Chapter 39 “The forest of the lost souls.”

If people had to choose a single attribute that makes EOA an evil game, then the most would probably choose be the death penalty system. The death penalty system is even worse than the difficulty of finding quest or the fact that there is no ‘chat system’ in the game.

One might say that there are games where dying means losing your avatar completely but in the first place the systems like that does not suit the model of MMORPGs at all.

In MMORPG one can do many various things but in the end, all those various things come down to two categories, PvP and PvE. PvP is a shortcut for ‘player versus player’ and as the name suggest it is simply about players fighting each other. MMOs had many different types of that activity as it was one of the main feature of online games is that they should be played with other people. In EOA however enjoying PVP was quite tricky and simplest reason for that was that PVP had a high risk of dying and the moment someone’s dies, their fun stops. After dying you end up losing a lot of levels which result in need of regaining those levels before doing anything else. That’s why EOA’s PVP have an incredible risk that goes along with it, although some would say that it’s adds to the emotions as even if the in-game death was not true death, there was a reason why everyone was afraid of dying. Also it was not only losing levels and be stopped from playing for two days. The worst thing about dying would be the feeling that you get after experiencing it. It was not something that one could get used to and after experiencing it few times some people would do anything to avoid feeling it again, which also included stopping playing at all.

Then the other attribute of MMORPG, PvE was about player fighting against the environment, meaning anything that is not other player. Going to a dungeon is PvE, completing a quest is PvE, going for an expedition is PvE and picking up flowers is also PvE. The main feature of PvE was overcoming the challenges that were prepared inside the game. Having a good PvE in the MMO was always tricky but it also decides how good the game is. The main point is that it should be hard so players don’t complete it right away but at the same time it can’t be impossible because if no one completes it then there is no meaning for it to exist in the first place. Here, EOA as VRMMORPG completely ignores the fact that something can be impossible to complete. The world lives its own life and does not give any help to the players for which the game was labeled as evil. Despite that fact people do play it though as if you can’t do something then either try to become better or start doing something else.

In EOA, even if something leaves you in despair, there are still many things you could do.

The biggest problem in EOA PvE, is not that fights are hard though, as after all if they were easy then there would be no meaning to them. MMORPGs were always focused on overcoming challenges and after dying to a certain boss hundreds of time and then finally killing him, there is no better feeling in MMO other than that. If you defeat the boss on your first try then, you won’t feel anything, but if you will struggle against him for many nights in the row and then finally on n-th day win, you will feel like the winner. That’s EOA’s death penalty system is so bad as it interrupts that process. You simply cannot fight against a certain boss for n-th times that easily. Anytime you fail, you receive a huge set back that won’t allow you to repeat the challenge that soon and the higher level you are the worse it becomes.

Then the last thing that was really bad about the death penalty was that there was no counter measure against it. Even if some games did follow the similar pattern where they prevent people from playing for a certain time and losing some levels, there was at least a counter measure against it in a form of ‘resurrection spell’. In MMORPGs the resurrection spell is a spell that brings players back to life without any penalty and without teleporting to resurrection spot in some city. With resurrection spell, where player died, the player would resurrect and he would be ready to fight once again. This counter measure allowed players to both die in dungeons and sacrifice some players without second thought. As long as the party wins, the dead would be resurrected and it would be as their death never happened. Still EOA did not follow this pattern. Even though many players spend a lot of time to find a resurrection spell, no one managed to do it. The common spell than in average MMO was something that at least every healer had, in EOA was an ancient legend that no one achieved. Still players did not give up and still believed that this spell somewhere exists.

In the end though, even if someone did indeed find resurrection spell it would not change the death penalty at all for most of the players and that’s why, people who already played EOA for a long time, were already used to this situation and knew that there are no easy second chances.

“Five deaths, after three days and we are not even half way there.”

The man in the white cloak thought like that while looking at the campfire. After the fight against elite centaurs the party made a stop right before entering the forest. In comparison to their yesterday camping spot today’s one did not bring any special defense and in a way, they were actually out in the open. Because of that more people had to be on the guard duty. Even now there were five people who were awake and ready for the fight, and that did not even include Shin. However, despite the fact that today they had a camping stop like that, not a single fight happened since the fight against centaur band. Even if there were some monsters in the distance on the fields, it didn’t seem like they will attack any time soon and also they were in quite the distance. There were no sounds coming from the forest either and given that it was Bran who said that, there really was nothing coming from that side.

“Well, five deaths are not bad, I was expecting at least two more by now. We already had few hard fights so we are actually doing way better than I expected.”

Currently despite five deaths on the journey so far, Shin was positive about the outcome of the expedition. If they go on the current rate, they should be able to reach the heaven gates. His earlier predictions about reaching the heaven’s gate ended up being not really accurate. The first reason for that would be that Shin did not expect the three that has joined to be this good. The other main reason for his prediction to be wrong would be the fact that some of his teammates also become much stronger during the time of his absence. Five months in game time was a lot of time and it also seemed like Shin did not exactly have a good grasp on some people’s abilities before that break as well. The first one here would probably be Hiro, although here Shin well knew that he didn’t have a good grasp on him as even before the break, Hiro was doing everything like it was not a big deal for him. In the current expedition he also rarely did anything else than shooting his most basic skill ‘water ball’. Although thanks to the ‘luck by draw tournament’, Shin understood Hiro’s current level, although even there he did not see everything. Then the other person that Shin had currently small grasp on was Julia. Here was happening for two reasons. First one was because she was the newest member in the party and Shin didn’t have an occasion to see her in action that many times, then the other reason would be that Shin was not really good at talking with her for others obvious reasons so.

“Yes, it is going good, or at least it will be going good as long as those two return. Otherwise it’s a failure as the winning condition will be lost.”

Earlier on, at the beginning of the battle against the centaurs, Rin ended up ‘disappearing from everyone’s sight’ and despite the fact that the battle took about 25 minutes to finish she did not appear afterwards. Then when the battle was nearly it’s end, Arata ended up rushing into the forest in hope of finding her but that also ended up with him ‘disappearing from everyone’s sight never to be seen again’. At that time, when Shin saw Arata going inside the forest it didn’t seem like that bad of an idea. Probably sending a healer with him would have been slightly better but at that time Shin saw three clear options before him. One: ‘Arata and Rin returning unharmed’. Two: ‘Arata returns with Rin who is slightly damaged’. Three: ‘Arata’s return alone after seeing Rin’s dead body somewhere.’

Those were the three options that Shin predicted to be most probable but any of those options would happen after no more than 10 minutes. No matter how strong the blow that Rin took from the boss centaur was, she couldn’t fly off that far, she would definitely ended up stopping at some tree. Still now about five hours already passed since Arata went into the forest and neither he or Rin did return.

Normally one would assume that something happen to both of them, like some strong creature killing them. Shin did not have an information on what creatures are inside this forest as he chose to go through this forest only because the other routes that he could choose would be impossible for them. So far the route they choose was the easiest of all routes in west but Shin could choose it only because there were informations from other expeditions that traveled to the west. Still those informations were at its end as the place where Shin group was right now was already quite far to the west where barely any expedition reached and those that did reach that far ended up choosing different routes where the oblivion awaited them, so Shin didn’t even think of going there. Still now that Shin saw this forest he realized that it was a mistake that they choose this route. In other routes there would still be a chance for victory if everyone gave their best, and Shin even had a plan that would require only the sacrifice of four people in other routes fight, here however it was a truly a dead end.

“But what is it doing here?”

Shin could not understand one thing though. The forest that he saw before him, even though Shin had absolutely no information about it he did know this forest very well or rather way too well. It was ‘one of two main things’ that Shin wanted to avoid in the west. One was a demon-like boss that has an immortal phase which can be stopped only after half of the members of the group die in it. Naturally Shin wanted to avoid killing of the half of his group, not to mention the impossible battle that followed after as without special means demons were unkillable. But then the other thing that Shin wanted to avoid the most was ‘the forest of lost souls’. Shin did not really know why people ended up calling that forest like that but that was the name that people used to describe this place. The forest of lost souls was a place which you can easily enter but you will never be able to leave afterwards. The relations of other players that entered it were always the same, ‘-once you enter the forest of lost souls the only thing you can do is to commit suicide and then respawn back in the city.’ ‘Why was it impossible to leave?’ no one described it well but what they said was quite simple, ‘there was no way of leaving that forest normal way’. The forest is always filled with the white mist on all times of the day be it midday or night. Because of that mist, once you enter the forest your vision will be limited to that of two meters ahead and everything else around you will be the white. Even if you run straight for many days you will not be able to leave that place. Because of informations like this, despite all the ‘worst case scenarios’ that could happen in the expedition of the west, entering a forest of the lost souls was one of the top two.

One thing was strange though. Naturally, while asking about that place Shin also asked about the location of this forest and based on what people said the location of the forest should be ‘way, way, way to the north from where the party currently was’. The informations about the forest of lost souls were coming mostly from people that went with their groups north-west from Karma and definitely not south-west from Larisane.

In the end though, that did not matter anything right now as even despite the fact that it was a nighttime right now, Shin saw before him a forest filled with the white mist.

“Maybe the informations were wrong but that does not matter right now. This forest fits the description perfectly and also the fact that ‘those two’ did not return makes it even more believable as after all I can’t really image what could kill them there without making any sound. So, this is the forest of the lost souls, no doubt about it. It may not be the same that I heard about but that simply means that there are two or even more locations like that in the west. That’s sound like a reasonable explanation.”

The evidence was before him so there were not many other conclusions that Shin could arrive at.

“Still, I think that I should make the choice already. We have already waited for too long.”

It’s been five hours since the battle with the centaurs ended, after which the party started the break. The break itself was originally planned anyway so it was nothing strange to make it. Also everyone expected Arata and Rin to come back soon. Still, the time went on and in the end they did not return. So far Shin waited long and simply hoped that the answer he reached was wrong. He somehow managed to stop everyone else from trying to follow Arata’s footsteps so no one entered the forest so far. With hope Shin waited for those five hours and he even managed to take a nap for the two hours in the middle of it. It was not only because he was tired after the whole day of fights. Taking the nap was actually the maneuver in which he stopped few people from entering when he was slowly running out from arguments to stop them.

“As a raid leader I have to make the choice, although given our winning condition I don’t have much to choose from. Still I guess the second choice will actually do more harm than good so in the end, there is nothing else than ‘that’.”

Shin stood up and walked towards Vatras who was currently on the guard duty.

-Shin, should I wake everyone and we are going in?

Vatras ended up asking.

-no, there is no need.

-so what do we do? Even though it’s probably the best solution you didn’t decide to abandon them, right?

Vatras knew Shin well enough to know that Shin was ready to make decisions like that. Sometimes to achieve something one would need to sacrifice something else and Shin knew it well and anytime when he was left with no choice Shin would do 100% of times without even looking back, still this time, this choice was not one of the options.

-how is it that the best solution when our end goal is for ‘them’ to reach the heaven’s gate?

If it were a normal expedition to the west without any purpose in mind, Shin would probably do what Vatras just said to him. He would treat the two lost in the forest as dead and simply move on. Still this time the goal was not simple ‘traveling through the west’.

-but then what about not trying to help them at all. You want to just keep waiting here until they come out on their own?

-I already bet on this possibility but the longer we wait the smaller chances of it happening and it would be impossible to stop some of us from going inside the forest on their own.

-I guess you are right. But then again if we don’t look for them and at the same time we don’t wait for them and also we don’t abandon them then what other course of action there is left?

Vatras was slightly confused by Shin’s plan even if Shin’s plan was quite simple.

