The blacksmith's mind was like a heavy mist, unclear about what his next step should be in order to make it out alive. He felt like a rag doll tied to the carriage of this world, getting beaten up as it's being dragged on the road. Even so, he continued to the next phase this twisted world would take him.
"I'll keep running while Ron and Shiro find the real one, but, what am I going to do with everything else?"
He kept thinking of ways to overcome his ordeals, but the world wasn't going easy on him. As soon as he finds a solution to one, another stone crosses his path.
"I need to find a way to save everyone."
In all this, he has yet to know what the fate of his companions will be, let alone his own.
"I don't want to let anything happen to them. Even if I die, I will get them to safety. I will see this through to the end... Okay, let's release a bit more, shall we? Come at me, you little shit! I have a kid to get to."
He needed to see them, specifically his apprentice Nicolas. He needed to understand why Nicolas was sad and frustrated towards him when he barely knew the blacksmith. He needed to hear from his apprentice why he had so much trust in him.
The path seemed endless as usual. Even with all the torches lit, William saw no end in sight. He wondered if there was even such an end. He was amused by the thought of there not being an exit in the first place.
"This place, what is all this?"
Conspiracies crossed his mind like a broken record, but it was too late for the blacksmith to go investigating for answers. He was reaching the end of his lifeline.
The ground trembled, William was barely able to keep his stance as he ran. He gritted his teeth.
"So… You're finally here."
A serpent rose from the ground, blocking his path a few meters ahead.
—Wait, they're not moving…
William stopped his tracks when he looked back and noticed the Jawer clones stood still and closely watched the interaction between the serpent and the blacksmith. William was dumbfounded, the Jawer proved to be more than it seemed. It was smart enough to realize it had lost its prey.
He looked back at the serpent. Its scales glowed a fluorescent red. "So,--" He said to the serpent, "What are you going to do?"
On queue, the ground broke beneath him into an endless pitfall. Before he knew it, he was falling without anything to grasp on. William felt time stop in his final breaths. He watched the serpent as it stared at him. Although he thought the creature was going to swallow him whole, it had other plans for him. The blacksmith fell into the abyss and landed on a body of water.
***
"Wake up."
William slowly opened his eyes. He found himself limp on the shore near a stone pavement with half of his lower body still floating on the water. The man lifted his face,
—Where am I?
It was a field of flowers surrounded by water. William wondered how it was even possible considering he fell into the depths of the tunnel but, then again, nothing normal had happened since he stepped inside the serpent's path. However, that wasn't the most abnormal part.
—What the hell?
The water came in four directions, dividing the field into four quarters. It connected at the center of the field, forming a lake, where a platform floated high in the air. William curiously walked on the stone path and was led to a monolith near the body of water.
He vaguely saw shadows circling the platform. He couldn't make out what those creatures could be, but they resembled the form of a bird but on a bigger scale.
—Wait, wasn't there someone with me?
He heard a voice that woke him from his slumber. Only two words were spoken to him and it felt cold and lifeless. He checked around, but there was no one in sight besides the shadow figures around the platform.
—Could the person who called me be up there? Would this take me there?
His body was giving complex signals. One part told him to touch the monolith and the other told him to run away. He felt shivers down his spine, the hair of his arms stood up and his jaw quivered. He didn't know why, but he was feeling fear.
"At this point, I might as well check what's up there."
He proceeded to extend his hand to the monolith. Right before touching it,
"—Ugh!"
William covered his ears. A tremendous scream echoed through the field. The man felt a strong sense of déjà vu. He had experienced this before. Then he remembered,
"Olivia!"
The blacksmith turned his back on the floating platform and ran towards the exit to find the woman of the forest.
***
"Olivia!?"
William raced through the corridors to find the woman. He had heard those screams before. The ones that echoed through the tunnel, strong enough to cause even the Jawer clone seizures.
No matter how many times the blacksmith called her name, he wouldn't get a reply. He heard her being relatively close, but he had no luck finding her. He had been going around what seemed to be a maze with no exit.
—This is worse than the top floor.
At last, he reached an open room and a figure lay on the ground.
"Is that…? Olivia!"
He raced towards the unconscious woman and picked her up. In his arms, he saw she had cuts and bruises all over her body. She seemed to be alive at the moment. The blacksmith could hear her steady breathing. William was relieved to know that she was, in some way, alright.
Last time William saw Olivia, she was with Sebastian fighting the serpent while he and Nicolas escaped. There was no sign of the butler, let alone his apprentice.
"Olivia please, I need you to wake up."
