Andrew blankly looked behind him to notice Stellar was standing right behind him. "Is that a corpse?!" She exclaimed to which Andrew said calmly ,"Yes. It is." Maybe with his calm demeanor, Stellar thought that he was responsible for it. "I know how this looks but it's not me." He said as he stood up. She was breathing heavily with her arms clasped on her chest. "Why don't you calm down first?" Stellar tried to calm down but failed. "We should tell the camp counselors and the rest of the students." Andrew knew that things would get out of hand fast so he had to deal with it quickly.
He started to slowly approach her reassuring her ,"Just calm down and I'll explain it all. I swear." She looked at him. "How are you so calm witnessing a corpse? Maybe you're the one who did this. No wonder you're an outcast. This whole challenge was stupid, I should have known." ''Challenge!What challenge?" He asked but she was extremely panicky right now to answer anything. He had killed and seen so many bodies that looking at this one seemed natural but not for her. "I have to tell the other camp counselors what you did." She said frantically as she began to run towards the camp.
Andrew gave chase tailing her and slowly started to catch up as he could easily dodge the obstacles present such as overgrown roots and branches with ease but she was faster. 'The problem with a cornered animal is that they will do anything to ensure their survival.' He had encountered numerous people who were on the brink of death and usually tried to fight back regardless of what followed but they all died. Not that he couldn't do anything with Stellar,like make her suffer from a heart attack but his sadistic tendencies liked it when he played with his prey this he was chasing her but if he got bored then ending her life would happen faster than she would process that she was dead. As the glowing lights of the camp drew closer,he was getting closer and closer to her but something weird happened.
Maybe due to the fear laced in her brain,she may have failed to see something cause it would seem that she ran into something and stopped abruptly. Andrew stopped right behind her to notice that Stellar was slowly walking backwards only for her to collapse in his arms. He felt something warm trickle down his arms only to notice blood and it was then that he saw the plunged in her heart. The assailant was non other than Ashley with a sly smile on her face. Ashley drew closer and plunged the knife deeper into her heart before removing it."Andrew... Andrew.. please help...me." Andrew looked at the dying body in his hands only for him to let her go and falling onto the ground
*Crack*
With her neck cracked with the present outgrown root that ha been present. He rubbed the blood off his hands before looking at Ashley. "Did you anticipate this?" He asked but she only laughed. "Hahaha." Only for her to stop abruptly. "No. Now grab the body and carry it before anyone sees." Getting a good grip,he swung the body resting on his left shoulder and they made their way back into the woods. On their way back to the small lake, Andrew asked ,"So what is your answer?" To which she said. "I'll tell you later."
*Ten minutes later*
They had arrived at the small lake with the corpse of the lady from before still there. "Put the body down." She said.
*Thud*
The body collapsed onto the ground. Ashley threw a shovel towards Andrew. "We'll dig a hole for her." Pointing at the lady. "As for Stellar,we can feed her to the bears in the woods. After all it's almost winter and they usually stuff themselves." Andrew began the work with Ashley's help being acting as a lookout though he knew that she was somehow mad at him but he didn't want to upset her right now. After he was done digging deep enough,he threw the body in and covered it all up looking as it nothing was there. "Carry the body and follow me." Pointing at Stellar as she made her way deeper into the woods and Andrew followed.
Looking at the time on his phone,it was almost midnight,he had been carrying this body for nearly two hours but he noticed something off. They were going round in a circle but since Ashley knew these woods,then it was intentional. 'She's getting back at me for the prank by hauling this body all by myself hoping to for me to complain.' He concluded but he was nowhere near getting tired,only bored. "Are we there yet? I think this is deep enough." He stated to give her the satisfaction she wanted. "Are you tired Andrew? You shouldn't find it a problem for a person with such a strong physique,right?" He paused ,"What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry. Well I am."
She took stopped and a strange silence settled in between the two. She didn't say anything and proceeded and after fifteen minutes later,they came to a rocky cliff out from the forest. It was beautiful vantage point for a photo. "Put it down." He dropped the body onto the ground. "There's a den right at the bottom of this cliff. We'll drop her body from here." Andrew bent over an started to remove the clothes off her body taking Ashley by surprise. "Are you necrophilic? What are you doing!?" She shouted but he asked for her knife which she refused. "Unlike you,there are my prints all over her clothes that's why I'm taking them off and burn them."
"Ohh! And the knife?" He looked at her. 'For a killer,you have a poor thinking limitation of covering your tracks.' "Should the bears not eat her body, I'm making it look like she was attacked by a bear." He then forcefully grabbed the knife out of her hands and made blunt cuts all over Stellar's body to make it seem that he was attacked by some wild animal. He couldn't make them sharp as should her body be found and the cuts appear extremely accurate,then they could deduce that it was a person and not an animal. After he was done,he returned the knife back to Ashley. "You seem to good for this so I take it you've once killed someone else,right?"
