CHAPTER 41: “WHO?”

“Ah.” Ai dropped Morion’s hand but still waited for him to answer.

He cleared his throat then covered his mouth with his hand. Between his long fingers, Ai saw a red blush lightly spreading on his cheeks. His unexpected expression, Ai noted how different he was from his title of ‘Villain’. During the short time that they knew each other, Morion had been nothing but nice and helpful, nothing like his nickname implied and now he was even helping him even though he was scared of the ghosts mobs in the environment.

“It’s not that I’m scared, I’m just not good with them.” 

Ai grinned knowingly but didn’t push further to save Morion’s pride. Seeing his grin, Morion turned the other way to hide his face entirely. Ai was just about to laugh more, but now that Morion was no longer facing him, he could see the giant rips along Morion’s clothes in the back. It could’ve come from any of the ghosts that had attacked them, but it looked like one had made a big slashing movement across his back and made several rips. Between the shredded clothing, Ai could see the other player’s lean back, which made him avert his eyes.

“Morion, your armor…”

Morion heard the semi serious concern and tone of Ai’s voice and then took a look at his profile and equipment.

“The armor durability is low. I need to change.”

Morion took off the outer layer of his outfit then probably did a switch in his inventory. The next thing Ai knew, he was already changed into a different armor that was dark blue and had some hard parts made from leather instead of the red and black, fully cloth armor that he wore before. This armor gave off a subtle glow like a firefly in the darkness. Though Morion didn’t fit the title of ‘villain’, Ai admitted that the red and black armor suited him much better, and the flowy cloth armor gave him an air of elegance that the blue armor couldn’t.

“Is this armor higher leveled than the previous one?” Ai asked, noting the glow of the armor that wasn’t really common with low and medium ranked armor.

“Ah…” Morion looked shy. “I liked how the armor looked.”

He stared at the ruined piece of cloth in his hands then discarded it with a reluctant sigh.

“Can you get another one?” Ai asked, curious.

Morion smiled gently. “Let’s get going.”

Ai gave him a slight pat in the back then they continued on. A few steps forward and Ai looked back, thinking about picking up the item that Morion clearly liked so much, but ominously the armor was no longer there.

***

Nothing much really happened for the next few hours. Though none attacked him, Ai still saw many of the ghosts that lingered around the broken buildings and between the shadow of the forest trees.

He saw the long haired woman a couple of times, and even other shapeless spirits that he couldn’t see very well under the veil of the night and mist. Either way, all as the two of them continued to walk with no particular destination, eyes and shadowy figures would follow them, their intense but cold gaze watching their every move.

A couple of times, Ai would secretly glance at Morion’s expression and at his hands that were now glove free with his armor gone. Though his face rarely expressed any fear or discomfort, Ai found that his hands were a bit more honest. Sometimes his fingers would tremble whenever the shrubs rustled or when a white shadow zoomed past them. On rare occasions, he would lightly flinch or close his eyes. 

Though Ai felt kind of bad that he was feeling amused by Morion’s reactions, he felt that the reactions were kind of cute and he wasn’t worried too much. Morion was a high ranking player more than capable to defend himself, he already managed to protect Ai with relative ease.

What he was worried about was the mist that seemed to grow thicker the more they walked. When they first started, Ai had been able to determine the shapes of random things in the environments like the broken down buildings and the trees, but now, he could barely make out the things in front of him. Even more, Morion was also starting to get a little bit hazy from the mist.

If this continued, they would lose track of each other soon.

Ai stopped and reached out to grab Morion’s hand. “Morion, let’s stop for a bit and…”

His words faltered when his hand didn’t manage to grab anything, not even a brush of Morion’s armor or skin. Panicked, Ai looked around frantically, searching all around him. With each growing moment, he became more and more anxious. The only thing keeping him calm was the feeling of Athen’s weight on his shoulders. It seemed like the owl recognized that being apart was a bad idea and stayed in his owl form to keep them from separating in the thick and heavy mist.

A nudge of feathers on his cheek snapped Ai from his panic. Right. He couldn’t get all out of sorts here, he had a feeling that letting the panic grow was a bad idea. He could feel a cold feeling enveloping his body the more panicked he got, which meant the spirits probably fed off negative emotions. It was too much of a beacon to the spirits so he needed to get a grip.

Morion couldn’t have gotten too far. He would have noticed that Ai wasn’t next to him anymore and would go looking for him as well. He didn’t need to be so panicked, sooner or later they would bump into each other.

So Ai continued. He wasn’t scared of his environment, but he was worried for Morion.

After what seemed to be countless hours of walking and walking, Ai started to feel like something was amiss. He’d been walking for so long now yet he hadn’t seen another part of the village. The trees around him looked the same so he wasn’t sure if he was even heading in the right direction. He was sure that this was another part of the forest, different from where he and Morion and started. The trees he was seeing now had way more open and curling roots than the trees from before, so that had to be something right?

Maybe he should head off in a different direction? Or maybe even stay put until the sun rose and he could see where he was better? But he wouldn’t be able to bump into Morion again until dawn broke and Ai felt bad leaving him alone in the dark for that long…

“Ai.”

A whisper and sudden tap on his shoulder caused him to jump and pull out the dagger he had, clutching it as if his virtual life depended on it, which it probably did. When he turned around, he saw that it was none other than Morion who was standing right there with a guilty smile on his face. He gave Ai a small wave awkwardly, as if it was a sign of peace or something.

Ai pouted slightly but didn’t complain about the shock Morion just gave. He would do that later when they weren’t stuck in the middle of a misty forest.

“Where were you?” Ai asked. “You just disappeared.”

Morion nervously scratched the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know what happened. I turned around and you were gone. I tried to look for you but this mist was getting too much in the way.”

Ai let out a breath and stared at Morion’s guilty expression. He needed to tone down a bit, it really wasn’t Morion’s fault that they got separated. He supposed getting shocked half to death really wasn’t a great mood lifter. Now, they needed to stick together and not get lost again.

“Let’s hold hands this time.” Ai suggested, but then quickly added, “to make sure we don't get lost again!”

Morion’s eyes were wide in disbelief, then just as quickly he gave his usual gentle smile and reached out to take up Ai’s invite. Ai gave a nervous laugh then reached out to take that hand. His face felt warm. He hoped the mist did a good job in covering his face that was probably bright red now.

Just as his hand hovered above Morion’s outstretched one, Ai’s eyes snagged on the clothing that Morion wore and his hand froze as it hung midair. The mist and shock made him fail to recognize the armor. Morion wasn’t wearing the new blue armor from before...he was wearing his old one.

How?

Ai clearly saw Morion discard the armor from before and he also saw the armor vanish into thin air but it wasn’t any of them who took it. 

What the hell?

His eyes then drifted towards Morion’s chest, where his blood ruby necklace should be hanging.

It was empty, the necklace wasn’t there at all.

A rustle amongst the nearby shrubs and Morion’s hand didn’t tremble when it always did before.

A dark understanding dawned on Ai. This...standing in front of him. It wasn’t his companion that he’d been with this entire time. This wasn’t Morion.