Separated from Friends

"After your fight with Sky, Illya healed us to our previous status, and she told us that she needed Sky to fight her brother... she knocked him unconscious and took him to a wild world. Not even I knew everything that happened there, but I do know he gained abilities, friends, and a new mindset we weren't ready for. He had parents there... and was raised alongside Shike, Belle, Alexia, and Boo. They all fought these monsters and his parents fought a God in that world. They ended up dying, but Sky finished the fight and gained some crazy powers. Dani got some powers of her own and she went insane, and Sky fought her. She could manipulate gravity, and Sky didn't even care. He did some scary things..." I said, leaving out the part with Avie.

"And? What about that Avie girl from earlier?" Orion asked, as if he read my mind.

"Our Isle... it was sent at us," I started, but he interrupted before I could finish.

"Sent at you? Like... as a weapon?" He chuckled, but stopped once I nodded.

"Sky used his stone to deflect it and Avie screamed and slowly awoke inside of his body. When her time finally came, she possessed Sky's body and did some even crazier things... one kick from her broke the sound barrier and shattered cement bricks on buildings, along with some windows. It didn't just kill the person she kicked at, she made them explode. Sky has been housing somebody like that and... it's scary, if you ask me. That's why I so badly want you to betray me, so Avie can kill you too," I told Orion to try and threaten him.

"The System no longer binds my emotions or desires. I only have one desire in mind, and that's to kill Nova. If you are not Nova, chances are, I won't hurt you," He clarified for me. I believed him for the time being.

We crouched behind a fallen tree in the forest with an axe nearby. I picked up the axe and peered over, witnessing a group of about five people having a conversation.

"You have a prosthetic leg as well? Did you get it from that Chi-Chi girl?" Orion and I heard the group talking about it.

"No shit... that's what happens to everybody here. The same pattern, the same things... there is a set plan in place," Orion mumbled to himself, to which I nodded.

However, right after we finished drawing similarities, there was one profound difference in the back pocket of the man who had the prosthesis. He pulled out the note and read it to everybody.

"Starting as soon as you enter Ultima Forest, a new task will begin. Only seven people are able to make it out. Five people have escaped so far, there are twenty-eight remaining..." He read the note out loud.

"Then that must be why we were blocked out..." Orion suggested, but I wasn't following his train of thought. I shook him a little, hoping he would get the hint and explain.

"I believe that a leader before me on The Isle did something like this... a game of pure survival instinct and prowess, as I told you before. We're in this forest for a specific reason, and it's to whittle away the people we compete against. It's killed or be killed to make it out..." Orion told me. I wasn't okay with this idea, so I stood up from behind the log and started to wave my hands at the group.

"Hey! Where did you get that note?" I asked them.

Orion stood behind the log as I talked to them.

"Hey! Get away from us! We don't know what you plan to do, but we're going to get out of here!" They told me.

"Hey, I don't want any trouble, I want to find a way we can all escape... but we can't do that if our heads aren't put together. What, do you need something from me to trust me? I was injured by Chi-Chi as well, she broke my leg, and I got this prosthesis from a doctor. I walked down a staircase with some friends, and I got here. Does that sound similar to what happened to you?" I asked.

"That's right... what is happening? What is this place?!" One of the people screamed out.

"Okay, so if we put our heads together... can we really make it out? Only two of us can get out... that's not enough for all of us..." He said.

"Hey, somebody could've planted that paper on you when you weren't looking. Don't trust it word for word, maybe there's a way out that we can all get to..." I said, realizing the group of people in front of me were watching me with scary gazes.

I felt something deep in my bones, and as soon as that feeling peaked, I turned around and ran.

Behind me, I heard juicy crunching, screaming, and the splatter of blood following right behind my feet.

Somebody in that group had gone crazy and started to kill their friends.

I turned my head back and idiotically tripped over the log I was crouching behind. When the crazed member of that group caught up to me with an axe that looked the same as Orion's, I started to feel fear... a deep rooted fear.

If I die here, I'm not getting revived... I have to fight!

He planted both of his hands on the handle of the axe, swung it above his head, and down toward mine.

I rolled out of the way, kicked his knee in, and pushed my own body up.

The crazed man, however, was too fast and swung the axe with one hand.

He slightly lacerated the top of my left arm and before I could even react again, had an axe planted into the back of his skull.

Blood splattered over Orion's face as he kicked the man off of the axe stuck into his head.

He hit the floor and twitched, letting out groans that I wouldn't ever be able to forget.

"Are you okay, kid?" Orion asked me.

He held out his hand, and I gladly took it, pulling my body back up.

"What the hell... there's no way out of this, is there?" I asked him.

"There wasn't from the Old Leader on the Isle... it's kill or be killed, and I still have to kill Nova. Grab his axe, I'm not doing this alone," Orion told me.

I nodded, knowing there was no way out of this, and picked up the axe that almost killed me.