Hell Maze (3)

The forgotten feelings were all surfacing one by one. Though I have been praised for being a decent author despite only writing the beginning parts, there were still people that will bring you down.

At the start, I'm just happy someone read my novels which made me want to do better. But, due to my perfectionist side, I'd want to rewrite the start again. I wanted readers to be hooked on Chapter 1 of the novel.

I failed. So, I'd want to restart again. When I thought it was good enough, nobody even cared. If you didn't have enough fame as an author for writing previous stories, starting from scratch was hard.

An author not only needed a good idea and theme, they need to be at least decent in grammar. The story needed to be interesting enough to attract readers. I didn't have any fan bases at the start. Every read count was enough for me.

I expected to succeed because I have a lot of good ideas that readers wanted to read. But, though I have the ideas, I couldn't reflect on these ideas in my writing, thus I restarted again and again.

I also have enemies called slump and life. I thought that I was now awarded for it. But, the truth was... the skills I have right now weren't mine to begin with.

Maybe if I didn't find out about Gilbert's existence I might think that it was mine. It was all a privilege of a co-author. An author who was a God that could turn their novels into a world.

Though I have a lot of questions, Gilbert couldn't seem to read my thoughts. The existence of Liam was the biggest question. Why did we have the same character with the same looks. Though the Liam of this world was different in skills.

Liam was supposed to be the main protagonist of a VRMMORPG that I wanted to be my masterpiece. Thus, I wanted to practice first before finally making my own masterpiece of a novel.

I have forgotten this feeling of the unknown. I thought I was fine. I thought I was just a bystander. But, at this moment, the feelings that I buried inside resurfaced.

The fear that I thought I would never feel because of the Author's Mind was here at this moment.

[Author's Mind is evolving... the skill has been turned off.]

"Keuk."

The party was waiting for Ronan to finish when Rain suddenly fainted.

Fortunately, Liam was fast enough to catch him.

"What happened?"

"B-Big Brother!" Ronan stopped using the artifact to run towards Rain.

Liam felt that Rain's body was too cold. It wasn't normal. The cause was unknown, Liam didn't feel anything wrong!

When Ronan tried to touch Rain, he was repelled by an unknown force. Fortunately, the force wasn't strong. It only repelled his hand.

"Ah!"

"W-Why can't I touch my big brother?! Huhuhu."

Arisse not seeing the seriousness of the problem was also tried touching Rain only to be repelled back a few feet away.

"Ouch!"

"Wait, don't try to touch him, guys."

"W-Why can't I? Huhuhu, big brother!!!"

"Floryn, could you please take Ronan first so that he could calm down?"

"O-Okay."

Floryn led Ronan away and tried her best to calm Ronan down. If they only knew how important Rain was for Ronan's mentality, then they would understand why he was reacting that way.

Ronan was a genius child since he was born, though he really loved his parents, staying alive was the only thing he could do at the moment for his parents.

Also, Ronan also promised himself that he will find a way to revive his parents. The one who kept him together was Rain. It was Rain that lent him a hand when he needed it the most. The workings of mind were truly mysterious and powerful that even Ronan wasn't aware that he was substituting his parents absence to Rain's presence.

Now, that Rain suddenly fainted he wanted to check if he was fine. But, an unforeseen event happened, a repelling force sent his hand away which led to his hidden fear emerging.

When Liam thought that anything couldn't go worse, Arisse also seemed affected by something.

"No! Dad! Please... don't burn those clothes!"

Arisse screamed at the top of her lungs clutching her short hair. "No! Please! Please!"

Tears streamed down Arisse's face as she stared blankly ahead.

Arisse and Ronan were the only ones affected while the others were still the same.

"Don't go near Rain! Distance yourselves everyone!"

Liam now understood that it was all Rain's ability. Liam also wanted to stay away from the others but he couldn't even move.

The only thing that they could do was wait until everyone regained their senses.

Time passed by, Liam only felt cold. Liam couldn't even think why he could touch Rain nor wanted to let everyone try touching Rain if they could or not.

When thirty minutes passed by since the incident, Ronan regained his senses.

"I-I think I'm affected by fear."

When Ronan told them what he felt and saw while in hallucination the party all looked at Rain.

"The more I found out about him, the scarier it is." Janice said as she assessed the situations that happened since he met Rain.

Liam was the strongest in the party and no one will doubt that. Janice thought she was next but when Rain killed the snake when she couldn't, it made sense that he beat Liam on the first part. So, she reassessed Rain to be stronger than her.

But, it seemed that Rain was holding some of his abilities in secret when they discussed their skills.

When Arisse also regained her senses, she also explained what she saw in the hallucination. Arisse also revealed the true description of her skill. The party didn't get angry at Arisse. It wasn't that of a big deal, it was still a transformation skill that would be good in different situations.

After another thirty minutes Rain finally regained his senses...

[Author's Mind evolution complete!]

Author's Mind (L) (Rain Version)

- Grants immunity from mental attacks, mental control, fear, illusions, and curses. Can reflect back the attack that was made to the Author.

- Can turn on/off the skill without the incantation

- Can create barrier with 10 meters radius around you granting immunity to all mental statuses

- Can see through illusions

[Congratulations on successfully understanding the creator's will!]

[The creator wishes you well in the future!]

