“For those joining us.” Zero said, beaming a smile at the camera. For the past few weeks, he had been shimmered into prominence, giving rounds of previous days’ events and updates. Caterpillar couldn’t help but chuckle hysterically, bedridden at his apartment since he had been a tad bit careless, letting the fact that he was recovering to get over his head and skipping like a child from one place to another, never staying still. Of course this ultimately ended up having a scolding from Sophie but what’s done was done and Caterpillar was fortunate hovering television existed for him to witness the events live.
Approximately three weeks earlier, Arma and Zessica had been narrowly passing one Trial after another, barely finding them a spot in the semi finals and just narrowly reaching to the quarter finals. Sophie, who had finally managed to create a creature with permanent existence, had easily found the third spot in the quarterfinal list with Zatch, Phoenix and Stabs right beside her. There were some issues and the public not finding it ‘fair’ for Sophie to have backup, but since she was not violating the game rules in anyway, it was a one sided problem. Euphino too just barely made it with the mismatched duo just finding the second last spot in the quarter finals.
Since the Default Trials had delayed most of the Blessed Combat progress in Wind Crest, seeing that the other regions were already having their final top five representatives battling each other for first place, the AI had made the initiative to speed things up a bit. From what the host, Zero revealed, it meant that the remaining thirty Teams would be placed in groups of five Teams. In addition to that, the final remaining group from the six groups would be the representatives of Wind Crest. So there were many things at stake and the pressure along with tension was higher than ever before.
Of course, since the AI itself was a living mystery, no one knew just who would their ‘other’ team mates would be in that group they would be allocated in. The AI would be the one who would decide which five Teams would be one group and it had made the members of each six groups a secret, keeping it a surprise once they enter to the stadium.
“We have our six Groups, about to fight for the five spots to represent Wind Crest. It’s been a tough month of competition between the remaining players and we have seen some outstanding displays. It really has been a pleasure to watch... but now, this second last battle will put on show just what makes a player worth to take the spot as a candidate.” For the next half an hour, Zero with, albeit surprisingly, another hostess discussed about the Groups and its members. All of the members didn’t mean much to Caterpillar since he didn’t recognise them anyway but he was slightly irked that they weren’t going straight to the battle for the last final spots.
“Patience Caterpillar. You do know they haven’t introduced who are the five Teams in each of the six groups remember?” A voice none other than the soul which possessed his body spoke lightly in his mind. Caterpillar sighed, half heartedly ignoring the second soul, leaning on the pillow which supported his back and stared jadedly at the screen, bored to tears. So far, both Zero and the female host, Sabriel from the sound of it, had been talking about Group Urban, Colossus and Bishop. Eventually, they finally started discussing about Group Pandora, conjuring six pictures on the smaller window, five of which he was able to recognise.
“This one is probably the hardest to read Zero.” Sabriel pointed out loud, one elegant finger tapping her chin. “On battle, Ophelia has the power and her form has been outstanding so far as well as no one except a few lucky players had been able to defeat her for the past few years. However, this year it seems like she has no weaknesses, crushing opponent after opponent.”
“I agree with you there Sabriel...There is also Sophie, one of many Ophelia’s previous opponents who is attending Blessed Combat for the first time ever since the Rising Star Prodigy sent her to a deep coma. According to her background, she is said to be one of the strongest physical fighters, considering that she had been trained at such a young age by her mother, who happens to be a military officer!” Caterpillar howled in laughter, mocking the shocked expression of the female host while Zero savoured the moment as well before proceeding forward.
“This time, she has come back with some backup which is accepted according to the AI. However, being in the same Group with the player who had sent her to a coma is something short of a stroke of bad luck. I can see that the AI has a wicked sense of humour, going as far as to even label their Group as Pandora. This animosity between them might be a little more fiery than usual. I wonder whether they will be able to tolerate each other and work together?”
Caterpillar winced inwardly, knowing all too well that Sophie would not at all be pleased with paired up with Ophelia. He could imagine them right now, at two far corners of the room, Sophie silently seething while Ophelia trying to pretend that the silver haired girl didn’t exist. It wasn’t a pretty sight, considering that Ophelia may or may not try to throw salt in Sophie’s wounds. He knew that even though she was strong enough to handle the fact that she missed a year and a half of her life, she missed all those opportunities she would have got if she wasn’t out cold.
