Eizit and Azael walked through the forest in a straight line, walking north-east towards the Ironguard mountains. They had been walking for around 2 hours so far, and they hadn't talked too much... Not until now.
"Hey Eizit, what is Spiegel's logo?"
Eizit looked at Azael, with a slightly confused expression, curious as to why he asked him that.
"An eye with 9 stars on the pupil. Why?"
Azael smiled at him.
"Does it have eyelashes?"
Eizit thought about it for about 10 seconds, he couldn't really tell... Eventually, he gave Azael an answer.
"I think so, and 3, specifically."
Azael laughed softly, his usual laugh, and replied to Eizit between giggles.
"Nuh uh! It has no eyelashes. You know what that is?"
"The Mandela effect...?"
"Indeed"
The Mandela effect was a social phenomenon that people in Hansha focused on a lot for about two years. It made them think that stuff wasn't like it actually was, the interesting part being that multiple people imagined wrong the same thing.
It happened mainly with Spiegel's logo, an eye with 9 stars inside its pupil. People often thought that the logo had 3 eyelashes, but it never actually did.
"Now, people tried to explain this, and came out with interesting ideas"
"By interesting ideas, do you mean absurd conspiracy theories, Azael?"
"No, no! Hear me out, it's more than just"
"Fine, go ahead"
"You see, people in Hansha started investigating the reason of the Mandela Effect existing, and some of them developed a theory-"
"A conspiracy theory..."
"Lemme keep on"
Eizit giggled, "okay, okay".
"The theory said that the reason the Mandela Effect exists is that Hansha is also a virtual reality, or perhaps a simulation, or even just a game, like Spiegel."
"That's absurd, you're telling me Hansha is also a videogame? That sounds stupid, what backup did they even have?"
"Have you never heard about how 'digital humans' have their bodies' created upon logging off Spiegel for the first time? That doesn't seem very real-life looking... That Hansha is a simulation or video game would explain why it is possible."
Eizit sighed, what Azael was saying made some kind of sense, but not enough as to convince him. He kept walking alongside him, quiet for a bit, after eventually giving an answer to his companion.
"Well, if Hansha was just another videogame, they wouldn't have needed to kill the investigators of the digital humans case in Spiegel... Plus, that's a more interesting fact; that anyone who tries to investigate about Spiegel ends up dead."
Azael thought about it for a while, going silent for the next 5 minutes. It was then when Eizit started to actually focus on the forest they were walking through. The trees were tall, darkened by the leaves that topped them. The sunlights barely managed to get through them, which made everything feel kind of magical. However, despite the light not really getting down the flora of the forest was alive and beautiful. Roses, grass, trees, bushes, everything seemed to be growing fine and strong despite the slight lack of sunlight.
Perhaps these plants were not just normal plants, maybe they were magic plants and therefore they didn't need to feed off too much on the sunlight. Evolution is astonishing either way, so it could've been just that.
The air around was fresh and breathing it felt even relaxing, it was a bit humid too, but it wasn't really bothering. Instead, it was refreshing. The forest was just a masterpiece of nature, with a little of magic added to help out. Truly a piece of art.
Eizit's line of thought and analysis of the environment got interrupted by Azael's words.
"It is interesting, yes. Why do you think they died? Was it an accident...?"
"No, there had to be more behind it, you also think this way, right?"
"Mhm. The way they conveniently died after making slight process in the investigation is, at least, suspicious. It can't be a coincidence"
"Where there is smoke, there is fire. There must be a reason for everything regarding Spiegel feeling so real being so hidden, and to people dying when they dive too deep into revealing the truth."
"I think everything's linked"
"Huh?"
"I mean, I just feel like it. That the Mandela Effect and the unexplainable deaths are related in some sort of way"
"Hmm... It could be possible, but trying to find out by ourselves would be..."
"Stupid, yes. I know, they'd kill us. However, you seem to do stupid stuff often. After all, risking your life to try and save mine was stupid. And something tells me it hasn't been the first time you did."
"It hasn't been, no... Matter of fact, the only reason I was able to save you was because I tried to save someone else and failed"
"Don't torture yourself too much with it, that means you have improved. This time you saved me, so you actually managed to pull it off!"
"Yeah, I guess, but at what cost?"
"Well, it is true everything ended up making us have to escape from the Kingdom of Chamuel, but I'd rather be exiled than dead"
"And they never treated us well anyways, so it doesn't really matter haha"
"Yeah, I don't give a fuck about them haha"
With some laughs and having a good time, the duo kept walking through the forest. They were clueless about the fact that the Berserker, Navi, was getting closer and closer to them...
***
(2 hours ago)
Navi was on top of the wall of the Kingdom of Chamuel, he had levitated up there with the aid of Void-Man. Right after getting up there he looked around and, luckily for him, not so much for Eizit and Azael, managed to catch a glimpse of both of them right before they entered the Mystical Forest.
"There they are! I'd rather not go in there but... If I go back, boss will kill me up until I have no lives or I log off. And logging off is not an option! I will not go back to Hansha to keep living the awful life I lived in District 9."
Navi jumped down the wall, sliding all the way to the bottom. Once there, he looked around. His idea was stealing a carriage and using it to navigate quickly through the forest, but he couldn't find anybody with one, so he just hurried inside the woodlands without a mount or carriage.
"This forest is as chilling as always"
Navi didn't really enjoy being in the Mystical Forest, a place that was a breath of fresh air for Eizit was like walking through hell for Navi. It may be that the forest gave off similar vibes as his boss.
After walking for about an hour, Navi was able to hear some voices in the distance, which meant that there was someone in the forest. He was sure about something, that the voices were not of Eizit and Azael. And, therefore, there could be a chance it was people with horses.
Due to the escaping duo having advantage over him, due to leaving earlier, Navi needed a way to close up on them. Getting a horse was the easiest one.
And so Navi approached the voices, taking a slight deviation as instead of walking to the north-east he started walking to the east. After about 20 minutes, having heard the voices closer and closer over time, Navi managed to see his victims in the distance. They were an old man and a young guy, the first one of about 60-something years, and the second one probably on his thirties. The old one had a small bag with herbs and a medal on his neck. The young one had a sword and an armour.
"So an old man going to trade herbs in the elven kingdom and a young man escorting him, the perfect target. The medal is probably an elven pass, could prove useful for the future."
Navi approached the group silently, before suddenly using his strength to ambush them, jumping over the old man. Navi's hand made contact with the old guy's skin, and the man seemed to grow even older, eventually dying. The knight yelled at Navi, but Navi looked back at him with an intimidating glare. The knight screamed as he ordered the horse to turn around, fleeing like a chicken.
"What a coward"
Navi threw away the old man's body and rode the horse, it took him three strong slaps for the horse to understand that the superior one was Navi, and after establishing that, the horse couldn't dare to try and fight the Berserker off.
A horse obtained, Navi resumed his chasing, now going faster than the duo could ever predict.
They better speed up.
***