Chapter 102: A Twist to the Tale
Code’s POV
What an idiot. I can hardly get a read on Cliff. I can’t understand him... I bet he doesn't even understand what he’s saying! Fortunately for me, though, I have gathered that when Cliff is faced with a voice asserting authority, he often cowers to whatever is asked of him. That’s the only consistency I’ve identified behind his erratic actions. Besides that, what he genuinely thinks is a mystery to me. The fact that I might have to put my life in his hands one day is not ideal.
Even now, as I’m going through and explaining the different beacons and the map model to him, Cliff’s eyes are bored and without thought, even though he asked me to do this.
“Hello, everybody,” says a familiar voice.
Instantly recognizing whose voice it was, my eyes widened as I quickly looked over. In the darkness, a light was growing brighter and brighter. Wearing two backpacks, my partner trotted back into camp.
Scar…?
He is wearing one backpack normally, while the other is slugged around his right shoulder, his right hand holding its loose strap in place so the pack wouldn't fall. In his left hand was a torch, presumably the one we took. His clothes weren’t dirtied, and health-wise… he looked perfectly normal.
What?! How is he... what is he doing here?!
Quickly glancing at Ember, I waited for her to match my gaze before I tapped my ear and threw my hand forward into the air as if noiselessly asking her through my theatrical gesture, ‘How did you not hear him approaching?!’. Ember seemed to partially understand what I was trying to convey as she shook her head and shrugged before averting her eyes away from me and placing them back on Scar.
“Code," bluntly says Scar once he notices me. “I’m glad to see you’re okay... I was concerned. I looked everywhere for you.”
He took a step toward me, which made me step back.
“What- what are you talking about?” I stagger, attempting to swallow any sudden anxiety. “You disappeared. I was the one looking for you! You ditched me!”
“No… what the hell are you talking about? I woke up, and you were gone. You left your bag and the torch there so I took them with me. If anything, you were the one that abandoned me,” he says, a confused expression on his face.
What the hell…?
“And don’t act like you dipped because you weren’t piss scared of Zeris. I saw the signal flares and heard the cracking noises while looking around for you…” continues Scar, letting both backpacks slide off his body and plump onto the ground, a sharp 'ding' chiming as two canteens collide inside. “Zeris was close, and you didn’t wake me up to tell me. You almost left me there to die. I luckily found a great hiding spot that kept me safe, but I was worried all night about you. I thought you were dead.”
“No… no, you were the one that-... you took my bag! You were the one that deserted me!”
“Okay… okay!” says Ember as she claps her hands together, stepping in between us and putting her arms out. “I’m already getting irritated by the two of you bickering! Scar, Code… aren’t you both supposed to be smart? How about instead of continuing to act like some halfwit morons… you spare a few brain cells and realize that you were both simultaneously manipulated by Zeris!”
“Zer-” I clear my throat, taking a second to gather my thoughts. “I understand. Sky and Cliff both underwent some abnormal occurrences when Zeris was around them… and saw things that are impossible for a normal human to do. I suppose throwing the two of our senses off wouldn’t be that challenging compared to other things Zeris has done.”
“Hmph, agreed. I should’ve been able to read between the lines,” says Scar, approaching me and sticking his hand out. “Code, I’m glad you're safe.”
Looking at his hand and then back at him, I couldn’t help but notice that he was still wearing his usual straight face, the one void of emotion or feelings. Swallowing my hatred for him so he doesn’t suspect anything, I shake his hand with a small, forced smile, “You as well.”
Ember’s POV
The only explanation is that Zeris was behind why the two were split up. And it seems Code was made to take the brute of Zeris’s wrath while Scar walked away scott-free. It doesn’t add up. Why would Zeris go through the trouble of manipulating both of them if he was just going to leave Scar alone?
Stolen story; please report.
“Scar, besides what you have already told us, is there anything else you would like to mention that you believe needs to be spoken?” asks Forest.
I back his words up, “Yeah, anything at all?”
“No… actually, there are a few things. I’ll just summarize it all… I was able to hide out ‘til the following morning and then spent all day yesterday looking for Code beyond the point of where we had traveled. I naturally considered the possibility that he had already returned to camp, but my instincts were telling me that that wasn’t the case, and I trusted those instincts. Additionally, the threat that Zeris might still be lurking in the area where Code and I had taken our nap… was enough to keep me away from the only path that I knew would take me back to camp. It was a gamble... I didn’t know if Zeris was searching for stragglers, or specifically… me, so I played it as safely as possible. Anyway, in my search for Code, I came across a break between two mountains, and on the other side… a massive maze came into view.”
