It started like any other morning. It wasn’t a school day, so Sam was still under his sheet when the sun rays started to invade his room.

Yet, the faint chant of far away birds was too hard to bear, keeping him away from sleeping.

As he slowly stretched himself leaving his bedroom, he remembered. He remembered that neither of his parents was home. Meaning…

…that he could play all day!

He rushed downstairs, and went straight to the kitchen, where Alice was having breakfast. She was surprised to see him so early, but didn’t bother to ask why. As her attention was focused on her cup of coffee.

She didn’t like coffee, but envied Sam and Adele for that, as it made them more mature - or so she thought.

With the absence of both their parents, M. Dol, their old neighbour, was in charge to keep an eye on them. He was a nice man, but he was also gullible and slightly deaf, and the siblings knew that. It was the perfect day to spend outside the house with Adele, just the three of them.

Sam exposed his plan to his sister, and without waiting for her answer, went immediately check on their new caretaker.

He was usually up at this time of the day, but he was neither in the kitchen nor the living room.

In fact, he wasn't in the house at all. After checking every room, M. Dol was nowhere to be found.

That was weird. It’s not like he had any reason to leave the house that early, at least not without telling them.

“*cough cough* So, are we going now?”

“Alice? Oh… well, hum… do you know where M. Dol is?”

“I haven’t seen him yet. Why?”

“He’s not in the house…”

Sam looked everywhere, leading him back to the kitchen, as Alice was just finishing her coffee.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I looked ev…”

Knock Knock Knock

Three violent knocks on the front door interrupted Sam.

After exchanging a quick and worried look, the siblings went and opened the door, finding Adele, completely out of breath.

“Adele? What happened, did you just run?”

“Yeah…*huff huff* I… Something is weird. My parents… *huff huff* my parents aren’t home!”

“Well, M. Dol is not here either, but…”

"No! You don't understand! I went to ask the neighbour, and they weren't there either. Also, Kevin's parents are also not home!"

“What?! Do you mean?”

“Yes! All the adults are gone!”

!!!

A sudden noise?!

From… Alice. She had accidentally dropped her cup on the floor, visibly shocked by the sudden news, as tears started to fall down her chicks.

“Mommy…”

Of course, they rushed to her side and tried to comfort her.

“Shhh, don’t worry, we are here.”

“Y-yeah… don’t worry ‘lice. We’ll figure something out. I’m sure they’re somewhere, right?”

Sam tried to find some discreet approval from Adele, without success. She seemed as lost as he was.

Still, they managed to calm Alice and themselves down, and started to find an explanation to the situation, but before the could decide on anything, someone else arrived, by the opened front door.

It was one of Sam's friends from the park, who leaves nearby. He was in total panic, like Adele a minute before.

After everyone had calmed down, they decided to head outside, to see if there were other people. Looking into the nearby houses confirmed Adele theory that the adult had fled the town, but it also pointed out that the very young kids were missing too.

But for what reason?

Repeating it over and over again, it was mining Sam's mind. However, he didn't get the time to find an answer, because shortly after they had left their house, it all started.

As they were arriving in front of Sam's usual park, the most likely place to find someone right now, they heard a loud noise from further away.

Followed by another one, closer.

And another one.

For a few seconds, a dreadfully sequence of explosion went through the town, ravaging every building on its path.

Alice screamed, diving her head into Adele’s chest.

At the same time, the other boy ran away and entered the park in panic.

Adele tried to follow him, but Sam stopped her.

The situation was chaotic, and neither he nor anyone could hear or see anything clearly, as the explosions were still happening.

Even though, in the midst of all of that, Sam had a bad feeling.

The town was blowing up around him, and yet his guts was telling him something worst was on its way.

That’s why he stopped Adele.

And why he screamed at the runaway boy to come back.

As loud as he could.

Be it was pointless.

And an instant later, another explosion occurred.

Right in front of them.

Whipping off the park.

Blowing off the kid.

“Dude… that’s heavy…”

“And that’s why I didn’t want to introduce them.”

“I get it, I get it… what happened next? Did you flee the city?”

“No. That would have been the rational decision. Instead… I made a terrible mistake.”

N: It Has Been A Long Time Since We Have Spoken, Dear Clarence.

N: I Suppose You Are Familiar With The Existence Of The Entity Known As Eve.

N: Maybe It Is Rude Of Me To Call Her Like That, But I Can’t Seem To Find A Proper Way To Describe Her.

N: I Have Learned A Lot

N: And I Do Know You Will Not Answer.

N: She Informed Me Of Your Schemes

N: Of Valentine’s

N: Of Eve’s Own Schemes

N: But I Won’t Let You Proceed With It

N: Sam Won’t Survive

N: He Is Different From You And Us

N: He Doesn’t Belong To This ‘Quest’

N: He Will Die.

N: That Is Why I Am Letting You Know

N: I Will Stand Against You

N: Sam’s Prediction Will Not Unfold.

“Sigh… I am not well suited to threaten people.”

After finishing taping her farewell messages to her Guide, Naomi took a look around her.

It was a vast plain.

Left and right, there was nothing to be seen except a vast sea of grass and one or two occasional lonely tree. A weak sun was obstructed by the clouds as he was performing his evening descent toward the horizon.

Intrigued by this scenario, Naomi took out her book

Struggle#19

Objective: Wait a full week

Sub-Objective: none

What a disappointment.

The last few struggles were exceptionally challenging, especially the last one, where she had to descend a 13 stores building, with each floor guarded by a mighty warrior. The closer to the bottom she was, the stronger they were.

At last, as she was entering one of the last floors, she performed her signature gimmick consisting of tying her hair up in a ponytail. It didn't mean much, but each time she was getting serious, she would reorder her hair. Some sort of OCD that only Sam knows of.

At the lowest floor, which was in fact way under ground, she met with Eve.

They spent a week talking about the world, the Quest and their particular session. She was eager to tell the group about all of it, but her priority was to find Sam and Xavier before it’s too late.

Although those informations came from someone she just met, she knew they were accurate, because she signed a truth contract. Those were rare artefact forbidding everyone to lie during the agreed period of time. Of course, there was a chance Eve was above the contract law’s, but at this point she was powerful enough to do everything by herself, rending lying completely useless.

Moreover, she wanted it to be true. All of it. Because, as she stated to Clarence moments ago, it meant Sam’s vision could be undone.

From her words: "Seers are not omniscient, they can make mistakes. Their strength reflects the accuracy and correctness of each prediction. For that matter, Sam is probably the most talented Seer to be brought here, considering that he is still technically low level. I doubt his prediction could ever miss, if Adam wasn't here. As the All-Seeing, he and only he can never be wrong."

It wasn’t a real answer, of course, but pretty much consistent with the rest of the conversation. The important part was that Sam wasn’t doomed to die, killed by this mysterious Purpled hair woman.