Chapter 41: All Good Times Come To An End

After another day spent with Gaia, I laid down in the bed inside the wooden shed.

"It was already a year...Or was it?" I had memories of spending time with Gaia everyday for an entire year. They consisted of us growing up, getting to know each other and of course, playing everyday, no matter what.

Would it be bad weather or one of us getting sick, it never stopped us from seeing each other.

We became inseparable in this short amount of time, deepening our trust every step of the way. But like all the good things, they always have a dark side to them, and mine was Adder's father.

He persisted in me fulfilling his plan of gaining Gaia's trust, to use it the next step of his plan. One he never shared with me, keeping it a secret from my watchful ears.

"This old fool became more cautious after my friendship with Gaia grew stronger." I could tie it to the change that occurred in the Adder he knew, but I was careful enough to act everytime I saw him, so chances of it being the case were pretty slim, if not none.

The only other explanation I found was that he didn't want me to reveal his plan either by accidentally, or by intentionally telling it to Gaia. Which would make a lot of sense given the fact of his unusual fascination as well as knowledge about her.

He wanted something from her, something he wouldn't be able to obtain by himself.

This made him put a new chess piece on the board, a pawn, his own son. (At least he made sure to give Adder rewards from his moves.)

I couldn't help smiling at the thought of every prostitute he brought to this shed and how many times I made them disappear from this room.

He wanted me to seek the pleasure sexual acts can give me. He wanted me to desire them and to not be able to live without them.

If not for my older brain which let me understand my situation and control my desires, I would have fallen into the devious rabbit hole he created.

His plan for me followed a certain pattern and even our first meeting showed me glimpse of it.

He made Adder fear him, giving him no warmth or love his entire life. He even took a step further, as he beat him and distanced himself from their father/son relationship by changing the way Adder addressed him from 'Father' to 'Sir'.

But it was only the first step, as the true brainwashing was about to begin.

The whores he brought to the shed were what was supposed to give Adder warmth by providing him with their bodies.

Adder felt close to them, as it was the first time someone hugged him, kissed him and did a lot more.

He got attached to every single woman he slept with, but it only lasted so long, as none of them appeared the second time.

It played with his brain, making him love something and lost it just the next day. He learned that attaching himself to a woman will gain him nothing else other than emptiness inside.

Just like his father said, some coins and you can get everything you want. Women are only for sex. Emotional connection to them will bring you nowhere.

And that mentality would soon transfer to his relationship with Gaia.

(I really do believe that Adder wanted to be Gaia's friend at the start, but later he only seeked more carnal desires from the whores his father brought him after he followed his plan.)

The boy became empty, as he had nothing of value in his life and worst of all, he never felt bad about anything he did, no reflections on his actions, no second thoughts.

"A truly lost cause....I should feel bad for him, but I don't." It could be my nature or just the lingering feeling that I still am missing some puzzle pieces, but I didn't think Adder's life was as bad as it seemed.

(Were you really a victim in all of this, or maybe a willing participant?) This train of thoughts created a detour from the original question I asked myself.

"Was it a year?" All of those memories were real, I knew that. I made decisions in them, it was my life, my words, my personality, but at the same time I never had memories of eating, drinking, or sleeping.

(Could I survive 365 days without even one of those things?) The answer was: No, I couldn't.

"A world where you don't need to drink, eat, or sleep, but can live your life however you want...Can you make it anymore obvious?" Now I was sure of my current location. There was no doubt about it.

When my guess became the answer, I noticed a vine peeking out from the hole in the roof. It was young and bathed in the morning sun, which soon will mark the start of a new day.

*Knock*

"Come out. It's finally the day to take the next step of my plan." This loud knock followed excited words of Adder's father. (He knows how to show positive emotions? I always thought no one teached them to him.)

I got up from the bed, making my way out from this dark room.

"How was Maria? She's one of the best and what she does with her tongue...It's out of this world."

"Not bad. But I liked Irina more." Usually I would pretend to be more shy about the topic of whores, but I wanted to see how much his emotions could affect his judgement. I did it by saying Irina, a name which none of the prostitutes which visited this shed had.

"True. Irina is also nothing to scoff at." His disgusting comment was all I needed to hear.

"Sir. You said this is the day to take the next step of your plan. Can I ask what is it?" I acted respectful, as it was the only way to get some informations out from him.

