CHAPTER 43: “DAWN”

The next time he managed to grasp some semblance of consciousness, the spirit had taken him even deeper into the ruins of the village. This village area was much more widespread than the one he’d seen before and signs of a fire were much more apparent here. 

Though he wasn’t completely awake and could feel his mind succumbing once more, he strongly gripped at that thread and forced his body to stay awake. If he faded again, there was no telling how far they would go. Maybe they would even leave the village area and he had a feeling that that would end the quest. At least for now, the spirit didn’t seem interested in killing him just yet, but the way it grinned and even touched him gave Ai a different kind of shudder.

As he groggily followed behind it, his hand still in the spirit’s grip, he secretly pinched the skin under his pants. Although there was no pain, the weird sensation helped in keeping his mind awake.

Right. What to do now?

Waiting for Athen to come with help was an option, but the familiar had been gone for quite a bit so there was a chance that it had gotten lost or it hadn’t found Morion yet. Both possibilities didn’t bode well in Ai’s mind. Or maybe they were already on their way. That was the option that Ai wanted to believe in the most. If that was so, then he needed to buy time, but how exactly…?

With his half open eyes, Ai tried his best to look around to see if there was something he could do that would halt the spirit in its tracks. Though it was difficult due to his hazy mind and even hazier vision, he still strongly held on to his consciousness. If he let go, then that was the same as him giving up.

In the end, his gaze landed on some rubble that was as tall as his knees. If he could just reach it...

The Fake didn’t take notice of Ai’s plotting. It continued walking happily without a care and even hummed a little. Ai had a feeling that it was a ghostly tune that would lure him in deeper so he gave extra efforts to block the sound of his brain.

Once he was in proximity to the rubble, Ai took control of his body as best as he could and kept going straight towards the rubble instead of turning to the right like the spirit did. It felt as if he was walking through deep quicksand with an unknown force just dragging and pulling him back, but he succeeded. He walked straight into the rubble and allowed his body to trip and then collapse onto the ground. The vicious scrape of the material and the hard slam against the ground would be extremely painful in real life. He didn’t dare look at what that did to his knees, but his plan worked better than he thought.

He wanted to just slow down their progress and take a long ass time to get up, but the force actually cleared his mind just a little bit, or maybe because their hands separated, the effect weakened just a little bit. He noticed some of his HP go down from the collision and fall, but he didn’t care. His mind was more awake than before.

The Fake didn’t make a single sound. It was so quiet that Ai was starting to get worried that it saw through his charade. As he laid there on the ground, pretending to dazedly try to get up, he heard the Fake’s light footsteps approaching him.

A hand once again touched the threads of his hair lightly, like someone touching porcelain or glass. Carefully and gently. Then a creepy chuckle, resonating through the air. It sent even more shudders down Ai’s back, but he tried his best not to let it show.

“Oh dear,” The Fake muttered, still with that voice that sounded like a multitude of voices were speaking at once. “It was always so troublesome when they fell down like this.”

Silence.

Then, “Ah, it seems that you’re awake.”

Ai didn’t wait for anything else. Gathering all the strength and willpower he had, he pushed off the ground and ran towards the opposite direction. If he jumped over some of the rubbles instead of going around them, he would’ve probably created more distance but there was still that fog partially in his mind. His plan did manage to wake him up, but not completely. Some lingered and it stopped him from running away properly.

Soon, he started to lose breath sooner than he usually did when running. Stopping in his run and gulping massive amounts of air, he ducked under a pile of ruins and clasped his hand against his mouth to stop the heavy breathing sounds that he was letting out.

He didn’t see the Fake anywhere behind him. Although it was a spirit, it was now using a physical body, so Ai prayed that that means the spirit needed to abide by the same rules as well, meaning that it needed to walk around and find him manually instead of popping out of nowhere.

The silent night continued. Ai kept his hand over his mouth and stayed perfectly still. The little hiding spot he found was quite small, so he had to curl up his body in order to fit in the little alcove.

He hid for a considerable amount of time. So much time past, that he had hoped that maybe the creature had gone in a completely different direction. 

Now, all by his lonesome, he realized how empty it was without Athen’s familiar weight on his shoulder or the creature’s characteristic warmth as it wrapped itself around Ai protectively. Over the course of his playtime in the game, he had unexpectedly grown used to having a permanent companion although at the start he had been prepared to solo [World Symphony] as much as he could. Yeah. They needed to find each other again.

As more time passed and no sounds could be heard, Ai decided that it was time to get out. Looking at the in game clock in the [Thought System], dawn was just moments away. If he could survive that long, the quest would be complete and the spirits would leave him alone...right?

Slowly, he took a quick peek outside and then carefully removed himself from the tiny hiding place.

Just as he started to feel relief, a hand grabbed his arm then pulled him down, sending him to a full blown panic. Was he found? Did the Fake manage to catch him? Ai opened his mouth to scream reflexively, but a long fighter touched his lips, keeping him from uttering even a single sound. 

“Ai,” A voice. One voice called out his name. “It’s me.”

“W-wha, Morion…” 

Ai blinked a few times and thought he was hallucinating. His time here definitely made him feel all over the place. The person who had grabbed him was Morion. The real Morion with his blue armor and blood gem pendant.

“But w-where is…”

A familiar weight settled on his shoulder. Ai felt himself calming down when he felt those soft owl feathers brushing against his cheek. He touched the owl’s head like he always did then regulated his breathing to go back to normal.

No more Fake Morion and no more of its weird hypnotic tricks. The real Morion was in front of him now. Him and Athens were there. He didn’t need to be so afraid and anxious anymore.

“You stole my prey.” 

The two players stood then faced the source of the voice with one holding out their weapon. Morion looked bewildered as he saw himself standing not too far away, wearing the armor he had discarded.

“What the fuck?” He couldn’t help but utter.

The Fake looked angry. Its eyes, so similar but vastly different to Morion’s, glanced back and forth between the two of them and then right before their very eyes, started to transform. Or more accurately, turn back into its original form.

Its original form was much different than what Ai imagined. Actually he didn’t really know what he imagined, but it certainly was not a big muscly figure covered in hair. Between the hair, one could see glimpses of darkish red skin. The closest comparison this creature had was probably that of an ape. If that ape was big, muscly and could transform into anyone. At the creature’s feet, Ai saw the shredded pieces of Morion’s broken armor.

So this creature had been the one to take the armor. Then after it wore it, it gained the power to shapeshift into Morion.

Maybe it was because this creature didn’t look like a typical ghost, Morion was quick to charge at the beast while brandishing his miasma sword. He looked just like at the arena, elegant and beautiful. Unfortunately, as his blade made contact with the creature, it faded into nothingness. Like all the other creatures from before. Like smoke blown away by the wind.

What the hell was happening?

Ai didn’t have time to think. Bright, shining light started to appear, breaking through the gloomy atmosphere of the entire village. The rubble and ruin that had looked scary in the night now just looked sad and disheartening.

As Ai looked at the sun, slowly rising up, he heard a notification sound in his [Thought System].

You completed the side quest [A Night of Hauntings]

Completion rank A

Quest [Dragon’s Defeat] has been automatically accepted!