RotMG Novel: Chapter XII

Death. It's all around us, and affects everyone at one point in their lives; we can't do anything about it. Death is, and has always been, inevitable.

I've become rather attached to my friends, but I know, too, that they will die one day. The question isn't IF it will happen, but rather, how soon it will happen.

It could be tomorrow. It could be a week from now, or a month, or even years.

I might even die first before any of them. We all live in fear of death; it is, after all, an inescapable fate — the unstoppable part of our destinies. All things live ONLY to die, and that's the way it's always been: the unchangeable irony of our existence.

About a week had passed, and now everyone was preparing for the impending battle with Oryx; an encounter with the Mad God had always been a widely anticipated event in the Realm. At the nexus, hundreds of travelers were gathering together to await the day Oryx would appear to take them all into his chamber for a climactic battle. Usually, it happened about ten days after all his minions were slain; this was so that everyone had time to assemble together in the Nexus town, even if they were located on the other side of the world.

It took Claire's party about a week to journey from the northern regions of the Realm back to Nexus; along the way, they stopped at the town of Colberth to bury Kira's body, and Claire had laid the Yague flowers (which she picked from the Blue Woods) over her grave.

At Nexus, the party stayed for a few days at the local inn; during this time Claire did not bother to go talk to Kathleen again, for she no longer cared what the woman had to say. On the day that Oryx would appear, the group gathered at the town square — in the garden-area, near the map of the Realm — to await the arrival of the Mad God; Claire stood upon a small bridge suspended over a lotus pond (nearby a fountain).

"It's funny how things work out sometimes," Claire said. "This was where my journey began: at the Nexus town square, and now, it's where my journey is going to end."

Aaron threw Claire a strange look. "Don't say that," he replied. "Your journey's not going to 'end' here, is it?"

"No…that's not what I meant. I just feel that…after this, after my encounter with Oryx, I just don't want to go on anymore journeys."

Aaron nodded. "I know. Our past two months have been quite stressful, and we've lost a couple of friends in all the battles that we've fought."

"I think I've seen too much of this Realm," Claire said. "Before, my goal was to find the Mad God so that I could talk to him and learn about my past." She shook her sighed. "But now…I just don't care anymore: I've survived long enough in this Realm to acquire a new identity for myself."

"So what are you going to do, now?" Aaron asked.

"I suppose I'll go and fight Oryx to bring an 'end' to my journey. If it's possible, then I will try to speak with him, to see if I can learn anything about these 'answers' that Kathleen told me about earlier."

"Doesn't seem like it. Everyone here looks like they're in a killing mood; and Oryx himself probably isn't interested in any civil discussion," Aaron responded.

"I know."

They did not say anything for a while; then, at around noon, it began.

The skies darkened, and there was a booming clap of thunder in the distance, followed by several flashes of lightning. To Claire's surprise, it began to rain — for the first time ever — inside the Realm; which only happened on the day that Oryx appeared. Claire let the water fall upon her head and soak through her clothes, drenching her entire body; she did not care, however, for the rain felt (surprisingly) relieving to her.

Then, there came the voice of the Mad God, above all the other noise:

"My minions have failed me! But now, you shall feel my wrath — your doom awaits in my chamber!"

And a bolt of lightning struck the center of the town square, where the Realm's map was located; instantly it transformed into a swirling blue portal, much like the entrance into Sprite World; but it looked darker and grimmer.

To Claire's surprise, it was not with fear that everyone greeted this occurrence: they all cheered and charged into the portal, as if consumed by a great battle-fervor. Claire, Aaron, and Eilin each followed in nervously after them, awaiting whatever fate they would be confronted with inside Oryx's chamber.

Claire opened her eyes to find herself standing inside a long and dark hallway, with a tall, arched ceiling over her head; the floor and walls were made of a blue stone. She was surrounded by about fifteen people, who had also come into the room through the portal; to her surprise, however, neither Aaron and Eilin were amongst them. Up ahead stood a tall, armored red figure with glowing yellow eyes: it was larger than any human and wielded a massive broadsword.

