As I walked to the exit of the room, I turned back to Brier. “I will make your death worth it, I promise.”

The walk through the tunnel was hard. Not because the tunnel was full of monsters, small, or easy to get lost, but because it was lonely. Orange and I didn’t know what to talk about. After a couple of hours, the projectors in my eyes whirled to life. An image of Orange appeared in front of me.

She stood there with a smile. “What’s wrong? Your shoulders are more forward, and your steps are shorter.”

I smirked. “What happened to not taking over anything?” She opened her mouth to speak, but I held up a hand. “It’s good to see you. Being alone with nobody around is getting too hard. I know you inside me at all times, but I’m a visual person.”

She stepped up to me. “We are only a projection, and we can only be where you’re looking.”

I waved my hand. “Orange, just seeing you here is enough. I’ve spent a lifetime alone. Now that I’ve spent so much time recently with Killa, Shadara, and you, I don’t want to be alone anymore. You don’t have to say anything. Walking with me will be enough.”

“Okay.”

With Orange walking by me, things felt better. Seeing her outside of a simulation was a big step for her—a step she took for me.

There has to be something I can do for her. I know I said I will help her with everything about emotions, but that doesn’t feel like enough.

Orange turned her head and gave me a smile and a nod. “I know you said you want to introduce me to people, but for now, let’s keep this between us.

“If you want, okay.”

Without Brier, I could move much faster. His instructions were simple, I found several signs of battles with many creature corpses. We inspected the corpses, noting the level of mutilation inflicted on them. Orange pointed out that most of the wounds were caused by blunt attacks.

It was possible the underhulk caused the damage, but with no proof, I stayed on edge. It could’ve been another legion centipede, for all I knew.

As we continued walking, I noticed Orange’s steps were rigid. "So, Orange, are you still moving your body based on what I see?”

She stopped walking and turned around. “Yes.” Even though I didn’t stop walking, she kept moving, floating off the ground. “We estimated mimicking the motion of walking while staying in front of you would help keep you at ease.”

I chuckled. “Orange, I don’t deserve a friend like you.”

“We said it when we first met, we are here for you,” she said. “That hasn’t changed. We will always help you as best we can.”

I stepped around more dead ants. “Before I reach the top of the Soul Nexus, I will give you a body of your own. You deserve a life of your own.” She turned away from me. “But not before you’re ready for it. At the very least, you deserve a wish too. You’re climbing the Nexus right along with me.”

“We wouldn’t know what to ask for,” she mumbled.

“That’s fine.” I tried to sound as happy as I could. “Just give it some thought once we get through this, okay?”

“We’ve never promised anything before.” Her head tilted to the side. “We understand the concept and its definition. But It’s unnecessary for us to make a promise. We don’t forget, and if we say we’ll do something, we will.”

I shook my head. “It’s a thing people do. Give it a try and see how you feel.”

“Are you trying to show me what accomplishment feels like?” she asked.

I gave her an innocent smile and shrugged. “Yes. You experienced some negative emotions. I want to show you they can be good too.”

Orange gave me a playful smile as she turned around. “Remember, we learned a lot from you. As the saying goes, ‘you reap what you sow.’ We are a good friend because we watched you be one first.”

Thanks Orange.

As I turned a corner, there was a wall of ant corpses. I could hear movement coming from the other side of it. When I shifted my vision to thermal, I could see several spots were still warm.

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This was recent. So I may have found the source of all these corpses.

Behind me, skittering and scratches faded into my hearing. Orange disappeared as she stopped using my projectors.

This is the way you need to go. It’s time to commit to what you plan to do.

I slumped my shoulders as I extended my arm blades. Brier’s face flashed through my mind. I slashed through the wall of dead insects to see a dozen people freeze and stare at me.

I filled the corridor with shadow magic. Everyone yelled in surprise as most of them scrambled to their feet. The three closest to me were dumbfounded as they stared at where I entered. They didn’t get a word out before I drove my stinger arms and arm blade through their eyes.

One was a taller man with wrinkly green skin and a muscular build. The second one was a guy with thick ram horns and cloven feet. The last one was a woman with white hair, white skin, and incredibly thin. All three of them had the same look of shock as they died.