“I agree, having two rivals in one Group is a nasty combination.” Sabriel nodded, bobbing her head lightly but enough to make the golden locks bounce in a springy like fashion on and off her shoulders.
“What about the third member? Euphino?” Zero asked, perking one eyebrow in interest at Sabriel’s thoughts. She frowned lightly, lightly tapping her elegant finger on her chin once more, her pale brown eyes narrowed in concentration.
“He is young, fit and he has got what it takes to go far. For someone who has a peculiar name he is also really swift, bamboozling every opponent with his speed and agility. However, rumours are flying that Speed isn’t his Major? Is that true Zero?” Sabriel asked curiously, earning a nod from the male host.
“It is true; I have looked it up personally myself. Even though the AI didn’t show me just what exactly his Major is, it proved to me that there is already someone else who has the Major of Speed, or Stealth if you call it. His secret for his quick speed is his weapon for now, will there be anyone who can crack this secret and use it against him?”
“Well we will know it sooner or later now shall we? So who is our fourth member of Group Pandora?” Sabriel asked curiously, eyeing the fourth slot.
“Not member Sabriel, members. Plural. The fourth members in Group Pandora are Armageddon and Zessica, one the audience have a hard time believing that such contrasting and opposite players could work so well together in one Team.” To this, Sabriel raised one eyebrow, a wide smirk like smile creeping on her face.
“Yes I heard about this Team and it’s shocking that their battle strategies are so simple. It requires Armageddon to take the role of the offence while Zessica, a Child of Misfortune, takes the role as the defence. The thing about this Team is that the way they fight is completely spontaneous and random. I’ve never seen two people this awkward to read and that has been their redeeming feature so far. Their opponents struggle to adapt to the way they fight and to top it off; they have the most polar opposite personalities I have ever witnessed, making even guessing their next move impossible.”
Caterpillar smirked lightly as Sabriel commented on this, glad to know that his friends were getting a chance to represent Wind Crest. He didn’t know why, but with those two working together, it was as if no one would be able to beat them. Those two made a great pair by helping each other to take the role of other party’s weakness. That’s when he frowned lightly at the fifth member of Group Pandora came to view.
“Next is...Alois...This one is also difficult to tell Zero. He isn’t exactly a strong player, seeing that he is one of the Children of Misfortune too but he had been able to reach this far, which is amazing since he barely did anything in the Trials” Sabriel spoke warily, frowning once again.
“I agree with you Sabriel. Looking through all the Trials he had been, he had been extremely lucky by narrowly passing one Trial after another. I would say that he is a bit of a troublesome guy, not in a bad way but Alois does seem to be a bit too absentminded for his own good. Not to discriminate him in any way but it still baffles me that one minute he was using his Major, the next he is sleeping while standing up.” Caterpillar’s eyebrows shot skywards, hiding to his hairline. Unable to respond properly, the unfortunate Time Keeper burst out laughing hysterically; partially wondering what’s even funny in this comment.
“Then again, we never saw him fight properly so there might be more than a sixteen year old guy who sleeps while standing up and getting lost too frequently.” Sabriel pointed out lightly, giggling a bit when Zero nodded in agreement animatedly. Then they started discussing about the remaining two Groups, Chaos and Paradox, all of which Caterpillar allowed the words to flow from one ear to another.
“Anyway, it has been already half an hour since the fight for the five last spots started. For those of you who are listening, I am sure you must be itching to know what we have in store for you! Let us save you all the worry and tell you just exactly what your favourite players are facing now. I am sure you all know the game of ‘Hide and Seek’ we used to play back when Earth still kept moving right? Right! So today on the first round, the AI had given three of the Groups as the ‘Seekers’ while the other three as the ‘Hiders’” Nodding to Sabriel, the female host took over.
“The Hiders have to find the Dome in the middle of the game stage they will be playing at without getting caught by the Seekers. The Seekers’ job is to find as many Hiders as they can and prevent them from getting into the Dome, so having a duel between a Seeker and Hider is acceptable if it stops the Hider from getting to the Dome. The only way a Seeker Group would advance in the second round is when they prevent all Hiders in the same group from going to the Dome in only one minute”
“Sounds like a plan yea? Well, we won’t spoil you anymore than that! Only that the Groups will have a ribbon attached to them which signifies which category between Seeker and Hider they were listed in. Black ribbons are the Hiders and the white ribbons are the Seekers. Let’s see the progress of our fellow players now”
Zero spoke, somehow managing to minimize their announcement screen and revealing a screen where Caterpillar saw the dimension the remaining thirty players were at behind. He was astounded the game stage was none other than a maze, a huge one at that. The walls of the greenery maze were tremendous, stretching up to where it seemed to touch the sky. Caterpillar had only seen Arma jump several times but he knew that if the brunette jumped using his Minor, he would only reach half the height of the wall of the maze, which was just how tall it was. There was also a very eerie looking mist dusking through the maze, making visibility almost impossible.