"Aaron? Where are you?" Claire asked as she shoved her way through the crowd. "Eilin!?" No one seemed to care; for suddenly they began charging towards the other end of the hallway, and everyone drew out their weapons. The armored red figure lifted up his sword and unleashed a wave of streaming yellow energy towards the party; a knight stood at the front of the group to take the creature's attack head-on, and he hardly suffered any damage. In retaliation, a wave of arrows and barrage were sent back towards the monster, and his armor was shattered into pieces; then the knight lunged forward and plunged his sword straight through the creature's chest, and it fell crumbling to the ground.

"What was that?" Claire asked a nearby Paladin. "The monster that we just fought, I mean."

"Oryx's minions," the Paladin responded. "The Mad God has a whole entourage of them guarding him."

The group charged out of the hallway and into a massive circular room that was nearly a kilometer wide in diameter; it was surrounded by eight different entrances that all led into this chamber from passages similar to the one Claire had just passed through. The center of this room was surrounded by a ring of seven colossal stone pillars made to resemble an arena; fallen debris (from previous battles) littered the chamber everywhere.

As Claire exited out of the hallway, she suddenly noticed something glowing upon the walls beside her: they were effulgent blue letters that hung transparently in the air, and together formed a few words; even some sentences which spelled out a peculiar message:

You are a child of this realm.
Eternally blinded by ignorant truths,
Oblivious to the peripheral existence
Untold from this dreamless cycle.

…What!? Claire thought, and she turned around to see if there was anybody that she could ask, but currently not a single person stood beside her; they were all too busy fighting the Mad God and his minions at the moment.

And behold! There he was: a giant knight dressed in black armor, with two enigmatic red eyes glowing out from his bull-horned helmet; in his right hand Oryx wielded a massive, eight-foot long sword. He did not actually look as menacing as Claire had imagined him to be; after seeing absurd fantastical creatures (such as the Skull Shrine or the Cube God) on her journey through the Realm, she had really expected Oryx to look a bit more…mythical.

Alright, this is it, Claire thought. My encounter with the Mad God will be the final battle of my journey. This is where it all ends…I hope.

The battle was currently taking place upon the edges of the arena surrounding Oryx, where the seven massive stone pillars were located. Claire joined with a group of people who were attacking the enemy from the south, using two of the pillars as a defense mechanism which they could hide behind.

As always, all the melee attackers were at the front — paladins, knights, and warriors — while behind them, the long-ranged wizards and archers aided in the offensive; they seemed to be using a hit-and-run tactic, in which a group of people would come out and attack the minions, then quickly retreat back behind the pillars — and then another group would arrive to continue the assault. In the meantime, a priest would be going around healing those in the first offensive that had been wounded; and when they had all recovered, the groups would switch around again.

The reason for this was because of the sheer quantity of enemies that the party had to fight. Unlike the battles that took place out in the Realm — the Gods of Amerdoth or the Snow Plains came to mind — there was literally no diversity in the range of enemies that the party fought here; it was just Oryx's minions, who (together in large groups) were an extremely formidable opponent. With about thirty of them guarding Oryx, no one single person could take them all on alone — for as soon as they stepped out from behind the pillars, they would be bombarded with dozens of powerful streams of magic, which (due to their sheer quantity) were nearly impossible to evade.

Thus, the hit-and-run strategy was adopted for two reasons: firstly it was because Oryx's minions themselves hardly moved (they always stood guard in front of the Mad God); secondly because no direct assault upon their enemies was possible without a constant switching of groups in order to replace those who had been wounded (or were too tired to continue fighting).

In such a way this battle was fought: one of sheer attrition, and after about an hour or so, the party managed to break through the first of Oryx's many lines of defense. Once enough of his minions had fallen, all the groups charged forward (past the pillars) to engage battle within the inner 'ring' of the arena, where they were closed to the Mad God. Here, due to the lack of protection (from a defense mechanism), all chaos broke out, and the entire party resorted to becoming a hive mind in order to withstand their opponent's powerful attack. Bodies were constantly being shuffled back and forth (amongst the group) in order to shield those who had been wounded; with no particular tactics in mind, the battle became decided purely through Brute force.

