《Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game》


 Chapter 5: Ch03. Have you seen my hat?

    <h4>Chapter 5: Ch03. Have you seen my hat?</h4>


    Miles tried to get up, but his limbs would not obey him.


    "What... The..." Miles breathed heavily, trying to stay as calm as he could.


    The system window appeared in front of him, followed by its still unexpected voice:


    [The requirements for the equipment of ¨C Scythe of the ??? ¨C have not been met, yet]


    [The weapon will drain the yer''s life in every attempt to do so before the requirements are met]


    "Dumb... Ass..." Miles chuckled, weak and bitter.


    Getting excited and trying to wield an unknown weapon with such a suspicious name was not the smartest move. Swallowing a curse, Miles thought for a moment and recalled the parchment on which Tarhut''sst will was written.


    <i>... I am sure that you will find them of use in time.</i>


    "In time..." He let out a defeated sigh. "I suppose now is not the time, yet, then..."


    Without touching the scythe, Miles sent it back to his inventory, opening the items'' information instead, letting the curiosity as to what the ??? was supposed to mean resurface.


    [Scythe of the ???]


    [Category: Weapon]


    [Item description: After the war against the Red Queen, ??? helped the girl take thend''s throne, and for a while, the country became prosperous, happy, and wealthy.


    However, everything has toe to an end, and so did the girl''s reign, with time and death.


    Upon a final, fatal vow, the ??? took upon himself to gather the lost powers scattered across thend, and finally became powerful enough to bring back the times gone by, but at what cost, as ??? lost his titles and powers, dying at the greedy thirst of his own weapon, never to find that, which had been lost, ever again...]


    Tilting his head, Miles frowned at the scythe''s description.


    "No, not enigmatic at all..." A smile crept up on his face, as he felt some relief dawning on him that, at least, the weapon might have something to do with his quest, after all. "Let''s leave it aside for the time being, and now... To that teapot thing."


    [Ether Teapot]


    [Category: Tool]


    "A tool, same as the key, perhaps?" He kept reading.


    [Item Description: The ??? loved having tea with the country''s citizens. So, after his death, his teapot remained, carrying some of the ???''s powers.


    The teapot''s contents have the power to achieve random effects on the yer. Some good, some bad. Some even miraculous.]


    [The conditions for constant use of the item have not been met]


    [Cooldown time: 365 days]


    "Not like the key, it seems..." Miles scratched his chin. "Should I try it?"


    His heart felt weak in his chest, and since the ''game'' did not have a feature that allowed him to check on how much HP he had left, Miles only knew that he was one step away from death''s door. However, it was still far before noon, so he had enough time to not only rest but to dig his own grave, in case drinking the miraculous tea ended up going wrong.


    "No!" Miles greeted his teeth. "Not this time! I''m close to my goal, and I refuse to die such a shitty death right now that I''m so close!"


    His heart was tight on his chest, though, fear gripping his guts like a hook. It did not matter how brave his words sounded, without anyone to hear them but Miles himself and the woods around him. So, he summoned the teapot and, even looking at it made him feel calmer, for some reason.


    The teapot gleamed with an almost ethereal elegance, its crystal-clear ss housing a swirling tempest of colors that seemed alive. Hues of sapphire, emerald, amber, and amethyst danced within the steaming liquid, each shift and ripple creating a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of light and shadow.


    The translucent dome-shaped lid perched on top like a delicate crown, its handle a smooth orb that caught and refracted light into tiny rainbows.


    From the slender, curving spout, a fine tendril of steam curled into the air, carrying with it the faintest hint of an exotic aroma ¡ª both familiar and entirely alien.


    The handle, sleek and inviting, seemed to radiate warmth, as calling Miles to lift it and pour a cup of the mysterious elixir within.


    Conveniently, it came with a teacup made of the same etheric material, refracting the sunlight into a myriad of colors just like the teapot did.


    Even though the liquid inside the pot was steaming hot, the teapot itself was soothing to the touch, making Miles immediately pour some of it into the cup.


    The tempest of colors swirled into the cup like a dazzling kaleidoscope that made Miles feel dizzy for a second. He closed his eyes shut as he brought the cup to his lips, the part of the item description that told about bad random effects still etched into his mind, but soon after he took the first sip, his eyes opened wide, and he swallowed everything at once.


    The liquid tasted like cinnamon, orange, mint, and apple cider, but it was not bad. Instead, it felt like those vors were a perfect mix of each other, but it was not the vor that made Miles'' eyes widen.


    [HP fully restored]


    [+01 to all stats]


    [Temporary resistance to Soul Damage]


    It was a lot for Miles to take in, so he simply got up, stretched, and mulled over what a wonderful item that teapot was, even though he could only use it once a year before meeting whatever requirements it needed for its constant use.


    After doing a light series of exercises, and noticing that not only his HP had been restored and his stats had increased, but also all the soreness in his muscles had vanished like it had never been there, Miles nodded to the teapot, sending it back to his inventory, and opened the hidden quest information.


    [Hidden Quest: Have you seen my hat?]


    [Quest description: Tricking Fate is a dangerous game that can only be won by paying the ultimate price, and for him, it was parting ways with his most trusted and loved hat.


    Now, the only one who knows where the Other Forces keep the hat, is kept under lock and key. Only someone who had seen it once can free it and follow it to where the hat is kept.]


    [Rewards: EXP; ???; ???]


    Miles had felt curious about what the rewards were, back when he first received the quest. But now, he wanted toplete it more than ever, although not just because of its enigmatic rewards.


    After reading the descriptions of the items he received from the [Guardian''s Will], the quest became more and more mysterious, and Miles'' curiosity burned like wildfire in his heart. He wanted to know more.


    He <i>needed</i> to know more.


    Because there was no way that the quest was actually rted to whatever objective the yers had to aplish by ying and surviving through <i>The Glitch</i>, right?


    @@novelbin@@


    And what was that about him having seen the prisoner once?


    It felt like there was more to it than met the eye, and even though it was just a gut feeling, Miles was confident in it.


    After he opened the quest map, his lips turned up in a wild grin, as the forest popped up in a hologram in front of him, with a blue dot blinking somewhere behind him.


    Still grinning, Miles closed the map and turned around.


    He knew exactly where to go next.

 Chapter 7: Ch05. Eat, rest, get in

    <h4>Chapter 7: Ch05. Eat, rest, get in</h4>


    It was not as if Miles was running for his life.


    Not like he had done the night before when facing Tarhut. This time, even though facing the grim reality of that strange, deadly game that his world had turned into, understanding that unlike any other game that he had yed before, this one was far moreplex and had mechanicspletely alien to those he once knew, Miles was running for a n.


    Back in high school, he was not a genius. Actually, he had been a pretty mediocre student, but only because he had focused all his attention and effort on ying games and streaming.


    Not that he was famous or anything, but he had found something he was really good at, and even if not excelling at ying games, he was good at understanding the dynamics and mechanics of what he was ying, which allowed him to <i>get</i> good at whatever game he yed, even though after the second of third ythrough.


    @@novelbin@@


    But <i>The Glitch</i> was not a game in which he could have a second chance at trying.


    Even if Miles had not had a near death experience yet, he saw many people die around him and note back to understand that.


    Drops of sweat rolled down his eyebrows, and he looked up at the sky, still running, trying to understand where that heat wasing from. The sun was already in the middle of the sky, but the woods were not a humid ce, like a rain forest or something.


    Insects buzzed in his ear, and only then he noticed what unfolded before him.


    In the distance, the ground was bing muddier and muddier, until the woods gave ce to a dense swamp, its air moist and hot, full of insects and dead things.


    On the other side of it, Miles could discern it almost as if it was lit up in bright colors.


    The entrance to the cave where he had awakened the guardian, Tarhut.


    ''How did I get this far?'' Miles frowned, a strange smell filling his nostrils. He immediately jumped sideways, and the serpent''s head smashed the muddy ground where he stood just a moment ago.


    ''Shit! I got too carried away because of this ce...'' He huffed, tightening his grip around the wooden spear, so hard that he felt the warmth of his blood spreading through his palm.


    The serpent hissed, looking at Miles like when they first faced each other, and Miles looked from the spear to the giant serpent''s head, trying to keep the eye contact as best as possible, but as soon as he looked down, the slithering enemy raised its head for another ground shaking attack.


    In the blink of an eye, a crazy idea crossed Miles'' mind.


    ''Crazy, but it might work...'' He inhaled deeply, and waited for the serpent to hammer its head down, while thrusting the back of the spear into the ground, finding some resistance not long after.


    With a grin, Miles waited as the enemy''s head fell, faster and faster.


    ''Not yet...''


    The serpent was getting closer by the second, but Miles did not move a muscle.


    ''Not yet...''


    The shadow of the serpent''s oval-shaped head grew bigger and bigger, overwhelming Miles with its size, but he only moved when the tip of the spear nudged gently the soft skin below the enormous Beast''s jaw, jumping sideways with all his remaining strength.


    The game that Miles world had turned into had a lot ofplicated mechanics, but after facing Tarhut, he had learned an aspect that he could only test and prove real or not, in a battle against a foe as big as the guardian. And since his makeshift spear was taller than him by a head or so, it had given just the exact leeway he needed for that crazy n to work.


    Even though he had paid the price with some bruises and a few cracked ribs.


    The ground shook around Miles and mud sshed him in the back, but theck of movement made him grin as he got up, turning around.


    Despite the primitive form of intelligence that allowed the enormous predator to survive that long in the woods, it was not smart enough to understand Miles'' n until it was toote, impaling itself onto Miles'' spear with the strength of its own attack.


    "God... Freaking... Damn it..." Miles sighed, tired to the bone, his breathing in hisses, wheezing ever so slightly as he slowly sat down. "Every enemy has... Its weakness."


    He tried tough, but his torso hurt, so he tried to keep it down, holding his ribs as gently as possible.


    ''Shit, if I knew that the magic tea was going to heal me, I would''ve saved it for now...'' He chuckled inwardly, holding back a coughing fit.


    The swamp was dark and lifeless, with only flies and other insects buzzing around him, but the fight should not havested more than a few minutes, which made Miles sigh in relief.


    ''I still have time to get some rest before nightfall...'' Hey down on the mud, feeling the wet coldness soothe his aching body, trying his best to stay awake.


    Catching his breath, feeling the ufortable moist breeze of the swamp, Miles waited patiently for the system''s voice to echo in his head, announcing his kill and the earning of some experience points, but the system was silent.


    One second, two, and then ten, thirty.


    A whole minute had passed, and the system was still silent.


    With a grunt, Miles took note of the fact that, somehow, living beings born from the forest did not grant him any experience points, and simply closed his eyes for a moment, only to open them just a secondter with a start.


    "Ah, ah, ah..." He huffed as quietly as he could, looking up through the cover of dead branches, and his eyes widened. "Shit! I fell asleep again..."


    Daylight was already dimming down in the sky, ready to give way to nightfall ¨C and the arrival of the forest''s true dangers ¨C as the sun crawled itsst mile towards the horizon.


    After managing to dig a few pieces of meat from Serpens, and storing some in his inventory, he managed to light up a fire, small enough so that he could roast two reasonablyrge pieces of serpent meat, ate until his stomach was full enough, but not to the extent of feeling stuffed, and got up.


    With the little time he had, he felt urged, almostpelled, even, to enter the cave, before anything more dangerous than the serpent ¨C or, gods forbid, something worse than Tarhut ¨C appeared out of nowhere toe for him.


    However, when Miles turned his head at the mouth of the cave, a shiver ran down his spine.


    There was a ck fog swirling, slithering across the ground,ing from the mouth of the cave.


    ''What in the major fuck?'' Miles'' eyes widened slightly. He shook his head, though, moving forward with a grimace. ''Whatever the hell that is, I''ll just be extra careful, this time...''


    Little by little, Miles approached the entrance to the cave, a dark mouth that dwarfed him by several meters, and as soon as he stepped into the ck fog, sending tendrils of the strange ck, ice-cold air up like sshing water, the system echoed in his head, followed by the popping up of its holographic window, making Miles jump backwards.


    [Your soul is being attacked]

 Chapter 11: Ch09. Follow the White Rabbit

    <h4>Chapter 11: Ch09. Follow the White Rabbit</h4>


    Miles staggered backward, his vision swimming as he clutched his arm, the shallow cut from one of the wraith''s strikes sending a sharp pain through his body. Blood trickled down his sleeve, his breathing in ragged gasps. The two wraiths circled him and the rabbit in a slow, deliberate dance, their glowing red eyes gleaming like embers in the suffocating darkness of the cave.


    The rabbit, still behind the disintegrated bars, furrowed its brows and muttered under its breath, "You''rete, you''rete..."


    Miles tightened his grip on [Cheshire''s Gleam], the de feeling heavier in his hand with every passing moment. The runes along its surface pulsed faintly, flickering as if mirroring his faltering resolve.


    "Any time you want to be useful," Miles snarled at the rabbit, his voice strained.


    "Late? You''rete, I''mte, you''rete!" The rabbit tilted its head, its long ears twitching in what seemed like mocking amusement.


