My slush of emotions continued to mix as I was faced by my final enemy in the trial of red. I knew that it couldn't be so easy. How could it be? If it was so easy then how would it be called a trial?
Then the real enemies began to appear before me.
"Hello brother," a snail slid out from the shadows. A familiar form, her shiny shell, the well-balanced mix of colours. I knew immediately who it was.
'60.' I thought as I felt my feelings of anger, frustration and guilt mix in further within myself. My sister who had betrayed me, the sister that I had forgiven, but I had lied to. The sister that I had let down appeared from the shadows.
Seconds later, another snail joined her. "Brother," she called out as she moved out from the darkness and red light. Her black shell still glossed under the redness but seemed to fuse in with the shadows.
'11.' I thought as I saw the snail that I had prepared to hand over the defence team to. Her voice was just as I had remembered. A voice of reason and solidity.
But it didn't just end there. Another snail slid out from behind them. Larger than them both, I knew who it was immediately.
"7..." I said out loud now through my gritted teeth. The sight of this familiar snail seemed to hurt me even more. Like the figurative dagger wound that he had left on my shell when he backstabbed me as well opened up, my emotions took another hit.
"Brother," he replied.
My rage grew as I stared at the snail I trusted. The one that I had decided to put in place as my replacement. I wanted to beat some sense into him and I did. Charging forward without much control over my own actions, I pulled my foot backward before I whipped it down towards his smug face.
But just before I hit him, I heard more voices pop up from the darkness behind him.
"Big brother." "Brother." "Brother." "Ex-leader."
Stopping midmotion, I was just a millimetre away before I backed off as the tiny shells of my other siblings appeared before me.
'I can't.' I thought as I felt an extreme sense of guilt wash away all my other emotions and I backed off.
Soon more and more snails appeared. I recognized each shell, each spot, each mark, each colour mixture, each pattern, each snail. From the darkness, each of the snails that had sided with 7 had appeared before me. All hundred and so of them.
"Brother."
"Everyone," I barely murmured as I continued to back away from their growing group. Lifelike and gleaming, they were the embodiment of how I remembered them. But I knew deep down that they were only illusions. Illusions created by the trial.
Like the trial had searched through my memories, it placed my family before me. My emotional stress continued to build inside me as a melancholic rain washed over my body. My rage quelled slightly as I pulled myself backward. Unlike the thousands of ants that I had crushed, I didn't... I just couldn't kill them even though I knew that they were only apparitions - illusions created by the trial.
...
"We hate you." a snail began as the speech was echoed by the crowd.
A mental hit.
I felt like my insides were being torn apart by mere words - by the words a loving big brother would hate to hear.
"You're better off being dead. More of us would have survived without you." another shouted as my insecurities appeared in my mind once more. The same ones that I had gotten over just days before.
"No!" I cried out as I was hit by the single thought that continued to plague my mind. I didn't want to think about it. No, I wanted to forget about it. "I did everything I could to protect you all!" I shouted. "As your big brother, I tried everything. The plans, even the lies I made up. They were all to protect you all!" I continued to shout as they inched towards me from the shadows. More and more bodies replaced the ones behind them.
"A big brother? You'll protect us? Lies. Your just an imposter. Our big brother is right here with us."
'What?' I thought as I backed up away from their group.
Soon another figure appeared. As soon as he had appeared, I knew it was me. It's shell, full of scars from previous battles with the spiked shells and the Frostfangs.
"Get lost," it said, its voice boomed through the room as I felt the floor vibrate.
"Just leave!" the apparition of 60 called out as I remembered the emotion that I felt when she told me to leave just days ago.
No matter how deep I buried my own grief within myself, it came back within an instant as I broke down and felt those hated feelings once more.
I felt empty once more. I felt defeated once more. My strength was leaving me.
...
But through the darkness and the shouts. Through all my shame, guilt, frustration and anger I was able to hear one voice that stood out from the rest.
"Brother... I trust you."
"What, I managed to hear through all the shouts and screams of the crowd around me. 'Am I hallucinating?' I asked myself.
Then it came once more but louder.
"Brother, I trust you!"
Like a fly drawn to a light in the darkness, like a single lighthouse in a rough storm, I was drawn to the snail's voice as I clambered up and stared out at the crowds.
"I trust you!" the snail shouted out from the back of the crowd.
"Really?" I desperately asked out as I stopped moving backwards and slid forwards in the direction of the voice.
As I got closer, it continued to validate my actions and seemed the quell my insecurities. "I don't believe you did anything wrong. I know you did everything for us. I trust you." It called out despite the countless contradicting shouts that came from the snails around it.
"Really?" I asked once more as I seemed to forget where I was and continued to slide towards the voice stupidly.
"Hell no!" the snail berated. "Kill him!" it shouted.
...