Chapter 6: Mévine

We return from Tower 12, out of breath, our muscles still tense from the adrenaline... but with smiles stuck to our faces.

It's the first time we laugh. The first time it feels like we've actually won something.

Emilia and Tyler are waiting for us in the square. They run over as soon as they see us—both worried and curious.

Jin walks up to the screen, which reactivates instantly.

Bonus quest completed. Unique reward incoming.

A hatch slowly opens in the ground, revealing… a simple black compass, with a red needle.

Lisa screams at the sky, as if someone could actually hear:

— You bastards! You give us a fucking compass?! Go fuck yourselves!

Jin and I are more reserved. The compass doesn't point to… anything. Just the sea. As if it doesn't even work. Jin turns his head toward me:

— Owen.

He tears a long thread from his clothes and loops it through the compass ring.

— Keep it. Everyone trusts you here.

He places it around my neck. Everyone nods.

Emilia tells us it's time to prepare dinner. "Prepare dinner" is a big word for chewing on jerky around the fire...

Lisa volunteers to fetch the last pieces of wood and the lighter. She kneels down and quickly lights the fire, focused.

We each take our piece of jerky and start the "feast."

I tear off a bite. It's tough as leather and salty enough to burn my tongue, but at least it fills my stomach.

Jin bites into his like it's nothing.

— You been in the army or something?

— No idea.

He chuckles.

Emilia looks even worse than yesterday. She's placed her meat beside her and is scratching the ground over and over again, like she's hoping to find an answer underneath.

Tyler tries to get her to eat, but fails. They said they didn't want to know what our quest was about anyway.

Either way, I've noticed that two groups are forming: Lisa, Jin and me. And on the other side, Tyler and Emilia.

Then, what had to happen, happened. Tyler walks over to us:

— Sorry, but… could we swap tents? Like, you three in the guys' tent, and Emilia and I in the other?

We look at each other and nod.

— Uh… sure.

— Thanks.

He returns to Emilia.

The evening ends with Tyler and Emilia moving tents, followed by the activation of night mode.

In the tent, Jin and I huddle a little closer to make room for Lisa. And I like Jin's warmth, so I'm not going to complain. But… given our quest, I'm an anomaly. I'm not supposed to feel this way about him.

I fall asleep quietly…

Once again, the little girl.

— You know, I'm really happy you're marrying my brother?

I laugh. I don't know who she is, I don't know where I am… but my body is on autopilot.

She smiles and points to a playground:

— Come play with me before my brother gets here and steals you away for the whole afternoon!

She sticks out her tongue, giggling. I get up from the bench and follow her to the playground. And then I speak, still on autopilot:

— Mévine! Wait for me!

— Come on! Hurry up and play with me!

— Okay, I'm coming!

I start running to catch up. And we play, and play. Until a voice, one I recognize but can't name, interrupts us:

— Hey, love.

The man, standing behind me—I can't see his face—places a hand on my shoulder. And just as I turn around…

I wake up. Without seeing his face.

Daylight filters through the orange fabric of the tent, lighting up my face. I'm the only one awake and I step outside to look at the screen.

Three normal quests are displayed. But most importantly… the compass around my neck is pointing toward the center of the city.

I think: Welcome to Day 4.

I approach the screen. As every morning, it shows the day's quests:

Available Quests:

Reach the top of Tower 9

Retrieve the hidden object in the courtyard of Tower 5

Catch a living animal and throw it into the sea

I hear footsteps behind me. Jin stretches silently. Lisa groans as she exits the tent.

— Great, more bullshit, she says, reading the quests.

Tyler steps forward, his face still groggy with sleep. Emilia, though… looks empty. She says nothing, avoids every glance.

— I'll take Tower 9, she says flatly.

— I'll go with you, says Tyler almost automatically.

No one argues. It's like we all know Emilia couldn't handle staying here today anyway.

They leave without eating. I watch them walk away, shadows fading into the gray of the city.

The three of us decide to eat some leftovers from yesterday and head toward Tower 5. We'll go to Tower 3 afterward.

We walk through the streets, following the maps that appeared, until we reach the entrance to Tower 5.

But it's not like the others. It's much wider. Not a regular tower: it's a passage leading to an inner courtyard.

And it's a blessing.

There's grass. Trees. Real greenery. It looks like a mini-forest, one or two square kilometers wide. There are even birds, hedgehogs… foxes.

So that's the third quest. Bring back a living animal and throw it into the sea. Some sort of sacrifice...

— Feels like we're toys in a cult…

I scratch the back of my head.

— We have to find an object here, and there are animals. It feels like a ritual.

Jin clears his throat.

— You're not wrong...

Lisa rushes toward a hedgehog. She grabs it by the belly to avoid the quills, ties its legs with some kind of vines she found on the ground, and sets it beside the exit.

— There's our animal. Now let's find the "hidden object."

She makes air quotes.

Jin and I exchange a glance, shocked by her total lack of compassion. But, after all… we don't really have a choice.

We venture deeper into the forest.

And, somewhere far off in the city… a scream shatters the silence.

Then a crash. Heavy. Dull.

The sound of something falling.