Chapter 21: The Scar

*ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!*

The creature roars, but not out of anger or intimidation; its roar is filled with despair and regret. Its central eye fills with tears as it emits grunts resembling words, "Hur… Huar… Hurts…"

"Where did that guy even come from?!" Alice yells to Solol—the only one present before the Whisper appeared.

"Don't look at me! Maybe we were just unlucky!"

Sophie fires an arrow imbued with the skill [Fiery Arrow: Cannon], turning the arrow into a flaming projectile that hits the creature's eye. As its face erupts in flames, it falls, writhing in pain, questioning its actions.

*ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!* "H… Hurts… Why I… Stayed…?!"

["I Will Fix It!"]

Suddenly, Alice and Solol are in a different stance—the same they were in before Sophie shot the arrow—and the elf finds herself aiming the same arrow again. Still processing what happened, they see the monster completely intact in front of them.

Crossing its long arms, it makes an 'X' slash with its scythe-like hands over the players. Alice pulls Solol out of range, giving them the chance to witness the attack scar the ground with its slashes.

"FEDORA!" she extends her arm, grabbing the Arachne's paw, and the Slime leaps into her hand, transforming into a sword handle, recreating the Viscous Web. With her weapon in hand, she charges at the Whisper's back.

[Wind Scrapper]

[Stamina: 105/120]

With eyes on the back of its head, it anticipates the attack, throwing its hand against the slash, shattering it effortlessly. "Why… Stop you… I didn't…"

["I Will Fix It!"]

Suddenly, Alice is back to when she was about to call for Fedora, but this time she's surprised by a magical black and blue slash that cuts through her body, leaving a black line on it.

"FRECKLES!" Solol yells, desperate, not knowing how lethal Alice's wound is.

To everyone's surprise, she merely falls to her knees, murmuring self-reproaches. "I ruined my school life because of that game, I shouldn't even be here in the first place…"

[Corrosive Regret]

Fedora tries to cheer her up, but to no avail. After receiving that skill, Alice's mind was dominated by regrets and past choices she judged as wrong.

"He can go back in time," Solol thinks, seeing his companion now out of combat. He draws his weapon to threaten the creature, "Bring her back to normal, or else…"

With a slap, it knocks the pistol out of his hand. With its target vulnerable, it raises its arms and throws them down on Solol, who in response uses [Web Swing] to create a web and hit the creature's eye—making it give up the attack to try to remove the web from its eye, but due to its scythe-like hands, it's practically impossible.

"Annoying web… Could… Avoid…"

["I Will Fix It!"]

He returns to the moment when he was pointing his weapon at the creature, but this time the Whisper swings its arms at Solol. The player dodges while the creature stabs its hands into the ground in relentless attempts to finish him.

As he runs, Sophie advances closer while aiming an arrow, "Icy Arrow: Icy Floor!" she launches the projectile, hitting near the creature's feet. With a snap of her fingers, the ground around the arrow is overtaken by ice—paralyzing the creature's feet.

The ice from [Icy Arrow: Icy Floor] began to spread, forming a thick layer around the Whisper's feet, which writhed and struggled to break free. With a furious scream, it tried to rip the ice off with its scythe hands, but its own strength caused more damage than relief.

With the enemy immobilized, Solol shoots a web into its mouth, preventing it from speaking—believing its ability to rewind time only works if it expresses regret about something.

Thus, he points his weapon, uttering the spell: "Bullets from hell, rise again!" creating a bullet for his pistol—and quickly, he fires at the creature's eye.

*Click-click!*

Nothing comes out of his weapon…

[Corrosive Regret]

Solol is hit point-blank by the Whisper's ability, his mind overflowing with regrets, Sophie's voice calling for help becomes muffled.

He closes his eyes and embraces the darkness…

…

"Look at your brother, why can't you be like him?"

"Another zero?! I can't believe it!"

"Missed another job interview?!"

"Enough of this! OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"I'm nothing…"

…

And then he wakes up in one of Uncle Hugo's house rooms. Breathing deeply and releasing the tension from his body, "Another nightmare?" he sighs in relief. But when he gets out of bed, he feels a sharp pain in his chest.

Kenneth enters the room and lifts him, "Easy, easy! The scar is still fresh!"

"W-what…" he looks under his shirt and sees the black mark of the cut still present on his body. "What happened?!"

<…>

The group gathers in the living room, where everyone except Solol is completely unscathed from yesterday's encounter.