That’s when the camera shifted again, turning its focus to a player who was nimbly walking through the maze. What caught Caterpillar’s attention was that this player was alone, making him wonder where the others were. Was he separated from them? It then dawn on him that this was the challenge the whole time. He should have known the round was going to be a tough one. Zero had made it sound so easy. Look for the Dome without getting caught. Now it seemed as if Zero was mocking the players lightly, only minimizing the full extent of the challenges the players had to face in this round.
Caterpillar knew that it would take an extremely long time to find the Dome, considering that all the Hiders had to be there. He could only hope that no misfortune would bestow upon his friends when he heard Zero’s excited voice through the minimized screen.
“It seems like two players bumped into each other in the maze, and both of them from the opposite categories too!” The scene was shifted to somewhere else in the maze, showing two players, frozen on the spot with their muscles tensed and their nerves screaming in terror. Why? It was Phoenix and Armageddon.
***
At first it seemed like a joke, knowing Pandora was just another way of saying bad luck but after meeting the Group members inside the dimension the AI had teleported them to, Arma thought otherwise. After all, he didn’t ask anyone to make him be part of this group. He did not volunteer Zessica and himself to be placed in a group where Ophelia, Sophie, Euphino and... A guy who happened to be just half a head taller than Zessica.
Really, he didn’t.
After a small heated conversation between Ophelia and Sophie, kicking Euphino where the sun didn’t shine by Zessica again when he was too clingy on her, and an introduction to Alois, who seemed to have an even slower processing ability than Arma, they were then separated. Feeling something rubbing on his forehead, Arma touched that area to find something was tied around it. Trailing it down at the back of his head, then to the tail of the ribbon in which he pieced together by then, he brought it up to his face, registering the colour of black in them.
Now, Arma had no problem with being the Hider, but it was the fact that he stood out a lot due to possessing the core of the AI within him, his tall height and most often miscomprehended ferocious aura around him; he preferred being a Seeker instead. Then again, Zessica would have the utmost advantage, seeing that the being a Hider was in her field of expertise. After wandering around the maze with no specific map to give him the direction or an idea where this Dome could be, he was more or less dumbfounded when he finally bumped into someone as he turned to a corner, who happened to be Phoenix. Honestly, he didn’t know what to say, it was as if some nonsensical thing called fate or destiny was acting up. However, they both froze when the noticed they had the opposite colour ribbons tied on their forehead, confirming that they were enemies instead of allies for now.
Before Arma could react or even come up with a peace treaty, forced laughter cut him off. Phoenix was laughing uproariously, pretending not to be perturbed by the rage and the feeling of flabbergasted building in her stomach at the fact that of all the people they could bump into, it happened to be each other. So Phoenix laughed like it was funny, making Arma feel a bit disgruntled by the outburst and blink, completely taken off guard.
“Hahaha! I should get find the Hiders and prevent them from getting to the Dome! I should do it quick because I haven’t found any Hiders so far!” Phoenix spoke mechanically, an awkward smile on her face as she looked anywhere else but Arma, briskly walking past him, startling and making him blink once more. He stared at Phoenix’s back, who marched in an almost funny robotic manner before she disappeared to a corner. This no doubt made sweat drops come from both Sabriel and Zero and made Caterpillar chuckled loudly, none of which Arma knew. Still perturbed with what happened, he aimlessly strolled to the opposite direction with hopes that he won’t be found by another Seeker.
Another half an hour passed and finally some action happened. Seekers found Hiders and Hiders found Seekers, each of them battling and only finishing it less than a minute with either the Hider being defeated, the Seeker being defeated or the Hider not taking the risk and fleeing. Regardless, each battle was fought with passion with much at stake. Each Group was fighting for the last five spots remaining to get into the real thing of Blessed Combat. For the most of the time, some of the members of their Group were lucky not to bump into anyone as of yet, the rest were plain unfortunate. As an hour passed since it began, no one had found the Dome yet.
