Chapter Twelve - Surya

 “What do we do?!” Janica panicked. “Mister, they said only half of us can pass right?”

I sighed. “Noren, didn’t you say that the test wasn’t known for being dangerous?”

“I also said that no one ever passed the first part of the test to really know!” Noren rebutted. “Don’t blame this on me! We still don’t even know if it’s dangerous or not!”

“Guys.” Julian interrupted. “Open your ‘Surya window’, the hammers and clues are mentioned there.”

I opened my ‘Surya’s window’ and was greeted with a picture of a hammer.

[New item unlocked!]

The hammer appeared in my hand without notice and instructions were shown in text underneath it.

[Use the hammer to eliminate the monsters and the traitor to obtain the key and escape.]

Right. They mentioned a traitor.

“Wouldn’t the traitor just be the red head girl?” Janica questioned.

“What?!” Noren gasped.

“That’s true.” Julian agreed.

“Wouldn’t it be too obvious if it was me?!”

It’s true that out of the four of us, Noren was most likely to be this ‘traitor’ that the intercom mentioned. In the first place, this was our first time ever arriving in Surya while Noren lived here her whole life.

“It could also be the boy!” Noren added. “He has an ‘unsure’ status!”

“See! It has to be her!” Janica shouted. He grabbed his hammer and looked at me. “Mister, we should just eliminate her now.”

Julian clutched his hammer as well and the two boys quickly ran at Noren.

This is a mess.

“Hold on!” I shouted. Both Julian and Janica paused to look back at me. “Something isn’t right.”

Soon, our surroundings began changing. The tall bushes started moving, giving Noren an opening to run away. Behind us, a ton of movement could be heard.

Five masked people of colorful creatures quickly ran at us. Their masks looked like mixes between multiple animals, giving them a monstrous appearance.

We have to find the key from one of them. But which one? Fighting them now with just three of us-, or just two of us would’ve been too much.

“Run!” I shouted.

I grabbed Janica’s wrist, and Julian followed closely behind, towards the direction Noren left in. The bushes kept changing, making all my choices too unthoughtful and forgetting which direction I ran in.

THUD!

I turned around at the sound behind me. Julian fell on his face and then clutched his injured leg.

I forgot about that.

“Julian!” I shouted while running back towards him.

But before I could, the bush closed in front of my eyes. Did they close this quickly before?

“Mister Julian!” Janica shouted.

We continuously shouted his name, hoping for an answer from the other side of the bush. Once the bush in front of us finally moved, Julian was gone.

No. Did they get him?

I felt myself freeze in place. Was I always this fearful when I lost my companions? Maybe because this time, there’s a chance he could be dead.

“Mister!” Janica pulled at my hand. “We have to keep moving! We have to escape! And maybe… Find Mister Julian…”

That’s right. I still have one more person I need to protect.

“Right.” I nodded at Janica and ran with him, towards the opposite direction of where Julian disappeared.

After running for a while, we found ourselves stopped in front of a stone wall.

“Seems you have nowhere else to run.” A person with a terrifying mask told us. They clutched a hammer and ran towards us. I pushed Janica aside and also ran towards the masked person.

They kept swinging at me and I continuously used my hammer as a shield. We kept at it for a while.

“You don’t seem to give up, do you?” I panted, forcing them away with my hammer.

“I’m not here for idle chatter.” They responded. “Soon, the others will join me and it’ll be game over for you.”

I sighed and kicked them away.

They hooked their hammer on mine and forced me to fall along with them. I twisted my hammer from out of their grasp and swung it up before hitting their hard mask with it as I fell.

The masked person seemed shocked at the sudden action and froze on the floor. If they moved just a bit more, I could finally see their face. I moved my hand towards their mask which caused a quick reaction from the fallen person.

“NO!” They shouted, quickly getting up and holding their mask pieces together. “It’s hideous!”

Stunned at their change of attitude, I dropped my hammer.

“What’s hideous?” I asked them.

They looked at me, as if they were glaring behind their mask, and quickly left.

Huh?

