then blows past me. It's refreshing and soothing, especially when it is accompanied with the fire crackling sound. My vision then blurs and narrows down to a slit. Soon, my surrounding fades into pure darkness. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a few steps back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 6->Chapter 6]]

He then pulls up the gorget armour covering his neck, and shows me what perhaps is the most horrible thing that can be done to a human. There's a visible, deep claw marks on his neck, and a chasmic V-shape ligature mark around it. As if, he was tortured by hanging, more times than I could ever imagine. "I once hit a few nobles, several years older than me, with a stone," he says. "I was young. Almost hit them to death. And there was no particular reason. I wasn't saving anyone or protecting anything precious. It was just a stray cat. They cut its tail off, and were torturing it as it shrieks. People were just walking pass them like it's a common thing to do. Men, women, children—none blinked an eye. Because we've seen them doing it more times than we can count, and because we know trying to stop them will only bring harm to us. My mother was sick, and my brother was still small, so I told myself that it was the right thing, that I was not wrong—to do nothing." He takes a deep breath and sighs. "'Till that day, a crying child threw stones at the nobles. The child is younger than me, fragile and innocent. What made him cried was not because of the cats' shrieks but because the cat didn't shriek, at all. It just lays there, not moving an inch. His mother bowed and apologised on his behalf but he's bawling his eyes out. Louder and louder." "And I snapped. Before I know it, I'm hitting one of the nobles' face with a rock. Repeatedly, until his grin turns to tears, and to blood. The nobles—they were all eventually bleeding, and groaning in pain. And when I approached the cat, it jumped and scarred me before running away: it was waiting for that moment to take its revenge against them." "When I stood back up, everyone was staring at me, stunned. They are digusted and mumbled on how I have just ruined their peaceful life. I was then captured and sent to an underground jail; they wouldn't let me out, not unless I bow and apologize to the nobles, and vowed to serve them. One month, two, followed by three passed. Many times they threw me a rope, persuaded me to hang myself to save my mother and brother. And many times, I wanted to just end it but I couldn't; I wanted to see them again. I endured it. And every night, a same question haunted me. He continues, "Lev—he's also a kid at that time. One day, he came to me out of nowhere and said he's settled the noble issues with his father's authority, taken care of my mother and brother, and that I've been assigned to be his bodyguard. I was completely overwhelmed. I asked him, '//Did I do the right thing?//' He only smiled at me, saying, 'No. But what's happened's happened. It doesn't matter anymore. They deserved it. So... you did well. Damn well.' My mother passed away at old age after that, my brother became a merchant's apprentice and the nobles that I hit—I later found out that Lev struck a deal with them to never step foot into my village again. I never did see the cat again, but these scars, and Lev's word, they carry me this far." I stare blankly at his eyes, they are a bit teary, sparkling under the glow of the fire. I never thought that Igor is one to exhibit such pure emotions, despite his cold approach to things and humans. My eyes shift up a bit, "And your hair?" [[Next page->next page34]]

(if: (history:) contains "\"To lower your guard, of course!\"")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Honesty is the best policy (II)"//) (set: $c6ach to $c6ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"I'm impressed by your honesty," he says. He then pulls up the gorget armour covering his neck, and shows me what perhaps is the most horrible thing that can be done to a human. There's a visible, deep claw marks on his neck, and a chasmic V-shape ligature mark around it. As if, he was tortured by hanging, more times than I could ever imagine. "I once hit a few nobles, several years older than me, with a stone," he says. "I was young. Almost hit them to death. And there was no particular reason. I wasn't saving anyone or protecting anything precious. It was just a stray cat. They cut its tail off, and were torturing it as it shrieks. People were just walking pass them like it's a common thing to do. Men, women, children—none blinked an eye. Because we've seen them doing it more times than we can count, and because we know trying to stop them will only bring harm to us. My mother was sick, and my brother was still small, so I told myself that it was the right thing, that I was not wrong—to do nothing." He takes a deep breath and sighs. " 'Till that day, a crying child threw stones at the nobles. The child is younger than me, fragile and innocent. What made him cried was not because of the cats' shrieks but because the cat didn't shriek, at all. It just lays there, not moving an inch. His mother bowed and apologised on his behalf but he's still bawling his eyes out. Louder and louder." "And I snapped. Before I know it, I'm hitting one of the nobles' face with a rock. Repeatedly, until his grin turns to tears, and to blood. The nobles—they were all eventually bleeding, and groaning, crying in pain. And when I approach the cat, it jumped and scarred me before running away: it was waiting for that moment to take its revenge against them." "When I stood back up, everyone was staring at me, stunned. They are digusted and mumbled on how I have just ruined their peaceful life. My hand is filled with their blood. I was then captured and sent to an underground jail; they wouldn't let me out, not unless I bow and apologize to the nobles, and vowed to serve them. One month, two, followed by three passed. Many times they threw me a rope, persuaded me to hang myself to save my mother and brother. And many times, I wanted to just end it but I couldn't; I wanted to see them again. I endured it. And every night, a same question haunted me. He continues, "Lev—he's also a young boy at that time. One day, he came to me out of nowhere and said he's settled the noble issues with his father's authority, taken care of my mother and brother, and that I've been assigned to be his bodyguard. I was completely overwhelmed. I asked him, '//Did I do the right thing?//' He only smiled at me, saying, 'No. But what's happened's happened. It doesn't matter anymore. They deserved it. So... you did well. Damn well.' My mother passed away at old age after that, my brother became a merchant's apprentice and the nobles that I hit—I later found out that Lev struck a deal with them to never step foot into my village again. I never did see the cat again, but these scars, and Lev's word, they carry me this far." I stare blankly at his eyes, they are a bit teary, sparkling under the glow of the fire. I never thought that Igor is one to exhibit such pure emotions, despite his cold approach to things and humans. My eyes shift up a bit, "And your hair?" [[Next page->next page34]]

He chuckles. For the first time ever. He then pulls up the gorget armour covering his neck, and shows me what perhaps is the most horrible thing that can be done to a human. There's a visible, deep claw marks on his neck, and a chasmic V-shape ligature mark around it. As if, he was tortured by hanging, more times than I could ever imagine. "I once hit a few nobles, several years older than me, with a stone," he says. "I was young. Almost hit them to death. And there was no particular reason. I wasn't saving anyone or protecting anything precious. It was just a stray cat. They cut its tail off, and were torturing it as it shrieks. People were just walking pass them like it's a common thing to do. Men, women, children—none blinked an eye. Because we've seen them doing it more times than we can count, and because we know trying to stop them will only bring harm to us. My mother was sick, and my brother was still small, so I told myself that it was the right thing, that I was not wrong—to do nothing." He takes a deep breath and sighs. "'Till that day, a crying child threw stones at the nobles. The child is younger than me, fragile and innocent. What made him cried was not because of the cats' shrieks but because the cat didn't shriek, at all. It just lays there, not moving an inch. His mother bowed and apologised on his behalf but he's bawling his eyes out. Louder and louder." "And I snapped. Before I know it, I'm hitting one of the nobles' face with a rock. Repeatedly, until his grin turns to tears, and to blood. The nobles—they were all eventually bleeding, and groaning in pain. And when I approached the cat, it jumped and scarred me before running away: it was waiting for that moment to take its revenge against them." "When I stood back up, everyone was staring at me, stunned. They are digusted and mumbled on how I have just ruined their peaceful life. I was then captured and sent to an underground jail; they wouldn't let me out, not unless I bow and apologize to the nobles, and vowed to serve them. One month, two, followed by three passed. Many times they threw me a rope, persuaded me to hang myself to save my mother and brother. And many times, I wanted to just end it but I couldn't; I wanted to see them again. I endured it. And every night, a same question haunted me. He continues, "Lev—he's also a kid at that time. One day, he came to me out of nowhere and said he's settled the noble issues with his father's authority, taken care of my mother and brother, and that I've been assigned to be his bodyguard. I was completely overwhelmed. I asked him, '//Did I do the right thing?//' He only smiled at me, saying, 'No. But what's happened's happened. It doesn't matter anymore. They deserved it. So... you did well. Damn well.' My mother passed away at old age after that, my brother became a merchant's apprentice and the nobles that I hit—I later found out that Lev struck a deal with them to never step foot into my village again. I never did see the cat again, but these scars, and Lev's word, they carry me this far." I stare blankly at his eyes, they are a bit teary, sparkling under the glow of the fire. I never thought that Igor is one to exhibit such pure emotions, despite his cold approach to things and humans. My eyes shift up a bit, "And your hair?" [[Next page->next page34]]

Hugo shoots a look at Sonia. She shoots another look back. "Fine," she says before moving to the bushes beside, picking up a branch and breaking them into a few smaller sections. She then drops them at me; she looks angry but I get a feeling it's not about our comments on her racks. I thank her: bad mistake. She looks more annoyed and probably wants to kick and step on me now. "Umm... so... here I go," I say. I arrange the stone and sticks together to assemble a figure. A stickman. "I now call this Cliff," then I take away the stone. "Now I have Cliff's head." The three of them look at me as if I'm some sort wizard gone mad, selling stones as potions to the locals. They are completely bamboozled as was I. I haven't thought of this until Igor shares me his story—only Sonia and him calls Hugo by 'Lev' yet we both know who he is referring to. Hugo's mouth edges widen. "Did you plan this all along?" "...Ye—" I nod at him. "You're a bad liar, J. Your eyes always betray you when you lie. And, you wouldn't intentionally risk Jane and Cliff's safety if you knew about this." Sonia is looking at us, "Wait. Are you sure that this nonsense will work?" "No," I say. "But twice I've seen the Sages after announcing the rule, they would throw another scroll and chant the 'Yam' thing before it vanishes. //That//, I assume is how they seal the contract or the conditions for us to move to the next challenge: through words, etched on it." "I highly doubt a Sage like him would accept it." Sonia says. "That's the point—he doesn't need to accept it. Just as casters are bind to their crystals to channel power, wizards to their wands and mages to their rings. And he can't kill us because of the peaceful pact made 300 years ago." I say. "No, that's where you are wrong, J," Hugo says. "The Sages can kill us any time during this organized challenge if they can justify it, that's one of the conditions that all of us need to agree before joining in." I pause: he's right. This dumb trick would likely not work on such powerful beings like Sages. The knights on the first day died just because they offended one of these Sages. But do I really need to sacrifice either Cliff or my life? No. Maybe if I act first— "But, as far as the plan goes, I'll hold onto that. If your plan foils when it comes down to it, I'll just have Cliff's head on the spot. That ok with you?" "I... ok, fine." "So we can proceed with saving Jane now?" Sonia asks. "Yes, my dear Sonia. Cliff //and Jane//." Hugo answers her. She sighs in relief. "So, J," Hugo adds, moving closer to my ear. "//What is Jane to you?//" I flinch because of his close breath, and sit away from him. The three of them have their eyes on me, waiting for my response. Sonia, in particular, is staring intensely. "Jane is cute when she blushes," I say, before pausing. "...Wow, I'm amazed you said that with a straight face, J." Sonia is still staring at me, she probably wants to listen more before she makes any judgement. Igor is now standing up, looking up the sky, seemingly alerted by something. Suddenly, a swarm of some spirit-like lights hovering on the sky flutters down to us, bustling with squeaky noises. It's as if the sun itself is being blasted towards us. "Dodge!" Igor shouts. [[Jump and hide inside the bushes.]] [[Crouch down and close both my ears.]] [[Maintain my stand and close my eyes.]]

I jump into the bushes nearby, trying to dodge the attack from the swarm of spirits. Kneeling down, I look through the gap from the bushes to try and identify where they are. But the noise gets more and more deafening, some condensed fluid is dripping on my hands. I touch it. It's red in colour. I immediately close both my eyes //and// my ears, because I can also feel fluids flowing out from it. The scream and shrieking didn't stop or grows softer at all. In fact, there's another high-pitched ringing sound inside my head now. I... cannot balance myself anymore. At this moment, I realise I was too late in taking measurements against this. I take a deep breath, followed by another. I need to calm down. I close my eyes, trying to analyse the situation. But I'm crying unconciously. Or, to be exact, bloods are flowing out of my eyes socket and some of it drip into my mouth. It tastes like metal. Someone is kicking me, harder and harder. No, I need to focus. I cannot be distracted now. I need to— (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 6->Chapter 6]]

I immediately crouch down and shut both my ears with my hands. But even so, their deafening voices are still drilling deep into my earlobe. This is not a joke; if it continues, we'll all bleed out of both our ears and eyes in no time. I try to check where they are hording to. Lo and behold, they are circling around the bonfire, moving back and forth to it.; as if they are dancing and singing, celebrating it. This is getting unbearable, their pitch has increased even further by seconds as if more and more people decided to just suddenly shout louder and louder beside your ear repeatedly, and not a sign of them giving in. "THE FIRE!" I scream. "WHAT?" Hugo replies as he sees my mouth moves. I cannot move my hand away now or my eardrum will pop open like a bag of water. I move closer to him and scream "FIRE" again. No use. He's looking at me weird. He probably interpreted my word into something stupid inside his brain. "I AM NOT A LIAR!" he shouts. Geez. At this moment, Igor runs past us and kicks away the branches feeding the fire. Sonia then steps on the ashes to extinguish the flames. The light from the fire fades away and gradually, the shrieking stops. The swarm of spirits circle the bonfire for a few more times before flying away, like leaving a party that was ended abruptly. Moments after, the jungle falls back into deep silence—as if nothing has ever happened. But if I didn't cover my ear back then, I would have died by now. "Seriously, Hugo?" I ask, still protecting my ears with my hands. "Liar?" "No. You are the liar." he retorts. It appears that his ears are still ringing from those screams. Igor and Sonia have already lowered their hands. Igor is cleaning up the mess, while Sonia is walking towards Hugo and I. With the way we are posing, we probably look like two idiots to her now. [[Next page->next page36]]

I remain standing and only keep my eyes shut. A gust of wind blows past me—it's likely those spirits. It looks like they won't harm us after all. But their shrieks and screams are getting deafening. I take a deep breath, and console myself that they will fly away soon; they didn't bite me or anything after all. Right, I just need to bear with it for a few more moments. I take another deep breath, followed by a third one. I need to calm down. My breaths are getting heavier and heavier, I can feel more and more adrenaline being pumped into my blood veins, as my hear beats faster. Some fluid flows out of my eye socket. Why am I crying at this time? The fluid slides into my mouth—it tastes like metal. Someone is kicking me, harder and harder. No, I need to focus. I cannot be distracted now. I need to— (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 6->Chapter 6]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 7**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"Friends/Foes"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 7 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c7ach to 0)] (set: $c6checkpoint to "yes") (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 7") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 7]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]] ((colour: "#65169e" )[**Checkpoint saved!**])]

"Stop mimicking me!" "Stop mimicking me!" "ARGH!" "ARGH!" "What is 1000 minus 7?" "What is 1000 minus 7?" I stare at the mirrored me, annoyed. A fog faded in a few minutes after Sage Houst's announcement, and it cut me off with Hugo's group. A mirrored version of myself then appears before me, copying not only my appearance but also my motion, speeches, and down to the intensity of my tone. And I have no idea how to //shoo// it away... yet. The fog seems to only follow and revolve around both of us, so I'm guessing that everyone gets their own fog and they have to somehow get rid of it or else there's no moving anywhere because I can't catch even a single ray of light in here. The fog was wider before, but has compressed to become more condensed as the time passes. The air is being depleted minute by minute. This is a complete nightmare for people with claustrophobia. I //one punch// the thick fog, a small gap is formed momentarily, but it closes back in seconds. Doesn't work. I try to run away from him. Doesn't work. I then swing both my arms to create air current to disperse the fog, but the current is too small to even lift up a portion of it. Doesn't work. But, what infuriates me the most is seeing the mirrored me doing the same thing as me, and letting out the exact same sigh. I try to punch him, and as expected, he also lands a blow at me. And this blow has the exact same strength that I was thinking of. His response time, however, has been slightly reduced. If only I have something warm to dissipate the fog or to knock this clown standing in front of me. They don't seem to be able to cast any magic, use any weapon or whatsoever, and only mimic my physical body movement. "Everyone," I can hear Hugo's distant shout outside my fog. "Do not hesitate!" What is he talking about? Heistate what? Nevermind that, it's getting harder to breathe. I need to focus. (if: $crystal is "no")[I checked my body, I don't have any weapon or crystal on me. I can only try to think of other ways to get out of this.](else:)[I checked my body, I only have Jane's crystal with me; this might be my way out of this.] (if: $crystal is not "no")[ [[Use Jane's crystal.]] ](else:)[] [[Try to punch it repeatedly.]] [[Try to outrun him to exhaust his energy.]] [[Call others for help.]]

I stuff it into my pockets in case I need to use it. Then, I stand up and try to figure out what's going on. Is this an earthquake? No, there are no cracks anywhere. Something enourmous thumping the ground? No, the shakes feel even, not just from one direction. "John, the walls. They are shifting." Cliff points. I turn over to where he's looking at and watch as the path in front of us slowly being sealed by another wall sliding from the left. The maze is changing. "Run!" I shout. We all sprint towards the closing walls; Cliff barely made it because of his armour but Jane and I manage to pull him in time. The quakes then stop, followed by a few distant roars that thunder our eardrums. The weather around has changed, or more accurately, manipulated into a fine sunny day. How convenient; he gave us time to prepare ourselves for what's about to come. A voice then echoes around the maze, barely holding its excitement in, it says: (align: "=><=")[**"Let the game begins!"**] [[Next page->next page31]]

I keep it inside my backpack along with the other items. Then, I stand up and try to figure out what is going on. Is this an earthquake? No, there are no cracks anywhere. Something enourmous thumping the ground? No, the shakes feel even, not just from one direction. "John, the walls. They are shifting." Cliff points. I turn over to where he's looking at and watch as the path in front of us slowly being sealed by another wall sliding from the left. The maze is changing. "Run!" I shout. We all sprint towards the closing walls; Cliff barely made it because of his armour but Jane and I manage to pull him in time. The quakes then stop, followed by a few distant roars that thunder our eardrums. The weather around has changed, or more accurately, manipulated into a fine sunny day. How convenient; he gave us time to prepare ourselves for what's about to come. A voice then echoes around the maze, barely holding its excitement in, it says: (align: "=><=")[**"Let the game begins!"**] (set: $crystal to "no") [[Next page->next page31]]

"No." Cliff and I answer. "There's a slight grey aura surrounding this small area," she circles it with her finger for us to see. "I think there's something behind it." "Fine. Are you sure about this?" Cliff asks. Jane nods, and without wasting another second, Cliff slams the wall with his shield: a tiny crack is formed at that spot. He hits it again: the crack disperse and develops into a bigger one. He takes a few steps back before charging towards it, smashing open a hollow hole; there's a wooden box inside it. I open it, and a brown note inside reads: (align: "=><=")[ To whomever this may find, I hope you get out alive.] followed by a list of Gibberish language and their corresponding alphabets in our common tongue. At the corner of the note, there's a relatively paler ink there—like a mark left by a drop of water. As I finish reading it, I feel that there are two heads close to my shoulder, so I slightly shift my eyes to peek at them. Jane and Cliff's eyes are glued on the paper that I'm holding. "This might be of some use to translating the old scripts I have. Good job, both of you." I turn to Cliff; he shows me his proud and wide smile. I then turn to Jane; she's squinting her eyebrows, focusing on the note, likely trying to learn it straight away. I hand the note to her, and she takes it without any hesitation. I heard that she proudly mentioned something about being the top caster among her peers but didn't know her curiosity is this intense—but then again, I haven't really tried to learn more about them. Not Jane. Not Cliff. After exchanging looks, Cliff and I are ready to leave. We call out to Jane. She wouldn't budge; she's still holding the note with one of her hands, and her eyes are locked on it, her lips slightly muttering something. We've been here long enough for someone to lay an ambush, there's not much time to waste. So I hold her other idle hand, dragging her along with us. And as we head back, I ask Cliff about his life in kingdom of Astra. "Oh? This is the first time you've ever started a talk with me. That's rare. Did one of the flying stones hit your head just now?" "No," I say. "I just wanted to give you the pleasure of ranting about your own kingdom. But no shield talk though." He chuckles. "Then I shall gladly accept your offer." He then starts to talk about his master who taught him the arts of using shield, his sister that would sometimes annoys and hits him—much like Jane—and the folks he met when he dressed as a peasant, while he snuck out of the castle for days. Before long, we reach back the 4-way intersection. The marks are still there, but our direction is flipped now. Cliff votes to go right. [[Next page->Jungle]]

(if: (history:) contains "Use Jane's crystal.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Avada Kedavraaa!"//) (set: $totalach to $totalach + 1)(set: $c7ach to $c7ach + 1) ]I take Jane's crystal out and chant inside my heart, one of the basic spells that she taught, before clapping my hand. The crystal glows brighter and brighter within the first few seconds, before the light in its inner core fade away immediately afterwards. I'm sure that a powerful surge of energy runs through my veins. But, nothing happened. Na-da. The mirored me is looking at me weird, or rather, I am the one looking at him weird. Why? Was it just a coincidence that the crystal gleamed when I touch it or are there some sort of hidden formula that I haven't discovered yet? No, I cannot be distracted now. The air that I'm breathing in is getting lesser and lesser. I crouch down. The mirrored me does the same. I slap him and he slaps me back. This is stupid—why can't I use this crystal? Unless.... I hold the crystal up; he follows me and also raises his hand. Aha! But, wait; I stunned. What I am about to do, it feels wrong and sickening. So... this is what Hugo meant. I take a deep breath, and swing the crystal down to pierce it through his skull. He does the same thing, except that he isn't holding any crystal or weapon. So, I can only feel a light tap on my head. He then collapses in front of me after I let go of my hand, and the fog around me, along with his body, dissipated with a //poof//—just like that. "Took you long enough." Hugo says, smirking at me. After the fog completely fades away, I can see him clearer, half-sitting on the ground at a distance from me, looking like he's about to stand up. Igor and Sonia are standing behind him, also staring at me. The three of them have already escaped from their foggy jail. Of course—they have their weapons with them. I then lay my back on the grass, and sighed with a relief, before sucking in all the free air around me, as much as I can. I've decided; I'm gonna call this a 'Mirror Fog', and write down all these things into a new notebook if I manage to leave alive. "J," a pair of feet standing beside my head calls out to me. "Time for a third round." "Just give me a few minutes," I say. [[Next page->next page37]]

I try to box the mirrored me, one hit by another. Countering my own attacks, watching myself flinching, and shuffling forward, backward, side-to-side. This is exhausting but it looks like it's not gonna work; every punches that I made reflected back on me, dealing the impact with the exact strength that I was anticipating. But I figure out one thing, if I have a weapon, I could have easily eliminated him since he only mimics what I do, and cannot duplicate what I have or used. Should I just run around hoping to pick up something useful or think harder? URGHHHH... The air that I'm breathing in is getting lesser and lesser. I crouch down. The mirrored me does the same. I slap him and he slaps me back. Why does it hurt just as much as I thought? Unless.... I raise my left hand; he raises his right. I slap him, but this time I expect that his slap will be as light as a feather. Which, it is. Aha! Their mimicking ability is only to the extent of my outward appearances and movements. Their inner core that provides them power and strength, on the other hand, is derived from my thoughts, on how I perceive his. So, they are essentially, without any mentality. And if I were to imagine him to be as fragile as a bubble.... I stunned. This is going to be a gruesome death of myself that I'm about to witness; it's almost sickening to just think about it. Oh... so this is what Hugo meant. I slowly move my index finger towards the mirrored me. With one strong push, I poke on his face. Luckily, he didn't explode into shreds or something like that. Because as soon as I retract back my finger, the fog around me, along with his body, dissipated with a //poof//—just like that. "Took you long enough." Hugo says, smirking at me. After the fog completely fades away, I can see him clearer, half-sitting on the ground at a distance from me, looking like he's about to stand up. Igor and Sonia are standing behind him, also staring at me. The three of them have already escaped from their foggy jail. Of course—they have their weapons with them. I then lay my back on the grass, and sighed with a relief, before sucking in all the free air around me, as much as I can. I've decided; I'm gonna call this a 'Mirror Fog', and write down all these things into a new notebook if I manage to leave alive. "J," a pair of feet standing beside my head calls out to me. "Time for a third round." "Just give me a few minutes," I say. [[Next page->next page37]]

I kneel, and takes off running, aimlessly. After a minute or two, as expected, I can still see his face beside me, keeping up with my pace—not even a hint of slowing down. I stop, only to realise that the air that I'm breathing in is getting lesser and lesser. The fog has thicken considerably and has moved closer to me. I crouch down. The mirrored me did the same. I slap him and he slaps me back. This is useless. Maybe if I can think of something else..... No use. I'm feeling terribly dizzy now, from the run and from the lack of air. I cannot think of anything anymore. Time's up. I can't do anything else but to march into this darkness by myself at the end. I was... so close to figuring it out. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 7->Chapter 7]]

"Hugo!" I shout. "Throw me something!" No response from him. Is it because the fog is closer and thicker now? "Sonia!" "Igor!" Still nothing. I try to move closer to their last position that I remembered and call out again, but it's to no avail. This isn't going to work; I need to think of other methods before time runs out. The air that I'm breathing in is getting lesser and lesser. I crouch down. The mirrored me did the same. I slap him and he slaps me back. This is useless. Maybe if I can think of something.... I clap my hands, repeatedly, letting out one last call for attention. Still no response.... I'm feeling terribly dizzy now. I cannot think of anything anymore. Time's up. I can't do anything else but to march into this darkness by myself at the end. I was... so close to figuring it out. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 7->Chapter 7]]

"A bet lost to Sonia when the three of us were drinking. Lev recruited her after we joined United Knights Association because of her racks... //coughs// //coughs// ...but mainly, her skills." "So Hugo's into big racks." "No, forget that I told you that." "Well, well... no wonder my ears have been itching for a while now." A voice suddenly emerges from my back; Hugo, standing behind me with Sonia beside him, looking down at us with her deadly eyes. Hugo then speaks up, "So, J. You owe me two favours now for saving you, when are you planning to return them, or should I just chop your head and get done with it?" "No, wait. If you do that, then they'll kill Jane and Cliff," I say. "Then it's too bad. That's none of my concern, J. Sage Houst wants your head." I've always thought that Hugo is on our side, but after I think about it, there's a motive behind every single thing that he does. Perhaps he made me owe him a favour because he had expected situation like these. He's neither a foe or an ally—and that, is what makes him dangerous. "No, he wants //Cliff//'s head." I say. "Oh? I heard you shouted his name at the castle earlier, but do you really intend to sacrifice him for your sake?" "No," I emphasize. "But I have a plan to make this work. That, we all pass together." "I'm listening." "It's simple, actually." I smile at him. "Could you get me a stone and five small sticks?" [[Next page->next page34.5]]

"No," Sonia replies. "Time is of essence here. Against a large group like theirs, it would take time to plan and get Jane out." "//And Cliff//, my dear Sonia. Cliff will be our priority here; I do not need to remind you of this every time, do I?" I tilt my head up a bit. Both of them are standing close to each other; Hugo is looking at Sonia with a gentle smile on his face, while Sonia is looking away from him. It appears they don't see eye to eye with each other. I then hear a small sigh, followed by a voice that sounded like a whisper, "No." I look back at the sky again, aimlessly. And in an instant—as quick the speed of a snap—the weather turns sunny again. But, a drop of water falls on my face. Then, another drop. And another. Before I realise it, it's evolved to be a downpour, drenching and soaking me wet, under a fine warm sun. We quickly take shelter under a large mushroom-like tree near us; none of us realise the existence of it until Igor, literally, pointed it out. The three of us stand with our back against its trunk and only occupy a relatively small space. It doesn't have any stump and from the looks of it, the trunk is more than 10 feet wide, and the tree itself is about 30 feet tall. It's impossible that we did not notice such a huge tree. Or did it just emerge because of this rain? "J," Hugo calls out, although only Sonia is standing between us. He clicks on his counter before looking at me, "How much do you know about Princess Elaine Marybeth?" "... What? She's a princess?!" [[Next page->next page38]]

I remain silent. That sounded like Blaze. If he reveals himself now, this is going to become messy. The three of them standing beside are already readying themselves in their stance, likely thinking an enemy is approaching them. "Juice!" His shout has become clearer, as footsteps are closing in on us, based on their stepping sound on the fallen leaves above the muddy grounds. "Stay back!" I shout. Sonia notices something is amiss, and she quickly covers my mouth with her right hand. Igor has already drawn his longswords out and is pointing one of it towards my abdomen. One sudden movement and it will slide right into me. The looks on their menacing eyes—they are seriously deciding if they should eliminate me now or not. "Wait, he's harmless." I say, only to notice that they couldn't hear a word but only saw that my mouth moved up and down. Sonia puts a finger in front of her lips—a sign that warns me I should not attempt to say another word. The footsteps, they stopped at the trees in front of us; Blaze and the bandits circled around us. Then, a figure comes out behind the tree with both his hands on the air. The trio beside me are much more alerted: Sonia is aiming at the figure with her bow, Igor looks like he is ready to charge forwards and slay him, while Hugo is checking our surrounding, like he's trying to analyse the situation. "Whoa. whoa. I mean no harm, pretty lady." Blaze says. It's been a few days since I last met him, but he's still looking as sharp and as witty as ever. He shifts his glance at me. "Hey Juice, you ok there?" "I'm fine." I reply. "These are my pals here." "Oh... ok, ok. Ha, I'm just checking in with ya'." But just as he is about to turn back, Hugo stops him. "You... Blaze, is it?" Oh, no. "That I am, knight. To what do I owe you the pleasure?" "Oh-ho? That's awfully polite of you, who wiped out three villages in one night, Blaze. You, and your boss." "Ahh... it looks like I'm in a pinch here. Boys!" Several bandits then jump out of the bushes, with some from behind the tree with their machetes and bows. Their numbers have decreased compared to before, but they still outnumber us and have us surrounded. Bossman has also walked out from the tree behind Blaze. Seeing Bossman's big hairy figure and the two battleaxes he's holding, Igor and Sonia looks more antsy now, eager to move. Hugo's eyes are locked on Blaze, while Igor and Sonia's are on Bossman. An intense fight is about to erupt between casters and knights; there will, certainly be death before this reaches a conclusion. I need to something. It's now or never. [[Side with Hugo's group.]] [[Side with Bossman's gang.]] [[Remain neutral, and propose a deal to stop them.]]

