SURVIVAL 34: HIS RESOLVE

FIRST'S / LEONTHAN HORTAIA’S POV

I glanced at my new marking, and it was a planet 'Mercury'.

"Bwahaha! Playing hero, huh?" the guy mocked while grinning at me.

I ignored him. "Run," I whispered to her.

"No-”

"I said run. I'll deal with this one," I insisted with a bit of a strict tone. I have to do this.

"Please, I swear I'll be back. And please come back safe... Heavien.”

I saw her eyes light up for a second when I called her name. I was even surprised by what I did.

"Hey, you two, I'm not done with you!" the guy shouted.

I stopped him from chasing them. "Kill me first.”

He grinned and attacked me with his knife— the biggest knife. He must have thought highly of himself. Choosing a knife according to its sizes? He doesn't have an idea that the bigger the knife, the blunter it is.

I simply dodged his attacks while pressing my right arm to stop the bleeding.

Even if his knife is the bluntest, this guy’s drive to kill someone is strong.

I arranged myself and let my arm bleed. He doesn't have an idea that I purposely let myself be wounded, for experimental purposes. An experiment to test how blunt his knife is.

"I don't understand. Why are you protecting that girl so much?" he questioned with a mocking face.

I stopped for a moment. "Because it simply doesn't have to do with you.”

He gave me a scornful look. "Hmp, but if you two are the only ones left, who will win?”

I left a blank expression at what he asked. "I will protect her. It doesn't matter who will win. I will protect her.”

You know nothing, and you will know nothing.

He burst out laughing. "If that’s the case, better take care of your life. After all, y’all will die in my hands, so you don't have to answer my question. Let's end this!" he attacked me again with his knife.

I bought her a painting and displayed it in my room. Whenever I see that painting, it reminds me of her. It's like it is telling me something. Something unfortunate happened to that girl in the painting. The face was calm, but the eyes were full of agony. An agony that we are both experiencing.

When she asked me if I knew how to play piano, I thought of her as a bit of a weirdo. And that's when I became interested in her.

Buying Heavien’s painting wasn’t solely because I wanted to. No question that it's beautiful, but it has also become my way of helping her and her family.

I saw her one morning. She entered the classroom just as she usually does. But there's something wrong with her eyes, literally. Her eyes were swelling like she hadn't slept for three whole nights. She even got a failing score on a short quiz that day. She seldom talked with her friends and stared into nothingness. I coincidentally saw her after class. I saw her enter her house. And then... I heard a glass breaking, shouting, crying, and arguments. The moment I heard those sounds, I left and went home.

"Bro!" My 15-year-old, a year younger brother, called me. "Look, I beat your high score. Bleh!" I saw him playing video games.

"Silly you." I patted his head.

I roam around our condominium, and there's something wrong. I checked out the laundry.

"Shaunrey!" I called him out.

"What?" he answered in an irritated tone, still playing.

"What's the meaning of this?" I snatched his school uniform from the laundry and showed it to him.

He looked at me for a second. "My school uniform, perhaps."

The uniform that I readied for him yesterday was unused yet left alone beside the laundry.

"Why are you ditching classes?"

"What's wrong with that?" he replied with his full attention to the game. I unplugged the screen. "What's wrong with you?!" he bawled.

"I think that was supposed to be my line. What is wrong with you?"

"You don't understand." He stood up.

"Did your friends teach you to rebel on me?”

“Don’t involve my friends with this.”

“Then, do you ever think that it was easy to be your parent?" I raised my voice.

"I never wanted you to be mom or dad! Because there’s not a second that you can replace them!"

What I did next left him hanging. I slapped him in his face. He walked out.mHe slammed the door and went outside the condo.

Rey got accelerated when he was in elementary grade, that's why we're both in grade 10. We were attending the same school before our parents died. But after that incident, he got transferred to Peleya School because he caused problems with other students in my current school, Vosejo High School.

When our parents died, Rey started to ditch his classes. He even failed in a few subjects, and there's a big possibility that he will repeat a year. Sometimes Shaunrey goes to our uncle's house when we are arguing. Our uncle is a big help to us in coping with our situation, losing our parents. Mom and Dad died in a plane crash. It was all sudden that they were gone in the blink of an eye. We sold our house and rented a condo for the two of us.

That tragedy has left a huge hole in my heart that pulled me to be one of the players of the Tri-Games. But after claiming the triumph, it wasn’t what I expected at all. The prizes were not that great. I do not feel empty, but I am not filled. There’s still something missing, but I can’t get a hold of what it was.

