Two days later, somewhere in Substage 0'.
Kai woke up in a cold sweat, his heart racing. He blinked, his vision adjusting to the darkness. He was in his tent, the soft fabric of his bedroll beneath him. The air was cool, and the faint sound of wind rustling outside was soothing.
He let out a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair. It was just a dream—a nightmare.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. In the darkness, he could still see it—the bodies, the blood, the screams of people dying the first day the game arrived.
'I'm still having nightmares about that,' he thought, sitting up. After a moment, he grabbed his jacket and stepped outside.
The night air was cold, and the moon was bright. The camp was quiet, with only the occasional rustle of grass in the wind.
"It's not your turn to keep watch," a voice said.
He turned and saw Tanyia sitting on a log near the edge of the camp. Her arms rested on her knees, and her face was half-hidden in shadow.
"Couldn't sleep," he said, walking over.
She shrugged and gestured to the spot beside her. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Fair enough."
He sat down, the rough bark of the log pressing into his legs. They sat in silence for a while. Kai watched around as if trying to find something to distract him.
Tents were set up in neat rows, and the faint smell of smoke from last night's fire remained a bit.
"Is Ethan still scouting?" Kai asked, breaking the silence.
"I hope he dies on the way," Tanyia said, her voice flat. "He's a creep."
Kai snorted. "Yeah, but he's good at it."
"Doesn't mean I have to like him," she muttered, picking at a loose thread on her sleeve.
Kai didn't argue. They both knew Ethan was useful, even if he was hard to be around.
"Meredith said if Ethan doesn't come back with anything useful, we'll have to pack up and move," Tanyia said after a pause.
Kai nodded, his expression grim. "She's right. We can't stay here forever."
"I know," Tanyia said quietly. She hesitated, then added, "I'm just... a bit scared."
Kai glanced at her, surprised. Tanyia, who always seemed so unshakable, was admitting fear. He remembered vividly how fast she reacted to Meredith's attack when they first met. Even he had been shaken.
"I'm scared too," he admitted, his voice low. "Every day feels like we're one wrong move away from disaster."
Tanyia didn't respond right away. She lowered her head, her fingers absently tracing a scratch on the log. "I miss my mom," she said finally, her voice so soft it was almost lost in the wind.
Kai didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth, then closed it, unsure how to respond to something so raw. Instead, he just sat there quietly, letting her words hang in the air.
"I haven't seen her since the day the game started," Tanyia continued, her voice wavering slightly. "I tried to call her countless times when we were hiding, but... nothing. I don't know if she's alive or dead."
Kai swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "I'm sure she's fine," he said, his tone gentle. "She's probably worried sick about you—"
"I'm not a fool," Tanyia interrupted, her voice sharp but trembling. "I know she's probably dead. Eaten by those fucking man-eating bunnies. She had days to call me before we got pulled into this subspace. Days. And she never did. I just... I can't accept it."
Kai stayed quiet, unsure of what to say. Tanyia's hands clenched into fists, her nails digging into her palms.
"You know," she said after a moment, her voice quieter now, "my father was never in the picture. My mom raised me alone. She worked her ass off to give me the best life possible. And now... now she's gone."
Kai hesitated, then asked softly, "What happened with your dad?"
Tanyia let out a bitter laugh. "He wasn't exactly dad material...My mom cheated on her ex-husband at that time with him, got pregnant, and when my biological father found out, he ghosted her. Just... disappeared. Left her to deal with everything alone."
She paused, her gaze fixed on the ground. "My mom wasn't perfect, and she can only blame herself for what happened, but... She took care of me. Even when I was horrible to her. And I was, for god's sake. I used to mock her and throw her mistakes in her face. I told her she ruined her life, that she ruined mine. And you know what she did? She just... took it. Never yelled back or gave up on me. She just kept trying, kept loving me, even when I didn't deserve it. Sometimes, I could hear her cry at night. Yet I always thought that she merited it."
Tanyia's voice broke, and she buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook, and Kai could see the tears running down her cheeks. "I can't accept the fact that I'll never see her again," she whispered. "I'll never hear her voice, feel her embrace, tell her how much I love her, or tell her that I know how much she did for me. I never even had the chance to apologize."
Kai didn't say anything. No, he couldn't. What could he say? There were no words that could fix this, and there was no way to make it better. So he just sat there, his chest tight, and let her cry.
After a while, Tanyia wiped her face with her sleeve and took a shaky breath. "She wasn't perfect," she said again, her voice steadier now. "But she was my mom. And I... I didn't appreciate her enough."
"Perhaps you... You could try to—" Kai started, hesitating.
Once again, Tanyia cut him off before he could finish. "Revive her? Maybe. But I still don't know if it'd be the right thing to do."
"But why?" Kai asked, his voice quiet.
"Because it'd be selfish," she said, her tone firm but with a hint of sadness. "I wouldn't want her to suffer."
Kai paused, his eyes widening slightly as if Tanyia had just opened them to something he hadn't considered. He nodded slowly.
