The forest was a blur of shadows and blood. Avi's feet pounded the dirt path, the underbrush tearing at his boots, and the trees seemed to close in around him as if mocking his desperation. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, and his hands gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The Comrade System's glowing trail pulsed faintly in the air before him, leading the way toward the last known location of his friends.
The sounds of the forest were sharp and haunting. The screech of a spirit wolf echoed through the trees, its spectral howl sending shivers down his spine. Leaves rustled as a group of horned rabbits darted past, their small, clawed feet barely making a sound. The occasional thump of branches signaled the presence of giant-armed monkeys, watching him from high above with eyes that glimmered with predatory curiosity. Each sound and movement made Avi's pulse quicken, adding to the symphony of chaos that roared in his ears.
His mind was a whirlwind—chaotic, raw, and fractured. The vision he had seen earlier still clawed at the edges of his sanity. The knight in his dream, the overwhelming sense of betrayal, the pain—all of it lingered like a cruel phantom in his chest. He didn't understand why it hurt so much, but it did. And now, layered atop that unshakable torment, came a fear so profound it threatened to consume him whole. Emily, Ken, and the others were out there, and something terrible had happened. He could feel it in the air, taste it in the coppery tang of spilled blood that lingered on the wind.
Every creature that dared cross his path met the edge of his blade. Spirit wolves lunged at him with howls that cut through the air like a razor, their mighty forms flickering as they fell, their eyes filled with an eerie light as they crumpled under his relentless onslaught. Horned rabbits leaped at him, their sharp antlers aiming for his legs, but he swung his blades with a precision born of desperation, sending them tumbling back into the dark underbrush. The giant-armed monkeys shrieked in a furious chorus, their long, powerful limbs swinging from the trees as they attacked. Avi met them head-on, his daggers flashing in the dim light, each strike fueled by the fire of his mounting rage and the choking grip of his fear. He didn't stop to think, didn't pause to breathe—there was no time. He had to reach them. He had to know.
But as the adrenaline coursed through him, so too did an unrelenting weariness. His muscles burned, and his vision flickered with dark edges, as if his very soul was cracking under the strain. Hold on, Avi, he told himself, though the voice was weak against the chaos within. One more step. Each footfall felt like an eternity, each heartbeat a drumbeat of impending loss.
When he stumbled into the clearing, the scene before him froze his blood. Corpses lay strewn across the ground, their lifeless eyes staring into the abyss. The air was thick with the stench of death. Among the scattered bodies were players he had fought alongside just hours ago. Their weapons lay discarded, their armor cracked and bloodied. Avi's gaze fell on a familiar shield, half-buried in the dirt. Ken's shield. The weight of the sight hit him like a hammer to the chest.
"No..." he whispered, his voice trembling. His knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground, his hands shaking as he reached for the shield. His reflection stared back at him in the polished metal, distorted and broken. The tremble in his fingers turned into a full-body shudder. Memories of the morning came rushing back. Ken's easy grin, Emily's laughter—they had promised it was just a scouting mission, that no one would get hurt. And now...
Avi's mind spiraled. His breath quickened, his vision blurred. The thought of searching for their bodies didn't even occur to him. All he could think of was the devastation, the loss. And the blame. It all came crashing down onto one person—Alex. Alex, who had convinced him to stay behind. Alex, who had said they needed him at the castle. Alex, who had made the wrong call.
He leaned back on his knees, trying to steady himself, but the weight of grief was too heavy. Why did I listen? The question echoed in his mind, and then, louder: Why did I stay?
The shield felt heavy in his hands, like all the gravity of earth is pulling it away from him, but it only makes him grip it tighter. His fury burned away the numbness, leaving only a singular purpose in its wake. He would make Alex answer for this.
The castle doors slammed open with a force that shook the very foundation of the ancient stone structure. The sound reverberated through the halls like a thunderclap, drawing every eye to the source. Players turned instinctively, their idle conversations dying mid-sentence. Confusion flickered across their faces, but it quickly morphed into something else—fear. Avi stood in the doorway, his figure silhouetted against the flickering torchlight. His eyes burned with a fury so intense it seemed to scorch the air around him. His aura, once warm and full of sharp humor, was now suffocating, oppressive. It pressed against everyone in the room, a silent warning of the storm he carried within.
Every step he took sent echoes through the hall, the heavy thud of his boots like a war drum. His shoulders were slumped, and his back bent as if the weight of his exhaustion threatened to break him. He moved with the ragged desperation of a man whose strength was hanging by a thread, each stride uneven, each breath a gasp pulled through trembling lungs. The muscles in his arms twitched, swollen from the endless combat. His chest armor was now a patchwork of dents and slashes, dark with grime and blood—some his, most from the twisted, snarling creatures he had fought off in a frenzy of rage and determination.
Doors splintered in his wake, furniture toppled, and even the bravest among them flinched as he stormed past, his destination clear. He moved with singular purpose, gripping a battered shield in his left hand. The shield was unmistakable—Ken's shield. Its once-pristine surface was now marred with dents and splattered with dried blood, a haunting reminder of the battle they'd just survived. Avi's fingers dug into the metal edges as though it were a lifeline and a weapon all at once, the sharp edges biting into his skin, grounding him in the present.
He finally found them—Alex, the alliance leader, standing at the center of a group. Lucas, Lena, Caleb, and a handful of others flanked him, their expressions shifting from concern to alarm as Avi approached. Alex, always so composed, looked momentarily taken aback by the sheer rage radiating from Avi.
