Chapter 13: Arret's Plans

Vault was watching the shadows dance around the campfire. Quite some time had passed since they had arrived and we're just sitting in silence. He felt like they both needed some time to process what happened.

After all, they learned a lot from that encounter. They had discovered another person from their world, but this one seemed way more open to the idea of taking them out for the competition. The unsettling part was the fact that they seem very relaxed about the whole thing.

They must have been a truly twisted individual in their previous life. How could someone just find the idea of wiping each other out to be entertaining? Just being able to sit back, send some monsters out to attack, and just enjoy the show?

If he had never met Harmony, would he have become like that eventually too? When he first met her, he didn't know what to expect. His only thought at the time was that he was always in danger. He felt like he needed to talk to someone to clear his mind. “Harmony?”

She didn't respond and instead was staring blankly at the campfire they had set up earlier. That previous encounter must have really shaken her up. She must also need someone to talk to. He stood up.

“Harmony, I think we should talk a bit.”

She didn't respond. He walked up to her and tried poking her forehead. There was no reaction. He tried waving his hand in front of her face while calling her name. There was still no response. He was starting to freak out.

There was something definitely wrong if she wasn't reacting to anything he was doing. Maybe some food will put her in a better mood? He decided to start getting dinner ready. They didn't really have much left over and did need to go back out to get more supplies.

Neither one of them was in any shape to go on an excursion, especially since they still needed time to recover both mentally and physically. He just made do with what they had and put together a bowl of berries for both of them. Some more time had passed and there was still no reaction.

He left the bowl of food in front of her and tried nudging her a little. She remained unresponsive. He held up a berry and tried to offer it to her mouth. A strange thought suddenly entered his mind. The idea of feeding each other is something that couples did.

He started blushing for a moment but quickly dismissed the thoughts. This was not the time to be thinking those sorts of things. He tried to put the berry in her mouth hoping that the berry would snap her out of her stupor.

He had trouble trying to get the berry to go past her lips and ended up accidentally squishing it against her mouth. “Oops, sorry about that… Wait… Is she talking to the other person she shares a body with?”

He suddenly realized that's most likely what she was doing. Now he felt kind of ridiculous worrying and stressing about her strange state. He felt a little bad about trying to force her to eat when she was engaging in a serious conversation with her body roommate.

He thought he should at least clean up the little mess he left. Another thought came to his mind and this one made a mischievous smile spread across his face.

Sometime had passed and Felicia had finally turned her attention back to the real world and took control of Harmony. She noticed the bowl of berries in front of her. She smiled at it, feeling touched by Vault’s kindness.

She suddenly felt something on her lip and held up one of the iron ore cores she had gathered from the golem. She stared at its shiny surface in order to see her reflection. She saw that Vault had used the berries to draw a mustache over her lip and used another one to give her lipstick.

She turned to the side and saw Vault stifling a laugh in the corner. She grabbed a berry in each hand and squished them in both of her fists. A mischievous smile formed on her face along with a twinkle in her eyes.

“You think that's funny?!” she said with an amusing tone before lunging at him. He let out a happy scream as she tried to chase after him in the cave.

How this guy managed to lift their spirits after going through all that they didn't know. It was nice knowing that he would always do what he could to make sure they didn't feel overwhelmed. It’s good to laugh.

***

In the Gray Dungeon, the cloaked woman approached a wall deep at its center. She could hear a voice echoing as it spoke. “Arret! You promised me results!”

Arret looked around and noticed several golems rising out of the ground around her. She remained calm and composed. “You're mad? I don't believe you understand what's happening here. Did you not see the two that arrived earlier? One of them was Felicia Forge.”

She began to pace around the room, squeezing past the golems. “She has fused with another creature, but some of her normal traits are still visible. I am very sure it is her.”

One of the golems punched the ground in frustration. “You let her get away!”

Arret smiled at the wall. “Of course I did. The look of pure terror on her face makes the end all the sweeter. Right now, she must be trembling or struggling to fall asleep knowing the golems will be hunting her down.”

She placed a hand on a golem. “Their range will continue to grow in time, but the boy that is with her will most likely want to strike much sooner. He is the smarter of the two, so he knows if they wait too long then they will be at a great disadvantage.”

The wall began stretching out and Arret approached it. “In other words she will come to you of her own volition very soon.”

The wall formed the upper half of a humanoid-like shape made out of rocks. She caressed its cheek as it spoke. “I'm sorry I doubted you.”

She smiled at it. “Just remember I'm here to represent us. I won't abandon you. She embraced him in a hug while hiding a twisted smile.