Chapter 2
“K-Kyo-ko…?”
“Alice?” Kyoko replied, her mind partly dazed by the floating line of text, but not for long. “Alice!” Kyoko shouted, emotions of relief and happiness flooding through her veins. “Are you alright?! Are you fine now?! What was that?! You scared the shit out of me! Never! Ever! Do that to me ever again!” pouring out her worry-filled thoughts, Kyoko hugged her little friend, stronger than ever.
“K-Kyoko…? Im… possible… A… dream…? Ah… I see…” Barely listening to her friend’s self-made conclusion, tears of relief leaked from Kyoko’s moist brown eyes.
Crunch. A sound came from Kyoko’s tightened up fist. Feeling the sensation of paper being crunched, Kyoko unconsciously loosened her bone-crunching hug. However. A mysterious paper appearing within her grip was the least of Kyoko’s concerns. Remembering her best friend and her overdramatic actions, Kyoko changed her position.
“Alice! What was that just now?! Are you alright now?!” Kyoko asked, no, demanded an answer. Looking her friend’s steadied condition, Kyoko silently let out a sigh of relief.
“Kyo… ko…” Alice muttered, her lips trembled as tears formed at her eyes.
“Yes, yes. I’m Kyoko. Don’t tell me you forgot your best friend’s name?” Kyoko joked, though her only audience was far from impressed. “Now answer me properly, Alice. What happened just now…? You just… suddenly did a dogeza, and your body was shivering insanely… You had me worried sick!” Kyoko stated, calm reentering her mind as time went by. However, what Kyoko received was not the reply she had wanted.
Instead of an answer, Kyoko was hugged. A tight and vibrating hug.
Confused. That was the sole word capable of describing Kyoko’s state of mind. Her friend had been all but weird since they were brought to this place. Having hundreds of questions but not a single answer, Kyoko resigned, her mind running all out of fucks. Returning Alice’s unexpected hug, Kyoko’s mind relinquished control of her body over to her heart.
Fortunately, at that moment in time, neither of the ninety-eight others had paid attention to the pair, the magical paper within their grips more important than two girls making out.
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[Task 2: Slay the goblins!]
A new line of text appeared within everyone’s vision.
Kyoko jolted in surprise at the sight, while Alice stared at it with a hint of familiarity.
‘Is this… really a dream…?’ Alice wondered as her eyes scanned through the words. A dream. That was the first conclusion that Alice had arrived on. However, were dreams something a person had control of? No. At least, not once had Alice succeeded at doing so for the past two years… ‘Or was everything that happened… just a dream…?’ Alice shuddered at the thought. Even if she excluded the eight years she spent going through the trials, her two years in Abyss, no… her two years of being Tobias Kruzel’s slave and plaything… was not something a person could imagine of… unless…
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‘No… it… everything was definitely real…’ Alice denied the thought of her time in hell merely being a dream. ‘But… what about… this…?’ Alice thought of her long forgotten friend she was currently embracing. Her weirdly mango scented hair, and even the two soft lumps pushing against Alice’s nonexistent ones… ‘I really missed Kyoko’s smell…’ Alice reminisced of her best friend, her one and only friend in this hell-like place whom… had sacrificed herself for Alice…
It was at this place, Alice remembered. Back then, Alice was weak. Fragile even. A doll-like existence that needed protection from the smallest of threats. It was at this Tutorial, and at this Task… as a result of trying to protect her weak and useless friend, Kyoko had took up arms to fend off the onslaught of the goblins. It was a slaughter. The humans were slaughtered, that is.
Nobody was prepared. Nobody knew what to do. Without warning or notice, a hundred men and women were brought to this place, both young and old. The goblins were weak child-like creatures. However, against these hundred confused and peace-corrupted men and women, what should have been a quick battle had turned into a bloodbath. At the end of the second Task, barely half of the hundred had survived. Unfortunately, Kyoko was not… among those who survived.
Alice cringed in regret and anger. If only she had been stronger. If only she hadn’t been so useless. If only she she had discovered her talent for battle sooner… ‘Talent… huh…’ Alice shook her head inwardly as she thought of her eight years of effort - utterly useless. She had finished the trials earlier than most, but what of it? Within seconds of entering Abyss, Alice was trapped and enslaved without even a chance to fight back…
Alice’s mood plummeted, much quicker than it had rose. However, just before Alice could sink back into her sanctuary of hatred and self-pity, mostly directed to herself, an orchestra of angry screeches defiled her eardrums. Alice grimaced at the familiar noises, unwillingly recalling the scenes that was to come.
‘If… What if… this… all this is… real…’ Alice’s mind churned furiously as her innerselves fought. A part of Alice was telling herself, that all of this was merely but a dream, and that she would soon wake up, back in her cage, despair, pain and disappointment being her everlasting companions. However, a small and hopeful part of Alice was telling her to believe. To believe her watery eyes, and to believe her mango-scented nose.
In the end, the result was obvious, of who won the battle…