"I'm coming to you!" Blaze says. No, wait. If he reveals himself now, this is going to become messy. The three of them standing beside are already readying themselves in their stance, likely thinking an enemy is approaching them. "Juice!" His shout has become clearer, as footsteps are closing in on us, based on their stepping sound on the fallen leaves above the muddy grounds. "Stay back!" I shout. Sonia notices something is amiss, and she quickly covers my mouth with her right hand. Igor has already drawn his longswords out and is pointing one of it towards my abdomen. One sudden movement and it will slide right into me. The looks on their menacing eyes—they are seriously deciding if they should eliminate me now or not. "Wait, he's harmless." I say, only to notice that they couldn't hear a word but only saw that my mouth moved up and down. Sonia puts a finger in front of her lips—a sign that warns me I should not attempt to say another word. The footsteps, they stopped at the trees in front of us; Blaze and the bandits circled around us. Then, a figure comes out behind the tree with both his hands on the air. The trio beside me are much more alerted: Sonia is aiming at the figure with her bow, Igor looks like he is ready to charge forwards and slay him, while Hugo is checking our surrounding, like he's trying to analyse the situation. "Whoa. whoa. I mean no harm, pretty lady." Blaze says. It's been a few days since I last met him, but he's still looking as sharp and as witty as ever. He shifts his glance at me. "Hey Juice, you ok there?" "I'm fine." I reply. "These are my pals here." "Oh... ok, ok. Ha, I'm just checking in with ya'." But just as he is about to turn back, Hugo stops him. "You... Blaze, is it?" Oh, no. "That I am, knight. To what do I owe you the pleasure?" "Oh-ho? That's awfully polite of you, who wiped out three villages in one night, Blaze. You, and your boss." "Ahh... it looks like I'm in a pinch here. Boys!" Several bandits then jump out of the bushes, with some from behind the tree with their machetes and bows. Their numbers have decreased compared to before, but they still outnumber us and have us surrounded. Bossman has also walked out from the tree behind Blaze. Seeing Bossman's big hairy figure and the two battleaxes he's holding, Igor and Sonia looks more antsy now, eager to move. Hugo's eyes are locked on Blaze, while Igor and Sonia's are on Bossman. An intense fight is about to erupt between casters and knights; there will, certainly be death before this reaches a conclusion. I need to something. It's now or never. [[Side with Hugo's group.]] [[Side with Bossman's gang.]] [[Remain neutral, and propose a deal to stop them.]]

(if: (history:) contains "\"Yo Blaze! How are you? Did you sleep well?\"")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Daredevil."//) (set: $c7ach to $c7ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"Al' good! I'm coming to you!" Blaze says. No, wait. If he reveals himself now, this is going to become messy. The three of them standing beside are already readying themselves in their stance, likely thinking an enemy is approaching them. "Juice!" His shout has become clearer, as footsteps are closing in on us, based on their stepping sound on the fallen leaves above the muddy grounds. "Stay back!" I shout. Sonia notices something is amiss, and she quickly covers my mouth with her right hand. Igor has already drawn his longswords out and is pointing one of it towards my abdomen. One sudden movement and it will slide right into me. The looks on their menacing eyes—they are seriously deciding if they should eliminate me now or not. "Wait, he's harmless." I say, only to notice that they couldn't hear a word but only saw that my mouth moved up and down. Sonia puts a finger in front of her lips—a sign that warns me I should not attempt to say another word. The footsteps, they stopped at the trees in front of us; Blaze and the bandits circled around us. Then, a figure comes out behind the tree with both his hands on the air. The trio beside me are much more alerted: Sonia is aiming at the figure with her bow, Igor looks like he is ready to charge forwards and slay him, while Hugo is checking our surrounding, like he's trying to analyse the situation. "Whoa. whoa. I mean no harm, pretty lady." Blaze says. It's been a few days since I last met him, but he's still looking as sharp and as witty as ever. He shifts his glance at me. "Hey Juice, you ok there?" "I'm fine." I reply. "These are my pals here." "Oh... ok, ok. Ha, I'm just checking in with ya'." But just as he is about to turn back, Hugo stops him. "You... Blaze, is it?" Oh, no. "That I am, knight. To what do I owe you the pleasure?" "Oh-ho? That's awfully polite of you, who wiped out three villages in one night, Blaze. You, and your boss." "Ahh... it looks like I'm in a pinch here. Boys!" Several bandits then jump out of the bushes, with some from behind the tree with their machetes and bows. Their numbers have decreased compared to before, but they still outnumber us and have us surrounded. Bossman has also walked out from the tree behind Blaze. Seeing Bossman's big hairy figure and the two battleaxes he's holding, Igor and Sonia looks more antsy now, eager to move. Hugo's eyes are locked on Blaze, while Igor and Sonia's are on Bossman. An intense fight is about to erupt between casters and knights; there will, certainly be death before this reaches a conclusion. I need to something. It's now or never. [[Side with Hugo's group.]] [[Side with Bossman's gang.]] [[Remain neutral, and propose a deal to stop them.]]

"Guys," I call out. "Blaze's a fire caster, while their leader is a metal's." "Aww... Juice! Why did you tell them that? We're your friends!" "Enough talk," Hugo says. "Let's see what you have." Blaze sighs. "Boys, don't yer' dare lay a finger on John!" At the instant Blaze finishes that sentence, Hugo charges towards him. But just as Hugo is about to reach Blaze, Hugo pulls a sudden stop and lowers his body. A hook punch, enforced by his brass knuckles is then delivered to Blaze's chin which Blaze tries to dodge by jumping backward. However, Hugo follows his punch with a swift kick that landed a direct strike to Blaze's chest. An arrow flies past me at this moment and dealt another damage to his right arm. I turn over, and see that Igor is solo-slaying Bossman, while Sonia is up against the hiding bandits that are attacking her at both close and long range. Igor's sword skills are elegant and efficient; he lands one cut after another without any movements wasted. He has, essentially choreographed his action to match Bossman's, slicing Bossman's left leg in one second, before swiping to his right in another. But, Bossman isn't giving in at all. He manages to counter each of Igor's attack with his battleaxes. Even though he's wearing an eyepatch, it's like he can sense the direction of Igor's assault and react to it in the nick of the time. I take a few steps back and stick my back against the mushroom-tree. This is a real battleground now, any astray arrow will kill me instantly. I take a deep breath and try to analyse the power dynamics of this battle. Blaze has regained his footing and is now directly confronting Hugo with his fire-enhanced daggers. He threw them up, throws some punches, before grabbing them again to push Hugo back. A few of the bandits are now on standing by Bossman's side, clashing their machetes against Igor's longswords. Bossman, on the other hand, has switched his target to Sonia. He throws his battleaxes towards her and pulls himself closer with the chains attached on the axes; he's trying to take Sonia down in a face-to-face combat. The few archers are also attempting to hit Sonia amidst the chaos. One of it hits the trunk less than a feet away from my face; I almost died. [[Next page->next page39]]

I'm not sure if I can truly trust the trio. But, standing this close to them, exposing them would only lead to my own death. I need to create a situation out of their grip and move over to Bossman's side; I need to buy some time. "Wait. Wait! Do not engage each other first. Let's talk this out." I slowly walk to the middle of both their side, puting up a stop sign to both party with my hands. "J. Do not go any futher." I take a step back from Hugo's group. "I'm not." "John, come back now." Igor says. He's looking a bit uncomfortable. I take another step back. "Guys, do you really trust me?" "Damn it, J!" At that moment, Sonia shoots an arrow towards my leg but Bossman steps in front of me and deflects it with his battleaxes. At this instant, Hugo charges towards Blaze. But just as Hugo is about to reach Blaze, Hugo pulls a sudden stop and lowers his body. A hook punch, enforced by his brass knuckles is then delivered to Blaze's chin which Blaze tried to dodge by jumping backward. However, Hugo follows his punch with a swift kick that landed a direct strike to Blaze's chest. Sonia is still repeatedly firing her arrows at Bossman, while I'm hiding him. Igor is up against the rest of the bandits that are attacking him at both close and long range. His sword skills are elegant and efficient; he lands one cut after another without any movements wasted. He has, essentially choreographed his action to match the bandits'—slicing one of them in one second, before swiping to another in the next second. I take a few steps back and try to switch my hiding place to one of the trees. But one astray arrow is shot right into my neck just as I leave Bossman's cover. No, this is not what I wanted. I can't die her— (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 7->Chapter 7]]

(if: (history:) contains "Remain neutral, and propose a deal to stop them.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"I'm a pacifist (III)"//) (set: $totalach to $totalach + 1)(set: $c7ach to $c7ach + 1) ]"Waaait! Stop. Do not engage first," I shout, trying to think of something. I need to buy some time first or it'll not end well for either of them. "J. Do you realise that they massacred three villages consist of at least 300 children, men, women and old folks?" I shoot a look at Blaze. He notices it, but then he only sighs, saying, "It was an order. That's all." "By who?" Sonia asks. "That, I'm afraid I cannot tell yer', pretty lady." This situation couldn't be any worse. We are not even in equal footing here to trade proposals. Blaze and Bossman killed those villagers for money, so it's only right for Hugo to want to capture them for execution. Any more pleading for them will only make the situation worse for me. But, no. There has to be a way out of this. Blaze didn't want to fight, so I only need to think of a way to subtly distract Hugo's group, opening a chance for them to escape. I slowly walk to the middle of them, "There are more important things we have to do now, Hugo. Fighting them would only make the resuce later harder." I stop a few steps in front of Blaze, and Hugo. "Let's think this through. It'd be bad if any of us were to get injured now." [[Next page->next page40]]

Hugo is looking at me, bewildered, just as I am of his statement. "You mean—when you save them from Berserker—" He then chuckles in disbelief. "I've overestimated you, J. Haven't done such a silly mistake for a while now. Nope. Nevermind. Let Sonia tells you who we are up against." I shift my glance towards Sonia; she is already staring at me. She then explains to me about the kingdom of Tevinia that Elaine has taken over from her diseased mother, yet she still holds on to the 'Princess' title. It was the biggest and most renowned business trading place for all the Magica Familia's members, until a few years ago, more and more magic-related crimes, theft, gangs and black markets started to crawl their ways up. Their kingdom was loose on the restrictions that are imposed on the seller and the buyers—a specialty that made it rose to the top, but is also what dragged it down. Because of the lack of the enforcement of the trading rules and shaky politics, the credibility on the purity of potions, rings, crystals and even wizards' robes were all questioned. As the time passes, most of the sellers have left her kingdom, unable to earn anything more than a copper Nico. And like snowball effects, less and less buyer frequent their kingdom, with a majority of the land now falls under the influence of The Dark Dwellers, an underground organization that lurks in the shadow and hold political authority over majority of the kingdoms in Magica's lands. I've heard rumours about the Dwellers before, but didn't realise that they are more than just a shady group of old wizards. After she finish explaining, the rain has weakened into drizzles. It feels neither cold or hot now, like the tempertaure has settled in between. My clothes has also dried. I look back at Sonia and Hugo, summarizing, "So the groups with Elaine, they are likely her remaining followers that she brings into this tournament—in order to strengthen her forces in number. And when Valentina mentioned something about meeting Cliff, I assume you sent them in as spies." "Well... you're not wrong. But,"—Hugo coughs, adopting a more serious tone—"I also sent Leo and two knights in. They are to secure of our bargain chips with you—//by any means necessary//." "Bargain chips? You mean—" "Yes. They were ordered to kill Jane and Cliff in case our conversation didn't bear any result. Leo may look timid, but he's been personally trained by Igor, so his skills are not to be underestimated. Buuuuut, since you have shared your plan with us, I don't think it's necessary to keep it a secret from you now. However, their mission will still remain the same until I give new orders." He grins at me. "So, you'll comply with us, yes?" I smile at him. "Yes." This black-masked guy standing a few steps away from me—what makes him intimidating is that he's standing on a neutral zone, right between good and evil. And he won't hesitate to slip into either one if it helps him to his objective. But, something about him piques my interest. "Why do you join this tournament, Hugo?" His eyes widen a bit, but his expression remains the same. He snickers, "You'll have to figure out that by yourself." The rain seems to have let down by now, but then a shout that sounded like "Juice!" slices across the humid air. Juice? What juice? "Juice! That you?" Someone seems to be calling me, and his voice is coming from the other side of this tree. [[Remain silent.]] [["Nope, you got the wrong person here!"]] [["Yo Blaze! How are you? Did you sleep well?"]]

(if: (history:) contains "\"It's ok.\"")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//":)"//) (set: $totalach to $totalach + 1)(set: $c7ach to $c7ach + 1) ]"It's ok," I say. "I'm //totally// fine with this." "Great!" Hugo says. He purposely dismisses my sarcastic tone like it was nothing. And he's still pondering at the direction where Blaze disappeared. But, after a deep breath, "We'll have to get them later... but for now, let's focus on taking back our friends, shall we?" Sonia and Igor nod at him. The rain has stopped, and once again, Hugo takes out his counter and clicks on it. Before long, we made our way out of the jungle and back into the maze. I didn't say anything during the entire trip; neither did any of them. Has there always this barrier of silence between us? This is probably the longest route that I've ever walked in these few days. By now, it's an indisputable fact that Hugo is neither a friend nor a foe, I could see why some would have a hard time dealing with him and his formidabble bodyguards. And all the pressure that he has as the leader of United Knights Association and of kingdom of Zestia might have shaped him the way he is today. That, or he's just a natural-born. Either way, he's—inside his very core, a kind person with a strong sense of justice, no lesser than Cliff's. But facing him as an opponent, there's only one way out—I need to outsmart him. "Here we are, ladies and gentlemen." I take a look around us; we have reached a four-way intersection. "Elaine's group is situated just after a few turns ahead, following this middle path. And at the end of it, you'll find yourself reaching a dead-end. There's no way around it except maybe if you can climb these walls." "So they have barricaded themselves?" I ask. "Precisely. Igor and I will hand you over to them, in exchange of Jane and Cliff, which is sort of Elaine's plan all along. She knew that you wouldn't leave them behind, and that there might be others hunting you, so she'd only accept this offer when the time is almost up. And by my count, ever since the maze shifted for the second time, 3 hours will pass after each change of weather." He circles around me, still explaining, "The second shifting was when you were inside your foggy jail, and that altered the time to drop down by 3 hours after the night ended. Then, the sun came up. And, it rained. But, only the rain has stopped. So, that's 3 more hours gone." Wha—Who would even notice such thing? Right, I was too busy admring the sky. "So, based on your theory,"—I say—"we still have 6 hours left. But I'm very sure that Elaine doesn't count it this way, so how do you convince her to make the trade?" "Your head, J," he stops in front of me. "Your head's my bargain chip." I look at his face; a cold shiver runs down my spine—he has one hell of an innocent smile. [[Next chapter->Chapter 8 start]]

"Ouch!" Blaze's shout breaks the silence of metal clanking and thudding footsteps around me. I turned to him; his right arm's vein has turned visibly black and has a claw mark on it. Watching Blaze accessing his arm, Hugo leaps towards him but Blaze also did the same, which took Hugo by surprise. As they are about to headbutt each other, Hugo swings his left claw, which scratches off some flesh out of Blaze's right arm. Blaze pulls a stop and reacts by puncturing his dagger straight into Hugo's heart. He then further presses on it with his weight. Hugo embraces it and after positioning himself closer to Blaze, he slides his right claws into Blaze's right leg. The two spits out blood at the same time, but is still clinging at each other, not moving an inch. It's almost like watching two grown man hugging each other, if one of them didn't have blood spurting out of his leg. "Armour plate saved you, knight." Blaze says. He's glaring intensely at Hugo, trying to drill his dagger into Hugo's heart. "Thanks." Hugo replies, smiling at him. "Earth wizard! Any time now!" Blaze shouts, and a few seconds after, the ground we are standing on begins to shake, gradually collapsing and trying to pull us down with it. Igor and Sonia jump back from Bossman and the remaining bandits, as they change their target towards Hugo. "Yer' stubborn, pal. Not gonna let go?" [[Next page->next page39.5]]

The three stare at me, stunned. "It's for the greater good, J. Cheer up!" Hugo says. He totally dismisses my remarks like it was nothing. And he's still pondering at the direction where Blaze disappeared. But, after a deep breath, "We'll have to get them later... but for now, let's focus on taking back our friends, shall we?" Sonia and Igor nod at him. The rain has stopped, and once again, Hugo takes out his counter and clicks on it. Before long, we made our way out of the jungle and back into the maze. I didn't say anything during the entire trip; neither did any of them. Has there always this barrier of silence between us? This is probably the longest route that I've ever walked in these few days. By now, it's an indisputable fact that Hugo is neither a friend nor a foe, I could see why some would have a hard time dealing with him and his formidabble bodyguards. And all the pressure that he has as the leader of United Knights Association and of kingdom of Zestia might have shaped him the way he is today. That, or he's just a natural-born. Either way, he's—inside his very core, a kind person with a strong sense of justice, no lesser than Cliff's. But facing him as an opponent, there's only one way out—I need to outsmart him. "Here we are, ladies and gentlemen." I take a look around us; we have reached a four-way intersection. "Elaine's group is situated just after a few turns ahead, following this middle path. And at the end of it, you'll find yourself reaching a dead-end. There's no way around it except maybe if you can climb these walls." "So they have barricaded themselves?" I ask. "Precisely. Igor and I will hand you over to them, in exchange of Jane and Cliff, which is sort of Elaine's plan all along. She knew that you wouldn't leave them behind, and that there might be others hunting you, so she'd only accept this offer when the time is almost up. And by my count, ever since the maze shifted for the second time, 3 hours will pass after each change of weather." He circles around me, still explaining, "The second shifting was when you were inside your foggy jail, and that dropped the time by 3 hours after the night ended. Then, the sun came up. And, it rained. But, only the rain has stopped. So, that's 3 more hours gone." Wha—Who would even notice such thing? Right, I was too busy admring the sky. "So, based on your theory,"—I say—"we still have 6 hours left. But I'm very sure that Elaine doesn't count it this way, so how do you convince her to make the trade?" "Your head, J," he stops in front of me. "Your head's my bargain chip." I look at his face; a cold shiver runs down my spine—he has one hell of an innocent smile. [[Next chapter->Chapter 8 start]]

I cough. "J. Do not take any step further." I cough again, but harder. "Come back, John." Igor says, sounding a bit conflicted and uncomfortable. I put both my hands behind me, and cough for the third time. Only then, Blade pulls out his dagger and holds it over my neck. He shouts towards them, "Come in one step closer and I take this boy's head off." Igor, Sonia and Hugo look a bit startled by his remarks. "Let J go," Hugo says. He looks like he's eager to charge on Blaze head-on the moment Blaze drops his guard. Sonia is also aiming at him; and I know that she wouldn't miss. "Stop. Hear me out. Let's end this peacefully first. As long as they are still inside this tournament, you could always get them later, Hugo." I say, hoping to give Blaze one more push. He needs to send his gang away before this escalates even further. Blaze seems to have noticed this, because he then makes a signal for the bandits to fall back; and under Bossman's lead, they retreat back into the jungle. Only Blaze is still standing, holding me at knife point. He pushes me towards them, and with a "Bye, knights!", his figure vanished into the jungle as well. Hugo glances at me, before looking at Igor. "Igor, tie John up." I intended to ask him why, but after thinking back of what I did, I didn't need to. He likely thinks that I have some sort of deep connection to Blaze and Bossman. Even though I couldn't harm him or Sonia, or Igor, he still wouldn't fully trust me yet; it's because I'm still a threat to him. So, I voluntarily place both my hands behind me as Igor wrangles them up with a rope. I can hear Igor's whisper behind me, ridden with a bit of guilt, "It's nothing personal, John. I hope you don't mind." [["It's ok."]] [["Oh, I do mind. I only barely know them for a day. But for us, after so much things that we've been through, I thought that you guys would at least trust me more than this. Now, I'm just mad at how fragile our bonds are."]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 8**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"The Smile of Death"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 8 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c8ach to 0)] (set: $c7checkpoint to "yes") (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 8") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 8]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]] ((colour: "#65169e" )[**Checkpoint saved!**])]

"Halt! Who goes there?" asks one of the four knights standing guard in front of the seige to Elaine's camps. There are some 15-feet-tall stone walls erected on either side of a small entrance in the middle, blocking our views as to what's happening inside. Two ogres are also standing by, with two more wizards standing atop two different towers they created. This is almost like an impregnable fortress, built to withstand the attack of even an army of armoured dwarfs. "Hello, hello," Hugo says. "Please notify Her Royal Highness, Princess Elaine of Tevinia that the commander of Zestia would like to humbly discuss with her, the matters concerning Mr.John." "I've heard your request loud and clear, commander from Zestia," the knights says. "Please leave your weapons here, and wait a moment." He takes a step back, before turning around, and march inside. As we hand them our belongings, I whisper to Igor, "Is she really that important of a princess?" Igor replies with a soft voice, without looking at me, "Yes. As Sonia has briefed you, despite the kingdom of Tevinia does not prosper as it used to, Princess Elaine, without a doubt, is one of the most talented female mage amongst the mage class in Magica familia." Hugo coughs; we stop whispering to each other. [[Next page->next page41]]

"Yes, we are, Your Royal Highness, Princess Elaine Marybeth." Hugo says. "In trade of John's head." Hugo's plan is that once he and Igor have guaranteed Cliff's safety, Leo and the knights would coordinate with them—inside out—to get me out. It's a vague plan that sounds unpromising given that this area is so heavily guarded. And the problem is that, he wouldn't reveal more of it to me. So, there's a slight chance that he'll just take off with Cliff now that he knows of the tricks to achieving the objective of this challenge. "Commander Hugo, do you really think one-for-two a fair deal for us?" Elaine asks, signaling her guards of mages and female wizards that are inside the camp with her. With their wands and rings being directed at us, Elaine then adds, "How about this: John stay here, in exchange for the red-haired caster? One for one." Hugo takes a step forwards towards her. "I'm terribly sorry, Princess Elaine. But, we are here for the two of them and is not leaving either one behind." "I don't think you understand the position you're in now, Commander Hugo." Elaine says, as one of the female wizards rests her wand on Hugo's left cheek. "The silver knight's name just so happen to be 'Cliff', surely this isn't an coincidence that John made up when Sage Houst ask of his name?" She places her left hand on Hugo's shoulder. "As such, I'll keep both of them here. Thank you for your delivery." "Oh?" Hugo says, sounding a bit agitated. At this moment, Igor grabs my hand, holding some sort of trinkets-shaped item in between our palm. Hugo then continues, "What if... say I make John here vanish from this tournament, making sure that this objective will never be reached. What will you do then, Princess Elaine?" "Bluffs won't work on me, Commander Hugo." Elaine answers, retracting her hand. But, from her tone, she is a bit shaken by Hugo's remarks. "My guards have stripped you off from any possible weapon before you walk into here." "There's much things that armour plates can do, Princess Elaine. Hiding a teleportation trinket beneath them wouldn't be a far-fetched ability, would it? And if Igor here were to activate it now, could you afford to take the chance?" Elaine //tsch'd// him. "You're annoying, Commander Hugo. It looks like you still don't understand who you're speaking to." She then snaps, the main camp disappears, revealing a few group of her recruited Challengers already on standby, surrounding us in a circle. Leo, Vincent and the rest of the Zestia knights are already tied up. Noah is locked inside a stone cage. The wizards inside the inner section, which include Oddie the Cold, are holding Jane, Cliff and Valentina hostages with their wands. She did all this while we were inside her camp? No, she would have hard time dealing with Noah, in particular. So if this is not an illusion, then the only time she could have fooled us is right before we enter her camp. Everything afterwards was just a facade; Leo must have fallen under a hynopsis as well. Son of a goat; we literally walked right into her traps. [[Punch Hugo.]] [[Try to take Elaine hostage.]] [[Try to negotiate my way out of this.]]