When he heard that, he began acting reluctant. "The next step of my plan?..Hmm.." His caped head moved in different directions, trying to look for a way not to tell me anything. "It's...You will need to ask Gaia about her heart, and I'm not talking about the one in her chest. She will know what you mean...Probably."

"Second heart? How can someone have two hearts, and why is it part of your plan?" I tried to gain more informations about the subject, with my thoughts running wild on their own.

"That's all you need to know! Ask about her heart, nothing more, nothing less. Do you understand?... Or maybe you don't want to receive the gifts for following my plan?" His threat full of anger showed me he won't be willing to share any further knowledge about so called 'Gaia's second heart'.

"I understand. I will ask Gaia about her heart, so don't take them away."

"Good. Now go and don't come back without the answer I need." He was happy with himself, hearing how desperate I became while being threatened with inability to fulfil my lust.

(How didn't acting become one of my skills yet? My performance could only be described as excellent, with no flaws.)

Unfortunately my self flattery was cut short by a rude interruption. "Why aren't you going yet? You know time isn't on your side, right?"

"Yes, Sir! I'm going."

I wanted to laugh at how easily I deceived the old fool, but doing so would be a huge give away in that situation. Thankfully, nothing prevented me from doing so when I ventured deep into the forest.

"Hahahaha...." I kept on laughing, while making my way to the location of Earthguardian.

(It's good that Earthguardian doesn't hold resentment towards me. I had enough of running away from his branches after Gaia asked him to chase me, which for a month became her favorite thing to do... At least I never got injured again after that one fateful time.)

"Now even she gets chased by his branches when I ask." I couldn't help laughing a little longer. "But I can't use this power much, as it would be bad for me in the long run."

(One time she ignored me for 3 entire days, which seems like a lot, but when I recall her original words, it's nothing.) An image appeared in my mind, in which Gaia put her hands on her hips and said with her young voice 'I will ignore you for the rest of my life! And don't even ask for forgiveness, because you won't get it.'.

(Turns out she crumbled down after 3 days of not talking to me.) This time I recalled a longer scene.

*******************

It was the third morning from the day Gaia promised not to speak to me for the rest of her life.

"*Hmph*" From the moment I arrived at our usual meeting spot under Earthguardian shadow, I received a lot of glances from Gaia, when she thought I wasn't looking.

But when I turned my head to her, catching one of her peeks, she 'hmph' at me and turned her head in other direction.

This continued for a good part of the morning, until I said. "You know. If you want to talk to me, there's nothing stopping you."

"*Hmph*" I got the same response.

"Ok. Sorry for splashing water at you while we were playing in the lake."

"And?"

"And what?"

"I won't do it..."

"Oh, I will do it again. You don't need to worry about it." I grinned at Gaia.

"You...*Hmph!* Now I won't talk to you for the rest of my life for sure." Gaia turned her head away again, with the loudest 'hmph' so far.

"You really believe that? You struggled to do that for 3 days, let alone your whole life."

"You will see."

And just like that, I saw Gaia struggling not to talk to me for the next 15 minutes, eventually punching me in the arm and saying.

"It's not fair. You weren't scared that I will stop talking to you even for a moment."

"I know you like me too much to do so, Gaia." I leaned slightly forward, making my and Gaia faces almost touch each other.

Seeing how close we were, made Gaia blush and lean backward "What? No! I don't like you...Well, maybe. NO! I don't. I can't like someone with such a disgusting smile. That's right. I can't like you because of that."

"So you don't like me as a friend?"

"I do. Why would you think otherwise?" Gaia seemed confused about my question.

"You said yourself that you can't like me because of my smile. So I thought you didn't like me as a friend." I looked down.

"I do like you. I meant the like between man and woman? You know what I mean? Right?" Even Gaia wasn't sure of the type of like she meant.

After hearing those words, I raised my face up, with a huge smile on it. "I don't. Can you explain?"

When Gaia saw my smile, it was clear to her that I knew what her words meant, and that I was only teasing her while asking the next questions.

"I hate you and your stupid smile." Despite Gaia's sentence, smile was present of her face.

"And I love yours." I couldn't help teasing her more.

"Shut up!" Gaia got up and started running away from me.

"Never!" Not wanting to be left behind, I began chasing her and soon our happy laughs rang out around Eathguardian's trunk.