Of particular annoyance was the 'Green Star' spell which the Minions of Oryx used to slow down their enemies; in many cases, this led to one's death, for they had wandered too close to the monsters and could not escape back to the group in time. Due to this, many of the melee fighters became too afraid to meet their enemy in an upfront duel; and thus the party began to rely on ranged attacks (mostly arrows and magic) in order to take down the Mad God's Minions. The only exception to this were the Rogues, who were fast and stealthy enough to approach their enemies (and attack them, of course) up close. Claire stayed mostly at the back of the group, but she made herself occasionally useful by helping the archers shoot at Oryx's minions if she saw some passage for her arrows.

And then, of course, there was the Mad God himself, who did not show any reluctance in flaunting his immense power. To step within range of his massive weapon (and that was only if you got past all his minions, first) was to look upon the face of death itself; it was impossible to engage in a sword duel with him due to the God's superior strength and size. Furthermore, his magic was far more powerful than his minions'; he attacked by sending wave after wave of 'status' stars at the party, which included Blind, Slow, Confusion, "Quiet" — particularly agonizing to Priests, for it prevented them from casting any spells — as well as a red armor-shattering spell. Anyone who was struck by more than two of these statuses at once were basically considered dead, unless they were immediately healed afterwards; and indeed, this battle was not discreet in its number of casualties, for soon bodies began to pile up in front of the Mad God's minions.

Finally there came another breakthrough in the battle, when about half of Oryx's minions had fallen and the party was able to advance far enough to get within shooting range of the Mad God. Claire quickly parted from the rest of her group as she charged towards her enemy, meaning to unleash her wrath upon them: more specifically, Oryx himself. She was filled with a sudden blood lust, the same urge that she had felt countless times before in battle — killing (for her) was no longer even associated with thoughts of discretion. Now that Claire was face-to-face with the mad God, it was her chance to shine, her chance to enact glory and to accomplish her revenge against her ultimate enemy; to make Oryx pay for all the suffering he had put her through ever since he brought her into this Realm.

No, she did not care about "asking questions" anymore.

You bastard, Claire thought as she charged towards the Mad God. You've made me suffer so much; this is for all my friends: Aaron, Kira, Elliot, and Eilin!

And she unleashed a wave of arrows straight towards the Mad God's face.

Oryx turned around and raised his sword; and at that moment, Claire knew that she was in deep trouble.

Uh-oh. What was I thinking!?

The Mad God swung his sword forward, and out came a streaming yellow wave of energy; Claire quickly turned around and began to run, but she was not fast enough.

"Foolish mortals!" Oryx yelled. "You are all as peasants before me!" and tThen Oryx raised his hand up into the air and threw five status-stars at Claire, all of which struck her and caused the Huntress to fall tumbling to the ground; Blinded, Confused, Silenced, Slowed, and her armor broken.

She expected the hammer of death to strike her at any second now, there would come the sword, or the spell, or whatever; and her body would be rent into pieces, and then she would die, just like her friends: Kira and Elliot.

But it did not.

Claire opened her eyes and saw that she was still running for some reason, despite the fact that she was Blinded and could not see a single thing; also confused, as well as slowed. But she was steadily heading away from her enemies; in fact she had made it as far back as the pillars that surrounded the arena, where it was safe (since none of Oryx's minions approached that place).

I can't believe it. I'm still…alive?

Claire let her body collapse to the ground, and she quickly took out a Healing Potion to help stop her bleeding.

Aaron was with the group that fought Oryx from the northern side of the Arena; it was slightly smaller than Claire's party, but fortunately they were not attacked by as many of the Mad God's minions. Being one of the few clerics in this group, Aaron spent most of his time healing; it became a tiring job after a while, for people seemed to get wounded every few seconds or so (due to the fact that their enemies were extremely powerful) — but fortunately, he was spared of any damage himself since Aaron did not have to attack and spent most of his time at the back of the party.

