Chapter 20:

Chapter 20

Isekai.exe: Echoes of Eden

"This is the Portal Grove?"

Don't look at me! I had learned my lesson about this place so there was no way in hell I was going to challenge or underestimate it with such blasphemy! Sure, all we could see were a bunch of trees in perfect parallel lines but the question didn't slip from my lips. It slipped from Fett's! So he was the one to blame the moment this all went downhill! Because it would. I could see it happen.

Toliz was silently looking around with a hungry look on her face. She had never been here before and she wanted to take everything in. This was a moment that could change the history of this world and the relationship between the Keepers and the Seekers. She was wringing her hands but she was trying to solely focus on this opportunity to get away from everything she knew and had grown tired of. Otherwise, the betrayal would be to heavy for her to stomach seeing as she had revealed to have taken the key from the Wise Willow. A map leading straight to the Grove. She had been hoping that it would lead us nowhere and then she wouldn't have to think about this whole thing or feel any guilt about not doing anything to save her comrades. But then, Fett had reappeared at the portal post and seeing our willingness to help, he had revealed his special skill to read maps. The deal was sealed.

I was surprised to see that the muscle he had brought with him were the so-called newcomers supporting the Seeker campaign. Even more nonplussed at the fact that their group also consisted of three players just like the Knights of the Holy Grail. They were so different to the guys I had left behind but at the same disconcertingly similar. The way they held themselves and seemed to know advanced game terminology-though to be fair everything sounded advanced to me-and to be in a rush to go through this portal and into a different Shard, even one that was famed to be the most dangerous one while their equipment was as crude as the other group. What was the rush? Wasn't the whole purpose of a game to, you know, play it?

The only glaring difference was the fact that it consisted of two women and one man and their weapons of preference. They had Ch1tog3, who wasn't very creative with names but looked deadly with her rocky talons. She was short, quiet and angry with bright purple hair and lethal look that threatened to annihilate me the moment I tried to pronounce her name exactly as it was written. I just didn't wanna assume or anything. Then they had Ayase, who didn't even try with a name. She was very tall, had a very indifferent look about her and talked and moved very slowly unless you made the mistake of mentioning something about technology. Then she could rumble. Her weapon was one of those chain blades that you can spin around, drag to the ground or you know, just send very far and still cut someone without having to be in their proximity. She made it look effortless. Last but not least, DemonLord456 was the realest game name I had ever heard in my life and it was so hard to be the only one wanting to laugh when the rest were his party members, two NPCS and a polar wolf. I couldn't get over them pronouncing his name as if it was the normallest thing they had encountered and seeing no problem with it. He had a long sword strapped to his back and thousands of tattoos around his body but he just couldn't pull off the cool warrior look. He had too much of a baby face, and I was saying that, and he was very slim and slender. The sword looked like it could make him fold underneath its weight.

Of course, all these were awesome and everything, but they would obviously be of no help in us opening the Portal. Oh, you thought because a part of the Portal Patrol was arrested and we had a map to the Portal, we would just go through and straight into the Mirror Shard? Joke's on you! The game seemed to already be in the Keepers' side because even if open, the Portal still needed cracking before you could use it. Also, we would have to put the coordinates of the Mirror Shard in it and solve the riddle and the trial in order for the door to open both ways. So we were already in deep shit and Fett had the nerve to question the difficulty of this place!

The eight of us stood in different parts of the Grove looking up or down or at the trees and trying to find clues. There was a stone basin in the centre of the trees but it was empty of water or anything else liquid. It had something that looked like fading inscriptions around it but it didn't look anything like a language I would know neither did the rest of the players or Toliz and Fett recognize it. It looked like mixed and nonsensical scribbles. So we had decided to leave them be for now.

I had a feeling that the key was in the trees. I had no idea what kind they were but they were very tall, with thin trunks and their leaves started to sprout several meters above the ground. Both sides looked identical and symmetrical to each other. That would explain why Fett read the word "Twin Trees" on the map but it was about the only thing that made sense.

"This is boooooring" I heard Ayase dragging her feet and her syllables some meters ahead of me. Or was it behind? You couldn't really tell when everything looked exactly the same.

