Reality Chronicles Ch.8 Book 2

Glitch
My head was spinning when I woke up; it felt like I had been punched across the face by a gorilla and bear at the same time. The sun was low in the sky to the east meaning dawn had just broken about an hour ago; when I looked around I saw a small burned out fire pit and two sleeping bags with people inside. In one of them was a girl with black hair and a soft face and in the other was… SOREN!
I looked around for my battle ax to see it was behind the girl’s sleeping bag. I quietly stepped over her sleeping bag and grabbed my weapon ready to kill the obstacle in my way. I approached Soren’s bag and looked to see he was tossing and turning in his sleep; looks like this was nightmare that would last forever.
“I wouldn’t if I were you.” I looked over to see the girl standing up and pointing a sword at me.
“HE IS GOING TO DIE.”
“No, he’s not. Not if I can help it.” She gave me a piercing glare that gave me the feeling that if I even scratched him she would attack.
“HE’S IN MY WAY. IF I DON’T KILL HIM THEN I’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO SAVE THIS WORLD.”
“Are you kidding me? If anything he’s going to help you save this world.”
“WHAT?”
“He’s not some heartless person; he’s here to help this world.”
“DON’T LIE, I KNOW HE GAVE THE GLORY TO THE ACTUAL HERO, THIS IS MY SPOTLIGHT AND HE’S NOT TAKING THAT FROM ME.”
“There’s more to saving the world than taking the glory.”
“BUT I’M THE HERO HERE; I WON’T LOSE IT TO HIM.”
“You really think he would do that to you? Look up at the flag pole.” I looked up at the pole to see that my G emblem was up there.
“SO?”
“We crossed that bridge of fish to make it to the next pole and he tore off the old flag that was there. In the middle of the night, when he thought I was asleep, he climbed up there and stuck that on there in its place.”
“R…really?”
“Yep, he spent an hour climbing that thing, look at his palms.” I looked to see Soren’s palms were a light red; must have been pole burn, “He doesn’t want to beat you, steal from you or even offend you. He just wants your trust.” …
“Why should I trust him?”
“Has he given you reason not to?”
“He’s been trying to convince me to give the hero role back to Mario. He’s been working against me!”
“He hasn’t been working against you, he’s been trying to convince you but he’s stood by your side up till now. If it were up to me I would have killed you after you attacked. But he said to give you a chance, so I’m going to give you a chance.” He let me live? I looked down at Soren to see him still turning in his sleep, “We all have our own problems, I don’t know why you want to be a hero so bad and I don’t care. All I want is for us to get back home, you’re lucky that Soren is sticking his neck out for you; after everything he’s been through I sometimes find myself baffled by how nice he is.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not my story to tell, but understand this.” She approached me sticking a finger in my face and gave me a deadly glare, “All he wants to do is gain your trust and give in return and if you abuse that trust then I will PERSONALY see that you pay for it!” She stepped back leaving me stunned. It was like I was being threatened by a lion protecting their cub.
“Why do you care about him so much?” She turned around and gave me a small smile.
“He’s the one friend I can trust completely. I’m going to protect him no matter what because I know he would do the same for me. Maybe in his own weird way but I know he would.” After saying that she started packing up her gear up; I looked back down to see he was still tossing and turning and when I looked at his face closely I saw a look of fear plastered across it.
“Why does he toss and turn in his sleep?”
“Like I said earlier, everyone has their own problems, his haunt him in his sleep.” …Maybe I should give him a chance…but I can’t trust anyone but myself…there’s no one to trust. I looked back up at the flag pole; slowly putting my ax down I grabbed my gear packing everything up.

Soren
I woke up with the sun in my eyes, it was still fairly close to the east hills; must be only about two hours in the morning…maybe three hours. I stood up to see Alice had her supplies packed and was looking over the large castle structure. I looked over at Glitch to see him sitting there with everything packed up and his weapon sitting in front of him. He seemed to be contemplating something deeply from the look on his face; he was a million miles away from the look in his eyes.