"That so?" she asks. "And how are you going to do that?" "I assume you wanted my head, so I'm here to trade it for them," I say. Hugo's plan is that once he and Igor have guaranteed Cliff's safety, Leo and the knights would coordinate with them—inside out—to get me out. It's a vague plan that sounds unpromising given that this area is so heavily guarded. And the problem is that, he wouldn't reveal more of it to me. So, there's a slight chance that he'll just take off with Cliff now that he knows of the tricks to achieving the objective of this challenge. "Oh yes, John. But do you really think one-for-two a fair deal for us?" Elaine asks, signaling her guards of mages and female wizards that are inside the camp with her. With their wands and rings being directed at us, Elaine then adds, "How about this: you stay here, in exchange for the red-haired caster? One for one." Hugo takes a step forwards towards her. "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, Your Royal Highness, Princess Elaine Marybeth. But, we are here for the two of them and is not leaving either one behind." "I don't think you understand the position you're in now, Commander Hugo." Elaine says, as one of the female wizards rests her wand on Hugo's left cheek. "The silver knight's name just so happen to be 'Cliff', surely this isn't an coincidence that John made up when Sage Houst ask of his name?" She then places her left hand on Hugo's shoulder. "As such, I'll keep both of them here. Thank you for your delivery." "Oh?" Hugo says, sounding a bit agitated. At this moment, Igor grabs my hand, holding some sort of trinkets-shaped item in between our palm. Hugo then continues, "What if... say I make John here vanish from this tournament, making sure that this objective will never be reached. What will you do then, Princess Elaine?" "Bluffs won't work on me, Commander Hugo." Elaine answers, retracting her hand. But, from her tone, she is a bit shaken by Hugo's remarks. "My guards have stripped you off from any possible weapon before you walk into here." "There's much things that armour plates can do, Princess Elaine. Hiding a teleportation trinket beneath them wouldn't be a far-fetched ability, would it? And if Igor here were to activate it now, could you afford to take the chance?" Elaine //tsch'd//. "You're annoying, Commander Hugo. It looks like you still don't understand who you're speaking to." She then snaps, the main camp disappears, revealing a few group of her recruited Challengers already on standby, surrounding us in a circle. Leo, Vincent and the rest of the Zestia knights are already tied up. Noah is locked inside a stone cage. The wizards inside the inner section, which include Oddie the Cold, are holding Jane, Cliff and Valentina hostages with their wands. She did all this while we were inside her camp? No, she would have hard time dealing with Noah, in particular. So if this is not an illusion, then the only time she could have fooled us is right before we enter her camp. Everything afterwards was just a facade; Leo must have fallen under a hynopsis as well. Son of a goat; we literally walked right into her traps. [[Punch Hugo.]] [[Try to take Elaine hostage.]] [[Try to negotiate my way out of this.]]

Elaine looks at me. "Is that so? Then I guess you wouldn't mind me keeping them, would you?" "Ummm... actually I would mind. Chit-chatting is merrier when there's more people. So, I would like to trade my head, in exchange for them." Hugo's plan is that once he and Igor have guaranteed Cliff's safety, Leo and the knights would coordinate with them—inside out—to get me out. It's a vague plan that sounds unpromising given that this area is so heavily guarded. And the problem is that, he wouldn't reveal more of it to me. So, there's a slight chance that he'll just take off with Cliff now that he knows of the tricks to achieving the objective of this challenge. "John, do you really think one-for-two is a fair deal for us?" Elaine asks, signaling her guards of mages and female wizards that are inside the camp with her. With their wands and rings being directed at us, Elaine then adds, "How about this: you stay here, in exchange for the red-haired caster? One for one." Hugo takes a step forwards towards her. "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, Your Royal Highness, Princess Elaine Marybeth. But, we are here for the two of them and is not leaving either one behind." "I don't think you understand the position you're in now, Commander Hugo." Elaine says, as one of the female wizards rests her wand on Hugo's left cheek. "The silver knight's name just so happen to be 'Cliff', surely this isn't an coincidence that John made up when Sage Houst ask of his name?" She then places her left hand on Hugo's shoulder. "As such, I'll keep both of them here. Thank you for your delivery." "Oh?" Hugo says, sounding a bit agitated. At this moment, Igor grabs my hand, holding some sort of trinkets-shaped item in between our palm. Hugo then continues, "What if... say I make John here vanish from this tournament, making sure that this objective will never be reached. What will you do then, Princess Elaine?" "Bluffs won't work on me, Commander Hugo." Elaine answers, retracting her hand. But, from her tone, she is a bit shaken by Hugo's remarks. "My guards have stripped you off from any possible weapon before you walk into here." "There's much things that armour plates can do, Princess Elaine. Hiding a teleportation trinket beneath them wouldn't be a far-fetched ability, would it? And if Igor here were to activate it now, could you afford to take the chance?" Elaine //tsch'd//. "You're annoying, Commander Hugo. It looks like you still don't understand who you're speaking to." She then snaps, the main camp disappears, revealing a few group of her recruited Challengers already on standby, surrounding us in a circle. Leo, Vincent and the rest of the Zestia knights are already tied up. Noah is locked inside a stone cage. The wizards inside the inner section, which include Oddie the Cold, are holding Jane, Cliff and Valentina hostages with their wands. She did all this while we were inside her camp? No, she would have hard time dealing with Noah, in particular. So if this is not an illusion, then the only time she could have fooled us is right before we enter her camp. Everything afterwards was just a facade; Leo must have fallen under a hynopsis as well. Son of a goat; we literally walked right into her traps. [[Punch Hugo.]] [[Try to take Elaine hostage.]] [[Try to negotiate my way out of this.]]

I use my other hand to punch Hugo. "Hugo, you stupid kid!" I poke at his forehead. "YOU see what you've gotten us into? All because YOU think you're so smart. YOU and your stupid device!" He punches me back, and Igor releases his grip on my hand at this moment. I fall down to the ground. Hugo snickers at me, as he grabs my collars, "ME? YOU are the one who wants to be a hero and save them all!" I headbutt him and tackle him down, before smacking his face with both my hands. "Do you even realise what you have done? WAKE UP, WAKE UP, you piece of little—" "That's enough!" Elaine shouts. "Chloe, Zoey, restrain John." Then, Igor drags Hugo away from me while the two female wizards standing behind Elaine swiftly constrain my hands behind my back. Elaine shifts her eyes between the both of us, "How very immature." I smile. Hugo also smiles. The crowds are focusing on us intensely now. But Elaine then says, with a half-grin, while looking at Igor and Hugo, "Check Commander Hugo, he should have the teleportation trinket now." She switches her eyes back on me, her grin becomes wider. "Igor there handed you the trinket when he released his hand, and you in turn, gave it to Hugo when you were putting on this show, isn't it right—Mr.John?" Of course, she would see through this straight away. Hugo looks much more anxious now, as they do a full-body search on him and through his armour plates. I grin back at her. "Yes. It would be bad if //he// were to go to our Silver Protector now." Elaine's eyes widen, but when she checks back at them, in the blink of an eye, Igor is already gone. "Oops," I say. "Looks like I didn't take it away from him after all." A smoke potion is then dropped, clouding our vision in the span of a second. Some of the Challengers are stunned in place, while some yell and rush towards Elaine. Taking advantage of the chaos and the smoke, I attempt to shake myself off the two wizards. I manage to slip from one of them, but the other immediately hugs my arm, which renders me unmovable. [["Let go! I won't harm Elaine."]] [[Give a hard push to her forehead.]] [[Shake my hand again to struggle off her hug.]]

"Look! A dragon!" I say, as I point towards the sky behind Elaine. Of course, no one reacted to it. They just look at me like I'm a silly old man who has created tons of hoax, holding a paper claiming it's a dragon's hide and has ran around a village shouting the same thing for more than 50 years. "Enough of this ruckus," Elaine says. "Chloe, Zoey, restrain John." But before the two female wizards behind Elaine can react, I charge towards her, holding the teleportation trinket in one of my hand. If I can threaten Elaine to have her teleported out of this tournament, then we might have the upper hand. However, just as I am about to reach her, my whole body gets paralysed, as if someone has casted a spell on me. I then feel an intense pain at my ankles: they are twisting. I clench my teeth and groan. "Bad move, John. Trying to humilate me by taking me hostage?" she says. "I'm very... ummm... what's the word again?" "...Disappointed?" I say, bearing the pain. "Yes. Disappointed," she says. A strong gust of wind then blows past me. My vision becomes blur and narrowed. Soon, my surrounding fades into pure darkness. I... was almost there. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 8->Chapter 8]]

"How about... you give me some alone time with Jane and Cliff behind the barrier?" I ask. "I'm afraid not, John. Who knows what you will cook up in there with your friends? Plus—" Elaine says. "Yeah. So much for your brilliant idea, J." Hugo interrupts. "You got problem with that, you stupid kid?" I say. "Kid? I'm around your age, KID!" Hugo replies to me. I use my other hand to punch him and poke at his forehead. "YOU see what you've gotten us into? All because of YOU and your stupid plan!" He punches me back, and Igor releases his grip on my hand at this moment. I fall down to the ground. Hugo snickers at me, as he grabs my collars, "ME? YOU are the one who wants to be a hero and save them all!" I headbutt him and tackle him down, before smacking his face with both my hands. "Do you even realise what you have done? WAKE UP, WAKE UP, you piece of little—" "That's enough!" Elaine shouts. "Chloe, Zoey, restrain John." Then, Igor drags Hugo away from me while the two female wizards standing behind Elaine swiftly constrain my hands behind my back. Elaine shifts her glances between the both of us, "How very immature." I smile. Hugo also smiles. The crowds are focusing on us intensely now. But Elaine then says, with a half-grin, while looking at Igor and Hugo, "Check Commander Hugo, he should have the teleportation trinket now." She switches her eyes back on me, her grin becomes wider. "Igor there handed you the trinket when he released his hand, and you in turn, gave it to Hugo when you were putting on this show, isn't it right, Mr. John?" Of course, she would see through this straight away. Hugo looks much more anxious now, as they do a full-body search on him and through his armour plates. I grin back at Elaine. "Yes. It would be bad if //he// were to go to our Silver Protector now." Elaine's eyes widen, but when she checks back at them, in the blink of an eye, Igor is already gone. "Oops," I say. "Looks like I didn't take it away from him after all." A smoke potion is then dropped, clouding our vision in the span of a second. Some of the Challengers are stunned in place, while some yell and rush towards Elaine. Taking advantage of the chaos and the smoke, I attempt to shake myself off the two wizards. I manage to slip from one of them, but the other immediately hugs my arm, which renders me unmovable. [["Let go! I won't harm Elaine."]] [[Give a hard push to her forehead.]] [[Shake my hand again to struggle off her hug.]]

"Thank you for your patience, Princess Elaine Marybeth will meet you now." the knight return with Leo behind him. He gestures at Leo. "Please follow one of your knights here." Leo leads us past the entrance, and keep us up to date, as we walk inside. He must have been tired, because he looks exhausted and his face, a bit pale. "Hello Master Hugo, Master Igor and Sir John. Princess Elaine has divided this camp into two section; the inner section is where she keeps Jane and Cliff, with three wizards guarding. Sir Vincent, Miss Valentina and Noah arrived a few hours after us yesterday, and Miss Valentina has been clinging to Sir Cliff ever since then. Noah and Vincent are currently treated as two important guests who are staying near Princess Elaine's main camp." Elaine's main camp is just right outside the blocakade seperating the inner section of the camp and ours, with some sort of visible barrier generated by a small torch-like artifact placed in the middle. But strangely, there aren't many Challengers around here. Before being invited to enter their camp, I catch a glimpse of Jane and Cliff; Jane is quietly reading the brown note that we found in the maze, while Cliff is //reluctantly// chatting with Valentia. I sigh with a relief. They are safe, at least for now. After going inside Elaine's main camp, she greets us. Hugo bows at her first, followed by Igor and I. She looks a bit surprised, but has her eyes particularly locked on me. "Hello, John. I guess I needn't introduce myself then. If Hugo Leviathan and the strongest swordsman are with you, I assume you're here to rescue your friend?" [[Say nothing, let Hugo handles her.]] [["Yes, as a matter of fact, I am."]] [["No, pffft... I'm just here for a little chit-chat."]]

She shakes her head, still gripping me firmly. I can't afford to waste any time with her, so I flick her forehead as hard as I can, for multiple times until she lets go. She did, but she tackles me just as I am about to run. I fall flat on my face. At this moment, something swipes across the smoke a few feet above my head. It passes so fast that I could only see its afterimage of its shape carved in the smoke. After a few seconds, it appears again, but in the opposite direction. It's definitely not a creature looking at how it moves, but more to some sort of weapon being wielded. The female wizard is now attempting to tie my hands. I look at her, she's young. Several years younger than me; but, too young to be brought into a life-or-death tournament like this. I shake her off and attempt to crawl my way out of this smoke. She follows my action, also crawling behind me, grabbing my ankle with one of her hands. As the smoke clears out, I freeze. What unfolds before me is beyond my comprehension. I stay as still as possible, my mouth run dry, as my heart throbs in my ears, loud and irregular. I turn back to the female wizard. She is putting her slightly trembling hands over her mouth, likely to stifle her screams. This is a massacre: bodies of, more than half of the Challengers that were surrouding me, scattered around us. Headless. Some bodies are even shaking reflexively on the ground as blood splurts out of their necks. But what stole our breath, is a mage, standing only a few feet in front of us, grabbing a whip but its ends are attached with long, flexible, metallic snake-like blades. And it's dripping blood. The mage is old, way older than any of mages I've ever seen, almost like he has his life sucked out of him. And his eyes sockets are empty and hollow. His pinkie finger has two rings that emits a faint dark red aura—he's the last of the Peace Squad members, and likely their leader. He sniffs. "I can feel both of your presences, young Challengers. Would you like to have a tea with me?" I hold my breath in. [[Answer him.]] [[Remain perfectly still.]] [[Try to crawl backwards.]]

(if: (history:) contains "Give a hard push to her forehead.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"I'm a gentleman."//) (set: $c8ach to $c8ach +1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]She bounces back like an elastic spring, still gripping me firmly. I can't afford to waste any time with her, so I flick her forehead as hard as I can, for multiple times until she lets go. She did, but she tackles me just as I am about to run. I fall flat on my face. At this moment, something swipes across the smoke a few feet above my head. It passes so fast that I could only see its afterimage of its shape carved in the smoke. After a few seconds, it appears again, but in the opposite direction. It's definitely not a creature looking at how it moves, but more to some sort of weapon being wielded. The female wizard is now attempting to tie my hands. I look at her, she's young. Several years younger than me; but, too young to be brought into a life-or-death tournament like this. I shake her off and attempt to crawl my way out of this smoke. She follows my action, also crawling behind me, grabbing my ankle with one of her hands. As the smoke clears out, I freeze. What unfolds before me is beyond my comprehension. I stay as still as possible, my mouth run dry, as my heart throbs in my ears, loud and irregular. I turn back to the female wizard. She is putting her slightly trembling hands over her mouth, likely to stifle her screams. This is a massacre: bodies of, more than half of the Challengers that were surrouding me, scattered around us. Headless. Some bodies are even shaking reflexively on the ground as blood splurts out of their necks. But what stole our breath, is a mage, standing only a few feet in front of us, grabbing a whip but its ends are attached with long, flexible, metallic snake-like blades. And it's dripping blood. The mage is old, way older than any of the mages I've ever seen, almost like he has his life sucked out of him. And his eyes sockets are empty and hollow. His pinkie finger has two rings that emits a faint dark red aura—he's the last of the Peace Squad members, and likely their leader. He sniffs. "I can feel both of your presences, young Challengers. Would you like to have a tea with me?" I hold my breath in. [[Answer him.]] [[Remain perfectly still.]] [[Try to crawl backwards.]]

She's still gripping me firmly. I can't afford to waste any time with her, so I flick her forehead as hard as I can, for multiple times until she lets go. She did, but she tackles me just as I am about to run. I fall flat on my face. At this moment, something swipes across the smoke a few feet above my head. It passes so fast that I could only see its afterimage of its shape carved in the smoke. After a few seconds, it appears again, but in the opposite direction. It's definitely not a creature looking at how it moves, but more to some sort of weapon being wielded. The female wizard is now attempting to tie my hands. I look at her, she's young. Several years younger than me; but, too young to be brought into a life-or-death tournament like this. I shake her off and attempt to crawl my way out of this smoke. She follows my action, also crawling behind me, grabbing my ankle with one of her hands. As the smoke clears out, I freeze. What unfolds before me is beyond my comprehension. I stay as still as possible, my mouth run dry, as my heart throbs in my ears, loud and irregular. I turn back to the female wizard. She is putting her slightly trembling hands over her mouth, likely to stifle her screams. This is a massacre: bodies of, more than half of the Challengers that were surrouding me, scattered around us. Headless. Some bodies are even shaking reflexively on the ground as blood splurts out of their necks. But what stole our breath, is a mage, standing only a few feet in front of us, grabbing a whip but its ends are attached with long, flexible, metallic snake-like blades. And it's dripping blood. The mage is old, way older than any of the mages I've ever seen, almost like he has his life sucked out of him. And his eyes sockets are empty and hollow. His pinkie finger has two rings that emits a faint dark red aura—he's the last of the Peace Squad members, and likely their leader. He sniffs. "I can feel both of your presences, young Challengers. Would you like to have a tea with me?" I hold my breath in. [[Answer him.]] [[Remain perfectly still.]] [[Try to crawl backwards.]]

Afterwards, she only calms down and falls asleep in her tears. With the help of Elaine's team, her father's body is taken out and buried under the largest tree nearby. Cliff stands in front of the grave as he opens his small pouch and rest petals of pink Amaryllis on it. "What is he doing?" Elaine asks, as we witness Cliff kneeling. Without looking away from Cliff, I answer, "Paying his last tribute. Those petals are a symbol of pride for Knights of Astra. It also means //to sparkle//." We then stand there for a few moments in silence. Then, I explain a part of the situation to Elaine. After she expresses another brief thanks, she was already on her way back to her groups to sort out what remains of their camp, coordinate healing matters and the burial of at least, ten Challengers. We then walk back to where Jane was, with Cliff carrying the sleeping little girl on his back. "So... what do we do with her?" I ask as we look down at Jane who is sleeping soundly with her mouth slightly opened, giggling. "You carry her. I've got this little one on my back." Cliff says. "Careful, she looks a bit heavy tho'." "Fine," I say. I kneel down with my back facing her, letting her body rests on my back, her hands wraped around my neck, as I hold her dangling legs around my waist while slowly lifting her up. I can feel her weight now resting on my hips. I look at Cliff, and smile, "You're right." [[Next chapter->Chapter 3 start]]

"I certainy would," I say, standing up. "What type of tea do you prefer? Green, red, black, white or even Oolong tea?" He turns his head towards my direction, but only respond to me after his evil cackle that lasted like almost an eternity. "Yo—You're the first that has ever talked to me this way, Challenger. Very well, I shan't take your live first." But right after he finishes his last word, he swings his wip again as it chops off the female wizard's head who was behind me. I stun, as her blood spatters on my face and my clothes. My knees almost give in as I witness this gruesome scene; this is... wrong. "NO!!! ZOEY!" a distant yell strikes into my eardrum. "Y—YOU MONSTER!" The old mage standing before continues to cackle, as I look at the direction of the source of the scream. Elaine is glaring at us, while some Challengers that are still alive are holding a female wizard back, the other one who is supposed to restrain me. The spell barrier of the inner section has been taken down, and Cliff, Jane, Valentina, Hugo, Igor have a serious look on their face. None of them have any weapon, but they look eager to charge here. Vincent and Leo, on the other hand, are freeing Noah. "Now then," the mage says. "Do you want to die now or later?" I take a deep breath. How can I escape this? I would need a diversion—no, a power strong enough to constrain him for a few seconds, to open a chance for them to counter back at a close distance, and Hugo with Igor, their weapons to fight. This mage is blocking our way to the entrance. If only, just a little miracle. //piank// This old mage is deflecting something with his wip. //piank// And, again. It's an arrow, shot behind his back. //piank// "John, get away from him!" this sound—Sonia? I leap backwards. A spherical cage, imbued with purple electric-like aura then lock the old mage in his position. The cage, it's compressing about half a feet every few seconds. Sonia runs past me at this moment, and throws Hugo and Igor that are rushing towards her, their weapons. And Cliff, Jane, a shield and a pouch, respectively. The survivors of Elaine's group are helping her to enforce different layers of barrier to weaken the trapped old mage, while some are trying to save the brutally wounded friends of theirs. Chloe hugs Zoey in her arms, desperately crying. Hugo stops beside me, his eyes glued on the exit. (set: $Zoey to "dead") [[Next page->next page42]]

(if: (history:) contains "Remain perfectly still.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Statues don't talk."//) (set: $c8ach to $c8ach +1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]Trying to gain back my composure, I remain perfectly still; not moving an inch of my body, with my eyes glued on the old mage. "Oh? No tea then?" he asks. "Fine." He sniffs again, before swiping his whip in my direction. It slices across the air in front of me as I watch it make a half-circle and swoops right at my neck. I couldn't have dodged anywhere. My vision rotates for a while before my surrounding fades into pure darkness. That last thing that crosses my mind, is my hope that the female wizard managed to make it out alive. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 8->Chapter 8]]

Trying not to accidentally utter a word, I clench my teeth, and make a slow 'back-up' signal to the female wizard behind me. Then, I slowly crawl backwards myself, one elbow at a time. A few seconds after, the old mage says, "Oh? No tea then? Fine." He sniffs again, before swiping his whip in my direction. I quickly crawl a few more steps back, until my feet hit on something soft. The blades swoops right in front of my eyes, just a little more closer and my head will have rolled on the ground. The old mage tilts his head to the side, "Oh?", before swiping his wip again, this time, vertically down on our direction. I immediately roll to my right, and the whip barely misses me. But, at this moment, I feel a strong tug on one of my foots. I look at the female wizard.... Her left arm has been neatly chopped off; she's screaming in pain but there are no voice coming out of her mouth. And it hits me; she can't speak. I take a deep breath. How can I escape this? I would need a diversion—no, a power strong enough to constrain him for a few seconds, to open a chance for them to counter back at a close distance, and Hugo with Igor, their weapons to fight. This mage is blocking our way to the exit. If only, just a little miracle. //piank// //piank// This old mage is deflecting something with his wip. //piank// And, again. It's an arrow, shot behind his back. //piank// "John, get away from him!" this sound—Sonia? I stand on my feet and help the female wizard up. A spherical cage, imbued with purple electric-like aura then lock the old mage in his position. The cage, it's compressing about half a feet every few seconds. Sonia runs past me at this moment, and throws Hugo and Igor that are rushing towards her, their weapons. And Cliff, Jane, a shield and a pouch respectively. The survivors of Elaine's group are helping her to enforce different layers of barrier to weaken the trapped old mage, while some are trying to save the brutally wounded friends of theirs. Chloe takes Zoey away from me, and back to Elaine. Hugo stops beside me, his eyes glued on the exit. (set: $Zoey to "alive") [[Next page->next page42]]

"Hugo," I say. "I know." he replies. He shoots a look at Igor and Sonia, before staring at the old mage. As the spherical jail shrinks smaller and smaller, a red barrier surrounding the old mage begins to pulsate, more and more intensely so. The old mage continues to cackle, as the rest of us surround him in a circle. Cliff is acting as my shield, Hugo and Igor the direct offense team, Leo as support, Jane and Sonia as long-ranged attacker, while Elaine and her group continues to provide backup. The red barrier starts to throb more rapidly, and within a few seconds, it expands outward, breaking the spherical jail and the barriers, sending out a wave of energy in all direction. It pushes us a few steps back, but Igor and Hugo engage the old mage on face-to-face combat at this moment. Slashes and claws, with the snake-like blades all crash together, countering each other. Sonia continues to fire her arrows through the gaps, while Jane rains branches down at the old mage. The old mage duplicates his whip, now holding the two of them, doubling his speed and his damage. Elaine makes use of the fragments of her jail by reshaping them with her magic, into a few orbs that hovers above the old mage's head in a circle. Then, concentrating their power in the center, they let out a condensed lightning, one after another. She yells "WATER!" which prompt Oddie the Cold to disintegrate cones of ice into a small pool of water below the old mage's feet. Electrical conduction enhanced with magic; she knows what she's doing. The protective barrier around him has cracked severely. Just one more strong, physical heavy push to penetrate it. Of course, we have a big guy on our team. "Noah!" I point at the old mage. "Yes." He charges towards the stationay, half-floating old mage, raising his hands up before hammering them down on the mage's barrier—it broke. All the attacks slip in, impaling, sliting, electrocuting the old mage instantly. Two of his rings splits into half, releasing a cloudy red aura to the air, swirling around him. We try to catch our breath; our eyes locked on it. [[Next page->next page43]]

A deep, coarse demonic voice then comes from within the smoke: (align: "=><=") [**I. WILL. AVENGE. THEEEEM.**] Then, something inside glows red-orange as it travels upward along the body of a figure, about 50 feet tall, making a rumbling sound. The shape of this figure—a dragon? A dragon! I take a step back and shout "Cover!" Noah curls into a ball and cuddle Igor, Hugo, with Sonia that are closest to him. While Jane and I, take shelter behind Cliff's shield, standing in a line. Cliff plants his feet firmly on the ground, grabbing his shield holder with both of his hands, readying himself to embrace the impact of whatever that will come at us. This is crazy; not even tens of Berserkers will stand a chance against this thing. Just as I finish my thoughts, the dragon blast clouds and clouds of fireballs towards anyone near it, hitting Noah and pushing us backwards step by step. Then, it soars off into the sky, rotate itself a full circle before gusting out flames and sweeping them over our area. "You... shall not pass!" Cliff yells, as he musters any strength he has left to stand his ground; he's at his very limit and it looks like he's gonna let go anytime now. The dragon stops breathing out fire a few seconds after, and Cliff falls down on his knees at that instant. The dragon is now switching its attack mode to its scaly claws and enormous tail aligned with spines above it, and a spade at its end. Dragon's hide is rumoured to be unpiercable to any weapon and inert to attack spells different from its own element. So, our options to fight back with brute force is almost impossible. Its body is also too colossal to be trapped again, and spell barriers won't keep us alive for long with its changing attack pattern. Even if we make it to the exit, we can't outrun it either. Jane still has her potions which she likely keeps in her pouch, Elaine's surviving group might have wizards or anyone that can produce fire element, while Igor and Sonia are injured from the flames. So, there are only a few options left and I must decide now, while that hideous dragon is still readying itself to charge at us. [[Ask Jane for her potions.]] [[Request Elaine's group for help.]] [[Ask Hugo whether he can think of any idea.]]

