3 months. It’s been exactly 3 months this we all got transported here -according to the others, I kinda lost track of time at some point. I don’t miss Earth, but I miss peace. I know it’s a bit ironic, but I’m worried about my friends, here you can never know what’s around the corner, and sometimes, confidence can become a weakness.

What if someone lost his book? It doesn’t matter if it is indestructible, if you lose it, you can’t do much here. I don’t really want to bring the subject, because they’ll surely discard me with an answer like “just mark it with flux”, but as I can’t do that, they’ll worry and I’ll feel bad.

Actually, they can probably do something like that already, so maybe it’s just me worrying for nothing… Or maybe their guide told them something I still don’t know? Nah, unlikely, we shared almost all we could – well, more like they shared all they could.

Speaking of guides, Val is not answering me. Yesterday I tried to tell the other about my nightmare, but I didn’t find any opportunity to tell them I’ll probably die, killed by an unknown woman with purple hair, in a burning forest. They are already way too anxious about me.

Nonetheless, it would be stupid to keep this for myself, so I asked Val if she knows of any purple psychopath, but she hasn't answered yet. That’s odd, usually, she’s quick. Well, usually she is the one asking me something, so who knows... I’ll leave this place soon, so I’m not that worried.

Sigh… and here we are...

I hate goodbyes.

Well, I guess we know what’s coming next, sort of. We beat the crap out of each struggle and we met back at the 20th one. Seems like there is a plateau every ten level, unsurprisingly Val never told me.

After that, we keep going, we fight, we thrive, and we rise. Until we finish this twisted quest and go home, or find a place where we can all stay in peace.

Hey! Now that I think about it, that would be a good plot for a novel.

Anyway, we’re all around the remains of yesterday’s campfire. I’m talking with Nami, well, she’s mostly asking me hundreds of questions on my preparation, like a mother. She’s probably worried about me… that’s so cute.

Xavier was the first to leave. He didn’t say anything special, neither did we. I think we’re all confident that we’ll meet again whatever happens.

One by one, everyone left the camp. It was only me and Nami now.

“I think I should go now.”

“… I’ll miss you.”

“We’ll meet again soon.”

As an answer, she smiled and put her lips on mine.

After the longest goodbye kiss in history -from a totally objective point of view-, we parted ways. Shit… My cheeks are wet, I probably have dust in my eyes…

The doors are a few minutes away from the camp, I sat down against a tree midway to soothe myself.

I closed my eyes, to hear the sound of birds chirping in the background, and feel the morning breeze on my face. I may always do the same thing to calm down, but it works every time. When I meditate like that, time seems to freeze, like nothing really matter, like I’m done with the whole world, a drop in the ocean, so… small…

Phew… this is actually a bit overwhelming.

Anyway, my heart has settled a bit now, I’m ready to move on. It’s just a goodbye after all.

I opened my eyes.

What is that? The door… why is it here?

Just in front of me, the door had appeared out of thin air. I approached, and touch it, but there was no reaction. What the fuck is happening?

I took out the Questbook, maybe there is something I missed.

The previous struggle didn’t change at all, and this one is already completed… maybe in later in the book?

The door opened. Violently. And someone crashed on me.

She had quite the momentum, we rolled down several meters.

Before I even realised what happened, she had taken her distance, and was glaring at me.

Wait…

“Sam?”

“Alice?”

No doubt about it, long hair, slender face with a wide mouth and bicolour eyes, one gold and one silver. Even though her hairs are dark red now, she is my sister.

What the hell is she doing here? Wait, did Valentine knew about it?

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“Sob...”

Shit! She’s crying! I jumped to her and took her in my arm.

“Shhh… Everything is alright...”

What the hell happened?

“I...I… was alone and.. sob...”

“Shhh… I’m here now. Everything is fine.”

It took several minutes, but she managed to calm down a bit. She’s usually so strong, but if she went through the quest like me and the other, I’m afraid I can see what is going on.

We were sitting down against to close tree, she told me everything. I have to say, I wasn’t surprised. She is the strongest person I know, and by far, but since what happened during the purge, her emotions have been unstable.

“… and then I went through the door and… well, here I am.”

She was staring at the ground…

“You must be disappointed...”

“Why?”

“I broke the promise.”

“Sis’, look at me. It doesn’t matter. When we made that promise, we never thought something like that would happen. You did what you had to do.”

“Thanks...”

Aw… she’s cute. She seemed revealed, and yet I sense something else in her expression…

“...you still say I’m your sister...”

Oh yeah… I forgot about that.