“Hey Glitch, you okay?” When I said that he jumped slightly in surprise, he looked up at me and stared with confusion, “Something wrong?”
“…Why?”
“Huh?”
“Why do you still look at me like that?
“Like what?”
“You look at me like I’m still worth trusting, I tried to KILL you! Doesn’t that faze you!?” That’s what has him so twisted in a knot?
“You aren’t the first person to try to do me bodily harm that I’ve learned to trust. I once ended up with a concussion and burned hand; if it weren’t for her I would have been dead.” I replied pointing at Alice.
“She didn’t go crazy though. Not like I did.”
“No, maybe not the exact same way but she’s the reason I got said concussion. A hilt blow right to the head.” He gave me a baffled look.
“After that you still trusted her? Why?”
“I’m not perfect Glitch; I’ve made plenty of mistakes and been the enemy of plenty of others. I don’t deny that I’ve done wrong…but I don’t want to give up on people because of my own mistakes. My friendships have shown me that the defining piece to every friendship or partnership is trust. Maybe you can’t trust me know but give me a chance.” I outstretched my hand to him hoping he would take in this step to becoming closer.
“…” He took my wrist and I pulled him up; he gave me a large toothy grin and laughed. This was a good first start. I looked over at Alice to see her looking at me, she gave me a smile and small nod; I was going to have to thank her later. I’m not sure how but I know she helped out in this.

After gathering everything together we entered the second castle and found ourselves greeted by a pit of lava a few feet from the entryway. The fact that there was lava in this castle was questionable and something to be taken up with the architect; deciding to ignore that thought we moved across the pit and under the spinning flamethrower making sure to avoid fire damage.
“Hey Soren?” Alice tapped my shoulder catching my attention.
“What’s up?”
“Your coat is atrocious.” I looked down at my coat to see it was in pretty bad shape from the last time I looked at it; it was torn in the back and the shoulder from the ax attacks and the bottoms had burn marks. Must have caught on fire at some point and not noticed it.
“Oh yeah, didn’t really notice. Last time it repaired itself when we completed a dungeon remember?”
“Yeah but we’re not in Hyrule anymore so you need a new coat.”
“No way, it’s awesome!”
“The coat is torn; you can’t walk around looking like a hobo.”
“I can just sew it back together.”
“Can you even sew?” Crap, she caught me in my lie.
“…Kind of…”
“Hand over the coat!”
“No! You’re going to destroy it!”
“Good job figuring it out, now hand it over!” She started grabbing at my coat ripping it further until Glitch stopped her.
“Stop! You’re just making it worse!” He suddenly pulled out a black thread and needle and grabbed my coat smoothly before I even know I had it off. Alice and I watched in amazement as his fingers moved so naturally as he sewed the holes back together; I don’t know where he learned that but I was impressed by how much he knew. He knew how to make a fire pit and how to sew together tapestry and clothing; seems like he knew survival skills, “Done!” He tossed the coat back at me and I examined it closely; I couldn’t even find the area that he worked on, it was like the holes were never there to begin with.
“Wow, this is amazing work! Where did you learn to do this?”
“I was in boy scouts for a few years and picked up a few skills.”
“Don’t Girl scouts teach sewing?” Alice asked skeptical.
“Well let’s just say for the first few weeks I…wasn’t…exactly in the right place.”
“And they let you stay?”
“Well when I was younger I didn’t exactly look…as manly as I do know.”
“They mistook you for a girl?” He nodded and Alice and I just looked at each other baffled. He was at least a foot taller than us and was very physically fit; It was funny to think about…we started to chuckle…and then laugh.
“Hey!”
“Sorry, sorry…it’s just…hard to think about, I mean look at you know! It’s funny to think about.”
“About what?” He gave me a glare.
“About you being a tiny dainty girl.” Alice finished and we laughed again. After a few seconds I heard Glitch start to laugh.
“You know I wore a skirt without questioning it for a month.” We started laughing again and everyone seemed to be having fun, it made the tension between us lessen.