(if: (history:) contains "Request Elaine's group for help.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"You say run."//) (set: $c8ach to $c8ach +1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"Elaine!" I shout. "What?" she shouts back. It's hard to communicate given our distance, and her barrier that she's shielding her group with. I turn to Jane, who is staring at me. "Jane, can you—" "Wait, John. Do you still have the old scripts with you? The ones with the old Gibberish language?" she says, sounding like she's figured something out. "Yes, it's in my bag, which Sonia didn't bother to give me." I reply to her. "Ok. Stay here." she says, before taking off to the exit, where our items are withheld at. The dragon dives down, swiping its claws at Hugo's group and then us, a moment after she leaves. Cliff managed to deflect the claws by swinging his shield but its tails swoops sideways and hit Cliff on his waist, which sends him and his shield a few feet apart. Now, it's looking down at me, charging up its fire breath. "J!" shouts Hugo. "You stupid kid, run!" But.... I run to Cliff and drag him by his hands, putting them on my shoulder, trying to escape from the range of the fire breath. But I only realise that there's no way to go. It's a dead-end. Elaine couldn't afford to create another shield now even if she wanted to, Hugo wouldn't risk running to us—both of us, we are completely left alone. The dragon gusts out another flaming breath at us. Cliff pushes me away, as he stands in front of me, making a T-pose. With a smile of his face, he says to me, "John. Run." The flames... incinerate him before my eyes. 10 seconds. 10 full seconds. His burnt body thuds on the ground in front of me, before dissipating into red, glowing ashes, leaving only his bones behind. White bones inside his silver armour, with petals inside his small pounch grounded to dust and dispersed in the air. The sky, it turns dark at this moment. "CLIFF!" Valentina shouts in a distance; there's an immense sadness in her scream, or at least, maybe I wanted to think so. Staring at what's left of Cliff, I think that maybe... if I'm stronger that I can avoid this tragedy. My thoughts come to a halt when another flames swipes across my face, wiping my tears away with it. It feels so... //hot//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 8->Chapter 8]]

"Jane, your potions. Use them." I say, looking at her. "Not with me," she points towards the exit. "Which one?" Sonia likely overlooked her potions and only gave her her pouch, with crystals and gloves inside. Even my backpack is also not with me. For her potions, if I remember correctly, the two black potions contains black ashes that provides a temporary cover over a wide area; the three pink potions emit some random sounds to summon mystical beasts. [["The pink potions."]] [["The black potions."]]

(if: (history:) contains "Ask Hugo whether he can think of any idea.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"You say run (II)"//) (set: $c8ach to $c8ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"Hugo!" I shout. "Run for now!" he shouts back. Run? But where? This is a dead-end. There's no way to turn and no methods to outrun this beast. Someone taps my shoulder. It is Jane. "John. Do you still have the old scripts with you? The ones with the old Gibberish language?" she asks, sounding like she's figured something out. "Yes, it's in my bag, which Sonia didn't bother to give me." I reply to her. "Ok. Stay here." she says, before taking off to the exit, where our items are withheld at. The dragon dives down, swiping its claws at Hugo's group and then us, a moment after she leaves. Cliff managed to deflect the claws by swinging his shield but its tails swoops sideways and hit Cliff on his waist, which sends him and his shield a few feet apart. Now, it's looking down at me, charging up its fire breath. "J!" shouts Hugo. "You stupid kid, run!" But.... I run to Cliff and drag him by his hands, putting them on my shoulder, trying to escape from the range of the fire breath. But I only realise that there's no way to go. It's a dead-end. Elaine couldn't afford to create another shield now even if she wanted to, Hugo wouldn't risk running to us—both of us, we are completely left alone. The dragon gusts out another flaming breath at us. Cliff pushes me away, as he stands in front of me, making a T-pose. With a smile of his face, he says to me, "John. Run." The flames... incinerate him before my eyes. 10 seconds. 10 full seconds. His burnt body thuds on the ground in front of me, before dissipating into red, glowing ashes, leaving only his bones behind. White bones inside his silver armour, with petals inside his small pounch grounded to dust and dispersed in the air. The sky, it turns dark at this moment. "CLIFF!" Valentina shouts in a distance; there's an immense sadness in her scream, or at least, maybe I wanted to think so. Staring at what's left of Cliff, I think that maybe... if I'm stronger that I can avoid this tragedy. My thoughts come to a halt when another flames swipes across my face, wiping my tears away with it. It feels so... //hot//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 8->Chapter 8]]

"Ok. Wait here." she says, before running to the exit. The dragon dives down, swiping its claws at us a moment after she leaves. Cliff managed to deflect the claws by swinging his shield but its tails swoops sideways and hit Cliff on his waist, which sends him and his shield a few feet apart. Now, it's looking down at me, charging up its fire breath. "J!" shouts Hugo. "You stupid kid, run!" But.... I run to Cliff and put his hands around my shoulder, dragging him with me, trying to escape from the range of the fire breath. But I only realise that there's no way to go. It's a dead-end. Elaine couldn't afford to create another shield now even if she wanted to, Hugo wouldn't risk running to us—both of us, we are completely left alone. As the dragon is about to gust out another flaming breath at us, a high-pitched eagle shriek roams across the sky, stunning the dragon. Then, it is followed by a clear repetitive toad croaking sound of //purrrreeeek// that last about five times, ten seconds. The sky turns dark at this moment, as an aurora blending purple-pink and light green swirls across the sky, accompanied by an angelic chorus with high-pitched flute sound. Three different sounds—Jane did it. She used the potions. Taking advantage of the distraction, I continue to carry Cliff and take him to where Vincent and Valentina are at, right beside Elaine. What follows is a strong gust of wind that crushes the walls of the exit, colliding straight to the dragon. "It's a Basilisk!" Sonia shouts. Jane somehow ended up giving her a piggyback ride, while Noah carries Igor and Hugo, all circling around the dragon and hurrying towards us. Sonia shouts again, "Do not look into its eyes!" "What's a Basilisk?" Vincent asks, while Valentina pours her potion she took from her bag, on Cliff's head and hands. "The Great King of Serpent," I said. "I have no idea how Sonia would know amidst the smokes but in the myth, they have extincted due to hunger. The longer and larger they are, the more foods are needed to satisfy them. One adult Barsillisk can swallow half a kingdom of folks and still be hungry. Venemous fangs, petrifying eyes when they glow, it's likely a match to the dragon but I doubt it will spare us afterwards. "So?" Vincent asks, crossing his arm, looking at the dragon. He likely thinks that I already have a plan in my mind. [["We die."]] [["Maybe there's a way."]] [["We fight them, and try not to die."]]

"Ok. Wait here." she says, before running to the exit. The dragon dives down, swiping its claws at Hugo's group and then us, a moment after she leaves. Cliff managed to deflect the claws by swinging his shield but its tails swoops sideways and hit Cliff on his waist, which sends him and his shield a few feet apart. Now, it's looking down at me, charging up its fire breath. "J!" shouts Hugo. "You stupid kid, run!" But.... I run to Cliff and drag him by his hands, putting them on my shoulder, trying to escape from the range of the fire breath. But I only realise that there's no way to go. It's a dead-end. Elaine couldn't afford to create another shield now even if she wanted to, Hugo wouldn't risk running to us—both of us, we are completely left alone. As the dragon ready itself to gust out another flaming breath at us, black ashes spread across the area. The ashes are less denser than I thought, but is enough to serve as a distraction. But then, the dragon soars off to the sky, (align: "=><=") [**YOU FOOLS.**] before lighting up the ashes with its flaming breath. From sparks, the ashes grow into a sea of fire, swiping across our face, incinerating us who are standing in the middle of it. It feels so... //hot//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 8->Chapter 8]]

(if: (history:) contains "\"We die.\"")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Smooth talker (III)"//) (set: $c8ach to $c8ach +1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"Really?" Vincent asks, turning over to me with a surprised look on his face. "No," I say. "Of course not." I then take the torch-like artifact that is lying on the ground and hand it over to him, "Go get this activated. This should create a strong enough barrier to keep us safe for now." "Alright," he says, taking over the artifact and walking to Elaine's protective barrier. He knocks on it twice, before asking "Hello, hello? Can anyone activate this? It might be more effective than wasting your energy to create a barrier." "Give me that," Oddie the Cold snatches it from him and triggers it with his wand as it erects a wall-like barrier in front of us, almost locking Jane and Hugo's group outside. The dragon growls at this moment, eye-ing us with its yellow eyes, but unable to move or flap its wings. As the smoke lets out, the Basillisk is revealed to be biting the dragon's neck with its numerous sharp fangs, trying to penetrate the dragon's hide and inject the venom in. The dragon try to scratch the Basillisk with its claws—left, right, left, right—but to no avail as the Basillisk shakes itself using the dragon as a pivot. Using the momentum, the Basilisk swiftly swirls its body around the dragon, restricting its wings and trying to squeeze its bones. Suddenly, I feel a tug on my shirt. "John, look at this," Jane says, showing both the old scripts that I picked up and the brown notes that she was reading, in front of my face. "Umm... did you finish translating it?" "Yes," she moves closer to my ear. "May the star casts its grace upon you, may the sky envelopes its darkness to those who stand before you; agonizing, wishing,"—she pauses for a brief moment to compare the notes—" for I seek not to protect or destory, but to be your greatest nightmare. Shinva." "That's gloomy," I say. "What does this spell do?" She shrugs her shoulder, innocently looking at me, "Maybe something to do with illusions?" //OOOWHOOOAA// The dragon lets out a growl that thunders the entire area, stealing my attention; the Basilisk in on the verge of crushing it, since it cannot duplicate or escape in that position. It's charging itself to gust out another flaming breath. If I use the black potion now, it will burn itself to death. But, should I wait first? [[Finish it with the black potions.]] [[Wait, and observe the situation first.]]

"I'm all-ears. I don't want to die yet." Vincent replies to me. I then take the torch-like artifact that is lying on the ground and hand it over to him, "Go get this activated. This should create a strong enough barrier to keep us safe for now." "Alright," he says, taking over the artifact and walking to Elaine's protective barrier. He knocks on it twice, before asking "Hello, hello? Can anyone activate this? It might be more effective than wasting your energy to create a barrier." "Give me that," Oddie the Cold snatches it from him and triggers it with his wand as it erects a wall-like barrier in front of us, almost locking Jane and Hugo's group outside. The dragon growls at this moment, eye-ing us with its yellow eyes, but unable to move or flap its wings. As the smoke lets out, the Basillisk is revealed to be biting the dragon's neck with its numerous sharp fangs, trying to penetrate the dragon's hide and inject the venom in. The dragon try to scratch the Basillisk with its claws—left, right, left, right—but to no avail as the Basillisk shakes itself using the dragon as a pivot. Using the momentum, the Basilisk swiftly swirls its body around the dragon, restricting its wings and trying to squeeze its bones. Suddenly, I feel a tug on my shirt. "John, look at this," Jane says, showing both the old scripts that I picked up and the brown notes that she was reading, in front of my face. "Umm... did you finish translating it?" "Yes," she moves closer to my ear. "May the star casts its grace upon you, may the sky envelopes its darkness to those who stand before you; agonizing, wishing,"—she pauses for a brief moment to compare the notes—" for I seek not to protect or destory, but to be your greatest nightmare. Shinva." "That's gloomy," I say. "What does this spell do?" She shrugs her shoulder, innocently looking at me, "Maybe something to do with illusions?" //OOOWHOOOAA// The dragon lets out a growl that thunders the entire area, stealing my attention; the Basilisk in on the verge of crushing it, since it cannot duplicate or escape in that position. It's charging itself to gust out another flaming breath. If I use the black potion now, it will burn itself to death. But, should I wait first? [[Finish it with the black potions.]] [[Wait, and observe the situation first.]]

"Good plan," Vincent says, turning his face to me. "I was thinking of not dying too." I don't know whether if he's being sarcastic or is that's his genuine thoughts. But I take the torch-like artifact that is lying on the ground and hand it over to him, "Go get this activated. This should create a strong enough barrier to keep us safe for now." "Alright," he says, taking over the artifact and walking to Elaine's protective barrier. He knocks on it twice, before asking "Hello, hello? Can anyone activate this? It might be more effective than wasting your energy to create a barrier." "Give me that," Oddie the Cold snatches it from him and triggers it with his wand as it erects a wall-like barrier in front of us, almost locking Jane and Hugo's group outside. The dragon growls at this moment, eye-ing us with its yellow eyes, but unable to move or flap its wings. As the smoke lets out, the Basillisk is revealed to be biting the dragon's neck with its numerous sharp fangs, trying to penetrate the dragon's hide and inject the venom in. The dragon try to scratch the Basillisk with its claws—left, right, left, right—but to no avail as the Basillisk shakes itself using the dragon as a pivot. Using the momentum, the Basilisk swiftly swirls its body around the dragon, restricting its wings and trying to squeeze its bones. Suddenly, I feel a tug on my shirt. "John, look at this," Jane says, showing both the old scripts that I picked up and the brown notes that she was reading, in front of my face. "Umm... did you finish translating it?" "Yes," she moves closer to my ear. "May the star casts its grace upon you, may the sky envelopes its darkness to those who stand before you; agonizing, wishing,"—she pauses for a brief moment to compare the notes—" for I seek not to protect or destory, but to be your greatest nightmare. Shinva." "That's gloomy," I say. "What does this spell do?" She shrugs her shoulder, innocently looking at me, "Maybe something to do with illusions?" //OOOWHOOOAA// The dragon lets out a growl that thunders the entire area, stealing my attention; the Basilisk in on the verge of crushing it, since it cannot duplicate or escape in that position. It's charging itself to gust out another flaming breath. If I use the black potion now, it will burn itself to death. But, should I wait first? [[Finish it with the black potions.]] [[Wait, and observe the situation first.]]

"Jane, how to use the black potions?" "Just open it and throw it on the ground." she says, handing me both of the black potions from her pouch. "Oddie," I call out. "Open the barrier and close it within 3 seconds." "No. You expect me to help you after what you have done to my Oscar and Oliver? They are my grandchildren! I will tear you apart right at this moment—" Elaine knocks him unconcious, as she deactivates the artifact herself. She looks at me, a bit frustrated, "You have three seconds. Do whatever you need to do." I pop open the wooden corks of both the potions and throw the potions outside, which engulfs the whole area with black ashes. After 3 seconds, Elaine activates the barrier again. The dragon realises something is wrong but couldn't stop its flaming breath from being expelled, thus its fire light up the ashes with sparks, turning what we see in front of us a sea of fire. Only the dragon screams in pain, as its hide begins to corrode and shrink. The Basilisk is unharmed, and is still clinging onto the dragon. The flames die down a few moments after, unveiling the dragon's body that has collapsed onto the ground as the Basilisk circles around it. The dragon's flesh are burning with smoke, which smells much like grilled meat, perfect to be dined in. But suddenly, it glides towards us, crashing right into our barrier. It's swinging its tails at the barrier repeatedly, shrieking again and again. It's trying to break in and swallow us too—this fat greedy serpent. This is bad; the barrier has already sustained ample fire damage just now, which made it shaky and unstable. And as long as we are inside this barrier, we can't launch any attack. Or... can we? "Jane, can you—" "No, this barrier seals off any spells that are casted on the inside and outside." Well, there goes our chance to counter attack. "J. Look up," Hugo says. "The aurora is swirling down to the dragon." The aurora is swirling down to the dragon? It's swarming around the dragon in a circle now, almost like it's dancin— "Those spirits! Again? Cover your ears!" Elaine shouts. Sure enough, even with my hands tightly closing any gap into my eardrums, I can still hear the high-pitched noises. The Basilisk doesn't seem to be affected in any way; its target is still us and is continuing ramming the barrier, harder than before, like it's become more thrilled and excited. [[Next page->next page44]]

I decide to just wait and see what unfolds first. As expected, the dragon sweeps the area in front of it with its flames, trying to get the Basilisk off of it. But the Basilisk doesn't budge at all, seemingly unaffected by the fire; it does, however, tighten its squeeze on the dragon. The dragon lets out a few large howls before the sounds of bones cracking slips into our ears. It's now unconcious, as the Basilisk attempt to drill its fangs deeper into its neck. A layer of protective magic spells imbued on the dragon's hide slowly fade away at this moment, as blood begins to splurt out from multiple holes on its neck like small fountains. Then, the Basilisk slices across the remaining hide of the dragon with its fangs, splitting it stomach in half. Its remaining blood spill out from the stomach; it's a gruesome ending even for the leader of the P.S. squad. But for the Basilisk, a beast this enormous would be perfect to be dined in. However, all of a sudden, it glides towards us, crashing right into our barrier. It's swinging its tails at the barrier repeatedly, shrieking again and again. It's trying to break in and swallow us too—this fat greedy serpent. This is bad; the barrier has already sustained ample fire damage just now, which made it shaky and unstable. And as long as we are inside this barrier, we can't launch any attack. Or... can we? "Jane, can you—" "No, this barrier seals off any spells that are casted on the inside and outside." Well, there goes our chance to counter attack. "J. Look up," Hugo says. "The aurora is swirling down to the dragon." The aurora is swirling down to the dragon. It's swarming around the dragon in a circle now, almost like it's dancin— "Those spirits! Again? Cover your ears!" Elaine shouts. Sure enough, even with my hands tightly closing any gap into my eardrums, I can still hear the high-pitched noises. The Basilisk doesn't seem to be affected in any way; its target is still us and is continuing ramming the barrier, harder than before, like it's become more thrilled and excited. [[Next page->next page44]]

"Oh, that's simple," she says. "I owed him a favour." "Him? A favor?" "You're a lot of questions, John," she chuckles. "5 seconds. //Yes or no?//" I turn towards the rest of them standing inside the barrier. Hugo looks like he just wants to get this over with already, Vincent is admiring Magissa's face, Elaine is giving me a blank look, Cliff who just woke up from his sleep gives me a thumbs up and a proud smile, while Jane is shooting me a worried glance. Either way, there might be other ways to get out of this but I can't think of anything else in this situation. It's an all-or-nothing offer. I wasn't in any position to choose ever since she knocked on the barrier. "Yes." I say, peering deep into her eyes, wondering what her next word will be. "Great," she smiles at me. "Take down the barrier." "No," Elaine says, her eyes locked on Magissa's smile. "This is our last defense. I'm not tearing it down just because a witch told me to." The Basilisk, at this moment, stops its futile attack on the Griffin. But instead, it glides towards Magissa at an alarming speed. "Magissa, behind yo—" "Ok then," Magissa says, turning her back on us, tapping the Barsilisk's head with her wand right when it's about to devour her whole. She stopped its movement half-way in the air. But similarly, I can't move my body anymore; only my eyes. The time—she froze it. She then taps her wand on the barrier multiple times, which makes it cracks as it breaks into shreds, vanishing into thin air. She swirls her wand, slicing across the air, as she chants "May there be peace in this silent night." before resting the tip of the wand to the ground. A part of an enormous spell circle then slowly form beneath us. "Did you know, John?" she says, walking in a circle around me. "Magic roots from emotions, born from them, that's why pure hatred can fuel and enchance dark spells. So what I'm doing here, is to take a potion of all your friends and your intense feelings of regrets, to make these threats go //poof//." She stops in front of me, wearing a playful smile on her face. "So... good night, John!" I try to move my lips but is unable to, as my conciousness slowly gets eaten away before my surrounding fades into pure darkness. Her smile, is the last thing carved into my mind. Is this... what death feels like? [[Next chapter->Chapter 9 start]]

"It certainly will," she says. "But they should be fine. Now, I'll give you 5 seconds—//yes or no?//" I turn towards the rest of them standing inside the barrier. Hugo looks like he just wants to get this over with already, Vincent is admiring Magissa's face, Elaine is giving me a blank look, Cliff who just woke up from his sleep gives me a thumbs up and a proud smile, while Jane is shooting me a worried glance. Either way, there might be other ways to get out of this but I can't think of anything else in this situation. It's an all-or-nothing offer. I wasn't in any position to choose ever since she knocked on the barrier. "Yes." I say, peering deep into her eyes, wondering what her next word will be. "Great," she smiles at me. "Take down the barrier." "No," Elaine says, her eyes locked on Magissa's smile. "This is our last defense. I'm not tearing it down just because a witch told me to." The Basilisk, at this moment, stops its futile attack on the Griffin. But instead, it glides towards Magissa at an alarming speed. "Magissa, behind yo—" "Ok then," Magissa says, turning her back on us, tapping the Barsilisk's head with her wand right when it's about to devour her whole. She stopped its movement half-way in the air. But similarly, I can't move my body anymore; only my eyes. The time—she froze it. She then taps her wand on the barrier multiple times, which makes it cracks as it breaks into shreds, vanishing into thin air. She swirls her wand, slicing across the air, as she chants "May there be peace in this silent night." before resting the tip of the wand to the ground. A part of an enormous spell circle then slowly form beneath us. "Did you know, John?" she says, walking in a circle around me. "Magic roots from emotions, born from them, that's why pure hatred can fuel and enchance dark spells. So what I'm doing here, is to take a potion of all your friends and your intense feelings of regrets, to make these threats go //poof//." She stops in front of me, wearing a playful smile on her face. "So... good night, John!" I try to move my lips but is unable to, as my conciousness slowly gets eaten away before my surrounding fades into pure darkness. Her smile, is the last thing carved into my mind. Is this... what death feels like? [[Next chapter->Chapter 9 start]]

"Oh, stop worrying," she says. "It's not like you have other choice anyway. I'll give you 5 seconds—//yes or no?//" I turn towards the rest of them standing inside the barrier. Hugo looks like he just wants to get this over with already, Vincent is admiring Magissa's face, Elaine is giving me a blank look, Cliff who just woke up from his sleep gives me a thumbs up and a proud smile, while Jane is shooting me a worried glance. Either way, there might be other ways to get out of this but I can't think of anything else in this situation. It's an all-or-nothing offer. She's right; I wasn't in any position to choose ever since she knocked on the barrier. "Yes." I say, peering deep into her eyes, wondering what her next word will be. "Great," she smiles at me. "Take down the barrier." "No," Elaine says, her eyes locked on Magissa's smile. "This is our last defense. I'm not tearing it down just because a witch told me to." The Basilisk, at this moment, stops its futile attack on the Griffin. But instead, it glides towards Magissa at an alarming speed. "Magissa, behind yo—" "Ok then," Magissa says, turning her back on us, tapping the Barsilisk's head with her wand right when it's about to devour her whole. She stopped its movement half-way in the air. But similarly, I can't move my body anymore; only my eyes. The time—she froze it. She then taps her wand on the barrier multiple times, which makes it cracks as it breaks into shreds, vanishing into thin air. She swirls her wand, slicing across the air, as she chants "May there be peace in this silent night." before resting the tip of the wand to the ground. A part of an enormous spell circle then slowly form beneath us. "Did you know, John?" she says, walking in a circle around me. "Magic roots from emotions, born from them, that's why pure hatred can fuel and enchance dark spells. So what I'm doing here, is to take a potion of all your friends and your intense feelings of regrets, to make these threats go //poof//." She stops in front of me, wearing a playful smile on her face. "So... good night, John!" I try to move my lips but is unable to, as my conciousness slowly gets eaten away before my surrounding fades into pure darkness. Her smile, is the last thing carved into my mind. Is this... what death feels like? [[Next chapter->Chapter 9 start]]

//HAWK// //HAWK// "Now there's a Griffin circling on top of us; is this some sort of party now?" Vincent says. Vincent's right; the Griffin is descending, but its movement of gliding down is somewhat rough and quivery, likely affected by the high-pitch noises. That, or it's been hurt before. It's approaching us. The Barsilisk flatten its stomach, before jumping at the Griffin. At a few feet apart, the Griffin dodges it but a girl in her 30's with long silver hair and pointy hat jumps off the Griffin and lands in front of our barrier. She creates a spell circle on top of the Sylphs to surpress their //song//. Then, she knocks at the barrier, and waves at me. "It's me! Do you remember? From the market in Olympiaa!" she says, smiling at me. "Market? Oh, oh, the witch!" I say. "Yes. The name's Magissa." the witch says. "Who is she?" asks Jane, standing beside me, glaring at her. "The witch that was with Hazel and Grazel," I say. "Seriously J? There's a giant serpent outside there and you're chit-chatting with her?" Hugo says. "Oh, don't worry. The Griffin you guys saved earlier can distract it for a while," Magissa says, looking at me and Jane. "I'm here to help you, John." "Help us? No need to work yourself up, pretty lady. Get me out and I'll blind its eyes in seconds." Vincent cuts in. Magissa half-chuckles, hiding her mouth under the sleeves of her robe. She then looks back at me, "Well, John?" Jane whispers to my ears, "I have an unpleasant feeling about this. Maybe we should just try to run now since the Basilisk is distracted." "Oh, don't worry! I won't harm your boyfriend!" Magissa says. "Boyf—He's not my boyfriend...!" Jane says, but mumbles one more word at the end that I can't quite hear. She turns to me as we exchange glances; her face has reddened a bit. I feel like I haven't seen this expression of her in a while now. "Why would you help us?" Hugo asks. "Oh, I'm not helping //you//, I'm lending my hands only to John. The rest of you are just..."—Magissa playfully rotates her wand—"...side effects. Listen, I would love to go on and on but as you can see, I do not have the leisure to do so." "One last question," I say. [["Why would you help me?"]] [["How do I know if I can trust you?"]] [["Will this 'side effects' harm them in any way?"]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 9**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"John Doe"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 9 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c9ach to 0)] (set: $c8checkpoint to "yes") (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 9") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 9]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]] ((colour: "#65169e" )[**Checkpoint saved!**])]

"John. John! Wake up!" "Mom?" "Take your brother, and your sister through the window now. Hurry!" "What? Why?" "Just do as I say, go and don't turn back." "But mom—" "Go now! Now! Please." "Jack, Jean, wake up. We're going out now." "John... take care of them. Go now. Don't look back." "Mom? Are you not coming? Mom? MOM!" [[Next page->next page45]]

"John." "John," my little sister calls me, riding at my back. "Who is that hooded figure?" My little brother's grip on my hand tightens as the figure starts to chant with a floating scroll; he's afraid. I slowly crouch down and let my sister stands on her own. I look at the both of them; they have no clue on what is going now right now and so am I. "I'm here. It's gonna be ok. I promise. And your big brother has never broken a promise, has he?" I say, patting both of their heads. My sister gives me a cheeful smile but my brother is still uncertain how to react, his eyes are still glued at the hooded figure. I tickle him, which only got him to look at me and smile. "Now, stay here. Close your eyes, count down from 60, and everything will be ok." I say. They nod, before holding each other's hands, and closing their eyes. Looking at the hooded figure that is several feet taller than I am, my legs tremble by themselves. I cannot hesitate now. Not this time. I must save them. I made a promise. There's only one thing to do. [[Charge towards the figure.]]