    Miles gritted his teeth, his focus snapping back to the wraiths as they moved in unison. Their forms shifted unnaturally, gliding closer with the fluidity of nightmares. One lunged directly at him, its de-like limb slicing through the air, while the other darted toward the rabbit''s cage. A cold wave of dread washed over Miles. If the rabbit were killed, his quest would end before it even began.


    "No!" he roared, pushing his aching body forward. He swung [Cheshire''s Gleam] in a desperate arc to intercept the wraith heading for the cage. The de''s runes red, catching the creature mid-lunge. The wraith shrieked as the light seared through its shadowy form, dissolving it into ck mist for a moment before it reformed, farther but still intact.


    Before he could recover, the second wraith was upon him. Its de arm shed downward with brutal force. Miles raised his sword just in time, the impact jarring his arms and nearly knocking the weapon from his grip. Sparks flew as the two des shed, and Miles'' knees buckled. His muscles screamed in protest as he twisted his body to avoid the follow-up strike, narrowly escaping what would have been a fatal blow.


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    "You''rete," the rabbit''s voice cut through the chaos, its tone tinged with impatience. "You''rete."


    "What does that even mean?" Miles spat, dodging another swipe. "Do you really think I''m not trying my best here?"


    "Late,te,te!" the rabbit replied, its whiskers twitching.


    A surge of anger red in Miles. He couldn''t focus on the rabbit''s cryptic nonsense. Instead, he channeled his frustration into his strikes, swinging [Cheshire''s Gleam] with renewed determination. But the wraiths adapted quickly, their movements growing sharper, more deliberate. They were toying with him, testing his limits.


    A misstep and Miles'' foot slipped on a patch of slick stone, throwing him off bnce. One of the wraiths capitalized immediately, its de slicing deep across his side. Pain exploded through him, and he stumbled, his vision blurring as he struggled to stay upright.


    "You''rete," the rabbit''s voice rang out again, louder this time. "Late,te!"


    Through the haze of agony, Miles'' gaze fell on the pulsing runes of [Cheshire''s Gleam]. The words from its item description shed through his mind


    [Item Description: After she dethroned the Red Queen, Alice became queen herself, having the ??? as her counselor and closest friend. Cheshire, the Cat, chose to remain by her side as her guiding light in the darkness that soon befell upon the realm, and became her own most fearsome weapon, helping her banish the darkness that spread from the Frontier.


    The light of the cat''s wide grin remained etched into its sword form, in the shape of runes that vanquished all forms of darkness and evil.


    After Alice''s death, however, Cheshire became trapped in its sword form, bing lost from where it truly belonged ¨C Alice''s hand ¨C patiently waiting for the day herpanion would return]


    <i>A guiding light, a counselor, a friend...</i>


    He took a shaky breath, forcing himself to steady his grip. The cave''s cacophony faded as he focused on the faint hum emanating from the sword. It felt alive, like a heartbeat syncing with his own.


    "Help me, Cheshire..." He whispered, hesitantly, his voice trembling.


    The runes red brighter, flooding the cave with a soft blue glow. The wraiths hesitated, their forms flickering as if the light itself was disrupting their cohesion. Miles opened his eyes, and the world sharpened. It was as though he could see the faint trails of the wraiths'' movements, something in it feeling odd, but a lot like when he opened his eyes back in the woods, after drinking the tea from the [Ether Teapot].


    The wraiths'' attacks were no longer overwhelmingly unpredictable.


    The first wraith lunged again, its de aimed for his heart. This time, Miles didn''t retreat. He did not know if it was due to his heightened PER stat, or if it had to do with the sword''s energy reverberating through him, but he saw it.


    Just a glimpse, but it felt like it was everything.


    Once one wraith began to move, the other took half a moment longer to do so, as if the enemy had two bodies, but only one mind. And it was everything Miles needed to make his attempt happen.


    ''Here we go!''


    He stepped into the attack, turning slightly sideways to evade the entity''s strike while swinging [Cheshire''s Gleam] in a precise upward arc. The de connected just as he felt the breeze of the wraith''s attack caressing his face, avoiding having it cut off by a hairsbreadth, and the wraith let out a guttural scream as its form disintegrated into a cloud of ck smoke that dissipated into nothingness.


    "One down," Miles muttered, panting heavily, his legs trembling under his weight. "One to go."


    The second wraith hissed, its red eyes narrowing. It vanished in a swirl of mist, reappearing behind the rabbit, ready to strike.


    Before Miles could react, it struck, its de slicing through the air, aiming for the rabbit''s chest.


    "No!" Miles bellowed, pushing his battered body into motion. He leapt over a cluster of bones, mming into the wraith with all his strength. The remaining foe dissipated and reappeared a few steps away, and Miles hit the wall of the cave with the full brunt of his movement.


    He saw stars. Shaking his head, though, Miles got up and raised his sword in a precarious defensive stance.


    The wraith''s shadowy body rippled as it advanced again. Miles'' vision swam, his head spinning as blood loss, pain and exhaustion took more of their toll. His grip faltered, and the wraith seized the opportunity, driving him to the ground with a brutal strike. The de grazed his corbone, and a searing pain shot through him.


    "Late," the rabbit said again, its voice strangely calm. "I''mte..."


    Miles'' fingers tightened around [Cheshire''s Gleam]. He mustered thest of his strength, the runes on the de glowing with an intensity that lit the entire cavern. The wraith hesitated, its form flickering erratically, blinded by the sword''s light.


    Miles growled, forcing himself to his feet as he lunged forward, channeling every ounce of his will into the strike. The de pierced the wraith''s chest, and the runes red brilliantly. The creature let out a final, anguished scream before dissolving into a formless puddle of darkness that evaporated into the air.


    Panting heavily, Miles copsed to one knee, using the sword to steady himself. The glow from [Cheshire''s Gleam] dimmed, the cavern falling under the no longer oppressive cover of its natural darkness, strangely brighter than when the ck fog wraiths existed.


    [You killed a Monster ¡ª]


    [You received: ??? EXP]


    [You leveled up]


    "Yes..." Miles managed, a weak smile forming on his lips. Before he could revel in the victory, the rabbit spoke again:


    "You''rete," it said, stepping out of its cage with an approving nod. "I''mte!"


    Before Miles could respond, the system''s voice echoed in his ears:


    [Follow the White Rabbit.]


    The rabbit smirked and began to run.


    "Oh, gods... What now?" Miles sighed bitterly and took a shaky step forward, only to be enveloped by the ck mist, appearing out of nowhere, once more, its cold tendrilstching on to him like ws.

 Chapter 12: Ch10. Protect the White Rabbit

    <h4>Chapter 12: Ch10. Protect the White Rabbit</h4>


    Lost inside the swarming darkness, Miles tried to move, to walk, anything, but as soon as he motioned to do something, the tendrils of ck mist immediately went at his nostrils, ears, mouth and eyes, invading him like a parasite.


    Miles unconsciously grabbed his throat, scratched his eyes, even tried piercing his ears with his fingers, in a vain attempt to grab the tendrils of mist and shove it away, but the ck mist simply kept crawling into him until there was nothing left on the outside, leaving Miles there, on his knees, panting heavily and bleeding from his new wounds. Soon after, however, as he stood there, catatonic, the system echoed:


    [You acquired an attribute]


    "Attribute?" Miles blinked several times,ing to his senses little by little. "But... But aren''t attributes only granted to yers above level 10, and within some seriously strict conditions?" He could not try to think of an answer to his question, though, because the system echoed in his ears again.


    [Follow the White Rabbit]


    "Ah... Ah... Ah..." Miles huffed out a tired sigh, gathered his already dwindling strength, and sprinted towards the exit of the cave, focusing as much of his thoughts on his muscles and the nimbleness of his movements.


    As shitty as he still felt, leveling up was a good way to have his body healed enough to start again, and chasing the rabbit was a good opportunity to let his body settle, to allow it to assimte the newly acquired stat points, so he not only focused on running after the rabbit ¨C which was, incredibly, running way faster than any living being should, after gods knew how long it had spent trapped inside that cave ¨C but he also focused on his perception of the surroundings and how his brain processed everything, even though the battle had left him sore all over.


    Thankfully, his mind had recovered enough from the mental strain caused by the wraith''s voice, to allow himself to actually pay attention to everything, even though the experience with the ck mist left him wondering.


    However, as Miles reached the exit of the cave, his mouth fell open, and he knew he had to leave any questions forter.


    "For crying out loud... Seriously?" He shook his head and raised the [Cheshire''s Gleam] one more time as he saw the White Rabbit leaping from one point to another in the swamp, avoiding the attacks of a myriad of monsters. "Do I even have to ask?" As if to answer his question, the system spoke:


    [Protect the White Rabbit]


    Miles didn''t have time to dwell on the absurdity of his situation. The swamp stretched out before him, a murky, treacherous battlefield teeming with grotesque monsters.


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    Towering amphibian creatures with glowing eyes and jagged teeth lunged at the rabbit, their long, sinewy limbs pping the swamp''s surface with wet, echoing sshes. Smaller, insect-like creatures scuttled around, their chitinous shells gleaming with iridescent light as they hissed and spat streams of acid.


    "You''ve got to be kidding me," Miles muttered, gripping [Cheshire''s Gleam] tighter. "Fine, let''s do this."


    He sprinted into the swamp, the thick mud sucking at his boots with every step. The rabbit darted ahead, an agile blur of white, somehow avoiding every attack with uncanny precision. Miles, however, wasn''t so lucky. One of the smaller creatures leapt at him, its mandibles snapping inches from his face. He swung the sword instinctively and the de cleaved through the monster''s body. It shrieked, its acid blood spraying across his arm and sizzling against his shirt.


    "Great, and <i>I''m</i> supposed to protect the Rabbit? Really?" Miles hissed, shaking his arm as the pain seared through him. More creatures swarmed toward him, drawn by themotion.


    He fought desperately, each swing of [Cheshire''s Gleam] bing morebored as exhaustion set in.


    The White Rabbit paused momentarily on a small stone covered with moss, ncing back at Miles with a curious expression.


    "You''rete," its voice easily resounded over the chaos. "You''rete!"


    "Miss what?" Miles growled, shing through another creature.


    The rabbit didn''t answer, leaping to another stone just as a massive, serpentine beast erupted from the water behind it. The creature''s elongated body glistened with slime, its scales reflecting the faint light of the rising sun. Its many eyes fixed on the rabbit, and it opened a cavernous maw filled with rows of needle-like teeth.


    Miles'' heart sank. There was no way he could keep up with the rabbit, not with that thing in his way. The serpentine beast lunged, its jaws snapping shut where the rabbit had been a second before. It roared in frustration, turning its attention to Miles instead.


    ''Fantastic!'' He grunted, staggering. The beast struck with terrifying speed, forcing Miles to dive to the side. Hended hard in the mud, the impact knocking the wind out of him. Struggling to his feet, he raised [Cheshire''s Gleam], the runes flickering weakly.


    The beast lunged again, and Miles barely managed to roll out of the way.


    His movements were sluggish, his body screaming in protest. He swung the sword as the creature passed, the de scraping against its thick scales and leaving only a shallow gash. The beast roared, whipping its tail around and sending Miles flying into a nearby tree.


    Pain exploded through his body as he hit the trunk, the air sucked out of his lungs. He coughed, tasting blood, and forced himself to stand. The serpent loomed over him, its eyes gleaming with malice. Miles tightened his grip on the sword, his knuckles white. He knew he couldn''t win this fight, not as he was.


    It was different from when he fought Serpens. The creature was strong, but it was a simple creature of the forest, fighting for survival like any living being. That thing in front of Miles now, was a monster born from the night in that strange ce, filled with malice and pure, raw killing intent.


    Weak as he still was, Miles was going to need a miracle, if he wished to survive.


    The serpent lunged again, and this time, Miles didn''t dodge. He stepped forward, driving the de upward with all his remaining strength. The sword pierced the creature''s underbelly, which Miles thought to be the monstrosity''s weakness, just like when he fought Serpens, or even Tarhut, back then.


    This time, however, the sword simply slid across the hard scales of the humongous thing, and Miles was sent flying against a tree, coughing a mouthful of blood and falling face-down on the mud.


    [Cheshire''s Gleam] slipped from his grasp as Miles tried his best to stay awake, but his vision blurred and obscured, and then, he felt nothing as a slight gleam of light caught his attention before he fell unconscious.

 Chapter 15: Ch13. More questions than answers

    <h4>Chapter 15: Ch13. More questions than answers</h4>


    [Name: Miles Thorn]


    [Affiliation: None]


    [Level: 08]


    [ss: Unacquired]


    [Skills: None]


    [Strength: 17]


    [Agility: 12]


    [Dexterity: 13]


    [Perception: 24]


    [Intelligence: 29]


    [Inventory: Scorching Rune x01; Scythe of the ???; Ether Teapot]


    [Attributes: Ender''s Essence]


    Miles looked at his information window, his jaw cked as he tried to recall his previous fights. He recalled the system''s message about getting the attribute, but the whole chasing the rabbit thing made him forget entirely about it.


    "Where did I get this attribute from?" He scratched his chin, tapping at the attribute to open its description.


