On the way to the dormitory, Seven met with Arthur’s group. It was small enough that in the future he would be able to remember the name of each person, should they still be alive.
Aside from Arthur, only five members remained, from which a single person looked weak enough to have failed the previous tests, a young boy that looked no older than twelve.
A thick layer of ant blood painted his caramel hair a thin purple with tinges of brown. A straight line of coagulated blood trailed from his forehead, where rough stitches were hastily done to close the ghastly injury.
His eyes were dead to the world before him.
Arthur looked haggard, and he lagged a few steps behind the group. On the other hand, Kate was further apart than them, being avoided at all costs while keeping a smiling face, caressing the gun in her hands.
Seven traded glances with each one of them, as they were headed the same way, frowning his eyebrows towards the sight.
It was as if their eyes had holes from which the life force drained out of their bodies. They were humans no more, only empty husks of their former selves.
-Arthur, what happened there? - Seven asked out of curiosity.
He did, after all, give them advice and supplies. He had invested enough time and resources to be interested in the outcome.
-…
Before any more questions came his way, he cast down his head and went his way.
-And so, the weak have been culled. That was faster than I predicted, good job Arthur! - commented Kyel, who stood in the stairway to the first floor of the dormitory.
Of the ones who returned, only Kate had the energy to take a bath before going to her room. The others immediately dropped on their beds, ignoring the uncomfortable layer of filth covering their bodies, a mix of bloodied earth and dried sweat.
The dormitory looked very empty that night.
“In the end, I couldn’t chance upon Natalya... Oh well”
He felt sleepy after the nasty headache The Butterfly Chapters gave him. He needed rest and a good meal to recover from the blow.
While his head arched towards the soft pillow, a thought made its way to his room.
“If Arthur’s group returned, does it mean everyone is free for the remaining two days?”
Things were progressing at a fast pace. He didn’t doubt that Natalya would kill the next Queen as fast as she killed the other three. The thing is, he couldn’t fathom what would follow after that.
“Two days of rest... Rest, for her, would be more training...Why did she choose to stay here and fight wooden dolls when she already knew so many things about this place? What’s the use of hiding her identity? Why did she have to wait for Ai’s announcement?”
He wouldn’t complain about watching her training. He still needed inspiration for the next fighting scenes, a faint smile formed on his face at the thought of the entirely new martial arts she would show him.
He fell asleep swiftly.
***
[Good morning, players. Since all of you have no special assignments related to Tutorial: Lesson 2, a side-quest has been issued. Please check it on the Quest Log of your Human System as soon as possible]
Opening his eyes at the sudden announcement, Seven checked the time, 8:00, and got up.
||New Quest||
||Intermission||
||Participate in the games at the community allocated area at 10:00||
||Those that fail to reach the designated area at the specified time will be forcefully teleported||
“...That's fine, I suppose”
Seven was planning to head down to the lower levels and wait for Natalya at one of the terminals. He would like to talk to her for a bit about the latest events. Afterward, he would go back to the Research Station and grab a book on how to manipulate the blue essence in the air – The Butterfly Chapters was promising, but from what he gathered it was a “moment of opportunity” kind of power, and he needed something more consistent.
“That aside, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be doing something dangerous.”
Even after so many tragedies and living on a desperate struggle, humans still looked forward with hope for a brighter future, where they could laugh about the past as a distant nightmare and enjoy a happier life.
Happiness and sorrow emphasized each other.
“Even if it’s to Ai’s benefits, we could enjoy a break”
He began his morning routine late by going to the gym. The only one there at the time was Arthur, he looked quite clean for someone who usually pulled weights at 5 a.m.
“You got dark underlines beneath your eyes... Sleepless nights are the worst”
The reason why Seven never bothered with Arthur or the others was simply that Natalya presented a far more interesting character in his opinion. However, seeing such a huge difference in Arthur’s countenance, he felt the need to know the reason behind it.
-Arthur.
The man didn’t budge an inch. Seven got closer, but Arthur still wouldn’t turn his head to face him.
-Arthur?
