Chapter 27: A Hard Conversation With Me Not Agreeing With Myself And I

Vault, Harmony and their animal companions had been going out into the forest during the day to grind levels. They would eat, sleep, and experiment with their skills while resting at home. A few days of this had gone by almost like a training regiment.

They had all picked up new tricks with their abilities at this point. Most of which would come in handy in the battle to come. They all agreed to avoid going out at night, out of fear of dealing with the Burning Haunted Knights, or worse.

Everyone was currently gathered in the cave home during the resting portion of their training regiment. Harmony was lying down on the deer pelt bed with her arms crossed behind her head. Her eyes were there, but her mind was wandering.

The wolf was folded up on her lap while the bat was sleeping on her head. Vault was stirring a pot cooking food over the campfire flame. Something about the setting/environment just made her feel at ease. To put it another way, it felt like a lazy Sunday.

Harmony closed her eyes and found herself as Felicia in the mental world she shared with Eunice. Felicia was in the same pose that Harmony was in, on her little Island in the mental world. She was just relaxing, lost in thought, not really much of a care in the world.

She looked to her side and noticed Eunice sitting with a very stressed look on her face. “Is something wrong, Eunice?”

She furrowed her brows, confusion very visible on her face. “How can you be so laid back about our current predicament? The battle with the golems is approaching. The day we go to war is just around the corner.”

She clenched her fists. “The two of you are just laughing and acting like…”

“We don't care?” Felicia said, finishing her train of thought.

She shook her head. “I was going to say idiots.”

Felicia sat up. “If I'm being brutally honest, I'm scared. I am terrified, out of my mind about what we're going to do when this whole thing starts.” She stood up.

The water around her island started developing unsteady waves. as if it was reacting to her emotions. “I'm already worried all the time, about whether or not we're going to make it to the next day, what we're going to eat tomorrow, and if I'm strong enough to take on whatever dangers we face when we leave the cave home!”

The waves around her little island became even more unsteady, starting to splash onto the land near her feet. “I do care Eunice…If I keep thinking about that all the time…I'm going to lose it…It’s too much to have in my head…Having Vault around, and all the stupid stuff we do together. It makes it easier to get through these days.”

The waves started to relax a little bit and become more calm. “He makes me feel a bit more normal. Before I came to this world, I was literally just helping a classmate get faster, to join an after school team.”

She took a deep breath, sat down, and relaxed herself. The waves around her little island had become completely calm. “When this whole thing is over…I’d like it if we could all return to some form of normal…Not worrying about constantly being in danger of monsters and… I’d like it…If all of us could be friends…Me, Vault, Gary if we can ever find him, our two animal companions…And you.”

Eunice gave her a little smile at the thought, but switched to giving her a guilty look instead. “That girl we encountered in the cave, she was the one controlling the golems. You'll have to confront her very soon. I'm just wondering if you'll be able to do…What needs to be done.”

Felicia gave her a very confused expression. “What do you mean what needs to be done?”

Eunice stood up and the water around her own island became darker. “You need to take her down…Permanently.”

Felicia immediately rose up, and the water around her little island became intense with waves. They were splashing all over, almost creating a little tidal wave behind her. “No freaking way! There's no way I could ever do something so…!”

She noticed the look of sympathy Eunice was giving her. “It was a decision you had to make when you confronted Vault. Initially, I was against it, but I see now where it has gotten you. I was wrong about it back then.”

She bit her lip as she hesitated to continue. “Right now you're dealing with a psychotic person. A representative that was chosen by a minor deity…Most likely she was chosen for her desire for battle. She truly enjoys just standing back and watching the show. What I'm trying to say is…I wish I was wrong again…But I don't think she's someone you can reason with.”

Felicia clenched her fists as the waves behind her grew more intense, but she released them along with her rage after a minute. She gave Eunice a look of complete desperation. “I don't want to be responsible for taking someone's life…The monsters we fought…That was for survival…I know these people have lost their lives from the previous world, but I can't just take that new life away from them for good.”

She started trembling, and tried to hold herself together while her voice began to break. “I don't have the heart to do something like that…Please don't make me make that decision.”

Eunice continued giving her a look full of sympathy. “This is a survival game…Regardless of how you feel about taking another person out…Someone will eventually try to do the same to you…It just appears she is the first of many…You need to make a decision…Hopefully one you will not regret.”

Tears welled up in Felicia’s eyes. “You know…I was always worried about this place changing me since I arrived…Since I fused with you and got this new body…I used to wonder how much of myself still remained the same…After seeing her…I also worried that I might become dark and twisted like her…Just from living in this place…”

She looked down at her reflection in the pond water. “Even though we were just trying to survive every day…I still felt like myself just goofing around with Vault…Living with him made me feel like I had more of a home than the people I used to live with back on Earth…I wish we could just keep doing what we've been doing a little longer.”

Eunice shook her head. “It's not that simple…Take some time to think about it, but remember…You do not have long. The day our enemy appears at our doorstep is near.”

Felicia's attention returned to controlling Harmony. She found Vault sitting near her, and her head resting on his lap. He was wearing his usual rags and giving her a concerned look. She touched her face and noticed the tears going down her cheeks.

He wiped away some of them with his hand. “If something's bothering you, please, talk to me. We promised to have each other's backs…It doesn't have to be out in the battlefield only. I want to help if you'll let me.”

She rolled away from him and sat on the other side of the bed, so she could face him. She opened up to him about the dilemma that Eunice had raised to her attention. He also could not provide a clear immediate answer for her, about how they should approach the situation.

He did mention to her that it was not a decision that she should make alone, since he's also not only one of the players in this survival game, but he's also part of her team.

He proposed trying to reason with her, but as a last resort maybe they could find some way to imprison her. Worst case, they would have to make the decision that neither one of them wanted to. The other question that none of them wanted to answer was who would be the one to do it.

They both didn't have it in them to just casually take someone out. For now they just wanted to finish the day and go to sleep.