    [Attribute Description: A dark guardian rose to harvest the souls of those who dared to try and take back the time lost to the White Rabbit.


    One day, however, it shall emerge and fight alongside the one who seeds in guiding the White Rabbit to its homnd once more.]


    [Attribute Traits (iplete): Synergy with ¨C Scythe of the ??? (1/4); ???''s Fragment (2/5)]


    Miles'' brows furrowed as he stared at the glowing text on the system screen. The words blurred together for a moment as he tried to process the meaning behind the cryptic description.


    "Ender''s Essence...?" he muttered, scrolling back to reread the description. "Dark guardian... Time lost to the White Rabbit... I get that it had something to do with that wraith back in the cave but... What does any of this have to do with what I''m looking for?"


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    The Rabbit, perched on a mossy boulder nearby, twitched its long ears and adjusted its waistcoat with deliberate care. Its crimson eyes gleamed in the dim light of the forest.


    "You''re not ready." it said, as though that exined everything.


    "You keep talking cryptic nonsense, but it doesn''t answer anything. I''ve been running, fighting, and nearly dying to keep up with you. The least you can do is give me a straight answer." Miles groaned, dragging a hand down his face.


    The Rabbit tilted its head, its whiskers twitching. "Straight answers? My dear boy, my answers are straighter than the madness of this world."


    "Wow, thanks," Miles answered with a deadpan expression, slumping onto a nearby tree stump, after checking if it had any crawling threats hiding in it. He turned to Cheshire''s Gleam, the runes along the de faintly pulsing. "And you? Got anything to add, Cheshire?"


    The cat-sword''s voice, low, sardonic, and unsettlingly smooth, resonated in his mind.


    "Why ask questions you''re not ready to hear the answers to, boy?"


    "And why am I not ready, then?" Miles sighed, palming his face.


    "You''ve taken on a burden far heavier than this flimsy body of yours can carry. Ender''s Essence is no small thing, and your survival so far is nothing short of a cruel joke by fate." The sword purred in Miles'' mind. "Or will you say that it''s not against all odds that you''re alive up until now?"


    "He''s catching on, you know. Slowly, but catching on nheless." The Rabbit chuckled, the sound sharp and oddly rhythmic, as he watched Miles'' expression darken.


    "Catch me up faster, then!" Miles snapped. "Why does it sound like I''ve signed up to be some kind of... I don''t know, harbinger of doom?"


    Miles thought deeply about what the fragments and the synergy meant in his current quest since everything until now seemed to make no sense at all.


    He knew that fragments usually were parts of a whole ¨C usuallyposed of weaker parts thatposed a powerfulpleteness ¨C while synergies usually were special effects activated, or released when certain items of a specific set were equipped.


    However, there was not a single piece of information about what were the items andponents necessary toplete the synergy with the [Scythe of the ???], what the fragments he already had were, their purpose, or even what other fragments he needed.


    However, ...


    ''Wait... What if I...'' Before he even finished the thought, his finger tapped almost unconsciously on the part of the text that mentioned the synergy, and then the fragments but, just as he had thought, as soon as Miles tapped on to the word, another message window appeared in front of him.


    [You cannot ess the information]


    ''Argh! Shocking...'' Miles sighed, cursing inwardly.


    Meanwhile, Cheshire''s voice darkened, answering Miles'' question, its tone now devoid of the usual humor.


    "[Ender''s Essence] is no gift. It''s a curse disguised as power. It binds you to the shadows of this world, to the remnants of stories that ended long ago. The fragments you carry, along with the Scythe and other things that you may find along the way, are pieces of a greater whole. And if you ever find all of them..." Cheshire paused as if savoring the weight of its next words. "... You''ll wish you hadn''t."


    A chill crawled down Miles'' spine. He tightened his grip on the sword, his knuckles white. "What happens if I do?"


    "That''s for you to find out. If you survive." Cheshire purred, as if delighted.


    "Are you still going to enter the Queen''s castle?" The Rabbit tapped its rear paw on the soft ground.


    Miles raised an eyebrow. He had never heard of a quest that gave the option of giving up after one had already epted it. The mere idea of such a possibility being real made his skin crawl, not to mention the countless ordeals he had faced to get where he stood now.


    "That''s the n. Why?" Miles shifted his weight, ncing between the rabbit and the sword.


    "Because that ce holds echoes of what came before," Cheshire interjected. "Secrets that should''ve stayed buried. If you want to uncover them, you''ll have to face horrors far worse than what you''ve encountered so far. Tarhut, even the wraith, they were mere appetizerspared to what lurks in the Queen''s shadow."


    "Perfect," Miles muttered, sarcasm masking the knot of fear tightening in his chest. "More nightmares. Just what I needed."


    The Rabbit leaned in, its voice dropping to a whisper.


    "But in those ruins, you''ll also find pieces of the truth. Fragments of the past that might exin why this world has be what it is. And if you''re very, very lucky..." It trailed off, its crimson eyes glowing brighter. "... You might even find out who you are."


    "What do you mean, ''who I am''? I''m me. Just a guy trying to stay alive in this twisted game." Miles stared at the Rabbit, his heart pounding.


    The Rabbit and Cheshire both fell silent, an eerie tension settling between them.


    "You haven''t noticed it yet, have you, boy?" Cheshire''s voice purrednguidly in Miles'' mind.


    "I don''t know what you mean by that, but no news in it, so..." Miles gritted his teeth, a flicker of determination igniting in his chest. "Let''s deal with it, then."


    "Tick-tock, Miles. The clock''s always ticking. Shall we?" The Rabbit smirked, its whiskers twitching as it turned toward the path ahead.


    Without waiting for an answer, it bounded forward, leaving Miles standing alone with the weight of the sword in his hands, purring in his mind, and his decision, weighing on his heart.


    Before Miles took the first step, however, he said, in a whisper.


    "Cheshire... How did you know what''s in my inventory?"


    Miles felt the cat''s unnervinglyrge grin grow evenrger in his mind as it purred.


    It sent shivers down his spine.

 Chapter 18: Ch16. Dark Reflection

    <h4>Chapter 18: Ch16. Dark Reflection</h4>


    For a brief moment, Miles forgot how tired he was, and he raised his fist in celebration.


    "Yes!" He smiled, opening his stats window. "Thanks, Cheshire! You were amazing!"


    "Oh, but don''t give me all the credit." Cheshire purred. "Even though you did make a few mistakes, you''re growing stronger." The feline voice paused for a moment, assuming a slightly darker tone. "Although I don''t understand why your <i>real</i> strength does not show in these strange numbers..."


    "What do you mean?" Miles frowned, looking at his stats.


    [Name: Miles Thorn]


    [Affiliation: None]


    [Level: 09]


    [ss: Unacquired]


    [Skills: None]


    [Strength: 18]


    [Agility: 13]


    [Dexterity: 14]


    [Perception: 25]


    [Intelligence: 30]


    He had acquired one stat point for each basic stat, and although it was not his favorite, he smiled at the new two-digit parameter of his intelligence. But Cheshire''s words still gave him an uneasy feeling of worry.


    "I feel like whatever this thing in your soul is, it''s somewhat defective, preventing you from revealing your true strength." Cheshire broke the silence set by Miles, as he analyzed his new stats.


    ''He must be talking about the bugs the system warned me before...'' Miles scratched his chin. "I don''t know what to do or think of it, Cheshire, but I''m doing my best with what I can now, and it''s paying off, isn''t it?


    "Let''s hope so, my boy, or you''ll end up regretting it." Cheshire purred, falling silent soon after, as the Rabbit tapped the cobblestone path with his paw.


    "Are we ready to move on?" He pursed his lips, the whiskers trembling more nervously than usual.


    "Can''t we take a break to breathe?" Miles red at the Rabbit. "I''m thirsty!"


    "Thank goodness the stew I prepared before made your stomach full enough that you''re not hungry yet..." The Rabbit grumbled, searching through his pockets. "Here, take this. Its water never ends, so you won''t have to worry. Just be careful, it''s a little... Stingy."


    Recalling the delicious stew he had eaten at theke, Miles felt a pang of guilt as he looked at the Rabbit''s paw, extending to him a small vase that carried a cactus the size of his forearm.


    "What the..." Before Miles could finish, though, the Rabbit enveloped his hand with his sizeable paw and made him squeeze the cactus, sending a jolt of pain through his fingers.


    "Ouch! What the hell, Rabbit?" Miles almost kicked the creature but thought better as soon as he felt the refreshing sensation of ice-cold water running through his fingers. "What? It produces water?"


    The Rabbit simply nodded, turning his back to Miles, as he squeezed it again, more carefully this time, over his mouth.


    The taste of the cactus'' water was strangely different frommon water, but at the same time, the same. It was refreshing and reinvigorating, and it gave him a feeling of as if his tired body had been revitalized, not only figuratively but also by satiating his thirst.


    [You received: Desert''s Rain]


    [Item Description: A small, greedy cactus that drank the oasis where its master lived. Not satisfied with that amount of water, it waited for the rain, and when it came, it drank it all, until there was not a single cloud above where once stood the majestic oasis.]


    "Why do all items here have such dark descriptions?" Miles frowned, setting the thought aside and getting up. "Alright, let''s go then. If you want so badly to get to the castle..."


    The Rabbit hopped ahead, muttering under its breath about beingte. Miles followed, gripping the scythe tightly, the weight of Cheshire''s earlier words still lingering in his mind.


    As they approached the castle gates, the structure loomedrger than life. The intricate carvings on the stone walls told stories of a regal past ¨C glorious feasts, crowned rulers, and battles fought in the name of the Queen of Hearts. But now, the once-majestic facade was marred by deep cracks, vines creeping through every crevice like the fingers of decay.


    Miles slowed as they neared the threshold, unease creeping up his spine.


    "What is it now?" the Rabbit asked, ncing back impatiently.


    Miles gestured to the towering gates. "I don''t know. Something feels... off."


    "That''s because it is, my boy. The gates are enchanted, and not in a weing way." Cheshire''s voice purred in his mind.


    Miles stepped closer, inspecting the doors. They were massive, carved from ckened wood reinforced with iron that shimmered faintly in the dim light. The carvings on the doors depicted the Queen''s court in vivid detail, but something about their frozen expressions felt sinister. The smiles were stretched too wide, the eyes glinted with malice.


    "How do we open it?" Miles asked, his voice low.


    "The gates will open when you prove you''re worthy to enter." The Rabbit tapped its foot impatiently.


    "And how do I do that?"


    "Figure it out." the Rabbit said with a shrug.


    Miles groaned, shifting his grip on the scythe.


    "Any ideas?" He nced at Cheshire.


    "Try touching it," Cheshire suggested. "If the enchantment is anything like the rest of Wondend, it''s bound to react to the presence of a living being."


    Taking a deep breath, Miles reached out and ced a hand on the cold surface of the gate, and as soon as his skin touched the stone, the carvings began to shift, their static forms writhing as if they were alive.


    The Queen''s court twisted and contorted, their faces morphing into grotesque parodies of their former selves. The gates groaned a deep, resonant sound that vibrated through the air.


    Then, a voice echoed around them, soft yetmanding. Nothing like the system''s voice.


    <i>"To enter, you must face your fear. Only by oveing what lies within can you pass."</i>


    The ground beneath Miles'' feet trembled, and the gates swung open with an agonizing creak, revealing a long, dimly lit corridor.


    Miles exchanged a nce with the Rabbit, whose ears twitched nervously.


    "After you." the Rabbit said, gesturing toward the darkness beyond.


    "Of course..." Miles muttered. He stepped forward, gripping the scythe tightly as he crossed the threshold.


    The corridor was suffocatingly narrow, the walls closing in like the jaws of a trap. Strange whispers echoed around him.


    "This ce doesn''t mess around, does it?" Miles said, his voice echoing through the stone walls.


    "Wee to the Queen''s domain," Cheshire replied. "It''s not meant to be inviting."


    The corridor opened into a vast chamber, its ceiling lost in shadows. In the middle of the room stood a pedestal with a mirror, its surface reflecting nothing but the swirling darkness surrounding it.


    At its base, a que was etched with a single line. <i>See what you fear most.</i>


    "What now?" Miles asked, stopping at the edge of the room.


    "Look into the mirror and find out." The Rabbit hopped forward, standing beside him.


    Taking a deep breath, Miles nodded and approached the mirror, his heart racing. He saw his reflection at first, but then the image began to distort, twisting and warping until it was no longer him at all.


    Instead, he saw only darkness.


    Miles frowned, moving one step closer, and still, only darkness swirled around his reflection.


    Until a shadow appeared behind him, darker than the darkness that surrounded him, and when it broke the silence, Miles heard it as if the figure stood right behind him.


    <i>"You''re not fit. The scythe will kill you, and I will take your body to myself, thief..."</i> Itughed and began dancing around him, its eyes glowing with red light, and a creepy smile splitting its lips open from side to side.


    It looked like it was wearing a fancy suit, along with a fancy top hat and other essories, but its dark nature did not allow Miles to discern more.


    As soon as the figure''s voice echoed behind Miles, he staggered back, gripping his scythe tightly. Unnatural fear consuming him, but he fought it, clenching his jaw.