"Maybe you are right."
Her words stuck with him, unsettling in a way he couldn't quite shake. She's right. It would be selfish to bring people into possibly even more pain—forcing them to endure this cruel Game just because they missed them—it felt wrong.
They sat in silence for a while, the weight of her words hanging in the air.
Suddenly, they both heard footsteps approaching. Kai tensed, his hand moving to the hilt of his sword. Tanyia straightened, her body still as she scanned the darkness.
"Sup, birdies. It's me," a familiar voice said.
Ethan stepped into the moonlight, his figure materializing as if he'd been part of the shadows moments before. His movements were unnervingly quiet, and even now, Kai couldn't shake the unease that came with how easily Ethan could disappear and reappear without warning.
Ethan's gaze lingered on Tanyia and Kai, his sharp eyes scanning them as if he were analyzing every detail or wanting to say something. Yet after a few seconds, he just sighed.
"Did you find something?" Kai asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Ethan replied, his tone flat. "Mind if you gather everyone?"
Tanyia and Kai looked at each other, but neither of them argued. Over the past two days, they'd learned that Ethan was eccentric, but it was best to listen when he was serious.
"I'll go wake the others," Kai said, standing up.
"I'll help," Tanyia added.
Within minutes, the camp was alive with activity. Jade and Ellie emerged from their makeshift tents, rubbing sleep from their eyes but quickly alert as Kai filled them in. Meredith, Marco, and Lena soon joined them.
"...What happened?" Lena spoke for once, her voice low and raspy. Usually, she would be the most quiet.
Ethan didn't answer immediately. His eyes flicked to the forest, where Kai, Tanyia, Jade, and Ellie had come from. He hesitated, as if choosing his words carefully, then said, "Urgh... I am not even sure myself, but I think we're on a timer."
Marco raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Ethan looked at Marco for a moment and answered with an unsure tone, "There's some kind of dark cloud spreading through the forest. It's slow, but it's moving. And it's coming this way."
"A cloud?" Jade repeated, her voice trembling. "What kind?"
"I don't know," Ethan admitted. "But it's not natural. It's... thick, like pure darkness. And noises are coming from it. Growls? Whispers—I couldn't tell what they were, but they didn't sound too...friendly."
Kai's mind raced. The dark cloud, the noises- it all started to click into place. He thought of the quest that had been hanging over them since they arrived.
[QUEST: ESCAPE THE SUB-STAGE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!]
[REWARD: AN ASPECT.]
"If I remember correctly from the book I bought the first day, everything from now on will be a game with rules we have to figure out ourselves," Kai muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
Tanyia frowned, tilting her head slightly. "What are you talking about?"
Kai looked up, meeting her gaze. "What if the dark cloud Ethan saw is some kind of pressure? If we slow down, if we fall behind... we're done. It's like a timer pushing us toward something. And if we don't keep up, we'll be caught in it."
The group fell silent for a moment. Jade bit her lip, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of her sleeve. Ellie stared at the ground, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Even Ethan, usually unreadable, shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Are you sure about this cloud?" Marco demanded, his voice sharp. He crossed his arms, his broad shoulders blocking the moonlight. "Because it sounds like a load of crap. If something like that was out there, we'd have seen it by now."
Kai glanced at Marco. 'Right. Marco and Lena only met Meredith and Ethan a day ago. It's natural for him to be skeptical. But he's not wrong—why haven't we seen it before?'
Meredith didn't flinch. She tilted her head, her translucent eyes glinting faintly in the dark. "We have no reason to lie," she said, her voice calm but firm. "And if you'd rather stay here and find out for yourself, be my guest. But the rest of us are leaving."
Marco's face darkened, but he couldn't argue with Meredith. They don't really have any reason to lie.
Ethan sighed upon seeing Meredith already packing without waiting for anyone. "Still as impatient as ever..." he muttered under his breath.
He turned his attention to Marco and answered, "I didn't see the cloud earlier because it wasn't very high. It was probably just high enough to cover trees. You can probably even ignore it. If you could fly, that's it."
Hearing this, Marco and Lena glanced at each other for a few seconds. They then both nodded and packed their things.
Seeing this, Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Eh? I am a bit surprised. With Marco's body builder build and mean look, I expected him to be more stubborn like movie characters..."
Ethan then scrutinized Kai, Tanyia, Ellie, and Jade. "You should... Take whatever you have. Meredith never waits," he said with a sigh before packing himself.
"We should get going, too," Jade said in an unsure tone. She seemed eager to escape any dangerous situation.
Ellie and Tanyia simply nodded and went their way, and soon, Kai packed too.
The rest of the group quickly gathered up their belongings. They didn't have much anyway. It was mostly fruits roughly wrapped in pieces of animal hide that served as bags.
"Is everyone ready?" Meredith asked, her voice echoing through the camp.
"Yes," Kai answered, his tone firm.
"Good," Meredith said, her gaze sweeping over the group. "Then let's move."
With that, they set off.