Meanwhile, Eilin took advantage of the greater amount of open space that he had on this side of the battlefield to aid in the offensive against Oryx. Since the Mad God was surrounded by so many minions, only the archers (and other long-ranged attackers) stood a chance of hitting him with their arrows; the damage at this point, however, was miniscule: only a small portion of their attacks actually managed to strike Oryx.

Nevertheless, the Mad God's strength was still slowly being whittled down as the battle progressed; his (seemingly impenetrable) armor gave him a considerable amount of defense, and Oryx's vitality was enormous: he did not seem to care about the countless arrows that had been stuck to his armor, and none of the blasts of magic made the Mad God even flinch.

Aaron turned around and saw a warrior attempting to run away from one of Oryx's minions; the person's right leg was broken and his chest was also bleeding quite badly. Aaron quickly ran towards this warrior (to try and heal him), but before he was able to reach him, the person was struck down by a blast of streaming yellow magic from a nearby Minion; with a gasp of pain, the warrior fell dead to the ground.

Dammit! Aaron thought, and he was suddenly struck by a pang of guilt; this was amongst many of the people he had seen die (before his very eyes) today. Poor guy. If only I could've saved him…

Aaron turned towards the Minion of Oryx and aimed his weapon at the creature, blasting it with a stream of golden-orange energy from his Sprite Wand. The monster retaliated by throwing a green star at him; Aaron quickly ducked, but he was struck afterwards by a wave of powerful yellow magic from the Minion, and he immediately retreated back to the safety of his group. Then the creature charged towards Aaron with his sword, but it was suddenly killed by a wave of arrows that pierced through its armor; as the monster's body crashed to the ground, it revealed Eilin standing behind him.

"Thanks, Eilin!" Aaron called out to his friend; the archer quickly turned away and went back to the business of attacking Oryx.

Aaron hurried back to his group, where a group of people were waiting to be healed; the boy quickly cast another spell from his Tome, and a wave of magic descended upon everyone, curing them of their wounds. Then another assault was mounted upon the Mad God's minions, and the air was filled with a barrage of arrows and magic; they had only about three more minions to defeat before the party would gain another few steps (of distance) upon Oryx's territory. In the south, Aaron suddenly saw Claire rushing towards the Mad God, firing arrow after arrow at him in a relentless assault; he could see no more of her after that, however — when two more minions arrived to confront the party, and they blocked his view.

So that's where she's been! I was wondering if Claire even made it to this battle at all, Aaron thought. Well, I hope that she's okay right now. I want all of us — me, Eilin, and Claire — to make it out of this battle alive!

There was suddenly an uproarious cheering from the south as the other group appeared to gain another few meters upon their enemy's territory. Five minions fell to the ground, slain by an entourage of swords, arrows, and magic; then a Paladin cast a heal spell, rejuvenating everyone, and the entire group charged forward through the newly-gained breach in the Mad God's defenses. There was no doubt about it, now: it was the group in the south that would reach Oryx first, and not the one that Aaron was currently with; this meant that they would have a higher chance of acquiring the Mad God's loot, too, once they had won the battle.

I suppose there's not much use staying in this party, Aaron thought, and he began looking for a way he could reach the group in the south. Currently, his path was blocked by several minions, and indeed, about fifteen or so still surrounded the Mad God's arena. If I wanted to depart from this group, I would have to head all the way around the pillars…and furthermore, I don't want to leave anyone behind who's in need of healing. Aaron sighed, and decided to wait a bit longer before making a decision.

"Impotent cretins!" Oryx suddenly yelled; he raised his sword up in the air and a bolt of lightning flew down towards him. "You pathetic mortals will never destroy me!" Oryx then plunged his sword into the ground, and the electricity metamorphosed into the forms of three more minions, who immediately formed a triangle of defense around him.