    @@novelbin@@


    It was just a trick, a lie. That thing did not exist.


    The scythe''s runes glowed brighter as he steadied his breathing, and he stepped forward again, striking the reflection with a silent growl.


    The mirror shattered, its pieces dissolving into mist. The room grew quiet, leaving Miles huffing and frowning as the system resounded in his mind.


    [You received: ???''s Reflection]


    "Not bad... What did you see?" The Rabbit smirked.


    "I... Don''t know." Miles tilted his head. "Cheshire... what was that?"


    But Cheshire was unnervingly silent this time, not answering Miles'' question, which only made him wonder more about the figure, and the item he received. However, there was no time to check it, as the floor beneath him shifted before he or the Rabbit could say anything else, revealing a hidden passage leading deeper into the castle.


    "You''ve earned the right to proceed," the Rabbit said, a note of finality in its voice.


    With a grunt, Miles straightened up, wiping his brow.


    As he walked into the hidden passage, he could not shake off the feeling that the figure in the mirror''s reflection might not have been as unreal as he felt.


    And whatever the castle had in store for him in the next room, Miles felt like he was getting closer and closer to the end of it.

 Chapter 19: Ch17. Dark corridors

    <h4>Chapter 19: Ch17. Dark corridors</h4>


    The hidden passage was narrow, its stone walls cold and damp to the touch. Miles walked ahead with [Cheshire''s Gleam] tight in his grip. The air was heavy, moist, smelling of rust and wet stone, pressing against his chest with each breath.


    The only sound was the rhythmic shuffle of their footsteps, the echoes of their movement blending with the silence that surrounded them.


    For the first few minutes, the winding path seemed like any other corridor, its path twisting in ways that seemed mundane. Miles kept his grip tight on scythe, the weight of it grounding him. Cheshire''s absence ofmentary was... odd, but he brushed it off. The Rabbit, too, was quiet, but he simply took it as he felt.


    ''The atmosphere is heavy, it''s only natural that I''m not the only one nervous here.''


    They turned a corner. Another corridor stretched out before them. The walls were lined with moss, faint droplets of water fell from the ceiling in rhythmic intervals. The path was tight, barely wide enough for them to walk side by side. But they didn''t, of course. Although Miles was used to walking alone, he already got used to knowing that protecting the White Rabbit was part of que quest up until now.


    A few minutes passed, then a dozen. Not long after, a dozen minutes became half an hour, then an hour, and the walls surrounding them still showed no signs of opening to an exit.


    At some point, the familiar feeling of movement and time started to stretch thin. They continued walking. Around another corner, a stretch of smooth stone walls greeted them, the same as before. The hallway felt suffocatingly familiar.


    "We''ve been here before..." Miles broke the silence in a whisper.


    He turned his head slightly, ncing over his shoulder. The Rabbit was still there, his figure but a shadow against the dim light. Miles noticed the Rabbit''s ears were drooping, his face unreadable. But he didn''t speak. Not even a muttered remark or a sarcasticment about the dampness of the air, the narrowness of the walls, or howte they were. Just silence.


    Miles felt a slight pang of unease. It wasn''t like the Rabbit to be so quiet for this long.


    He shook it off and focused ahead. Another corner. Another stretch of corridor. Another slight curve in the path.


    The walls were closing in. The passage was narrowing, just a little bit with each turn. Or maybe it wasn''t.


    Maybe it was just Miles'' mind ying tricks on him. He was starting to feel it, the tightness of the space, the way his steps seemed to echo louder now, the way the shadows pressed down on him.


    The feeling of being watched, followed, even, had be more pronounced.


    He stopped abruptly, his foot hovering over the ground as a strange thought came to him. The way the path had been curving, the subtle changes in the angle of the walls, it didn''t seem right.


    He had a memory, faint but persistent. Hadn''t they just turned left a few moments ago?


    He nced around. Nothing. Nondmarks. No distinguishing features. Just the same stone walls, dripping with water, twisting endlessly ahead. He shook his head, pushing the thought down while raising his scythe above his head.


    "What are you doing? We need to keep moving," The Rabbit muttered in a hurry.


    Miles lowers the weapon in apact arc, its de scratching the wall with an unnerving scraping sound, marking the stone with a deep gash.


    "Let''s go." Miles began walking again, ignoring the Rabbit.


    As they continued, the sense of deja vu grew stronger. Another corner. Another stretch of corridor that felt exactly the same as thest. And the one before that, only that the mark Miles had left was nowhere to be seen.


    Miles paused again. His heart thudded in his chest, too loud in the stillness. He couldn''t ignore it, the feeling of repetition, the unshakable sense that they were walking in circles. His breath hitched. He turned back, looking at the path behind them. It was...


    No, it wasn''t impossible. They hade this way before.


    @@novelbin@@


    He crouched down, running his hand along the stone floor. It was cold, wet. There was nothing remarkable about it, so he decided to walk a bit more. After a few more turns, though, his pulse quickened.


    The gash he left on the wall to his right was there, exactly how he had left it. Deep and pronounced enough for anyone to see.


    "Rabbit," he muttered, his voice barely a whisper. "We''re walking in circles."


    Cheshire didn''t answer, of course. The Rabbit had always been predictable, talking about time, about beingte, always cryptic. But this silence felt different. The Rabbit felt... distant.


    Miles'' legs were shaky. The quiet weight of the corridors pressed down on him. They turned left, then right, then left again. But the path was the same. The walls were the same.


    It was impossible. How could they be walking in circles for so long? No, it wasn''t possible.


    A thought urred to Miles, and he opened the hidden quest map, but he regretted his decision as soon as he did it. The map popped up in front of him, hovering in the holographic window, shedding over the walls a ghostly ck light that only he was able to see.


    On the window, though, nothing but ck. Not even dots representing him or the Rabbit.


    Nothing.


    Miles stepped back, his eyes darting around the corridor as a cold dread settled in his chest. What if they were trapped in that ce?


    He turned around, staring into the dark void of the path they had juste from. The darkness felt deeper this time. His fingers twitched around the scythe.


    However, what really caught his attention was that...


    "Rabbit?" Miles turned around, not seeing his furrypanion. "Rabbit, where are you?"


    The Rabbit was nowhere to be seen, and where it once stood, only silence and the echoes of the faint memory of the Rabbit''s presence.


    They weren''t just walking in circles. They were lost, and now, the Rabbit was lost, too.


    "Great! Argh!" Miles roared, swinging his scythe at the wall.


    He could feel the weight of it now, the slow, creeping sense of inevitability. They had wandered too far. There was no way out.


    No way back.


    Miles turned slowly, his breathing in shallow gasps, loneliness and ustrophobia overwhelming his heart, tightening around it like an iron hand. The walls felt closer now, the shadows darker. There was no escape. Not unless...


    He looked ahead again, his mind racing to find a way out.


    But there was none.


    "We''re lost..." He whispered.


    The words felt like a cold truth settling into his bones. He had known it all along, but now, it was undeniable. The walls were shifting, the path was impossible to track, and Cheshire didn''t seem to care, keeping his wits to himself, as though he had never spoken in Miles'' mind.


    Miles crouched, covering his face in his hands.


    It was a maze.

 Chapter 22: Ch20. Dark truth

    <h4>Chapter 22: Ch20. Dark truth</h4>


    Miles''s hand hovered over the next page, the weight of Alice''s words pressing against him. There was more, he could feel it in the way the book seemed to pulse with life.


    He turned the page again, and the next entry was even more urgent.


    <i>"I failed. The Mad Hatter''s grip on Wondend grows stronger with each passing day. The remnants of the Queen''s followers are few, and we are hunted mercilessly. I watched him execute one of them today, and I could not stop him. I couldn''t even speak. The words caught in my throat. The scythe, </i>his<i> scythe, sang a song of death, and I watched as another life was extinguished."</i>


    Miles'' hands trembled as he kept reading. Something inside him pulsed with each word he read, as though the lost pieces of a forsaken puzzle were finally falling into ce. He opened his inventory and looked at one specific weapon.


    [Scythe of the ???]


    @@novelbin@@


    [Category: Weapon]


    His skin crawled as he read the weapon''s description, however, because as his eyes darted across the lines of text, the words glitched, and as the text went back to normal, his eyes widened.


    [Item Description: After the war against the Red Queen, the Mad Hatter helped the girl take thend''s throne, and for a while, the country became prosperous, happy, and wealthy.


    However, everything has toe to an end, and so did the girl''s reign, with time and death.


    Upon a final, fatal vow, the Mad Hatter took it upon himself to gather the lost powers scattered across thend and finally became powerful enough to bring back the times gone by, but at what cost, as the Harbinger lost his titles and powers, dying at the greedy thirst of his own weapon, never to find that, which had been lost, ever again...]


    The text glitched one more time, but the description seemed just like Miles had just read. However, he looked up, at the top of the item''s window, and the weapon''s name was different.


    [Scythe of the Harbinger]


    "Are you seeing this, Cheshire?" Miles whispered as if fearing that the scythe itself could hear him.


    "I am..." The cat retorted.


    "And...? Nothing else to add or to exin about it?" Miles trembled, unsure of what to do. Cheshire''s retort, however, was dark and sullen.


    "Keep reading, my boy. I think Alice will exin everything in this diary..." And so Miles did.


    <i>"I fear for what he has be, for what he is doing to Wondend. The very air feels thick with death, and thends grow barren. The madness has spread, infecting everything it touches. Even now, I feel myself losing hope. I feel myself bing what I never wanted to be... Someone who epts that this world is lost."</i>


    <i>"But there is still time. Perhaps. If I can find the source of his power, if I can destroy the scythe, perhaps then I can save him. Perhaps I can save Wondend. But I do not know how much longer I can hold onto this hope. I fear I will lose myself before I find the answers."</i>


    Miles closed the book slowly, his hands trembling. The words, the pain, the desperation that had been written on those pages, it was overwhelming. He had known, deep down as he kept reading, because of the current state of the world he was in now, that Wondend had not been saved with the fall of the Queen, but the extent of the damage, the price of victory... It was worse than he could have imagined.


    And the Mad Hatter... He had be a creature of darkness, consumed by the very weapon he had wielded in the name of justice.


    "I did ask about signing up to be the Harbinger of Doom, didn''t I...?" Milesughed bitterly, but Cheshire just sighed, his grin nowhere to be felt in Miles'' mind.


    The breeze in the greenhouse had died down, leaving only silence in its wake. The weight of the past seemed to press him down from all sides, the story of Wondend''s fall and the failure of its potential rebirth hanging heavily in the air.


    Miles stood in the center of the greenhouse, his mind racing. The answers he had hoped for were not the ones he found. And yet, somehow, they were the ones that had always been there.


    With a final nce at the decaying nts, the broken ss, and the remnants of a world lost to madness, but before he could move, Cheshire spoke in his mind.


    "My boy, to your left, can you see it?" Was it just him or Cheshire''s voice was coated in excitement and a somewhat gleeful joy?


    Miles looked to his left. It took him a few seconds to discern what the cat was talking about, but he saw it. There was a tomb, entangled and buried underneath countless vines, almost as though they were protecting it from something.


    Miles approached the entangled tomb with hesitant steps, his boots crunching against the broken ss and crumbling soil. The vines coiled protectively around the stone sarcophagus, pulsating faintly as if they were alive. Cheshire''s voice echoed in his mind, soft yet insistent.


    "I guess they are, indeed, protecting it..."


    "No kidding..." Miles chuckled wryly as he reached out, his fingers brushing against the cold, rough vines.


    They resisted at first, tightening like a predator guarding its prey. But as he focused, a faint warmth radiated from his hands, and the vines began to retreat, curling away as though recognizing him, or perhaps, something inside of him.


    The sarcophagus was a work of art, its weathered stone surface carved with painstaking detail. At its center was an engraving of a woman, serene and sorrowful, her figure draped in flowing robes. Her face was unmistakable, the faint remnants of a smile still visible despite the erosion of time.


    "Alice..." Miles whispered, his throat tightening.


    Her name was etched beneath the figure, the letters ornate but cracked, as though time itself had tried to erase her memory. Surrounding the engraving were scenes of battles, moments of triumph, and despair, all woven into a tapestry of Wondend''s history.


    Miles traced the outline of her face with trembling fingers, his breath catching.


    "She rests here..." Cheshire`s voice was warm with tears. "Should we really disturb her slumber...?"


    The question hung in the air like a storm cloud. Miles pushed against the heavy stone lid, answering Cheshire''s question silently, its weight resisting him.


    His muscles strained, but with a final heave, it slid open with a grating groan, revealing the tomb''s contents.


    Inside, Alice''s bonesy undisturbed, fragile, and pale like porcin. Her skeletal hands were sped over her chest, holding something.


    Upon closer inspection, Miles saw a single ripped page, yellowed and frayed at the edges. Beside her, nestled in the crook of her arm, was an old ck top hat.


    The hat immediately drew Miles'' attention. It was pristine, as though untouched by time, its dark surface emanating a faint, rhythmic pulse. The closer he moved to it, the stronger the sensation became, as if the hat were alive, breathing in sync with the world around it.