I charge towards the hooded figure in silence, trying to not alarm my brother and sister awaiting my next word. The chant gets louder and louder as I run closer to him. And just a few steps in front of him, I jump, hoping to deal an uppercut punch. It hits him. Right at his chin. I can't believe it; he falls down to the ground immediately. I run back to my siblings who are still standing there, holding each other's hand. I pat both their heads, "It's ok now. You're safe." But, they are not responding. They are still closing their eyes. Then I realise my hands aren't touching them at all, they went past their head. What is this? A hallucination? No, something feels wrong, why am I tearing up? I close my eyes to calm myself. [[Next page->next page46]]

"John." "John," my little sister calls me, riding at my back. "Who is that hooded figure?" My little brother's grip on my hand tightens as the figure starts to chant with a floating scroll; he's afraid. I slowly crouch down and let my sister stands on her own. I look at the both of them; they have no clue on what is going now right now and so am I. "I'm here. It's gonna be ok. I promise. And your big brother has never broken a promise, has he?" I say, patting both of their heads. My sister gives me a cheeful smile but my brother is still uncertain how to react, his eyes are still glued at the hooded figure. I tickle him, which only got him to look at me and smile. "Now, stay here. Close your eyes, count down from 60, and everything will be ok." I say. They nod, before holding each other's hands, and closing their eyes. Looking at the hooded figure that is several feet taller than I am, my legs tremble by themselves. I cannot hesitate now. Not this time. I must save them. I made a promise. I cannot give up now. But, something isn't right—why.... What should I do? What //can// I do? [[Save them.]] [[Let them die.]]

(if: (history:) contains "Let them die.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"History repeats itself."//) (set: $c9ach to $c9ach +1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]I fall down to my kness, unable to move. Just by looking at the hooded figure, a strong, intense fear overwhelms me; it is not a human. I can sense his killing intent so far away that it made me want to vomit. After acting so cool and calm, I am not able to even move another inch. The figure approaches us, and stands in front of me. "John Doe, 10 years old, son of King Jax, Blank; Jean Doe, 5 years old, daughter of King Jax, Blank." Blank? King Jax? What is he talking about? "By the name of The Four Cardinal Sages, I hereby announce you—//dead//." Something then shoots through my heart; it doesn't hurt but I can feel it's draining all my energy away. I grasp for air in desperation, firmly clenching my fist to my heart. "No! Stay away!" I can hear my brother's shout as he stands in between the hooded figure and me, making a T-pose. "John, John!" my sister calls out, hugging me in tears. "How cute. Playing family, are we?" "Enough of the ruckus, and just finish them already." "Hurry up, Sage Houst." A few more voices slip in. Three more hooded figures are closing in on us, from the corner of my eye. The so-called Sage Houst tries to take my sister away from me, but I can only slightly move my hand up, without the ability to utter a single word. "No, let go of Jean!" my brother bites the Sage Houst's hand. Sage Houst yells and kicks my brother in his head, sending him a few feet away from us. He then grabs my sister by her hair. The three hooded figures begin chanting their own spells from their scrolls. Two more shots pierce into my heart; I spit out blood—piles and piles of them, before my body collapses onto the ground. My sister cries out, louder and louder. And in that instant, everything turns white; silence fades into our background, taking away even the smallest sound of grasshopper chirping. I struggle to keep my eyes open, only to see my brother hugging my unconcious sister afterwards, slightly shaking her shoulder. Her eyes are closed, but there are red tears flowing out of her eye sockets. Her hair has turned white, her skin pale, and her body remains still. The hooded figures are nowhere to be seen, and only a bunch of opened scrolls are rolling on the ground. "Don't... cry." I try to say, but no words come out from my dry mouth. I—//couldn't save them//. Again. Right... I didn't even get the chance to mourn her death. [[Next page->next page49]]

"//'ello//, kid. Or should I call you—Mr. John?" Someone is speaking to me; he doesn't sound friendly. I open my eyes, only to see that I'm in an entirely different place, and Sage Houst with his two servants—who looks awfully familiar—are standing a few feet apart from me. I'm inside a bright, picturesque throne room. The sunlight is meekly slipping into this room from the tall cathedral-type windows from the side, and an relatively larger one behind the throne seat. There are also four chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, in a square manner. However, there are only four shadows in this room; not a single guard or knight inside here. I've likely got teleported back into his castle. Just as I am about to stand up, he says to me "Kneel." and a strong force pushes me down in a kneeling position. There's an opened scroll floating beside his head. I look up at him, he's wearing a gleeful smile. "Sage Houst the IV," I say. "That I am. You here to give up your own head?" "That, I am not. What did you do to the rest of the Challengers?" "I didn't do anything," he lifts both his hands up in protest. "But they are surely in an interesting state. Would you like to see it?" [["Sure."]] [["No thanks."]]

"Ok, have a look." He then takes a scroll from the boy servant and chants something to project the situation at the maze to me, in front of one of the windows. The dragon's corspe has been reduced to only bones, the Basilisk is nowhere to be seen but the rest of the remaining Challengers are all seemingly sleeping. No. From their expression... they are having nightmares. He zooms into several Challengers. "No. Let's not go into the cave today, brother James; I... I don't want to see the cub. Please." "Hey guys, umm... do you mind me joining you for the sword-training exercises? I've gotten quite good already with my shield." "Hector—you're a Leviathan. Why?" "If I retaliate now, no one can take care of my mother and my brother; I cannot harm those pricks." "You want me to leave my family, become your apprentice, travel between the four continents, while learning archery?" "I've said it once and I will say it again: I will not become the Chief Elder for this poor village that has nothing but old men and especially, //old women//!" "Thank you for saving me, Mr. Silver Knight." "Mother, I can't promise you that; I have no experience in the politics of Tevinia or its people. You are, and will always be the Queen." This is what Magissa meant by regrets. They are, like me, drowned inside the memory of past, and given a second chance to re-do it. And, that's the thing about time; we can never travel back. Even knowing that, we are still stubbornly trying to change the course of our action, to do it differently; so that, there are no regrets. Deep down inside, we are all slaves to our past, trying to break the chain that tie us down. "That's enough," I say. [[Next page->"No thanks."]]

"Very well then," Sage Houst snaps his finger. "Do you want to chop your own head or shall I do it for you?" I glance at him. "You sure go far for your Mr. Wick, Sage Houst." "Oh, so you do know him. Then, that makes thing simple. I have a reputation here in Pantheona and you crushed a part of it in one single night. Surely, your head wouldn't enough but either way, I'll have to kill all the Challengers. So,"—he clicks his tongue—"might as well start with you." "Kill all the Challengers? What are you talking about? Is this some sort of game to you?" "Game? This is an exceptional plan at play here, mind you. All the previous Sages combined, we have spent 300 years to plan this, and that Sage Esta—which is Sage of East to you—just have to chicken out at the last minute. But better, we used his death as a stepping stone to gather all of the strongest people here, which worked like a charm."—he pauses, looking at the boy servant who is writing something on a book—"Make sure you record everything, Hazel. Everyone must know how awesome The Four, no, Three Cardinal Sages are." I have no idea what is going on anymore; I take a deep breath. Sage Houst is correcting Hazel, pointing here and there at the scroll Hazel's holding. I must re-access the situation at hand; it has, unexpectedly, taken a drastic turn. Is Magissa... the favor she was talking about, his? Maybe. Jane and the others are safe for now. Yes. Is Sage Houst egoistical? Yes. Can I use that against him? Maybe. But the key word here that changes everything is //plan//. What—"Wow, it must be a great plan then." He scoffs. "Like I'll fall for that, kid. I'm not some villain that expose everything in the end as if I'm about to lose. But I can tell you this—it has already started, and it will change your world. Forever." I need a different apporach here. "Of course I already know of your plan. I was just double-checking it." "Really? Enlighten me, kid. If you're wrong, then I'll just kill you straight away for wasting my time. Fair, right?" [["Your plan is to dominate the world with android sheeps!"]] [["You're planning to destroy the continent one by one!"]] [["The plan is to influence the politics with your shady ties!"]] [["The plan is to unite all Magica members, and kill the rest of Familia!"]]

(if: (history:) contains "\"Your plan is to dominate the world with android sheeps!\"")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Daredevil (II)"//) (set: $c9ach to $c9ach +1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]He stares at me, bewildered. His eyes widened as his lips slightly tremble, but then he changes his expression and let out a small yawn. "Well, you weren't even close. And... I'm a bit tired already, so let's get this over and done with." He moves back a few feet, then lifts up one of the scrolls that is hanging on the scroll belt around his waist, and throws it in the air. This is bad; I don't have enough time to think of something. As he starts to chant spells with his eyes closed, I charge towards him, hoping to catch him off guard. Of course, he opens his eyes when my hand is only a few inches away from his shoulder. My body froze. He takes another step back away from me, and clears his throat before he starts to mumble something again. An intense dizziness hits in, as my surrounding darken itself; all the light inside my field of vision are gradually swept away as the colour black itself seeps in. I slowly lose my conciousness. Maybe I shouldn't mess with him after all. Ah, so cold. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 9->Chapter 9]]

He stares at me, bewildered. "Ooo, that's close. I'm guessing it's just a hunch. But, good try." He then changes his expression and let out a small yawn. "Well, I'm a bit tired already, so let's get this over and done with." He moves back a few feet, then lifts up one of the scrolls that is hanging on the scroll belt around his waist, and throws it in the air. This is bad; I don't have enough time to think of something. As he starts to chant spells with his eyes closed, I charge towards him, hoping to catch him off guard. Of course, he opens his eyes when my hand is only a few inches away from his shoulder. My body froze. He takes another step back away from me, and clears his throat before he starts to mumble something again. An intense dizziness hits in, as my surrounding darken itself; all the light inside my field of vision are gradually swept away as the colour black itself seeps in. I slowly lose my conciousness. Maybe I shouldn't mess with him after all. Ah, so cold. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 9->Chapter 9]]

He stares at me, bewildered. "Do you actually—Nah, you're just guessing." He then changes his expression and let out a small yawn. "Well, you were close, I'll give you that. But... I'm a bit tired already, so let's get this over and done with." He moves back a few feet, then lifts up one of the scrolls that is hanging on the scroll belt around his waist, and throws it in the air. This is bad; I don't have enough time to think of something. As he starts to chant spells with his eyes closed, I charge towards him, hoping to catch him off guard. Of course, he opens his eyes when my hand is only a few inches away from his shoulder. My body froze. He takes another step back away from me, and clears his throat before he starts to mumble something again. An intense dizziness hits in, as my surrounding darken itself; all the light inside my field of vision are gradually swept away as the colour black itself seeps in. I slowly lose my conciousness. Maybe I shouldn't mess with him after all. Ah, so cold. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 9->Chapter 9]]

He stares at me, bewildered. His eyes widened as his lips slightly tremble; not another word uttered from his mouth. "Impossible— you— No. It's just a wild and general guess. Only the Sages know about the real deal." Bingo. "I wouldn't be that sure; the members in Magica are in, many ways, more powerful than the rest of the Familia. So, it's entirely possible that you're forming an alliance within Magica Familia, which if I'm not mistaken, there should be only one shady organisation in control of the lands in Magica. The Dark Dwellers, isn't it? In fact, if it wasn't for that little girl, Jean Doe, that appeared 300 years ago, the Magica Familia probably would have won the whole world under the Sages' lead." "How—how do you know her name? In the records of the first generation of The Four Cardinal Sages, only they are on the scene, with the girl, a Jack and a... John. John Doe. No, wait. You were dead, along with the girl. They lost their power because of the girl, it couldn't be a hoax. There shouldn't be anymore Blanks in this century. No." So, those aren't my memories, but are passed down to me by that first generation John Doe. He's a Blank. A Blank? "I'm sure you already know what my power is, Sage Houst. Do I need to demostrate it?" He takes a few steps back from me. "No. Stay away! You will not take my power away! BACK OFF!" Taking power away? (if: $crystal is not "no")[Or rather, absorbing it. That's why I couldn't use Jane's crystal at that time, but only channel the enery to me.](else:)[Or maybe absorbing it?] Rendering their power useless. Making them a complete... blank. That's what Blank is. That's why my sister stopped the war, because she sacrificed herself to assimilate all the enourmous energy from The Four Cardinal Sages. But how exactly did she do it? A sudden outburst? "You. You Sages ruined their lives, no, my life back then. Who is that King Jax? Tell me or you shall suffer a fate worse than death. ENLIGHTEN ME, SAGE HOUST." "No! NO!" he clumsily falls to the ground, as both his servants stare at him. I don't feel any changes; it looks like that approach didn't work. But, I got his attention distraught and managed to stand back on my feet. He exhales sharply. "You—You're underestimating a Sage, John!" he takes off his scroll-holding-belt on his waist and throws it upwards. One by one, the scrolls displace themselves from the holder, opening as the words etched on them start to vanish into particles. Focus. What do I have? I don't have the knife, nor the crystals. Damn it. They were all in my bag. But I can try to absorb anything that comes towards me now that I have a good grasp of what I can do; I'm immune to spells other than hallucinative ones, which is why I wasn't affected in the dungeon. Do I have anything else? [[Chant the spells that Jane told me.]] [[Absorb and neutralise whatever that comes at me.]]

I start to chant it inside my heart: may the star casts its grace upon you... "John Doe. 21 years old. Descendant of King Jax." ...may the sky envelopes its darkness to those who stand before you; agonizing, wishing... "Blank," some spell circles are now created beneath, and above of my head. They are circling me, layer by layer, in an irregular manner, as if they are trying to achieve a perfect equilibrium state. Then, his screams continue to overlap with my inner voice. "By the name of The Four Cardinal Sages, I." ...for I... "HEREBY." ...seek not to protect or destory... "DECLARE." ...but to be... "YOU." ...your greatest nightmare. "DEAAA—" "Shinva." A dark cloud of mist then surrounds him, seemingly flowing into his mouth, trying to choke him to death. He gestures something with his hand, the spell circles that are surrounding me dissappear, and re-appear near him, clearing the mist in his mouth. He forces himself to stand up, hands moving randomly, as if he's trying to grab onto something, "COME OUT, JOHN!" A look at his face and I instantly understand what happened. //'May the sky envelopes its darkness to those who stand before you'//—his pupil has turned white, along with the rest of his eyes. He's become blind. "JOHN DOE! YOU CANNOT STOP US." Before I could react to him, the girl servant stabs his heart from his back with a small steak knife. He yells in pain as he slowly kneels in front of me. I look down at him; he's barely holding up, pulling out the knife embedded on his heart. He breathes heavily, as red fresh blood drips from the edge of his mouth. After catching his breath, he slightly raises his head up, "There is... no peace without war, John! We were not the only one eager to start it, and we will not be the last that want to watch the world burn, and evolve. A world where only the strong lives, where no one will be afraid of anything anymore. You will soon see it with your own eyes—this is just the beginning." His legs start to disintegrate, followed by his body; he's being teleported away. He smiles at me, "You lose, John. Now I know there's a Blank alive." Then, his body vanishes like it was never here. Sage Houst, and the rest of the Sages, they are on a different level than the disposable Peace Squad members that they sent in here. From his words, a war is inevitable. A horrible, deadly war. Now, only two of his servants stand before me. Hazel doesn't reveal any emotions but just give me a simple smile before throwing the book down, and leaving the throne room through a pair of wooden doors at the corner. Grazel is staring at me, eerily. "Yo, John." she says. [[Next page->next page50]]

Now that I have gotten the hang of it, I think I'm able to counter his attack. All I need is just to imagine channeling the power or energy directed at me through my body. "John Doe. 21 years old. Descendant of King Jax. Blank," some spell circles are now created beneath, and above of my head. They are circling me, layer by layer, in an irregular manner, as if they are trying to achieve a perfect equilibrium state. Then, his screams continues "By the name of The Four Cardinal Sages, I. HEREBY" Here it comes. "DECLARE." I raise my left hand up, and my right hand down, with my palms facing the circle spells. "YOU." I clench my teeth. "DEAAAAAD!" "JOHN, NO!" The spell circles synchronized with each other, but disappeared in that instant. I take a look around me, only to realise that there's no one around me. The throne room is now empty. But then, something is shot through my heart. This sensation is nostalgic; I've felt this before in that dream. Am I... dead? My knees give in by themselves as I fall flat to the ground. Unable to move another even a muscle of my body, my heavy eyelids close by themselves. Soon, I can no longer hear my heart beats. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 9->Chapter 9]]

"Yo? Who are you? And why did you try to kill him?" "I'm but of many identity, John," she takes out a mask with an 'X' cross on its forehead, two pointy ears on the sides, two vertical eye holes and a sealed red wide-smiling-mouth. She then wears it on her face, with her jawline exposed. Then, the shape of her body figure begins to change. A muffled voice comes from behind the mask, "I'm a passerby who saved you in the forest, an old shopkeeper at Olympiaa, a young herbalist, a knight's reliable informant, and a dwarf reeks of alcohol. But most importantly, you know me as your brother—//Jack//." His shape settles into a young male figure, about the same height as me. I stare at him, dazed. "Jack.... You're a Shapeshifter." "Yes, John. And I have lived more than 300 years. It's both a gift and a curse, really. Having no other magical abilities than changing my apperance, it was tough and tedious trying to gather all those items. Oh, and back to your question; I stabbed him because I have already gathered the last item I need. That, you will need. And well, I didn't expect he would escape like that; but that shouldn't be a problem for now." "I don't get it. What—Why are you doing this?" "Because you're my brother, John. Not you //you//, but the first generation John Doe—which, I've made sure that Magissa made you recall his memories." "So, she was talking about you." He sits himself down on the ground, a few feet away from a tiny pool of blood left by Sage Houst. Then, he looks up to me. "Yes, and because you've been reincarnated for more times than I can count, where you die for stupid reasons, I just need some backup to babysit you. That's when your dear friends, Blaze and Bossman come into play. They are also a part of The Big Five after all." I sit across him, looking into his eyes. [["The Big Five?"->next page53]] [["Stupid reasons?"]] [["Your mask is creepy."]]

"I didn't expect I'll see the girl here again in this tournament. She was standing alone—just as you were—inside the Babylona kingdom awaiting instructions that day. She has those cold, fierce eyes that scared all the Challengers who approached her because of her rare red hair. And in the first four days, besides you, I would sometimes ended up seeing her camping alone, preparing her own meals and setting up her own defensive measurements. She was always reading a book though, and a few knights that tried to harass her almost died in her traps." Jack then chuckles. "Sure an interesting one, so I set the two of you up on the last day of the first challenge." I realise something. "Right, the last day: the day when you saved me from the Peace Squad mage. What happened to me on the days before? Why can't I remember anything prior to that day?" "Right," he snaps. "I almost forgot to mention that. The night of the fourth day, one of the Sages chanted a spell to sweep through all the Challengers while they were sleeping; it's sort of like an aptitude test to see if they belong to the class that they claimed they are in. Your ability hasn't been activated at that time, but just to be safe, I wiped everything in your memory that may reveal your true identity. The memory loss for the first five days of joining the tournament, I think that was just a side effect of the potion. No need to worry." "That's why... I ... That Peace Squad mage probably ambushed me in my sleep," I take a deep breath; it all starts to make sense now. "Now that you have explained everything to me, are you gonna use me?" "Oh, brother John. I wouldn't. It's your right after all. Though gathering all these items is more than just a hassle," he takes out the things he stuffed in his pockets, which consists of rings, crystals, small blades, pieces of paper, a rock, strings of hairs and many other random stuffs. [[Next page->next page52]]

He adds, "The rule is that I need to trade with all the classes inside the four Familia, even the sub-clasees—in a mutual agreement—for me to obtain their belongings. That Sage Houst is a jerk that lets those Cecyloniaa Knights in for what he wants, but he did hand me his scroll when I disguised as Grazel, so all I had to was to wait for you to be teleported here. Amazing resistance you put up, by the way." He stands up and takes a few steps closer to me; my face and his mask is only a few inches apart. "Now then, enough chit-chat." he switches his tone to a deeper one, placing his pinkie on my forehead. "Decide whether or not you will bear the destiny of John Doe; a figure that can neither symphatize nor emphathize, a figure that do not and cannot exhibit any emotions or feelings, a figure that analyze things logically, efficiently. You who does not seek to reach any goal, but to enjoy the thrills of it. You who evades death through magical means, and neutralize power directed at you to nil. Zilch. Naught. Nowt. Null. Zero. Na-da. Nothing. None. Into a complete //blank//." He pauses and slightly tilts his head to his left. "Be careful of your next words, brother John; once you accept, you can reverse the time and stop The Four Cardinal Sages from the very beginning. But you'll have to pay a price for it—for everlasting peace. Or, you could reject to being a hero and try to stop the war that is on the brink of eruption with your pals lying in the maze." He then tilts his head to his right. "There's no right or wrong, brother John. The choice is, ultimately yours. You are, the protagonist in this story." [["I'll accept this destiny."]] [["I shall deny this destiny."->Chapter 10 start]]

"Oh, that's a story for another day. Now you just need to know that we won't harm you //yet//. Ok, don't you want to know about your previous lives?" "...Sure." "Yes! Story time," he claps his fingers. "You've always been reckless, brother John: First reincarnation, you were born as a farmer child, died drowning while trying to save a rabbit that fell into river, with a branch. Second one, born as a golem, died from high fall and crushed your life core after placing an injured bird back to its nest. Third one, born as a wizard, died of blood loss after failing to kill a silver-haired wolf that was targeting a young deer. Many instances I tried to save you, only to have you get yourself killed again and again." He pauses and I'm pretty sure he's looking at me behind his mask. I smile awkwardly at him. He sighs. "This is your only reincarnation that has ever lived this long, brother John. There was a girl you met when you were still young; she was cutting her red long hair by the river, eyes a bit puffy. A green snake tries to sneak up to her and you, of course, were on an adventure with your father, saw that and tried to defend her with a branch. I saw you standing like a swordsman and thought you were really gonna make it but... she saved you instead."—he chuckles before laughing out loud—"Oh—oh, and she lectured you good!" I can feel my body heating up by itself, as my face slightly redden; I do vaguely remember something about that, so it was her who prompted me to seek more knowledge rather than just applying brute force in my subsequent adventures. Maybe her lecture was what kept me alive until now. Jack then calms himself down, before locking his eyes on me again. "Oh, but I am surprised of one thing." [[Next page->next page51]]

(if: (history:) contains "\"I'll accept this destiny.\"")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"I am John."//) (set: $c9ach to $c9ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]Jack slightly lifts his mask up, enough to reveal his mouth, "Goodbye, brother John. (text-style: "condense")[Yam u evah on sterger]." After he moves his pinkie away from my forehead, the views that I'm seeing starts to change at a dizzying rate. Backwards. And it stops at one starry night, where The Four Cardinal Sages are breathing frantically, shouting at each other in anger, inside a jungle. They do not have any scrolls with them. Without any hesitation, I clench my right hand into a ball of fist, imagining I'm crushing their heart. They all then simultaneously fall flat to the ground, with blood spilling out of their mouth. The scene, in the next moment, changes to the interior of four different castles. The Sages' wifes, their children, their adopted sons and daughters—I wipe them all. If there's no descendant, then there's no need to worry anymore. It's common sense. Logical. Clean. However, afterwards, my memory becomes all murked up; it feels like a large potion of it has been eaten away but I cannot stop. Not that I've made it this far. The world, knowing that The Four Cardinal Sages are gone, celebrated it. With my power, I eliminated half of the people in Magica Familia that I have suspicion on starting the war. I destroyed an organization known as 'The Dark Dwellers' and reclaimed the peacefulness in four of the continents. I united the four kingdoms in The Other World, chose a few predecessors that I've come to trust over the years to guide, and to maintain the order of the rest of the world. Corruption has been reduced to minimum. Those with evil intentions are either jailed or executed. People need not be afraid of the wicked anymore. I established a system and a council to monitor the world, protecting and destroying lives based on their judgement. The people are much more obedient and free to live their life, as long as they do not cross the rules. Following the years to come, there's not been a single bar fight or even intense squabble reported. The world is truly peaceful now; I did it. [[Next page->next page53.1]]

As I breathe my last breath, a part of my memories come flooding into my mind: I see flashing scenes inside a maze, where many people were lying on the ground, with swords impaled on their back. Right, they were some of the strongest threats that would crumble my plan. I had to eliminate them, by ending their destiny there. But my memories stop at one particular scene, one with a red-haired girl and a silver knight. The silver knight was still clinging onto his shield until the very end, and the red-haired girl is shown clenching her fist. Staring at the both of them, I feel a strong, strong bitter taste in my mouth. My heart aches. They look so desperate... like they were trying to protect something. Do I... know them? "I'm Jane." "Hill, Cliff Hill." They both stand in front of me, waiting for my response. But I start to sob and cry. And I don't know why. As my eyelids becomes heavier and heavier, my eyes close by themselves. "I—I'm... John," I say, in my heart. Cliff gives me a proud smile, while Jane smiles playfully at me. I smile back at them, tears dripping on my face, "Just... John." (align: "=><=") [**THE END** . . . ?] (link-goto: "Re-choose my destiny", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 9->Chapter 9]]

<hr></hr> <span class="first-heading">(align: "=><=")[**Chapter 10**]</span> <span class="sec-heading">(align: "=><=")[**"The Beginning of the End"**]</span> (if: (history:) contains "Chapter 10 start")[ ](else:)[(set: $c10ach to 0)] (set: $c9checkpoint to "yes") (set: $chaptertag to "Chapter 10") <hr></hr> (align: "==>")[ [[Proceed->Chapter 10]] [[Main Menu->Main Menu]] [[Achievements->Ach]] ((colour: "#65169e" )[**Checkpoint saved!**])]

(if: (history:) contains "Chapter 10")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Inception]** (//"Time: Invalid."//) (set: $time to 1) ]"...What?" Jack presses his pinkie deeper into my forehead. "I will not bear this destiny, Jack." He exhales sharply. "I have a feeling it might have ended up like this, you've just gotta waste it, don't you?—Evviva!" Something is shot into my heart. He lifts his pinkie away from me, but it bounces back to my forehead and before being repelled away. He stares at his pinkie. I stare at him. "Evviva? What just happened?" He looks at me. "Oh, don't worry. 'Evviva' is just a chant that I add to cancel this whole thing. But more importantly, brother John, have you ever signed a contract with God of Magica before?" "Umm... yes." He gazes at me for a few seconds, before giving me a dismissive shrug. "Oh well, things like these happen. It appears that you have sucked away a small portion of the Blank's power. With enough emotions to fuel, you might just be able to create a miracle or two. But, other than that, despite your immunity to certain spells—which even I'm not sure how many of them—you're just an ordinary, normal-looking adventurer now. To be frank, this is a real waste; but, since only a Blank's blood is compatible to achieve this activation, I guess there's no other way. It works for us as wel—" "Jack!" someone walks in through the door that Hazel has left earlier. "Are you done with your reunion?" She then closes in on us, "Hey John. Magissa here!" "Right. I'm sure the two of you have already met; she's also one of the Big Five and a mentor to Hazel and Grazel." Magissa clings onto Jack's arm. Jack clicks his tongue. "Our relationship is kinda complicated. But, she's here to send you back into the maze. Afterwhich, about half and hour later, all of the remaining Challengers will be automatically teleported back to where you guys start—our original world, which I assume has plunged into chaos right now." "Well, it is." Magissa says. "33 days have passed there; the time here has been slowed down by thrice the speed. A sun sets here, two days have already flown by back in our world. That's why we must go now, Jack!" "Fine, fine." he says. "John, I need to remind you that Sage Houst is not as weak as he looked. Neither is any of the Sages. Sage Houst, in particular, wasted a large portion of his energy toying with you all in the maze he has kept for a while, altering your perception of time, and weather. That's why he retreated that easily. But since they use their power to keep you all here, the number of Challengers teleported here are limited, and its effects are wearing off. Do not underestimate him, or any of the Sages, brother John." "Ooowww, you're such a protective little brother, Jack!" Magissa pokes his nose. Jack clicks his tongue again. "Send him back already." "Wait," I say. [[Shake Jack's hand.]] [[Do a fist bump with Jack.]] [["I'll leave Jack in your care, Magissa."]]