This halted the group's attack in the south long enough for the party north of Oryx to launch another assault upon the Mad God's minions. Aaron's group charged forward, and they began firing a barrage of arrows and magic upon the monsters surrounding Oryx; three Paladins decided to risk a melee offensive and began striking at the Minions with their swords. But then Oryx turned around and he unleashed a massive wave of streaming yellow magic towards the party, and one of the Paladins fell; the group was forced to retreat shamefully once again before they became overwhelmed by the monsters' attacks.

Damn it! Will we ever gain an advantage over our enemies in this battle!? Aaron thought.

He turned around and suddenly witnessed Eilin running towards the monsters, until he stood nearly face-to-face with one of Oryx's minions. The archer fired a few arrows at the Minion at almost point blank range, before he was forced to retreat after being struck by a slow spell. But, to Aaron's horror, he saw that Eilin had approached too close to the Mad God, and Oryx had noticed him; the Mad God turned around and launched a wave of yellow bolts towards the archer, and Eilin was struck terribly by the enemy's attack. It did not stop there, however; for Oryx followed up by throwing out three status stars at Eilin, and he was struck simultaneously by Blind, Confuse, and Armor Break. Unable to see and with a complete loss of direction, Eilin did the worst thing possible — he wandered even closer to Oryx, and received a slash across his legs from the Mad God's sword.

NO!

Aaron dashed towards Eilin and ignored everything that struck him along the way; nothing mattered to him now but his friend's life. When he reached the archer, Aaron jumped upon Eilin and threw him to the ground; then he grabbed his friend and shielded him with his own body.

From behind him, Oryx swung his sword and slashed Aaron across the back; the boy cried out in pain as he felt the weapon cut him nearly to his bone. Then the Mad God slashed again, and blood flew into the air; Aaron hugged his friend closely and even tighter now as he tried to withstand the pain. The third time, Oryx's sword nearly tore Aaron's body apart, but an arrow — which had struck the Mad God upon his shoulder — made the God miss his target, and he only managed to slash the boy's arm.

"Get out of there, Aaron!" A voice in the distance yelled.

Is that…Claire's voice!? Aaron stood up — the pain was almost unbearable for him — and grabbed Eilin's body; gritting his teeth, he made one final burst of effort to sprint out of harm's way, back through all of Oryx's minions — until he found himself standing behind one of the pillars surrounding the arena, where he was safe.

Aaron collapsed to the ground; he quickly lay Eilin down beside him, and then began checking the boy's wounds: Eilin had been slashed from his shoulder to his chest, but fortunately the cut was not too deep. A worse injury was upon his legs, for his knees had been stabbed and were now broken; Aaron immediately took out his tome and quickly cast a spell to heal his friend, as well as his (own) bleeding back. But unlike any normal wound, cuts that had been sustained deeply — such as to the bone — could not be healed instantly by a spell, and would have to follow its natural course in order to recover.

Eilin's eyes were only half-open and he seemed barely conscious; the boy looked up faintly at Aaron and tried to speak. "Am I…still alive?" He asked in a coarse voice.

Aaron nodded in response. "Yes. I got you out of there as quickly as possible."

"Why…why did you help me?"

"I couldn't just leave you there to die, in front of Oryx, could I?"

"You…shouldn't have." Eilin tried to shake his head, but found that he could hardly move; the pain was still overwhelming him. "Kira did the same for me, when we fought the Cube God…"

"That's because we're both your friends. You saved my life twice before; of course, I'm indebted to you, so I had to repay the favour."

Eilin sighed. "I can't believe what you just did." He looked up at Aaron and tried to open up his eyes. "You…you protected me from Oryx with your own body."

Aaron nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be alright. It's you that I'm worried about."

"Will I…will I live?" Eilin asked.

"I hope so." He reached out towards his friend and gave him a hug. "I won't let you die. I promise."

Eilin turned his gaze away from Aaron and looked down tiredly at the ground. "I'm…sorry."

