Soon, all will be revealed...

...

I felt myself levitate as I was moving towards a specific direction, still blinded by a piercing light. I guess I was being taken to another world where Thomas would be waiting.

"...Ahh!"

My body started to hurt a lot as I collapsed on the ground. It felt the same as when I did when I was sent to that replica of the city I grew up in. Was this the same place?

I slowly opened my eyes and I recognised the identical floors and buildings. I never thought I would say this, but I was rather disappointed.

Although as I looked up I already started to notice some changes that made this place incredibly different than the memory realm I was first sent too.

The first major change was the sky, which was covered with crimson clouds. It had the same appearance as that of the dimension I was sent to earlier, the one with floating blocks that moved together like asteroids; attaching and detaching themselves at will.

It was definitely unsettling...It was almost like these two world's fused together or something. Was that even possible? I guess anything was possible here.

The moon was much closer than it was in the "real world", and I couldn't help but feel like it was slowly advancing towards the ground...

Not only that, but there were no people walking down the streets either. I knew that they weren't actually people but creations of Alyssa for that memory world, but the place still felt so empty without them.

I heard the sound of a beating heart, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. It sounded familiar, like I heard it somewhere before. I couldn't help but wonder who's heart it was, especially since it was louder than a normal heartbeat.

Maybe it belong to...

"So, Owen, do you like what you see?"

As I heard that taunting voice, I instantly knew it was Thomas. Much like Alyssa's his voice echoed everywhere, and it sounded like it was coming from above.

As he uttered those words, the windows of each building shattered, their glittering shards descending onto the ground like a rainstorm. I winced in pain as I felt some of them make contact with my body.

I heard abstract noises behind me coming from different directions, it was like they were merging together.

Once I looked to see where the noise was coming from, I saw a familiar cloud of darkness swirling around, hearing the same giggle that I heard so many times.

The dark cloud materialised into Alyssa's silhouette, the same one I saw in my bedroom earlier.

She slowly walked towards me, leaving footprints of a gooey black substance.

"So, you're finally here."

I stepped back slowly, and she continued giggling softly.

"It seemed you figured out how to get past that small challenge. Oh well...that was just me stalling. Now the real fun can begin!"

Another dark cloud started forming next to her, she turned her head and away from me and watched as it materialised into another figure, but this time it wasn't a silhouette. It was Thomas, in the flesh, looking even more intimidating than he did back in the real world.

He had that smirk that I was excited to wipe off his face for good.

"Now it's time to officially introduce a new contestant for my new game!" Alyssa announced.

"I believed you two have already met...Thomas, this is Owen. Owen, this is Thomas. In this game you'll be fighting each to the death!"

Thomas leaped high into the air, covering the large moon that shined above this twisted world. His landing was absolute perfection, it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to achieve anything like this in the real world.

"I've been waiting for this moment, Owen."

"I can tell. So, now you're here, why don't you tell me what you have against me?"

"It's simple, really. I can't let anyone find out the truth about what's happening between me and Claudia."

"So, you don't want people to find out that you're hurting her?"

He smirked.

"You've figured it out."

"Then I have a solution. Maybe you can try not hurting her?"

"Why shouldn't I? After all, she deserves it. She's the one who doesn't do as she's told."

It seemed that he didn't like it when people disobeyed him...he was far more similar to Alyssa that I originally thought.

"Like I said before, people aren't your property. So stop treating people like it."

Alyssa levitated towards to where Thomas was, gently landing next to him.

"In this world, Claudia does belong to him..."

I felt so angry at all of this, they kept treating Claudia like an object, just like everyone did to the people who were close to them.

"Really? Then where is Claudia then?"

Thomas glanced at Alyssa once I asked that question.

"Should we tell him?"

"Hehe...he's been through so much already, he might as well find out now."

So, I was finally going to find out where Claudia was, then I could achieve my mission. I could save her from this world, and hopefully I could also save her from Thomas in the real world...

"Claudia is somewhere here. She's also somewhere else~" Alyssa mused in a singsong voice.

"What? That doesn't make any sense. No one can be in two places at once." I replied.

"Are you sure about that?"

A golden sphere suddenly appeared in the palm of Alyssa's hand. I didn't know what it was, but it resembled the golden dust from the world of memories that I got sent to earlier.