“What is with this maze? It’s like taking forever to get through this.” Arma muttered lightly, turning to one corner before finding a dead end, finally igniting his frustration to the max. He eventually yelled to release some of his erupting anger and punched the dead end furiously, causing a hole to appear to where he left the impact. Wincing lightly, knowing that this may be violated as cheating, Arma took the risk and went through the hole anyway, finding himself amidst of another area of the maze. He knew that he was already lost when the game begun, making the idea of finding the Dome seem impossible.
As he started walking aimlessly somewhere, he heard a something being fired and something whizz past his left cheek, barely grazing the skin which became irritated the moment that substance touched it. Feeling the hair at the back of his neck rise automatically, Arma spun around and saw a male teenager, a transparent liquid substance hovering around him like a mist. He had a white ribbon tied around his forehead, a Seeker. Arma stared at the guy with a terrified expression when he noticed the colour of his eyes, making Arma feel as if the world around him crumbled down.
It was true that he didn’t remember who and how many people he had defeated with his Major back in the days where he couldn’t remember it. However, he would never forget some traits of the players which indicated their hatred towards him. This guy, he had fierce blue eyes, glaring at him, ablaze with detest, shooting daggers accusingly at Arma. This guy, he was the guy Arma had almost killed on that night before he talked to Zessica properly. Arma had torn his pride being torn into million pieces as if it was cheap paper. He was the one who fractured his bones in several different areas severely in such a way that it would make movement impossible for a long while. It seems he had finally recovered from the trauma and had come back, for Arma’s blood.
“I take it that you remember me...and what you did to me...” The male guy spoke, the liquid substance pulsing suddenly in an angry and dangerous manner. Arma barely dodged when he shoot out some of the substance towards his way. The tall lad jumped and rolled to a side, feeling his eyes widen when the substance eat away the pathway from where it landed, as if it the substance was acid.
“You humiliated me...” The guy spoke out loud, shooting another pulsating acidic substance at Arma’s way in which the tall lad jumped and landed on a maze wall before briefly sliding down to even ground. Right now, Arma could tell that this guy didn’t want just his blood, he wanted him to go through the same treatment Arma had sent him through; he wanted the brunette to taste his own medicine. As much as Arma knew that he deserved to have a nail being shot through his forehead, the tall lad was in no way willing to go through his punishment yet.
“You tore me apart! You broke me! You even made me a Child of Misfortune! Do you know how degrading that is?!” The guy yelled furiously, shooting out acid from one place to another in which Arma dodged by jumping and rolling from one place to another. He didn’t really want to fight, considering he had only one minute to get away from this guy’s sight before he make everyone in his Group to disqualify. However, the moment he heard that this guy became a Child of Misfortune, Arma tensed, giving the teenager enough time to shoot acid straight on his back.
Arma instantly screamed in anguish, feeling the acid seeping through his Exoskeleton and to the delicate skin, irritating it to a dangerous level of pain. He fell down, curling to himself to endure the pain, white dots playing and dancing at the corner of his vision as he watch the guy, seemingly so afar, stroll towards him.
“How do you like it now Armageddon? Watching someone who you took lightly of take control?” The teenager asked in a silent but threatening manner. Arma didn’t know how, but he knew that this guy was no doubt was having the pulsing acid above him, about to give the finishing blow. Not prepared for the pain that was obviously going to come next, Arma forced his body to move, jumping away from the startled teen before making a dash for it at the corner, out of the guy’s sight and into the safe zone. He knew that he was running away and he didn’t care whether this would make him look like a coward. He would deal with the teenager later, after he gets to the Dome.
However, the other teen had something else in mind. He ran after the fleeing brunette, shooting out acid at Arma occasionally to which the brunette dodged with not so much ease considering that his back felt as if they were on fire now, prickling his skin too deeply for his liking. Just as if he seemed to lose sight of the other teen, the guy always managed to catch sight of him and start chasing after him again, making it Arma all the more difficult to shake him off his trail. Just as if the situation was going to get bleak, as he round to a corner, he bumped straight to the person who he was more than happy to glare in annoyance, Euphino. He was also with Sophie, both having the same look of disbelief. Before Arma could express his gratitude, he caught the acidic substance being shot at their way at the corner of his eyes. On impulse, Arma not only jumped, but he jumped and pounced on both of them, sending them flying backwards.