-the option that has the highest success rate is only one person entering the forest and looking for them.

-but won’t that only add to the fire!? It will only become one more person lost because of it.

-you are right, still it’s way better than many people getting lost in the forest, right?

-and what will stop others from entering the forest soon after that one person enters.

-you Tras.

Shin quickly answered.

-me? And what about you?

-naturally I will be the one to enter the forest, right? The only chance for us to still achieve our winning condition is for someone to enter the forest, find both Rin and Arata and then lead them out from that forest.

-but isn’t it like impossible to leave that forest?

-if we assume that it is impossible then we have already lost. The only chance for us to win is to bet on the possibility of leaving this forest existing. Maybe other people simply overlooked something or maybe they didn’t even try hard enough to look for the exit, or we simply never met anyone who managed to leave this forest. Anyway no matter what it is our chances for victory exist only under the assumption of this being possible.

-and why does it have to be you who enters the forest?

-well it’s because I don’t want anyone else than me to get lost. Anyway Tras, before anyone try to stop me from going there, I am going to sneak out while people are still asleep so the rest is up to you.

-fine, I guess I can stop the rest from entering for the time being but what I am supposed to do if you don’t come back?

-hmm… well you guys can continue the expedition although the winning condition will be lost. I don’t think that Levi will want to continue that quest alone so you guys can search for something in the west or simply return all the way back. It will be your guys decision so you think about it on your own. Also I will just tell you but if I don’t come back after certain amount of time I am going for a ‘suicide kill’ anyway, so looking for me afterwards is pointless.

“Now then, there is still a matter of sneaking out.”

Naturally even though Shin decided to search on his own, if he were to tell others about that, most of the people would decide to join him and that was not good. From what Shin knew about forest of the lost souls, even if you were walking next to someone one second you could still lose that person after another second. If more people were to come with Shin more people would get lost and later on there would be more people to find. That was one of the reasons why Shin had to do it alone. Currently the only chance for the winning condition of the expedition to be met, was Shin finding both Arata and Rin and then with them find the way out ‘somehow’.

[Mirror Image]

Shin activated a spell that would a copy of him to distract others while he was escaping. The copy itself couldn’t do anything apart from the function that Shin could give it with skill manipulation. ‘Mirror image’ was a spell that Shin once got from a certain quest. Originally it was useless skill as it was making ‘unmovable clones’ that would not fool anyone but after working around with it, Shin learned how to make those clones move. It was still only one command that Shin could ‘program’ within them but just with that the ‘useless skill’ become really useful at diversions.

While the ‘copy Shin’ walked towards the campfire and sit down back, the ‘real Shin’ sneaked pass the tree and then later on teleported himself out of there with the use of [Rune: Emerald Gateway].

Shin shoot the green rune only twenty meters away from the position where he stood. But then after teleporting, he arrived in the place that was filled with white mist. Just as the people said, Shin could only see about two meters before him. At the current time he was looking at the brown trunk of the tree and the ground filled with leafs and naturally the green rune underneath his feet.

“Hmm, I am already in. Just like that. For now let’s try if I really can’t go out.”

The first thing that Shin did was trying to get back to where he was a second ago. He once again used the teleport of emerald gateway as the place where he should teleport to was the tree near the camping spot, still the moment Shin tried to use it, the skill did not work.

“So this is also true.”

From relations of the other players, there were already people who tried to teleport out of the forest but none of the spells that would help them to get out would work.

“Then let’s try this.”

After his teleport did not work Shin started to walk in the direction where camp should be. Even though he did used a teleport it was not that far from the camp. But then, even though Shin walked in the good direction for three minutes he could not reach the camping spot anymore. He was walking normally and the ground beneath him did change, the trees’ trunks change as well, still no matter how far Shin walked the white mist before him did not disappear.

“That would confirm what people have said about this place.”

It usually took some time for people to realize their position after entering the forest of the lost souls. Finding out, that there is no way out was not the first thing that one would think about entering the forest like that. Only because Shin knew about it beforehand he only had to confirm if the stories told by other people were correct. Anyway normally, nearly everyone would end up panicking after realizing their position but not Shin. In the first place Shin knew very well what will happen after he enters and that he probably won’t be able to leave afterwards and that’s why he was completely not surprised by what was happening.

“There is still one last option that I want to try out.”

Before doing anything else Shin wanted to try out one last thing. He grabbed the necklace that he had under his shirt and then.

[Teleport: Hikari]

Nothing happened.

-sigh… .

“Well I guess any teleport means any teleport.”

Because the last form of teleport that Shin tried was quite special, he had small hope that it will work. Unfortunately though it did not.

“For now, let’s just look around.”

Even though Shin showed confidence to Vatras before going inside the forest, it was not really confidence but rather an act. Currently Shin had absolutely no idea as to how leave the ‘forest with no return’ as some people were also calling it. That’s why Shin just continued to walk around in hope of finding anything. Also for now, his current objective wasn’t even leaving the forest but rather finding Arata and Rin and from what he heard finding other people who got lost in the forest was possible.

After five minutes, nothing changed.

After ten minutes, nothing changed.

After half an hour, nothing changed.

After five hours, nothing changed.

After ten hours, nothing changed.

“No, it can’t be just this!”

Shin’s situation stayed the same, he continued walking forward through the ‘white world’ and all he could see were the trees that he passed by. During those ten hours he did once try to climb one of those trees still even after reaching the top of it, he still could only see the white mist before him. It was as if the world became an endless forest filled with white mist and there was nothing else in it. Shin did not see Arata, Shin did not see Rin, the only thing that Shin could see were the three trunks and the ground. In this situation, despite the fact that Shin knew that it will most likely happen he could not believe that it was really going to be like that. He expected that something will appear, some kind of clue, that he will find something that will give him a hope of leaving this forest after he finds the others but in the end even after ten hours there was nothing like.

“I refuse for something as unreasonable as this to exist!”

After those ten hours Shin lost his calmness but still he continued forward refusing to accept his fate. Unfortunately it seemed like he will not be able to escape it.

After five minutes, nothing changed.

After ten minutes, nothing changed.

After half an hour, nothing changed.

After five hours, nothing changed.

After ten hours, nothing changed.

After fourteen hours, nothing changed.

The whole day in total has passed since Shin entered the forest and despite that fact, nothing happened. There was absolutely no change in the surrounding, all that Shin could see were the trunks of the trees and the white world. During those 24 hours, Shin once started to run but running still did not change anything, nothing changed.

“I have wasted the whole day.”

At some point with this thought, Shin ended up resting down on the ground. He did that simply because he didn’t have any strength left to continue forward, he was already pushing himself for few hours and he arrived at the point where his legs refused to continue walking. The thought that ‘even if he continued nothing would change’ was too strong in him. In the past few days Shin did not sleep for more than 7 hours combined, he was at his limits that finally kicked in and the moment he decided to lay down on the ground was also the moment in which sleep overtook him immediately.

-hahahaha.

-hahaha.

-quite resilient, was he.

-just like any on their first day.

-everyone struggles at first but in time, they all give up.

-hahaha.

-the other one still tries though.

-a worthy effort but still all in vein.

-hahahaha.

-the girl also tried but just like all others she also fell.

-not yet, after waking up she started again.

-hahahaha!

-that’s how the humans are, they always struggle but still the hard effort does not pay off here.

=hahahaha.

Shin didn’t really know what was happening but somehow out of sudden, he started hearing voices around him. The voices of man and women, adults and children, there was one common thing about them as somehow they all seemed unnatural and hollow. Shin was currently lying on the ground with his eyes closed. He was probably awaken by those voices and now some ‘people’ were around him. Still the voices that Shin heard was not of someone whom he would recognize so rather than trying to get up, he decided first to listen to their conversations. Shin well knew that one can learn much while pretending to be a sleep, still somehow this time it did not work.

-haha, look at him, a clever one.

-those probably have it the hardest, they think that they will be able to succeed where other failed.

-but look, look, he is even trying to pretend to be asleep.

-hahaha, little does he know that it’s a dream world where he is right now.

“Dream world?”

Shin managed to gather new information and despite what the voices were saying he kept on lying on the ground.

-hahaha, such an effort.

-look at us, look at us and see your fate. See what awaits you after entering this place.

It seemed like the voices were not directed to him.

-you want to look don’t you, you want, you want. There is no need for you to lay down on the ground. Even if we wanted to, we can’t do anything to you.

-ah!

-no! Why did you tell him that! We won’t have any fun now.

-seeing him struggle is all the fun I want, hahahaha!

Even though Shin wanted to learn something, the only thing he could hear was a mindless chatter of the hollow voices. Still in that chatter Shin learned that the ones that voices belonged to, cannot harm him in any way, that’s why Shin decide to get up on pretending to be asleep and asked some questions.

Still after he opened his eyes he did see something that he did not expect to se. He was still in the forest but it was no longer the one filled with the white mist. It was still forest of which Shin did not see the end of but the mist was gone. The forest was still not normal though as the ‘creatures’ that Shin saw were as strange as the endless white mist. The creatures resembled that of a normal human in a way but to be exact it would have been only a ‘white silhouette of a person’. Every creature had a human body but there was nothing on it, it was completely white. Still the hands were moving and their heads as well.

“What are those?”

-hahaha, he could hold back no longer.

-let him speak, let him speak!

-tell us boy, what do you first thought after seeing us.

The white silhouettes started to mock him.

-well, I started to wonder what you are.

=hahahaha.

Shin answered calmly but he was immediately meet with laughter.

-he started to wonder, he says, hahahaha.

-someone trying to act thought despite everything.

-ah, I like the girl’s reaction better.

-hahahaha, she started to attack us didn’t she… yes that was the best.

-by the girl you mean a girl with the long red hair?

=hahahaha.

Shin ended up asking the question but he once again only heard the laughter coming from the white silhouettes. There were about ten of them gathered around him although in the distance there was much more, still the others somehow did not seem interested in him at all and they were simply walking forward.

“What are those things? Still, I need to find out something from them as otherwise I will not go any further.”

-can you first tell me who you are?

Shin once again asked calmly.

-hahaha, he thinks that he found something.

-they all do but his reactions are boring, I don’t like this type. The aggressive ones are much better.

-hahaha. I agree.

-I think that the other one will also fall soon. Let’s go to see him next.

And then at one moment the white figures decided to leave as if they lost interest in Shin completely.

-wait! I still didn’t found out anything!

Shin shouted to stop them.

-we are not here to tell you anything.

-but it’s a little cruel to leave him like that, isn’t it?

-yes the others can’t speak and he will start bothering them.

-I guess…

In this moment one of the white silhouettes walked back to Shin and started.

-listen boy, if you want someone to talk to go in this direction and in five minutes you will find the broken tree. There is a person who likes to talk with the likes of you. Don’t bother anyone else as it will bore no fruit and also don’t touch the colorful orbs.

-what will happen if I do that?

-if you do that you won’t meet the one I told you about, it was a warning, yet you don’t have to be afraid of anything as we cannot do anything to you, look!…

The white silhouette tried to touch Shin but the white hand just passed through his body like ghost in the movies.

-at the same time you also can’t do anything to us so it also will be a fruitless effort. Anything that you will try to do be a fruitless effort you just don’t know it yet. Still struggle all you want, seeing people like you fighting against their fate is one of our last pleasures in this place.

With that the white silhouette with the voice of a woman ended up leaving in the opposite direction of what she pointed to. Shin realized that even the information that he got was already a lot so he didn’t try ask her about anything else.

“Well, for now I will ignore everything and simply walk to where she told me to. Not like I can do anything else and if I try to do anything else I will probably get lost. Even if the forest is no longer filled with the mist, I still have no idea where to go.”