"When that thing took you down, it… was gone. I blinked and it wasn't there anymore."

Alice adds, "And that's when my mind returned to its place, my scar wasn't there anymore. Unlike yours."

"So that jerk appears out of nowhere, gives me a scar, doesn't elaborate, and leaves?"

Everyone at the table nods in agreement. Solol stares at his wound again, gently touching it; feeling nothing, it was as if his skin was brand new.

Uncle Hugo says in a concerned tone, "This scar doesn't work like a traditional one because it was made by a Whisper. They live with the purpose of survival, and the only place they truly feel safe is here." He points to his own forehead. "In the darkness of our consciousness."

"How do you know all this?" Kenneth asks. The old man looks down as if gathering courage to tell a story that hurts his heart.

<…>

A few years ago, my brother, his wife, and my nephew lived here. Their house had been destroyed by Goblins; my brother and I had argued a while ago, so after his wife's insistence, we decided to tolerate each other for a few months. Which soon turned into years.

Actually, it was really good because my brother and I always went to the Lazuli Forest to gather resources together—which made us forget our foolish argument. We would always hunt, return, he and his wife would cook, insisting that I didn't need to help. It was a fun routine.

Until… My nephew disappeared…

Apparently, he had followed us to the forest without us noticing. We spent days looking for him, my brother didn't eat or sleep. On the fifteenth day, I found what was left of his son's shoe. That broke him.

He spent the next few months immobile in his bed; his wife tried to help him, but nothing worked. But I didn't give up; I always spent hours talking to him.

…

My brother always told me that the 'darkness' pursued him in his dreams, whispering that it was his fault, that he should just die for causing his son's death. That thing was consuming his mind bit by bit.

I thought Whispers were just tales to scare children. But it was real, and I didn't know how to save him.

And one day, I woke up in the middle of the night to his wife's screams. I ran with a knife in hand and saw her lying on the ground, not breathing, my brother's voice echoing, shouting that they would be together with their son now.

I looked into his eyes. That wasn't my brother…

<…>

"This scar won't stop spreading over your body until it drains the last drop of sanity from your mind. And you can be sure it will come back to move into its 'new home.'"

Everyone is horrified, Alice is the first to speak. "But why specifically Solol?"

"I don't know. But that Whisper certainly came from someone."

"So what do I do now?! Sit and have coffee while that thing burns my mind?!"

Kenneth questions, "Why don't you just go back to Aerion? I don't know if a healer could help, but they definitely might have a solution."

The three players fall silent, desperately trying to think of a way to keep the lie intact. Until an idea shines in Sophie's mind like a light bulb. She pulls the two out of the house, "GREAT IDEA! We should go there right now!"

"But you haven't even finished my apple pie!" Uncle Hugo shows a pie that looks like someone stepped on it. Alice and Solol nervously lie, saying they were short on time. Once outside, the two silently thank Sophie for saving them from the poisoned food.

<…>

"Okay, what's the plan?" Alice asks, confident in her friend.

She points to the sky and shouts, "We're going to Aerion!"

"Are you bipolar by any chance?! How did you change your mind so fast?!" Solol complains indignantly.

"I'm not referring to the 'good' Aerion. Remember? Part of it flew away…"

The swordswoman adds, "And left everything behind… Maybe there's something useful in the ruins! You're a genius!"

"Did you forget how long those ruins have been there? By now,

 everything must have been looted," Solol responds pessimistically.

"Did you forget this is an RPG game? You can always find items just by exploring the map."

"Or maybe even a secret boss!" she raises her hand, "I vote to go to the ruins!"

"Me too!" the elf raises her hand. The two wait a few seconds in silence for Solol's decision. He remains downcast and very pessimistic, questioning, "Does it matter?"

Sophie places a hand on his shoulder, "We will find a way to help you. Like Alice said, we're all stuck here together."

A small smile forms on Solol's face, but he tries to hide it. Then he raises his hand, "If we find some good loot, the armors are mine."

Alice furrows her brow and puts her hands on her hips, "HEY! Not fair!"

"I'm the poor sick guy, remember?"

"If that's the case, all the weapons are mine."

"What? That doesn't even make sense; you can't use like 95% of them!" Sophie replies.

"But I can sell everything and buy better items for myself."

"You're not even going to think about your friends? Okay, besides the armors, I also want all the skills we find!"