Once we were done laughing we continued on and found a conveyer platform area with a figure in the distance beyond it walking farther in; it was tall lumbering figure and it walked slowly onto the bridge. We jumped over the conveyer system and caught up to the figure as the shadow dissipated to reveal a tall cloaked figure…I knew it! It was the cloaked guy who was in charge of Lissa from Hyrule; he was the scourge of our last adventure and he was now here. I stopped everyone as he kept walking and we followed behind him quietly; I was curious in what he was doing at this area, I got the impression that he should have been at the end of the world in the eighth castle or at least the seventh castle. As he came to the end of the bridge I saw him approach a giant koopa at least three times our size…maybe two times Glitch’s size; I moved up to listen in on their conversation but stepped back as he pulled out a strangely made blade and swung it at the large creatures throat as the koopas eyes widened in horror at the obvious act of betrayal.
“W…why?” The koopa choked out with its dying breath as it collapsed with a thud as its shell hit the bridge causing it to wobble and sending me on my back. He turned around and looked down at me with a smirk on his face.
“I knew I would see you again.” I rolled backwards getting back on my feet and reached for my sword only to find nothing on my back; crap that’s right it broke in the fight with Glitch! Alice and Glitch caught up with me and the cloaked man snickered, “Even the girl is here, and looks like you have another compatriot. Too bad he’s coming with me eventually.”
“Not if I can help it!” He laughed uproariously.
“You think you can save him? I saw what went down, he almost killed you! That’s exactly what I want, that intent makes them all the stronger!” He turned to Glitch and outstretched his hand, “You want power, strength, and the chance to be a hero? Come with me boy, I can show you true strength.” He was trying to recruit Glitch right in front of me? I looked to see Glitch thinking it over in his head; he was seriously considering it!?
“Glitch.” Alice caught his attention, “You don’t want to trust him, he doesn’t hold up in his promises.” He looked down and back stepped.
“You can’t recruit him!” I yelled at the giant man.
“No, I can but I think I’ll save the ace up my sleeve for later. For now, how about showing me what you’ve got two face?” Two face? What did he mean, “I would love to get a look at the person under the skin again. He was so…passionate.” Him!?
“What do you want with him?”
“I’m very interested in your unique circumstance. Not many others are so…split up like you.”
“Shut up!” Don’t talk about him; it…hurts to think about him. Alice rushed forward and swung at him with her blade; he just blocked it and pushed her back as he pulled at the hole in his blade creating two knives.
“Trick weapons sure are interesting aren’t they, almost unfair when you can use them properly.” Trick weapons, they’re from Bloodborne. How many worlds has he visited?
“What are you doing anyway?” I asked catching his attention, “As far as I can tell you are working with Bowser; why are you killing his top men?”
“Clever as always, what causes wars my dear boy?”
“War…it’s caused by disputes in ethics and how someone perceives a situation and whether or not they want to do something about it.”
“Close but so far; it’s hate and fear that causes wars. You hate others because of how they treat you or you fear their culture or power and that’s why wars spark.” So killing Bowser’s men creates fear? No…it doesn’t cause fear.
“You’re causing hate.” Alice cut in, “You’re killing Bowser’s men to blame it as the Mushroom kingdoms retaliation, you’re turning it into a war between these two forces.”
“Wait, it’s not already a war?” Glitch added in.
“No, it’s an invasion; but if Bowser finds out his men are being killed by mushroom forces from this guy-” she pointed at the cloaked man, “Then it will turn into a full scale war.”
“Precisely little miss. I was hoping that Glitch and my subordinate would be able to do this but a hitch in my plan popped up.” He looked at me with a smile; why was he smiling?
“So you had to rethink your plan.” I interjected.
“No matter, I must be on my way; there are still five others to take care of.” He pulled out a small green glowing gem…was that a chaos emerald, “When you can harness these things they really become useful. Sadly they only have jumper capabilities; it will get me at least a few yards ahead of you.” As I reached for him he suddenly disappeared leaving us on the bridge with the koopa body and a sense of dread of what the future might be if he succeeds.