Since the third challenge had been a test based on how many the survivors had killed other survivors, after five hours, the trial had already been completed. Most survivors struggled in that jungle alone, but Sandra only brought the best, not a single one of them died. Besides, they didn’t face anyone in the arena. However, they couldn’t rechallenge the tower until the place had no survivors inside.
After one day, Harry, Rose, Lucius, and Sabrina had completed the challenge. After two days, Sandra, Sarah, and Charles also left the tower, and Claire completed on the third day. She and everyone else were already aware of the problems Ethan would face. He would have to complete the challenge in forty days; he would have to revive those dark memories hundreds of times. Everyone was showing tense expressions on their faces, and Claire's heart ached.
Fortunately, her worries helped her to accept her own faults and mistakes. The challenges didn’t faze Ethan because he was fully aware of his own flaws, he was aware of his insanity, although he didn’t want to correct them, just by knowing his problems he could overcome any challenge. So, Claire decided to accept her own flaws because that was the only way to overcome them.
Claire and the others headed every single day to the tower, and there they waited for Ethan as they killed the monsters and the skeletons which the tower was still creating. They didn’t know if he would complete the challenge in time, but even so, they decided to wait for him and heal his wounds once he appears.
Every day they tried to enter the tower, but the tower didn’t let them. That annoyed many people, but at least it was the proof that Ethan was still alive. Claire waited during the day near the tower, and at night she regularly used her skill to locate Ethan’s presence. He had helped her so many times, and now that he needed help, she couldn’t do a thing.
When Claire was meditating, she was always looking at the tower and recalling the few memories she had of Ethan. Always grumpy, annoyed, and in the last few days, he didn’t show interest in anything but battles. He complained many times, but he never refused to help her and the kids. He put his life on the line to help them and dirtied his hands to keep their hands clean. The kids even said that he had his arm cut off, trying to protect them. He was like a very clumsy hero who didn’t know how to fight with grace and elegance.
But he was a hardworking and quiet guy, who helped others even when it was very annoying. He wasn’t handsome, nor did he have a beautiful body. But if he had shown even a little bit of interest, she would have given a chance to him to become more than friends. Although he probably never considered her as a friend. His attitude was unnerving, but it was a bit charming because he was like her, always afraid of getting connected with other people.
Before she could notice it, Claire began to feel a weird feeling in her stomach and heart as she waited near the tower or when she looked at it. For the first time in her life, she felt the feeling of loving a man as a member of the opposite sex. Since she had a bad experience before she could fall in love for the first time, Claire never truly loved a man. She always felt reluctant; she imagined she would be betrayed again. It was impossible to know what other people were thinking, and that scared her.
But then she realized it; she had been unlucky just two times. Because those two times, she felt scared that she would be betrayed again, and because of it, she lost years of her life. Because she was too scared, she lost years of happiness. A person shouldn’t give up on his journey just because they found two stones on their path. The higher the mountain, the better the view. By overcoming the hardships, any person could find a treasure at the end of their journey or on the other side of the mountain.
Claire decided that she wouldn’t let her past hold her back anymore. She let her two boyfriends chose her, but now she would choose her boyfriend. Ethan would be the perfect test subject, maybe he wasn’t handsome or gentle, but she knew he would never betray her. Maybe things wouldn’t work out in the end, but at least she knew she wouldn’t be betrayed again. And that would be an essential first step, maybe that wasn’t a good time due to the city’s state. But when would be a good time? They could die at any moment. With that resolve, Claire decided to take the first step.
When Ethan appeared, he was unrecognizable. Even Claire looked at him and thought he was a zombie, but he didn’t have dead eyes, he had the eyes of a beast. Even though Ethan looked like a swamp monster, his crossbows were perfectly clean, and that was why she recognized him and stopped everyone from attacking him. Maybe it couldn’t be helped since he fought against monsters for more than thirty days straight, but he was looking at everyone as if they were his new targets, and that scared Claire. But before she could say anything, he disappeared, she could feel his presence inside the other. But when she arrived there, he was sleeping like a rock.
Although it was somewhat creepy, Claire observed him until the time he woke up. As the hotel healed his wounds, Claire watched him carefully. She already knew, but he really didn’t have any discernible characteristics. An average guy with an average body and a few scars. She didn’t feel attracted to him because of his body, and then she felt relieved. She didn’t want to see others like objects; she felt attracted to him for the person he was, even though he had many flaws.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
After a day, Ethan woke up, and before she could say what he wanted, he was already preparing for the next battle. In the last moment, she hesitated to say what she wanted to say, but to her surprise, he rejected her even before she could say anything! She felt so frustrated, but even after that, she couldn’t bring herself to hate him. She hid her frustration by treating him coldly, or at least she tried.
As if a big dog wasn’t enough, Ethan created a big parrot. But she knew he wasn’t an animal lover, his actions were just preparations for eventual situations, and in the last challenge, his second pet helped a lot.
