Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Overnight Story

The sun was setting behind the barren trees, casting an orange glow on the snow-covered forest. The air was still and silent, except for the gentle crunch of snow underfoot. 6E12 and I left parallel tracks of footprints in the pristine snow as we departed from the massive hole he had blasted through the ground. The beauty of the setting sun was marred by the uncertainty of the future and the weight of all that had come to pass this day.

The hot flesh of my wounds felt the chill of the winter air. Unresolved anxiety tugged at my heart still.

I scanned the landscape for Hei. But he was missing.

6E12 squinted his eyes, despite the dimness of the sky. He lagged a few steps behind me.

"Can you walk?" I asked him. Though bloodied and shoeless in the snow, he nodded. I wished I could carry him, but I was in no condition to. I settled for giving him my coat, which was the least I could offer. He draped it on wordlessly.

"Do you know where Hei is?" I asked him. "He has a spear. And black hair."

The boy shook his head.

"He was with me trying to break you out," I added. "But Fink…pulled him into a mirror."

6E12 stared dumbly at me without response.

I took my attention off him momentarily to check my team notebook.

Saber reported that the situation in town had been largely diffused. The Institute guards had tried to detain her, but she simply refused, and they left for the time being. Atlas and Jack were with her.

And Hei left a message too: "Sophia is deep inside the cave with Fink. Send help. - Hei"

Had he written that after we were separated? So he was still conscious, after the mirror took him.

I penned my own message in the notebook: "Hei, where are you? I defeated Fink. I'm on the surface. 6E12 is with me, and we're safe!! - Sophia"

I waited for a response. 6E12 huddled beside me, which made me uneasy. Sure, we were teammates now, and he hadn't done anything threatening to me, but I still feared him. His sheer power eclipsed comprehension. In comparison, even with my ultimate ability, I was no more significant than an ant.

Hei soon wrote a reply: "Somewhere in the forest. I can't find the cave. - Hei."

Thankfully, even though I was now on 6E12's team, my team notebook still worked.

I wrote, "Everyone, meet back in town, back home? - Sophia"

Hei agreed. Nothing else had been written by our other teammates yet in the meantime.

We had to meet up. There were questions that needed to be asked, and questions that needed to be answered. I hadn't the slightest clue what 6E12 knew, and what he didn't. But first, perhaps I ought to let him rest a bit and have a warm meal. Not to mention get his wounds looked at and cleaned. And considering the weather, I'd definitely need to get him proper clothes.

"Shall we go back to the city?" I asked, peering toward Silvercreek. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon now, and the sky darkened to a shadowy gray, bar a thin rim of crimson in the far reaches of the west. In the twilight, countless glimmering dots of torches or lamps shone in the city. Sparsely in the outer farmlands, then densely toward the center.

"Don't make me go," he said, looking toward Silvercreek.

"But we don't have anywhere else to go."

"There are bad people there."

I gave pause. "It's fine. We can deal with them."

Bad people? Did he mean Fink? It wasn't like he had reason to be afraid of any Silver players, now that he wasn't locked up inside a torture coffin.

"Say," I began. "You're a Legend-tier player, right? Did you get the chance to return to the real world, when you reached Diamond?"

He nodded. Halfway through the nod, he began to tear up. I held him close. I wanted to tell him it was alright. But nothing had been alright for him in these past years, had they?

"Let's just get everyone home," I finally said. "Let's put an end to this nightmare."

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His glistening eyes looked up to me.

"How?" he asked.

Wait. What did he mean, how?

I stepped back from him.

"W-wait," I stammered. "You know how to get everyone out of this game, right? I, I mean, that's what I've heard…"

"Who told you that?" 6E12 asked me. "Is that why you came to set me free?"

"I mean, originally, yeah, that was probably the main reason. I didn't know you were trapped like that, though. Inside that box. If I knew, I'd probably have come sooner. I'm sorry I didn't."

He did not reply, and he merely stood still, unmoving. Flakes of snow peppered his matted, dark hair. I wondered what to do with him. If he wouldn't return to the city, should we camp out here with him? And…he was going to get us all out of the game, wasn't he? I really needed to check with Khan right now.

Suddenly, I noticed movement.

It wasn't too far away, at the mouth of the cave, where we had entered from. I squinted my eyes to see a bloody figure emerging from inside. It was Fink.

She turned to us, and she must've seen us too.

The three of us stared wordlessly at one another.

Slowly, 6E12 raised his palm at Fink.

"No!" she screamed. "STOP!"

Instead of retreating back into the cave, or running away, she dropped to her knees, groveling.

"It wasn't my fault!" Fink yelled as she pressed her face against the ground. "The Institute! They forced me to do it all!"

The wind whipped flakes of snow through the air. 6E12 stood in perfect stillness, palm still pointed at Fink.

"For countless years," he said, "Nothing except pain."

Fink shook so much that she was practically convulsing.

"If I could," 6E12 continued, "I'd have begged you for death a million times."

"Let me show you the ones responsible," Fink pleaded. "I know their names. I know where they are."

A shadowy flame coalesced around 6E12's hand.

"You are all the same," he sighed. "I…I don't care anymore. Nothing here is fair, anyways."

Fink peeked up. "I…I…"

"Reality, be rent."

A barely visible pulse shot out of his palm.

And Fink was simply erased from existence, without a trace.

As I stood dumbfounded, 6E12 rose into the air. Wisps of shadow swirled around him, like a cloak, and he flew off toward the city.

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