Seven reunited with Milen shortly after. The ground hole from which the princess came from was exactly the one she had been struggling to get out of.

-How did you manage to fall in such a place?

-I wasn’t exactly expecting a big pond of blood.

-Didn’t you consider the possibility? I did. In fact, I met many on the way. I just wanted to confirm it was a human mistake, since we will be cooperating to get out of here.

Milen scratched her head and tried to follow the disappearing fungi into the exit.

-That one is no use, it’s directly connected to the Queen and its two Royal Guards. We have to find another route, else it’s over.

-This doesn’t look like a feeding ground... More like a breeding one? We’re not in that much danger, we can just wait for the others to come.

-I’m not so sure about that – he smiled – for one, the Royal Guards might enter this place at any time. And I don’t think Natalya or anyone else is approaching for the time being. We are exhausted and require nutrition, unless you plan on drinking coagulated blood and eating suspicious mushrooms to survive, you will die. Or maybe... You fancy being a cannibal...

“I, for one, might resort to that if there is no other option...” Seven measured the chance of beating his companion in a fight. In any case, he didn’t hold any goodwill towards people he deemed to be stupid, and her mistake fell into that category. It was a “fitting” end.

-No one is coming? What do you mean? - she exhaled.

-Leave that for later. Getting out is more important.

Seven waved her off and sat leisurely on a rocky protrusion. He stared solemnly at the entrance of the cave, pondering his possibilities.

Though she suggested waiting, Milen was not so adamant about the idea. Every moment inside that place took a drop at her sanity and she didn’t wish to stay one minute longer.

“If only I could use my skill...”

A long time went by since those words were exchanged. Milen hung close to her unassuming partner, but his silence only added to the creepy atmosphere. She couldn’t take it any longer.

-Do you have any brothers... Or sisters?

Seven frowned.

-How is this of any relevance to our predicament?

Conversations were cut short then and there. Unknowingly, though, the woman gradually approached, so close that if he so much as breathed deeply the expansion of his chest would be enough to make their arms touch. It was something neither of them paid attention to, until it happened and Seven, annoyed, took upon himself to grasp her hand and send her away. It was in this brief interaction that he noticed what looked like a tattoo.

In retrospect, he never cared much about that woman’s appearances, but tattoos held their charm even in that abandoned corner of the world. The shadows gave her barely seen face a contour on her lips, which by themselves were full and plump, transforming them in a point of interest, and not so distant the locks of her black hair fell on her shoulders. Looking a few inches upward on that sharp face shivering from the cold, the black eyes held a ferocity he’s never seen and it was a paradox with how much of a coward she appeared to be, from the time they met until that point – in actuality, this cowardice was only a product of the environment, and it just so happened he got to see this side more often than the others.

This intake took a few seconds, and he was still holding onto her hand firmly.

-Ssk! - he breathed in deeply. Seven felt something slip through his palm and he pushed her in a hurry as a scathing pain surged. It was akin to the friction of a rope being pulled at mach speed, and it left behind a burning trail. His eyes did not part the tattoo as it hid under the poor illumination.

Milen broke off and hid her arm, but it wasn’t fast enough that Seven couldn’t see the writhing and contorting thing in the shadows. It would be impossible to miss that dark glow, and he recognized it.

-Gnawing flesh and chewing bones, chiming bells of the dead below...

-You! How... Where did you hear that?! - she stood horrified.

-The Butterfly Chapters 13, Chapters of the Impure. The second line from the end... How did you acquire this thing?

-This... I...

-Forget it, it doesn’t matter – the discovery was less important than its practical use in the current situation, any questions he could ask later – show me your arm.

-What?!

-Woman, do you want to stay here forever? If not, just do as I say!

Due to her weak mentality, Milen was caught off guard and it was enough for him to grab her by force and study the marks.

“It moves whenever I try to grab hold of it, sinking deep into her pulse... The wrist tenses up whenever it coils, any more and the veins would pop.”

-You use magic, don’t you? Can you get us out of here?

-If I could, I would’ve done it already...

“Yeah, I thought so... I don’t think this is a butterfly. From what I understood, butterflies are fleeting and immaterial, this thing is something tangible...”

-Then, can you cast your spell? It doesn’t matter if it’s not useful, just do the one that made this tattoo appear.

-Absolutely not! - she shouted with newfound strength.