"I don't care," Aaron replied. "I'm just happy to know that you're safe."

"…Thank you."

There was a silence between them for about a minute or so; then Aaron noticed that his friend was about to fall unconscious. He slowly reached out towards Eilin's face and laid a hand over his forehead, brushing a few strands of hair out of the way; then he moved his hand down and closed them over the boy's eyes, to let him rest.

There was an explosion in the distance, followed by a monstrous cry of pain. Then the Mad God sank to the ground as his armor disintegrated into ashes, and his body burst into a stream of vanishing light.

"NO! You pathetic mortals! I…shall…retur…n…!"

Everyone began rushing the Mad God for his loot, and Claire was no exception; but she missed all of it, or at least all of the good equipment, due to the fact that she had stayed mostly at the back of the group during the battle. A brown portal appeared over the location where Oryx had fallen; it would take them back into the Realm. Many people were pouring into the portal right now — after they had all inspected the loot, of course — and they were all cheering greatly at their recent victory over the battle with the Mad God.

Claire did not want to leave just yet.

She noticed Aaron amongst the crowd, and approached him; to her dismay she saw that he was carrying an unconscious Eilin upon his back.

"Oh, Aaron!" Claire yelled. "What happened? Is Eilin alright?'

Aaron nodded. "I think he'll live. Let's get out of here and see if there's an infirmary in Nexus where we can get him some rest."

Claire shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't come with you just yet."

"Why not?"

"Well, what do you think happens now?"

"I believe once everyone returns to the Nexus, the Mad God revives and the 'cycle' begins anew inside the Realm," Aaron replied. "Unfortunately, we can't do anything about it."

"That's just it!" Claire said. "Oryx isn't dead; I think he's still in here, inside this chamber somewhere."

Aaron gave Claire a strange look. "No one's ever tried to find the Mad God after they kill him," he said. "I'd just leave this place, if I were you."

Claire sighed. "I have to stay," she said. "Kathleen told me, about a month ago, that he would have the 'answers' that I need. Well…I'm not exactly sure what she was talking about, but I feel like I have to stay."

"I don't think you'll find anything. Well, I'll be going now, since I need to help Eilin. I guess I'll see you later!" And Aaron departed into the portal.

Claire waited until everyone was gone; when she was completely alone inside Oryx's chamber, she decided to return to the hallway where she was at earlier, to check upon something that had been bugging her mind ever since she saw it.

But the words were no longer the same; they still floated in the air (as before), but now they were red in colour instead of blue. More importantly, the words spelt out a completely different message:

You who tread upon this ephemeral plane,
Ever seduced by material illusion and false sights;
Like a newborn child, unwary and ignorant,
Who cries to assure its fleeting existence.

Claire nearly jumped back in utter shock and surprise when she realized that she was not reading these words; rather, the words were speaking to her, as if their message was being transmitted directly into her thoughts.

And the voice of these words was that of the Mad God's.

"Why do you stay here, in my chamber?" asked Oryx; his voice seemed to come from nowhere and yet everywhere at the same time, and it resonated throughout the entire room. Claire noticed a strange shadow with no definite shape or form (seemingly) appearing beside her.

"Oryx!" Claire yelled. "I've come to speak to you at last."

"…You are confused, I see. Troubled. Ignorant. Ever thirsty for knowledge…ever so humanly curious."

"What are you talking about!?" Claire asked.

The shadows surrounding her seemed to grow longer. "You come to me in search of knowledge. You wish to learn more about this Realm, as well as about yourself; though you have already created a new identity for yourself, you still seek to retrieve your past and your memories."

"How did you know that!?" Claire demanded.

"…There is nothing outside my range of knowledge inside this Realm."

"Wait! First, let me ask you something," Claire said. "Didn't we just kill you less than ten minutes ago? Why are you still living right now — why do you always come back every time you die, as everyone in this Realm claims?"

The air was strangely silent. Then, the Mad God responded:

"You did not kill me; no one did. In fact, you were not even fighting me; you were fighting an illusion of myself."