    Miles swallowed hard. His inventory window shed briefly in the corner of his vision, the scythe''s name flickering ominously, along with the [???''s Reflection].


    It too, glitched, revealing what was hidden underneath the question marks.


    [Mad Hatter''s Reflection]


    Miles'' face darkened as he recalled what happened when he stood in front of the mirror.


    "It was no illusion, then..." He breathed in heavily.


    The page caught his eye next. It was covered in jagged, hurried handwriting, the ink smudged but legible. Miles carefully pried it from Alice''s brittle fingers, his heart heavy with an unshakable sense of reverence.


    The text on the page was brief, but it burned into his mind as he read it aloud:


    <i> </i>


    <i>"To the one who finds this, I leave my final hope. This hat is both a curse and a salvation. The scythe''s twin was born of the same madness. I was able to steal it from the Mad Hatter before he could strike me, and so, I saw his demise... Cursed and devoured by the demented power of his scythe, he became dust and serve as the foundation of whatever Wondend is to be. Wield it wisely, or it will consume you as it did him. Find what we lost, or all will be for naught."</i>


    Miles looked down at Alice''s remains, at the hat, and at the scythe in his inventory. The weight of her words crushed him, a realization dawning like a storm.


    "Two sides of the same coin," Cheshire murmured. "The scythe and the hat."


    Miles hesitated, his hand hovering over the hat. The pulsing intensified, synchronizing with the thrum of his heartbeat.


    "This feels like a terrible idea," Miles muttered.


    "It is," Cheshire replied. "But terrible ideas seem to be your specialty."


    With a nervous grin, Miles reached out and grasped the hat. The moment his fingers touched its brim, a surge of energy coursed through him, and the system''s voice echoed through his ears.


    [You havepleted the quest]


    [You have acquired ¨C ??? EXP]


    [You have acquired ¨C Mad Hatter''s Hat]


    [You have acquired ¨C Mad Hatter''s Mantle]


    [You have acquired ¨C Ender''s Mask]


    As soon as Miles felt the flicker of energy that meant that the items were now in his inventory, he fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands, and a loud shriek escaped his throat.

 Chapter 24: Ch22. Clockwork Rabbit

    <h4>Chapter 24: Ch22. Clockwork Rabbit</h4>


    <i>''Good luck with this one...''</i> Miles heard the Hatter''s voice echoing in his mind, but before the Rabbit, now a horrid amalgamation of fur, gears, and flesh, could move, the system spoke inside Miles'' head.


    [You have met the requirements for the wielding of the ¨C Harbinger''s Scythe]


    [Synergy requirements have been met]


    [The seed of your sspect is taking root]


    [The madness of Wondend courses through your veins, God Hunter]


    Before Miles could focus on the system meant by all that nonsense, however, the Rabbit brought its enormous paw down on him like a hammer. He evaded the downward strike with unexpected ease, and tried to summon [Cheshire''s Gleam], but the weapon did not appear.


    "Cheshire, what the hell?" Miles frowned, running and dodging, as the Rabbit kept hammering its furry strikes down.


    "I''m sorry, my boy..." Miles felt Cheshire stretching, circling around himself, and melting into a puddle of fur and paws. His voice, though, sounded devoid of any joy or indifference. "One day, you''ll understand."


    "Damnit!" Miles spat. "I guess I''ll have to try the new toy, then..."


    As he ran, dark sparks enveloped him, and when they vanished, Miles was dressed like a dark version of the Mad Hatter, carrying the [Harbinger''s Scythe] tightly in his hands. The Scythe, however, simply hummed in his hands, seemingly uninterested in his life force, unlike the first time he tried to wield it. On his face, the mask that resembled the wraith''s face, although white. However, the glowing red eyes and the glowing red carving of the stitched mouth remained.


    "Well... I guess it''s time for a test drive, huh?" He grinned, nervously.


    The Rabbit''s crimson eyes glowed with unrestrained malice as it lunged forward, its grotesque form twisting unnaturally. The gears beneath its patchy fur groaned and whirred, driving its massive frame forward with new, rming speed.


    Miles barely had time to register the movement before the Rabbit''s wed paw shed across his chest, sending him sprawling into the shattered remnants of the greenhouse wall.


    He coughed, tasting blood, but the pain grounded him, feeling strangely less gripping than in any other fight before, although the Rabbit''s new size should be enough to give it bone-shattering strength.


    "Not bad for a walking clock," Miles muttered, rising to his feet. His grip on the [Harbinger''s Scythe] tightened, the weapon''s hum resonating faintly in his chest. "Let''s see if you can tick!"


    The Rabbit let out a guttural snarl, the ticking of its pocket watch intensifying. The air seemed to ripple around, filling Miles with unease as he lunged towards his oncepanion.


    "Tick-tock..." The Rabbit hissed, its voice grating like steel scraping against stone.


    Miles didn''t respond, his heart racing, but his instincts took over. He spun the scythe in his hands, testing its weight while darting forward. The de cut through the air with a whisper, its arc aimed at the Rabbit''s exposed nk.


    The Rabbit moved faster than Miles anticipated. With a mechanical whirr, it leaped into the air, its hind legs kicking off the ground in a blur of motion, leaving a crater where the Rabbit had been.


    The scythe''s de met nothing but air, and before Miles could recover, the Rabbit was almost on him.


    A massive paw mmed into his side, sending him tumbling across the ground. He rolled to a stop near the center of the greenhouse, shards of ss digging into his palms as he struggled to rise.


    "Okay," Miles wheezed, clutching his ribs. "Note to self: Clockwork rabbits are mad fast..."


    The Rabbitnded heavily, its ws digging into the dirt. It tilted its head, the pocket watch in its hand spinning faster and faster. The air around them grew thicker, colder, and Miles felt his movements slow as though he were wading through msses.


    "Do you feel it, boy?" the Rabbit crooned, its voice dripping with mockery. "The weight of time? It bends to my will, and you... You are nothing but a fleeting moment."


    "Ah, of course... That thing maniptes time..." Miles gritted his teeth, forcing his legs to move despite the oppressive weight pressing down on him. "How could I forget it...?"


    @@novelbin@@


    He swung the scythe in a wide arc, and to his surprise, the de emitted a pulse of energy, cutting through the invisible pressure like a knife through butter.


    "So, you do have it in you... Let''s see if you''re worthy of it!" The Rabbit recoiled, its crimson eyes narrowing.


    Before Miles could respond, the Rabbit lunged again, this time faster and more erratic. Its ws shed through the air, leaving glowing trails of distorted time in their wake. Miles ducked, rolled, and countered, his scythe meeting the Rabbit''s attacks with sparks and shockwaves that reverberated through the greenhouse.


    The fight was chaos. Each sh of the scythe and the Rabbit''s ws sent ripples of energy through the space around them, distorting the remnants of the greenhouse further. Miles felt his muscles scream in protest, but the effort felt a lot lesser than in his other battles, and the experience he had gathered in the war against the Card Soldiers helped him wield [Harbinger''s Scythe] with an ease that would be impossible if Cheshire had not helped.


    "You''re only capable of so much because of Cheshire''s help. But you''re not worthy of the gifts Alice left!" The Rabbit grinned, a horrifyingly human expression that stretched across its malformed face.


    Miles tightened his grip on the scythe, his knuckles white.


    "You talk too much." He spat, surging forward.


    This time, he didn''t hold back. The scythe''s de glowed with an eerie, dark light as he swung it in a diagonal sh. The Rabbit dodged, but not quickly enough. The de grazed its shoulder, and the effect was immediate. The Rabbit let out a screech of pain as dark energy erupted from the wound, spreading across its body like cracks in ss.


    Miles frowned at the strange sight, ncing at his scythe.


    "You little..." the Rabbit snarled, cutting its arm off as its pocket watch began to spin erratically. Its form shimmered, flickering in and out of focus. "You''ve done it now."


    ''Yeah, it really was something...'' Miles grinned underneath the mask, assuming an offensive stance, but as soon as he motioned for a strike, the ground beneath him began to tremble.


    Miles felt the scythe pulse in his hands, almost as if it were alive, urging him forward. He nted his feet, though, preparing for the Rabbit''s next move, but what came next caught himpletely off guard.


    The Rabbit''s body imploded in a cascade of gears and fur, a deafening screech of twisting metal filling the air. For a moment, the room was awash in searing light, forcing Miles to shield his eyes.


    When the light dimmed, a towering figure emerged from the cloud of debris, its interlocking gears gleaming like polished gold in the fractured light of the greenhouse as the sun dawned in the horizon. The temperature in the air seemed to drop as its glowing red eyes locked onto him.


    Miles took a step back, his breath hitching.


    "Oh, boy," Cheshire''s voice echoed faintly in his mind. "You made it mad now."


    "No kidding..." Miles smiled sheepishly, raising his scythe in a defensive form.


    The Rabbit let out a mechanical roar, the sound reverberating like an earthquake. It raised its paw, the pocket watch spinning faster and faster, and charged.


    "You''re nothing but a thief," the Rabbit snarled, its gears clicking menacingly. "A child pretending to wield a legacy you''ll never understand. I will devour you, just as Wondend devoured her."


    The Rabbit''s pocket watch emitted a piercing whine, and with a deafening crack, the air around them shattered like ss. Time fractured, distorted, sending jagged slivers of reality spiraling outward. Miles barely had time to react as the Rabbit surged forward, its ws raking through the warped space, aiming for his throat.

 Chapter 26: Ch24. Goodbye, for now...

    <h4>Chapter 26: Ch24. Goodbye, for now...</h4>


    The cracking sound of the scythe connecting with the Rabbit''s watch reverberated through the greenhouse like a thunderp. Miles gritted his teeth as a shockwave of energy exploded outward, shattering what remained of the ss walls and sending him staggering back.


    The Rabbit let out a guttural, otherworldly scream, as the scythe''s energy flowed from the watch to its body like an infection, its form convulsing as the shattered watch fell from its grip. Dark cracks spread across its body like spiderwebs, glowing with dark, pulsating energy.


    "You... insufferable brat!" The Rabbit roared, its voice distorted andyered, as if multiple beings were speaking through it at once. It wed at the cracks spreading across its chest, where shards of the broken watch embedded themselves, pulsing erratically.


    Miles stood his ground, his body trembling from exhaustion, but he refused to give in. The scythe hummed in his grip, the dark energy coiling around the de intensifying as if sensing the Rabbit''s imminent demise.


    "This is it," Miles muttered, his voice hoarse. He raised the scythe, the weapon feeling heavier now, not from its weight but from the sheer force it emanated. "You''re done, Rabbit."


    The Rabbit''s eyes burned brighter, its body twisting and elongating into something even more grotesque. Gears jutted out at odd angles, its fur disintegrating into metallic shards that floated around it like a storm of des. The remains of the pocket watch fused into its chest, beating like a corrupted heart.


    "Do you think you''ve won?" It hissed, taking a step forward. The ground trembled beneath its weight, and the fractured reality around them began to ripple violently. "Even if you kill me, Wondend will devour you. Just like it devoured her!"


    Miles tilted his head as the Rabbit repeated itself. It was not the same cing of words it had used before, but as the Rabbit spoke, it distorted, as though something was interfering with it, like a bug. Or...


    ''A glitch?'' Miles didn''t flinch. Instead, he shifted his stance, nting his feet firmly as he prepared for one final strike. The scythe in his hands pulsed, its dark energy ring like a roaring me.


    "Whatever, let''s find out!" he said, a suspicious, grim smile forming beneath his mask.


    The Rabbit roared, lunging at him with ws outstretched. Time itself seemed to shatter as it moved, distortions rippling through the air in chaotic waves. But Miles didn''t falter. He waited, his gaze locked on the Rabbit''s exposed core, where the broken remnants of the watch pulsed weakly.


    In a single, fluid motion, Miles surged forward, the scythe carving a path through the fractured air, almost feeling like it was moving on its own. The dark energy around the de coalesced into a brilliant, shadowy arc as he brought it down with all his strength.


    The strikended, cleaving through the Rabbit''s chest and shattering the corrupted core. A deafening explosion of light and sound engulfed the greenhouse, and Miles was thrown backward, the impact mming him into the ground, coughing a mouthful of blood.


    When the light faded, the Rabbit was gone. Only a swirling vortex of shattered gears and dissipating energy remained, slowly dissolving into nothingness.


    Milesy on his back, gasping for air as the scythe''s hum faded into silence. His entire body ached, every muscle screaming in protest, but a wave of relief washed over him as the system''s familiar voice echoed in his mind.


    [You killed a Monster ¨C Clockwork Rabbit.]


    [Additional Rewards Granted for Completing Hidden Quest Objectives.]


    [Quest Completed: The Rabbit''s Gambit.]


    [You have received: ??? EXP; Wondend''s Key; Clockwork Rabbit''s Piece ¨C Gear; Clockwork Rabbit''s Piece ¨C Core; Clockwork Rabbit''s Essence]


    Miles felt a surge of energy course through him, and the pain in his body momentarily dulled.


    "Ah... I missed this feeling." Miles sighed as the system continued speaking:


    [You leveled up]


    The words hung in his mind, and for a moment, he couldn''t help butugh weakly.