-Why?

-This... I would die!

-If you stay here, you are going to die either way. Do you want to die at the side of a human being who can end your suffering if you so wish, stay by your side and watch over you in your last moments? Or do you want to die alone in the cold, your limbs shattered and unable to escape as your small existence is enveloped by the acidic fluid of a monster’s stomach, slowly suffocated and decomposed, constantly fainting but unable to sleep, suffering until the very end? If you are lucky enough, your heart will cease functioning before that happens.

This barrage of words pulled at Milen’s heartstrings more than any logical argument Seven could conjure. She unconsciously pressed her hand against her throat as an uncomfortable and hoarse feeling sprung up from there, the cold air hit her like sharp needles as the fresh memories of her almost transformation into an ant, which she was desperately trying to forget, immediately returned.

Her silence was enough of an answer.

“Sometimes it is useful to be a weak-willed idiot.”, Seven held her arm and nodded with a severe expression. She knew what she had to do.

Clenching her fists, Milen started muttering words of a language completely alien, and the strange nature of the light carried by them was mystical to Seven. In his eyes it was also another one, a “butterfly”, but it came and went so fast it would be impossible for him to make use of it.

“Ghost force”

The glowing light disappeared in the ceiling, forming a small constellation that soon would fade too. The sound of dragging and of rustling chains came in a few seconds and a spectral figure that looked exactly like Milen walked towards them, her feet bound by shackles while she dragged a huge weight behind. Once it approached Milen, it dissociated and distorted, attracted to the caster just as the caster to it, both eventually mingling as the sole body, shattering the restraining chains.

While not understanding what was happening, Seven paid attention to her wrist, and shortly after the snake started to glow and contort furiously, running a full lap on her arm and slithering back to her pulse. He started to whisper a few words without any particular intonation, and grasped the snake as it bordered in the material world, with its head cocked up and mouth open to bite into Milen’s wrist.

In the next second, however, the snake completely disappeared, as if it never existed to begin with, and Milen found herself surrounded by the sea. At her side, a kid fiddled with starfish and some pretty shells, and for some reason, she was passing her fingers through the moist sand in a mindless horizontal motion, as if in deep thought, which wasn’t her current mood.

-Don’t mind me – a familiar voice ringed on her ears.

Milen turned around quickly and her eyes betrayed her unease. The man in front of her raised an eyebrow.

-Is there anything you want to say?

-I... No... Nothing...

“Did I come back in time? How did it happen? And my hand... I don’t feel anything”

Millen pulled down her cuffs and searched for the mark, but to her surprise, it was nowhere in sight.

-Searching for something?

-Don’t mind me... - she replied after a long pause. Her quest was still unfinished, but she couldn’t come to deceive the same person twice in a row.

-Hmm... Alright. If you feel like chatting, I will be on the Research Lab – he turned to leave and waved his hand without giving her a second look.

Milen watched his back getting smaller and smaller, as if under a spell, but it didn’t take long for her to notice something black surging past his shirt into his nape. It was the glowing head of a snake, one she was too familiar with, and it motioned to bite on Seven’s neck, but the next moment it slithered back.

Milen held her wrist on instinct. “Am I seeing things?”

Seven scratched his neck unnaturally and the more distance he covered, the more difficult it became to walk. He could feel that thing constantly slithering in his back, circling it like it was some dog chasing its tail, or convulsing into 8’s and 4’s. His skin was pale under the sun, and if one looked closely, the lips were bluish.

“This sucks...”

***

At the end of the afternoon, Natalya’s scattered thoughts were once again reunited and she chastised herself for losing so much time in recreation. She had planned to give an end to this mission today by killing the two remaining Queen Ants,b backtracked and now could kill only a single one. On her way out, though, she met with an unprecedented visitor.

“How did he know I was coming here?”, but she quickly shook her head. It wasn’t difficult to trace her steps by now. The real question was what Seven wanted.

-Going on a hunt?

-Hm – she nodded and went ahead. Seven tried to stop her by pulling on her left shoulder, but Natalya’s first instinct was not to dodge, but hold his hand and stop it. She immediately noticed his abnormal shivering, as if any slight movement required an unsurmountable volume of willpower to achieve.

“What is wrong with him?” she frowned.

Stumbling forward, he landed on her and weakly turned his head to whisper closely on her ear.