"This is a certain part of Claudia, one that is essential for her to function. Just like every other living creature out there."

It certainly didn't look like anything of that nature.

She stared at the sphere she was holding, clearly as fascinated by it's vibrant gold colour that illuminated the person holding it as I was.

"This is her mind."

Her...mind?

"It contains everything. Her thoughts, her memories, her ambitions. That was what inspired the creation of this world."

I didn't want to believe her at first, but given the fact that earlier I was watching what could be described as a slideshow of one of Claudia's memories, it was hard not to. Not that I would know if it was truly one of her memories but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

"Her mind, body and heart are no longer connected. They're all scattered in different locations, and Thomas is in charge of protecting them."

The golden sphere levitated in the air towards Thomas, and as he grasped it it disappeared.

"If you want them back, you have to get through me first," Thomas taunted.

I clenched my fists, ready to punch Thomas in the face like he deserved.

"Gladly."

I instantly regretted saying that word because as much as I wanted to give Thomas what was coming, he was a lot stronger than I was. Obviously not mentally, but physically he would win without a fight.

"Heh, both of you are so eager to slaughter each other already...how amusing," Alyssa mused.

"But this should be a somewhat fair fight, it's more fun that way."

Thomas scowled at Alyssa, he didn't seem happy with this arrangement.

"Why would we give him a fighting chance? Aren't we supposed to make him suffer?"

"Thomas, your power in this world and the real world is already beyond measure. It's not fun without a fight."

"Heh, I guess you're right."

I couldn't help but shudder in fear as I thought about what kind of power he had. I was defenseless against him in the real world, what could I do here?
Suddenly, the same horde of tiny beetles from before huddled on the ground in front of me. I cringed a little as their buzzing noises harmed my eardrums. It stopped fairly quickly and they all fused together into that same silver sword that was given to me against those corpses at that bar.

I picked it up and it was no different than before, but I had the feeling that this would spontaneously explode like it did last time. Then again Alyssa did say she wanted a fair fight...

"So, where's your weapon?" I asked Thomas.

"I don't need one to get rid of you."

I smirked, feeling confident with my new equipment.

"Are you sure about that?"

I ran towards him, ready to start the fight. But before the fun started, Alyssa intervened, grasping the sword's edge with her bare hand.

"A little impatient, aren't we?"

She threw the sword far away while I was still grasping onto it, which sent me flying to the ground.

"First we'll be playing a little game of hide and seek..."

Oh god, what was she going to do this time? It's like she wanted to delay the fight with Thomas just to frustrate me more.

Suddenly, that familiar buzzing sound started ringing through my head, it was those beetles that fused together to create my sword.

This time however, there were more than hundreds. I couldn't count how many there were, but I knew that there were thousands of them. I tried covering my ears to block out the noise and it didn't change anything.

They started towering over me until they were just a little bit taller than me. I held my sword as I waited for their fusion to finally be complete.

I wonder what Alyssa had planned for me this time...

The transformation was finished, a tall knight with stained armour and a large battle axe was looking down at me. It looked suspiciously like one that I found in the mansion hallways...

It didn't move, it just stood there like it was on display. It seemed to be levitating since no one was wearing it, so you could see some of the gaps.

I shook in fear as Alyssa's silhouette touched my shoulder.

"Here are the rules. Starting now, he'll count to one hundred, and you'll have to hide...if you want to live."

I watched as Thomas flew towards the stained armour. What was he going to do?

To my surprise, he entered it like a ghost would possess an object. A bright light emanated from it, blinding me for a few seconds.

Once I regained my vision I saw that the armour was no longer stained and the colour was no longer a dirty silver, but bright red. The battle axe also increased in size, and it was stained with blood to make him look more intimidating.

He chuckled menacingly as he swang his battleaxe like it was nothing. My sword was nothing more than a mere toothpic in comparison.

I started shivering again once I realised that Alyssa's hand was still touching my shoulder, I was almost too afraid to move.

She put her face to my ear and whispered:

"I suggest you start running now, Owen."

So, that's what I did. As his echoing voice started counting, I ran as fast as I could away from my tormentors.

"One...two...three...four...five..."

His voice became more distant as I ran, and eventually l couldn't hear it anymore. I needed a place to hide, and I needed one quickly...