"WHAT!?"

"It is foolish to assume that what you perceive through sight is always real," Oryx said. "You shall know that I am not the master, or even the creator of this Realm. I am the Realm."

"…They do not call me the Mad God without reason. I acknowledge my insanity in what I have done, but I regret none of it."

"In the distant past, I sealed myself in eternal sleep for a reason that I cannot remember. In my dreams, I crafted a world from my pure imaginings; I forged every corner, every detail, everything significant and insignificant thing about it. And I inhabited this world as an illusion of my past self, a remnant of my former identity."

"In my solitude, I realized — one day, in my wanderings — that this world was not real. But I did not wish to wake up from this dream, for I have worked too hard crafting it, and it was too perfect. I wanted to make it real."

"…Is there really any difference between dream and reality? In either, you are unaware of the fact that you may be asleep, and that you can awaken into another more conscious existence."

"If a single mind believes in something, it is insignificant, and cannot be proven true. A collective consciousness, however — who all believe in the same thing — would make the belief true, no matter how false it seems."

"Thus, I stole others from their dreams — others, such as you — and when they awoke in this world, they too, believed that their dream was real; for I had crafted it so masterfully it is almost indistinguishable from reality. And when more and more people entered my dream, the stronger their combined faith became, until even I myself was convinced that his world was real. And who is to say that it isn't!?"

Claire did not know how exactly to respond to this. A dream!? All this world…it's just a DREAM!?

"And behold!" Oryx roared. "The Realm of the Mad God — a world created from the perfect unity of combined faith into a collective consciousness: proof that reality is a lie! For I have shown the ultimate example of how falsehoods can be rendered into absolute, undeniable truth!"

"You're mad," Claire said, ignoring the irony. "Completely mad. This world is not a dream. I have felt pain, and emotions, and everything else that I know is real. You're lying! What you're telling me is preposterous!"

The shadows around the room grew again.

" You are afraid…" Oryx said. "Troubled. Ignorant. Ever thirsty for knowledge…ever so humanly curious."

"Stop it! What are you talking about!?"

And then Claire suddenly felt her mind being overwhelmed by a completely alien force; it was so overpowering that she instantly lost control over her entire body.

"I am the Realm," Oryx said. "No more, no less. When we are in dreams we are usually only a little aware of our identity, which is why you hardly remember anything of your past life." He cackled insanely. "These memories trouble you, don't they? They fill you with doubt, and of false hope; you believe that there may be a way to escape this Realm."

Stop…controlling…my mind!

"Allow me to liberate you from doubt. I will destroy all that remains of your memories, until you believe that there is nothing beyond this Realm; nothing that could ever give evidence of your past life. You will believe in only this Realm, for ignorance is the ultimate bliss."

And then Claire lost full control of her body, while Oryx entered inside her mind completely and began altering her. She could no longer think, and resistance was out of the question; for about an entire minute she and Oryx became one, and she felt the vastness of the Mad God's mind; and saw that he was, indeed, truly the Realm, for she sensed all of the Realm at once, and yet nothing of it at the same time.

The Mad God's power was not something she even tried to comprehend. It was far beyond physical power, even that of mental; for when that mind was not a singular entity but an actual world, it could not even be practical to understand.

She became unaware of time as it passed by, and the total length of her brainwashing could've been mere seconds, or minutes or even entire hours. All Claire knew was that she had no control of anything, not even basic thought, until Oryx was complete.

Once the Mad God finally left her mind, Claire regained control of herself and no longer perceived such vast power, and became separated from the rest of the Realm. She tried to remember her past life, but could not recall anything past the moment she woke up in Kathleen's house about two months ago. Beyond that was an empty void; a period of nonexistence that was completely alien to her, and she thought nothing of it.

Nothing, except for absolute anger.

"ORYX!" Claire yelled. "What did you do to me? What did you do!?"

"You are angry."

"I can't remember anything! Who am I? What is my identity!?"

"Let the hatred consume you."