"Sage Thorn is the ruler of this kingdom, Olympia." she replies. "The name, Olympiaa was given to this kingdom, built by our first king, Sage Thorn I about a few hundred years ago. We are a self-sufficient kingdom with our own farms and plantations that has feed everyone in this kingdom for centuries. Above all, we value harmony the most." As she searches my bag, I take a look around my surrounding. I turn back slightly, and see a gang of people standing in line behind me. Scars on their faces and arms—the most identifiable traits for bandits. I take a second peak, and notice one of them is wearing an eye-patch on his left eye, has a cape on, and is bigger, taller than the rest. My instinct instantly whispers to me that, "//He's the leader//." However, one thing has been bothering me since I step into this kingdom: only the guards and the civilians have apple-sized words 'NC' floating above their head. What are these? Just as she is finishing the search on my bag, one of the bandits with spiky hair threatens the other guard, "Huh? You want my boss' axes?" He moves towards the guard with his dagger, pressing it on his chin and asks, "Do you want mine too?" "Blaze." the one-eyed leader stops him, with a deep voice. "But bossman, he..." "Enough." the leader says. However, out of frustration, Blaze pushes the guard down. And at that instant, Blaze coughs and vomits blood. The other bandits immediately back away from him, watching him kneeling alone there, trying to breathe. The leader, however, walks to him and carry him up on his shoulder. And after placing both his big battleaxes down, he moves on to settle Blaze under an olive tree, that is right beside the walls of the rampart, inside the kingdom. "You're free to go now. Enjoy your stay.(text-style: "condense")[Yam u evah on sterger.]" says the female guard as she hands me my bag, snapping me off from my stunned state that I was in. I... [[Go towards the olive tree, and offer help.]] [[Head towards the colosseum, there's no time to waste.]]

"You're welcome," she replies. "Would you like to know about the history of Olympiaa?" "Ummm... maybe—" She cuts me off before I get to finish my sentence, "Olympiaa was the name given to this kingdom, built by our first king, Sage Thorn I about a few hundred years ago. We are a self-sufficient kingdom with our own farms and plantations that has feed everyone in this kingdom for centuries. Above all, we value harmony the most." As she searches my bag, I take a look around my surrounding. I turn back slightly, and see a gang of people standing in line behind me. Scars on their faces and arms—the most identifiable traits for bandits. I take a second peak, and notice one of them is wearing an eye-patch on his left eye, has a cape on, and is bigger, taller than the rest. My instinct instantly whispers to me that, "//He's the leader//." However, one thing has been bothering me since I step into this kingdom: only the guards and the civilians have apple-sized words 'NC' floating above their head. What are these? Just as she is finishing the search on my bag, one of the bandits with spiky hair threatens the other guard, "Huh? You want my boss' axes?" He moves towards the guard with his dagger, pressing it on his chin and asks, "Do you want mine too?" "Blaze." the one-eyed leader stops him, with a deep voice. "But bossman, he..." "Enough." the leader says. However, out of frustration, Blaze pushes the guard down. And at that instant, Blaze coughs and vomits blood. The other bandits immediately back away from him, watching him kneeling alone there, trying to breathe. The leader, however, walks to him and carry him up on his shoulder. And after placing both his big battleaxes down, he moves on to settle Blaze under an olive tree, that is right beside the walls of the rampart, inside the kingdom. "You're free to go now. Enjoy your stay.(text-style: "condense")[Yam u evah on sterger.]" says the female guard as she hands me my bag, snapping me off from my stunned state that I was in. I... [[Go towards the olive tree, and offer help.]] [[Head towards the colosseum, there's no time to waste.]]

After their small reunion, Alice invites us back to her house that is at the edge of the village. The whole village is quite big and well-developed with the business appears to be blooming: there are many local shops, a forge, a shrine, small restaurants and even some large inns. On our way, we pass through a small, busy market. There are already several groups of Challengers that have arrived, and a distinctive group of exactly 12 knights wearing with black eye masks and red plate armours— without any helmets—caught my attention; I've never seen them in the colloseum before. They are walking and browsing around the market, the three knights walking in front of their group especially, stare at us as we walk pass them. Jane is holding Anne's hand leading us, smiling and chatting. Anne seems to have calmed down. Alice is walking beside Cliff and I—because Cliff is now carrying me on his back—her face looks like she is struggling to ask a question. "My dad... was he properly buried?" "We did our best," I say. "Under the largest oak tree, near the big field in the nearest forest from here." "I see.... Thank you." "What was... his name?" I ask. "Arthur." "Don't you want to know—what happened to your dad?" Cliff asks the question that I couldn't bear myself to. She answers with a gentle smile, "My dad, he's taught us how to live by ourselves ever since our mother has passed away. He loves us more than anything but has never once, made any promises to us before he leaves the home. Just a smile and a wave. He'd never leave Anne by herself, so seeing her all alone with the three of you—" "We're sorry." Cliff says, his voice lowered into a whisper. Alice didn't show much reaction, but only slightly shakes her head and says, "It's ok. It will be hard to move on, but we'll make it through. We always do." [[Next page->next page10]]

"Looks like she really cares about you, Alice." I say, shifting my eyes to Alice. "Yes. Thank you, Jane." Alice says as she hugs Jane. "What are you doing, get off,"—Jane pushes her away—"it's only logical that the strong protect the weak. We were told that growing up, and we trained for that. So showing weakness is not an option—that's what my Pop Pop used to say." Alice seems to ignore her excuses and attempts to hug her again. //Used to//? What happened to her "Pop Popp-?" I ask, with my voice accidentally heightened. Her face grows even redder now. She immediately hides her face in both her hands and turns her head sideways to face Alice; Alice hugs her. I stare at her, wondering why she's blushing, while Anne is staring at both of them. But Cliff swiftly changes our conversation, "So what are your plans, John? Hugo would be harder to handle than you think; but, you will find him an interesting rival though." "A rival?" "They say he's like a devious wolf that can go for both brute force and sweet talks: he has never lost any battle that was under his command. Many Lords tried to assasinate him to seize his power, but none has ever succeeded because of Igor and Sonia. And instead, the lords themselves were all exposed for corruption. But, he normally doesn't pay much attention to others, so I think the thing you pulled off against the Berserker might be why he's shown interest on us. For the better, or for worse, that is." "So he could be a friend or foe then," I say. "It'd indeed be interesting to see how this go." "So... we just walk into the wolf's mouth?" Jane asks. The red on her face has subdued a little but she's still averting my eyes and is facing Alice. Alice has stopped hugging her. Somehow, Anne is now hugging her. Maybe Anne decided that she wants to join in the fun. Cliff asks again to clarify, "Tonight?" [[Smile and say "Tonight."->next page11]] [[Simply nod at the two of them.->next page11]] [[Stand up, slam the table, saying "Yes."->next page11]]

I wait for another minute; there's no response from Hugo. I call out his name. No response. I call Igor's group. No response. But the light is still moving forward in front of me. Something is wrong. "Guys, we are going to speed up a bit." I urge them. "What's wrong?" Jane asks. "John?" Cliff adds as we move faster forward. I reach out to the light, trying to tap the shoulder of the figure holding it. But just as I am near enough... pwooof! Nothing is there. Empty. Na-da. The light fades away immediately. I stop walking. "This is bad," I say. "We've been following an illusion." "Since when?" Cliff asks. "Somewhere within half an hour. Valentina, are we still on the right path?" Valentina crouches down and put her map on the floor. She then pours a purple potion on it. We circles around her. "This here is us," she points at a purple dot. "And that is Hugo's group: the red dot. Igor's group is right beside us, this green dot that we are overlapping with. This map is updated real-time." "Beside us?" Jane asks. "There's no one else here but us, ma'am." Leo says. And he is right, the forest has fall into deep silence without us realising it; devoid of any signs of life, or hope. Our voices are the only sounds eerily echoing in the air. "Son of a goat," Cliff curses. "Yes." Noah says. [[Next page->next page15]]

"That's our cues, boys." Hugo says. "John, could you send anyone in your team to check on them?" "Cliff, can you do the pleasure? Also, take Valentina." "Fine, but promise you'll tell me everything afterwards." Cliff says as he tries to make a pinky swear with me. "Geez," I say, hooking my pinkie to his. This feels oddly nostalgic. "Let's go, //honey//." Valentina says as she grabs Cliff by his hand. "Master Hugo, permission to join them." Leo cuts in. "Oh-ho? You too?" "Yes, Master Hugo. I want to help Master Igor." "Ah... repaying the debt. I remember he picked you up as an apprentice from the orphan because you were the smallest one. Says he want to give hope or something. Well then, off you go as well. //Chop chop//." "Thank you very much, Master Hugo." And... off they went, vanishing into the hug of the mist. [[Next page->next page17]]

After a while, we finally manage to catch a glimpse of a floating light. Then, we slowly see Hugo's figure. He's inside a massive, spacious room, thumping skeletons with his brass knuckles. This room is a dead-end; looks like this is the final stage or something. Once we step inside, the path behind us is sealed with a wall. Tons and tons of the skeletons are spawning out from the furthest wall perpendicular to us, equipped with large club-like-bone as their weapons. A few hits should be able to crush them but they are, of course, binded by magic that restore them in a few seconds by levitiating their bits of bones and re-assembling them. Two thing I remember about these skeletons: they are undead, meaning that they are invulnerable to physical and offensive spell attacks; they move slowly but in a super-sized horde, meaning you can outrun but not outnumber them. Hugo could probably still hold them back for a while, Noah has healing abilities, (if: $path is "no-ring")[and I only have a goldish crystal that Jane gave, along with some old scripts.](else:)[and I have both a goldish crystal, some old scripts, with the dead mage's ring. But, using prohibited spells against undead is likely futile, plus I have no idea how to even activate it.] "J! Do you want to play too?" Hugo asks. "No!" both Noah and I shout at him. But, he grabs two of the skeletons by their legs, rotate a full circle with them, and shout at us, "Here. You. Go!" before hurling the skeletons to us. I dodge, but the two of them hit Noah, which Noah simply just kicks away like they are toys. "Nicely done, big guy!" Hugo shouts. Great, now a horde of them has changed their target to us. We are going to be buried under a heap of bones at this rate. What can I do? [[Try to use the crystal.]] [[Try to think of something else.]]

The hordes are now gathering together, and the skeletons from the walls have stopped pouring out. Ok, just a little bit more. "Noah, I want you to hit them back—as hard as you can—to where Hugo is. Then, heal them." After listening to me, Noah looks like he's about to swing his arms again, but he stunned. He turns his head towards me. He's likely waiting for me to correct what I've said or just assumed that I said something wrong. "Yes, Noah." I emphasize. "Heal them all." Noah then contract his arms again, and then extends them out, pushing them backward in one large whoosh; all the skeletons are propelled towards Hugo. "JJJJ!" "Now!" Noah extend his arms out and claps his hands, then after a few second, small cracks form around the area where Hugo is, emitting green light. The cracks overlap, and become larger and larger, covering almost half the room that we're in. "More!" I say. Noah claps his hand again, the green light becomes stronger and the cracks have covered a third quarter of the room. Noah then releases his hand and the healing begins. The skeletons droptheir club and are all standing there like they are being electrocuted, heavily shaking but not producing any gruntling sound at all. It's almost like there's a massive awkward dancing contest being held here, while Hugo stands there looking around as if he's in the wrong place at the wrong time. The healing stops after a minute, with the skeletons all turned into dust. A divine spell against the undead—it worked. Hugo is still aimlessly standing there, but he's looking a bit better and recharged. Suddenly, a tingling sensation creeps into me. I look at my feet, and to my surprise, they are being disintegrated. Looks like I'm going to black out aga- [[Next page->back to surface]]

A warm feeling then wash away these thoughts—someone is holding my hand; my right hand. The hands are a bit coarse but it's so warm, so comfortable. Then, an electric-like shock jolts through my body and springs me awake. I'm now inside a cave, Jane is by my side, looking at me, surprised. Her pointy hat is nowhere to be seen, and she had taken her gloves off. She's gently wraping my hand inside both her hands; she notices me staring at her hands, and quickly let go of it. But, I managed to grab one of her hands back. "Just for a little while." Her face turns red, yet she only nods and didn't let go. I take a few breaths to try and calm myself. I can hear footsteps closing in behind me. "Oh, is he awake? Let me go get Lev." "Wait, Sonia... could you give us a moment first?" "Wh—Ok... Jane. I've prepared the lunch, others have also gathered there. Just come when he's feeling better." Jane nods, and the footsteps fades away. Only the chirping sounds of bird can be heard now; it's so peaceful here. My heartbeat has slowed down to its normal rate. I look at Jane, her face isn't as red as before anymore; she is still sitting beside me, holding my hand, and looking at me with that worried face of hers. Not a single word uttered from her lips, as if she's waiting for my answer, for me to say something. Ah... right. She's always been unable to find the right words in these situations. [[Confide, and tell her what happened.]] [[Don't tell her anything yet.]]

"You're much more daring now, Miss Sonia. I didn't know you and Jane go along this well." "Let's say life-and-death situation can change someone, Lev. But I'm sure you already know it." Hugo pauses for a while and laughs. He looks back at me, "Come and eat, John. Let me tell you what you have missed out when you were soundly sleeping." I look around and only can count three other people besides us: Sonia, Jane, and Vincent. Vincent is lying under a tree, staring at us, like his whole body has been paralysed or something. Noah has healed himself, and is sitting beside Hugo around the campfire, eating their share of stew. This means that the three of them were together when they were sent to dungeon, which also means Cliff, Valentina and Leo are in a group as well, and they have not finished their challenge yet. Igor should be stuck with two other knights in a group as well. "Come, J!" Hugo repeats, as he pats the empty ground beside him. I sit beside Noah, which is across from Hugo. Noah hands me his bowl of stew with his large stone hand; I decline. Hugo is looking at me, somewhat disappointed. I grab my own bowl of stew and begin sipping on it. The first thing Hugo says to me is, "Vincent got stung by a bee. On his buttcheek." I snortle out the soup. Glaring at him, I say, "Thanks, Hugo." He then adds, "Sonia had to princess-carry him." I snortle again; whatever's left in my mouth has definitely all poured out through my nose. He grins at me. "My pleasure." As I stand up to clean myself, I can vaguely hear a distant shout. We become alerted to our surrounding, trying to trace the source of the voice. "Anyone? ANYONE HERE. JOHN. JANE." a voice sounds like Cliff is shouting for attention. [[Next page->next page21]]

Two of the knights have already waken up since then, and are served the new pot of stew. Only a few moments later, Leo shouts "Master Igor!" to which we all assume Igor has awaken as well; which, he has. But he's still looking dizzy, and appears to be checking his surrounding, seemingly searching for something or someone. "Igor," I call him. "Hugo has left with Sonia to Pantheona a few hours ago." He stops and looks at me. "I see. Much thanks." "Wait, Master Igor, I'll get you some stew now." Leo says, before rushing to scoop a bowl of stew and present it to him. "Thanks, Leo." Igor says. "You two, stand up now. Prepare to depart." He's talking to the two knights that are kneeling before him. They rushed to him as soon as they heard Leo's shout, and has been kneeling since then. But still, Igor's really something. His first instructions upon waking up is to catch up with Hugo, even though he almost died earlier—I can see why Hugo put so much trust on him. "But Master Igor, your injury," Leo says. "He's right. At least rest for a few minutes first." Jane says. "If your wounds open again, then it'd only be worse for you." I add, to justify their concerns. "But I mus—" "Arggh, stop complaining and just rest already!" Cliff shouts. He shifts his eyes between the three of us, and Cliff that is sulking beside Valentina. And after letting out a small sigh, "Fine. 10 minutes." Leo smiles. Then, Igor slowly sips his soup while he chats with Leo and the two other knights that are now sitting beside him. Leo's expression has become less tensed up compared to earlier, he's relaxed his shoulder as well. They thanked us before departing to Pantheona. Igor also personally went to where Noah is resting and offered his gratitude by bowing to Noah. More and more groups have cleared the trial and camped near the end of Leiden Forest since this morning. So, I suggest that we should spend the night in one of the inns in Patheona instead, to avoid any possible threats or theft of our Berries. And with Cliff carrying Valentina on his back, Noah carrying Vincent like a princess, Jane and I take the lead, we head off to the kingdom that sits in the orangish horizon. It's already evening by the time we leave Leiden Forest, and under the rich gold shine of the sunset, I can vividly see our lengthened shadows, seemingly still clinging to Leiden Forest. [[Next page->next page23]]

"Me? To help the poors, of course!" Of course, I don't even need to ask him why. "Don't you want to know why?" "Eh... no need." "Oh, come on!" "Ok, why?" "Because I was born rich. The discrimanation against underprivelleged, corruption of a part of nobility, and power abuse of Lords—they have been sweeped under the rug for a long time in my kingdom now, because no one dares to oppose them. So I'd like to use the wealth and be the first noble to overthrow those who are depraved. I want to have the power to do so, to prove that I'm not just another spoiled rich kid." "I'm surprised," I say. "I thought you only wanted a larger shield." Jane chuckles. Cliff attempts to kick me from my back, but almost slips himself. I then ask Jane about how the spells work, and also briefly explain the things at the forest to Cliff, as promised. Before long, we reach the main wooden gates of Kingdom of Pantheona. This kingdom is also surrounded by a tall rampart, but less imposing than the ones in Olympiaa, and it looks like they were poorly maintained. A few guards there welcomed us, with quite an unpleasant look on their face. One of them steps forward. "Greetings, Challengers. Welcome to Pantheona—the Land of the Truth, ruled by Sage Houst the IV. Please pay one silver Nico each before entering." [["ONE SILVER NICO?"]] [["Land of the Truth?"]] [[Try to lie to get in.]]

Some of the folks here did pull my hand and ask me to join them in their dances but I refuse. I then go inside a tavern that I saw some Challengers were already grouping at. Poker, boozes, darts—some Challengers are really letting go of themselves after the trials at Leiden Forest. "Hello, adventurer." a Challenger greets me as I walk into the tavern. Fluffy ears, sleek tail, sharp fangs and grey hair—I'd never thought I would be able to see a half-werewolf standing in front of me. They are said to have excellent sense of hearing and smell, nimble movement, fast, and furious. However, they normally only appear inside Deminia, one of the kingdoms in our world where only demi-humans live in. Since there's prejudice against the Demi-humans class, they do not normally wander out. Other Challengers have also noticed him and are looking at him, talking amongst themselves. "You're not gonna greet me back?" he asks. "Oh, my bad. Hello, I'm John." "I'm Kenzo." he says. "So you're John." He then signals two hooded figure to approach us from his back. I take a step back from him. "No need to be so alarmed, John." he says. "These here are my party's members, meet twin sister—Iris and Ivy." They stop a few steps from me. Right at this moment, the time froze. Everyone around me has stunned in place. Or rather, they are moving //very, very, very// slowly. Astonishingly, and alarmingly so. [[Try to move.->next page24]] [[Scream for help.]] [[Stay as still as a rock.]]

"Let's just calm down, everyone." Kenzo says. "John, do you remember Elaine? We were with her group when the fight with the Berserker went down. We were just about to join the fight if there weren't a knight and a red-haired girl told us off. Elaine later told us about a normal-looking human named John who orchestrated the fight. So, after we got seperated from Elaine in the Leiden Forest, we decide to head here directly, in hope to search for you before midnight. If this fails, we would have to proceed with our original plan." Kenzo seems to be the most socializable demi-human among them, and likely the coordinator to whatever they are up to. "Before midnight? What do you guys plan to do?" "It's..umm.. complicated. But in short, there's going to be a trade-off in one of the warehouses in the snowy side of this kingdom soon. We are planning to destroy both the parties and retrieve back what is ours. And if possible, we'll like to strip off the very foundation of that business as well." Kenzo explains to me. "But just as humans don't trust Demi-humans, we couldn't fully trust you either. I'll only explain more if you agree to help us." "yes mister john... we are willing to do anything to get this done. can you help us, please?" "Just make your decision already, perv! Let's get this over with!" These all sound serious.... The looks on their faces, they have been planning this for a while now. This might have something to do with their races, which may relate to how the social scale works here. Either way, I should think really carefully before deciding. [[Help them, with a condition.]] [[Stall them first, try to get help from Jane or Cliff.]] [[Think up of an excuse to reject them, and try to run back to inn.]]

"What? Why? Do enlighten us //Mr. John//." Ivy says. "From the sketch that you gave me, the warehouse although is spacious, but it is also a square shape. The reason that the guards are placed at the corners, is so that they can see each other; thus, since we can only eliminate one group at a time, it will instantly raise two other groups' suspicions. Plus, how do you guys plan to attack them with the first rule being enforced?" "Violators are punished through spells," Kenzo says. "If we have defensive barrier that are strong enough, counter-acting it or minimizing the damage would be possible. But, since this plan might not work. I assume there's only one option left." I pause. //Punished through spells//? Of course. That's how the execution works, from the outside. I look back at Kenzo. "Yes, we'll have to infiltrate from the inside. But if it goes wrong, we might harm the goods—" "We cannot harm them!" Ivy slams our table with both her hands, standing up furiously. Her slam silenced the entire tavern, as the Challengers look at her. She's angry... but her eyes, they are not just filled with rage, they also reflect that she's desperate. Iris tugs her shirt and calls her name to calm her down. She looks at Iris, takes a deep breath and would only sit back down afterwards. "The goods—they are demi-humans, aren't they?" I ask, after seeing her reaction. "If I'm not mistaken, they are children that haven't manifested their power fully, which makes they vulnerable against those kidnappers. This trade-off, they are just sellin—" Iris places her hand on top of mine; I stop myself from continuing. Explaining these things like they are just puzzles, or games might just be a bad habit of mine. I then clear my throat. "I... would need a friend of friend to help in this case," I say. "He's a ...ummm... Hunter." [[Next page->next page 26]]

"Ha! Luckily I didn't need to kill you," he adds. "I don't think we share the same sentiment on this.... But, the pleasure is mine. Send my regards to your commander, and take care of the children." "I—We will." Kenzo says. Before long, they are already standing in a group with the children, while the Cecylonia Knights that are still alive are tied together in another group. Igor activates the teleportation trinket to send the knights away while Ivy chants her own teleportation spells. Some of the children wave happily at us, while some are still in shocked state. Kenzo, Ivy and Iris made one last bow to us before disintegrating. And we did too, following Igor's lead. "So they were the demi-humans Hugo talked about, glad we are able to help them." Igor suddenly blurts out. "Yeah... it was another long night." I say. "Well then, we'll take our leave here, //John//." Sonia says. "We too." I say, dragging Vincent back to the inn with me. He's still looking a bit dreamy. Wait... half-elves' kisses? I remembered something: they are said to be blessings given to those who they are grateful for, and in some cases, their first crush. No wonder Vincent is so damn happy. I look up to the sky, half of the sun has already rosen. Dawn. It tinted away the darkness we've just been through like water ink, as it shoots its orangeness straight into our eyes. What does dawn symbolise again? Nevermind. As we return to our inn, I walk past a dwarf reeking of alcohol, holding a banner that says "Prophecy". He stops me with a "yo" and asks if I'd like to trade an item for a prophecy; I check my pockets. (if: $path is "no-ring")[I don't have anything left, not even Jane's crystals because it's in my backpack. So, I reject him. But he changes his words and insists on giving me one. He says to me, (align: "=><=") [**"Petals will fall, with a golden hope it hauls. And with one single answer, you will either save, or kill them all."**]](else:)[Since I still have the dead mage's ring and it's completely powerless now, I trade that for a prophecy. He then says to me, (align: "=><=") [**"Petals will fall, with a golden hope it hauls. And with one single answer, you will either save, or kill them all."**]] I simply nod at him and then we are already on our way back. My tiredness has almost reached its max. I can't process anything anymore. I go to room 103, and knock on it: no response. Out of a sudden, Vincent pours a potion on me that forces me to blink multiple times. "I put up a barrier that confuse others who tried to go into our room," he says. I rub my eyes and notice that I'm knocking at room 106, three rooms ahead of ours. "What happens if I didn't know this?" "Then you'd have knocked an empty room." he replies. So I go back to our real room, and take a nap. A few minutes after I get to sleep, Cliff shakes me up. "John, it's almost noon," he says. "What?" I ask, half-asleep. "We have to go now. Why are you and Vincent in such a wretched state though?" he asks. A few hours of sleep felt just like a few minutes—I don't think I've ever been this tired before. I yawn. [["One more... minute."->next page30]] [["Ugh... I'll explain later."->next page30]] [["Let me just get ready first."->next page30]]

"Oh? You're not getting away this easily." Hugo slides his claws futher into Blaze leg. A palpable expression of pain shows in Blaze's face for a second but he quickly switches it to a grin. "Aye, this job might not worth it after all." Blaze shifts his eyes towards me. "I'll leave it to her now." Blaze pulls back his dagger from Hugo's heart and stabs it onto Hugo's right hand. Hugo lets out a yell in pain, which made him retracts his claws. Igor jump in at this moment to cut Blaze but Bossman managed to pull Blaze back before the slashes reach him. The ground's creak has become larger, and opened widely in front of us, drawing a boudary line between our side and theirs. That Earth Wizard has improved much since then. As Bossman carries Blaze away, Blaze two-fingers salute us before pointing it at Hugo. "Yer' interesting, knight," he then switches his hand sign and waves at us, "Byeeee!" They then rejoin the wizard, and two other bandits that remained, before vanishing into the jungle. Seeing their figure disappear from our eyes, Sonia crouches down and attend to the wounds of Hugo, who is half-sitting. She pulls out a scrap from her clothes and circles it around Hugo's hand. Then she pours a potion on his hand, which instantly healed it. Hugo glances at me, before looking at Igor. "Igor, tie John up." I intended to ask him why, but after seeing what unfolded before me, I didn't need to. He likely thinks that I have some sort of deep connection to Blaze and Bossman. Even though I couldn't harm him or Sonia, or Igor, he still wouldn't fully trust me yet; it's because I'm still a threat to him. So, I voluntarily place both my hands behind me as Igor wrangles them up with a rope. I can hear Igor's whisper behind me, ridden with a bit of guilt, "It's nothing personal, John. I hope you don't mind." [["It's ok."]] [["Oh, I do mind. I only barely know them for a day. But for us, after so much things that we've been through, I thought that you guys would at least trust me more than this. Now, I'm just mad at how fragile our bonds are."]]