"If anything comes at us from the trees, I'll be ready" DemonLord456 kept jumping up and down his feet agitatedly and throwing fists in the air as if he was in a boxing ring. He looked more likely to hurt himself.

"Maybe Nature is trying to send us a sign that-" That one I couldn't ignore so easily. I stopped looking up at the trees and I approached Toliz before she could spiral again.

"Tol? Smell that?" She cautiously sniffed the air and I was overcome by cuteness when Nax seemed to do the same and then they both gave me the identical confused looks. "We're already in deep shit. Might as well enjoy the occasional flower"

"Wow, you're charmer" She made a face at my analogy but at least her expression was now different. Fett was shaking with laughter in the background and slowly clapping once again. I was going to kill that kid! "No seriously, you have such a way with words" And then she returned to her scouting for clues with Nax by her side. They were so similar but so different at the same time.

"Similar but different" I looked at every tree and its twin but they were so tall and far away that I couldn't tell from where I was standing. "Everyone come here for a moment!" They groaned but my voice was filled with confidence and epiphany while they were failing to find anything so they came. "Spread out but stand side by side" They looked at me incredulously but they did as I asked. Nothing changed with the first tree.

"Now what, genius?" Fett's tone was much lighter than Cerf's but the word still made me flinch and my thoughts scattered for a moment. I hastily turned towards them to explain myself before they wrote me off as an idiot.

"Wait! Let's check with the rest of the trees too first!" My panic made them even more sceptical though. They humoured me for the next two trees but that's when they started losing patience and interest. "There is a thought process behind this, I swear! Just-" They had already left. Fett gave me a pitying look but he couldn't waste precious time when he was uncertain of the fate of his comrades. "It won't even take that long..." I felt a hand on my shoulder and a head bump my leg. Tol and Nax both looked at me like they believed in me.

"What do you want us to do?" She asked and I smiled so relieved and wide.

"Okay so, you go over there" I nudged her and positioned her with my hands gently. "And you stay here" I asked Nax to stay in the perfect middle. "And now I go here" I then moved to be exactly opposite of Tol. "Now we just walk" They both nodded. We kept walking down the trees until I saw it. It was for a brief moment but it was definitely there. "Wait, back up slowly!" Tol, Nax and me all took a step back very slowly. "See that?" They both looked at me stunned. There was a faint light coming from the perfectly identical trees on each side of the field. It was iridescent and it looked like a prism or a rainbow and distinctly inside it you could see an Artiel in Tol's side, a Tol in my side and a Nax in both. These were the only trees that were truly identical to each other, Twin Trees, and it was because they were a reflection of each other. Which was the original though?

We both ran up to our corresponding tree and found a small lever deep inside the tree root emitting the light. I wrapped my hand around it, looked up and met eyes with Tol. She looked up a moment later. We nodded at the same time and pulled. The forest warped as if left was right and up was down. The others who hadn't been paying attention to what we were doing started screaming as the trees around the ones we were standing in front of started folding like props until they all met in the middle leaving one sole tree standing and the space around us bare from greenery or sunlight or anything else.

"The basin!" The only other thing untouched in the Grove was the basin which started filling with water until it overflowed. The water that poured from its lip worked like a mirror that put the engravings in order.

"What on earth is this nonsense?" Fett should really work on his attitude. A twelve year old sounding like a gramps wasn't the best he had going for him! But also, how dare he!

"It's lyrics!" I gasped in glee.

"From what?" DemonLord456 asked confused. I turned to look at him all betrayed. He was from the real world. How could he not know? Our friends from this world had some leniency at least.

"Only the best Disney movie ever!" I replied smugly and defensively.

"If you're such an expert, you'll have to tell us what you know. Because this is our first clue to the riddle." I couldn't contain my excitement as I vibrated in my place. That is until a frigid look from Ch1tog3 sobered me up.

"I'll tell you all I know"

Look at me

You may think you see

Who I really am

But you'll never know me

Every day

It's as if I play a part

Now I see

If I wear a mask

I can fool the world

But I cannot fool my heart

Who is that girl I see