NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

Chapter 52 - Starting Point

(Red Rose's Point of View)

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(A short recap about the previous chapter of Red. Red and Match escaped Nirvana, but Match suffered severe burns from her hands. Red urged Match to drink the potions, hoping for the little girl to feel okay.)

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The two of us ran as fast as we could inside the grim woodland. The trees grew more sizeable at every passing second, as if they chomped us inside a room. I did not know which forest the two of us were running inside. But I knew something was not right. My eyes saw nothing bright. Not even a glimmer of hope shined upon the pavements as I hurried ahead.

Someone was chasing us. It was a man I never knew. A man cladded with a silver plate on his chest. He equipped himself with a gigantic sword in his hand and a shield in the other. There were massive chains of arcane floating everywhere within the bloke's vicinity.

We had no choice but to run away, with Match running beside me.

"It's going to be alright, Match. Everything's going to be fine," I reassured, but I did not know when this madness would last.

The two of us could sprint away as far as we could. But through time, the player would eventually catch up to us.

"Just keep running, okay? I will try to stall time for you. Don't look back, Match. Never look back," I said, and kissed Match's forehead.

"But I want to save you. I can help! I know how to summon fire!" Match pleaded.

There was a time that Match unleashed her powers from Nirvana. That memory remained fresh inside my head. But it became more like a nightmare than a dream as the flames consumed her body. It was a double-edged sword that could bring more harm than good to Match.

I shook my head and gave her my reply. "No, Match. Your powers will eat you alive. It will kill you if you're not careful. Just leave this place, and I will catch up with you."

I used my momentum and slid from behind, facing the unknown man. My eyes could not sketch his face. It was barely showing from the shadows that covered her upper body.

It was him against me, while Match would flee from this play. The world destined for me to die from that monster horde, anyway. I would gladly give my life for the sake of Match.

"You will not kill Match. Kill me instead if you can," I threatened the adventurer, hoping he would take the bait.

However, the player did not move a muscle. After listening to my words, the adventurer aimed his sword at me. He grinned in my direction and let out a sinister chuckle.

"My father has been hunting you down, Red Rose. You destroyed the balance of Earth and Code. You tried to destroy my hometown but failed. Now, I will take everything that you love away from you."

My entire body froze, unsure of what to do. After a second, the blade that the man wielded launched straight at me. It pierced through my body like butter. I did not feel pain. Every cell surrounding me grew numb from the pain.

"No!" Match cried from behind as she saw everything.

She saw how the blade impaled me to my chest by a man we did not know. There was also a ripping sound that reverberated through the sea of trees. All Match wanted was to live her life with me. I had an original plan. My mind sought vengeance and clouded me with hatred.

The dagger was the price I had to pay for that shallow revenge. I knew that the time would come where people would get revenge on my emotions back, as I did for them.

"This game took everything away from me. I won't let you kill Red!" A violent howl escaped from the little girl's mouth.

"You took away my world from my father. This place belongs to me," the man answered, but he could not do a thing about the spell.

Match created a twister of fire surrounding her environment. All the weeds at her sides withered from the rapid increase in temperature. Despite my near-paralysed body, sweat continuously slid from my cheeks. But there was no burning sensation.

Her hands conjured a brilliant radiance. It was a blue fireball beyond my imagination. It travelled even faster than the speed of sound as the light hovered at the soldier. The flame that Match summoned devoured the player within seconds. But it never affected me.

The spell left unscathed from the strike. The fire never hurt me. It did not burn my skin.

I glanced at my fore and witnessed the man fall to the ground. His flesh turned into ashes, but the silver plate remained intact on his body. The player could not do a thing about the spell. It happened too quick that his reaction time failed him. Match was a powerful mage that could conjure the element of fire. The man we fought with did not expect that to happen.

With the blaring thump, the man was no more living in this world.

"You did it, Match! You defeated him…"

I thought we won, given that the two of us killed the hunter.

"Everything should have been over," I cried, and glued my eyes at the corpse before me.

Match ended the forsaken battle. She killed the embodiment of the mysterious world surrounding us. That magic alone was enough to fry everything in its way. But the flames themselves did not choose to kill me. Match controlled it using her arcane.

However, the ending cost me the life that I cared about.

"Match!" I screamed.

There was nothing else that I could have done other than shouting to the piercing pain in my chest. It was not the blade that brought me agony. It was the image of the little girl without her arms.

Match's eyes were wide open. She knelt on the ground after her last spell. But her soul had wandered from a different realm, far from here. With her last ounce of strength, Match returned my gaze and curved her lips for a smile.

Match said nothing, but I knew what she wanted to convey.

"I love you, my sister."

Her words rang inside my head like a chime. It calmed my turbulent senses as the world surrounding me crumbled to dust. The vibrant looking trees became ashes, as if a volcano had erupted near us.

'I wish I could be with her,' I murmured, but it was too late.

The same happened with Clementine. I could not save them both. No matter how hard I tried, the ones I loved left me in this world. This game brought me hardships in life that I never wanted. I even led Match to her doom.

'If only I did not bring her to this place, maybe Match could have lived a life that she wanted. Maybe a couple would spare their time for this little kid that I could not protect.' I looked at my quivering hands, bathed with the salty regret.

The rain poured heavily onto my body, but there were no clouds above the skies. All those waters came from my eyes.

"It's raining," I whispered. There was nobody there to hear what I had said. I was yet again alone in this world.

There was nothing I could have done…

Nothing.

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"Red! Snap out of it, Red! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!" The voice inside my head became crystal. It almost felt that someone was shaking my body.

And I was correct.

My hand left my shoulder and slammed on the soil. The wetland kissed my fingers as I rolled at the side. A groan escaped from my mouth while peering my eyes open.

"Wake up! Oh, you're awake! Yay! Red is awake! I'm so happy!" The voice continued celebrating near me.

It took me some time before I could imagine the person looking at my body. There was a girl that gazed into my slumbering body. And her name was Match.

"I told you not to wake me up!" I scolded her, and forced myself to sit. "You only wake me up if there's something that I need to do, remember?"

We were in the middle of nowhere. All the two of us could perceive were the towering trees from every direction. It was like an enclosed room made of nature.

"Yes, you did! And I know! I wouldn't wake you up with that!" Match retorted, and directed her forefinger at the bushes. "But I saw two red eyes glowing inside that bush. It was just like your name, Red as the colour red! Tehee~."

I immediately got up and readied my dagger.. I pushed the wooden debris from the crashed cart we brought from Nirvana and prepared for an attack. If what Match told me turned out to be real, I needed to kill those monsters fast!