Chapter 17

I opened my eyes, and the tunnel was still intact. "Damn you, old man!" I yelled.

"Huff... Huff..."

I tried catching my breath. I could feel my heart beating like crazy and sweat dripping down from my head. 'Why am I having so many nightmares? What did I do to deserve this?' I sighed in relief that everything was just a dream. "The next time I see that old man, he's gonna get a good beating," I mumbled.

Bang.

Someone hit my head. "Shut up, you crazy slug!" Isaac was holding his fist in anger.

"Youch!" I sit up and saw other children staring at us. 'Oops.' I bowed in apology. They looked at each other and then continued with their stuff. 'They probably think we're a bunch of lunatics.' I smiled awkwardly.

Rona turned me around and wiped my sweat using her sleeve. "Llyne had a nightmare? You were mumbling and squirming a lot in your sleep."

I nodded. "Ya. Sorry for worrying you."

"You weren't just mumbling. You tried to destroy the wall." Isaac pointed at the dented wall.

"Ouish... No wonder. I was wondering why my leg hurts." I massaged my feet while staring at the dented wall.

"What nightmare is it? Share! Share!" Rona clasped her hands.

Isaac agreed. "Ya. What kind of nightmare lasted 2 days?"

"2 days? I've been asleep for 2 days? You are joking, right?"

"Nope. Tomorrow is the 2nd game already. We were too nervous to sleep while you were sleeping like a baby." Isaac glared.

"I had a nightmare, okay? But who would have thought I slept for 2 days." I rubbed my head.

"Ya. Now that I know it's a nightmare, I can sleep well." Isaac smirked.

"Grr~ Why you..."

Rona laughed. "Isaac was worried about you because you kept trembling in your sleep."

Isaac blushed. "I wasn't. I was just annoyed because she kept making weird noises."

"Oh. We understand Tsundere-kun." I laughed at Isaac.

Isaac's face turned redder and said. "Whatever. I don't care. I'm going to sleep."

"Aren't you going to hear about my nightmare?" I shook Isaac.

"Wakey, wakey, Isaac." I moved away, and Rona jumped on Isaac. Rona landed on Isaac's stomach.

"Oof!" Isaac screamed. "What are you doing, Rona? Get off me. You're crushing me." Isaac pushed Rona away.

Rona rolled on the ground and laughed.

Rona got up laughing. "Let me do it again."

Isaac immediately replied. "Hell no."

"Big fat meanie." Rona pouted.

I corrected Rona. "Small skinny meanie."

Isaac's eyes kept twitching. "Aren't you gonna talk about your nightmare? Make it quick. I need to sleep."

"Okay. Sheesh, you're no fun." I told Isaac and Rona what my Master and I talked about and how I got here, except I didn't mention anything about Lyndall.

"I understand now." Isaac laid back. "Who are you trying to be? Rona?"

Rona got excited. "Me?"

"You're a definite fool." Isaac shook his head in disappointment.

"Oii!" I grabbed Isaac's neck and wanted to choke him, but Rona stopped me.

Isaac cleared his throat. "Only a fool would completely trust a stranger. Moreover, a senile old man. Besides, why do you trust him? Just because one of the Masters told you to? Don't forget that person killed your family and dragged you here."

I couldn't fight back because everything Isaac said was true. "I don't know. I feel like I could trust him a bit. Besides, we need information if we want to survive here."

"True, but it's too risky. The talk about THE SYSTEM seems a bit sketchy to me. He might have mixed some lies in there, you will never know. He probably thought you were naïve or else why would he tell you? He probably has something else in mind. You better watch out."

I sniffled. "You really care about me, TsunTsun."

"Don't call me TsunTsun!" Isaac bared his teeth at me.

Rona looked confused. "I don't understand a word you guys said."

I comforted Rona. "Everything is fine, Rona. No worry."

Rona sighed in relief. "Okay. Me relief now."

Isaac laid on the ground. "Go to sleep already. The 2nd game starts tomorrow. We need all the energy we can get."

Rona and I replied. "Okay, TsunTsun."

Isaac threw rocks at us in anger.

Rona and I giggled.