William wiped off some dirt from her crystal brown skin. He caressed her cheeks and her soft lips quivered. Never in his life had he been so close to her. It seemed as though she always kept her distance from William in some way. It never gave him the opportunity to appreciate the woman's beauty. Despite her rough demeanor, she had many delicate features.
The woman slowly opened her eyes, "Oh, it's you."
The man wryly smiled, "I'm glad to see you as well…"
William couldn't help but chuckle. No matter in what state the woman of the forest was, she never changed the way she acted. In some way, it brought comfort to the blacksmith.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it."
The man wiped the tears that were forming in his eyes. None of them deserve to go through those deaths. He needed to find a way to save them. He still thinks it's going to be difficult. He has yet to know how to avoid letting him and everyone else he cares about be dragged by this cruel fate.
"Olivia, I need to know what happened."
"Sure, but, can I ask you one thing?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"Can you let go of me?"
William was still holding Olivia tightly in his arms, "—Ah. Sorry about that." The man said, scratching his head, his face bright red.
"…Scum."
"Hey, it wasn't what it looked like!"
Olivia raised an eyebrow, "Hmm? Are you sure?"
"I wasn't trying to do anything weird, I swear."
She knew William had no ill intentions. She'd known him too long to know he was just worried about her. Still, something about his touch made her feel strange.
"—Besides, isn't it a normal response when you see a friend in such a state?"
For some reason, seeing him so confidently declare their friendship irritated the woman. Her eyebrows twitched, "A friend? I don't remember when our relationship got so close."
"Jeez Olivia, don't be so harsh. We've known each other since we were kids."
"I don't believe that justifies a friendship."
William wryly smiled, "I see. You and your weird point of view… Let's leave things at that for a second. Tell me, what happened while I was gone?"
Olivia grimaced, It was hard for her to remember all that had transpired until now, "We were fighting the serpent. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, and then the child appeared."
"You mean Nicolas?!"
William was relieved to know Nicolas had found his way to them.
Olivia nodded, "I saw him alone. I knew something must've happened to you, but I didn't have the time to wonder, so I rushed to protect him."
"I bet he must've been scared."
Nicolas was very young, and he didn't have the physical strength to defend himself. The blacksmith imagined that once they were separated, Nicolas had to wonder alone in the dark to find his way to Olivia and Sebastian. He must've been on edge knowing a serpent could appear at any moment and attack him.
"On the contrary."
"What was that?"
The woman looked at the blacksmith straight in the eyes and said, "The kid that came back was not the same one that left with you."
The man's eyebrows furrowed. "What does that mean?"
"—Ugh!" Olivia struggled to hold her pain.
"Shouldn't you be healing yourself?"
"I'm having a bit of difficulty."
"Then please rest, we'll talk more in a bit."
"I should warn you. Don't dare talk about this with anyone."
"What? That you're human? Come on. Just focus on healing yourself."
The woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The tattoos around her body glowed and the cuts and bruises began to heal.
"That power of yours never ceases to amaze me."
William could see a faint smile forming on her lips, but her eyes looked distant in thought, "Your companion said something strange. He said "It's happening.""
"Sebastian? I wonder what he meant by that."
The butler was a cryptic man. One thing he's been consistent about is keeping an eye out for Nicolas.
"He told me once that Nicolas was a ticking time bomb."
"You should trust his instinct. Pathetic as he may look, he seems like a very cautious man."
"Still, when he said that, could he be referring to Nicolas?"
The woman shrugged her shoulders, "Who knows? Before I could even ask, we were separated."
"How did that happen?"
"The serpent threw us down here."
"The same thing happened to me…"
"I was walking around the place in search for the kid, and then I saw…" the woman gritted her teeth. Her fists shook with rage.
"Olivia, what did you see?"
"The one who's been controlling all this--!"
"What? Who is—!?"
Just then, a spear was launched from the darkness and landed past the blacksmith. William looked back at the spear and saw an arm attached to the tip. He followed the trail of blood, and it led to his missing right arm. He screamed in agonizing pain. His blood was spewing all over the place.
"Intruder!" Olivia yelled out. She rushed to shield William and was punched into a wall. She was taken down with such force that her body became nothing but a blood stain on the wall with torn pieces of flesh.
"Olivia, No!" William cried out.
"—What a noble act. You must've really cared for this person. Although you were always like that…"
The blacksmith saw the figure of a person walking out of the shadows. He had brown skin and tattoos all over his body.
"Come," he said as he extended his hand towards the spear. At his command, the weapon flew back to him. He unattached William's arm from the weapon and threw it on the floor.
"Now," he said to the blacksmith with menacing eyes, "This is as far as you'll go."