Chapter 11

3rd PERSON POV

Survivors' Side

Vera sat all alone on the edge of her bed, hands on her cheeks. The feeling of guilt and saltiness had crept up inside her, drowning her in a pool of misery and sadness.

She has always had no idea how much words can actually hurt, even in the slightest means, before the last thing the embalmer Aesop Carl had said to her a few days ago before he completely stopped talking to her.

"Just butt out."

Not that she expected the embalmer to be more social - she knows about his anxiety - it is just she never expected the words from someone so ignorant and keeps everything all to himself would be aimed at her, not to mention he was very sick the moment he did all that.

She was not even picking at him in the first place! Why that attitude?

She had her attention on the bottle of perfume on her nightstand. That perfume was her weapon all her life. She gained the ability of turning back time to the point where she can turn back from fatal outcomes. That perfume had been her lifesaver.

But that power is only there during matches.

Aside from matches, that perfume is just a bottle of perfume that spreads scents to her room.

She was about to lose it when she heard a knock on her door.

"Vera? Are you there? We have a match in an hour."

Helena's unmistakable voice was the next thing that Vera encountered. The little girl had been the friendliest to her when anyone else is not.

The perfumer let her in before helping her walk towards the bed.

"Are you sick? It's not like you to seclude yourself from anyone." The mind's eye said, placing her walking cane on the floor.

"Or maybe you are still thinking about the night you went loose on Eli and Naib?"

Vera sighed as response. It really surprises her on how quick Helena is to figure things out despite her specialty.

As expected of The Mind's Eye.. She muttered to herself.

"Come on, Vera. Those two cool down and they forget about stuff real quick! They will forgive you, I'm pretty sure of it. Yeah gotta admit they act like children sometimes, but hey we need all that in this chaos! Why be sad while you have comedy?"

The perfumer took a huge breath. She wanted to cut to the chase.

"Helena, if you know what happened then did I really go overboard?"

"I know everything, Vera. And let me guess... it was Aesop's words you're thinking about... right?"

Vera felt the heat surging through her as the words escaped the blind girl's lips. Whatever she said was true.

She had it crystal clear the moment the embalmer had his stink-eye on her, telling her to piss off and not approach him before she makes a clear apology towards Eli and Naib. She just does not get why would he care for them so much though they might not notice it.

"I don't mean to make them superior than that of you but yeah you were. Any survivor in this manor knows that Aesop has always had issues with his physical state, and that has nothing to do with Eli and Naib. And just to let you know, those two being troublemakers isn't something new anymore."

Vera felt her heart go tighter as the mind's eye kept talking.

"But I just wanna protect--"

"That's not protecting, Vera Nair. You need to differ the act of defending and blaming. It is pretty obvious that those two have nothing to do with Aesop writhing in pain that day. Those two are the most to be asked because they are in the same floor as him. And just because we asked them doesn't mean they are the ones behind that. Aesop's condition just happened to drop that day!"

"But why would he defend those two?! He was supposed to let me know instead of icing me out! He--"

The perfumer was rageous by now. She had been having that as a main concern in her heart with her thinking of the answers to that question on her own. She wanted to know, and most of all, she had always wanted to know further regarding the embalmer.

"Vera. How will you react when someone trash-talks your friend?"

"Of course I'll get mad!" The enraged perfumer bellowed.

"Helena, just answer my goddamn question!"

By now it was the mind's eye turn to have rage taking over her. Over her years of dealing with people, she had never seen someone so annoying and selfish. The perfumer's attitude had really crossed the borders of her patience.

"Will you please listen to what I'm going to say?!" Helena yelled, deliberately standing up.

"You asked me for my help yet you won't listen to everything I'm saying! That's it, Vera. If you're still gonna keep that attitude of yours, there's no reason for anyone here to help and support you. I've had enough of you and your attitude. Now you better prepare yourself for the match."

The Mind's Eye then left, slamming the door in the process.

Vera shrugged as she walked outside of her room to the main lobby. It took less than a few minutes for her to arrive due to her living in the first floor.

She plopped herself on one of the chairs, only to notice the enormous monitor displaying the names of those who will take part in this match.

Helena Adams - The Mind's Eye

Vera Nair - Perfumer

Eli Clark - Seer

Naib Subedar - Mercenary

The feeling of panic filled up her heart. Here she is, being teammates with those she got into a bad situation with.

All three of them.

"Not another match we have now eh, Naib? I'm not even in the mood to get out of bed now...."

Vera's heart squeezed a little.

Eli's voice. She knew from the way he talks that he is definitely walking with Naib and is talking to him.

The sound of their footsteps had gotten closer.

"Oh Vera! You're early!" Naib said, waving his hand at her.

The perfumer stared at the mercenary silently. He's acting nice towards her despite that night.

"Oh and by the way, Aesop told me he has something to say to you right after we're done with this match."

Vera's heart started pounding in her chest. Aesop? Wanting to talk to her? What brings him this way?

She felt both Eli and Helena's stare right at her. That made her even more uneasy, especially with the fact that the seer has not been talking to her at all.

She was about to give her response when out of nowhere she felt lightheaded and everything went dark, indicating the match had started.

                               ***

All four opened their eyes and quickly figured out that they had all been teleported to the Moonlit River Park.

"Right. I'll take that cipher machine in front. You guys do your own part and um... try your best to not let me get into the hunter's clutches...?"

Helena's words echoed into all three as they left to each do their own parts. Eli had deployed his trustworthy owl to locate every of their location. Naib had brought his best shoulder pads, in which he had dubbed Joe the Right and Jake the Left, just in case if the hunter gets to him.

"Oh come on Naib, you don't have to follow me around!" Eli joked as he noticed the green hooded mercenary run beside him.

"I don't want you to run into trouble, my friend. Especially with that perfumer playing with us! Don't you remember that night when she blamed everything that got into Carl on us?"

"Naib." Eli said, letting his owl fly towards the mercenary's shoulder for a mere second before going back to that of his.

"I'm doing fine. Her words are nothing. None of them got into me, okay? Even my owl here is telling you to stop concerning me. And for the last time, you should stop calling him Carl."

Naib patted the owl's head before placing his both hands on the cipher machine in front of the two, decoding it.

"I hate it when you act all tough, Eli. About Carl, I prefer to call him that way and you can't stop me. Hmph! Hey Luke, tell your master here to stop acting all tough. Peck him in his shoulders if he still goes that way."

The seer shook his head and laughed as Naib dashed to the tent, looking for ciphers. It was pure silence for a few seconds when Helena yelled out the hunter being near her.

Eli looked up front and was surprised to find a camera being set up before him.

Joseph. The Photographer. The one that spared his friend.

He formed a frown as he recalled everything. No one realized he actually knew what happened between this hunter and Aesop last night. The hugs, the talks, he knew everything.

"Emily wasn't the only one knowing about this, Aesop. Luke here knows everything too. Just what have you done?"  He muttered to himself.

The seer must have been so focused to his own thoughts that he did not realize Joseph had eliminated all three and is heading his way.....