"Avi—" Alex began, stepping forward, his tone steady despite the tension in the air.
"You!" Avi's voice thundered, cutting Alex off. It echoed like a whip crack, silencing the room. His grip tightened on the shield, his knuckles white. "This is your fault! They're all dead because of you! Ken, Emily, everyone! You made me stay back when I could've saved them!"
Alex's face contorted with pain, but he held his ground. "Avi, please," he said, his voice low and steady, though there was a tremor beneath it. "We don't know for sure—"
"Shut up!" Avi roared, his voice breaking as the fury spilled out of him. His chest heaved with the effort, sweat slicking his brow and trickling into his eyes, stinging and blurring his vision. He took another step closer, the shield clanging slightly against his side. The deep bruises on his arms throbbed in time with the pounding of his heart. His muscles burned, each breath stabbing into his ribs like a knife, but he pressed on, driven by the fire of his rage and the bone-deep weariness that whispered for him to stop, just for a moment.
"You're weak! All of you! Without me, you can't do anything! If I had been there, this wouldn't have happened!"
A tremor passed through the room as if the weight of his words struck everyone at once. Alex's jaw clenched, but his eyes reflected the guilt and anguish that gnawed at him. Avi's shout had pierced deeper than he could have imagined. He caught a fleeting glance of Lucas, whose eyes were wide and dark with uncertainty, and Lena, who looked ready to intervene but paused as if considering whether it would help.
Lena's voice cut through the silence, calm but urgent. "Avi, stop! We're all on the same side!" she shouted, her voice straining to cut through the tension. But Avi was already moving, his rage propelling him forward. The shield, Ken's shield, was raised, not as a tool of defense but as a weapon aimed squarely at Alex.
Caleb moved faster.
With a powerful swing, Caleb brought his hammer down, the blunt end striking Avi's head with precision. The sound was sickening, a dull thud that echoed in the silent room. Avi crumpled to the floor, his body limp, the shield slipping from his grasp. The weight of the moment settled over them like a heavy shroud.
"He's not gonna die," Caleb said, his voice firm as he lowered his hammer. His hands were steady, but his eyes betrayed the gravity of what he'd just done. "I've hammered enough metal to know how hard to hit without breaking. He'll be out for a while."
All eyes turned to Avi's unconscious form. The fury that had consumed him moments ago was gone, leaving behind a young man who looked utterly broken. His face was contorted in pain even in unconsciousness, his hands still twitching slightly as though clinging to the last vestiges of his rage. His breathing was shallow, strained, the rise and fall of his chest slow and uneven, as if each breath was a battle against the exhaustion that had finally caught up to him.
Alex sank into a chair, his hands trembling. The composure he was known for cracked, and guilt flooded his features. He stared at the shield, its bloodied surface reflecting the flickering light of their images. It's my fault, he thought, the realization a cold, suffocating weight. I sent them out there. In the end, we are all just kids thrown into this chaos. I have been playing general with real lives, not thinking of the consequences. The harsh weight of responsibility pressed on him, as if the very stone of the castle were pressing him down.
"Alex…" Lena began, her voice calm but urgent. She stepped closer, pointing toward the comrade system. "We don't know for sure that they're all dead. Avi only brought back the shield, not their bodies. I think they're just missing. He only saw corpses of our schoolmates—that's why he thinks the worst. Especially when he saw the shield Ken always carried."
Alex glanced at Lena, noting the subtle way her eyes shifted between determination and empathy. She was right; Avi had fought hard, but his rage had blinded him to the reality that there could still be hope. The bloodied shield in his hands was a testament to that battle, a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there was a possibility that things weren't as bad as they seemed.
Lena moved forward, her gaze softening as she looked at Avi's still form. "Also," she added, her fingers lightly brushing the screen of the comrade system, "look at this. When players are unconscious or asleep, the system marks them as offline. That's all it means. Look at Avi's system. It says the same thing."
Alex's eyes widened slightly as he checked his own system. The word Offline blinked steadily, and hope flared in his chest. Relief flickered across his face, but it was fleeting, like a spark in the dark. The realization came as a whisper: We're not done yet.
He looked up at Lena and the others in the room, drawing a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm afraid Avi's right," he admitted, his voice heavy. The words felt like a betrayal, a crack in his own resolve, but he pushed through. "It hurts to say this, but whenever we've had him in fights, most of us survive. We need him on this one."
Lena's eyes softened, and the room seemed to still as Alex's voice gained strength, a quiet command infused with his natural leadership. "After all this, I'll make sure to lessen his burden. All that rage—it got into his head, but it's not without reason. It's true, all of us are weak. With the system and all, giving us superhuman strength, it all got into our heads, made us think that everything was normal. That we all heroes in our own fantasies. Avi's the only one who's been observing and noticing that things are changing too fast. That's why he trains, why he pushes himself. Unlike the rest of us, who, with every flicker of the system, just follow it like it's the most normal thing on earth—not that I think we're still on Earth."
Alex clenched his fists, eyes sharp and full of a renewed, quiet determination. "We need to make things better after this is done. Let's hope for the best, everyone."
The room seemed to hold its breath, but hope stirred in the eyes of the gathered players. Somewhere deep within the shadows of the castle, the winds of fate whispered, a new battle was beginning.