I ignored the corner of stats and shards I was receiving.

“What’s the meaning of this?” One of the others in the back pulled out a square box.

The next closest person, a small monkey with skin flaps similar to a flying squirrel, whimpered as he crawled along the wall. He ran into the shins of a blue woman with an elongated head and gills. The two tangled into a heap.

I dashed to them and decapitated them as quickly as possible. The message of receiving stats and shards were revolting to see. Even though I didn’t read them, just receiving them was bad enough. Standing over the two, I watched the blood pool as their faces twisted in horror rolled to stare at me.

A wave of light vaporized my shadow magic. The box the one guy pulled out was opened and radiated almost as much light as the sun for a second before closing back up. The seven remaining people shielded their eyes. It didn’t bother me though.

“Selk…”

I turned my hearing off before the woman finished screaming the name. I don’t want to hear any more names. Knowing one is more than enough. All five faces of those I just killed in the last two seconds were burned into my mind.

The woman who screamed earlier charged me with a spear and shield. Her skin was red, and she had yellow snake eyes that were overflowing with rage and sorrow. Her spear went through my heart—my long dead, unbeating heart.

She kept rushing and pushed me until my back was against a wall and her spear was through me up to her hand. Her mouth moved, but I kept myself from hearing anything she said. I curled a stinger arm around her and stabbed up into the base of her skull.

I watched the light leave her eyes as she went limp. Before she hit the ground, I caught her and eased her body to the ground. Another person caught up in all this. Another person who didn’t deserve this.

Rina, stop thinking about them.

I pulled the spear out through my back. I can’t.

A guy who looked like a green lizard with wings punched me in the face. He cracked my skull, dislocated my jaw and sent me flying forty feet. Before I hit the ground, a semi translucent violet hand appeared above me and slammed me into the ground.

The guy in the back, whose gray skin looked like pieces of broken rock, lifted a crossbow almost as big as him up and aimed it at me. He pulled the trigger as I stood up. The recoil of the shot sent the man back a few feet and his bolt exploded as it almost flew by me.

The air around my left side shredded, and my left regular arm disintegrated halfway up my bicep. The remaining force hammered me into the wall.

A dark thought trickled into my mind. Can they kill me?

Only if you let them.

For a second, I considered it.

All of the remaining members of the Antennae Alliance stared at me. I turned off my pain receptors at the beginning. Time slowed down as my body reconstructed itself.

I failed. They’re fighting for their lives. They’re trying to kill me because I tried killing them first. Why? Because Elveil told me to? I really am her pet already.

You hesitated. We warned you. We asked if you could do this. The longer you take, the worse things will be for you. And we are not talking about energy consumption and mana use.

Orange, I’ve seen their faces. I remember their faces. They are dead because I chose to kill them. People who have done nothing to me with their own hopes, dreams, wishes… I killed them.

And all those things we talked about, Killa, Shadara—what about us? Will you really let yourself die and let Elveil do whatever she wants? You need to see this through so you can fix this. Do not give up on us!

It was hard to think. Too many thoughts ran through my mind. Making it impossible to even figure out what I was seeing. Everything grew more chaotic in my head. It all fell away, and I saw Orange standing in front of me while we stood in a completely white space. She didn’t say a word as she hugged me.

Every wild thought disappeared as I hugged her back. “You’re right. I can’t give up.”

I returned to see the green lizard guy flying at me, feet first. I ducked under and impaled him through the heart with a stinger arm. Again, I caught him and placed him gently on the ground. My wounds were nearly finished healing. I still needed to reconstruct half of my left hand.

“I’m sorry for this.”

The remaining six froze as I pulled my gun out and fired at the guy with the oversized crossbow. Before his head exploded, I fired off two more shots. With three more dead, the last three turned to run away. Each pull of the trigger was harder than the last.

The first one to be shot in the back was a short woman with green skin and long ears. The second was a hairy guy with long arms that had a second elbow. And the last one was a thin elven guy who clutched a pendant as he ran.

I will deal with the nightmares later.

No, we will deal with the nightmares together.

Thank you, Orange.