Moments later, Isaac and Rona fell asleep right next to each other. Rona had drools all over her mouth. She was also snoring loudly beside Isaac's ear, and Isaac's face was all wrinkled up. I giggled as I watched them sleep. I sighed and laid on my back. There wasn't a moment of silence with Rona beside me. 'I hate the dark, but what's scarier than that was the silence.' I laid on my side, looking at Rona peacefully sleeping like it was just another normal day for her. "Thank you, Rona," I whispered and smiled. I laid back on my back and closed my eyes. I tried to sleep, but I had lots of thoughts in my mind. 'If Isaac and Rona weren't here with me, what would have happened to me? In the first game, I almost got them hurt. I might even kill them.' I felt sad just thinking about losing one of them. All the negative thoughts flooded my mind. I shook my head. "Stop thinking about the negative stuff. Remember Ma's words, 'Positive thoughts, positive life." I nodded. 'Let's also not forget Ma's demonic fist when I think negative thoughts.' I trembled in fear. Suddenly, all my negative thoughts were gone. "Ma's demonic fist is really helpful. I just think about it, and all my bad thoughts are gone. Ouii...I miss Ma." I teared up. As I cried, I got sleepier. My eyelid slowly got heavier. Before I knew it, I had already fallen asleep.

The next morning.

"ne...lyne...Llyne!" I hear a loud female voice calling my name. I thought I was sleeping in Iz's bedroom again. "Iz?" I waved her away.

"Open your eyes, dumb dumb." The cheerful voice sounded angrier.

"Eh?" I brushed my hair back and slowly opened my eyes, but everything was a blur. I squinted my eyes. I could see someone in front of me, but it was still so blurry. I rubbed my eyes and asked. "Who? Isn't it you, Iz? If it's nothing important, wake me up later. I want to sleep more." I rolled to my side and fell back to sleep.

Slap.

"Oh! Why did you slap me for?" I woke up immediately and saw Rona sulking. "Oh! Rona, it's you." I laughed. 'I thought everything until now was a bizarre dream of mine.'

I patted Rona. "Rona, did something happen?"

Rona looked away and wouldn't talk to me.

I turned to Isaac, who was sitting there enjoying our little fight.

"Oii, Piggy. What's the matter with Rona?" I clenched my fist at Isaac.

Isaac pointed at Rona's stomach. "I think Rona is hungry. I heard her stomach growling really loud."

"So? Why is she ignoring me?"

"Hunger temper? She ignored me, too." Isaac glanced at Rona, who was in a bad temper.

Shing.

A door suddenly appeared out of nowhere at the entrance of the tunnel.

Creak. Creak.

The wooden door opened.

"A translucent white wall and now a wooden door? What kind of place is this?" I stared at the wooden door.

Isaac sighed. "If you think about it, this place never made sense. Monsters, weird entrances appearing and disappearing, overdose men, floating boxes, people with mental problems, and many more, which indicates this place is absolutely mad."

Crack. Crack.

"Mic test, mic test." A mysterious voice resonated in the tunnel.

"Oh, it's Mr. James," Rona said while munching something in her mouth.

"What are you eating, Rona?" I saw some dirt on Rona's mouth but couldn't believe it.

Rona pointed at the ground. "Dirt!"

"Spit those out! It's dirty." I slapped Rona's back.

"Booooo!" Rona spitted all the dirt out and wailed.

"Welcome to the 2nd game, little bunnies. You must be wondering where all your fans are. Well, not to worry, we wouldn't want them to cinder into flames, so we kept them safe and sound."

Everyone stared at me.

"It wasn't intentional." I defended myself.

Mr. James continued. "Anyways, the 2nd game is straightforward like the 1st game. All you need to do is enter a dungeon and destroy its dungeon core just like those RPG games you bunnies love to play. Easy, right?"

"Straight forward like the first game? We didn't know there was going to be a huge metal ball and flamethrower welcoming us." I mumbled.

"Easy my foot. You probably hiding something else, aren't you?" Isaac pointed his middle finger.

Mr. James ignored Isaac. "Please proceed to the door in front of you. It will lead you to the dungeon assigned to you all. Better hurry, little bunnies, or else something ugly might happen."

"Ugly?" I tilted my head.

Roawr~

We looked behind and saw a horrifying large monster squeezing through the tunnel and chasing after us.

"In! In! Go in!" All of us rushed through the door. After everyone passed the door, we quickly shut the door.

Bang!

All of us sighed loudly.

Within a split second, the door disappeared.