The sun rose into the sky, gently caressing the group with its rays. They gently opened their eyes from the night of sleep they had, and woke up with fatigue still in their body. Suddenly, an explosion was heard, waking them up for good. The sound came from a volcano far away, which erupted. Realizing what just happened, the leader took a map out of her pocket to confirm her doubts.

"This volcano, it's where the third treasure is."

The group stared at the flaming mountain for a while, still in shock about what just happened. Silva let out a sigh and talked in an exhausted voice.

"So... We need to approach a volcano during an eruption... Great."

"I'm not sure." Said the leader with an uncertain voice "According to the map, it's so far away. Not only getting the treasure would be hard, if not impossible, but also we won't even have time to get back to the finish line in time."

"So, what should we do?" Asked Uriel in a worried tone

The leader stared at her map, thinking about a possible solution. No matter how hard she was trying, she couldn't find a way. She clenched her fists, crumpling the map, frustrated about the only solution she came up with.

"The third treasure, it's impossible to get, that's why they have this red border. It's to tell us that those treasures are harder than the ones before, and it was barely manageable for us already. The rules are made for us to fight each other, by only giving us access to two treasures, they force us to interact with the other groups."

"So, if the volcano entered an eruption, it's not by chance?"

"It's possible." The leader answered to Silva's question "I can't be sure, but I think it was made to be impossible, the only way to win is to fight. The third treasure is just a way to make us think that we have a chance."

"I see that we arrived at the same conclusion!"

A voice other than the four members of the group made itself heard. When they turned to the origin of it, they were met with Silv. Not only her, but her group seemed to be composed of Kairo, the anomaly, and a girl with long black hair they never met before. Silva took a step back by reflex, as the others were ready to fight.

"The rules are made for conflict, this game is as rigged as life itself!"

"Red-haired girl!" Yelled the leader with anger "Is that your plan? To take our treasures?"

"Red-haired girl... I guess it's better than red pantie girl." Silv let out a sigh in exasperation, but quickly got her menacing smile back "But yes, we'll take your treasures, and victory will be sweet!"

"Are-Are you sure?" The girl next to Silv said in an unsure tone "I don't mean to be negative, but I don't think we can win... You barely were able to fight a bear earlier."

"Details, details." Silv swept the girl's voice with her hand, before continuing her speech "Unlike our past enemies, this time, I know their weakness."

The leader took her katana, ready to fight. The girl with red hair took a step forward, keeping her twisted smile on her face, and clapped her hand enthusiastically.

"Sepide, attack your leader, and don't listen to any future orders."

Sepide looked at Silv confused, almost feeling offended that she would think for a moment that she would obey.

"Why would I-"

"This is your new mission, do you understand?"

When Silv uttered those words, Sepide stopped moving suddenly. The leader turned toward her, aiming her blade at her. Everything was silent, the only thing that was heard was Sepide's monotone words.

"Yes, leader."

Sepide immediately started attacking her own leader, under the cheers of the enthusiastic Silv. The leader managed to block the attack, while Silva and Uriel stood there in shock.

"I can't believe it worked! It's so satisfying to see the puppet against her puppeteer! Oh, and she's not going to listen to you anymore, I guess she's going to obey her order until one of you dies."

"You monster!" The leader yelled, while avoiding the hits of Sepide "How can you know about that?"

"It's simple! Like I was saying to Neige, I have power beyond your comprehension! You see-"

"Okay, enough." Kairo cut Silv's monologue, and advanced toward the group calmly, an axe in his hand "I'm sorry, leader, Silva, but your sacrifice won't be in vain."

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Silv seemed annoyed but didn't object to him. No matter how hard the leader tried to convince her, Sepide wouldn't stop attacking with her face empty of all emotions.

Silva was still in shock, her body was shaking, but even despite the feeling of dread she had, she managed to move her body to put herself in the way of Sepide to protect the leader.

"Leader, I'll take care of her. You and Uriel are probably better suited than me to fight them. I'll find a way to bring back our Sepide, but you better explain yourself after that."

The leader took a deep inspiration, visibly still hesitating.

"We have more important for now."

Without another word, the leader, followed by Uriel, prepared to fight against Kairo and his group. The group left deeper into the forest, leaving the two girls alone.

Silva was facing Sepide, or at least what was left of her. She still couldn't understand the sudden change in her friend, but for now, it didn't matter. All she wanted to do was to bring back her friend.

"Even if I have to break a few teeth, I'll bring you back, Sepide!"