“Of course you are!”

“I already told you, this person wasn’t my father!”

“Doesn’t matter! We grew up as sister and brother, and..”

“It does matter!”

Argh… 5 minutes ago she was crying and now she’s about to get mad. She really didn't change… I need to subtly change the subject, otherwise this will keep going for hours.

“You dyed your hair?”

I think I facepalm myself in my head.

“Oh? Yeah… about that...”

It worked? She seems embarrassed about it. Wait, her her are slowly going back to the original pure white – other proof she is my sister by the way. She can do that? That’s pretty cool.

“They tend to get dirty so… I figured that it would be best to change their colour for a bit…”

“To cover for blood stain?”

“… yeah...”

Sigh… she is sad again…

“Don’t worry about that… I saw a lot of blood too!”

It was mostly mine though…

“It must have been hard for you too… especially because… you know...”

“I’m the weakest?”

“No!… yes?”

“No worry, I’m well aware of that. But I also have my own cheat now! And even though I resent her a lot, my guide helped a bit.”

“Your… guide?”

“You don’t have a guide?”

She was staring at me weirdly… Shit, I didn’t catched that during her story. Maybe that explains why she had so much of a hurdle despite her overwhelming power.

“See, guides are persons that have supposedly finished the game, and they help newcomers through the Questbook in order to help them completing their quest.”

Okay… that didn’t help, she still looking at me the same way…

“What is a Questbook?”

“Oh, it’s the book with your name on it. You know, the thing that gives you objective and things like that...”

“I… I don’t have that.”

…

What?

~~

“She went left!”

“No! No! No! Don’t let her escape guys!”

“It’s not my fault there are so many dead angles!”

“I have her! Shit!!!”

“What?!”

Shit! We almost got her! How the heck did she moved so fast!

“She fucking pass the door!”

Samsy didn’t lie when he said she would be the most cheated newbie possible…

And now she could be anywhere!

Phew… I guess the chase is on hold for a bit now. William is taping like crazy on his computer, and Jules is trying to organise with the other to cover the biggest possible area.

If only I could go myself…

In any case, we have to find her before she makes contact with the other. That could disturb their quest, and from past experience, we absolutely want to avoid that.

Maybe if she meets with Sam it wouldn’t be that bad. He was the one that brought her up, so maybe it would go better. Still too risky though…

Sigh… I miss the time when I didn’t care about the newcomers…

Anyway, time to get back to work.

“William? Any idea?”

...no response.

“Will?”

I looked back, he wasn’t moving anymore. I realised I couldn’t hear him tapping either. Not only that, the others were silent too. In fact, I couldn’t hear any sound in the room. Everything was… frozen.

No.

No!

No No No No No!!!

It’s not possible!

Time manipulation is a fucking taboo! It shouldn’t be fucking possible!

What. The. Hell. Is. Happening?!

“Ting!”

The elevator?! The doors opened and…

~~

She was a beautiful woman, her long white hair were slightly brushed upward by an unknown energy, her eyes were closed, and she was smiling. Floating lightly above the ground, her body was emitting a pure white aura of power and serenity, an improbable combination that brought Valentine to her knee.

She had gone through countless struggle, and have seen some of the most powerful beings of the worlds. But this was nothing compared to that.

In an instant, her beliefs were shattered, and one thought flashed through her mind.

‘Is she… God?’

“Ha ha ha… no, I’m not. You can call me Eve.”

“What… what are you?”

“I am here to help you.”

“Did you… did you do this?”

Still one knee on the ground, Val looked at the motionless people in the room. Despite the pressure she was feeling from Eve, she was surprisingly holding her ground and though quite well.

“Don’t worry, they will be fine.”

“...What do you want?”

“I have only two tasks. It won't be hard, I promise.”

“… can I refuse.”

“Of course you can. You should know that lords’ will can’t be altered that easily.”

“I also know that time can’t be touched.”

“Ha ha ha… you’re silly.”

An awkward silence filled up the room. Valentine was looking fiercely at the divine-looking being in front of her.

But she finally sighed, seemingly resigned.

‘… I thought I would be done with this kind of shit...’

“What do I have to do?”

“I knew you were the right person. The first one is actually really simple.”

As she pronounced those words, she lifted her hand, and blue particles gathered in front of Valentine. In an instant, an object had appeared on the floor.

“...Really? We can do that by ourself you know...”

“I do, but this one is special. You’ll understand in due time.”

Valentine grabbed the object and examined it.

‘Purple hair dye… what the fuck...’