    "Finally..."


    "You deserve it, my boy." Cheshire purred quietly in his mind. "Now, what?"


    Miles forced himself to sit up despite the protests of his battered body feeling the air crackle.


    In front of him, the air shimmered, and a glowing portal began to form, its edges swirling with vibrant hues of blue, green, and gold.


    "Now, we go home..." Miles answered, staring at the gateway. It looked otherworldly, almost inviting, but he felt a pang of unease as he gazed into its depths.


    "Well, my boy, it seems your time in Wondend is at an end, for now..." Cheshire''s voice broke through his thoughts, the familiar grin spreading through Mils'' thoughts.


    "Yeah," Miles whispered. "For now..."


    "You earned your escape, my boy. Take it while you can." Cheshire chuckled softly.


    Miles stood, gripping the scythe for support as he limped toward the portal. Each step felt like a monumental effort, the leveling up serving only to heal his wounds, but the pain was still there. However, the glowing gateway seemed to pull him forward, beckoning him with its soft hum.


    @@novelbin@@


    Before stepping through, he paused, ncing back at the shattered remnants of the greenhouse. The fight had left the area in ruins, the once ruined greenhouse now even more broken and deste.


    Only Alice''s tomb stood there, delicate and at the same time imposing, like an evesting memory.


    "See you..." Miles muttered. Then, dismissing the Mad Hatter''s garments with a grim smile, he stepped into the portal.


    As soon as he crossed the threshold, the world around him shifted. The oppressive weight of Wondend lifted, reced by a strange sensation of weightlessness. The portal''s light engulfed him, and the sudden smell of concrete and smoke filled his nostrils.


    The light faded, and Miles found himself bathed in moonlight, standing in the middle of a deserted street. Wrecked cars on fire all around, ruined buildings siding the streets like skeletons of concrete, metal, and ss, and in the distance, the faint sound of monsters roaming across the city.


    He took a deep breath and hid in an alley, cloaking himself underneath the shadows of the tall walls.


    "Ah, it''s good to be home..." He muttered, a small smirk forming beneath his mask.


    Eager to know what was new, he opened his stat window and his inventory window, and as soon as he did, he almost let out a loud yelp.


    <i>End of Volume One - Demented Wondend</i>

 Chapter 29: Ch27. I鈥檓 home

    <h4>Chapter 29: Ch27. I''m home</h4>


    Miles swung his scythe in another horizontal arc, making the Fallen Puppets dash backward in that ragged, uncanny manner of theirs. He stopped his motion as soon as the puppets were distant enough, and looking at Diego, snarled.


    "Not today, freaks..." He took a few quick steps backward and immediately after that, grabbed the frail young man, lifting him on his shoulders.


    With a grunt, Miles sprinted out of the alley, weed to the moonlit street by a small crowd of Goblins.


    "Oh, really?"


    Scoffing, Miles dashed forward, swirling his scythe left and right as the Creatures lunged at him, only to be shredded and split by the deadly weapon.


    Feeling the ever so slight trickle of experience points pour down on his soul, Miles ran, all the while shing and cutting through the enemies until there was nothing but silence and bloody corpses behind him. Miles did not stop running, though, breathing heavily until he arrived in front of the apartment building where he lived, the ghostly green [Safety Zone] sign illuminating the street below.


    "Okay, what now...?" Miles stammered, cing Diego carefully on the floor.


    The young man''s breathing was ragged and erratic, his skin almost as cold and pale as a corpse. He had to think fast if he did not want Diego to die in his arms.


    "Come on, think, think..." Miles panted, his own breathing as erratic as Diego''s. "THINK, GODDAMNIT!"


    @@novelbin@@


    He opened his inventory, looking suspiciously at one specific item.


    "Can this work in anyone else, other than me?" Miles grumbled, but summoned it anyway. "Well, let''s see if this works..."


    Diego would either die from his wounds or from the [Ether Teapot]''s fragrant tea, in the worst-case scenario. This only meant that, without any healing potions or a way to wake Diego up for him to check his own inventory in search of said potions, the [Ether Teapot] was Miles'' only choice.


    "Here goes nothing..." Miles muttered, cold sweat trickling down his forehead beneath the mask, as the teapot that once belonged to the Mad Hatter materialized from a whirlwind of bright sparks.


    The crystal teapot gleamed against the eerily ghostly green light cast by the safety sign, faintly diffused as it lit the street outside the ss entrance door of the building, and as soon as it finished materializing, Miles poured the fragrant, colorful liquid into the cup that came along with it.


    "Here, drink this, slowly." Miles whispered, pouring the liquid from the cup into Diego''s unmoving mouth.


    Some of it ran down Diego''s chin, but not enough for Miles to care.


    One second, two seconds, three, Miles counted, but nothing happened.


    "FOR FUCK''S SAKE!" Miles got up and kicked the wall, feeling tears run down his face, his muffled voice echoing through the small lobby''s walls, leaving a small crack in the concrete. However, before he could turn around, a sudden bright gleam of light drew his attention.


    Turning towards the direction the gleam wasing from, he saw Diego''s body covered by the golden light.


    Each wound, from the slightest of the bruises to the deepest of gashes were slowly closing, and the color was returning to his cheeks. Even his breathing was bing steadier by the second.


    Miles sighed in deep relief as he watched the miraculous scene unfold in front of him, and after a few seconds, Diego was fast asleep, his dark brown hair falling on his forehead, slick with sweat, but his chest was rising and falling steadily, allowing Miles'' heart to calm its beating in Miles'' chest.


    "Oh, gods... I almost had a heart attack..." He muttered, chuckling, as he took Diego and threw him over his shoulders.


    Frowning, Miles got up the stairs, shaking his head.


    "Who would''ve thought that doubling the stats and level would make lifting weight so easy..." He chuckled, barely feeling the soreness in his muscles from the fight against the Rabbit.


    A couple minutester, he was at his apartment''s door, a brown, simple wooden door with the number 315 etched to it in a metal te. Inhaling deeply, he opened the door, and crossed the threshold.


    The apartment stood in stark contrast to the chaos of the city outside, a bubble of order in a world crumbling into ruin. The space was surprisingly neat, almost untouched by the destruction that had consumed the rest of the building.


    The walls, while faded, bearing faint scorch marks and w gashes in ces, were clean and free of debris. A soft amber glow filled the room, cast by abination of LED lights salvaged from abandoned stores and powered by a makeshift sr panel setup on the roof. The lighting gave the apartment a warm, lived-in feeling, despite the stark reality of the world outside.


    The furniture was sparse but functional, each piece carefully chosen and maintained. A sturdy wooden table sat in the center of the living area, its surface polished and covered with a map of the city marked with careful annotations. Safe routes, danger zones, andmon quest areas that respawned every once in a while.


    Nearby, a small couch with patched-up upholstery rested against the wall, nked by a bookshelf holding a modest collection of books, their spines worn but carefully arranged, alongside an assortment of trinkets. Apass, an old wristwatch, and a small figurine of a knight, its paint chipped but still standing proud.


    There was another non-utilitarian piece of decoration, aside from the knightly figure on the bookshelf.


    Framed by neatly carved frames, the portrait in it stood as a memento of forgotten days, when the world was nicer and kinder, and Miles had only one care in the world, to be a famous streamer, even though he sucked quite bad at it.


    Miles walked to his room, opened the door, and observed his safe haven for a couple seconds before cing Diego on the bed, covered with neatly folded nkets and a single, brightly colored quilt that seemed almost out of ce, a relic of a brighter time.


    After checking if Diego was really okay, Miles returned to the living room and stood in front of the bookshelf, looking at the portrait that carried a simple, tattered ck strip of cloth tied to it. The picture portrayed a man and a woman, both in their mid tote forties, with bright smiles on their faces, as they hugged a small child between them.


    "Mom, dad..." Miles whispered. "I''m home."

 Chapter 32: Ch30. Reminiscence

    <h4>Chapter 32: Ch30. Reminiscence</h4>


    Diego sat at the edge of the bed, his hands trembling as he held a damp cloth against Miles'' forehead. The faint amber light from the salvaged LED strips cast a soft glow over the room, but it did little to ease the gnawing anxiety twisting in Diego''s stomach.


    Miles had been convulsing only moments ago, his body writhing violently before going limp. Now, hey still, his chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths. Diego swallowed hard, brushing a lock of sweat-dampened hair from his friend''s face.


    "You''re okay now, big bro..." Diego whispered, more to himself than to Miles. His voice shook as he wrung out the cloth in a small basin of water beside the bed. "You''re going to be fine. You <i>have</i> to be fine..."


    The quiet hum of the apartment was a stark contrast to the chaos that had unfolded just hours ago. Diego''s mind reyed the scene in the alley.


    The glowing green eyes, the disjointed movements of the Fallen Puppets, and the shes of Miles'' frantic charge into battle. Or so it seemed, while Diego was drifting between consciousness and the cold embrace of death.


    It was reckless, stupid even. But it was also... Pure Miles.


    Diego''s lips pressed into a thin line as he looked down at his friend.


    "You''re always acting like you''re invincible," Diego''s voice was tinged with frustration. "But you''re not, big bro... You''re just..."


    He trailed off, shaking his head.


    ncing at the makeshift clock on the wall, its hands cobbled together from scavenged parts, Diego looked out the window.


    The faint light of morning filtered through the ss. The city outside was deceptively calm, but Diego knew better. The monsters were soon going to start popping up here and there, and the game would start issuing quests to the yers.


    With a deep sigh, Diego sat back, his mind drifting to the past.


    It had been a little more than three months since Diego had be a yer. Back then, he was just a kid trying to survive in a world that had crumbled just when it was supposed to give everyone a chance for new beginnings.


    The day <i>The Glitch</i> descended upon Earth was still vivid in his memory. The people counting down, waiting for the new year to ascend on the horizon, and then the screams, a kaleidoscope of fire, and chaos.


    The strange holographic notification came first, hovering in the sky like a high-tech sign of the end of times. Only that people did not know it back then.


    [Updating home-world 39515''s version]


    [Version 20.25 update brings a lot of fun and games with the new and improved survival mode]


    [Do you want to convert your previous avatar to home-world 39515''stest version?]


    [Yes] [No]


    Then, the monsters came, tearing through the city like an unstoppable force, the system shing across the skies like a sick joke as people screamed and died gruesomely all around.


    Huddled in the ruins of a grocery store, clutching a rusted kitchen knife and praying to gods he wasn''t sure existed, Diego pressed [Yes], unsure of what was going on, knowing only that the world had changed, somehow, and survival meant fighting back.


    <i>The Glitch</i> didn''t give him a choice. When the system prompted him to be a yer, he hesitated, his finger hovering over the translucent screen. But then he heard the guttural growl of a Beast closing in, barging through the store''s door, and fear made the decision for him.


    [Congrattions! You have now be a yer.]


    [Your avatar''s data has been sessfully converted.]


    [Your current ss is: Novice]


    [yer level: 01]


    He''d barely survived his first fight, a scrawny kid going up against a bloodthirsty goblin, holding nothing but a rusted knife. The scars on his arm were a permanent reminder of that day.


    But Diego had survived. And over time, he learned.


    It was just a week after the game had begun, that he met Miles.


    Diego smiled faintly at the memory, his eyes softening as he looked at the unconscious brotherly figure before him.


    @@novelbin@@


    Miles hade crashing into his life like a hurricane, full of energy and determination that feltpletely at odds with the bleak, dark world they now lived in.


    Diego had been hiding in the rubble of an old electronics store, nursing a sprained ankle and convinced he was going to die, when Miles appeared out of nowhere, wielding an oversized crowbar and yelling something about <i>"teaching those bastards a lesson."</i>


    It had been a group of goblins that time, led by a huge troll, and Miles had dispatched them with an efficiency that seemed almost cocky.


    When thest goblin fell, he turned to Diego with a grin that lit up his entire face.


    "Hey, kid," He said, offering Diego a hand. "You good?"


    Diego stared at him, dumbfounded, before finally nodding between sobs.


    From that moment on, Miles had be a constant in his life. A protector, a mentor, and a brother. He had taught Diego how to fight, how to navigate the city''s treacherous ruins, and most importantly, how to keep going even when it felt impossible.


    Until Miles vanished with nothing but a few words about some sort of hidden quest, saying that he would be back in no time, and if Diego would, please, take care of his apartment for him.


    But now, as Diego looked at Miles'' still form, he couldn''t shake the fear gnawing at his chest.


    He reached for the damp cloth again, dabbing it against Miles'' forehead. The fever seemed to have broken, but his skin was still mmy, his breathing shallow. Diego''s gaze flicked to the system notifications hovering faintly in his peripheral vision.


    [Skill: Swift Healing ¨C Level 03]


    [Skill Description: Allows the yer to heal minor wounds, both external and internal]


    And yet, the skill did not seem to have any effect on Miles.


    He thought back to the fight against the Fallen Puppets, the way Miles had thrown himself into the fray without hesitation. It wasn''t the first time Miles had done something like that to protect him, and Diego knew it wouldn''t be thest.


    But this time felt different.


    Why was his skill not working on Miles?