With this in thought Shin started walking in the direction that the white silhouette pointed to.

On his way he passed by many other white silhouettes but they behaved as if they didn’t even notice him. They were all just walking forward without any thought, or any sound. Some of them would pass through the tree in their walks but it still did not stop them and they simply went through it like ghosts.

“Hmm, those things said something about a dream world so, is it something like a liquid dream? Well, I haven’t been trying this one ever since VR came out but still, I never had an immerse experience like this her. So I have two guesses right now. One, it is a liquid dream and my mind on its own is showing me it as otherwise I might lose my sanity in that white forest. Still, it is a little bit too detailed for it to be a normal dream so the other guess where it’s some kind of special dream that can happen only in that forest is probably more accurate.”

Even though there was not much of it, based on what he learned, Shin could arrive at the possible conclusions. That’s why without second thought he decided to follow what this dream wanted him to show.

Before Shin managed to reach the fallen three however something strange started to happen. His body felt some kind of force that was moving him to the front and then to the back. Shin felt as if something was touching his body while it was happening but there was nothing that he could see. Still the force was strong enough for it to make him fall to the ground. Luckily though it stopped after a minute.

“What is happening?”

Shin could not explain that in any way but luckily it stopped after a minute.

“Before anything else happens I need to get to that fallen tree.”

The fallen tree was already in visible distance so Shin started running towards it. In half a minute he reached the tree on he saw the person he was probably meant to talk with.

Well, it was only Shin’s guess but there was someone sitting on that fallen tree and comparison to all other white silhouettes, this one was not completely white. Even though he was still quite white he was wearing gray expensive looking clothes. But it was not only that, he also had a normal human-like face. On his head he also had a hat with a feather.

Seeing Shin come over, the ‘grey person’ reacted to him and looked in his direction. He even stood up when Shin arrived and then he slightly bowed.

-welcome to the forest of the lost souls.

The grey person said first.

-em… thanks?

No knowing what to say, Shin answered like that.

-you are speaking with Mortimer, once the great historian of the city of Corazon…

“Corazon?”

The city of Corazon was known to Shin. It was actually city that was located few days of journey from Karma to the north.

-as you can see currently I am just a shadow of whom I used to be but still I would be happy if I could enjoy a conversation with you, it’s not often that I can speak with someone who is still living and is not white. Although given your clothes you are quite white yourself. Hahaha…

Mortimer ended up joking around.

“Oh, seems like I will finally be able to find out something.”

-so what is your name?

-my name is Shin, a magician from the city of Karma.

While speaking with NPCs, Shin had already a prepared introduction like this.

-ah Karma, when was the last time I been there. Anyway you probably have many questions so first, let us take care of them. What is the thing you would want to ask about?

-well, there are many but first I would like to confirm something. This is a dream world, right? Meaning that my really body is still sleeping in the forest of endless mist, correct?

-forest of endless mist? I guess it fits as well. Anyway as you guessed, it is indeed a dream world but it’s not something that is simply happening in your head. Rather right now you have moved out of your body in a way but in the same way you did not. Well I guess that the best way to describe it is that anyone who falls asleep in the forest of the lost souls is having the same dream and is dreaming of this place and that dream is connected with everyone.

-I see… then the second thing I want to ask is about the name of this forest. I heard about it earlier and you just said it yourself as well. This forest is called the forest of the lost souls. Does it mean that those white silhouettes are actually human souls?

-oh, you have it all figured out already, don’t you? Still if I have to correct you on something then it’s not only souls of humans. If you look carefully you will find the silhouettes of animals and other creatures as well. Just so you know, I am also one of the souls that is trapped in here.

-but you look slightly different than others? Why is that?

-ah that is quite simple. It’s because I am here only for few years and I still remember how I looked. I am not the only one, in this forest there are still some that remember themselves and their souls still resembles how they looked when they lived. On the other hand as you can see the most souls already lost their shape, some of them still have their personalities but in the end all of us will turn into the miserable state in which most of the people are in. You can see that most of the souls are completely white and they are simply walk in the single direction, right? That is because that is the only thing that they remember of their lives, to be exact the last moments before their deaths. Most of people that end up in the forest of the lost souls try to get out from it by simply walking forward. ‘Walk forward’ that is their last thought and that is the result of all this.

The spirit of Mortimer answered.

-I see, in that case how long are you here. From where I see it you still retain your shape quite well?

-well, I am here only for two years. I was part of the second grand expedition to the west or rather I was the one who organized it. I made a request to a powerful guild of adventurers to help me reach the place where the old capital of Solaris once stood. As I said, I am a historian so it was my duty to learn the truth. Currently we don’t know much about what exactly happened in Solaris and if it was really destroyed completely. No one managed to reach too far to the west so there is still a chance that not everything was destroyed. Solaris was a large empire after all. Still, even though I managed to gather the powerful adventurers to help it was still not enough to go through the terror of west. After two week has passed the expedition’s strength were already on its limits and then we meet a creature of terror. After few minutes of fight adventurers decided to send me away with a small escort and we ended up running into the forest of the lost souls and that is the story of how I ended up here.

“Hmm, something does not feel right in this story but I will ask about it later.”

-I see, in this case let’s move to the most important question. Do you know the way to leave this forest?

In the end this was the thing that Shin wanted to know the most.

-well that depends…

“Depends… this looks promising.”

The way Mortimer started gave Shin the hope.

-tell me, apart from being a magician, are you adventurer as well?

-yes, I am.

“No not like this though.”

After hearing the question Shin already knew what will come next.

-in this case I have good news for you, you can leave this forest quite easily. Remember what I told you. I escaped with the group of adventurers to this forest. We all ended up dying at some point but only my soul has been trapped in this place. The souls of adventurers that were with me are not here, and that is because adventurers are immortal beings. Even if they die they are still in the graces of the gods and they are resurrected. That means that the adventurers that enter the forest of the lost souls have really simple way of leaving it. All you need to do is to kill yourself.

“Ah, this is not helpful.”

Shin already knew of this method but it wasn’t the thing he wanted to do.

-is there any other method apart from it. The one that would not involve me dying?

Shin put it as clearly as possible.

-if there were do you think that so many of us would still be here?

-but there may still be a way out for those who are alive.

Hearing those words the spirit of Mortimer smiled a little.

-ah, everyone is so full of hope at first. Well I won’t tell you that there is no way out as maybe there is, still no one managed to find it yet.

“I see so he won’t be useful in this matter. He is still good source of information though.”

-in that case I will look for it on my own. Anyway if you could answer some more of my questions I would be very grateful.

-I have the eternity of time left, you can ask away.

-then, do you know how the white mist in that forest works in general? Even if everything is white it should have an end somewhere.

-how it first came to be, I do not know but as to why no one can leave the forest of lost souls it is quite simple. Look around, do you see those colorful orbs that are floating around the forest?

-well it’s hard to not see them.

-you say this but you found them only now in this realm.

-you mean they are also in the world of the living?

-yes they are, it’s just that people normally can’t see them. You can see them here because you are not looking at them with your eyes.

-then is there a way for me to see them in the living world as well?

Shin asked right away.

-hahaha, you are not wasting time are you. You don’t even know what they do.

-well whatever they do, I assume it will be advantageous to me if I see them.

-it won’t change anything but sure there is a way for you to see them there as well. But anyway first you should understand what those orbs do. Look around and you can probably see that those souls that get in contact with the orbs disappear, right?

-well I realized it already. Does it mean that those that come in contact with the orbs disappear completely never to return?

-ha, if it only was that simple many would already choose this fate. No the orbs does not destroy us they are simply teleporting us around this forest endlessly.

-teleporting? You mean that those orbs teleport us all around the forest and that is the reason why no one can leave it? Everyone just ends up coming in contact with those orbs and that gives the illusion of the endless forest. What’s more because you can’t see anything around you and you can’t see those orbs, you will never find out about it.

-hahaha, this is the first time that someone arrived at this so fast with so little information.

-rather than laughing, how can you say that seeing the orbs does not help me in any regard? As long as I can see them and avoid them it should be possible to leave this forest, right?

Shin felt like he finally found out the answer to his troubles. He finally found a hope after the whole day of endless walk.

-well if you can avoid them that is. Anyway follow me for a second and you will understand why it is impossible to leave…

The spirit of Mortimer stood up from the fallen tree on which he and Shin were sitting on.

-ah right, it quite dangerous to travel through this forest because as you can see the orbs are moving at all time so hold my hand so you don’t get lost…

“Hand?”

-don’t look at me like that. As a magician you should know that as long as the bodies are in physical contact, when one starts teleporting the person who he touched will teleport as well.

-I see so it’s counter measure for it. Still, you are the soul right? Can I really touch you?

-technically in this world you are only a soul as well so as long as you want you can. Anyway I know the shortcut so it will take just a moment.

In the end Mortimer ended up catching Shin’s arm and started to pull him after him.

As for the shortcut, they ended up using the colorful orbs to their advantages. It seemed like Mortimer knew his ways so after five teleports they arrived where their destination seemed to be. The last part they had to walk but in the end they arrived at the edge of the forest and there Shin understood why leaving was impossible.

-see, this is the reason why no one can leave this forest and don’t think of making a tunnel underneath. Those things scatter around the whole area around the forest…

At the edge of the forest there was a wall, a wall of colorful orbs that did not leave any opening. They were also keep on moving and circling around.

-now then try to shoot at it with your magic.

Mortimer instructed him.

-why should I?

-just shoot…

“Well breaking with force is one of the methods that I would try at least once.”

[Magic bolt.]

Shin ended up faring his spell. Even though it was a dream world it seemed like he still could use his skills alright. Still the effect of that attack was quite disheartening. It was true that Shin’s ‘magic bolt’ wasn’t that strong of a spell but the effect would probably be the same for any other spell and that was ‘the spell disappearing’ or rather ‘being teleported’ somewhere else after making the contact with the orb.

-as you can see I wanted to make you realize that those orbs are unbreakable. If you attack it with magic or arrows, those will simply teleport somewhere. If you attack them with swords or axes you will ended up being teleported yourself. That is how they work.

“Still now I understand the nature of this trap. It is definitely a move forward.”

Just when Shin arrived at this thought something strange happened once again. Out of nowhere his hair became wet and from nowhere the water started to appear on his face. In second his head was completely soaked.

-Mortimer, can you explain what is happening to me right now?

-sorry I think that this is the first time for me to see something like this as well…

“Well this is a dream world so it’s not like everything has to make sense.”

Then later on Shin’s body was once again being moved by unseen force left and right. It once again lasted for about a minute and then it once again stopped. And then Shin felt as if someone just hit his face.

-oh, something strange is really happening with you. You have a red mark on your face now as if someone just slapped you.

Mortimer pointed out but Shin really felt like someone really slapped him just now.

-could some of the souls here can become completely transparent and now they are playing tricks on me?

-oh, I never thought about this possibility it may be so. Maybe there are other stages after becoming completely white.

-never mind, another question. If I were to wake up right now and then go to sleep again, will I return to this place?

-yes you will, but not every time. Some people can’t get to this place at all while they are still alive. Others can appear here only for a second and then they disappear. I am guessing that it’s because of your magic nature you are able to move in here so freely so it’s quite possible that you will come here quite often. Still, I am not sure we will be able to meet again, this forest is large and finding someone in it is not easy.

“So this is probably the only time I can freely speak with him. In that case because I don’t know when I will wake up it’s best if I ask for the most important things as soon as possible.

-okay, so what is the way for me to see the orbs in the living world as well?