"A lot of people, yeah." He responded the two treating the corpse as if it wasn't there. "For your proposal earlier,I accept on certain conditions." 'Conditions?' He looked at her ,"What conditions?" He asked looking at her then the starry sky. "Look, I'm not very good at relationships and I'm afraid of it going sideways or not working out so to ensure that you don't deviate. You have to promise me that you'll never set your eyes on another woman other than me." Andrew thought in his head ,'Am I...'
"Yes, you're making the same oath again." Hedonism said. "Though this time, there's no blood pact." "Accept or I walk, Andrew,so make your decision." Andrew laughed softly. "And here I thought it would be something outrageous. I accept."
Ashley was internally pleased that he agreed because from what she saw from other relationships,things got hectic fast but since he was a loser then he shouldn't stray far off. Andrew went to Stellar's corpse and Ashley stepped on it with him and they pushed it off the rocky cliff. They saw it descend as it was repeatedly bashed on the side of the cliff hitting rocks, contorting and taking weird shapes and they heard numerous bones fracture and break before hitting the ground with a thud.
*Heave*
He took in a fresh breathe of air before letting it go before looking at the person looking next to her. 'All over again.' Though there was something troubling Ashley and he knew exactly what it was but he didn't want to push her right now. The two walked back towards the camp with their hands locked. "You know we don't have to be like the rest." He said interuppting the warn silence that had hung in between them. "After all, were not like them." He concluded. She pondered it before agreeing ,"You're right so should I ask anything from you,then you should never hesitate to do so." She smiled. "Then it will be mutual." Her smile froze momentarily.
"Don't tease me like that Andrew." She said softly. "I won't if you won't. But that doesn't mean I'll go easy on you nonetheless." She quivered but he beamed a huge smile. "I'm joking." He laughed it off. "I don't like your sadistic side. You'll always tease me and how will I fight back." She pouted crashing her body into his but he was steady as they walked back. "Fine,for you, I'll never tease you again but I can't say the same for the rest." He said to which she too smiled and the lights at the camp were all turned off. He stopped making her to stop then looking into her eyes to which she reciprocated and made a soft and gentle kiss. Now bold and clear she wrapped her arms around him and so did he and they were engrossed till they needed for a breath.
"Goodnight Ashley." He said as he broke away from her touch. "Goodnight Andrew." She said as the two seemed reluctant to leave each other's company but they were forced to do so. Neither had a problem getting into their cabins as everyone had fallen asleep.
*In Andrew's cabin*
"Did you propose to her because you actually love her or so as to gain ground to avoid being killed by Mr.Henford?" Fear asked him in the static white void. "Both,though it's highly the prior." Hedonism intervened ,"So you've been able to categorize it properly during the whole episode,huh?" During what was happening,a part of Andrew was busy trying to categorize the diverse branches of Hedonism by traveling to other worlds observing without interfering. Multitasking for a freak like him was nothing. "I think I got it."
A red and golden notification respectively appeared in front of the three classified as he had concluded from his observations.
[{Hedonism}]
[{1: Hedonism of Control=Any being with intellect will always try to gain control by striving for power for this. Power can be in various forms such as position or money provided there is a disparity between one and the other.}]
[{2: Hedonism of Appeal=Those under this influence will maintain public or person image for their gain. Or pride in having infamous reputations as well still applies }]
[{3: Hedonism of Amusement=For those powerful and bore seeking entertainment.}]
[{4: Hedonism of Complexities=The pleasure obtained in the most subtle and unexpected things based on moral or immoral grounds.}]
"I'd complain but the last one got me good." Hedonism said. "As for Fear." Andrew said as another notification appeared next to the prior.
[{Fear}]
[{1:Fear of Discontinuity:The fear of loss of a pleasure experienced for any duration of an individual. Such as loss of life,a loved one,loss of power and so forth}]
"I couldn't find anything else on fear because it kind of sums up everything. The two principles dependent on each other." He said looking at the two notifications. "It's impressive and I hope you see yourself falling under the third principle of hedonism." He said with no objection ,"I know that all too well." He didn't need to be told of his amusement that he gets from seeing the destruction of others thanks to his sadism.
[{*#"(?;'*-_/?!;_-!!!}]
[{:"??#)//_-&;"!";(#))'+_!&/*/'!?-(:+!-)_(*+;#)&-!_!*)'(&/"*?!*";#)#)"!}]
A third notification appeared in all black similar to the string that passed through his body. Unlike that of hedonism in red and fear in golden,that was black and unfathomable. "What is that?" He asked but he knew it had to be related to the intangible string passing through his body. "I don't know." The two spoke simultaneously. The notification seemed alive as it started to drift towards the golden notification in a slime like manner but Andrew couldn't somehow dismiss the notification and the two fused but after the fusion,the golden notification seemed perfectly fine as before.
"Do you feel anything off with you? Fear!" But the frowned masked individual stood in place without moving an inch before suddenly bursting ,"I'm fine Andrew." He skeptically looked at him before he heard a notification from his prior system.
[{Host has received a past skill from ?";;;#/"(!#}]
{(The skill presented is Oddity Complex}]
"What the hell is this?!" Andrew cursed.