    A soft groan broke through his thoughts, and Diego''s heart leaped into his throat.


    "Miles?"


    The older boy stirred, his eyelids fluttering as he let out another groan. His hand twitched, fingers curling slightly before he finally opened his eyes.


    "Diego...?" Miles'' voice was weak, barely above a whisper, but it was enough to send a wave of relief crashing over Diego.


    "You''re awake!" Diego eximed, his face breaking into a wide smile. He leaned closer, his eyes scanning Miles'' face for any signs of lingering distress. "How do you feel?"


    "Like I got hit by a truck," Miles muttered, his voice hoarse. He blinked slowly, his gaze drifting around the room before settling on Diego. "What happened?"


    "I don''t know. One moment you were fine like daylight, and the other, you just... Copsed." Diego''s smile faded into a frown. "You were shaking and... I thought..." He shook his head, swallowing hard. "You scared the hell out of me, big bro..."


    "Sorry..." Miles'' lips twitched into a faint smile. "Didn''t mean to freak you out."


    He pushed himself up into sitting up, groaning as he leaned against the headboard. His movements were slow, his body clearly protesting against the smallest effort.


    "You need to rest." Diego said, cing a hand on Miles'' shoulder to steady him.


    "I''ll be fine." Miles'' voice strained, unconvincing. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before focusing.


    "What in the...?" Miles'' expression shifted from confusion to shock, and then to utter disbelief.


    "What''s wrong?" Diego leaned over, furrowing his brow.


    Miles didn''t respond immediately, his gaze fixed on what could only be the system window.


    "I''m..." Miles swallowed hard, his voice barely audible. "I''m back at level one."

 Chapter 34: Ch32. Faint suspicion

    <h4>Chapter 34: Ch32. Faint suspicion</h4>


    Miles felt a shiver run down his spine. It was not just the cold, fetid damp breezeing from the heart of the sewers, it was the utter exhaustion that felt like every drop of energy had been drained from him as he looked at his stats window with a bewildered expression.


    [Name: Miles Thorn]


    [Affiliation: None]


    [Level: 01]


    [sspect: Harbinger of The End]


    [Attributes: Ender''s Essence]


    [Skills: Weapons Proficiency (Scythe) ¨C Level 03; Resilience ¨C Level 03; Focus ¨C Level 03]


    [Strength: 08]


    [Agility: 03]


    [Dexterity: 04]


    [Perception: 10]


    [Intelligence: 15]


    [Inventory: Scorching Rune; Harbinger''s Scythe; Ether Teapot; Cheshire''s Gleam; Desert Rain; Wondend''s Key; Clockwork Rabbit''s Piece ¨C Gear; Clockwork Rabbit''s Piece ¨C Core; Clockwork Rabbit''s Essence]


    [Synergy: Wondend Madness; God Hunter]


    "At least nothing else has changed..." Miles sighed, leaning his head against the wall.


    After a moment of ufortable silence, Miles heard a sonorous growl, and Diego stood up with a start.


    "What was that?" Diego raised his knives. "Did we not justplete the quest?"


    "We did." Miles chuckled faintly. "Do you, by any chance, have anything to eat in your inventory? I kinda... Got too worried about everything else, and forgot to eat. I''m starving..."


    Diego looked at Miles with a deadpan expression, then let out a sigh that was half exasperation, half ridiculed amusement, and answered, opening his inventory.


    "And then you call <i>me</i> dimwit." He chuckled. "Yes, I do have something to eat, if you don''t mind the sorted vored crackers of the [Novice Ration Pack]."


    Miles frowned at Diego, scoffing.


    "Of course, I don''t mind, but... Isn''t your level a bit high for you to cling to Novice''s food?" He chuckled.


    "Yeah, but..." Diego grimaced as he saw Miles''s body tremble with a shakyugh, making him pout. "What? I like them!"


    Miles just shook his head as Diego summoned the silver stic packs that contained the crackers, opened one, and shoved it into his mouth.


    "Oh, I''m not in the mood for sweets in the morning, but this strawberry vor isn''t bad at all." He smiled. "Brings back memories..."


    What Miles did not say was that the memories the vor brought were of struggle, blood, sweat, and tears. But the bitterness of those memories grounded him, and after a few more crackers ¨C blueberry, barbecue, and cheese ¨C he summoned the [Desert Rain].


    "Come here, you must be thirsty." He gestured towards Diego, who tilted his head at the cactus. "You''ll understand when you see what it does.


    Diego''s eyes widened in absolute stupefaction as soon as the small torrent of water poured in his open mouth, and Miles exined what the item was about, soon after satiating his own greedy thirst.


    After getting enough rest, they walked back to Miles'' apartment in heavy silence and sat on the couch, both of them deep in thought.


    A whileter, Diego broke the silence.


    "Any idea of what is resetting your level?" He sighed.


    "One." Miles tapped his fingers on the couch''s tattered fabric. "But it''s only a suspicion for now. I need to run at least a few more tests."


    "We''re not going out for farming experience points." Diego''s voice was eerily serious, his brown eyes shooting res at Miles. "At least not until you get enough rest to fully recover from whatever happened earlier."


    "Your call, boss!" Miles'' eyes widened at his friend. "God damnit... So tough you look like a veteran yer!" Heughed, holding Diego in a soft headlock and messing with his hair.


    "Argh! Stop it! Argh! I yield, I yield!" Diego shouted,ughing.


    They ate some more, drank some more, cleaned themselves, and slept. Miles let Diego stay on the bed, while he slept on the couch. When they woke up, the sun was already on itsst mile towards the horizon, the sky painted with shades of pink, red, and covering the world with its gradual dark-blue.


    ***


    Diego stepped into the room, freshly cleaned, holding another one of the [Novice Ration Pack] crackers in his hand.


    "You were out for hours..." Diego said, tossing the wrapper into the small trash can near the door. "Feeling any better?"


    Miles stretched his arms above his head as he sat up on the couch, the stiff cushions groaning in protest. The apartment was quiet, save for the faint hum of the LED lights and the asional distant roar of a monster outside. He blinked at the fading light filtering through the cracks in the curtains, signaling the day''s end.


    "A lot." He replied, rolling his shoulders. "The couch is a bit rough, but I needed the rest."


    "That''s what you get for letting me take the bed." Diego scoffed.


    "It''s called being an older brother, snothead. Look it up sometime." Miles grinned, leaning back against the couch.


    Diego crossed his arms, pouting as he studied his friend. Miles'' usual confident demeanor had returned, but there was still an underlying tension in his movements, a shadow of the earlier events lingering just beneath the surface.


    "So," Diego broke the silence, taking a seat on the edge of the map table. "What''s this suspicion of yours? What''s resetting your level?"


    @@novelbin@@


    Miles sighed, running a hand through his hair.


    "I think it has something to do with my equipment." He retorted grimly. "I was at level twenty when I came back from... From my hidden quest, but then, I went straight back to one after I sent the equipment back to the inventory. Then, I was at level two, back in the sewers, leveled up to six, and dropped back to one, as soon as I unequipped the items."


    "What do you mean, you leveled up from two to six back in the sewers?" Diego grimaced, scratching the back of his head." Weren''t you at level one?"


    Miles'' scratched the back of his head in return, looking at Diego with an inscrutable expression for a few seconds. When he broke the silence, though, there was a strange gleam of bitter nostalgia in his voice as he spoke.


    "Well, that''s the thing, isn''t it?" Miles smiled sheepishly. "Do you want to hear a story?"


    Diego tilted his head, nodding.


    "But I need you to keep it a secret from the other yers, okay?"


    He then began telling his friend about his adventures in the ethereal woods, and how it led him to nowhere else than Wondend.

 Chapter 37: Ch35. Meeting

    <h4>Chapter 37: Ch35. Meeting</h4>


    When day broke, Miles and Diego woke up, washed themselves, and had a meager breakfast. While they munched at the [Novice Pack Rations] randomly-vored crackers, though, Diego broke the silence.


    "I went to sleep curious about what you saidst night, but... What did you mean by ''you have a n and a theory about the farming spot?" Diego''s voice was slightly muffled by the mouthful of crackers, his expression serious and focused as he looked at the silvery wrap.


    "It''s rude to eat with your mouth open, Dee. Let alone speak..." Miles scolded. Diego''s eyes turned down a little, and Miles continued. "I meant what I meant about what I said. I don''t want to give you any false hopes, so how about we talk about it after the meeting?"


    "Hm..." Diego nodded. "That''s fine by me."


    "Dee..." Miles frowned, opening one more wrap, and breaking one cracker in three parts.


    "Sorry..." Diego pouted.


    "Do you want toe out and try some, Cheshire?" Miles nudged the cat in his mind.


    Cheshire materialized from a whirlwind of bright blue sparks, almost making Diego fall back from his chair as he yelped.


    "Sure, why not?" Cheshire grinned, looking at Diego. "Good morning, little one. I see you''re still on edge with me..." He chuckled.


    This time, though, Diego chewed, drank some water from a canteen, and only then spoke.


    "I''m sorry, Ches-Chesh..." He mumbled, looking apologetically to the bluish ethereal cat. "Can I call you Chess?" He smiled sheepishly. "It''s easier."


    "Go ahead, my boy." Miles looked at Cheshire, and it looked like the cat''s grin had softened a little bit, although still unnaturallyrge. "I won''t bite or anything, just so you know. I like you."


    "Y-you do?" Diego''s eyes widened a little. "Thanks... And sorry about being on edge with you... Chess. It''s just that it''s... Still a little bit too much, you know? I thought Wondend belonged only to fairy tales..."


    @@novelbin@@


    Cheshire chuckled, and just shook his head while looking intently at one of the pieces that Miles held between his fingers.


    "It''s liver..." Miles grimaced. "Personally, I find it disgusting, but I hate wasting food, so, I hope you like it..."


    "Hm... Let''s hope I do, then." Cheshire frowned, his grin curling downward as he sniffed the cracker. Cheshire''s pupil, narrow as slits before, went wide as a single drop of drool went down the corner of his agape mouth. "What... What is this divine smell I''m feeling?" And it chomped on it, almost biting Miles'' hand off.


    Both Miles and Diego gasped as they saw Cheshire munching on the cracker and swallowing it in less than a second.


    "Do you have more of these?" Cheshire''s grin became a pout. After a pause, Miles chuckled, and Diego hesitated for a bit, then scratched behind the cat''s ears.


    "Can you find it through its scent?" Diego smiled sheepishly, summoning all [Novice Pack Rations] from his inventory. "It''s... Kind of random, so it''s hard for us to know."


    Miles'' eyes widened in shock as he saw the pile of silver wraps that upied almost the entire table. A momentter, Cheshire jumped and took a dive into the pile, making him choke on his water as heughed.


    "I guess we have our answer..." Milesughed at the purring Cheshire, as Diego watched the cat swimming through the silvery pile and grabbing one every once in a while.


    After having eaten enough, Cheshire went back into Miles'' inventory, leaving him and Diego to go out for the meeting.


    As they left the apartment building, the morning light hit them as they saw other yers walking in the same direction as them, toward the main square, downtown.


    A couple of minutes of walkingter, they were almost there. The streets were overly crowded, and Miles felt an inexplicable sense of unease. It was not like there were any monsters lurking around, or at least not that Miles had noticed ¨C he was unsure of his senses now since his perception stat had dropped when he went back to level one, although it was still quite higher than his physical stats.


    But the feeling was there, he was sure of it.


    Despite the destruction, the main downtown square still held a strange sense of grandeur. It had once been a thriving hub, with towering corporate buildings and bustling streets filled with people. Now, the center of the square was dominated by the ruins of an old monument, its statue long since shattered, leaving behind only a crumbling pedestal.


    As they neared the square, Miles took note of the yers already gathered, most of them equipped for battle, their eyes sharp with anticipation. Some were powerful yers, their armor pieced together from high-level monster drops, their weapons gleaming with enchantments. Others were newer yers, d in scavenged drops, their hands gripping basic weapons with the nervous energy of those who knew they were outmatched but had no other choice.


    A group of three heavily armored warriors stood near the monument''s ruins, their insignias marking them as members of the Union Guild. One of them, a broad-shouldered man with a scar running down the side of his face, was sharpening a massive great sword, his eyes scanning the crowd. Nearby, a cluster of robed figures whispered among themselves, their staffs adorned with glowing runes. They belonged to the Sakura Guild, known for their specialization in magic, along with their unnaturally sharp Japanese swordsmanship and martial arts.


    Miles'' eyes flickered toward them, the excitement and anxiety so evident that he could only think that something big was about to happen.


    At the heart of the gathering, two figures stood apart from the rest, their mere presence demanding attention.


    ''Fuck... So that''s why I was feeling so ufortable...'' Miles thought, gritting his teeth. "Dee, why didn''t you tell me that <i>she</i> would be here?"


    "You probably wouldn''t havee, and you can feel it, right?" Diego nudged him with an elbow. "Something big is about to happen."


    "Yeah... I can feel it..." Miles retorted, his mood growing darker.


    Sarissa Andreadis, the leader of the Union Guild, was a tall young woman with an imposing presence. Red wavy hair, green eyes, freckled white skin, her armor was a mix of ted steel and reinforced leather, adorned with trophies from past battles, from wed gauntlets to a fur-lined mantle from some great beast.