That was probably the most important question right now. Even though Shin was not sure how exactly he was going to use it, it was something that he thought would open his way to the way out.

-well before I tell you I must say that it’s not really safe method to use.

-I think that without it, I will not go anywhere further also the alternative is dying. So if something goes wrong I can always go back to it.

-you are right, for an adventurer like you it’s a small risk. Anyway what you would need to do to see the orb in living world as well is quite simple. You need a touch of the soul of the dead. The normal eyes of the living won’t be able to perceive the orbs in the living world but if your eyes were enchanted with the power of the dead it would be possible, still as I said it’s risky.

-it would be you who would help me right?

-yes, I have no reason to refuse you my help.

-but what you said seems like an operation on eyes. I can’t help but feel that something like that won’t work. So maybe we should try it only on one eye… or no wait, can’t you just give me something that would allow perceiving those orbs without any crazy operations like the one you just mentioned.

-unfortunately I don’t have any possessions in the world of living.

Shin would prefer to avoid doing something as risky as that. Still he was running short on ideas so it seemed like there was no choice than taking the risk.

-okay my last idea, can’t you just enchant my glasses instead of my eyes? Like if I look through them I could see the orbs but normally I couldn’t. How does it sound?

-…

Shin’s last idea which he made as he was on his last ropes dumb fooled Mortimer but after hearing it he quickly said.

-hahaha, I would never think of it. Still I guess that is what is needed to be a magician. But anyway yes, I think that enchanting your glasses will not only be possible but will actually be much easier. Anyway let me do it right away…

The spirit of Mortimer walked towards Shin and made a single move of hand before Shin’s face.

-it worked.

He said at the end despite not having any visual effect.

-is it really that simple?

-if it wasn’t that simple then I wouldn’t be able to do it. Remember I am a historian. I don’t know much about magic, much less use it.

“Simplicity is the greatness I guess.”

-I see, anyway I would now want to ask about what you said earlier. You said that you were the part of the second grand expedition to the west that adventurers organized. As you said it indeed was two years ago.

-good, seems like I still have the good feel on time.

Mortimer was happy hearing that.

-still you also said that you traveled for two weeks before entering this forest and also the fact that the expedition started off from Karma and that its destination was Solaris’s capital means that you went straight to the west, correct?

-yes, we would sometimes turn north as well but mostly west.

-now this is what does not add up to what I know. From what you said you ended up in the forest of the lost souls somewhere in the west but it’s not the same place that I ended up coming from. I do know where is the forest that you entered but the forest that I entered the day ago is not the same.

-you mean that there are two forests like that?

-that is my guess but it also seem like both of them are connected. Otherwise I would not meet you here…

“That also means that there is a possibility that even if I leave the forest, I might end up leaving the wrong forest and appear in the place where Mortimer once entered from. Ah this just became so much troublesome.”

Even though Shin learned something, it still ended up making the situation worse. Now he had to worry about other thing as well. Because his winning condition right now was not just leaving the forest but rather finding Arata and Rin and then regrouping with others.

-well, I guess I don’t have any more questions other than that, or is it that you still have something to tell me that would be useful for me in the current situation?

-hahaha, you probably asked more questions than I even though you will and they all ended up leading to somewhere. I don’t think that I can think of anything that you didn’t think about before.

-still, there might be something that you saw, after all, you are here for two years already. Did anything unusual happen to you over that time?

-unusual? I would say that everything is unusual here. Still if there was one thing then I would say that I remember finding a good siting place where the view was really good. I really felt at peace there. Still at some point I somehow couldn’t find it anymore no matter how hard I looked. Also as you probably know, you can tell that I am already used to this place.

-well given the way he used those teleport I would say so..

-that is because I was playing around with them. Being here for so long, finding something to do is really hard. I spend quite deal of time teleporting around and once even made a map. Still sometimes the orbs change the place where you are teleported so it was wasted effort. At the same time though it’s a new sequence for me to play around with.

-how often does that change happen?

-well so far it changed twice during those two years. The last change was about three months ago.

-I see, in that case this isn’t really useful to me as I don’t plan to spend here a year. I don’t think I will be able to survive in that white forest for so long…

It was not problem of surviving but rather the problem of not giving up. Even after one day, Shin already had doubts and even though he learned something today, it was still not exactly information that he need. Still right now Shin was feeling like he was missing something, as if the answer was right before him but somehow he could not see it. He did not try to analyze everything just yet though as Shin was trying to get the most information out from Mortimer until he still had the time. Also even though Shin knew that the answer was out there really close, it did not mean that that answer will actually help him in the way he wanted.

-so do you know anything else, like someone else trying to leave the forest and uncovering something.

-I think that this would be all. The most other people ever did was gain the ability to see the orbs in the living world. With that they immediately tried to break through that wall. I could saw many incredible attacks and so many interesting ideas that I am not sure that there is anything else that one can come up with. Still none of those methods worked and it always ended up the same way. Once again, I don’t want to discourage you but if you are an adventurer, just choose the easy way out, that’s the last advice I am giving you.

With that said the spirit of Mortimer ended up walking towards the wall of orbs and when he reached it he ended up disappearing.

Shin did not try to stop him as there wasn’t anything left for him to ask of Mortimer and he already asked twice if there was nothing else.

“Well then, I could probably think of a way to get out of this dream at least but I can also just wait and let it end normally. I don’t know for how long I am sleeping right now but my body will wake up when I will be full rested. Also there might be some other clues of getting out of the forest in this dream world.”

And so Shin continued to investigate the forest of the lost souls. He started with once again confirming what the magical colorful orbs do and he walked right into the wall of it. The moment he did that the scenery around him changed and there was not a trace of the orbs wall left. It might have been little confusing but Shin was already very well used to the teleportation techniques.

“Now then let’s see if there is any difference in them depending on the color.”

Shin continued his tests and started walking from one orb to the other. Sometimes he had to chase them as they were moving quite fast and somewhere he would get caught by the orb as he did not manage to saw it in time. Still even though the places where Shin ended up were different, the orbs had the same effect everywhere.

While moving from one orb to another, Shin managed to explore quite a lot of the forest. He did not know how much it exactly was but he visited many new places, although recognizing the difference in them was quite hard.

On his way Shin ended up meeting some other souls that were not completely white. Shin talked with them and paid attention to every word they said but still, those talks did not bring any new information despite all of the spirit being different. Some ended up entering the forest only in few resent years like Mortimer. Still there was one soul that regained its form despite being there for 500 years as he said. From that spirit Shin learned that even in this amount of time, there was not a single occasion in which someone managed to leave the forest of the lost souls. That information was really disheartening but Shin was not going to give up that easily.

At some points in his exploration, there were instances in which Shin’s body once again started to behave strange but luckily those at some point ended and did not repeat afterwards. Well at least if Shin were to ignore the strange feeling of warmth that at some point started on his left hand.

“Well in comparison to all others things that happened this time it’s even quite pleasant.”

Shin described it like that and continued without worrying about it. At this point, after few hours of exploration of the dream world, he already found out nearly everything there was to find out, with expectation of one.

At some point during teleporting with the use of the orbs, Shin ended up being teleported to a place where he saw a ‘small treant’ meaning a creature that resembled a moving tree, something that Vatras could summon to live with his ultimate spell. Although Vatras would usually use that spell on big trees rather than a small bush from which this treant was probably made off. Shin assumed that it was some kind of creature that ended up being trapped in this forest as in comparison to all others creatures in this dream world, there was nothing white in it which meant it was still alive. Still when Shin tried to move towards it he ended up contacting with one of magical orbs and was teleported somewhere else. Ever since then Shin tried to find that treant again but he could not manage to do so.

“Well, it’s not like I will be able to communicate with it anyway as it’s some kind of monster. Still, I guess it’s my way to use the remaining of the time.”

In a way looking for that treant right now was Shin’s way to kill the rest of time as he already was in this dream world for few hours by now. Actually if Shin’s guess was correct it would be already more than 10 hours. During that time Shin did everything he could think of. He started with testing every single of his spell on the flying orbs. Still none of them worked in the end and also his runes were not really good against it as they worked only if someone ended up stepping into them and the flying orbs did not have the legs.

Still in the end, despite learning a lot about the forest of the lost souls, there still was not a single idea that had a possibility of working.

“Hmm, I guess I spend enough time here already. Hopefully I will not forget this dream after waking up.”

Shin had even worries like this as he always tried to think about everything.

“Should, I just wait till the dream ends on its own? I think that it did not end so far only because I still wanted to be here. From what the spirits told me, in the dream world ‘the thought’ has a lot of power. It works just like magic. In this case if I want to leave from here I should probably simply relax and wait. Oh, let’s test what will happen if I try to sleep inside the dream.”

Shin finally decided to leave from here and because so far his dream did not end he started looking for the solution. He was little afraid that he might even be trapped in this dream world and he will not wake up at all. Still his first idea that come to his mind meaning trying to sleep in the dream, worked out and few moment later after laying down on the ground and closing his eyes, Shin returned to the world of the living.

Shin woke up in the white forest and opened his eyes slowly. He always was ‘weak in the mornings’, especially after a long sleep like this. He did not remember when was the last time he has slept for so long, although the only reason for that was probably the specifics of his dream as even there he was not slacking off and tried to find out something that will help him later on. Still even though in his dream he worked hard, here he was sleeping for all this time and his body was well rested and at the same time still not fully awake. Well, Shin could never actually wake up completely before drinking a cup of coffee, be it this world or the real world. That’s why before doing anything else he decided to get up and prepare some for himself with the usual manner. But then when he tried to get up he felt that something was holding his right arm, which made it unable for Shin to get up. Naturally Shin immediately looked at what it was.

When falling Shin did expect that falling to sleep in a random place in this forest was not safe. Even though he did not meet any monsters anywhere, it was still the forest in a VRMMORPG game which meant it was definitely not safe. Still from any scenario that Shin could think about before, there was probably nothing else that would make his ‘chances of living’ from now on any lower than what was happening right now. Right now Shin’s situation would probably be safer even if the army of monsters were all around him ready to attack him.

“Relax, relax. There is still a possibility of this being another dream. I mean I did end up going to sleep in that dream world so it doesn’t necessary mean that I woke up, right? Also something like this can’t be happening. So let’s try going to sleep again.”

By thinking like that Shin immediately decided that this is still the dream world and he once again decided to try sleeping. In best case scenario this choice would change his dream or wake him up for real, in worst case scenario this choice would allow him to escape the situation back to the forest of the lost souls. Still even though Shin immediately closed his eyes and tried to sleep again, it was now impossible for him to fall asleep. After all he just slept for nearly eleven hours now and he usually his sleeping time was no more than four hours, so for him it was nearly three nights worth of sleep that he just sleep. Then again even though Shin could image that the current situation was not happening and that what he saw was not real the feeling on his right hand would not disappear.

“Ah, I tried my best but I guess this is the end. There is nothing else I can do to escape death.”

When it came to making plans to escape death in EOA, Shin was the master of it, still in current scenario he did not see the possibility of him staying alive for too long.

In the end because there was nothing left for him to do, Shin decided to stop pretending and face the truth. He once again opened his eyes and looked what was on his right.

On Shin’s right there was Rin. She was sleeping right next to him while holding his hand or rather she was wrapped around it with her body and was holding it close to her chest. Shin could not even see if she was awake as her long red hair was covering her face. Some of it also ended up on Shin’s body and any of his movement would probably move it a little which naturally was not safe.

“Let’s see, the possible explanation is that she founded me in this forest and because I was not waking up she ended up sleeping next to me. Then again because humans sometimes have uncontrollable moves during their sleep she ended up like this.”