My eyebrows raise as I interrupt, “My group experienced a similar sight… that confirms my theory that we are surrounded by a maze on all sides. Hunter and Forest had entered the maze from their whereabouts as well.”
“I see… interesting. Well, getting back on track… I once again hid out in the same spot from yesterday evening onward. Only this morning, once I believed it was finally safe to make an effort to return to camp… did I do so. And here I am; that’s the end of it,” concludes Scar.
He doesn’t look or sound like he’s lying… maybe Code was just that unlucky? To be fair, my group had an easy day as well. Not everybody may have been forced into a vulnerable situation, and it was probably wrong of me to assume that everyone had after hearing from Sky about what happened to her group.
Suddenly, Cliff made an abrupt and aggressive move. No, it was a threat… you could maybe call it an assault even. One moment, he was behind Code and standing with everybody else, and the next… the blade we had just handed back to him was only inches away from Scar’s neck. Scar, however, did not seem the slightest bit worried.
“What the hell are you doing, Cliff?!” screeches Delta, her whiny voice surprisingly uttering reasonable words for once.
Ignoring her, Cliff spats, "I'm shocked you showed up here after so many of us died because of you, Scar."
Pissed off that she was disregarded, Delta moved toward Cliff, but Forest grabbed her arm just in the nick of time. Delta glared at him, but Forest pointed toward Cliff and Scar, then brought a finger to his mouth, gesturing for her to be quiet and to stay out of whatever was about to go down. Delta huffed in annoyance but actually listened to Forest's advice.
"I never assured anybody's safety. There was only probable cause. I also recall announcing to everybody that you may stay at camp if you'd like, which nobody did. You may have heard my plan, but it was your choice to follow it," coldly says Scar, his body language unwavering.
"Don't twist my words! You know damn well that you're the direct cause! If we had just stayed here at camp, we would've been-!"
"Safe? Was that what you were about to say?" interrupts Scar, Cliff's trembling blade inching toward him. "Stop being a fool, Cliff. There isn't a single place in this area that's safe. And if you wholeheartedly believe in what you just said, why didn't you stay behind at camp?"
Wow… he isn’t showing any intention of backing down from his past words and actions, and he’s calmly replying to this beast of a man that right now… could kill him instantly. That’s Scar for you. And while I see where Cliff is coming from... for him to allow our trust to falter in him again by giving way to emotions…
"Nobody has once been threatened, attacked, or killed at camp by Zeris! I didn't stay behind cause I wanted to contribute to the group… but I knew something would go wrong when you convinced everybody to follow your idiotic plan! We would have never reached our current situation if we had stayed put! Was it so wrong to just play it safe for a little bit?! Look around! There aren't many of us left! A week ago, we had sixteen!"
Murmuring encircles the two men as their quarreling comes to a standstill. Only after the noise hushed back down... did Scar step an inch closer to Cliff, making the tip of Cliff's quivering sword just a grass blade away from Scar's neck.
Those few were Forest, Code, and Sky, all exchanging glances and words with one another. The rest were… more or less, muttering incomprehensible sounds or frozen in place, wondering what would happen next. Even Delta, who seemed to often support and advocate for violence... was standing there astounded.
“I’m going to kill you! I’m going to f*cking kill you!!” screams Cliff, tears dripping off his face.
"Then… why haven’t you already?" asks Scar, his eyes narrowing into menacing silver daggers. "Cliff, you’re a coward, and it seems you've forgotten something important..."
This abrupt change of presence in Scar immediately sent fear rummaging throughout every fiber in Cliff's paranoid, disheveled face.
"Out of the sixteen of us who woke up here… only one can remain,” says Scar, a silver glow consuming the scar on his face, matching the color of his piercing silver eyes. “Rift flow…”
Scar suddenly vanishes, the ground where he left cracked, and a moment later… he reappears behind Cliff. A new weapon crafted of glass is now clutched in his right hand; its blade is already coated with crimson.
Cliff then fell to his knees, the life already gone from his eyes as I noticed a giant tear across his chest, the slash cutting so deep that I could see his heart and lungs carved in two. I gagged but resisted the urge to vomit as I watched the giant man topple over into the dirt.
Cliff… is dead.
Peering over at Scar, he is already staring at everybody else as he extends the blade in front of his chest.
“There is no place for cowards in this world... he never would’ve survived the rest of the trials. Now, does anybody else have anything they’d like to say to me?”