"SHUT UP! Come out here right now, and let me kill you!"

"You wish to destroy me?"

"YES! I will stop at nothing to bring you to your end!"

"…You understand now why I purposefully create an illusion of myself for the people of this Realm to fight. For their common hatred is a shared belief, and this belief only makes their faith in this world stronger."

"ORYX! YOU WILL DIE BY MY HANDS!"

"You had your chance; next time. Now, return to the Realm!"

All of the shadows disappeared, and Claire collapsed to the ground. No…don't go! Come back, Oryx! Come back, and let me kill you!

She was frustrated and angry beyond belief, and continued to remain angry for several minutes or so; simply screaming at the top of her lungs, cursing at Oryx, while beating at the floor with her fists to release all her anger. When she finally calmed down, she realized that Oryx was not going to come back; he had left and was returning to the Realm to begin anew the cycle of his existence.

The endless cycle of this Realm.

Claire suddenly thought of her friends, of Kira and Elliot — those who had passed — as well as Eilin and Aaron, who were now the only people that she treasured in this world, and all the anger left her; they were now her only memory, since everything else about her past had been eradicated. She longed to see them again.

It took a while for Claire to find the infirmary; and she had bought some gifts, too, for her friends, while she was exploring around Nexus. There was a souvenir shop near the town square, and a florist worked there (much to her surprise) who sold various bouquets.

Claire was delighted to see her friends again when she entered their room; there was Aaron, lying upon a bed in a white dress shirt, and he had bandages around his waist and shoulders; nearby, Eilin sat in a chair, and he wore a purple-and-gray sweater and had bandages upon his legs.

"Hello, Claire!" Aaron exclaimed when he saw her enter the room. "You were gone for almost a full day!"

"I was?" Claire asked, sounding surprised.

Aaron nodded. "What happened? Did you manage to find Oryx and speak to him?"

Claire sighed. "No, there was nothing in the chamber," she lied. "I guess I must've passed out or something, which was why it took me a whole day to return to this Realm."

Aaron nodded. "That's strange. Well, it's nice to have you back," he said. "Eilin and I are both fine, though we'll have to rest for a few weeks or so before we can go on another journey again."

"Well, what's been going on this Realm since I'm gone?"

"With Oryx back, everyone's out on their own adventures again, hunting down his minions and waiting for some of his Master Gods to arrive."

"Let's lay off on the battles for a while, okay?" Claire suggested. "I'll hunt loot for you in the meantime, so that I can buy us some food."

"That'd be great!" Aaron exclaimed. "Thanks a lot, Claire."

The Huntress nodded. "I have some gifts for you, too!" She went to Aaron and gave him a bouquet of roses.

"Flowers? That seems a bit out of the ordinary in this Realm," Aaron said.

"They're quite beautiful, though." She leaned in towards Aaron and suddenly said, "By the way, I think I know your 'secret.' You love Eilin, don't you?"

At this, a look of shock suddenly came over Aaron's face, and he immediately turned red. "Umm, you don't mind, do you?"

"I don't care. Love must be a wonderful thing to feel; I'm happy for you."

"Just keep this a secret, okay!? It's embarrassing."

Claire nodded, and then she approached Eilin, and gave him a bouquet of white, yellow, and pink chrysanthemums.

"It's just a gift," Claire said when Eilin gave her a strange look. "Flowers are pretty, aren't they?"

"I guess so…"

"Anyways, I'm glad that you're alright, Eilin. You really have to thank Aaron for protecting you, don't you think?"

Eilin nodded and smiled shyly at Claire. "Yeah, I'm grateful for him."

Claire then prepared to leave, and as she exited the room, she turned around to say goodbye to her friends. "Stay close, you two!" She said. "I'll be back at around evening time today."

Aaron waved back to her; and Claire noticed, for the first time, that Eilin was actually smiling happily.

As she left the room, Claire realized that Oryx was right. It was her belief in her friends that made her life worth living, not the identity she perceived from the memories of her past.

The End