Shin arrived at the only reasonable explanation to him.

“When she wakes up, I am dead.”

He also arrived at the only possible conclusion of what will happen.

“Actually I am not even sure if she is still sleeping… no wait she is definitely sleeping otherwise she wouldn’t be holding my hand like this.”

From the sensation that Shin felt, he could tell that it wasn’t happening for short period of time. This meant that Rin was in this position for quite a while.

“Hmm… I guess the only thing that I can do right now, is to try prolonging my death and just try my best to not wake her up.”

It actually wasn’t the best option that Shin could choose and yet he somehow did not try to get out from this position. Rather than prolonging his death his best chance on living later on would be to try and get out of Rin’s grip and not waking her up while doing so. Somehow though that solution he did not appear in his mind as he was too scared to move right now.

“Rin. Yume’s best friend and the famous queen of blades. … hmm, now that I think about it, apart from those two facts I don’t know a single thing about her. In her presence I am always way too scared to think about anything.”

For a really long time now Rin was Shin’s weakest point and when it came to dealing with her, the only thing Shin could think at that moment was how to not angry her to not get killed. So far, Shin was already killed twice by her and based on everything he heard about her the chances of getting killed for the third time or the fourth time were high. Well, right now being killed today was already granted, still despite everything he heard, there was still one thing that did not add up and that were Yume’s impressions of Rin. What Shin knew and what Yume said were two complete opposite descriptions and so far, given his impression in the expedition, Shin found out that the one he had was not right. So in the end, he completely did not know who Rin really is.

“People say that she is a killing machine with the heart of ice, but how could this description feet to someone who is giving this warmth? Oh, well, I guess dying now won’t be this bad now.”

Strange thought’s started to circle around Shin’s head but he did not try to analyze them. The moment he realized that the death awaits him he stopped thinking and just waited for that death.

He stayed there like that for about ten minutes with his head empty of thoughts. He simply looked at the person who was clinging on his hand. At some point his left hand moved and with it he caught the red hair that was covering the face and he putted it back to reveal that. The moment he did that the sleeping face of Rin was revealed. She was indeed sleeping but there was something unusual. Somehow her eyes were in tears and those tears were going down her face.

“She is crying?”

Even though it was in the middle of sleeping, Shin did not image a situation in which he could see this face crying. Although now that he looked at Rin’s face he realized that he did not have good image of what she actually looked like either. Normally the most he could do was just a quick glance on her but just to be safe he would look away right away as usually he was afraid for his life.

“There are so many scary looking things in this game and the one I am scared of the most is someone who looks like her.”

For the time being Shin ignored the fact that tears were flowing out from her eyes. He could not think of a reason for it other than a scary dream or that something was wrong with her eyes. As far as he knew crying while sleeping wasn’t something to be panicked about. On the other hand he started thinking about something completely different.

“This somehow reminds me of the times when we tried to invite her to our group as we wanted additional melee dps. After seeing her fighting in the arena I really wanted her to join us. I had even that crazy plan to make the guild and later on ask her to become our leader. Well that plan was crushed in the first stage, though. Still those were the times. I remember being quite excited about it even though everyone told me to let it go. Well, it ended like it ended so maybe I should have listened to them but the thought of making a guild with a strong and beautiful long, red haired girl as our leader was something that I really wanted to happen. Right now though I do know that the leader shouldn’t be only strong and beautiful so I don’t think like that anymore. Well Rin does clear both first conditions but her character is not fitted to be the leader. It somehow similar to me, even though I can be a tactician when I think of what the leader should be I never can image myself in that role. Oh, well maybe my standards are simply too high.”

While looking at the picture before him, Shin ended up thinking. Still at some point he could no longer let Rin’s face got teary like that. With his left hand he took out a handkerchief and ended up wipe out Rin’s tears but then the moment he did that the eyes before him opened.

-… .

-… .

Shin’s hand stopped moving but it was still touching Rin’s face. They ended up looking themselves in the eyes.

“KJHJGKBNBJNNSJHBDWHNJWBEJWEKSNDOIWEJWKLSNKJDSDWBNSDOWDHWKJDBWKWLKDJWKJDBWDJKWLDBWJKDBWKDWDWKELGWE”

In that moment a million thoughts entered Shin’s head but at the same time he could not understand any of it, the only thing he did understand was that the moment has come for his life to end.

After waking up enough and realizing what was happening Rin immediately stopped holding Shin’s hand and ended up standing up. Shin also ended up standing up at the same time but rather than running away, which was what the instincts were telling him to do he ended up simply closing his eyes and waited for the death to come. Still.

After five seconds… nothing happened.

After ten seconds … nothing happened.

After thirty seconds … nothing happened.

After a minute … nothing happened.

But the after a minute and a half something did happen.

-what are you doing?

Rin ended up asking and her voice was quite calm and collected. It was nowhere as bad as Shin imaged, still even then Shin answered.

-you see, whenever I die in EOA I prefer to not look on the way of how I died. That is because it’s easier to forget about it later on, in comparison when I see how I died, it hunt me later on at nights and I have nightmares about is so I would prefer to die with eyes closed if I have a choice.

Shin also ended up answering although his voice was not calm and collected.

-ah…

Rin ended up sighting to his explanation.

-you know I am not killing anyone without a reason you know.

She told him that probably to calm him down but those words brought actually the complete opposite effect.

-I see. Still… the occurrence that just happened even if it was not my fault I did ended up enjoying the moment rather than stopping it from happening right away which naturally should classify as a reason for you to kill me. Am I wrong somewhere?

Even though Shin probably should shut up, he ended up saying those words to confirm the truth that he arrived at.

-open your eyes already…

To that though Rin answered like this.

“I see so I won’t be able to die without seeing how I die. I guess it’s a fitting punishment.”

Shin ended up opening his eyes still what he saw before him was just Rin standing and the white mist everywhere else. And then Rin continued.

-what just happened is rather my fault. I ended up catching you because otherwise we would get lost again. I actually managed to find you in this forest twice already. When I did it for the first time I tried to wake you up but you did not respond to me despite the fact that I tried to wake you up by spiting water on your head…

“Hmm… that reminds me of something.”

-still because it did not work I decided to simply wait but at some point you disappeared just like that, in the blink of the eye. I do not know what happened but anyway I searched again and once again I found you sleeping in the same position. Still, at this time the tiredness was getting to me so I couldn’t just wait for you to wake up and I ended up falling asleep myself. Still just so we don’t get lost I ended up lying next to you and tied down our cloaks look.

Rin ended up pointing at the spot where red and white cloak were tied down in knot.

-hmm, good method but it won’t help in this circumstances. If two bodies are not directly connected then ‘joined teleportation’ will not work. Although, our previous position was a working countermeasure.

After Shin said that he immediately realized that he shouldn’t.

-did you have to mention that fact again?

-it probably would have been a better option to not but I don’t like to leave things unfinished or unexplained.

-… fine! I get it! So, yes I did end up clutching up to you, okay. I was actually quite desperate after arriving in this forest! I could not leave it, I couldn’t go anywhere! All I could see is this white mist! When I ended up falling sleep for the first time I appeared in some strange place from which I immediately woke up from and afterwards I could not fall asleep again! Then after nearly day and a half of walking in this white mist I found you! I thought that you have some kind of plan and I will finally be able to get out but then an hour later I lost you again despite the fact that I didn’t move at all and you were keep on sleeping! I spent another half a day and once again I finally found you, but because I was desperate running all day I could not keep myself awake! I knew that I will fall asleep at some point so I did everything to not lose you again! So once again, sorry for clutching up to you! Is that what you wanted to hear!?

-… .

After hearing Rin saying her perspective Shin did not really know what to say. Leaving the fact that she probably said with this explanation about more than Shin ever heard her talking in his entire life, what she said was something much different from what Shin expected.

-what, was it so disgusting to you that you can’t accept my apology.

Then because he did not answer right away, Rin asked him a question like this, which immediately brought him back.

-disgusting? No, no definitely not, I am just surprised as I expected completely different results. Whenever my assumptions are completely wrong I somewhat shocked. Rather than an apology I expected you to kill me for the fact that I didn’t interrupt what was happening right after waking up. My guess was that you just moved in the sleep…

“I would never have expected that she did it on her own. Although being in this forest for so long and what she experience must have been quite traumatic. Also, Yume did say that she is a fragile girl at heart and even though I never believed it, someone like this after being in this forest for so long may do just that.”

-anyway I definitely was not disgusted. As I said, I rather I actually enjoyed this sensation.

-what do you mean by the fact that you enjoyed it? Don’t lie to me! I think that the fact that I hate lairs was spread in the stories about me and I made sure of it so even if I promised Yume to not do anything to people in her party and also I probably shouldn’t kill you given our current circumstances I will not want to get involved with liars so… don’t lie to me and tell me the truth.

“Ooo… yes, I did hear very well what happens if someone lie to her. Hmm… even though one should think like this, I am good a lying but if she finds out that I lied to her then it’s a game over and I am not sure if I will keep up my lie strong enough with her before me. I don’t even know what lie would have been better than actual truth.”

-fine I will tell you the whole truth.

-you better do.

-although, I am not exactly sure anymore, what I should tell you about.

-it doesn’t matter what, just don’t lie. But the matter was about you trying to tell me that you enjoyed me clutching you.

-but I think that it is the truth.

-what do you mean you ‘think’!? It sounds like a lie, also why would you?

-well naturally weakling up next to beautiful girl who is clutching to my arm is interesting and definitely enjoyable sensation for me who is male and probably of the similar age. The warmth, the smell, the view and also the fact that I will probably be killed for it later, all that combined made my heart race really fast. I actually never felt like that and no matter how I think about it, it was really enjoyable for me experience.

Shin probably should keep all that to himself but the number of thoughts that appeared in his mind was already at the pinnacle so he needed to voice some of them out. That was simply his nature.

-you still plan on joking with me?

-after considering the pros and cons I arrived that lying to you is too dangerous so I decided to go with the clean uncut truth. Although if there is something wrong then it’s probably because I didn’t process all of those thoughts yet. If you give me some time then I will have the good answer later on.

-no, no! Just forget everything that has happened and never return to it!

This time Rin’s voice was not scary anymore and she was looking away.

-sorry but I am afraid that my mind is unable to forget things in general, especially when it comes to new sensations like this, also the fact that it was enjoyable to me means that I will probably want to repeat it so I won’t be able to forget about it. I must say that I rarely experience new things that I actually enjoy.

-what do you want to repeat!?

-aaa…

When Rin shouted at him full in embarrassment, Shin finally realized what was the meaning of all words that he just said to her.

-okay! I think that your idea with forgetting everything is better.

-you just said that you can’t forget things.

-yes, it’s true but I can put some of my thoughts in the deepest corner of my mind and never use those thoughts again… ah!… watch out!…

In the middle of his speech Shin saw that the orb in the color of blue that appeared out of the white mist and was moving towards at Rin. The moment he saw that Shin stretched his hands forward and pulled Rin towards him. By that move Rin managed to avoid getting in contact with the blue light but she also ended up now in his arms. Naturally Rin started to struggle out from them but Shin had to keep her there till the blue orb passed by and disappeared in the mist again.

-good we managed to avoid it…

“!!!!!”

Second later after Shin let go of Rin and said those words he had a red blade right before his neck ready to cut through it.

-wait and listen, I have perfectly reasonable explanation for the action that I just made.

Shin quickly said it while holding his hand up as if someone were to shoot him second late with the gun.

-I hope it’s good because after what you just done there are little number of explanations that I can tolerate.

Rin answered although her eyes right now already had a sentence of death in them. Her voice was also really cold.