    The insignia of her guild was carved into her breastte, painted in blood red. Her red hair was pulled into a tight braid, and her sharp, calcting eyes scanned the yers with the precision of a battlefieldmander.


    Beside her stood Hinata Shinji, the enigmatic leader of the Sakura Guild.


    Unlike Sarissa, whose strength was apparent at a nce, Shinji carried himself with an effortless grace that made it difficult to pinpoint just how dangerous he truly was. Dressed in a sleek ck and violet robe adorned with intricate silver embroidery, he exuded an air of quiet control. His katana, resting against his hip, was sheathed in an obsidian scabbard, the hilt wrapped in dark silk. His jet-ck hair fell loosely around his face, partially obscuring his piercing dark brown eyes.


    As Miles and Diego drew closer, stopping a few meters from thest line of yers, Sarissa stepped forward, her voice cutting through the murmurs of the assembled yers like a de.


    Her eyes scanned the crowed, immediately falling on Miles, and with a disdainful expression, she raised her hand, making the murmurs cease as she spoke, her eyes never leaving Miles''.


    "You''re a disgrace to <i>The Glitch</i>."

 Chapter 39: Ch37. You don鈥檛 mean...

    <h4>Chapter 39: Ch37. You don''t mean...</h4>


    ''The [World Quest]...''


    Miles had heard about it from a few yers he had farmed with before leaving for his own quest, and they had told him that it was nothing but an urban legend.


    "... But if any of it has even a little bit of truth in it, it might be the way to clear the game." One of them said, before resuming their duties and disbanding to never be seen again.


    Miles had dismissed the information, thinking it had nothing to do with him. After all, who needed urban legends in a world where monsters appeared out of nowhere to snatch you and tear you to pieces?


    @@novelbin@@


    But there was Sarissa, standing before them, speaking those three words that shook the whole crowd as if they all believed it.


    "Tsk..." Miles exhaled, turning around to leave. "I don''t have time for some urban legend bullshit."


    But Diego pulled him by his sleeve, looking at him with a strange glint of determination in his eyes.


    "Please, big bro... Let''s just hear her out."


    "Just this once..." Miles huffed, turning back toward the ruined monument in front of which the guild leader stood.


    "Like I said before, something changed in the <i>Glith</i>''s dynamics, and for some reason, more powerful monsters, the [Fallen Puppets], started to appear. Not only at the city borders but also here. The problem is that they onlye out at night, which makes it imperative that weak yers remain in the [Safe Zones] during that time since it became even harder to hunt in the city grounds at thatte hour.


    Me and Shinji here, decided to make the Monster Manual avable to everyone because we need as many capable yers as possible. Not only to help keep the more powerful monsters that <i>will</i> appear more frequently from now on, but also because I received solid information about the world Quest."


    All yers looked hooked on Sarissa''s words, even Miles, who begrudgingly listened to her, holding the urge to bite his fingers as she kept speaking.


    "Yesterday, I reached level fifty." Miles'' eyes went wide and the yers around whispered in pure disbelief of her words. "And as soon as the system notified me of my level up, a different window popped up in front of me. A window that said [You have met the requirements to unlock the World Quest]."


    Miles began to shake ever so slightly, holding his hand to suppress it, his heart suddenly beating faster as he recalled the yer''s words back then.


    <i>"... But if any of it has even a little bit of truth in it, it might be the way to clear the game."</i>


    ''So it''s true...?"


    "Does it mean we can finally go back to our normal lives?" A male yer in mage robes voiced Miles'' thoughts by his side.


    "What does the Quest is about?" Another yer asked out loud.


    "Yes! Tell us, guild leader!"


    "Yes, tell us!"


    It was an uproar, but Miles simply stood there, faintly trembling as he could not take his eyes off of Sarissa.


    "So this is what being strong means, then..." He muttered to himself. But before he could think of anything else, Sarissa hit her sheath on the floor again, and everyone fell silent once more, looking sat her with renewed expectation.


    "It''s only a piece of information about where to find the first hidden piece." She tilted her head slightly. "But that''s the main reason why I need you all to grow stronger. Because even if I disclose this intel with you right now, you won''t be able to search for the piece, because you need to reach at least level fifty to have a chance at unlocking your Unique ss. And only through achieving it, you will be able to acquire ess to one of the ces where the piece might be hidden."


    What had be excitement about the possibility of clearing the game, had now be utter disappointment, with the yers looking down at their hands and gear, and back at Sarissa, clear question marks written on their faces.


    ''You guys are really looking up to her for answers...?'' Miles scoffed inwardly. "Let''s go, Dee. We need to get moving."


    "But, big bro-" Diego looked up at him with a question in his eyes, but before he could finish speaking, Miles retorted.


    "You heard her." Miles grinned. "We need to reach level fifty if we want to be able to reach it. Besides..." His grin widened. "She said something really interesting, but here isn''t the ce for us to talk about it, so let''s just go for now."


    They left the main square under the yers'' shouts and protests towards Sarissa, and Miles was not in the mood to see what trick the guild leader was going to pull up from her sleeve to keep control over the crowd. So, after a long and quiet, thoughtful walk, they arrived back at his apartment building, now slightly more bustling with life as some other yers who lived there went in and out with their daily runs, with the sun almost in the middle of the sky.


    Inside the apartment, Diego sat by the map table, while Miles sat on the couch.


    "Shit!" He banged on the couch''s arm, startling Diego, who almost fell from his chair. "I forgot to get the Manual!"


    "Oh, you almost gave me a heart attack, you asshole!" Diego chuckled. "We already have it."


    "What? How?" Miles frowned, tilting his head at his best friend.


    "You''re not going to like it, but you remember Shinji, who was by Sarissa''s side, right?" Miles nodded. "He''s a very powerful yer who specializes not only in closebat, but also in spycraft, and it was said that he has a skill that allows him to take or ce anything in a yer''s inventory..."


    Miles looked at Diego with a deadpan expression.


    "It exins how he became a guild leader, then... But, how did-" He cut himself mid-sentence. "Oh... He ced the Monster Manual in our inventories before anyone could leave..."


    Miles got up and went to the window.


    "He''s a yer we should keep wary of, then... And so should Sarissa..." She chuckled, his mood suddenly improving significantly. "Now, I wish I stayed, to see her face after she knew that the manuals had already been delivered... It''s be <i>priceless</i>."


    "You''re terrible, big bro." Diegoughed.


    "She deserves it." Miles sighed. "One day I''ll wipe that smug expression off her face..."


    "I don''t think that it will happen, my boy." Cheshire said, suddenly materializing from a whirlwind of bright blue sparks. "And even if it does happen, I don''t think I''ll be able to allow you to."


    "First of all," Miles frowned at the cat,nguidly stretching on the couch "how did you leave the inventory if I didn''t summon you? Secondly, what do you mean by that?"


    "I''m not your item, remember?" Cheshire purred. "I <i>chose</i> toe with you because of our agreement." The cat''s voice became slightly grim. "And I meant that I won''t be able to help you wipe that<i> smug</i> off of her face... Because of our agreement."


    Miles immediately recalled the deal he made with Cheshire, back in Wondend.


    "No..." Miles turned around, his heart suddenly beating in his throat. "You don''t mean-"


    "Yes." Cheshire cut Miles mid-sentence. "That girl is the one I''ve been looking for, all this time."

 Chapter 43: Ch41. Miles

    <h4>Chapter 43 - Ch41. Miles</h4>


    Everything happened so fast ¨C from the moment when the masked man raised his weapon to when the portal appeared ¨C that it almost looked like he had summoned it himself. The yers around all froze on the spot, confused, but when the portal opened, and the monsters began pouring out like a heinous river...


    Then, the yers began running, screaming. Some took up arms and tried to fight back, but they were no match for the creatures.


    However, those were monsters Sarissa had never seen before. A mixture of metal and flesh, gears clicking and turning inside them, visible through a few cracks in their metallic parts. Some were humanoid, while others were beastly, but none of them had a face, all towering above the exquisite masked figure by a few heads. And yet, he fought them no matter how many came at him.


    ''What the...'' Sarissa''s jaw was ck as she observed. Her instincts screamed at her to join the fray, to get her hands bloody, but something else was telling her otherwise.


    The masked young man fought with supernatural grace, his scythe describing arcs in such frightening speed that she was sure to be one of the very few ¨C if not the only one ¨C who was able to follow his movements.


    The scythe flew up and down, diagonally, horizontally, the masked figure used both its de and its hilt to strike and defend, dodging, blocking, evading, slicing, dicing, attacking like there was no tomorrow. And she was sure that, if he ever failed at keeping even one of those monsters at bay, it would certainly be the end.


    Sarissa felt more and more mesmerized by the dark grace of the masked figure''s movements and his deadly, beautiful fighting style, to a degree that, when she got back to her senses, she had to close her mouth, fighting against the strange shiver that ran down and up her spine, screaming at her to not join the fight.


    Which she did.


    She took a slow breath, steadying herself against the strange wave of hesitation that threatened to root her in ce. The battle raged before her, a chaotic storm of steel and flesh, blood and oil, as the masked figure carved through the monstrous horde with a precision that was borderline inhuman. His movements were relentless and restless, unstoppable, a seamless dance of death, with the scythe being but a mere extension of his body.


    But he wasn''t enough. Not alone.


    He was human, which meant that, sooner orter, fatigue would settle in, and in arge-scale battle like that, the smallest mistake could cost one''s life.


    Her fingers twitched, fire already crackling at her fingertips before she even made the conscious decision to act. The hesitation was gone. There was only instinct, sharpened by countless regressions, and the hunger that burned deep within her. The hunger for battle, for control, for survival.


    For power.


    Sarissa shot forward like a bullet, her form blurring as she wove through the broken street with practiced ease. She leapt over an overturned car, twisting midair to avoid a lunging, wolf-like machine-beast,nding right beside the masked fighter. She barely spared him a nce before her mes erupted outward in a controlled arc, catching one of therger creatures mid-step.


    The thing shrieked in a metallic screech, gears grinding violently as its flesh burned away, exposing the intricate mechanisms beneath. She didn''t wait to see if it would die. She pivoted, her body moving on autopilot, following the masked man''s rhythm.


    For the first time in gods knew how long, she was not fighting alone.


    The two moved in unison, as if they had trained together for lifetimes. Where his scythe struck, she followed up with a st of her [Mad Fire], her mes filling the gaps in his defenses ¨C even though it seemed that they only appeared now that she joined the fray ¨C forcing the enemies into predictable patterns that he exploited with ruthless efficiency.


    They weaved around each other like twin storms,plementing one another''s strengths without a single word.


    The masked man seemed to acknowledge her presence without surprise. He adjusted his attacks to match hers, creating an unspoken harmony between them, an unrelenting hurricane of destruction that tore through the metal-flesh monstrosities with terrifying precision.


    The other yers, who were breaking apart and running for their lives, hesitated. Then they saw it.


    They saw the two warriors standing against the tide, and something inside them reignited, even though neither Sarissa, nor the masked figure saw it happen.


    A battle cry ripped through the air, and the yers surged forward, no longer retreating in terror but charging with renewed purpose. Mages beganunching coordinated spells, bolts of electricity and cascading icicles mming into the creatures. Fighters and rogues nked the monsters, capitalizing on the openings that Sarissa and the masked young man created in their assault. The battlefield, once a chaotic mess of panic and despair, transformed into a coordinated effort.


    They were winning.


    Sarissa let out a deep breath, her mes roaring brighter as she unleashed a wave of fire that engulfed a massive, four-armed abomination attempting to nk Miles. The heat warped the air, and in the brief glow of the mes, she caught sight of his mask turning toward her.


    Though she couldn''t see his expression, there was an undeniable awareness in his stance, a mutual acknowledgment that neither had expected this to happen, and yet it had.


    They were working <i>together</i>.


    The tide of battle turned swiftly. With thebined might of the reinvigorated yers and the overwhelming force of the two apex warriors leading the charge, the mechanical horrors fell one by one.


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    The once-overwhelming horde was reduced to burning, shattered wrecks littering the battlefield. Thest creature ¨C a towering, insectoid nightmare of steel and sinew ¨C let out a metallic screech before Sarissa''s fire and the masked young man''s scythe cleaved it apart simultaneously, its pieces ttering to the ground like discarded scraps.


    Silence fell over the battlefield, save for the heavy breathing of the surviving yers. The air was thick with the acrid stench of burnt metal and flesh, but they had won.


    The monstrosities were more powerful than the monsters Sarissa was used to fight, but she ¨C they ¨C had won.


    She straightened, her green eyes locking onto the masked figure as he nted his scythe into the ground. His shoulders rose and fell with steady but quiet breaths, and for the first time, he turned to face her fully.


    "Who are you?" Sarissa tilted her head ever so slightly, and the masked young man dismissed his mask, which disappeared in a whirlwind of ck sparks, returning to his inventory.


    "My name is Miles." He smiled, offering a hand. She did not know how, since she could not see his features, but she was sure that there was a smile on his face. "Thanks for the help."