When I woke up, these notices appeared in my view one by one. The Author's Mind evolved though I didn't have any idea why it evolved.

The timing wasn't good because we needed to find the exit within the time limit.

'I don't know anymore.'

Before I could continue musing, I heard Liam clearing his throat. Turning my head, I understood why. My head was leaning on his shoulder while he was hugging me from behind. The position was quite awkward and I didn't have any rights to complain about why our position was that, so all I could do was stand up maintaining my poker face.

"What happened? How long was I out?"

I asked trying hard to act oblivious.

"I don't know what happened but you fainted... for an hour."

"WHAAAAT?!"

An hour?! How much time do we still have?! I couldn't believe that it was beyond wrong timing!

"Then, why didn't you move while carrying me?"

"The issue is... I couldn't even move. I was frozen in place when I caught you. It was like time stopped for our body. Fortunately, I could still think, feel, and talk."

After Liam finished speaking, I felt that everyone looked at me vigilantly from afar.

"Why are they quite distant from us?"

Liam told me what happened since the start. Every time I learned something, the more surprising it was. So, all I could do was explain from my point of view.

I didn't know the reason why, but my skill evolved. That's the content of what I said.

Fortunately, the others didn't try to dive too much into what happened because of what happened an hour passed and we still have a long way to go.

Although I passed out, others didn't waste their time. After Ronan calmed down he continued checking the passages. While others rested as much as possible because they would move as fast as possible so the consumption of stamina will be higher than before.

"We don't have much left. Let's go now."

We broke through the fifth to sixth checkpoints at twice the speed of what we have done before, maybe because it only has one right passage or it might also be Ronan's luck playing a big part of it. The table that served as a supply also didn't have anything.

When we reached the seventh checkpoint, the passages increased from four to six. Now, the difficulty was rising when we were lacking in time to break the maze carefully as we wanted to.

"Haa... now I'm really feeling the Hell difficulty."

I complained while Ronan was checking the passages. Everyone was feeling it too, though the passages weren't dangerous because it was small fries that were blocking our way, it was still stamina consuming.

Only Liam and I had attack skills, while Kevin had a weapon, it was only slightly stronger than the Tutorial provided weapons.

Ronan could also summon a golem but it would only greatly slow us down if his mana was depleted because of the artifact he was using. I wanted to keep the mana potion until we really needed it because the future was uncertain.

My existence itself was the trigger for the future that Liam knew became uncertain. Though he wasn't showing it, as his creator, I know what his habits were.

"A green!" Ronan shouted when he examined the last passage. Since the fourth checkpoint only yellow colored passages were present. So, Ronan being happy about the result was understandable.

We didn't waste any time and entered the passage, we only had an hour left so we speed-walked towards the next checkpoint.

What greeted us wasn't the dull and dimly lit room, but a room which was bright and spotless. It was as if we reached the end. But, there were 3 passages that we needed to choose from.

The three passages weren't next to each other but in the North, East, and West direction.

[Congratulations on finding the right path! To open the portal to clear the maze, please turn on the switch from the 3 different passages at the same time.]

When we heard the announcement from all over the room, everyone realized it. This was the true challenge. As every treasure was protected by an elite monster, the switch would also be the same as it was the key to clear the second part.

"Let's divide ourselves. I will go alone as I can handle it myself. Rain, Al, and Ronan will be a team. Janice, Kevin, and Floryn will be one team. If you think that you couldn't defeat the boss, come back."

Before we could go to our respected team, I raised my hand. Everyone turned their eyes on me. "I think I could handle it myself, but..."

"But?"

"I don't know what it is... but it's calling me."

When I entered the room I felt the thing that was attracting me since the start of the second part. It was as if it was tempting me to get it. It might also be a clue on what was happening.

"Where?"

"At the north. It was as if it was telling me to go alone."

"Can you do it yourself?"

"Yes, I can. I think whatever is calling me will help me do my part."

"I understand, though I find it strange, I guess you are already determined to go alone."

"Yes, thank you, Leader."

"Then, the five of you will be on the west side. We'll determine the next step if we defeat the guardian. Come back, when you do."

Everyone nodded and we all went to our respective destination.

When I entered the passage, what greeted me was a vast expanse of grass. The view was endless. When I looked back, there was nothing but grass.

"A dungeon?"

The grass on my feet was soft. There's nothing in my view but grass. The attraction grew stronger since I entered. With no clue on what I should do, I followed the attraction that I was feeling.

After quite some time of walking, I finally saw a change in scenery. The plain that was full of green grass and the blue sky above changed into a barren land and the once blue sky turned into a sunset like scenery yet it felt dreadful. I could only continue to walk towards the attraction I'm feeling.

Then, the scenery changed again. The barren land became more dry and also looked blackish like a corrupted land full of death atmosphere and blackish sky yet it wasn't nighttime. It was as if it was a cycle of life and death.

Reaching the end of my journey, I saw a book floating on a small circle formation that was glowing on the only land that has a green grass like it was from a different dimension. The attraction that I was feeling was also coming from that book.

The closer I got, the greater the pull I was feeling. To describe the feeling as a temptation wasn't a lie. The pull felt like I was going home.

Reaching the book that was floating in the middle, I felt a sudden epiphany about myself. The 'I' that I thought was myself, wasn't me yet was me.

Before I could discover the reason why... I blacked out.