-well it’s not something that I can explain right away but before I start, do you think that I am crazy enough to try to do what I just did without any reason especially after the situation and the conversation that just happened?

-earlier on you said that you wanted to repeat your sensations so, is that your reason!

-no wait believe in me, it’s not that!

-then what? Did you lie earlier on?

-em…

“Oh, this is bad.”

-could I not answer this question because both answers that I can give toy you lead to my death. But anyway right now, I don’t plan on lying to you in any regard. Also just theoretically speaking, ‘is trying to hug you result in death sentence?’ Is it enough for you to kill someone.

-… no.

Shin was walking on the very thin ice but in the end Rin ended up sheathing her blades back.

-ah, I think that nothing can give me as much adrenaline. The whole expedition to the west is nothing compared to simple conversation with you.

-… .

Shin was really walking on really thin ice, still after all that he just found out about Rin, he decided to believe in what he see and what he saw so far indicated that the image of Rin that he had so far for many years was completely wrong. So he decided to believe in what Yume told him about her and the things that he found out on his own.

In the end even though it was a crazy morning Shin ended up staying alive. He ended up sitting back to the ground and started making his favorite coffee.

-well, I am already quite awake after what just happen but I still want to continue my ritual of drinking a cup of coffee at the morning, you want some Rin?

-no, I am fine.

-you don’t know what you are losing on. This coffee is equal to the highest grade of coffee in the real world. In normal circumstance I use slightly worse one but this time I thought I will use the best one I have, as an apology for everything that just happened just now and to relax the atmosphere. Anyway, I have a special source for but normally if you wanted to get one cup of this coffee in Karma it would be at least 100 gold for one cup.

-if its apology then I will take it.

Although Shin was normally not the one to start the conversation when it came to Rin he could not feel calm and as they said talking did calm down people. Also, he really did want to apology to Rin for everything that happened not only today but at any day.

Shin continued to make coffee with use of equipment that he had as well as some magic. Still at some point something strange happened as Rin ended up sitting next to him and she put her hand on his shoulder, although she explained her reasons right away.

-you said that you won’t disappear if we are directly connected right? You didn’t lie with that, did you?

-I didn’t although rather than me disappearing it can be either you or me disappearing. I think that the last time you separated from me was you disappearing rather than me, I am sure of it because I still recognize this tree as before sleeping I made a marking on it. By the way we still can disappear at any moment but if we are connected like this we will disappear together so it will be as if no one disappeared. While I am at it I will explain that when I caught you just now it was to avoid you disappearing, I really didn’t have any ulterior motive.

-and how can you tell if someone is disappearing?

-well, I will explain to you everything that I have learned in a second but firstly let’s enjoy the morning coffee also maybe some breakfast as I am hungry. If you don’t have anything to eat, I can share some sandwiches with you.

-no I am fine…

Rin answered like that and after going through her menu she took out the bag of cookies and started eating them.

-I usually eat those on my journeys.

She ended up telling him that. In EOA one did not have to worry about eating that much. Some food gave temporary buffs but in general as long as one eat something it was fine as long as it was food. Rin usually just ate cookies not only because she liked them but also because just few of them satisfied her in-game hunger. Then if she wanted to eat something big, she would simply buy it somewhere in Karma. She was usually not eating anything big outside the city.

-well they look delicious. they will be excellent for you to eat with this coffee.

-em… you want some?

After Shin made a comment like this he received a proposition like this.

-yes, gladly. But first let me pour some coffee.

Everything was ready and Shin and Rin ended up eating breakfast together. They were no trying to hurry or anything. Still because it was troublesome for Rin to hold her hand on Shin’s shoulder they ended up connecting their legs together.

After eating Shin ended up explaining everything that he knew about the forest of the lost souls, both what he learned before the expedition and what he learned from his observations and the talks with Mortimer and other spirits. He also explained everything about the colorful orbs and the way in which Shin could now see them. It also turned out that when Rin borrowed Shin’s glasses and put them on she also could use them to see the magical orbs.

-I see so it was like that.

-exactly, still those orbs don’t do anything else apart from teleporting us so as long we avoid them nothing will happen. Still because they come out from the mist out of sudden it’s better to assume that we won’t be able to avoid them all.

-still that is not a problem as long as we hold hands or something, right?

-…! Well, I guess that will be the most effective. Still, are you okay with that?

-it’s only holding hands and this is the necessity, right?

-well, don’t ask me.

-then who should I ask?

-… .

-…

Sometimes the conversation between them went into the wrong direction and ended up with awkward silence.

-anyway, have your glasses back, it’s probably better if you have them. Then give me your right hand but remember, when this is all over never mention it again to anyone, and especially don’t mention it to Mary, okay!

-well it’s not like we are doing anything special, we are just using the most effective way to deal with the orbs.

-yes but she would definitely use it as a weapon against me.

-knowing her she would use it against me in the same way I guess.

=sigh…

They both ended up sighting at the same time because they did know Yume all too well but after this joined sigh the laughter followed.

=hahaha.

Well it was not exactly laughing out loud but rather a small simple that would appear when they recalled their friend. Anyway in the end they ended up joining their hands together, which was slightly awkward but no one seen them so it was fine.

-so, you don’t know how to get out from this forest?

At some point Rin ended up asking. After eating, Shin and Rin ended up walking through the forest again, as Shin wanted to see if the edge of the forest is the same as in the dream world. It was actually not that easy to reach the edge as the magical orbs were coming out from the mist in very random fashion and it was very hard to spot them beforehand. They actually already ended up being teleported twice.

-unfortunately I don’t.

Despite everything he learned, Shin was still quite far from actually finding out the way out of this forest.

-I see.

-don’t be sad though, even though I don’t have the answer yet, there definitely was some progress towards it.

-how dependable… still don’t try to cheer me up, even if we can’t find the way out normally it’s not like there really is no way out.

-personally I would prefer to avoid dying but it seems that despite having a quest of rank three you are fine with.

-quest is secondary thing but I also don’t want to die.

-…

The way Rin said those words and the fact that she ended up squeezing her hand a little harder made an impact on Shin, still before he managed to say anything the grip went back to how it was.

-well, I am probably not the most helpful when it comes to fighting against monsters but when it comes to things like this I am quite confident in myself, so we will definitely find the way to leave this forest.

-… .

-anyway before we try to do anything towards leaving however we still must find Arata who also is somewhere in this forest.

-Arata is also here?

-well he should be as he ended up entering this forest as well. After the fight without saying anything to anyone he ended up rushing into the forest without a moment of thought. He probably was worried about you.

-I can take care of myself. If he wants to be worried about someone, then he should be worried about someone else.

-hahaha… .

-what!?

-nothing it’s just that I can’t help but get amused by talking with you.

-what are you amused by!?

-probably the most by myself in the past, I think I was never so wrong about someone or rather about anything. I never thought that I will be able to have a peaceful conversation with you.

-is this really funny to you?

-funny? Hmm… I don’t think that I can laugh like this that often. I guess after spending so much time in this forest must have some effect on me as well. Having someone to talk to in this crazy place is really calming me down and what is more I am surprisingly enjoying this conversations.

-stop talking about strange things and start thinking of a way to get out from here! I am not here so you can enjoy yourself!

-I am trying to think of something all the time, still right now I feel like I am missing something. Say, won’t you listen to my reasoning and give me your opinion on it.

-is it something that will help us gets out?

-not directly but it will help us understand this forest a little bit more.

-well, if it’s something that I can help with then of course, I will help. I want to get out from here as well. You don’t have to ask me for permission.

-I see…

Even though Rin seemed talking with him normally it was Shin who could still not relax in her presence.

-in this case listen to those facts and tell me what you think. This forest is called the forest of the lost souls and even before we entered it I already knew this name. It was one of the places that I wanted to avoid the most in the journey through the west. Naturally the reason for that is the relation of people who said that it’s impossible to get out from here. Still, despite the fact that we were traveling really far from where that forest should be we still ended up entering it. When it happened, I immediately though of the possibility, that there are two forests like that.

-can it be explained in any other way?

-exactly, still after entering the ‘dream world’ I found there people who ended up being trapped in ‘forest number one’ the one I heard and tried to avoid and yet, we have entered the ‘forest number two’.

-so does it mean that those two are connected like there are those teleport orbs right. Some of them might lead to the other forests?

-I guess its reliable explanation, still why should two places like that, that are so far away be connected in this way.

-don’t ask me, in this world anything can happen.

-anything… not exactly, despite it being the game world it still follows some kind of logic. EOA does follow its own rules…

Shin shared his thoughts that he arrived at after a long time of thinking.

-anything can happen… no… but as long as it’s logical then it can happen.

He also added.

-still, in fantasy world anything can be explained with the single word ‘magic’. So any logic can be ignored.

Rin answered to his theory with the single word.

-true but even magic has its limits. In this world the limit for magic would be mana. For example I don’t think that the orbs are connecting two forests because long range teleportation is using way too much mana and we are talking about quite a distance. At best there would have been one or two orb that can transport us to the other forest.

-then what, maybe only the dream world is connected?

-maybe but the magical orbs are both here and in dream world and they serve the same purpose.

-then maybe that whole dream world is only something you dreamed of and is not true.

-you mean it was only my dream? Yes I did consider that thought but the fact that my glasses can be now used to determine the position of the orbs after that dream proofs that it was the truth and not my individual dream.

-I see. But should we really concern ourselves with the second forest? We should focus on getting out from this one.

-yes, but what we want to find out is what was the cause of this mist forest. It seems like something that can even repeat itself. To find the answer to the problem you first need to know what was the cause of it.

-the cause is of course some magic, right? What else could it be?

-yes but it could be also some natural magical phenomenon that occurs in the west.

-how can this can be natural? I would rather say that some crazy magician like you was the cause of it.

-then it would need to be someone really powerful. Still why did you call me crazy magician? Did I do something wrong?

-I think that every magician is crazy by default.

-but isn’t it unfair to judge everyone by some standard. It’s racism.

-maybe, still if it comes to you then you are definitely crazy. How could you stay calm in this situation, go around speak with some souls and then try to explain this crazy phenomenon with logic. I say that anyone who tries to find explanation in something that is crazy is crazy himself. What is worse you are even enjoying the situation in which you ended up.

-well, I won’t be able to hide this fact I guess. I mean not only this is quite unusual situation we are in but also I have such interesting and lovely companion like you… aua!

In this moment Shin’s hand was crushed in Rin’s grip.

-I told you to stop saying strange things!

-what was the… aua! Is there anything I offended you with? You should know but offending you is the last thing I want to do.

-ah… you are crazy after all.

Rin ended up sighting.

-you already told me what will happen if I lie to you so I will say everything that is on my mind without hiding anything and without analyzing it.

-whatever, still tell me how can you enjoy our situation in which we probably are doomed to die?

-we are not doomed, as long as we solve the mystery of this forest we will be able to get out.

-so you are simply enjoying this situation because this is a fun puzzle for you? Now that I think about it Mary did say that you enjoy puzzles and games like this.

-oh, you asked her about me?

-no, she told me on her own.

-still you did remember it. I feel honored… aua! … still I think that before meeting you I couldn’t really enjoy it this way before meeting you I remember slowly becoming desperate but now my mind is calm because you are not … aua!

-could you finally stop it?

-hmm? What should I stop doing, could you explain it to me. For now I am just trying to fight the awkwardness of holding your hand you know… aua! What again?

-if you hate it this much then you should focus on getting out from this forest.

-no, no, by awkwardness I didn’t mean that I don’t like it. I already told you that I enjoy it quite much, even though the sensation is smaller than earlier, the warm feeling is still very pleasant in… aaa!