“Ugh...what the heck was that for?” Euphino groaned loudly, glaring at Arma who groggily sat up right and wincing painfully. The tall lad ignored him for a moment and Euphino stared at where Arma was looking, blood draining from his face when he realised something was eating away the matter of the maze wall, creating a hole with burnt marks at the edges. On cue, the teen appeared before the three of them, a smug and grim look displaying on his features. Euphino trailed his eyes on the floating and pulsating substance that was moving around him in a mystical manner.
“Well look what we have here, three rats from the rat kingdom...” The teen muttered lightly. “Now do me a favour and stay still.” He brought up one hand, the substance increasing in amount, all floating in a circular motion before it formed a five feet sphere of the acidic substance. Arma felt all the muscles in his body tense up and could feel Euphino’s breath hitching in his throat. Fortunately for them, Sophie, with both terror and full concentration, came to their rescue.
“Feyone! I summon thee!” Sophie cried out and with military precision, there was a bright light illuminating between the two Groups, blinding all of them before it dimmed down. Blinking away the neon coloured green and blue streaks in his vision, Arma glanced at where the light was only to find that in its place, there was a person. No, it wasn’t a person; it was a creature, a female creature.
It wore the first part of a knight visor which had two ram horns on them. Her skin was ash grey and she had dull blue highlights on her cheek. Her hair was pink, reaching all the way to her knees and she wore a pauldron that had a bright red cape attached to it. Feyone, the creature also wore a breastplate, couters which guarded her elbows, gauntlet and a black mini skirt which had a red sword strapped on it with armoured boots that reached up to her thighs.
At first, the teen look genuinely scared with a creature with armour foreign to the environment being summoned out of nowhere. However, he strengthened his resolve and glared at the creature with ignorance. Just as if the teenager was about to launch the deadly ball of acidic substance to them, Sophie yelled at Feyone, commanding her to deflect it.
“Ha! How is a stupid creature like you deflect my attack?!” the teen asked in a crazed fashion, shooting the five feet sphere at them. Feyone reacted, sprinting towards the sphere despite the danger and unshielded her sword, stopping just before the sphere before effectively slicing it into half with ease, her sword unaffected in the process. The three members of Group Pandora closed their eyes, hugging each other as the two halves missed them by a hair due to the force of the cut Feyone had produced, hitting the walls of the maze instead.
“Impossible!” The teen grunted, his eyes widened in some sort of demented state. Before Arma could watch Feyone battle against the acidic substance, he was hauled up and pulled to the opposite direction.
“Feyone! Keep him distracted till we get away!” Sophie ordered, yanking both the dumbstruck Euphino and Arma to safety. Feyone simply nodded, charging the teen again before they both disappeared out of sight. Arma let go of Sophie’s grip and started sprinting along behind her, Euphino doing the same but with a huge grin on his face as if he won something in the lottery.
“I knew you had backup but dayum! Your creation is hot!” Both Sophie and Arma stared at him in disbelief, still running away from the scene and not stopping to take a breather. Sophie didn’t know whether to be disgusted by this boy, or to take it as a compliment.
“Are you kidding me? What happened to your ‘heart and soul belongs to Zessica?’” Arma asked with incredulity, using the former by feeling disgusted which only earned an eye roll from the shorter male.
“Oh please Arma, as if I don’t have a heart to let you have a chance with her.”Arma felt his mind grew blank, very slowly absorbing what Euphino uttered only to feel his face burn in flames, even more than the burn on his back, which was still aching by the way. It wasn’t the typical burn Arma was used to when dealing with Phoenix, this one was eating away his flesh, going through the core. When he felt as if they were at a safe distance, only then did he stop, causing the other two to do the same.
“Hey are you alright? You are bleeding there.” Sophie asked concernedly, seeing the blood splotches at the back of his shirt. It was amazing that the acidic substance didn’t even eat away the cotton material, went through the Exoskeleton and irritated his skin instead. That teen must have been controlling that Major or Minor for a long time if he had been able to accomplish that.
“Yea...just a little painful to move that’s all.” Arma answered in a slightly stressed voice, struggling to even speak against the pain. Euphino frowned lightly, obviously trying to hide his concern but failing miserably.