“They’re afraid to die.” A gentle voice said. I turned around to see where the voice came from.

A small girl with deep blue eyes, dirty blonde hair, and pointy ears looked down at me. She looked a little familiar. “Just like you, they’re afraid.”

I stared blankly at the girl. She had a ‘Surya window’ as well with the words “failed”.

“You are?” I carefully asked her.

“Halette.” She responded. “I’m the voice over the intercom.”

“Really? Then what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to help you.” She reached her hand out to me, to help me stand up. “It seems you know the meaning of Master Surya’s name.”

I examined her before finally taking her hand to help me up. “Help in what way?”

“I can give you information. I’m almost positive that you are the person that Master Surya has been waiting for. A test that only one person can figure out.”

I scoffed. “Because I solved the first part of the test, I’m the person your God has been waiting for?”

Halette nodded. “You’re not even a normal person, right? A God, maybe?”

Right. I forgot I was a God. Maybe ‘The God of Innovation’ has been waiting to be forgiven?

I signaled Janica to stand next to me. Once he grasped my hand, I returned my attention to Halette. “When you said that they’re afraid to die, what did you mean by that?”

“The masked people are believers of ‘The God of Preservation’. They volunteered to take part in the test to die but.” She paused. “I don’t think any of us are mentally prepared to die.”

‘Us’?

“Are you also a believer of ‘The God of Preservation’s’?” I asked her.

“Yes.” She pointed at her status. “Those who fail are spirits in vessels' bodies.”

So the soulless eyed people…? But did the believers on the train have soulless eyes? I think I would’ve noticed if they did. “How come the believers of the ‘God of Innovation’ here have soulless eyes, but I never saw them on other believers outside of Surya?”

Halette shook her head. “Because these bodies' eyes were already soulless when we entered them. It could be the outcome from the war. Us spirits cannot easily change bodies that aren’t ours.”

“I’m not sure I follow.” I said seriously. “I don’t know anything about a war. And if you are the spirits that stole these bodies, why do you all want to die?”

Her head tilted at my words. “Strange. Everyone has been fixated on the war for a while. But maybe that was just in Surya?”

She looked away as if thinking about something before meeting my gaze once more. “As for your other question, once us spirits enter vessels, we carry their emotions and memories along with them. After we feel sympathy for the body's owners, we want to free them.”

“Free them?”

“Yes.” Halette continued. “We don’t know where their souls reside with our God, but at the very least, we can send them to the afterlife by dying in their bodies.”

Huh? “But wouldn’t that just be murder?”

“It’s better than living as a wandering spirit. I would know.”

Fair. “Then why are you all afraid to die if you want to set them free?”

“We were supposed to live forever.” She sighed. “Now that we finally found an end, it’s both relieving and terrifying.”

“I think I can understand that.” I nodded. “But why are you really telling me all this?”

“I told you, you are who Master Surya’s waiting for. So I must make sure you pass this test safely.”

I crossed my arms while giving her a suspicious look. “There are a few requirements to pass this test. Such as the key and traitor. Are you going to help me obtain those?”

Halette nodded. “First we must find the exit. From what I know, the exit would not be on this maze’s perimeter.”

“So you don’t even know where the exit is?”

“Unfortunantly not.”

Of course.

“But you and that boy should follow me for now.” Halette continued. “Even if I don’t know where the exit is, I can help you pass the others. They have a pattern in where they should find you.”

I walked beside Halette with Janica on my other side. She seemed to be timing the bushes movements.

“Mister.” Janica whispered to me. “Are we sure she is trustworthy?”

I shook my head at him before staring back at the girl.

“You said that the masked people volunteered for the test to die.” I started. “Are you here for that as well?”

“I never volunteered.” Halette replied while continuing to lead the way. “But I do have my own reasons for being here.”

“Such as?”

She paused and then faced me. “Earlier, I told you that we carry the original body owner's memories and emotions. This person’s body…” She stared at her vessel’s hands. “I think they were important to Master Surya.”

She looked up and soon noticed my confused expression.

“It seems that this body was once their lover.”

I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped.