As I entered the forest I could hear surprised gasps and even a few people who were shouting at me to stop. I even felt a single person try to run after me before being stopped by their party. Good thing or else I would have had to kick him out myself. I don’t want people dying running after me while thinking I need help. Sometimes animals are so much smarter than humans.

As I walked through the mist of the forest I realized exactly how terrible it would be for a human to enter here. The monsters in here were all the kinds of monsters that were either incredibly difficult to deal with even on their own then made even more difficult to deal with because of the mist. Or the type which had abilities synergizing perfectly with the mist itself making them almost terrifying. To give an example. Two types of monsters that were in this dungeon were phantomss which are basically something like a ghost… but able to attack people directly. People aren’t able to touch it but it is able to touch them. It’s incredibly difficult to deal with and is especially annoying because it is hard to detect and almost invisible… now add the mist into the equation… How about a monster that uses a strange ability that lets it turn into an important person from your memories to lure you away from your teammates before it strikes. People aren’t usually going to fall for it since the adventurers that come here are aware of the dangers of the forest but there’s always someone occasionally.

These are just examples of the things in here. Speak of the devil. I saw our sister coming out of the mist. Technically she was in my memories. And I had already inherited the tyrant’s love for her. Probably even Burl fit the bill for these monsters to turn into. Not to mention Cel, Lily and Kate. The monster approached me with a sorrowful look on our sister’s face. I felt like it turning into our sister was like a slap to my face. And I did not intend on taking it. Tapping my cane on the ground the mist in the area was suddenly blown away in a twenty-meter radius around me. The creature in front of me was no longer my sister but a small, ugly rat-like creature standing on two legs with sharp teeth and claws. The creature called a phreal looked around nervously before growling and jumping at me with its claws at the ready. I pick up my cane and swat it away as it’s coming towards me, instantly killing it and turning it into mana. Weird.

I continued my walk as the mist began to set back into the area I had cleared out. This was truly a dangerous place for humans. Even if the mist was cleared out it would set back in in less than a minute. If it was a race with better eyesight or a resistance to illusion magic then this place wouldn’t have been as bad but it still would have been pretty terrible even for them. I was glad that Cel and Lily were together. The vampire race had excellent eyesight and Lily had already proven incredibly resistant to illusion magic. They could not have picked a better place to hide. This place was treacherous to everyone else but as long as those two were together it shouldn’t be so bad.

I saw as a few phantomss gathered trying to surround and ambush me. Weird. Why did the monsters in this dungeon not understand my strength? The ones I’d met in the wilds understood very well exactly what fighting me entailed. Based on this I came to a single conclusion. This dungeon is strange. The monsters don’t have a will of their own is the conclusion I came to. The monsters themselves should understand the danger I pose. In fact that little furry phreal not running away after having its illusion broken goes against their behavior already. Those creatures are the types that don’t feel good unless they are clouded in their own illusions. And the phantomss should be able to notice that I had already detected them but they were readying themselves to attack me anyway. Monsters that rely on illusion and shadows are usually either timid or smart. These monster were just weird. They were acting too… carelessly for themselves.

The phantoms attacked me. They all wore cloaks and were transparent enough to be almost invisible already normally. In this mist they WERE invisible. A claw came out of the cloaks of one of them as it rushed at me. I didn’t want to use any large-scale light magic which these things were vulnerable against. Light magic was too noticeable. Nobody would have been able to notice that clearing of the mist that lasted only about ten seconds but light magic was worse. Thus instead of using full on light magic my cane started shining instead. The light was a dim silvery one instead of the golden glow of usual light magic.

As the phantom tried to swipe at me at a speed it couldn’t register my cane passed through it and it turned into mana. The others should have been discouraged from attacking me after this or at least more cautious but instead they all rushed me at once. I jumped upwards all the way to the branches of the incredibly tall trees. The phantoms tried following me so as I fell down I dodged the first one by shifting my body through the air hitting it with my cane and proceeded to do so with the others as well. Their movements were too simple. I finally understood why such a dangerous dungeon was so popular. The creatures here were much easier to defeat than normal monsters. Their will had been taken away and with it so was a large amount of their difficulty. That coupled with the herbs that were unique to this forest and widely sought after.

Before I fell I suddenly slowed down right before touching down on the ground before stepping lightly and planting my cane on the solid surface along with my feet. I would first find Lily and then find out what was wrong with this dungeon. Depending on what it was I might need to clear it out.

As I walked I came to a cliff. Tapping my cane on the ground a set of stairs were formed along it which I used to climb down. At the bottom of the cliff was a cave. As I stepped inside I was astounded as even the inside of the cave wasn’t safe from the mist. It would be even harder to see in here as the mist fused with the darkness. I still stepped in. The thing I was looking for was here after all.

“Who goes there?” (Lily)

I smiled at the girl raising a sword as she could only see a shadow in the mist and stepped closer.

“I’m warning you! Leave!” (Lily)

I stopped. I didn’t want to antagonize her. I thought about what I should do to make myself known. My current voice, though the same as the one Kenos used… no… my character itself was fundamentally different. I was going to walk forward again but instead another shadow rushed out of the mist and wrapped its hands around my torso.

“Cel?” (Lily)

Lily was obviously surprised. Surprised enough to let her sword down.

“Welcome back.” (Cel)

Now I was also surprised. But… I was also relieved. Very relieved. I had wondered. What if they no longer cared about me? What if they instead came to hate me for taking Kenos away from them? I had to actually hold back a few tears from coming out. I was so… so very relieved that Cel had not even cared the tiniest bit about my change. I patted her on the head with my free hand which caused her to made a content sound.

“Ken?” (Lily)

Lily walked closer and was finally able to see me. I also turned my head up from Cel and came to face her.

“You…” (Lily)

She seemed a bit at a loss for words as she saw me. I was different. Both in a appearance and in character. I smiled a bit nervously.

“You feel… different.” (Lily)

“… I AM different.”

A moment of silence passed. Cel was still enjoying my hand on her head but it had stopped patting her and simply rested there. I was a bit nervous again. Cel seemed to have accepted me. But hen what about Lily?

“What do you mean?” (Lily)

I wondered a bit about what to say. I could simply say I’m Kenos but I had changed… but that would be a lie… or at least partially. And I didn’t want to lie to them. What was the point of them accepting me if that me was a lie in the first place. I would have to turn that lie into reality. And that would make another crack. And a crack could always lead to something breaking… this time the break would not be of the good kind.…

“Unfortunately I’m definitely no longer the Kenos you two came to know.”

Lily opened her eyes widely at what I said. Cel also finally let me go and looked up at my face.

“Can you tell us what happened?...” (Cel)

I nodded and tapped my cane on the ground causing a few chairs to form. Unfortunately they were made out of rock but I hoped that it would at least be more comfortable than sitting on the ground as they were smooth and had the edges rounded. Lily looked at the chair next to her and reluctantly sat down and Cel went over to the third one to sit down as well. I myself tapped my cane on the ground causing the mist in the cave to leave and surrounded us with a barrier which would not let further mist in. It would be uncomfortable to talk with it surrounding us.

Lily looked around as the mist left and then turned to me. She was quite used to Kenos’ antics already so I guess she wasn’t going to be surprised by something like this. She seemed to be waiting for me to talk.

“Honestly there isn’t much I can say… We broke. Would be the easiest way of putting it.”

Neither of them seemed to understand what I meant. I guess I would have to explain it simpler. I sighed. I didn’t want to put it like this if I could avoid it. I didn’t want to explain it like this. It was… a matter of pride. Both my own… and our own… but here… I guess there was no choice. So I started. I told them everything. About the tyrant who broke after losing his sister and took the world by force. About the dragon who broke after failing to protect a single girl from the unfairness of the world… and about the void… who was already broken from the start and broke again after seeing a person he was supposed to trust look at him as if he was a monster. And… about me. The man who was able to come out of his egg after his shell was broken.

By the end of the story Lily seemed to only be conflicted.

“Then… then in the end… who ARE you?” (Lily)

“I am myself. I am not Kenos. I am not Vedqothur. I am not the tyrant. But at the same time I am still them. It’s… hard to explain. I am my own person. I share some qualities that all of them had but I also have my own which they did not.”

Lily stared at me for a bit trying to understand what I meant. She had still not been convinced. Cel on the other hand seemed to be looking at Lily with a weird face as if saying “Does it matter?” which made me incredibly happy. We stayed in silence for a bit longer.

“… What are you going to do now?” (Lily)

I wanted to chuckle at how she had worded that in the same way Kenos used to but I held it back. Laughing was not allowed right now.

“I’ll be going to the elven country next. I still have other people to visit.”

“That Kate girl?” (Lily)

I nodded.

“Do you even know if she’s there or not?” (Lily)

I shook my head.

“Why then? It’s not your fault that she was not saved. You were up against an army and knew practically nothing about this world. There was no way for you to win.” (Lily)

She still seems to be misunderstanding something.

“It wasn’t Vedqothur’s fault that’s true. But that doesn’t matter. He failed. And I needed to make up for it. If I was say an adventurer and failed to save a member of the party in a dungeon I can’t just say “Not my fault.” and brush it off.”

This time Lily nodded. And finally smiled.

“I guess if you’re like this then it’s not so different.” (Lily)

Cel also smiled seeing that Lily had accepted me…and so did I. I was… glad… I don’t think I can describe my feelings exactly. I was someone else. But I still felt love for them. I had also inherited that from Kenos. It wasn’t romantic love. Lily was my friend. Cel was… she was like a daughter or a younger sister to me. It truly was a complicated feeling. I was no longer the same person but I felt the same way as Kenos did for them… but there was no guarantee they would feel the same for me.

“Then… Let’s get out of here?”

Both Lily and Cel nodded as they got up from the chairs and tapping my cane they also went back into the ground and the barrier disappeared causing mist to start filling the space back up. The staircase down the cliff was still there but I stopped the girls from going up and pointed backwards towards the middle of the dungeon. They looked at each other then back at me and nodded. Looks like I wasn’t the only one who found the behavior of the monsters strange. And I really wanted to find out what was causing it. After all. The last person I met that could affect minds was… unfortunately quite the annoyance… she still is quite the annoyance.

I left my thoughts of Zahrah behind and we started walking deeper into the Evermist Forest.