There's a Griffin lying a few steps away from us. It's bleeding, while quietly whining. Bloods are gushing out of both its 10-feet-long large wings. But there are no visible weapon marks on it, only burnt traces. Fire spells. Likely Magica members. But in any cases, it's definitely a trap. "It's a trap." I say. "Definitely a trap," Clff adds. "I know," Jane says. "I can sense a few Magica members hiding their aura, scattered around the bushes, likely waiting for an ambush. From their sloppy removal of their elemental traces, at least 3 of them did this." "So they are baiting us with a wounded Griffin," Cliff says. "Shall we accept their invitation then?" "We shall," Jane says. "But, I'll go first. Don't come out before I signal." These two... sometimes they work so well together it surprises me. Jane's left leather glove in now glowing in her hand; she gently rests it on the tree for a few seconds, and the glow fades away. She then takes the first step out of our hiding spot and approaches the Griffin; a pool of red scarlet blood is already formed under its wings, soaking a small part of it. Jane heals the Griffin with her right glove. Half a minute passes, and the Griffin seems to be more relaxed now. Jane is likely using the extensive properties of woods element to catalyse the regeneration of the wings' cells, which also gives a sense of calm and serenity to the Griffin. I didn't know elements can also be manipulated like this. One minute in, and she coughs. Cliff then walks up to her, followed by me. Going out unarmed like this would be quite dangerous, but I don't want to surprise them. Cliff's knife or Jane's crystal might be useful; however, a knife might look too hostile, while a crystal requires a certain response time that I don't think I can chant faster when it comes to experienced mage. But, luckily, there are some big stones and sharp branches lying on the ground. [[Pick up a stone.]] [[Pick up a branch.]] [[Pick up a branch and a stone.]]

"Enough, Oscar," Oddie says. "Grandpa, this shithea—" "Not another word," Oddie repeats himself. "You know full well that if we kill Mr. Cliff now and cannot protect his head in the remaining hours, we'll all //perish// together." Exactly. Since the rules are announced one by one, the third rule mentioned the abolishment of the second one, referring to 'no killing other Familia's members'. But this is only true if and only if—as stated in the fourth rule—the group who kill other Familia's members are confident enough that they can secure Cliff's head at the end of the round, to reach their objective. In short, anyone can kill any one of the Challengers, if they can reach the objective at the end of 24 hours. This is a bloody free-for-all situation, and Sage Houst is enjoying himself with this. "Then what about the girl?" the other caster asks. Oscar has stood back to where he was in silence, but he's scowling at me. "She's also a caster, do what you want with her. As for the knight, just don't kill him." Oddie says. Oscar and the other caster are now ogling Jane. "You can try," Jane says, her words are much more chillier than the ice cones pointing at us. Her bloodslust is also palpable from her red eyes. Oscar and the other caster take a step back, their face looks a bit frightened. "Silver Protector, you have my back, right?" I say, without turning my head to him. "Always," he replies. "Mr. Cliff, looks like you think I'm playin—" At this moment, Jane whistles. The tree that she touched earlier suddenly starts to shake vigrously. They are all startled by it and is now looking at it. I take a step back from them. [[Throw my branch at the old man.->end1]]

I throw my branch at the old man. He reacts in time, directing his power to erecting an ice shield in front of him. The ice cones pointing at us have dissolved. "Now!" I shout. I can hear Cliff yelling and probably charging towards the two wizards behind us. Some tree branches are shot from the top of tree, puncturing the hands of the casters. They let out a loud yell in pain. And swiftly, I slide between between them and when I'm close enough to the icy barrier, I stop myself using my left shoulder as a cushion. I then leap to the side, and in one quick movement, I throw the stone at him. He deflects it with his hand and shifts his wand to me, piercing a sharp ice blade into my heart. I muster the strength that I still have and punch him in his face. Then, I kneel down, spitting out blood, trying to grasp for air. "Knowledge can't beat experience, Mr. Cliff," he says. "It's a shame I have to kill your friends now." He swings his wand again, and ice cones are sent straight towards Cliff and Jane. Cliff is holding back the two wizards with his shield. Multiple ice cones shot to his back, penetrating his armour. It makes him puke a pile of blood, but he's still standing with his shield. He makes one last swing with his shield, which knocks one wizard away; he then charges towards the other. Jane manages to form a wooden shield that blocks the ice cones but Oscar grabs one of his crystals and shot a few fireballs that blast Jane's back. She claps her hand, and a few more branches are shot through Oscar and the other mage's skull. They then collapse onto the ground. I glower at Odie; because I can no longer move. My body has reached it limit. He kneels beside me, "So touching." Then, my vision begins to blur and narrow. Looking at Jane and Cliff's lifeless body, my surrounding fades into pure darkness. Ah... //so cold//. (link-goto: "Take a step back", $lastPassage) [[Return to Chapter 6->Chapter 6]]

"Enough, Oscar," Oddie says. "Grandpa, this shithea—" "Not another word," Oddie repeats himself. "You know full well that if we kill Mr. Cliff now and cannot protect his head in the remaining hours, we'll all //perish// together." Exactly. Since the rules are announced one by one, the third rule mentioned the abolishment of the second one, referring to 'no killing other Familia's members'. But this is only true if and only if—as stated in the fourth rule—the group who kill other Familia's members are confident enough that they can secure Cliff's head at the end of the round, to reach their objective. In short, anyone can kill any one of the Challengers, if they can reach the objective at the end of 24 hours. This is a bloody free-for-all situation, and Sage Houst is enjoying himself with this. "Then what about the girl?" the other caster asks. Oscar has stood back to where he was in silence, but he's scowling at me. "She's also a caster, do what you want with her. As for the knight, just don't kill him." Oddie says. Oscar and the other caster are now ogling Jane. "You can try," Jane says, her words are much more chillier than the ice cones pointing at us. Her bloodslust is also palpable from her red eyes. Oscar and the other caster take a step back, their face looks a bit frightened. "Silver Protector, you have my back, right?" I say, without turning my head to him. "Always," he replies. "Mr.Cliff, looks like you think I'm playin—" At this moment, Jane whistles. The tree that she touched earlier suddenly starts to shake vigrously. They are all startled by it and is now looking at it. I take a step back from them. [[Throw my stone at the old man.]] [[Throw my branch at the old man.]]

"Sylphs," she says to us. "An ogre I saved told me about them before: he said they seek joy in surrounding things that captures their attention, possesively so, until the things' soul vanish. Didn't know those booze talks were real." I'm not sure if I should be amazed that Sonia also knows things about mystical creatures, especially Sylphs that I've never heard of or that she saved an Ogre and had a drink with him. "Both of you have this stupid confused look on your faces now," she says. "It's annoying." I look at Hugo and he's already regained back his usual composure. He looks back at me. "Yeah, J. Get a hold of yourself." //BOOM// Suddenly, a loud firework thunders the sky above us. "//'ello Challengers!// 42 of you remaining, nice! I will release more dangerous beasts now. So... //chuckles// ... good luck! Oh, and... I hope you already have the head by now. Yours sincerly, Sage Houst." Three sparkly words then gradually form on the dark sky, lighting up our moonless night, marking the end of previous hours that we spent inside this maze. I look around me, before staring at the sky again. Even though the three words have now taken a complete shape, but my heart—it feels like a piece of it is missing. (align: "=><=")[**"12 HOURS LEFT."**] [[Next chapter->Chapter 7 start]]

"Lives, John. Saving lives with your recklessness: First reincarnation, you were born as a farmer child, died drowning while trying to save a rabbit that fell into river, with a branch. Second one, born as a golem, died from high fall and crushed your life core after placing an injured bird back to its nest. Third one, born as a wizard, died of blood loss after failing to kill a silver-haired wolf that was targeting a young deer. Many instances I tried to save you, only to have you get yourself killed again and again." He pauses and I'm pretty sure he's looking at me behind his mask. I smile awkwardly at him. He sighs. "This is your only reincarnation that has ever lived this long, brother John. There was a girl you met when you were still young; she was cutting her red long hair by the river, eyes a bit puffy. A green snake tries to sneak up to her and you, of course, were on an adventure with your father, saw that and tried to defend her with a branch. I saw you standing like a swordsman and thought you were really gonna make it but... she saved you instead."—he chuckles before laughing out loud—"Oh—oh, and she lectured you good!" I can feel my body heating up by itself, as my face slightly redden; I do vaguely remember something about that, so it was her who prompted me to seek more knowledge rather than just applying brute force in my subsequent adventures. Maybe her lecture was what kept me alive until now. Jack then calms himself down, before locking his eyes on me again. "Oh, but I am surprised of one thing." [[Next page->next page51]]

"Thank you. I'm glad you like it. Would you also like a story?" "...Sure." "Ok, story time," he claps his fingers. "You've always been reckless, brother John: First reincarnation, you were born as a farmer child, died drowning while trying to save a rabbit that fell into river, with a branch. Second one, born as a golem, died from high fall and crushed your life core after placing an injured bird back to its nest. Third one, born as a wizard, died of blood loss after failing to kill a silver-haired wolf that was targeting a young deer. Many instances I tried to save you, only to have you get yourself killed again and again." He pauses and I'm pretty sure he's looking at me behind his mask. I smile awkwardly at him. He sighs. "This is your only reincarnation that has ever lived this long, brother John. There was a girl you met when you were still young; she was cutting her red long hair by the river, eyes a bit puffy. A green snake tries to sneak up to her and you, of course, were on an adventure with your father, saw that and tried to defend her with a branch. I saw you standing like a swordsman and thought you were really gonna make it but... she saved you instead."—he chuckles before laughing out loud—"Oh—oh, and she lectured you good!" I can feel my body heating up by itself, as my face slightly redden; I do vaguely remember something about that, so it was her who prompted me to seek more knowledge rather than just applying brute force in my subsequent adventures. Maybe her lecture was what kept me alive until now. Jack then calms himself down, before locking his eyes on me again. "Oh, but I am surprised of one thing." [[Next page->next page51]]

(if: (history:) contains "Scream for help.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"When in doubt, scream for help."//) (set: $c5ach to $c5ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]I try to open my mouth, but to no avail. My conciousness is clear, but I cannot move an inch of my body. Is someone attacking me? Or is it another dreadful illusion? "hi mister john." One of the hooded figure lifts her hood down, greeting me. Then the other one also lifts her hood down, complaining, "Hmph! Why do we have to talk to mortals like him?" She then grabs Kenzo's hand-paw. Kenzo instantly got freed out his frozen state. The three of them are now staring at me. "My apologise, John. This here holding my hand is Ivy, while the shy one staring at you is Iris. They are—as you might have already guessed—half-elves. Iris is a half light-elf, while Ivy is half dark-elf. And they— we, mean no harm." Kenzo explains. Half elves are already rare enough but both dark and light elf as twin sisters? That's a fearful combination. Half-elves are rumoured to have outstanding magical abilities, such as teleportation, time manipulation, invisibility and strong defensive spells. Dark elves have a special ability to shroud people in darkness, also claimed as //dark magic//; light elves have the ability to activate divine spells, such as healing or breaking curses. However, their skills are more to defense than attack, and once their energy are depleted, they can be easily killed like any human. I snap out of my thoughts when someone holds my hand. It was Iris, the relatively shy light-elf. I am able to move again. "thank you for saving us." she says to me, in a voice almost sounded like a whisper. "Saving you?" I ask. "Duh, are you too old to remember recent things?" Ivy says. She has a light brown skin, darker than Iris'; both of them have pointy ears, and are about one feet shorter than me. They also look several years younger than me; but then again, in their life years, they would be around 1600 years old now. Upon closer look, Iris has a white short hair with black butterfly hairpin, and cylindrical doll-like capsule hanging on her waist-belt; Ivy has a double ponytails, with white butterfly hairpin, and is wearing a star-shaped locket. "What are you looking at, pervert!" Ivy shouts at me. "At your body," I say. Wait, that came out wrong. //PIAK// I didn't mean to phrase it like that. Is this because of the truth spell thing that the guards mentioned? Ok then, let me test something; I add, "It's not that impressive." Yeah, this might become a problem. //PIAK// "Perv!" "Those came out wrong. I apologise." I say, because now Ivy—I meant, Iris is looking at me with fear that I might do something to her because she's holding my hand. [[Next page->next page25]]

"hi mister john. are you ok?" One of the hooded figure lifts her hood down, greeting me. Then the other one also lifts her hood down, complaining, "Hmph! Why do we have to talk to mortals like him?" She then grabs Kenzo's hand-paw. Kenzo instantly got freed out his frozen state. The three of them are now staring at me. "My apologise, John. This here holding my hand is Ivy, while the shy one staring at you is Iris. They are—as you might have already guessed—half-elves. Iris is a half light-elf, while Ivy is half dark-elf. And they— we, mean no harm." Kenzo explains. Half elves are already rare enough but both dark and light elf as twin sisters? That's a fearful combination. Half-elves are rumoured to have outstanding magical abilities, such as teleportation, time manipulation, invisibility and strong defensive spells. Dark elves have a special ability to shroud people in darkness, also claimed as //dark magic//; light elves have the ability to activate divine spells, such as healing or breaking curses. However, their skills are more to defense than attack, and once their energy are depleted, they can be easily killed like any human. I snap out of my thoughts when someone holds my hand. It was Iris, the relatively shy light-elf. I am able to move again. "thank you for saving us." she says to me, in a voice almost sounded like a whisper. "Saving you?" I ask. "Duh, are you too old to remember recent things?" Ivy says. She has a light brown skin, darker than Iris'; both of them have pointy ears, and are about one feet shorter than me. They also look several years younger than me; but then again, in their life years, they would be around 1600 years old now. Upon closer look, Iris has a white short hair with black butterfly hairpin, and cylindrical doll-like capsule hanging on her waist-belt; Ivy has a double ponytails, with white butterfly hairpin, and is wearing a star-shaped locket. "What are you looking at, pervert!" Ivy shouts at me. "At your body," I say. Wait, that came out wrong. //PIAK// I didn't mean to phrase it like that. Is this because of the truth spell thing that the guards mentioned? Ok then, let me test something; I add, "It's not that impressive." Yeah, this might become a problem. //PIAK// "Perv!" "Those came out wrong. I apologise." I say, because now Ivy—I meant, Iris is looking at me with fear that I might do something to her because she's holding my hand. [[Next page->next page25]]

I extend my hand out to Jack. "Thank you. And our—your sister, Jean, did you—" the words stuck at my throat. I now understand the heavy feeling that weighted inside Alice when she asked us about her father; it's painfully bitter. He extends his hand, and shake on mine. "Worry not, John. She was rested in a field of sunflowers. People in this century might not know her name anymore, but as long as both of us do—her love will not be in vain. Isn't it?" I smile at him. "You're damn right." Jack nods at Magissa; she waves her wand. "See you again?" I say, letting go of his hand. "Maybe yes, //maybe no//. I'm everywhere, John. Take care of yourself, and your pals too." As Magissa waves goodbye at me with her other hand, I feel my body being warped and sucked into something. I black out. [[Next page->next page54]]

I hold out my fist to him. He shoots me a confused look. "Are you trying to punch me?" "No," I say. "It's a signature move a dear friend of mine showed me; you bump it with your fist." "Like this?" he bumps my fist. "Jeeez, watching you two are awkward." Magissa says. "John, are you ready?" "Jack," I call out. "Our—your sister, Jean, did you—" the words stuck at my throat. I now understand the heavy feeling that weighted inside Alice when she asked us about her father; it's painfully bitter. He pats my shoulder. "Worry not, John. She was rested in a field of sunflowers. People in this century might not know her name anymore, but as long as both of us do—her love will not be in vain. Isn't it?" I smile at him. "You're damn right." Jack nods at Magissa; she waves her wand. "See you again?" I say. "Maybe yes, //maybe no//. I'm everywhere, John. Take care of yourself, and your pals too." As Magissa waves goodbye at me with her other hand, I feel my body being warped and sucked into something. I black out. [[Next page->next page54]]

"Roger that," she salutes me with her other hand. "And Jack," I say. "Thank you for everything, Our—your sister, Jean, did you—" the words stuck at my throat. I now understand the heavy feeling that weighted inside Alice, when she asked us about her father; it's painfully bitter. He pats my shoulder. "Worry not, John. She was rested in a field of sunflowers. People in this century might not know her name anymore, but as long as both of us do—her love will not be in vain. Isn't it?" I smile at him. "You're damn right." Jack nods at Magissa; she waves her wand. "See you again?" I say. "Maybe yes, //maybe no//. I'm everywhere, John. Take care of yourself, and your pals too." As Magissa waves goodbye at me with her other hand, I feel my body being warped and sucked into something. I black out. [[Next page->next page54]]

I wake up back in the maze; not having any flashbacks or dreams or any of the sort, just a sense of calm and tranquility. "Our princess is finally awake," Hugo says, cleaning his bare knuckles at a distance from me. Igor is also wiping his longswords, sitting beside Hugo. Majority of the Challengers have already woken up, walking around aimlessly; they are perhaps waiting for announcement by Sage Houst since there's a large countdown timer that shows '00:00' at the sky. Elaine is staring intensely at me; I turn my head away from her. "John! You ok?" Cliff asks, panting towards me from Valentina's direction. "Yes," I say. "I almost died though." He shoots me with a questioned look but decides that he'll have to postpone it until later. He tells me that, "Other than Elaine's group, only Jane and Valentina are still stuck in their dreams." to which I see Sonia sitting beside Jane, polishing her metal bow. But she is obviously just using that to divert her worries. Her concern is palpable on her face. "Stay with Valentina first, she should wake up anytime now." I say to Cliff, before walking up to Jane. "...You're sure taking your sweet time." Sonia says, without looking at me. "Something unexpected happened," I say. "How is Jane doing?" "She's stronger than you think, John." Sonia says, switching her glance from her bow, to me. "I'm sure you've already realized what these dreams were when they haunted you. She must have too by now; yet, she's still trying to change the outcome. Tried to wake her up, but—she just won't give up." There's a limit to how much negative emotions that one can bear, if this persists, it wouldn't do any good for her; I need to do something. I kneel down beside her. [[Hold her hand.]] [[Gently pat her head.]] [[Let Sonia hold her hand.]]

I try to hold her hand; but, she's grasping them into fists, tightly. So instead, I wrap both my hands around hers. "Jane." Her eyebrows are furrowed, but she's still breathing heavily, sweating hard. She seems to be running, in her dream. "Jane," I call her again, summoning my softest voice possible. I need to calm her down first; she's still struggling. "Sometimes, it's hard to give up. But... I want you to give up now. Let go." Her breath gradually slows down, as I continue, "You do not need to be strong all the time. You have us. We are all waiting for you here, and we'll always be; //especially Sonia//." Little by little, she relaxes her fist. I hold her hand, curling my fingers into her fist and sit myself down beside her; her eyes have become a bit teary but are still closed. "Jane... it's ok to not be ok.... If you want to cry, just cry. As loud as you want. Tear the sky apart. Until you can smile again—" She suddenly wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me closer to her. As I embrace her hug, I can hear her sobbing softly. All these years, she must have had held it in, with no one to tell her stories to, no one to cry to. The guilt and grief that has built up insider her is unfathomable. She might have tried to escape this memory for a while now, but deep down, she still clings on it, never letting go of this regrets. Her breast is firmly pressed against my chest, and her warm, sticky tears slide on both sides of my cheeks; I try to back up a little but she wouldn't let go yet. "Jane, you're such a baby," I say. "Shut up," she says, still keeping me close to her. "Just this once." Sonia smiles at me, saying, "Jane, would you mind giving your big sister a hug as well?" Jane whispers a shy "thank you" beside my ear, before switching side to Sonia and hug her. Of course, Sonia welcomes her with open hands, as she pats her head. They both chuckle together. "Must be nice being you," Vincent says. His head suddenly appears on my right; I flinch to my left. "Yeah," Hugo says, standing behind me. "Umm... where's Cliff?" I ask. "Being hugged by my ugly sister." Vincent says, pointing at them a distance behind me. "Cliff gave her one minute to do so." "More importantly, J." Hugo says. "Sage Houst is nowhere to be seen, and Princess Elaine is eager to get an answer now. You don't happen to know anything about this—//do you//?" I chuckle nervously. The truth spell should be weakened by now, and in just a few more moments we'll be teleported back to our world. Maybe I should come clean to him. [["Why... of course not!"]] [["Maybe he... overslept?"]] [["About that, well, I... blinded him."]]

I stroke her head. "Jane." Her eyebrows are furrowed, and she's still breathing heavily, sweating hard. She seems to be running, in her dream. "Jane," I call her again, summoning my softest voice possible. I need to calm her down first; she's still struggling. "Sometimes, it's hard to give up. But... I want you to give up now. Let go." Her breath gradually slows down, as I continue, "You do not need to be strong all the time. You have us. We are all waiting for you here, and we'll always be; //especially Sonia//." Little by little, she relaxes her fist. I hold her hand, curling my fingers into her fist, and sit myself down beside her; her eyes have become a bit teary but are still closed. "Jane... it's ok to not be ok.... If you want to cry, just cry. As loud as you want. Tear the sky apart. Until you can smile again—" She suddenly wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me closer to her. As I embrace her hug, I can hear her sobbing softly. All these years, she must have had held it in, with no one to tell her stories to, no one to cry to. The guilt and grief that has built up insider her is unfathomable. She might have tried to escape this memory for a while now, but deep down, she still clings on it, never letting go of this regrets. Her breast is firmly pressed against my chest, and her warm, sticky tears slide on both sides of my cheeks; I try to back up a little but she wouldn't let go yet. So, I pat her head again. "Jane, you're such a baby." "Shut up," she says, still keeping me close to her. "Just this once." Sonia smiles at me, saying, "Jane, would you mind giving your big sister a hug as well?" Jane whispers a shy "thank you" beside my ear, before switching side to Sonia and hugging her. Of course, Sonia welcomes her with open hands, as she pats her head. They both chuckle together. "Must be nice being you," Vincent says. His head suddenly appears on my right; I flinch to the opposite side. "Yeah," Hugo says, standing behind me. "Umm... where's Cliff?" I ask. "Being hugged by my ugly sister." Vincent says, pointing at them a distance behind me. "Cliff gives her one minute to do so." "More importantly, J." Hugo says. "Sage Houst is nowhere to be seen, and Princess Elaine is eager to get an answer now. You don't happen to know anything about this—//do you//?" I chuckle nervously. The truth spell should be weakened by now, and in just a few more moments we'll be teleported back to our world. Maybe I should come clean to him. [["Why... of course not!"]] [["Maybe he... overslept?"]] [["About that, well, I... blinded him."]]

"Did you remember what I told you about you being a bad liar?" Hugo says. "No?" "Spit it out, J." "What is this I hear about Sage Houst?" Elaine suddenly appears, with some Challengers behind her. She is crossing her arms, looking down at me. (if: $Zoey is "alive")[Zoey and Chloe are also with her; the wound on Zoey's right arm has been closed, but her arm is not there anymore. Yet, only Chloe's eyes are red and puffy. I stand up and bow to Zoey. "Thank you." If she didn't tackle me back then, I would have likely gotten myself decapitated without knowing why. She saved me, even if she wasn't intending to. I'm fully aware of this, and I think they both are, as well. "You better be," Chloe says. Now that I've noticed it, she has a short neo-wave hairstyle, while Zoey who is stunned there, has straight long hair with curly ends. Zoey only smiles at me, a bit flustered, waving her left hand in denial.](else:)[Chloe is also with Elaine, but her eyes are red and puffy. I stand up and bow to Chloe. "Zoey... she saved my life." If Zoey didn't tackle me back then, I would have likely gotten myself decapitated without knowing why. She saved me, even if she wasn't intending to. I'm fully aware of this, and I think Chloe is, as well. She stuns for a while, before replying, "Don't waste it." I look back up on her. Now that I've noticed it, she has a short neo-wave hairstyle, and sea blue eyes; but her eyes are somewhat empty inside.] Elaine then steps between us. "You better not change the topic, John. Tell us what happened." Now, the rest of the Challengers are all crowding in a circle around me. Jane and Sonia have also stood back up on their feet, looking at me, likely wondering what's going on. "Stoooop!" Cliff shouts as he runs towards me. "Guys, give him some space!" He shouts his way to squeeze into the crowd, and stands before me. Then, he swings his shield while yelling "Back! Back!" to keep them at least few feet away from me. They are all dumbfounded by his sudden action. He gives me a thumbs up. "The stage is all yours, Prince John." [[Chuckle]] [["What would I do without you?"]] [["Effective as always, Silver Protector."]]

"I hardly think so, J." Hugo says. "You were in your dreams longer than usual, and you woke up refreshed. Surely, it wasn't your regrets that took you this long?" "Umm... " "What is this I hear about Sage Houst?" Elaine suddenly appears, with some Challengers behind her. She is crossing her arms, looking down at me. (if: $Zoey is "alive")[Zoey and Chloe are also with her; the wound on Zoey's right arm has been closed, but her arm is not there anymore. Yet, only Chloe's eyes are red and puffy. I stand up and bow to Zoey. "Thank you." If she didn't tackle me back then, I would have likely gotten myself decapitated without knowing why. She saved me, even if she wasn't intending to. I'm fully aware of this, and I think they both are, as well. "You better be," Chloe says. Now that I've noticed it, she has a short neo-wave hairstyle, while Zoey who is stunned there, has straight long hair with curly ends. Zoey only smiles at me, a bit flustered, waving her left hand in denial.](else:)[Chloe is also with Elaine, but her eyes are red and puffy. I stand up and bow to Chloe. "Zoey... she saved my life." If Zoey didn't tackle me back then, I would have likely gotten myself decapitated without knowing why. She saved me, even if she wasn't intending to. I'm fully aware of this, and I think Chloe is, as well. She stuns for a while, before replying, "Don't waste it." I look back up on her. Now that I've noticed it, she has a short neo-wave hairstyle, and sea blue eyes; but her eyes are somewhat empty inside.] Elaine then steps between us. "You better not change the topic, John. Tell us what happened." Now, the rest of the Challengers are all crowding in a circle around me. Jane and Sonia have also stood back up on their feet, staring at me, likely wondering what's going on. "Stoooop!" Cliff shouts as he runs towards me. "Guys, give him some space!" He shouts his way to squeeze into the crowd, and stands before me. Then, he swings his shield while yelling "Back! Back!" to keep them at least few feet away from me. They are all dumbfounded by his sudden action. He gives me a thumbs up. "The stage is all yours, Prince John." [[Chuckle]] [["What would I do without you?"]] [["Effective as always, Silver Protector."]]

