Chapter 53: The Calm

His hand starts shaking, his finger slowly moving away from the trigger.

He slowly moves away from the gun as well, looking down at his shaking hands.

"Ha ha ha . . . Hahahaha! Such euphoria!" exclaims Aayn, looking up at the sky and laughing like a maniac.

He grabs the sniper.

"Aahh! And he said I can keep this beauty! Now that my debt for him is paid, I can do all I want with it," he says, his eye going back to the scope.

"More!" he demands, scoping in.

. . .

Cough! Cough!

Opening her eyes slowly, she struggles.

"Adora!" exclaims Neo, looking at Adora laying down on the ground.

"I'll be right back," he says, gently placing Charlotte's head down upright, and then rushing to help Adora out, traversing through the destroyed surface, jumping from rock to rock.

. . .

Charlotte is yet to utter a word or show any expression . . . there is no life to be found on her face. Her eyeballs finally shift and move for the first time, settling on Neo.

Hearing a weird, low sound, she shifts her sight towards it as much as she can.

On the destroyed surface with large rocks all over . . . amongst the rubble . . . her eyes catch something . . . heading towards her.

Is it . . . darkness? It is just a very small puddle of moving darkness . . .

It halts right as it reaches the ring of flowers surrounding Charlotte.

The puddle of darkness then moves and starts to take a different shape . . .

Charlotte does nothing but watch.

The darkness turns into a small dark horse that has a saddle on it with a large wrench attached to the side of it. The horse goes back a few steps and then sprints towards the ring of flowers, jumping over it and landing on the other side inside the ring.

The horse stops upon landing and starts acting in a way that indicates it seems to be confused about something.

The horse then looks back at the ring of flowers, walking towards it slowly and cautiously, and stands in front of it. The horse hesitantly touches a flower with its face, but nothing happens. It then turns around and looks at Charlotte, locking gazes with her.

The horse starts sprinting towards her again and turns into a puddle of darkness again. It climbs up Charlotte's face and hides amongst her long hair . . . almost as if it infuses itself with her.

Charlotte looks back at Neo.

. . .

"Adora! Are you alright?" asks Neo, making one last jump and reaching her.

". . . Why isn't Haco back up yet . . . did she get hit again? Is she being pinned down? Where did Zahtan go?" questions Adora.

Neo averts his eyes.

"Your wheelchair is gone . . . we should do something to have you be able to move first," he says, looking around.

. . .

"Is that all you know?" asks Daki.

"Yes, that's all," confirms Zahtan.

"Your turn, then,"

"I am curious about how you ended up getting here. How did you know about this place? You seem to know all about the traps and defenses of this place. Your brain, Daki! What does it have planned? Inside the game, outside the game, all over. I want to know!" says Zahtan, raising his arms open and looking up.

. . .

"Tell me all about that," he says moving his head back down to meet eye-to-eye.

Daki looks down at the floor and then back up at Zahtan, and in that motion, he takes a quick glimpse at One, ". . . Hm. I'll use my one chance to not answer a question,"

Disappointment covers Zahtan's face, "Aw, really?"

He nods, "Yes! Why should I share information about I operate during a war? The things I do and lines of thought, why give them to an enemy? Heck, I wouldn't even give them to a stranger!"

Daki sighs, shaking his head, "Anyways, my turn,"

". . . I have kept tabs on the dangers in the Castle and more around this existence, yet for some reason, I have never heard of you before. And all of a sudden, you pop out of nowhere and cause the biggest crises ever," starts Daki, his tone serious as he looks at Zahtan.

"Not just that, you seem to know secret information far more than you should, and I doubt that Sheehan revealed anything to you. Plus, you can resist the shock and pain of decapitation, those who can, are counted by the finger," he continues.

". . . Who are you, Zahtan? And what do you want from the Shell of the First Pilot?" he asks finally.