I spent too much of the money I won from the Tri-Games. I have no plans of using ‘time’ and ‘health’ because I thought money would resolve everything. I have no use for ‘health’ because I cannot bring back the dead with that. It only applies to the living who are ill. Author only mentioned the downside of the ‘time’ after winning. You can bring back or bring forward the time to save your loved ones, but that incident can still happen in a different time frame. Indeed, Stealth Level is the greatest prize of them all, yet it has a price.

Little did I know, I would never think that my brother was also chosen to play the game. This game is supposed to be for those who are in pain, desperate, and for those who struggle from the world that made our lives worst. Rey is also suffering like me. I loathe myself for not obtaining my memories from the start. I must have saved my brother from the game.

And now, this is the second Tri-Games. I used my ‘time’ to be brought back here. The good news is, I remember the patterns of the game but this time, all games differ compared to the first one. There are separate mechanics, other settings, and new faces of my co-players.

The set of players has been changed because I went back with Heavien. This is giving me a hard time because I thought going back to the game would be no hassle. Yes, I will forget myself, Heavien, and the first tri-game’s style, but it all boils down to the Stealth Level—the last and most important level that would dictate our fate. What matters of all is for me to survive and reach this level for a purpose that I have always had from the start.

I can’t have Heavien say my real name. I know she wants to call me by it, but I have a reason for it. Letting her call me by my name might trigger something in her.

During level 2 stage 2, there was an explosion. I suddenly look for Heavien but there was smoke. That guy, named Trake, went near her.

"Cy, are you okay? Your forehead is bleeding!" Heavien’s forehead is bleeding.

I ran towards them and grabbed that guy’s collar.

"What do you think you're doing? You thinking of ditching and harming her? Don't you even dare." If he has an ounce of motive in killing her, I’ll end him now.

"No!" Heavien shouted when I landed a punch on him.

I assisted Heavien. "You're bleeding. You really are a defiant one. I already told you not to fight." She’s been hurt so badly like this. I shouldn’t leave her side.

"I'm fine. Go on with Trake. I’ll handle Nadine.”

"But-”

"You have nothing to worry about, First," she ran.

When Heavien strongly decides on something, I cannot stop her. All I need to do is to support and have faith in her.

“Hey, hey, hey,” The guy is waving his hands, averting my gaze on Heavien’s back to fight Sectwen or Nadine. “Don’t forget about me. I’m still here, ‘ya know.”

I need to deal with him first, and it’s a drag. “What do you want?” I asked him with a stern look.

He smirked. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb unless you really are.”

“Whoa, slow down, hahaha!”

This guy’s jokes can be funny at times but he’s at the wrong time right now.

“Aight. I can’t fool you enough, eh?”

“Just get to the point. If you won’t, then I’ll settle this.” If I can’t get a piece of information from him, then better end him.

“You prolly don’t know me, but Cy and I have known each other for years. I have an ambition for why I’m here in this crazy game. I mean, all of us are. Quite fancy meeting you again.”

He’s aware that this is the fourth one. But how? Every new batch of Tri-Games is a new set of games and players, too. Since I brought myself back, I am the only previous player who must be here.

“How’d you know?”

“It went into a loop. Maybe all of us, or I just got my memory of it earlier. But sooner or later, everyone will know.”

“Just get to it!” I was about to attack him when he dodged my punch. He is making me impatient. But what made me do it to him is because of a possibility that I do not want to accept.

“I know you know what it already means. Shall I toast a truce?”

My eyes widened. “Don’t tell me-”

“Exactly,” he grinned.

My intuition was right. Not long, she will be aware of her real intention in this game. And I must stop her from doing it. I have no definitive proof because only 90-95% of our memories are coming back. The remaining percentage might be small compared to what we’ve gained so far, but that fragment of our memory is the core—it serves as the most vital part.

I already lost everything. There's only one person whom I can save from this game. The person who recognized and saw right through me. I made her go back to the game to save her using the necklace that I got as an acknowledgment gift. That necklace was my mom’s favorite jewelry. I wanted to have that keepsake from my parents, which is why I asked Author for it as a gift for winning.

We're already in the fourth Tri-Games. I was the winner in the fourth one. I already know what will happen.

I, Leonthan Hortaia, pledge to protect, save, and let Heavien Cyre Luvitos live. If this is the only way, I won't hesitate. I am obsessed, possessive, and selfish. And being someone I am not, that role suits me best. The game only accepts one sole winner, I guess it should be me.

"It ends here."