“Any idea where the Dome is?” Arma asked suddenly, sounding hopeful. However his hope crash down when he saw that both of them were looking just as hopeless as he was. As it turned out, Sophie had bumped into Euphino who had accidently enraged several Seekers at once by mocking them too far. It took them a while to shake three or four of Seekers off their tail and they had ultimately bumped into Arma, who was fleeing desperately from the teen who was thirsty for revenge. Now, they were here, all together, only missing three other members of their Group.
“Do you think you can fly? So that we can at least find which direction to go to the Dome?” Euphino asked in a matter of fact tone. Just before Arma could respond, Sophie cut him off by gripping on Arma’s wrist tightly, her pink eyes boring with worry and concern through his grey ones.
“I don’t think we can risk that. If Arma flies right now who knows when a Seeker would find us? Plus from the way Arma is in pain, I don’t think it is a wise idea.” Sophie reasoned reluctantly, to which the other nodded in agreement. Arma was about to reassure them it was only a minor burn but both of them would not hear of it, determined not to make him exert himself.
“Then how are we going to find the Dome? We don’t even have a map” Arma questioned lightly, staring at both of them while Sophie and Euphino stared at one point of a distance, engulfing themselves into deep thought. Sophie was still thinking when Euphino was the one who got it first by having the light in his eyes return, however, he still had the same grim look on it, as if it was a bad idea.
“I have a plan, but you might not like it...”
“Enlighten us please because I have absolutely nothing to work with.” Sophie requested curiously, arms crossed over her chest. Euphino glanced at the tall lad, the brunette nodding at him to verbalise his plan to which earned a defeated sigh from the curly haired lad. He walked past the two and patted the greenery wall lightly before turning his attention back to his allies.
“Who is willing to climb this wall?”
***
“Destroy them; make them feel your pain! They mean nothing to you! Destroy them before they hurt you! They are dangerous. They will never be your friends. They will only betray you. They are only curious of your story and would use it against you. Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!” Ophelia groaned in frustration, punching with more force than usual to the Seeker under her. He had long have been knocked out but Ophelia couldn’t stop, the voices, chanting in unison of the same mantra was ordering her, commanding her, controlling her. They were clawing through her mind, eating her alive, determined to leave nothing but an empty shell in its wake.
Once the voices were less noisy, Ophelia stared numbly at the mess she created, ignoring the burning tears and the lump that was formed in her throat and groggily stood up from the unconscious player. She quickly scampered to the next corner, clutching her head tightly when the voices started becoming louder again, causing her to grunt furiously and trying to block them out in her mind. They were always there in her head, never leaving her alone unless she was back in Dr. Bender’s office. Since when did her life become so...pathetic? When did she become a bloodthirsty psychopath? When did it all go wrong? When did the voices started haunting her? She knew she didn’t have them before.
“Not enough! Not enough! Not enough! Find them and destroy them! Destroy! Destroy! They are pathetic and worthless and you know it! They need someone to beat them up to realise how worthless they are! Find them and Destroy! Kill their hopes and poison their pride! Hurt them! Demolish them! Leave no hope lighting!”
Ophelia panted heavily, struggling to walk properly against the voices which were threatening to drain the life out of her. Ophelia had always tried but failed to ignore them, they were too loud, having too much authority and it had saved her numerous times before. She took another corner, dreading to find that she landed to a dead end. Grumbling in frustration, the soon to be twenty Rising Star Prodigy reversed her direction and started going back, using the wall to keep her balance.
“Destroy! Break! Hurt! Demolish! Shatter! Obliterate! Annihilate! Fracture! Smash! Kill! Never give them a chance to stand up again! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never! Never!” Ophelia whimpered lightly, trying to hide the tears that were forming at the corner of her eyes. These voices were getting too loud now; they were never this horrible before. Now they were tearing her apart, making her helpless to fight it back. She would never be able to get away from this curse. No medication was able to fight against them, in the end these horrible voices become the victor. She would never be free, never.
“Ophelia.” A voice spoke out, startling her. She looked up to realise she was on her knees, clutching her head and was sobbing silent tears to block away the voices. She was overridden with misery to notice that someone had caught her in her vulnerable state, using the chance to walk up to her and kneel down. She was face to face with a troubled face, his navy blue hair covering his left eye. She was only a few feet away from her but she recognised the guy. It was the same guy who had her scent of Death, the same guy who she found hiding in Dr. Bender’s office. She was so relieved to find comfort in knowing the voices didn’t come when she was in the office, she had completely forgotten about the incident entirely.