Her eyes were wide open as she heard him, an almost incredulous look plastered on her face.

-You... How do you know that?

-I’ve already talked. With Kyel... Haah... - he spoke with difficulty – you know what to do...

Natalya bit on her lower lip. How come she didn’t know any of that?

-You don’t believe me... Hehe... Check... Terminal... F... - he sucked in a mouthful of air before falling, prompting Natalya to hold him. He nudged her off.

-I’m... Fine. Argh... I’m lying... Hehe... Go. I have. Some business... Myself.

She was very skeptical about Seven’s information, but it was important enough to elicit an investigation. There was nothing she could do about his impaired movement, as the person himself refused any help – she set off.

Seven used the spear Milen had been preparing for the invasion as a walking stick and made his way to the research lab, painfully slow.

“What I originally intended to achieve was teleportation, not a time reversal. But this is also good”, though he got an unpleasant surprise on his way back, this time, unlike with his missing arm, he could still make use of the liability. Making a stop at the healthcare center, he got a proper crutch and an injection that over time helped him regain some strength, then headed towards HOPE.

***

Reaching the place, he was fast to notice Milen already there, near the Control Room.

-I’ve been waiting for nearly an hour already! - although her tone was of annoyance, at the end of the complaint there were many worries as her eyes trailed upon his neck.

-Let’s go – he crutched towards the Obscure Technology Lab – I could use some help here, if you don’t mind...

She ran for a few seconds and held onto the side of his missing arm.

-What did you want to talk about?

-Are you seriously... Ugh! That dense? I have to know about this fucking snake! Teach me... How to keep it in. Ugh! Control!

With his chest heaving up and down, a thick layer of sweat enveloped his forehead. As they approached the main hall of the lab, she laid him down on the couch and picked a piece of cloth or towel to wipe it.

-Didn’t you know about it already?

-I only know how to abuse it...

-Right... It is the Curse of the Impure, the symbol of the Naiyid, or spellcasters. Whenever you use the forbidden speech to call upon the Gods it will suck on your life force, we consider it a fair exchange...

-...We?

Noticing her mistake, she quickly covered her mouth with both hands.

-How did you keep it hidden from Kyel?

-This...

“I let my guard down around you, that’s why. Such a thing would never happen around that scary kid...”

-You... You are an inhabitant of this world... How did Ai miss that in the last game?

Seven looked up, as if staring at the robotic eyes of the machine. “Do you mean to say the system doesn’t consider that an important secret?”, his thoughts, however, remained unanswered.

-How the hell should I know?

-Haah... Your crystal, where did you get it?

-This?

Milen whispered a few words and the crystal detached from her hand.

-It’s someone else’s... And do you see this? - she held her finger up, a dark sigil like a ring of thorns had it encompassed – it’s the curse.

Holding back a growing headache, he pointed to a corner of the room.

-Search for the Butterfly Chapters, and anything else you’ve seen before...

As she worked on the background, Seven suddenly thought about this piece of information.

“So Ai wasn’t scanning our bodies, but only the crystal?” at the time, he wasn’t carrying the crystal around, but if she still couldn’t detect anything on him, it would mean that his theory about the Human System being independent from the crystal was false. He knew for a fact that was not the case.

Seven felt there was something about Milen that could help him solve this puzzle, but though extremely close he couldn’t match the last piece.

“... What the hell am I?”

-Here’s the stuff – she dropped a load of tomes and volumes on the table – I advise you don’t try anything, though. If the curse already took over your entire back and is aiming at your major blood vessels, you could die from a single spell. I could at least cast one before suffering a major backlash...

-I won’t be the one chanting the spells.

-What do you mean?

Seven rolled his eyes.

-You clearly stated... My next spell. Could be my last. I’m not... Eager to end my life. You cast spells, I capture... Butterflies.

-...Huh?

-You will be my limbs. I will suck every drop of this “curse” out of you... Fair trade.

“I can’t be so unlucky that the curse will always go to me, right?”

-Why are you going so far as to trust... Me.

“I’m the one who screwed us over. Wasn’t it for me, you wouldn’t be like this” this deal didn’t restrict her in any way, and he had no guarantee she wouldn’t backstab him or flee if things got a turn for the worse.

-In two days... Hehehehe... Hahahaha! This place will turn into a battlefield...

“And I don’t plan on keeping quiet about it...”