(if: (history:) contains "\"About that, well, I... blinded him.\"")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"Honesty is the best policy (III)"//) (set: $c10ach to $c10ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"...You what?" Vincent asks. "Surely you're joking, J." Hugo looks at me. I give him an awkward smile. "Son of a goat. You did blind him. How? No, why? No, you know what—scratch that. Tell me //everything//." "What is this I hear about Sage Houst?" Elaine suddenly appears, with some Challengers behind her. She is crossing her arms, looking down at me. (if: $Zoey is "alive")[Zoey and Chloe are also with her; the wound on Zoey's right arm has been closed, but her arm is not there anymore. Yet, only Chloe's eyes are red and puffy. I stand up and bow to Zoey. "Thank you." If she didn't tackle me back then, I would have likely gotten myself decapitated without knowing why. She saved me, even if she wasn't intending to. I'm fully aware of this, and I think they both are, as well. "You better be," Chloe says. Now that I've noticed it, she has a short neo-wave hairstyle, while Zoey who is stunned there, has straight long hair with curly ends. Zoey only smiles at me, a bit flustered, waving her left hand in denial.](else:)[Chloe is also with Elaine, but her eyes are red and puffy. I stand up and bow to Chloe. "Zoey... she saved my life." If Zoey didn't tackle me back then, I would have likely gotten myself decapitated without knowing why. She saved me, even if she wasn't intending to. I'm fully aware of this, and I think Chloe is, as well. She stuns for a while, before replying, "Don't waste it." I look back up on her. Now that I've noticed it, she has a short neo-wave hairstyle, and sea blue eyes; but her eyes are somewhat empty inside.] Elaine then steps between us. "You better not change the topic, John. Tell us what happened." Now, the rest of the Challengers are all crowding in a circle around me. Jane and Sonia have also stood back up on their feet, staring at me, likely wondering what's going on. "Stoooop!" Cliff shouts as he runs towards me. "Guys, give him some space!" He shouts his way to squeeze into the crowd, and stands before me. Then, he swings his shield while yelling "Back! Back!" to keep them at least few feet away from me. They are all dumbfounded by his sudden action. He gives me a thumbs up. "The stage is all yours, Prince John." [[Chuckle]] [["What would I do without you?"]] [["Effective as always, Silver Protector."]]

(if: (history:) contains "Let Sonia hold her hand.")[ ](else:)[**(colour: "#1c8c1c")[Achievement unlocked!]** (//"I'm a gentleman (II)"//) (set: $c10ach to $c10ach + 1)(set: $totalach to $totalach + 1) ]"Sonia, could you hold her hand for me?" "I could," Sonia says, wrapping both her hands on Jane's right fist. "But, what are you planning to do?" In times like these, physical contacts is important to instil a sense of warmth and comfort, to let her know that she's not alone. "Jane," I call out. Her eyebrows are furrowed, and she's still breathing heavily, sweating hard. She seems to be running, in her dream. "Jane," I call her again, summoning my softest voice possible. I need to calm her down first; she's still struggling. "Sometimes, it's hard to give up. But... I want you to give up now. Let go." Her breath gradually slows down, as I continue, "You do not need to be strong all the time. You have us. We are all waiting for you here, and we'll always be; //especially Sonia//." Little by little, she relaxes her fist. I sit myself down beside her, her eyes have become a bit teary but are still closed. "Jane... it's ok to not be ok.... If you want to cry, just cry. As loud as you want. Tear the sky apart. Until you can smile again—" She suddenly wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me closer to her. As I embrace her hug, I can hear her sobbing softly. All these years, she must have had held it in, with no one to tell her stories to, no one to cry to. The guilt and grief that has built up insider her is unfathomable. She might have tried to escape this memory for a while now, but deep down, she still clings on it, never letting go of this regrets. Her breast is firmly pressed against my chest, and her warm, sticky tears slide on both sides of my cheeks; I try to back up a little but she wouldn't let go yet. "Jane, you're such a baby," I say. "Shut up," she says, still keeping me close to her. "Just this once." Sonia smiles at me, saying, "Jane, would you mind giving your big sister a hug as well?" Jane whispers a shy "thank you" beside my ear, before switching side to Sonia and hugging her. Of course, Sonia welcomes her with open hands, as she pats her head. They both chuckle together. "Must be nice being you," Vincent says. His head suddenly appears on my right; I flinch to the opposite side. "Yeah," Hugo says, standing behind me. "Umm... where's Cliff?" I ask. "Being hugged by my ugly sister." Vincent says, pointing at them a distance behind me. "Cliff gave her one minute to do so." "More importantly, J." Hugo says. "Sage Houst is nowhere to be seen, and Princess Elaine is eager to get an answer now. You don't happen to know anything about this—//do you//?" I chuckle nervously. The truth spell should be weakened by now, and in just a few more moments we'll be teleported back to our world. Maybe I should come clean to him. [["Why... of course not!"]] [["Maybe he... overslept?"]] [["About that, well, I... blinded him."]]

I chuckle. Cliff notices, and chuckles along with me. "Oi! The two of you," Elaine shouts. "Stop grinning and start explaining." Now, their attention is directed to me. I cannot escape now; so, I explain everything that's happened between me and Sage Houst. Everything, except the fact I'm a Blank and Jack's my brother. So, they only know something along the line of how I come to blind Sage Houst, Jack's narrative on The Four Cardinal Sages' plot, and the real world's situation as of now. "No way." Vincent says. "You mean the wish, the power—they are all nothing but a hoax?" The other Challengers start to make a commotion, debating whether what I said is true or not; they are talking to each other, panicking. Hugo covers his mouth with his right hand, eyes starting blankly at the ground. Elaine stands frozen. Igor and Sonia's expressions remain unchanged, as they await Hugo's next words. Jane's at loss of words. Noah... well, he's standing as still as a stone. Oddie charges at me and grabs me by my collar. "Is this true? Are you saying that I can no longer revive my grandchildren? Are you happy now? Are you?" "Stop," Cliff tries to push him back. "Calm down. John didn't mean for it to end up like this." Cliff seperates him a few feet away, but he points at me. "You kill them, John. Them, and all of our wishes! You wasted all our time! Their lives! All because you don't want to give him your head! You little shit!" I look at him, unable to find any words to counter back. Maybe if I have traded my head for their lives back then, Sage Houst would at least let a wish to be granted. From their perspective, I've just demolished their hope to dust, and sprinkle it on their head. The world that we are returning to—maybe, there already isn't one. [[Next page->end]]

"Live, John." he smiles at me. "You'd better not die." I smile back. "Maybe." "Oi! The two of you," Elaine shouts. "Stop grinning and start explaining." Now, their attention is directed to me. I cannot escape now; so, I explain everything that's happened between me and Sage Houst. Everything, except the fact I'm a Blank and Jack's my brother. So, they only know something along the line of how I come to blind Sage Houst, Jack's narrative on The Four Cardinal Sages' plot, and the real world's situation as of now. "No way." Vincent says. "You mean the wish, the power—they are all nothing but a hoax?" The other Challengers start to make a commotion, debating whether what I said is true or not; they are talking to each other, panicking. Hugo covers his mouth with his right hand, eyes starting blankly at the ground. Elaine stands frozen. Igor and Sonia's expressions remain unchanged, as they await Hugo's next words. Jane's at loss of words. Noah... well, he's standing as still as a stone. Oddie charges at me and grabs me by my collar. "Is this true? Are you saying that I can no longer revive my grandchildren? Are you happy now? Are you?" "Stop," Cliff tries to push him back. "Calm down. John didn't mean for it to end up like this." Cliff seperates him a few feet away, but he points at me. "You kill them, John. Them, and all of our wishes! You wasted all our time! Their lives! All because you don't want to give him your head! You little shit!" I look at him, unable to find any words to counter back. Maybe if I have traded my head for their lives back then, Sage Houst would at least let a wish to be granted. From their perspective, I've just demolished their hope to dust, and sprinkle it on their head. The world that we are returning to—maybe, there already isn't one. [[Next page->end]]

He sweeps one of his foot behind him, and bend his knees outward to me, hands pretending to lift the hems of a dress. "Oi! The two of you," Elaine shouts. "Stop staring at each other and start explaining." Now, their attention is directed to me. I cannot escape now; so, I explain everything that's happened between me and Sage Houst. Everything, except the fact I'm a Blank and Jack's my brother. So, they only know something along the line of how I come to blind Sage Houst, Jack's narrative on The Four Cardinal Sages' plot, and the real world's situation as of now. "No way." Vincent says. "You mean the wish, the power—they are all nothing but a hoax?" The other Challengers start to make a commotion, debating whether what I said is true or not; they are talking to each other, panicking. Hugo covers his mouth with his right hand, eyes starting blankly at the ground. Elaine stands frozen. Igor and Sonia's expressions remain unchanged, as they await Hugo's next words. Jane's at loss of words. Noah... well, he's standing as still as a stone. Oddie charges at me and grabs me by my collar. "Is this true? Are you saying that I can no longer revive my grandchildren? Are you happy now? Are you?" "Stop," Cliff tries to push him back. "Calm down. John didn't mean for it to end up like this." Cliff seperates him a few feet away, but he points at me. "You kill them, John. Them, and all of our wishes! You wasted all our time! Their lives! All because you don't want to give him your head! You little shit!" I look at him, unable to find any words to counter back. Maybe if I have traded my head for their lives back then, Sage Houst would at least let a wish to be granted. From their perspective, I've just demolished their hope to dust, and sprinkle it on their head. The world that we are returning to—maybe, there already isn't one. [[Next page->end]]

... ... ... ... "J!" "...J! Wake up!" //SHRIEKS// "Lev, 10 are closing in on us. Should I call Sonia back?" "No. There's too many of them. Create a distraction. Signal the rest, use the potion. Fire it twice. Take Leo with you." "Be right back." "J! Damn it. If you can listen to me now; know that 10 minutes have passed since we reached our world. We were ambushed. We are now inside a small village. There's something on your forehead that's prohibiting you from opening your eyes or moving. I talked to Elaine but—" //BOOOM// "Jane, Cliff. Take that carriage, Noah will guide you, take him there." "But what about you and Sonia?" "We'll be fine. Keep J away from them. Prepare to go." "John, I'm gonna carry you on my back now. Don't slip." "J, the key is on your right pocket. The phrase is //Yoanna//. Jane, Elaine's trinket, once you have met up with your father—" //BOOOM// "I know." "That's our cue. Go now, go! ...J, I'll see you soon." I feel my body being carried and then thrown on something wooden, there are sounds of horses neighing. A horse carriage? The explosion and screams slowly fade away in the background, as Cliff continuously yells "Hyahhh!" Accompained by the sound of the horses galloping on muddy path, and occasional whipping, I feel my conciousness being slowly drained away again. Maybe if I sleep now, everything will be fine again. Maybe this is just another illusionary trick, and that we never did make it out of 'The Other World'. Maybe it's a long, long dream that I couldn't help but continue to cherish it. The raw and harsh sun light continue to scorch me. It's so warm and breezy that I hope time will just stop at this moment, for me to embrace its golden lullaby. I'm a bit exhausted now. "John," a gentle hand rests itself on my chin. "Don't sleep. We'll be there soon." Right... this is just the beginning. (set: $c10checkpoint to "yes") [[Next chapter->tbc]]

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"What's happened's happened," Igor suddenly says. He stands in front of Oddie. "Grieving about it now wouldn't make any changes. Unless you want to die as soon as we teleport back to our world, we'd better make a plan now. I'm sure your grandchildren would want you to live as well." Oddie is still scowling at me. "Yes," Jane adds in. "Based on what John said, I don't think only Magica Familia are involved in this. A part of Beastia, Humania and Outcasts might also be responsible in nurturing it." "The Dark Dwellers," Elaine points out. "They have been actively eating away at kingdoms in Lands of Magica like a parasyte, seeking control of it. It's likely that they are the collborators. 33 days; it's enough for them to emerge out of their shadows and act." "Then that's decided, isn't it?" Hugo says. "What I uncovered in Pantheona is just a part of a larger scheme at play behind United Knights Association. Our group's heading back to Zestia as soon as we return back to our world." A few Challengers go up to Odie, and try to calm him down; but, he wouldn't bugde. The only stopping him would likely be the presence of Elaine. I take a deep breath. Sage Houst planned to kill them all regardless of anything, the wish is just a facade. And about the death of his grandchildren, I will not apologise. Had Jane not kill them back then, they would have harmed or killed us on the spot. It's not right, but it's not wrong either. Their voices continue to overlap in the background as they discuss their next step. Then, the teleportation spells starts to activates; a large glowing blue spell circle is emerging beneath us. Our body starts to disintegrate. Jane and Cliff shift their glance at me. I take a deep, deep breath. A few moments after, something hit me, and I black out. [[Next page->next page55]]

<span class="sec-heading">**T**</span> <span class="sec-heading">**H**</span>[[New Story->Guides]] <span class="sec-heading">**E**</span> (align: "==>")[(if: (saved-games:) contains "auto")[(link: "Continue Reading")[(load-game: "auto")]](else:)[Not saved yet.]] <span class="sec-heading">**O**</span> <span class="sec-heading">**T**</span> <span class="sec-heading">**H**</span>[[List of Chapters->Chapters]] <span class="sec-heading">**E**</span> <span class="sec-heading">**R**</span> [[Achievements->Ach]] <span class="sec-heading">**W**</span> <span class="sec-heading">**O**</span>[[Disclaimer->Disclaimer]] <span class="sec-heading">**R**</span> <span class="sec-heading">**L**</span> <span class="sec-heading">**D**</span>(align: "==>")[ (if: $time is 0)[**(weekday:), (current-time:)**] (else-if: $time is 1)[**??? 00:00**] (else:)[]]

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(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**List of Chapters**]]</span> Once you have finished each chapter, the checkpoint you reached will be automatically saved, and be available here. Think of these as teleportable waypoints for you to jump between chapters. **(colour: red)[Note]:** Starting a new story will reset these checkpoints. It is recommendable to only use these after finishing all the chapters, as jumping too much around will disrupt the flow of the story and overwrite the progress you've made. [[Main Menu]] <hr></hr> (hidden:)|c1>[ **Chapter 1:** Adventurer, Caster, Knight. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 1->Chapter 1 start]] </div>] (if: $c1checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 1 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c1)]](else:)[] (hidden:)|c2>[ **Chapter 2:** A Night to Remember. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 2->Chapter 2 start]] </div>] (if: $c2checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 2 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c2)]](else:)[] (hidden:)|c3>[ **Chapter 3:** Leiden Forest. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 3->Chapter 3 start]] </div>] (if: $c3checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 3 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c3)]](else:)[] (hidden:)|c4>[ **Chapter 4:** Leiden Forest II. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 4->Chapter 4 start]] </div>] (if: $c4checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 4 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c4)]](else:)[] (hidden:)|c5>[ **Chapter 5:** Matryoshka. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 5->Chapter 5 start]] </div>] (if: $c5checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 5 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c5)]](else:)[] (hidden:)|c6>[ **Chapter 6:** Branches and Stones. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 6->Chapter 6 start]] </div>] (if: $c6checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 6 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c6)]](else:)[] (hidden:)|c7>[ **Chapter 7:** Friends/Foes. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 7->Chapter 7 start]] </div>] (if: $c7checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 7 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c7)]](else:)[] (hidden:)|c8>[ **Chapter 8:** The Smile of Death. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 8->Chapter 8 start]] </div>] (if: $c8checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 8 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c8)]](else:)[] (hidden:)|c9>[ **Chapter 9:** John Doe. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 9->Chapter 9 start]] </div>] (if: $c9checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 9 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c9)]](else:)[] (hidden:)|c10>[ **Chapter 10:** The Beginning of the End. <div class="menulink"> [[Back to Chapter 10->Chapter 10 start]] </div>] (if: $c10checkpoint is "yes")[(link:"Chapter 10 Checkpoint.")[(show:?c10)]](else:)[]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 1's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c1ach)/3)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **Thou shall not pass.** (if:(history:) contains "Say no.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Over my dead body!" **I'm a pacifist.** (if:(history:) contains "Put my branch down.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "I seek not, the colour red." **An unlikely ally.** (if:(history:) contains "Go towards the olive tree, and offer help.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Always good to have a backup." ] [[Return->Ach]]

She nods at me. "Yes." "Fancy meeting you here, Jane's //friend//." Sonia says as she approaches me, alongside Igor. "My name is John." I say. Then, we discuss and state our roles here. Apparently, Hugo sent them here to infiltrate and bring back the Cecylonia knights responsible, while he's snoring in his inn. They mentioned he's been receiving news from an informant about corrupted knights inside United Knights Association for a while now, but couldn't pinpoint them until now. They have two teleportation trinkets prepared, one to send the knights back to kingdom of Zestia for punishment, and the other for the children to Deminia where Hugo had already coordinated with The Minority. Hugo... what a crafty guy he is. "John! Where are my kisses?" Vincent shouts as he also approaches me. Igor and Sonia then head back to the warehouse to handle the knights. With a fatal blow like this, Mr. Wick's reputation must have been harmed to an extent, whether or not he will do any illegal trade-off in the future again, I do not know. As for Vincent, he must have briefed Igor and Sonia of our plan, to make this work; he's done well. "John?" he asks again. I look at the twins. "Fine," they say, lifting their hoods down. "They are REALLY HALF-ELVES!" "yes, please close your eyes, mister vincent." And he did. But they didn't approach him or anything, they literally just send //flying kisses// to him. The kisses rest on his face for a while and he smiles, widely so. Well, I'm just glad that he's happy. But as I get ready to stand and check over the children, Iris kneels down beside me and whispers into my ears, "thank you for protecting my sister." before leaving a gentle kiss on my left cheek. "Iris! Why do you kiss him? That's not fair!" Ivy says. I close my eyes, expecting it to be another slap, but she kisses me softly on my right cheek. The cheek that she slapped earlier. I glance at her. "What are you looking at, stupid mortal? Be grateful I didn't send you down the abyss, hmph!" Yeah... these pair of twins are too much for me to handle. Demi-humans are no joke. "Aww.. lucky you." Kenzo teases, as he walks towards me. "Thanks!" Vincent replies, his eyes are still closed, he's likely still relishing the moment. Now I feel bad for him. Kenzo lends his hand to me and pulls me up. "I'm glad we found you, John," he shakes my hand. "Trading with that dwarf was worth it after all." [[Next page->next page 29.5]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 2's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c2ach)/4)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **Surprise.** (if:(history:) contains "Trade my Nicos for it.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Magic of dishonesty at its finest." **Smooth talker.** (if:(history:) contains "\"So Cliff, what's the shield's name?\"")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "How to start a conversation 101." **I'm a team player!** (if:(history:) contains "Wake Cliff and Jane up, go with them together.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Leave no one behind." **For the greater good.** (if:(history:) contains "Don't do anything.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "I'm leaving the girl behind." ] [[Return->Ach]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 3's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c3ach)/2)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **Honesty is the best policy.** (if:(history:) contains "Share with them.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." **When in doubt, trust yourself.** (if:(history:) contains "Listen to myself: move on to the nearest safe spots directly.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "It's exactly what you think it is." ] [[Return->Ach]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 4's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c4ach)/2)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **No box to think outside of.** (if:(history:) contains "Choose the 3rd path.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "What do you mean think outside of the box?" **Faith.** (if:(history:) contains "Confide, and tell her what happened.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "It's a strange emotion." ] [[Return->Ach]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 5's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c5ach)/4)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **Smooth talker (II)** (if:(history:) contains "Try to lie to get in.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Sometimes my dishonesty—it's almost frightening." **A team player (II)** (if:(history:) contains "Stall them first, try to get help from Jane or Cliff.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "A friend in need." **When in doubt, scream for help.** (if:(history:) contains "Scream for help.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Scream like there's no tomorrow." **I'm a pacifist (II)** (if:(history:) contains "Persuade them into thinking that we mean no harm.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "I hate violence." ] [[Return->Ach]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 6's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c6ach)/3)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **Rock, paper, scissors!** (if:(history:) contains "Go right.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "We do it, the traditional way." **50-50.** (if:(history:) contains "next page33")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Sometimes, you just have to leave it to your gut." **Honesty is the best policy (II)** (if:(history:) contains "\"To lower your guard, of course!\"")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "I am a bad liar." ] [[Return->Ach]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 7's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c7ach)/4)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **Avada Kedavraaa!** (if:(history:) contains "Use Jane's crystal.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "You're a wizard." **Daredevil.** (if:(history:) contains "\"Yo Blaze! How are you? Did you sleep well?\"")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Smile in the face of danger." **I'm a pacifist (III)** (if:(history:) contains "Remain neutral, and propose a deal to stop them.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "I hate violence, the sequel." **:)** (if:(history:) contains "\"It's ok.\"")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "I'm fine." ] [[Return->Ach]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 8's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c8ach)/5)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **I'm a gentleman.** (if:(history:) contains "Give a hard push to her forehead.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "It's hard being one in life-or-death situation." **Statues don't talk.** (if:(history:) contains "Remain perfectly still.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "I'm a statue. I'm a statue." **You say run.** (if:(history:) contains "Request Elaine's group for help.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "You were standing there, when no one else was." **You say run (II)** (if:(history:) contains "Ask Hugo whether he can think of any idea.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "But, I can't. How could I?" **Smooth talker (III)** (if:(history:) contains "\"We die.\"")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "How to reply 101." ] [[Return->Ach]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 9's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c9ach)/3)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **History repeats itself.** (if:(history:) contains "Let them die.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Regrets re-emerge." **Daredevil (II)** (if:(history:) contains "\"Your plan is to dominate the world with android sheeps!\"")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Nothing can stop me now." **I am John.** (if:(history:) contains "\"I'll accept this destiny.\"")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] ] [[Return->Ach]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Chapter 10's Achievements**]</span> **((print: $c10ach)/2)**] <hr></hr> (align: "=><=")[ **I'm a gentleman (II)** (if:(history:) contains "Let Sonia hold her hand.")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] **Honesty is the best policy (III)** (if:(history:) contains "\"About that, well, I... blinded him.\"")[(colour: "#0f8c1c")[**✓**] ](else:)[] "Well... there's that." ] [[Return->Ach]]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Disclaimer:**]</span>] //The Other World// is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The characters involved, except you, and the name of any setting inside this work are wholly imaginary and purely to be portrayed in fictitious manner. Dragons and wizards are not real. So are spells, and Sylphs... I hope. (if: (history:) contains "Disclaimer")[](else:)[(set: $credits to 0)] (set: $credits to it + 1) (if: $credits is >= 5)[**Credits:** If you're reading this text, you're probably too bored and have clicked this for five consecutive times and above. Kudos! You have found an Easter Egg. Much thanks for playing this game, and may you have no regrets! - Created by Lee Yit Chang. - Inspired by Log Horizon, and D&D. - Cover Illustrations © 2005 by Johannes Plenio] [[Main Menu]] <hr></hr>

(print: "<script>$('html').removeClass('" + $themes + "').addClass('" + $theme + "')</script>")

(If: (history:) contains "Guides")[Are you sure you want to start a new story? **All your progress will be overwritten**, and the time displayer will also be given a reset. (align: "==>")[(link: "Yes")[(reload:)(set: $time to 0) <script>deleteSaveSlot("auto");</script>]] [[No->Main Menu]] ](else:)[(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Guides**]]</span> <hr></hr> All your progress is automatically saved, and is accessible through the "//Continue Reading//" that will be available. If, in the future, you plan to **completely erase your progress** throughout the game, you can re-click "New Story". With that being said, your journey begins here. [[Continue->Prologue]] ]

(align: "=><=")[<span class="sec-heading">(colour: "#65169e")[**Prologue:**]]</span> They say that destiny draws a thin line between life and death; in one moment, we might find ourselves enveloped in a festive spirit, enjoying and cherishing our lives, but in the next, everything is taken away. In a snap. Our lives are made up of countless choices, without us knowning what will happen next. Yet, we still push forward. Keep making mistakes. Until we reach our desired conclusion. Or, close to that. This is a story about choices, and how each of them will eventually lead to an ending—//for better or for worst//. May you have no regrets. [[Start->Chapter 1 start]]

John and Jane (10 years old) [[Menu->Main Menu]] <hr></hr> I'm now inside a forest. There's a girl around my age standing by a river, near a tree. "//What is she doing with that scissors?//" I ask myself. She's trying to cut her long red hair. But, why is no one helping her? She looks so sad. Maybe I can cheer her up with a magic trick. Or show her sketches of creatures. She looks fierce though. Not sure if I want to— There's a green snake gliding down from the tree behind her. It's trying to jump on her from her back. She's not seeing it. What should I do? Protect, yes. Knife? Don't have one. Ummm... branch. A sharp branch. I grab a sharp branch and run towards her. She notices me, and grabs a crystal out from her pocket. "Stay back! Who are you?" I stop and say to her, "Snake." "What?" "There's a snake behind that bushes." "Huh?" This is bad, she can't understand what I'm saying. I must protect her. I walk to her and stand between her and the bushes, putting up my iconic swordsman posture that my dad taught me. Left hand streched in front, at the same height as my shoulder; right hand holding the branch a few inches beside my waist, with elbow a bit retracted. Left foot front, right foot back; both bent a bit inward. "What are you doing?" "This is my fighting stance." "What?" "Shush. The snake is hissing behind the bushes. It's ready to attack." She looks at the bushes. They are rustling. She asks me, "What colour is the snake?" "Green, like a jewel." "Stay away from it and it won't harm us. Come, slowly," she grabs my hand and walk me down along the river. "Snakes only attack when they feel threatened, I was too close to the tree but it won't harm us now." She stops walking and pokes my forehead, "You, on the other hand, were too close to the bushes. That's why it hissed. It would have biten you if you didn't move from there. What are you doing here?" Her red eyes are a bit teary and puffy. "Why did you cry?" She wipes her eyes. "I did not." "Liar." "Shut up. Go away," she releases my hand. "Don't wander here alone again." What a weird girl. I then rejoin with my dad, he's talking to a man with a claw mark on the right temple of his face, trying to sell potions. After their brief talk, he takes me to back to land of Humania, to a kingdom known as "Astra". [[Next page->hidden story2]]

John and Cliff (10 years old) [[Menu->Main Menu]] <hr></hr> I'm inside a kingdom known as 'Astra'. My dad went to a sorcery shop while I wait for him outside the street, wandering around. A boy then approach me with a basket of apples. "Why are you giving me an apple?" "Oh," the boy in ragged clothes say. "Don't you want one?" "Nah, I don't like apples." I say. "Who are you?" "I'm... umm... nobody! Yes. Just another normal peasant here," he chuckles awkwardly. "What's your name?" "Cli—Brandon. Yes. Brandon." he chuckles again, scratching his head. "Why are you acting so strange?" "Strange? Me? No. Pffft—" he places both his hand on my shoulder, and whispers to my ears, "Please don't tell anyone about what I just said." "Huh?" "There you are, Brandon!" a man cuts off our conversation, as he pats this boy's head. "Come help, we're serving the food rations now." "Ok," he says. But before he leaves with the man, he extends out his right pinkie to me. "Promise me you won't tell anyone." I look at him strange, but decide to hook his pinkie with mine. "Ok, I promise." He smiles, and waves at me before joining the man. What a strange boy. "What's wrong?" my dad asks, resting his elbow on my head. He's looking at the boy as he walks away. "I see you made a new friend." "He's not my friend," I say. "I don't need friends. I just share a promise with him. He's weird, the red-haired girl is also weird." My dad lifts me up on his shoulder. "Yes, you do, John. You don't meet people by accident—that's how destiny works." I rest both my hands on my dad's head, as he continues, "Who knows? Maybe you'll ended up meeting them again one day." He looks at me from the corner of his eyes, and smiles. "And when you do, remember to be their friends." "...Ok." My dad extends his right pinkie to me. "Pinky promise?" I hook my pinkie to his. "Pinky promise." <hr></hr>