“Are you okay? Are you in pain?” Stabs asked worriedly, wary of the time limit but still anxious about the Rising Star Prodigy’s condition. He didn’t care what sort of danger he was in, he didn’t care whether he was naive to talk to Ophelia and that he should know his place, he had just never seen Ophelia being so vulnerable and lonely at the same time. In a way, she was just like Zessica, which could be the reason why they were a great Team before Ophelia broke it away. Ophelia on the other hand was aghast to find someone had noticed her break down pathetically over some silly voices, the hair on the back of her neck rising dramatically and her eyes widening in revolt. Stabs blinked; unaware of the full extent of danger he had brought himself to now.
“Finish him! Bring him to his knees and show him no mercy!” Ophelia endeavoured, she really strived to block out the voices but once again, she was at the mercy of them, feeling her body act on its own as if she was a curse doll in strings with the voices as the puppet master. Automatically, a huge creepy smirk displayed on her face as she sprung forward, catching Stabs by surprise by gripping both hands on his throat and slamming him to one wall of the maze. Stabs, too baffled with the sudden change to react, saw her eyes now narrowed in a demented state as she cocked her head one side, savouring the moment where Stabs was at clemency of Ophelia’s hands.
“Ha! Can’t believe you actually fell for such a lame trap like that! Do you honestly think that I would cry over and be pathetic?! You must be one of those self sacrificing bastards who meddle with other people’s business using the fact they want to help as an excuse! Ever heard good people die young?” Ophelia sneered lightly, tightening her grip on Stab’s throat who let a small yelp escape from his lips. He knew that he was in the biggest pinch in his life, one that may or may not make him get out in one piece.
However, it was like this crazed girl said, he was a self sacrificing bastard. After he found out what sort of life Ophelia had, he wanted to help her, he wanted to reassure her that everything would be alright. It was this determination which dulled out the fear of the oncoming pain and made him wrap his hand around the wrist which was almost strangling him. Ophelia perked one eyebrow in interest, tightening her grip even further but this time, Stabs didn’t even flinch.
“Ophelia, you don’t have to lie. I know you were in pain. I know about those voices. Just ignore them because they are not you. They are not even part of you.” For a brief moment, Stabs saw surprise and shock in her eyes before it hardened to cold steel again. The Rising Star Prodigy released him briefly before grabbing his throat again with another slam on the wall. Stabs winced, but managed to keep his cool by boring his eyes through those unstable eyes.
“What do you know? You are just some idiot! Shut up shut up shut up!” Ophelia shrilled, giving a knee kick straight to Stab’s gut, making him groan and grunt in pain. He curled lightly, barely withstanding the pain in the stomach which he was sure there would be a nasty bruise by the next day. Seeing that going direct about the matter wasn’t going to help, Stabs had another idea of approaching her. It was a bit riskier than the first but he went for it anyway, wrapping both hands on her wrist and smiling weakly at her.
“It’s okay...Go ahead...I won’t prevent you from finding the Dome either, even when the time limit is a minute, I won’t let them disqualify you because I don’t want to hold you back.” Ophelia’s smirk slowly faded away and was replaced with utter horror and disbelief. Varying emotions played on her face, giving the right inflection to show her shock and surprise.
“What are you... got a death wish or something?” Ophelia asked, tightening her grip again but not as ferociously as earlier. Stabs could tell that his plan was working because this has certainly intrigued Ophelia, giving her optimum attention towards with questions spiralling around her mind. The Rising Star Prodigy’s mind was almost blank, there were muffled voices encouraging her to finish this guy then and there but something about him, being so openly submissive to be strangled, it was not something she had ever witnessed before.
“You could say that...I am a bit of an idiot after all.” Stabs grinned broadly, despite how he was desperately in the middle of an inescapable peril and that his life was in jeopardy. Something about that grin, it ticked Ophelia off. That submissive personality, that grin, it reminded too much about her, the girl who volunteered to be with her despite all the warning Ophelia had gave her. This guy, he resembled too much to her, and it made sense because he has the same attitude in life as her.
“He is like that failure! He is like that girl who caused you your misery! Even when she tried to help, you tore her apart! That is why he is dangerous because he is like her! You don’t want to make the same mistake like before right? You don’t want to face the consequences because no matter what, you will break them. You will shatter them and they will never forgive you!”
