Chapter 155 Volume IV - Prologue
Chapter 155 Volume IV - Prologue
--Volume IV: War of the Dwarves--
When I came here, to this continent... No, even before that… I knew more or less what was going to happen to me.
I knew that not all my plans would work out the way I wanted and that I would never get a 'perfect' result.
Because I was aware. I was aware that I was stepping into a battlefield, and that anything could happen to me.
In fact, at the very beginning of everything, on the day I first woke up in this world rather than on this continent, I knew that things would go wrong. Just as this place I was in now was a battlefield, this whole world was a doomed world that was sure to be plunged into an apocalypse, a world that was as full of disgusting and dark aspects as it was full of beauty.
Blood, destruction, the slaughter of innocents who had done nothing wrong, incontinent toilets, and much more... I had experienced it as I expected. I even lost a member of my group, even though I didn't know him too much.
But... how could I have known that there would be much more than I thought, that I would experience much more, that I would find myself in much worse situations?
I had anticipated that some of my plans would backfire, but... how could I have known from the beginning that not a single one of them would work properly?
How could I have known that everything I planned would blow up in my face from day one?
What happened at the preliminaries, what happened when I went to kill Larry, Clara hating me, the Justin incident, the attack at the academy, my inability to do anything before the attack on the city, what happened in the depths of the bunker...
Now, again, I had a lot of plans in my mind, albeit different ones. Again, I had created a to-do list in my mind by thinking of things.
Even though Dorhud had left me, I still trusted him because he had done so out of necessity, and even when he left, he had left traces for me to escape.
I would meet him again, return to the North, and continue with the plans I had made before, albeit in a different way.
What could possibly go wrong?
And now... I was near the end, at least for this bunker. I don't know how I did it, but somehow I managed to get away from my pursuers by following the tracks left behind.
I finally breathed a sigh of relief as my enemies pounded on the sealed door with a battering ram, one after the other. The exit door was in front of my eyes, I would continue with my plans. All I had to do was to move forward, to get out of this hellish bunker underground.
However, even before I took my first step, all the shadows in the room suddenly fluctuated. A woman stepped into the room, appearing out of nowhere in the slowly fluctuating shadows. Even then, a smile appeared on my face. The rattling sounds of the metallic door being pushed open echoed in my ears, signaling that we didn't have much time.
"You survived."
The woman raised her eyes and waited for a short time without saying anything. Then she spoke indifferently.
"Yes, I was following right behind you."
Huh, she's been following me behind my back until now... is that it? I've never felt any presence behind me. She certainly hasn't told us everything about her ability, she's hiding something. But... it doesn't seem to matter much at the moment.
We need to focus on surviving.
"Then let's go, we have to be quick."
My footsteps were the only thing that echoed in the huge room, breaking the silence. There was nothing but the sound of the sealed door behind us being forced with a battering ram.
The first step, then the second… and the third one. Then, again, a metallic and harsh sound that shook the whole room.
'Aiden…'
I paused involuntarily as Sith called my name within my mind, realizing that something strange had happened. That something... was wrong.
I saw the woman emerging from the shadows, standing where she was, her eyes fixed on me. She hadn't moved an inch. Then... my brow furrowed.
"Why are you standing there? We have to go."
But she didn't give me the answer I wanted. She just sighed deeply, raised her hand, and the ring on her right middle finger sparkled. A dagger slowly appeared in front of her.
This was another moment that did not go as I had planned. It felt like the world was doing its best to thwart me, as it always and always and always did.
The metallic door rattled once more, this time much more violently than before.
"Sorry. You… have to die."
I frowned and squinted my eyes, not succumbing to my confusion. I wanted at least an answer.
"But why?"
And when I heard her explanation... I really couldn't believe what I was hearing, I thought I was dreaming.
I clenched my teeth, my fists, and all I could do was... deny reality as I stared at the dagger pointed at me by the woman who until a few minutes ago had been my ally.
It was one mistake. The reason I was here, in this situation, was because I made one mistake in order to survive... It was almost funny, almost like a dream.
But I was also aware that it was not a dream, it was completely real.
The person in front of me was perhaps many times stronger than me. My chances of winning were very close to zero.
But I refused, I refused the idea that I could be so unlucky, that my life could slip away because of one tiny mistake I made.
So, I decided to give it my all.
When a teal glow shimmered, mingling with the purple color that represented chaos; I rushed toward my 'enemy' to survive.
But... again, nothing went as I had planned.
After all... what had gone right so far?