“I am so sorry…” Mizuki whispered as she wiped away her tears.

“…” Sora was just puzzled, what did she see?

“A sea of sorrow.” Mizuki’s voice was soft and quiet. “Pain beyond measure….”

“…”

“I am sorry…” Mizuki apologized once more as she bowed slightly.

Sora took a step back – this was getting awkward. He didn’t understand anything that was going on. “You know…I don’t even know why you are apologizing. The future is uncertain as ever…were you the one who said that?” Sora asked with a questioning look on his face.

“But the past is fixed in stone…” Mizuki murmured just barely audible for Sora.

Sora took one more step back. “What did you say?” He asked one more time in a stern tone. There were some things best left unspoken and unseen.

“I saw both the past and the future…”

Sora’s eyes flashed in vehement anger. He didn’t ever believe Mizuki could see his future but the past…that was an entirely different matter. Sora wasn’t too sure if it was possible for ‘the game’ to be able to read through his memories. However, there was this one instance where, early on in the game, Jimney, the cricket knew his nickname – Sora. Where did Jimney acquire that knowledge from? How can that be explained? It was a small possibility but given the fact that this ‘game’ tampers with human memory, it wouldn’t be very surprising if ‘the game’ was reading through his memories.

“I never intended to read that past. Divination can be terribly random. Time is connected like a thread to the past…sometimes….we see everything…” Mizuki continued in a solemn voice.

Every ounce of Sora wanted him to leave the room. Like a child who has been shamed in front of the masses – Sora felt naked and bear with someone knowing his painful secrets. If Sora’s personality could be explained then his locked away secrets of the past held the key to explaining it. Beneath that flaky personality and apparently bizzare behaviour lay a perfectly sound explanation – if the reasons were known Sora’s character would be transparent as water. However, it was because no one knew his past that Sora was often misunderstood.

Mizuki could feel the blaze of Sora’s anger just from his stare.

Sora took a deep breath – there was nothing that could be done now that Mizuki knew. The pain he had suffered in the past was something he kept locked deep within him; known to just three other people. He would have killed Mizuki if she had been a real person. He was boiling with rage but there was no reason to get angry with Mizuki she is nothing but a virtual character of this game. As long as this was just a game….he would be okay with it.

“Forget it.” Sora said, “What happened in the past happened. The future is what we must look towards….”

Though the lines sounded very admirable, it was very difficult for Sora to say them. His voice was shaky, filled with emotion. Practising what one preaches, is one of the most difficult tasks in the world. Advice can always be offered how time heals wounds but the truth is the one suffering must bear with it all. That pain and grief is theirs and theirs only. It was only for a brief moment, but Sora felt this game was too real to be a game. The NPC’s had deep personalities, very human like and the depth of emotions this game stirred was too life like.

Mizuki nodded in agreement, sensing it was he was willing to forget – if not forgive.

“So, what else did you see?”

“Continued suffering and pain. Even though, you tried to escape your fate by coming to this world…you will find no respite.” Mizuki bluntly replied. “It is almost certain that if you leave this dungeon you will meet a terrible fate.”

Way to go! Mizuki, if one had to learn how to pour chilli powder on an open wound – one should learn it from Mizuki. When Sora heard those lines, he felt it directly applied to him. His heart felt as though it plunged into the darkness. Continued suffering and pain? Wasn’t the past enough?

The other thing that was bothering Sora was the prediction itself. He wasn’t expecting a prediction to begin with! How can one possibly predict what will happen in the future? Sora was expecting something more along the lines of ‘I see great treasure in the north…or a weapon in the dungeon far from east…’ - something along those lines. Why the heck would a ‘bot’ try predicting the future?

Predicting the future cannot be done! There are millions and billions of possible outcomes for any individual. To try and predicting them would be impossible – this was most certainly a hoax.

Thinking along those lines… Sora began to wonder…’what if this is all a ruse?’

Sora began piecing all the information together – Mizuki orders him to stay, he refuses, she offers divination, followed by brilliant sobbing acting and now a prediction of doom if he leaves the dungeon. Rather convenient wasn’t it?

The more Sora thought about it the more he was convinced – Mizuki spoke nothing about this past. She only spoke very general lines…it was he who assumed that she actually read the past….

The temperature in the room began increase. Someone was boiling made in rage – did she just successfully make a fool of him?

 “Sora?” Mizuki asked as she looked up at him – he was overflowing with killing intent. The Mokanas were on their guard sensing the ‘killing intent’

“I am leaving!” Sora declared. There was no point in fighting ‘this’ woman – being involved with her in any would be meddlesome.

“Leaving? Where?” Mizuki asked in surprise.

“Leaving the dungeon!” Sora shouted out as he began walked out the door.

“You can’t leave the dungeon….” Mizuki cried out. “Only those who defeat all the Gate Keepers and then the dungeon master can leave…”

“Then, I am going to defeat the all gate keepers and then the dungeon master!” Sora declared as he began descending down the stairs.

“Even, if one of the Gate Keepers is Ai?” Mizuki asked with a wry smile across her face.

Was this something she had planned from the very start – of course.

She was Mizuki right? And those were really the 'All-truth-seeing eyes'?

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Author's note:

1. Gosh, I keep doling out slow threads one after another. T_T Gomenasai!! Heads up next one is going to be slow as well.

2. Yes, so I felt there was a need to delve into the enigma that is Sora. What his pains were will forever remain buried a secret till the prequel to this FF comes out - Guardians of Royal Road: The Useless. I have decided to prepare 3 books. This would be book #2. --> That means there will be a prequel and a sequel.

3. The FF went from 4.31 to 4.13 in rating. T_T I am not going to say more about that. However, I am satisfied how far this FF has come - and will see it through to the end.

4. This chapter is dedicated to peep the squek.