…
…
-Don’t pretend you can’t hear me, the thing I hate the most is being ignored when I’m talking. I won’t give you time to recover from whatever is troubling your mind, because I’m not kind and definitely not patient, and neither does this world possess such qualities. Ai won’t wait for your stupid brain to start working again, and if you’re ready to give up everything and die, then that’s it.
…
...
Seven made a gesture as if nothing could be done about it and walked to the running machine. A few days without a good running session made his legs stiff, he wanted to get rid of that annoying feeling.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Arthur’s character won’t grow unless he’s beaten to the point of breaking. But unlike the world of novels, the reality is quite different in that such a character is not entitled to a comeback after reaching that point. If he's broken to the point he can’t even feel angry hearing those words... There’s nothing to be done. He needs to settle it alone”
Creating a bond out of nothing to lead a group in such a situation required unmatched charisma and strong people at your side. While he did have capable people in his group, they didn’t possess the strength of Natalya, the quick wits and ruthlessness of Kyel, or the general knowledge and obsessiveness of Seven.
The path he chose was much harder than a normal person’s, and were not for unusual individuals like Kyel and, unbeknownst to Seven, Kate, he had a good chance of succeeding.
The consequence of not being strong enough to follow that path was cruel. He would be left with nothing but hopelessness and self-loathing.
“Such a character... Does not interest me”
Seven didn’t care about the person called Arthur, but the character he impersonated.
***
Earlier, way before dawn, there was a single soul awake in the largely empty dormitory.
Arthur.
It wasn’t that he didn’t try to sleep. He was so beat from the last quest that he couldn’t think of anything else but lying flat on the cold hard floor. He couldn’t even remember how he managed to get out of that hell alive, not to speak of the others.
So, he slept for a few hours, but woke up sweating from a nightmare. It was a recurring one, but for the last three years, he hadn’t seen it, burying it in the deepest corners of his brain.
When it finally came, it was worse than how he remembered.
The leaves of the oak trees turned red, although most of them were brownish with a look of decay. Autumn was a very short season in his city, quickly leading to a harsh winter, and that day was particularly cold, so the teacher had to turn on the heater and close off most windows.
At the time, Arthur had long hair that went quite well with his baby face, making him look younger than his age. His height and physical prowess were a quick way up to the basketball team, and it didn’t take long before he officially starred. His studies were fine, he had good friends, he was attractive and popular with girls, his family was financially stable, even the teachers liked him.
It was the golden time of his life.
“Everything was supposed to be perfect...”
When he reached the classroom, one of the windows was open and a freezing gust of wind blew past him, along with dead foliage and specks of wood from dried branches.
The specter outside of the window, that old giant of an oak tree that became the symbol of their school, seemed to grow inside of the building. It was only the first floor, yet shards of branches clogged the window and made it look like the oak had shrunk down to witness the events that occurred on that day.
The seat right next to the window had piles of dead leaves scattered on the floor beneath. Knife marks covered the drawer with stupid words like “go die”, “useless”, “idiot” and “faggot”, amongst the tame. The scariest ones he wouldn’t remember. He wouldn’t dare remember.
Because he knew that the cruelest, most empty and most obnoxious words were carved by him.
Beneath that layer of branches, he saw two sneakers. They were checker-board slip-ons, and only one guy in the entire school wore this kind of shoes.
An electro beat rang, it was his cellphone’s tune.
-Hey, Bell, this is some serious shit. That kid is... Ah, it’s... Too noisy... The teachers...
He stood in a daze, half a foot inside of the classroom and half a foot outside. If he closed the door could he pretend to have never seen it? Arthur didn’t know how much time had passed, but the teachers were already inside the room with a bunch of nosy students.
-Arthur, you’re here? No time to explain, follow me.
-Oh... Ok.
What happened afterward was a blur, but the next moment, the sneakers were right in front of his eyes and they connected to his legs, waist, torso, and kept going up and constructing the body of a human... No matter how much he wished for it to be a dream, reality screamed otherwise.
The worst part was the eyes.
If there was hatred, anger, wrath, or any kind of negative emotions, he felt like he wouldn’t be affected as much, because such feelings were expected.
From those eyes, like a bleeding wound, shards of grey light flowed out like a fountain, painting the red leaves with a lifeless hue and rendering all sound null.
