Out

Ace was quiet most of the time except for the constant thudding on the barrier he created between himself and those ... creatures.

They followed however they could, not minding where they walked or if they are walking on top of each other.

"These people." Ace began, breaking the silence. "They are his sister, aren't they?"

"Yes," Cleo said as Ace followed it though longer, more winding tunnels.

"Is she dead?" he asked, looking at them as their faces seemed to melt away.

"We don't know for sure," Cleo said. "But I think you know the answer to that."

"What do you m-" A sudden memory unlocked in Ace's head, making him pause on the spot and stare at a wall.

"You ok?" Cleo asked as Ace shook his head with wonder.

"The storyline is changing again." Ace said, frowning. "I saw it. Why did I see it?"

"You were a player." Cleo shrugged. "Your memory has to be altered to make it seem like you knew what happened all along.

"Heard of the Mandela effect? We wouldn't want something like that. Draws too much attention to us."

"I see." Ace said, "I ... I think I am going to have to do something I have never done before."

Cleo looked at him, pity in its eyes, "You will."

"Let's ... let's just leave that for the last resort though," he said pushing away the thought. "Uh ... Are we almost there?"

"Yup. You are going to be alone from here on." Cleo said, smiling sadly at him. "Try not to die, ok?"

"Like I would want to." Ace scoffed while he still carried Silas on his back, slowly approaching the source of the putrid smell.

Dread hung over him as he tried to shove the thought racing in his mind away as far as he could.

This will be easy, right? I can do it. But … I never did that before. Oh well, I guess I will see what happens when it happens.

So those two are able to escape and I am not? Ace thought, frowning slightly. Well … this seems to be something that I will have to do given that I do not see an easy way out.

_________

Ace walked for what felt like another couple of hours, growing tired as he trudged on.

"Cleoooo. Why is this taking so long?" he whined.

"Well … The path is a little bit tricky at the moment, especially with the illusion placed on this place. They seem to be stronger than I thought they would be. Is this because they are mad?" Cleo said, thinking. "Why don't you do something about it?"

Sighing, Ace felt magic coursing in his legs and lifted them up, kicking the barrier as all the 'people' disappeared almost immediately but he realised something a little late.

The walls around him started to cave in. Gritting his teeth, he ran as fast as he could but the walls were coming in closer and closer.

"Damn it." He hissed, trying to hold on tight to the boy on his back as even the walls in front of him began to close as well. "Why is this happening? Cleo!"

"The illusion brought you directly to the spot where it wants you." It said, flying beside him.

"And that is???"

"You are between the walls. Once you broke the illusion-!"

"The walls are closing in." He realised, pausing as he gathered mana to his legs again.

As the walls closed in, he kicked it, creating a hole as he felt the wall hit against his back.

Without waiting another minute, he jumped out of the hole and managed to land on the ground as the walls closed in completely.

Ace breathed heavily as he placed Silas down, stretching his arms and trying to get the pins and needles feeling off his leg.

"That was close," Cleo remarked.

"Too close." He looked over at Cleo. "I thought you said that I had plot armour!!"

"You do!" It said, flying up to his face.

"What the hell was that then??? I almost died!"

"But you didn't. Don't you remember how slow the illusion was at breaking away?" It said making him pause. "Right?"

"That was close though." He said, looking over at the unconscious Silas. "Why is this taking so long??? It's just a side quest. It shouldn't be taking this long."

"Oh? Who is this?" Ace heard a high pitch voice coming in from behind him and he just felt annoyance grow in him as he turned to look at the person walking out of the shadows.

Pink hair.

"Oh. That is just mean." Ace said, grinning as the girl stepped out of the shadows with a smirk on her face.

___________

"Do I know you?" She asked, blinking her big doe eyes innocently. "I have been lost here for so long an-"

"Save it." Ace sighed, checking up on Silas to see if the boy is still alive. "I know who you are. Mr Denvor. This is incredibly creepy and ew."

"Mr Denvor." Fear spreading in the girl's face. "You saw him? Where is he? Is he here?"

Ace looked at her, entirely done with her nonsense.

"If you choose to keep that up then you may." He shrugged, positioning Silas properly. "I have some things I need to take care of first."

"And that is?" The girl asked, skipping to him.

Without warning, Ace was in front of her in a second and a spear pierced straight through her heart.

The girl's eyes shook as blood poured out of her mouth and ran down her clothes, a slight smile formed from the corners of her mouth.

"Wha-" He heard a voice and slowly turned around to see Silas staring at him with wide eyes. "What are you doing??"

He tried to get up but did not have enough strength and just toppled on over.

"Get away from her!" He shouted, voice full of venom.

"Ok." Ace said, letting go of the spear as the girl fell over and landed on her face with a loud thud.

"Bea!" Silas shouted, crawling to the girl. "Bea! Come on. Wake up."

He stared at the spear sticking out of her chest and looked up at Ace, "Why?? She is my sister! You know that. Why?"

Ace didn't answer as he looked at the girl choking on her blood as it continued to pour out.

"Silas." She turned to him, smiling kindly. "Silas."

"Bea! I'll get you to the doctor. I promise." He said, trying to stand up but he could hardly even hold himself up, let alone her. "Help me!"

He looked at Ace staring at the two. For the first time, there was no smile on Ace's face as he walked over to them.

"Oh, you're right." Ace said, reaching out and pulling the spear out of her chest.

"No!"

Something jumped out of her mouth and started writhing on the ground. Blood dripped everywhere and the girl finally stopped moving as her blank eye looked at the ceiling.

Ace didn't wait a minute as he looked at the little thing writhing on the ground.

It looks like a caterpillar, a hairy caterpillar, completely white in colour with red eyes and spots of red all over it.

"Cleo."

The screen appeared and he selected an empty container which he used to keep the creature in and pushed it back into the screen, amongst his inventory.

Once the screen disappeared, he looked over at Silas holding his sister and bawling his eyes out. Ace walked to them again and looked at the boy crying.

"You have a very ugly crying face." He chuckled, pushing his hair aside.

"Shut up!" he shouted, holding his sister as blood got on his uniform as well. "Look what you did! Are you not remorseful at all?"

"No." Ace said, "I did what I had to do."

His eyes fell on the boy's sister. "She is at peace now."

"How would you know?? You are not the one lying dead." He shouted, holding his sister closer to him. "Why? Why you?"

"You really are getting on my nerves." Ace sighed. "Do you even know what she had to go through??"

"I do!" Silas shouted before his voice fell into a whisper again. "I do. But that does not mean I like it. I was so close to her, you know?"

"I know." Ace sat down beside the boy. "You two … had a wonderful friendship."

"She was all I had."

"What about your father?"

"Who cares about him? What will mother say?" he sobbed even louder. "I couldn't protect her like I promised."

Ace sighed, getting to his feet. "Come on."

"Where?" Silas asked, looking up at the boy as tears continued to run down his face.

"Just come with me." He rolled his eyes and picked the girl off his arms. "Can you walk? Are you still weak?"

"I am fine." Silas tried to make himself stand up but he only tumbled forward.

Sighing again, Ace bent down. "Get on my back."

"Why?"

"Just hurry up." Ace hissed. "I don't have time."

Without another word, he got on Ace's back and the two made their way out of the tunnel.