In this moment Rin ended up bringing Shin to the ground by pulling his hand in fast movement which resulted in him going face first into the ground.

-once again stop that…

She did help him stand up afterwards though.

“I still don’t know what she is talking about but it seems like the safe option would be to stop the idle talk. And here I just tried to relax the atmosphere to help her not think about the current situation we are in.”

After standing up Shin looked down with the sad face.

-what!?

-hmm? Is something wrong?

Shin answered not knowing what Rin asked about.

-you are trying to ask me about that?

-why would I? … but anyway there is nothing wrong with me so let’s continue the talk. You said that it had to be some crazy magician who casted such spell but I don’t really think it’s possible. Even if someone managed to cast a spell like this for a short while, this forest is in this mist for many years, no decades already. No one would have enough power to sustain it… no wait, there can always be something that keep up that spell on its own like some magical device that manages to replenish its power on its own. I am not sure who would be able to make something like that and why but it is possible… well in theory at least, not so much in practice. Much less, no one would choose a place for it like this.

In a second Shin went back to thinking about the way out as if nothing happened.

-hmm… I don’t think that I can add anything useful to what you think about so there is no need to consult it with me.

-not exactly, fresh look is always welcomed and often leads to the actual answer. So do you think there is anything I am missing?

-I don’t think so although when I first entered this forest I thought that I was caught in some kind of spell that was casted on this place. Although, I was rather thinking of some strange creature casting it rather than human.

-creature?

-well, yes. We are in the west after all. There are numberous different creatures here with some crazy powers right? I would say that this mist is some kind of trap for souls and after some time the creature that set it up will come back and eat them.

-well, at least we can avoid this fate… still if we assume that it is a creature that is walking around the west and put some spell on the forest and because of that there are few mist forests like this then it makes some kind of sense. Still this explanation does not explain how the forest are connected with each other. Also the fact that this spell would work for so long without anyone’s interference is… .

Shin was going to say not possible but then he stopped. Million thoughts about the forest of the lost souls entered his mind and from all them, he managed to catch those most important, after catching them he combined them into one thought and that thought was the answer he was looking for, for so long.

-no wait you are right, it really is this simple. Hahaha, it really was this simple.

-don’t laugh because it makes me feel like an idiot.

-it’s rather me who is an idiot and you are the genius that found the answer.

-you mean, it really was some creature that casted this mist as some spell?

-yes, exactly that but the only thing that we were wrong about was the fact that we thought that there were two forests like this.

-but from what you said there should be two. Or do you mean that those souls and all people lied to you?

-no they probably said the truth and there was a forest of the lost souls over there as well. Still the point is that currently that forest is no longer there and now it’s here. It moved its location together with all those souls that were trapped there.

-I guess it makes sense but still, does that help us in any way in our current situation?

Rin returned to the most important question.

-I said that you were right, right? I think that the source of this mist is indeed some creature just like you said. Maybe this mist itself is that creature who knows. The thing is that it does possess an ability to move.

-but if it’s the mist is the creature itself then how do you want to fight against it?

-well that was just a speculation because I don’t think that is the case. What I think however is that this forest trap is a combination of two. One is the white mist which only serves as an illusion of an endless forest because we can’t see in it. The true reason for an endless forest, are those teleport orbs. Those are definitely of a magic origin which means simple that someone made them appear and is keeping them operating.

-so as long as we deal with that creature this whole mist should disappear right?

-if my theory is right that is. Still there are high chances of it being true after I connected all facts.

-I believe that it’s true.

-really? Well just so you know I might have made it sound realistic but in the end it’s still all assumptions that I want to bet on right now because other explanations does not give us a clear chance on leaving. The chances of everything I said being true are at best 20%.

-no, you wouldn’t have said it if they were only assumptions. You probably didn’t told me everything based on what you have learned.

-oh, I didn’t think that you will trust in me this much.

-hmm… you do know what will happen when you lie to me so you wouldn’t say it unless you were 100% sure it’s true, right?

“Right now I am about 20% sure it’s correct but, its better be correct because otherwise it will be me lying to her which result in dying.”

-you are the last person that I will ever lie to.

-great, then we will get out from this forest in a moment…

Rin said that but they were still many problems, still Shin decided to not mention them until sometime passes as Rin finally regaining part of her vigor. Still after fifteen minutes anyone would realize that it won’t be that simple.

-hmm… how are we going to find that creature?

Rin ended up asking the question that was on Shin’s mind right now.

-I am currently trying to think of something, for now we are going with go with blind method.

-but… but… we are seeing like two meters ahead of us right. How are we going to find anything in this forest?

-I don’t know it at least yet. Still now that we have learned this much maybe we should double our effort and split up?

-NO!…

When Shin proposed that idea Rin ended up shouting out although realizing that she did so she quickly tried to explain herself.

-em… what I mean is that… .

Still she could not find a good explanation.

“Ah, I forgot that she already spend too much time in this forest alone. I guess it might have been traumatic.”

-hmm… still now that I thought about this idea it actually won’t help because I am not confident that I will be able to deal with that creature alone. I mean if it’s strong enough to cause phenomenon like this it’s probably not something I can deal with myself. By the way, thank you for worrying about me, I will depend on you then.

-yes, leave that monster to me.

Rin answered regaining her calm. Shin managed to successfully change the flow of conversation without making Rin realize it, still when it came to changing conversation to make it easy for the other side, Shin was quite good at it.

And so now with their objective finally confirmed, Shin together with Rin started the search for the creature that was responsible for all this. While doing so, Shin kept on trying to think of a good method to help them in that search but the only thing he could think of for now was just marking the trees that they have visited. Well that was something just extra and he continued to look for other ways but there was little one could do in the place like this. And so.

After one hour passed, nothing happened.

After two hours passed, nothing happened.

After four hours passed, nothing happened.

And now after eight hours, there was still nothing new in their journey and they still did not have a clue as to how to find ‘anything’ in this forest.

-walking around like this is quite frustrating isn’t it?

At some point Shin said out loud as it been a silence for some time now.

-hmm?

-by the way Rin, how did you manage to find me after teleporting once. You mentioned that you founded me twice, right?

-first time I found you I ended up tripping over your legs while running so it was pure luck…

“Ah that won’t be really helpful.”

-the second time though I did still remembered your presence so I knew the direction in which I needed to go. It was still hard as I was being teleported around but after half a day I managed to reach you.

-what!?

“What does she mean by presence!?”

-haha… .

-???

-well, what I just said was a joke the second time was also luck. It wasn’t funny?

-hmm, I might have laugh if anyone else said that but I would not be surprised by the fact that you could actually do something like that. Where did the idea came from?

-well actually it’s because I know someone who can do that.

-you know someone who has a skill like that?

-no I didn’t mean EOA, it is a person in real world.

-… ah I see… hahaha, very funny.

-I wasn’t joking this time but I guess it does sound unbelievable to anyone who did not meet master.

During those eight hours from time a time a conversations like that appeared. Thanks to those conversations, Shin’s knowledge about Rin greatly increased and his impression about her completely changed. One thing that Shin did not understand was why those conversations that were about quite silly things actually brought him so much fun. He never experienced something like this or rather he many times experienced conversations like this but usually he would rather get annoyed by them in the end. Shin did not like to waste time and was a man of logic, still when he talked with Rin, anything was fine. Although that was probably caused by the fact that right now he had absolutely nothing else to do other than to traverse through the white forest.

But then as they walked they encountered something unusual. It was a fallen tree. Well it probably wouldn’t have been anything unusual if it was only one tree but after walking around that tree they encountered another tree fallen tree and another and another. What was more they were somehow connected with each other in a way that one fallen tree was covering the end of another fallen tree and so on.

-hmm, did we finally found something?

Shin asked obvious question and then he was pulled by Rin who moved closer to the destroyed trunk.

-they were cut down by the sword.

She said after observing the damage.

-are you sure that it was a sword? Wouldn’t normally people cut down the tree with an axe? Or are you saying that it was some creature that has attacks that are similar to sword cuts.

-no it was the sword and he probably didn’t have an axe with him.

-he?

-well currently there is probably only person here who would end up destroying the tree around him to ease his frustration.

-I see, but how long would it take him to cut down all those trees with a sword? We already saw like ten of them.

-no, I don’t think it would take him that long. I once saw how his game skill ended up cutting down many tree trunks in second with a single slash although I think that this time he just went ahead and cut them down normally by himself. I told you he was probably taking up his frustration on those trees because he could not get out from this forest.

-still even if it’s Arata I can’t image him cutting down trees with trunks as large as this one in this great number. Maybe we should consider some creature that has sword like attacks after all.

-no, cutting down the like this is easy, look.

Rin walked towards already fallen tree pulling Shin with her and then while still holding his hand as it was nothing she took her red blade and with a single quick slash that Shin could not even follow with his eyes, Rin sliced the fallen trunk in two pieces. She then sheathed back her sword and looked back at him as if nothing has happened and what she demonstrated was something that anyone should be able to do.

“Right, even though her character is not exactly what I thought, she still is the queen of blades.”

-well if it’s this easy then you are probably right. Still my guess is that if we follow the trail of fallen trees we might find Arata somewhere so we should do that.

-the cuts looks fresh so he shouldn’t be that far. I am not sure which way we should go though.

-based on how the trees are lying down on each other, the right tree was cut down after the one on the left as it is covering it so we should probably go to the right. It would be good if we found him, maybe he will have some other idea on how to get out from this forest.

-does this look to you as if he had any good ideas?

Rin answered with sarcasm while pointing towards the tree.

-… well he probably doesn’t but maybe he found out something. Then there is also a small hope that Arata’s skills may actually be quite useful in our current situation. He has an anti-magical class after all so he might have an useful skill that could even help us in leaving this forest without fighting anything. Although when it comes to our situation right now I would want to have Bran with me here, his scouting abilities and his hearing would be most useful in our circumstances. Maybe I should have consider risking bringing in more people

-sorry for not having any useful abilities.

Rin ended up sulking.

-despite that though I wouldn’t want to exchange anyone with you as my companion in this fore… aua!

-let’s go!

Rin declared happily and speeded up her movement pulling Shin after her.

They followed the trail of the fallen trees and soon enough they found ‘the strange person who was cutting down the trees left and right’.

-I will burn you down to the ground you damn forest! You will understand that you started a war with the wrong person! Muahahahaha!

The first thing they heard were crazy words like this still both of them did recognize that voice.

-just so you know, I don’t know that person.

Before moving forward, Rin ended up saying those words to Shin. They then speeded up a little and Shin ended up shouting the words.

-Arata wait!

After this shout Arata stopped moving and they catch up to him right away. There wasn’t anything unusual in his appearance, well maybe expect the fact that he had blood thirsted eyes that signalized that he didn’t sleep for quite some time, probably ever since the first stop in the west and it was already three days since then.

-ah Rin, you are okay.

The first thing that Arata said were those words although his voice was quite relived.

-of course I am okay, what else did you though?

-well it’s not like I am surprised.

After entering forest like this, Arata probably realized immediately what happened to Rin. Still the thought of Rin being dead, did not leave his mind only until now.

-so, you guys have…

Arata was going to ask about something but then he saw something really unusual. He even rubbed his eyes to see if he is seeing it right as after all he did not sleep for quite some time, then he even pinched himself to see if it’s not a dream but when none of those worked he simply thought to himself “I did not see anything.”

-so you guys have any idea on how to leave this forest?

Arata finally ended up asking.

-well we came up with something but it’s not easy plan to execute so do you have any better ideas?