Those eyes carried nothing, an endless abyss that grew by swallowing the world.
Arthur could never forget them.
He was one of the main perpetrators.
After that day, he swore he would do the right thing. He would offer help whenever he could, and even if it was just to ease the pain by a small amount, he would try his hardest.
It was his only way to say sorry, both to the kid who died, to his friends and his family.
It wasn’t so much helping others as it was helping himself.
It was the only way to continue living, lest those empty eyes came back to haunt him.
"… It’s not enough.”
Throughout the years, he had achieved peace of mind, thus why the nightmares never returned. He started to accept this lifestyle whole-heartedly and was on his path to achieve happiness through spreading kindness and helping others. The smiles on other’s faces after he gave them a hand, they were his greatest source of satisfaction.
Did you think you could be happy, after what you’ve done?
How many had their lives torn apart because of your stupidity?
Does acting with kindness lessen the pain you’ve brought others?
-No!
Arthur breathed profusely as voices screamed inside his head, he went to the bathroom and filled the sink to near bursting before drowning his head in it.
“Yes... No matter what I do, I cannot change the past. No matter how many I help, it won’t matter, because those I have harmed are just as many...”
He failed in the past and failed in the present. No matter how many unforeseen circumstances there were, he was still the one who took the initiative to guide those people. What if that wasn’t the case? For all he knew, everyone would submit to Kyel and they would become a part of a coordinated group. Natalya, Kate, and Seven could handle a lot on their own, they could just ride on their good fortunes.
Regardless of what they did, there was a good chance that they would’ve been alive by now.
“But I had to offer them a hand because of that stupid conviction...”
To help people, one does not necessarily have to be kind and virtuous. It only made a difference in how the person was perceived in the eyes of others. So, even if his actions led to a disastrous outcome, no one would blame him for it. On the opposite, if one looked cruel and acted like a tyrant, even if the result of his actions led to the better good he wouldn’t be well received, and on the first fail all the blame would be pinned on him.
“I’d rather be a bad person that does the right thing than be a good person that does the wrong thing...”
At one point, he thought of useless things like “I can only do so much”, and even blamed himself on deaths he was not responsible for.
“Can’t do it? Then become someone who can. What of the people I can’t save? I should worry about those I can save”
He wasn’t a hero. He used that line as a mantra during the five years since that incident, but only now did he notice it was only a way to cover for his liabilities.
“... I don’t need to be a hero... Even if it is a villain, I just need the power of one”
Arthur clenched his fists and spent the rest of the night mulling over plans to get stronger.
***
While the others slept in the dormitory, they missed an important notification.
||Area 5’s Queen Ant has been slain by player “Natalya Wolskev”||
||Territories claimed:4||
Natalya sook out the smallest heart out of the Queen’s body and crushed it, a feeling of relief washing over her dark countenance for a brief moment.
Exactly five seconds, the time she allowed herself to breathe. Unknowingly, a smile floated on her lips as an old memory found its way to that hideous world.
Back in the other world, she managed to miss the entire first month of university due to a mistake on the official bulletin. At the time she learned of it, Natalya was playing chess alone in a park, but although the scenery was vivid, she couldn’t remember the name of the place. Immediately, she left to her apartment and packed up everything in a rush, contacted a friend and basically threatened him to give her a 3-hour ride to another city just so she could take the next lesson.
Her major was an Engineering course, and the next class would be Calculus. She understood absolutely nothing, but picked up the flow of the lesson and caught the gist of calculations even with a hurtful base on theory.
“When I got back to my Aunt’s place, I didn’t eat or take a bath. I turned on my notebook and studied like there was no tomorrow. There was a Calculus test in five days, and an Algebra test two days after... I only allowed myself 5 minutes of rest in which I would stare at a screen and watch videos, but I couldn’t focus on relaxing...”
She missed it, the days of leisure where she despaired and cried over something like a harsh semester.
But it was no use. She was alone, no one could imagine the heavy assignment she was bestowed with. It was a fate she didn’t wish for, but there was no one else to share the burden.
After all, no one would believe it if she spoke about it.
The truth behind this world.