Chapter 135: Trial of Bonds
Chapter 135: Trial of Bonds.
They could feel nothing below their feet except their downward plunge.
Only the fall.
The quiet sounds louder than all military shouts.
The main characters lost what they believed to be true about themselves.
Natasha held her breath but no oxygen entered her system. Her physical body did not face normal gravity. She was unraveling. Her mind splitting, folding, reforming.
Light flickered.
Many familiar memories shattered together like shattered window glass.
She heard Alison's voice. A voice sounded that could be both her brother and Alison during the same instant. They were each other for some seconds during that moment. Their fears, their guilt, their love.
Then:
System Notification:
Phase Three of Abyss Trial is Shared Psyche Trial which tests guards to defend each other's essence while escaping the connected mindscape. Danger Level: Extreme.
She didn't land.
She merged.
---
The woman who opened her eyes was not Natasha anymore.
She stood still on the sterile hallway. The air reeked of antiseptic. Marble floors. Glass windows. Business suits and hushed whispers.
She was inside Alison's memory.
A young man gathered space from the end of the hallway. His hair was ruffled. His face flushed from crying. He held a basketball letter in his small grip. An eviction notice.
Alison.
No—not the man she knew. The boy had placed his faith in someone but was deceived. The betrayed boy watched as the person who swore to help his parents keep their company stole all their money instead.
A woman walked out from an office near her location. Familiar. Dangerous. Despite the woman's removal from Natasha's mind her predatory qualities still stood out to her. She walked across the room by tapping her stilettos against the floor like a progress counter.
The boy looked up at her.
"You said you'd help," he said softly.
She knelt, smiled sweetly, and said, "Business is business, darling."
Natasha desired to run towards him and shield him but her feet refused to move. She couldn't change this memory.
Only watch.
Only feel it.
The darkness released its grasping limbs toward the boy.
They stacked their bodies around his feet to cast suspicions in his mind.
"No one ever helps you."
"You're better off alone."
"Don't trust her. Not again."
Natasha fell to her knees.
"Alison," she whispered, "I see you. I won't leave."
The whispers hissed louder. The boy turned toward her. He showed a single second of red within his pupil.
And then he blinked.
A flicker of warmth.
The tendrils recoiled.
Bond Meter: +15%
___
Alison reacted in surprise but the incoming smoke blocked her breathing.
He wasn't in a hospital.
He stood inside her house from her youth.
He heard screaming. A fire alarm. The sharp smell of ash.
From the top of the stairs a girl could not move. Her hands gripped the banister. Her face was torn in anguish.
In one room: her brother.
In the other: her father, unconscious.
The flames took control of both open areas.
She couldn't save both.
Realizing her mistake she understood why Natasha never spoke of this particular night. The night that broke her.
And she ran.
She chose her brother.
He observed her crying while she moved the boy outside. She looked behind as ceiling debris smashed down on the burnt room.
He heard her scream.
And he wanted to run away.
It hurt too much.
As soon as he ended his gaze the universe shattered into pieces. Shadows surged.
"She'll leave you too."
"She chooses guilt over love."
"You'll never matter more."
He turned back, trembling. He stepped into the fire.
He stood beside her.
He spoke softly to himself with pain in his voice.
The teenage Natasha faced him with open eyes.
Alison held her hand.
The flames didn't touch them.
Bond Meter: +22%
__
The dust covered her eyes as she regained consciousness from a silent moment.
Swords littered the ground. Bodies.
She was on a battlefield. Not her own.
She saw her adolescent self bringing down an injured enemy soldier with his blood on her body. Calling names. Getting no answer.
"No, no, no… Come on, wake up."
The man took his final breath and passed away.
And Dren fell to his knees.
"They trusted me. I wasn't strong enough."
Darkness filled every space around him beyond normal night skies. The abyss formed into the shape of all colleagues who lost their lives.
"You let us die."
"You ran."
"You survived."
The worker in front of Ira begun shaking as she held her scepter.
She stepped into the illusion.
"You carried them until your body broke," she said, voice hoarse. "Even the strongest lose. But you didn't abandon them."
He didn't look up.
Your guilt creates a deep pain that you experience.
"I do," Ira said, and showed him her hands.
Dark ink marked her palms.
"I sealed away magic that could've saved my people. I chose order over freedom."
Dren looked up.
The Abyss cracked.
Bond Meter: +19%
___
Dren wandered into a sanctuary.
Stone pillars. Wind chimes. Candlelight.
At the ritual center Ira displayed her hands while performing the action. Symbols glowed around her.
She was sealing something. Something powerful.
And painful.
You restrained more than raw strength yet how you handled it. It was possibility."
Dren approached her carefully while watching her shiver under the rune scars on her body.
He could feel the pain.
The weight of her choice.
"You were alone when you made this choice."
She didn't respond.
He buried his fingers into her shoulder muscles to display comfort.
"You don't have to carry it alone anymore."
The ritual stopped.
She looked at him.
Tears streamed down her face.
The abyss faded.
Bond Meter: +18%
___
They opened their eyes together.
What they saw seemed not real as sparkling threads connected their beings.
Just before the shadows vanished again.
A boy stepped from the dark.
No a teen.
Eyes glowing Abyss-red.
Natasha's brother.
"You came this far for each other," he said, voice flat. "But would you choose love… over family?"
He created a dark flame with his blade.
System Notification:
After the final choice the severing of heartstrings can never be restored
The floor cracked.
The light flickered.