Shin ended up asking.

-I do have one as naturally after those two days here I arrived at something.

-oh… what is it?

-it’s quite simple actually. Namely. ‘This forest is our enemy’ and you don’t play around with enemies, but simply destroy them. So right now I was going to burn down this forest to the ground and see if this mist will stay afterwards because I think it will not.

After hearing Arata’s idea this Rin just face palmed herself with her free hand.

-hmm, power play? Well I think that it might actually have a chances of working…

Shin answered like this as even though the idea was slightly crazy, it was not completely wrong.

-but I think it also might end up with us burning down in that fire as well because if the those orbs does not disappear we are most likely to end up in the middle of fire.

-what orbs?

“Ah right he did not fall asleep so he couldn’t have learned about it.”

-well, before we move on I guess I have to explain to you everything we have learned so far. It will take a while though.

-in this case I will start preparing something to eat because I didn’t eat anything in those two days. I will make something for you two as well.

-much appreciated. Anyway it goes like this.

While Arata started making food, Shin and Rin sit down and Shin started explaining everything from the very beginning, including everything that he has learned even before entering this forest.

The explanation took long enough for Arata to finish make the meal and continued while they were eating it.

When Arata said that he was going to prepare something Shin thought that it would be some fast made food too fight against hunger but he did not expect something as good as this.

-hmm, I didn’t think that you can cook so well.

Shin commented.

-thanks. Still returning to your question, I am not sure if my sword enchanter’s skills will actually be useful here. I don’t have that many of them. And I already tested all of my skills on the mist once and none of them worked. What about you, though. As I remember you having an anti magic rune.

-that spell works only if the caster stands in the rune it can’t stop the magic that was already used. Anyway even though you already tried your skills on the mist, maybe you have something that would work on the orbs.

-hmm, there are two skills I can use that could be considered anti-magical. One is cutting spells with my sword but from what you said it will probably result in me being teleported. Then there is also a new skill that I just got recently that can reflect spells back to its caster. I already tested it once and I managed to reflect Hiro’s water ball. Still I am not sure how it would work on the teleporting spell like this.

-I see, so if it’s not a direct attack then your skill might actually do nothing. Although, let’s test it out…

[Rune: emerald gateway]

The green ball came out from the palm of his free left hand and ended up landing ground next to Arata leaving a green circle.

-Arata, try to use that skill on this rune and let us see what will happen.

-okay.

Arata ended up swinging his sword at the green rune and right before the sword hit it the ground a purple barrier appeared between the sword and the green circle. The circle then returned to its previous state and ended up firing back at Shin. Seeing it Shin moved his upper body to the down right, right onto Rin’s knees. That dodge did not help him and the bolt ended up sinking into him but it didn’t even hurt probably because the spell he used wasn’t meant to damage anything. Shin returned back to his previous position and started.

-judging by what just happened it seems like your spell… aua!!…

Shin’s hand was crushed for the n-th time today already.

-so… I think we might actually use it to locate the creature that casted those orbs if you use that skill.

-…

Because Arata still did not believing what was happening before him he stopped for a moment but in the end he once reminded himself. “I did not see anything.” And continued like nothing.

-well if your glasses really can detect those orbs as you said then it might actually work.

-yes, if you use this skill on the orb then it probably will end up flying back to the caster right away and we will just have to follow after it. Anyway let’s test this theory right away.

-okay, I will gather all my things and let’s get started.

Arata pick up all his cooking equipment alongside the dishes and they were ready to go.

-I think that you will need those as it seems that your skill works only when you connect your sword with it.

Shin said that and passed on his glasses to Arata.

-okay.

Arata took them and started wearing them.

=phi… hahahaha!

Still somehow the moment Arata put those glasses on his face both Shin and Rin ended up bursting into laughter and this time it was really laughing out loud.

-ah, sorry Arata, you look quite funny in them.

-even you Rin… hey does anyone of you have a mirror because I now want to see it for myself… or no, never mind, let us get rid of this mist quickly. You two follow after me, although I think that I can take it from here on my own.

-no it’s better if we don’t separate after finding ourselves after all this time. Anyway I will be holding your shoulder so in case that we get caught by some unexpected magical orb we end up being teleported together.

-okay, oh it’s a good countermeasure… SO THAT’S WHY YOU TWO ARE HOLDING HANDS!

In the middle of Shin sentence Arata understood something and he shouted out his thoughts really loudly.

-em… did I not mention it?

-right you did. Ah, now it all makes sense, so I did not went crazy, because for a moment I thought I did. Still in this case I think holding hands is actually better solution in case where we will have to run after the orb in this forest so… .

-just so you know Arata, you are fifth last person in the world that I would want to holds hand with.

Rin cut in Arata’s talk and said the words to which no one could say anything back to.

“I wonder who are the other four people before him?”

Well in the end it ended up with Shin holding Arata’s hand and now both of his hands were occupied, he had to hid his staff to do so. Still, the sensation that he had from both of them was completely different.

-okay, I found one!…

It didn’t take a long time before they managed to find one of the colorful orbs, after all there were so many of them inside the forest of the lost souls that one would lose the count. Even if they were not visible because of the mist they still were there.

Arata was not wasting any time and swung with his sword in the air. He had it prepared in hand for the whole time.

Although Shin currently glasses-less could not see them the colorful orbs at the current moment Arata swung his sword and the purple barrier-like light appeared before his sword.

-it’s going fast, we better hurry!

Arata said it out and started running. With the sudden movement he pulled Shin after him and then Shin pulled Rin. The run started. In few seconds though it became Arata and Rin going in the front and Shin being pulled and barely keeping up behind them. Running fast with hands joined inside the forest was not easy and based on how Arata was speeding up it seemed like the colorful orb was moving fast.

They managed to keep up with it for two minutes but the run ended up being brutally interrupted, at least for Shin. When they ran, at some point a tree appeared right before them and Arata run pass it to the left and Rin to the right, still Shin was holding both of their hands and was in the middle which ended up with him slamming right into the tree with the great speed.

“Auch I really should have thought of a better method.”

-Arata, go ahead!…

Naturally upon impact the hands managed to split and both Arata and Rin moved ahead. But second later Rin returned back and left the rest to Arata. At that moment Shin already managed to fall down to the ground. Still in EOA, having damage like this was nothing. Well naturally it hurt but Shin was already used to it and started getting up right away.

-are you okay?

After coming back Rin asked him this while stretching her hand to help him stood up.

-well, this is nothing. Thankfully I didn’t have my glasses on.

Shin answered and took the hand to stand up. After he stood up though, they somehow ended up holding their hands again without even thinking probably because for past ten hours or so they kept on doing so.

-after it all ends you should wear them back though. Unlike Arata, they suit you.

-really, in this case…

After hearing Rin’s comment Shin decided to take out a spare glasses that he had. In the first place glasses weren’t an item that gave stats, it was rather an accessory. Its main purpose was to help people who are wearing glasses in real get used to their bodies in EOA. Apart from that they didn’t have anything special in them, at least the ones that Shin was wearing. Naturally there were glasses like shaped items that would give some stats.

-still, are you sure that we should let him go. I mean he will have to face the creature that is responsible for all this. We should all go there together and then with a good tactic.

-SHIN!

Suddenly Rin ended up shouting his name to interrupt him and moved right before him. Even though she was only reaching his shoulder length her presence was intimidating as she looked up with deadly eyes up to his face. Not to mention that hearing his name for the first time from her also had an impact.

-yes!?

-you are the leader of this group, yes!?

-no, my only function is…-

-YES!?

-well, yes I am raid leader.

Shin could not even start thinking the arguments in this position.

-then! Could you stop dealing with everything alone and leave some things to others?

-but I am leaving things to others. Doing things in group is always the most optimal solution.

-not everything has to always be perfect you know. Also even if you think something is better then it’s not always the truth.

-okay, then tell me why fighting together is a worse plan?

Shin listened patiently but this time he had to argue back.

-in current case it’s because it hard to run together.

-… .

“Well I can’t argue with this.”

-also I don’t know what you think about Arata but he will deal just fine with whatever there is.

-oh, I see that you trust in him… auA!

-rather than trusting, I am simply aware of what he is capable of doing.

-well I guess it will be hard to find something that will manage to kill him easily even if it’s west. I am also more or less aware of what he can do.

-then what about me? What do you think of me?

-you mean in combat stand point righ… AUA!

-what else could I mean?

-well if it comes to you then I don’t think that I meet anything that is stronger than you. I would say that you could probably even take on dragon by yourself. At least the one that we once fought against and that was the strongest creature that I ever meet in this game.

-I see…

To Shin’s opinion Rin only answered like that and she stopped looking with him like she did.

-well, for your information though I can’t take on the dragon you just mentioned as I also fought against him without success when he was near Karma…

“Well maybe I overdid it a little there. That dragon was way overwhelming despite the fact it wasn’t even that big in comparison to some dragons that I saw on the internet.”

-still by what you said you do trust in my abilities?

-I experienced them on my skin few times now so I naturally do.

-then tell me, why did you never ask me to do anything so far in this expedition? You are asking everyone else to do something but just not me. Unless I do something on my own accord I am just standing there completely bored.

-well, I am leaving you for the time in which you will be truly needed.

-I think that there already were times in which if you asked me to do my thing then it wouldn’t have ended with someone’s death.

-well you can never know that for sure and because of our winning condition I am not going to put you in a danger… aua!…

This time Shin took a heave blow from a belly into the stomach. Still, it was not a simple punch as after that hit, he could not breathe for more than 10 seconds.

-ha, ha, ha.

-try to not put yourself in danger and don’t remind me of what happened with Yume. Just so you know I will not forgive you for that one.

“But I am sure that apart from the fact that one of our few mages was sacrificed it was still the best decision.”

Shin did not dare to say those words out loudly though.

-okay, I give up. I also think that it’s always good to listen to people’s opinion so tell me what I am doing wrong and what I should do from now on?

-I don’t think that you are doing anything wrong in particular.

-I am glad to hear that… aua!

-but there is one thing that I don’t like what you are doing.

-if that the case, then I will work on it. But what is it that you don’t like me doing?

-I will rather tell you what I want you to do, is that also okay?

-this should also work.

-so…

In this moment Rin stopped holding his hand and walked a little away showing him her back but then she turned around with a spin and her hair flied in the air. When she did that move the white mist around her somewhat disappear and it wasn’t illusion as the white mist indeed started to disappear. Still, rather than commenting on it Rin started.

-when next time you have any trouble during this expedition I want you to say out loudly, ‘Rin go deal with it’, to which I will answer, ‘yes Shin’ and deal with it as you asked. You have to do that as otherwise I won’t be able to repay the debt from today and if I won’t be able to repay you for today then I will have to thank you for it.

-is there anything you need me to thank me for?

-… .

-well, if there is then how about this, rather than repaying me, the next time you try to kill me, don’t do it.

-ah… never mind, forget what I said. Even if you don’t ask me for it from now on I am not standing by on without doing anything if something happen. Anyway I already told you this but I don’t kill people for no reason so you have nothing to be afraid of and so don’t be so reserved towards me.

-I will definitely keep that in mind. Anyway I can already see Arata returning in the distance so we should regroup with others.

The white mist nearly disappeared completely with the exception of few white points that now started circling around the place where Shin and Rin were standing. Those white spots also started to disappear one after another but they did not disappear like the white mist but rather they took off to the sky and flied away. After that phenomenon the forest become quiet and there was nothing strange about it anymore. It was no longer the forest of the lost souls anymore as that forever disappeared forever leaving only legends behind. ‘All souls’ that were lost in it, finally found their way out.