As soon as they saw the dragon, Ethan informed them of the monsters' status and skills, and after that, he disappeared. He wasn’t interested in teamwork, but Claire knew teamwork wouldn’t do a thing against that beast. The dragon decimated the survivors; the best thing Claire could do was to keep the kids away from the monster. The one who stopped the dragon’s rampage had been Ethan.
As if he had a death wish, Ethan teleported Rose, Claire, to inside the monster’s mouth. The third challenge had destroyed the last pieces of sanity he had. He teleported himself to the dragon’s mouth so many times that Claire lost the count. But even though it was madness, it was the only way to defeat that monster.
After losing half of their forces, Ethan decided to knock down the dragon and give the others time to rest and regroup. Claire couldn’t believe it when she saw Ethan alone make the dragon fall all and hit the ground of the city, and he did that, inside the dragon’s mouth! As if that wasn’t enough, he decided to use the dragon to return to the top of the tower.
After he returned, Claire had an idea, if they combine their powers, they would be able to cause a lot of damage, and so they did. Even though she felt happy by combined their forces, she didn’t show it. And in the end, she killed the beast with another concentrated shot.
Before they could even count their losses, they got teleported to the real world. Claire could barely believe that she had struggled so much in virtual reality. And then she met Ethan’s family; she felt something was off, he didn’t resemble any of them. Sandra was glaring at them, and that confirmed Claire’s suspicions. At first, they looked happily at Ethan, but when they saw his uninterested face, they froze on the spot and then changed their behavior.
Their cold treatment pissed Claire, and she tried to get some answers from them, but Ethan glared at her the same way he looked at monsters when he was about to kill them. He openly declared that he would become her enemy if she insisted on that conversation, so she reluctantly backed off.
They lost a lot, but they also had new allies. The hotels disappeared, but they would be relatively safe inside the walls. Harry and the others wanted to discuss their next actions, but after they cleaned themselves, they didn’t find Sandra. They decided to rest for the day and so the members of the special dispersed, only Claire, Harry, Rose and Sarah stayed together. They knew where Sandra had gone; she was probably with Ethan talking with his parents. And so they waited for her. But Sandra only appeared after the midnight showing a complicated expression and then she frowned when she saw them.
“I’m not talking,” Sandra shook her head.
“Mom!” Harry protested.
“This is none of my business and none of your business. “ Sandra glared at them. “Unless you want problems with Ethan, you won’t want to hear what I heard. Besides, that is a secret from some very important people.”
“I still want to hear,” Claire stepped forward with her arms crossed.
Sandra looked at Harry, Rose, and Sarah, and they also looked resolute. Sandra let out a long sigh. She wouldn’t be able to help Ethan, but probably they would, so told them everything they heard.
Sandra finished telling them what she heard when the sun was rising, and their reactions were pretty much the same she had imagined it would be. Their mouths were wide open, Harry was trembling, Rose was astonished, Sarah was crying, and Claire was furious.
“I… my skill…” Harry trembled as he remembered the time when he showed his replication skill to Ethan.
“I don’t think that bothered him… he doesn’t care if he is a clone. The true problem lies elsewhere.” Sandra explained as she walked in circles.
“But even so…” Harry said, showing a pale face.
“Since when do you know this?” Rose asked angrily, “He needs psychiatric monitoring; I could have helped. But you kept this secret to yourself! Can you even imagine what he is thinking?! He always knew that something was wrong with him. If that isn’t enough, he killed hundreds to avoid a war, and now he knows he is a clone. It wouldn’t surprise me if any moment he decides to wipe out the whole human race.”
“Like I said,” Sandra said impatiently. “The real problem is elsewhere; he thinks that he is not a human, so he decided that he won’t care about the others. Even though that fucking General taunted him so much, Ethan is sane enough not to kill innocents indiscriminately. But he won’t hold back if someone causes problems for him. He will be merciless even with those who cause him small problems…”
Sarah couldn’t say a thing; she couldn’t process was she just heard. The thought of so many children being sacrificed made her so sad that she felt that her very soul was freezing. Not to mention Ethan’s situation, he basically only lived thirteen years. Claire, on the other hand, was having a hard time suppressing her anger, no wonder Ethan never opened his heart to anyone, nor did he show any interest in others. He had been treated as a guinea pig even for those he loved so much, Sandra said Jerry and Naomi looked like they cared about him, but it was hard to believe, after all, they only treated him the way the General wanted.
Since the fight against Ann, Ethan only looked at others as if they were simple tools. And now he didn’t have any use or interest in those tools; he would treat everyone the same way he had been treated for his entire life. Claire knew it; he would never see humans as his equals. She decided that she had to open his eyes and make him understand that he was a human, but only words wouldn’t work. Words never worked with him before. Claire decided to express her feelings with actions, and what she had decided to do made her heart beat very fast.