None of them had weapons and had to fight using their body as such. Silva was confident that she could deal with her friend, she had more experience after all. Sepide's movements were quick as if she was accustomed to fighting in that way. It took a moment for Silva to notice, but she already saw those moves somewhere. The way she moved her legs and kept her arms close to her upper body, she was fighting using boxing moves. It wasn't how they were taught how to fight, it was actually Neige's way to do it. Silva found it strange, not only Neige didn't have a lot of time with her to teach her, but she seemed proficient in it. Thankfully, all of her training with Neige allowed her to fight fairly with Sepide.

"You're not half bad for a newbie Sepide, but you'll get tired of it anyway, why not stop now?"

Sepide froze for a moment, appearing to be thinking about her answer.

"If I stop, I will go against the orders."

"Come on, it's not like it's not like you had to follow the orders, it wasn't even our leader that gave them."

Sepide held her head in pain, grimacing as she did. Soon after she continued to take a fighting stance, facing Silva.

"Orders are orders, it's my duty to follow them."

"The leader did something to you, that's for sure. But don't worry, even if you're broken, I'll fix you!"

Ignoring her words, Sepide continued her offensive. Silva felt like she could still reach her, but she still needed a bit of time for that. She was ready for the attack of her friend but was surprised by the sudden shift. Her movements seemed less akin to boxing like before, and closer to MMA. Silva was surprised, as it was her way to fight, and she was sure that she never taught Sepide. It was so rare that she fought without her firearm that Sepide wasn't even here the last time she did. It was obvious that something strange was going on, even her movements were similar to Silva's. It was nowhere near the precision she had earlier, it seemed closer to Silva's chaotic style.

"It would be embarrassing if you lost, imagining losing to a bling girl while copying her techniques!"

"I'm not copying, I was trained for it."

"Who trained you? Because whoever did was bad at its job." Silva was taunting Sepide to get a reaction out of her, but she wasn't thinking a word of what she was saying. She knew that if the fight continued, she wouldn't be able to continue without hurting her friend.

"It... Doesn't matter. If I don't remember, it's that it was useless."

"Useless, huh? You seem to like that word."

"All that matters is being useful, and to be useful, I have to fulfill my purpose."

"You're really getting on my nerves now, I'm just going to punch you until you get these thoughts out of your mind."

Silva was preparing herself for a third round, but Sepide seemed to act weird this time. She didn't have a proper stance and looked way more uncertain. Silva held hope that it meant she was getting closer to her friend, even if she was prepared to fight again.

"So what now? You don't have anyone else to copy from?"

"Silva...?" Sepide shook her head, the pain was obvious on her face, but she forced herself to ignore it "It... Doesn't matter. I just... Have to obey the orders."

"Sepide, I can see that you don't want to. Come on, let's go to the leader together." Silva took a calm step toward her friend, who answered by yelling at her.

"Don't get closer! I... Don't want to hurt you!"

"Then don't."

"But it's my orders, it's what I am. I can't go against them... It hurts my soul to follow them, but it hurts my being to disobey..."

Sepide's empty eyes suddenly seemed animated. She kept alternating between two personalities like she was fighting against herself.

"I don't understand a word of what you're saying."

"I need to obey... It's what I'm made for, that's how I can reach happiness."

Silva approached Sepide closer and closer until a meter was separating them. Sepide couldn't move, unsure about what she was supposed to do. It seemed like she was still fighting inside of her, a fight that she was struggling to finish.

"Sepide, I know how it feels. I'm lost too, I don't know what I should do. I wish I would disappear, and at the same time, I want to stay. Gwyn told me that hurting isn't a good solution, but I think that sometimes, it's the best solution to know how you feel."

"It doesn't matt-"

Before Sepide could finish her sentence, Silva punched her as strongly as she could, knocking her to the ground. Sepide suddenly felt like her entire head was empty, that she could hear the silence again. Silva gave her hand to help Sepide to get back up, which she accepted.

"I... I'm sorry, I don't understand-"

After helping her stand back up, Silva held her friend tightly against her. Sepide stood there for a moment before holding Silva back, visibly returning to her usual self.

"You should eat more too copycat, I can't feel your boobs."

"Oh, alright then."

Silva laughed to herself, before giving a soft smile to Sepide.

"I don't know about your past, and I don't know what the leader taught you, but we need to teach you a lot of things still."

"It seems so, I can't even understand myself."

"It's normal." Silva said with a soft tone "The leader is hiding something, but we'll figure it out. In the meantime, I'll need to punch you every time you talk nonsense about orders."

"Please, find another solution next time. It hurts."

Silva took a step back from Sepide and searched around the emplacement of the leader. Unable to find her or Uriel, she turned back to Sepide and handed her hand as an invitation.

"Come on, let's find the leader!"

Sepide nodded her head, she still didn't understand what happened but knew she could trust Silva despite everything. She couldn't help but wonder what this strange feeling inside her was, forcing her to obey the order. The girl shook her head and instead followed her friend, trying to focus on the mission.

"Silva.... Thanks."