Ophelia felt her teeth grinding together, trying to fight through the voices that were persistent in making her life despondent. Unfortunately, as usual the voices came out as the winner, making the maniacal smirk to creep back in. Part of her was horrified that she had now activated her Major, seeping poison through her now blackened claw to the insubstantial flesh of Stab’s throat. Stab winced lightly before smiling feebly again, fully accepting his fate, bringing Ophelia to the brink of her sanity.
“Why! Why are you still smiling like that when I am freaking killing you, you numbskull?!” Ophelia screamed in an ear piercing voice, both hands now on his throat as she glared furiously into Stab’s navy blue eyes. There were black and dark purple streaks forming under his skin, visibly showing the poison’s progress through his face, shoulders and arms. In spite of this, the guy still smiled in a wise like manner, encouraging happy but haunting memories to conjure at the corner of Ophelia’s mind.
“Well I want to help you and if you feel better with venting your anger and frustration on me, then so be it. I am pretty much a personal punching bag to my other Team-mates anyway.” Stabs answered with a light-hearted and subtle chuckle, his voice slightly tormented and anguished but he made up for it with a huge weak grin, shining his pearls. Ophelia can’t help but clutch Stab’s throat tighter, her shoulders quivering uncontrollably as the corner of her eyes begin to sting.
“Ophelia...” Stabs spoke gently, his neck already the colour of charcoal and his skin turning in deep ash grey, none of which Ophelia noticed as she flinched momentarily, staring at him with an indecisive look in her eyes. It was like as if she was trapped, cornered, ensnared, when Stabs was the one who is actually at the mercy of her hands. She was more or less startled when Stabs took one of his hands from her wrist and brushed away the hot tears that were trailing down her cheeks, something she didn’t notice till then. She knew she should finish him off; the voices told her that but... was that what she wanted to do? Was that what Ophelia wanted? Just how many times should she follow these voices, just how many times will she forever succumb to these voices before they are finally satisfied?
Ophelia’s body felt heavy and uncomfortable, as if she was too small for it. The thought of doing something as terrible as poisoning this poor innocent boy, wouldn’t she be doing the same thing to herself? She had poisoned herself so much; she had thought she was too far gone to be saved. Everyone who watched her, both in awe and in fear, had labelled her as one of the strongest players in Wind Crest. They don’t know how wrong they were. She isn’t strong, she is drained. All energy sources, all will, all pride, they were gone, emptied, devoured, you name it. She was too far gone, there was no saving her.
But... why did it seem like this guy can save her? Why was he so much like that girl, who had been placing hope on her, only to disappoint her? No, Zessica had never disappointed her; Ophelia was the one who gave up. That girl had never given up, no matter how bleak the situation was, she never gave up, even with all the pain and suffering the older girl put her through. Why did it seem like this guy would do the same?
This was wrong, this change that she was undergoing. This was not her, this was not Ophelia was famous for. Dark, untouchable, invincible, those were all lies. Those were neither her signature nor her forte. Stabs was watching the rapidly deteriorating inhibitions and it was as if he could hear the frantic beating of her heart, or was that his own heart? The grip on Stab’s neck squeezed again, cutting off some of his air supply, her shoulders trembling even more than before.
“Don’t put false hope in me! Don’t you dare do that! Don’t make me feel so hopeful before you disappoint me!” Ophelia yelled in frustrated tones, more hot tears spilling from her eyes without her consent. She was stunned when Stabs gently brushed away the tears with his thumb, still having that wise like feeble smile pasted on his face despite how horrible he looked right then.
“I won’t put false hope on you because I will help you from this. I will take away those voices, not only me, everyone else too.”
“Lies! Lies! Lies! Lies! Don’t trust him! He only lies! You are better than this! Finish him! Finish him before you get in too deep with this and regret it for the rest of your life! You can never get rid of us because you don’t have voices in your head! These are your intuitions! You don’t have voices! You are perfectly fine!”
Ophelia gritted her teeth in an infuriated manner, her jaw clenching tight as she can see that Stabs was now having black figures eating away his vision at the corner of his eyes. She could tell that the poison was slowly spreading to his heart because the scent of Death that wasn’t there in him was now stronger than ever. That’s when she finally made a decision, the biggest one in her life and she knew she wouldn’t regret it.
Author's note: Don't forget to vote!